RTHK: Military officers take over Burkina Faso in new coup

Military officers seized control of Burkina Faso on Friday, claiming to be restoring peace to the jihadist-wracked country as they dismissed a junta leader who had himself come to power in a coup at the start of this year.

In the capital Ouagadougou, witnesses heard pre-dawn gunfire around the presidential palace and junta headquarters.

Then just before 8 pm (2000 GMT), more than a dozen soldiers in fatigues appeared on the state television and radio broadcaster to announce the removal of Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba for failing to stem a jihadist insurgency.

In his place, they proclaimed 34-year-old Captain Ibrahim Traore in charge.

"We have decided to take our responsibilities, driven by a single ideal: the restoration of security and integrity of our territory," they said.

"Our common ideal was betrayed by our leader in whom we had placed all our trust. Far from liberating the occupied territories, the once peaceful areas have come under terrorist control."

The rebelling military also announced the closure of air and land borders from midnight, as well as the suspension of the constitution and the dissolution of the government and transitional legislative assembly.

A curfew from 9:00 pm to 5:00 am was also put in place.

New strongman Traore was previously head of anti-jihadist special forces unit "Cobra" in the northern region of Kaya.

Ousted leader Damiba's fate remained unknown.

The coup plotters promised to convene "the nation's active forces" to designate a "new president of Faso, whether civilian or military".

The United States said it was "deeply concerned" by the situation in Ouagadougou and encouraged its citizens to limit movements.

"We call for a return to calm and restraint by all actors," a State Department spokesperson said.

Earlier on Friday, Damiba's Patriotic Movement for Preservation and Restoration (MPSR) had said there was an "internal crisis in the army" prompting troop deployments in key areas of the capital.

AFP journalists saw troops block several main roads and intersections in Ouagadougou, with soldiers also stationed outside the state television centre.

Government spokesman Lionel Bilgo had said the "crisis" concerned an army pay dispute, and that Damiba was taking part in negotiations.

During the morning, shots rang out in the Ouaga 2000 neighbourhood, which houses both the presidential and military junta headquarters.

"I heard heavy detonations around 4:30 am and now the roads around my home have been sealed off by military vehicles," a resident close to the presidential palace said.

State television was cut for several hours prior to the military announcement, broadcasting just a blank screen with the message "no video signal".

In the afternoon, an AFP journalist saw a group of several hundred people gather in a city square making a range of demands, including the departure of Damiba and the end of the French military presence.

By the evening the soldiers were still in place at key points of the city, and streets were mostly deserted.

In a statement, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) "condemned in the strongest possible terms the seizure of power by force that has just taken place."

Ecowas called the latest coup "inappropriate" at a time when it said progress was being made for a return to constitutional order by July 1, 2024.

The French foreign ministry told its citizens in the city, believed to number between 4,000 and 5,000, to stay home.

In Brussels, the European Union expressed "concern" at the events unfolding in the Burkina capital.

When he declared himself in charge on January 24, ousting elected leader Roch Marc Christian Kabore, Damiba had promised to make security his priority and end the bloody jihadist attacks.

But these have increased in recent months, especially in the north and east where whole towns have been blockaded by insurgents who have blown up bridged and attacked supply convoys.

As in bordering countries, insurgents affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have stoked unrest.

Thousands have died and about two million have been displaced by the fighting since 2015 when the insurgency spread into Burkina Faso, which has since become the epicentre of the violence across the Sahel.

More than 40 percent of Burkina Faso, a former French colony, is outside government control.

Attacks have increased since mid-March, despite the junta's vow to make security its top priority.

In September, a particularly bloody month, Damiba sacked his defence minister and assumed the role himself.

Earlier this week, suspected jihadists attacked a convoy carrying supplies to the town of Djibo in the north of the country. The government said 11 soldiers died and around 50 civilians were missing.

On September 5, an improvised explosive device struck a supply convoy in the north killing 35 civilians and wounding 37.

The following day, at least nine people -- seven civilians and two soldiers -- were killed in two separate attacks by suspected jihadists.

Much of the impoverished Sahel region is battling the insurgency.

Starting in northern Mali in 2012, the insurgents attacked neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger in 2015.

The violence has in recent years begun to spill over into coastal states Ivory Coast, Togo and Benin. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2022-10-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Scottsbluff city council members convened for a special meeting Friday morning to interview two candidates for the city manager position.

Mayor Jeanne McKerrigan announced candidate Shawn Metcalf had accepted the Hastings city manager position. The council interviewed the remaining two candidates  Kevin Spencer and Matthew Schmitz.

The council members had copies of the candidates resumes, applications and also read through a list of questions.

Spencer was interviewed first at 10 a.m. He shared some of his background, highlighting his role as interim co-city manager for the past six months as well as serving as chief of police for Scottsbluff Police Department. He has worked in law enforcement for 31 years.

Schmitz was interviewed at 11 a.m. He said he was happy to have the opportunity to interview for the position as he and his wife look for a place they can call home. Schmitz is also looking to advance his career, after serving as the director of community and economic development for the city of Lansing, Kansas.

Qualifications

Following candidates introductions, council member Nathan Green began the round robin of questions, asking what prompted them to apply for the city manager position and their qualifications.

Spencer spoke about being appointed and serving as the co-city manager as a rewarding experience.

I think largely due to the guidance and direction of you guys  the council  and the department heads, along with city staff, that largely pulling in the same direction we were able to realize progress and accomplish some projects and maybe right some wrongs, Spencer told the council. I just want to continue on in this role and make sure that the city is headed in a good direction.

Spencer noted that serving as a city manager was never an ambition for him, saying that he thought he would retire with the city as the police chief. But throughout his 21 years in the community, he said, he feels strongly about doing his part to make sure the city continues to grow.

Schmitz said after five years with Lansing, he feels ready to move onto the next step as a city manager. He has experience in drafting, doing a variety of project designs before working in public service. While he thought he would become a civil engineer, life took him down a path in business where he set the goal of becoming a city administrator.

Im well aware that I dont have that on my resume  I dont have experience as a city administrator or manager  so I am looking for a city thats willing to give me a shot to do that and I think Scottsbluff looks like a good opportunity, he told the council.

Why Scottsbluff?

The council also asked the candidates what is the biggest attribute of Scottsbluff appealing to someone looking to relocate to Scottsbluff.

Schmitz said he is looking for a community in a nice area that has natural beauty and is close to sights. He said Scottsbluff checks off all those boxes.

The city itself looks like a great community and I think its one I could certainly lend some help to in terms of helping guide and lead for projects, he said.

Spencer said it was the hospitality of the people, who always are willing to come together in a time of need.

I brag about Scottsbluff all of the time. Were virtually 2 hours, 45 minutes from the Denver airport if you want to go to the city. We can go to the Black Hills in a couple of hours, we can go west into Wyoming. I think were in a great spot  and I think the valley is just full of great people.

Personal attributes

When asked what would be his strongest quality he would bring to the role, Spencer said it is his leadership experience and ability to bring people together. He also shared that he views himself as a reasonable person who has the ability to apply good logic to any situation while also being critical of himself.

I recognize the fact that I have a lot to learn, Spencer told the council. I am more than willing to do that. I always hold myself to a high standard. I dont ask people to do much that Im not willing to do myself. I think I have a good track record as an effective leader  not a perfect leader, but an effective leader.

Schmitz said his strongest skillset is his diverse educational background, with experience in human resources, budget analysis and on projects.

When discussing their biggest weakness, Spencer said his inability to say no. He said he likes to play an instrumental role in a project or supporting someone, which can cause him to take on too much. He said that could be said currently, but he said he is a hard worker.

Schmitz noted his lack of experience in the role as his biggest weakness.

When I moved to Lansing, I was considering at that point applying to be a city manager because I had completed my MBA but I didnt feel like I was ready to be a city administrator or city manager because I had not spent a lot of time as a department head.

He thought it was important to gain more leadership skills before pursuing a city manager position.

Delegation and trust

The candidates were also questioned on how they would delegate responsibilities and build trust with their staff, if chosen for the position.

Schmitz said delegation is about accountability and following up to see that projects are being completed, while also trusting people to do their jobs. One way to build trust, Schmitz said, is to delegate a project and then not micro-managing people to perform the work. However, he noted if deadlines are not being met, the city manager needs to address those situations. He said being present is important as a leader, so when questions arise, a city manager would be available to help guide and support staff.

To build that trust, its a lot of working directly with them, Schmitz said. Interacting with them on a daily basis, of course  dont manage from afar  and manage from the floor, so to speak, so youre part of the team.

Spencer talked about the importance of open communication and offering guidance to the team, something he felt is instrumental to the current success of the Scottsbluff Police Department. During his time as interim co-city manager, he also said he made himself available and if he could not answer a question, he made it a point to get back to the council.

You build trust through communication and giving them good guidance and direction, Spencer said. As far as delegation, I think once you have those trusted, respected relationships, delegation becomes pretty easy.

Creating a culture

Spencer shared the ideal company culture for him would be a family and friendly atmosphere, especially with the size of the municipality. He would want all employees to feel valued and appreciated. He also said his role would be to hold people accountable to the rules and procedures in place while also being present in the office with a set schedule in the office, similar to other employees.

I think people appreciate structure so they know what is expected of them and I think if we have all of those things in place  which I think weve done pretty good at doing that now  I think things are effective.

For Schmitz, an ideal company culture includes trust, teamwork, communication and managing expectations, which he said has to be modeled from the top down.

Its a lot of modeling what you want to see, he said. Ethics is a big part of this by being involved in the day-to-day operations of things. Building that trust would be a critical aspect of this position.

Communication

The two candidates also discussed how they handle communication with the council and team.

Schmitz said in previous roles he asked people how they prefer communication and adjusts his style to match the receivers style.

I think as a city manager I think theres an opportunity certainly to do weekly memos, theres emails, but it depends on the complexity of the situation, too. Some things are better handled with a phone call or in-person conversation. I think having that constant communication with the city council is critical for success.

Spencer said in-person communication is the best and most effective way to communicate, followed by a phone call and lastly, a tie between email and text message. He said communication is important to ensure the message is clear.

If the city council or one of its members overstepped its role and interferes with the day-to-day operations of the city and staff, Schmitz said there is a lot to be said for face-to-face conversation. He would explain the procedures and work to build trust with the council member to make those conversations easier, if they arise.

At the end of the day, if the city council member decides that they want to continue doing that, thats their prerogative to do that, Schmitz said. Im clearly aware of the how the chain of command works in that situation and it is not my role to try to direct a city council member on how to behave or interact with anybody, Schmitz said.

Spencer said he would have a private conversation with the councilmember where he would say they are free to communicate with employees, but they cannot get involved in the day-to-day.

The council also questioned the candidates on how they establish relationships and collaborate with outside entities like county and state governments and local schools.

Schmitz said fostering relationships is critical to success. Lansing has a high military population, meaning there are cultural differences and a migratory citizenry regularly. However, he said understanding cultural differences and appreciating those viewpoints are vital to success.

Working with everyone equally is critical to success, Schmitz said. Working with other school districts, the City of Lansing and the school district work closely together, especially with our school resource officers on different things. Working with those different partners in the community is critical to moving the entire community forward.

Spencer discussed his strong relationships with Scottsbluff Public Schools and Western Nebraska Community College, as well as their respective leaders, Andrew Dick and John Marrin.

We were quick years ago to become involved with the school district as a captain on school safety, he said. School safety is huge for us. We participated in all of drills and all of their plans.

Budgets and contracts

Schmitz and Spencer also discussed their experiences with budgets and union contracts. Spencer has drafted nine or ten budgets for the police department while also being involved in the full budget process this year. Spencer added if selected for the position, the budget would be an area of focus, since there is a lot to learn.

When discussing contract, Spencer said he has sat on both sides of the negotiation table and found that it is OK for both sides to respectfully disagree during the process, but compassion goes a long way.

Schmitz said he manages his department budget and worked on the overall budget in a previous role. However, he said, he does not have direct experience with union contracts. He said he could learn quickly and is an area that interests him.

Councilman Jordan Colwell asked Spencer if the council offered him the city manager position, what would happen with the police chief. Spencer said he would like to reorganize the department, potentially creating an assistant police chief, but he would like to provide support to the department.

I distinctly recognize the fact that I would have to minimize my role and relinquish the day-to-day operations over to captains but I would certainly like to give that a shot.

As a follow up question, the council asked if Spencer would inform the council if he became overstressed with the dual roles, and he said he would let them know.

I think striking that balance between city hall and the police department, making sure I was fair to both organizations, Spencer said of his biggest challenge.

Councilwoman Angela Scanlan asked Schmitz if he can coexist with someone who doesnt see eye-to-eye with him. He said he prides himself on being flexible as a leader and believes he can work with anyone. If conflict arises, he would sit down with the person and discuss how they can improve and move forward as a team.

After talking to each candidate for over 40 minutes, McKerrigan thanked them for their time. She said the council would discuss next steps at the regular city council meeting, which is Monday, Oct. 3.
A grand jury in Colorado has charged two parents with first-degree murder after their toddler died from fentanyl poisoning earlier this year. The indictment alleged that the couple from Brighton, a town just north of Denver, participated in trafficking drugs, including cocaine, fentanyl, and methamphetamine in the presence of their children. According to the grand jury's indictment, Alonzo Montoya and Nicole Casias exposed their one-year-old daughter to fentanyl between January 1 and 2 which resulted in the toddlers death. Fentanyl, an opioid many times more powerful than heroin, has gained infamy across the country and in Colorado as the number of overdoses involving the drug in Denver alone rose 40% between 2020 and 2021, according to Denver health officials.
Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson and attorneys general from five other states sued the Biden administration on Thursday to stop a plan to cancel the student loan debt of millions of Americans.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Missouri, asks for a temporary restraining order to stop the program from moving forward before borrowers can apply for forgiveness beginning next week.

It's the second legal challenge to President Joe Biden's proposal to cancel $20,000 in student loan debt for Pell grant recipients, and $10,000 for other individual borrowers who currently make less than $125,000.

Peterson's lawsuit was joined by attorneys general in Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and South Carolina.

In it, the attorneys general refer to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in West Virginia v. EPA warning federal agencies from asserting power beyond what could reasonably be understood to have been granted by Congress.

It also argues the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, which was cited as the legal foundation for canceling the student loan debt of nearly 45 million Americans, did not apply to the current situation.

Congress passed the HEROES Act after the 9/11 attacks to authorize the U.S. Department of Education to grant student loan relief to borrowers during periods of war or national emergencies.

The Justice Department, in an August memo, said the law has previously been used by education secretaries for individuals "who suffered economic hardship as a result of a national emergency."

"It is inconceivable, when it passed the HEROES Act, that Congress thought it was authorizing anything like the administration's across-the-board debt cancellation, which will result in around half a trillion dollars or more in losses to the federal treasury," the lawsuit states.

Peterson and the other attorneys general also pointed to statements made previously by Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicating they did not believe the president could enact such a program and that it was up to Congress to pass new legislation to wipe away student loan debt.

The lawsuit also points to recent statements made by Biden and other members of the administration declaring the pandemic was over, or had "shifted to a new phase" as indicating that COVID no longer represented a national emergency.

Several of the states involved in the lawsuit  including Nebraska  argued canceling student loan debt for millions of Americans could negatively impact their finances.

The Nebraska Investment Council, which manages $40 billion in state investments, including retirement systems, educational savings plans, and others, maintains several investments in student loan asset-backed securities.

Peterson's lawsuit argues that, if student loan debt was forgiven, Nebraska could see an earlier payout, potentially "ending the interest income flow" those accounts generate over time.

According to a document included with the lawsuit, Michael Walden-Newman, the state investment officer, indicated Nebraska had more than $25.4 million invested in at least six different student loan asset-backed accounts.

The report also states that BlackRock manages the bulk of that amount ($24.8 million) in a Federal Family Education Loan Program security. The private loans guaranteed by the government are not part of the Biden administration's program.

Still, Walden-Newman said BlackRock informed him they expect the debt cancellation will lead to more prepays in student loan asset-backed securities not directly affected by the debt forgiveness.

Nebraska's future income tax receipts could also be altered by student loan debt cancellation, Peterson wrote in the lawsuit, although it did not estimate by how much.

Discharged student loan debt was previously considered taxable income in Nebraska until the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 pushed pause on that practice until Jan. 1, 2026.

Hundreds of thousands of borrowers are expected to have their income-driven repayment loans, which allow borrowers to discharge debt after 20 to 25 years, forgiven between 2026 and 2030, according to a Government Accountability Office estimate, which would once again be taxable income in the state of Nebraska.

If those loans are forgiven before 2026, Peterson wrote, the Biden administration's plan "will reduce that tax revenue by decreasing the amount of outstanding student loan debt," particularly in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina.

Gov. Pete Ricketts, who criticized the plan to cancel student loans after it was announced, said in a statement Thursday afternoon he supported Peterson's lawsuit.

"President Biden's student loan forgiveness scheme is fundamentally unfair and would harm the American families forced to pay for it," Ricketts said. "Additionally, the executive branch does not have unilateral authority to impose a sweeping student loan cancellation plan."

Canceling up to $20,000 in student loan debt could benefit as many as 232,000 borrowers in Nebraska, the Education Department estimated, including 136,000 borrowers who received Pell grants.

In total, roughly 94.5% of the 245,600 Nebraskans who have student loan debt as of March 2022 would be eligible for the Biden administration's program, with 90% of the debt forgiveness going to individuals earning less than $75,000 annually.
SEATTLE  Jen Easterly hopes to change your dinner table conversation.

Ransomware  malicious software that can lock users out of their device or files  has made it to the list of table-talk topics but, somehow, cybersecurity has not.

Easterly, director of the federal agency for cybersecurity, wants to change that. I think its really important that cybersecurity equally become a kitchen table issue, she said.

Easterly visited Seattle this week as part of an effort to connect with local governments, businesses and educational institutions around the country. She stopped by Boeings headquarters in Renton, the Space Needle and Amazons HQ in South Lake Union to discuss how to prepare local governments to prevent cyber attacks and get the next generation of cybersecurity professionals excited to take on the task.

Easterly heads the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, and is responsible for leading the agencys efforts to understand, manage and reduce risk to the cyber and physical infrastructure we rely on every day. She was appointed in July 2021 and has spent the past year working to cut the nerdspeak from cybersecurity. She likes to talk about her role as cyber storytelling, and hopes to put the industry into context that both a young kid and her mom could understand.

Seattle is home base for CISAs Region 10, a zone that spans 918,630 square miles and covers Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and 271 Tribal nations. The agency is a part of the Department of Homeland Security. In September, DHS committed $1 billion for cybersecurity grants over the next four years for state, local and territorial governments.

CISA focuses on how individuals can protect themselves  like the recent social media push to use more than a password to log in to personal devices  as well as national efforts. Its responsible for improving supply chain security, protecting against cyber threats from the rollout of 5G and enhancing election security. The cybersecurity agency tapped Washingtons former secretary of state, Kim Wyman, to lead CISAs election security efforts.

Some CISA personnel focus on maintaining communications during emergencies and others advise and assist facilities with hazardous chemicals on how to prevent those chemicals from being weaponized. And, some work with the Department of Homeland Security on protecting critical infrastructure.

Easterly says most people shy away from the term critical infrastructure but really, its just how we get gas at the pump, food at the grocery store, money from the ATM, she said. Its our water. Its our transportation. Its our power. Its our communication. Its the networks, systems and data that underpin our daily lives.

Seattle faces an ironic juxtaposition, Easterly said. On one hand, the local institutions are working to defend public utilities and help people understand how to protect themselves online. On the other, major tech companies that have an enormous influence on the nations digital infrastructure are based here.

America has incredible companies, [an] incredible heart of innovation here on the West Coast, and its really important that these technology companies play a role in helping to shape the technology ecosystem, Easterly said.

To do that, tech giants have to design products and services with security in mind. Just like consumers expect seat belts and air bags in a car, they should expect security to be built into products.

As companies like Amazon and Microsoft grew, security wasnt required, Easterly said. She hopes market forces and their own self-interest will continue pushing them toward it. The next step, though, would be federal regulation.

In August 2021, the cyber security agency launched a new initiative, dubbed the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative, to strengthen the public-private collaboration in the industry. Amazon Web Services, the companys cloud computing arm, and Microsoft were among the initial industry partners.

Outside the federal department, businesses and educational institutions in Seattle are adopting the same mindset as Easterly. They are working to demystify cybersecurity and increase awareness, education and resources  from college to elementary and middle school. On a panel Thursday, many attendees suggested tapping into gaming culture or designing contests around cyber education. That could be an escape room focused on misinformation, or a short-story contest where the heroine is a cyber professional, or a TEDX series highlighting the cyber world. Easterly suggested creating a cyber schoolhouse rock.

Stealing a word from the social media hype today, James Poland, director of cyber intelligence for the University of Washington, said he considers himself first and foremost, an influencer.

Conversation around cyber security has already started to escalate in the last year and a half, Easterly said. Some of it is happening naturally as the agency comes into its own four years after its creation, but some of it is recognition and realization that the threats we are dealing with are only getting more complex and more dangerous, she said.

In the immediate future, the agency plans to spend the next month hyper focused on the midterm elections.

Before Easterly took over the agency, it was tasked with risk management for election security. At that time, there was a lot of resistance to the federal government playing a role in what had historically been handled by state and local election officials.

This week, Easterly visited the King County election office to see how it secures ballots.

We want to make sure that election officials have what they need, she said Thursday.

Were very focused on the next 43 days until the midterm elections, she continued, and then on 2024.
The biggest flying telescope in the world, NASAs SOFIA has shared some breathtaking images. Have a look here.

The world's largest airborne telescope Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), which is operated by NASA, embarked on its final flight on September 29, 2022. Marking the end of an era, NASA shared a small breathtaking collection of the cosmic imagery assembled during the last voyage of the SOFIA telescope. NASA took to its Instagram handle to share that since 2010, the SOFIA has flown 921 flights, gathering valuable data on the cosmos.

The space agency explained that the first shared image is of the galaxy Centaurus A, which has a core column made up of orange and dark red dust lanes and a light blue shell surrounding it. The Orion Nebula may also be seen in three dimensions, revealing its intricate structure and a "bubble" that has been cleared of gas and dust by a strong stellar wind.

NASA's post further shed light on the Cigar Galaxy, in which red streamlines accompany outflows brought on by a powerful nuclear starburst. A grey ring of starlight surrounds the centre, with hints of dust and hydrogen visible in red and yellow, respectively. Additionally, the space agency displayed the Omega Nebula, and lastly, the final image displays the SOFIA mission flying into the sunset.

Journey of SOFIA telescope

NASA partnered with the German space agency (DLR) to operate the flying telescope, SOFIA. It had its first flight back in 2010. However, it had already achieved its full operational capability in 2014, but even after that, the flying observatory assisted in the discovery of water on the sunlit areas of the Moon in 2020.

NASA further revealed that the SOFIA telescope had housed and flown in a modified Boeing 747 aircraft in its last journey, and while using infrared light to peer deep into space from high in Earth's stratosphere. Cruising at nearly 41,000 ft (12,500 m) in the dark of night and twilight of morning, SOFIA has taken breathtaking observations of a plethora of celestial objects, NASA said in its post.

It has also been revealed that although SOFIA's days of flying may be at an end, there's still work to be done, as astronomers have years of legacy data to analyse, which potentially houses further scientific discoveries.
Europa. Credit: NASA

Europa is more than just one of Jupiter's many moonsit's also one of most promising places in the solar system to look for extraterrestrial life. Under 10 kilometers of ice is a liquid water ocean that could sustain life. But with surface temperatures at -180 Celsius and with extreme levels of radiation, it's also one of the most inhospitable places in the solar system. Exploring Europa could be possible in the coming years thanks to new applications for silicon-germanium transistor technology research at Georgia Tech.

Regents' Professor John D. Cressler in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and his students have been working with silicon-germanium heterojunction bipolar transistors (SiGe HBTs) for decades and have found them to have unique advantages in extreme environments like Europa.

"Due to the way that they're made, these devices actually survive those extreme conditions without any changes made to the underlying technology itself," said Cressler, who is the project investigator. "You can build it for what you want it to do on Earth, and you then can use it in space."

The researchers are in year one of a three-year grant in the NASA Concepts for Ocean Worlds Life Detection Technology (COLDTech) program to design the electronics infrastructure for upcoming Europa surface missions. NASA plans to launch the Europa Clipper in 2024, an orbiting spacecraft that will map the oceans of Europa, and then eventually send a landing vehicle, Europa Lander, to drill through the ice and explore its ocean. But it all starts with electronics that can function in Europa's extreme environment.

Cressler and his students, together with researchers from NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) and the University of Tennessee (UT), demonstrated the capabilities of SiGe HBTs for this hostile environment in a paper presented at the IEEE Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference in July.

Europa's Challenge

Like Earth, Jupiter also has a liquid metal core that generates a magnetic field, producing radiation belts of high-energy protons and electrons from the impinging solar wind. Unfortunately, as a moon of Jupiter, Europa sits squarely in those radiation belts. In effect, any technology designed for Europa's surface would not only need to be able to survive the cold temperatures but also the worst radiation encountered in the solar system.

Fortunately, SiGe HBTs are ideal for this hostile environment. The SiGe HBT introduces a nanoscale Si-Ge alloy inside a typical bipolar transistor to nano-engineer its properties, effectively producing a much faster transistor while maintaining the economy-of-scale and low cost of traditional silicon transistors. SiGe HBTs have the unique ability to maintain performance under extreme radiation exposure, and their properties naturally improve at colder temperatures. Such a unique combination makes them ideal candidates for Europa exploration.

"It's not just doing the basic science and proving that SiGe works," Cressler said. "It's actually developing electronics for NASA to use on Europa. We know SiGe can survive high levels of radiation. And we know it's remains functional at cold temperatures. What we did not know is if it could do both at the same time, which is needed for Europa surface missions."

Testing the Transistors

To answer this question, the GT researchers used JPL's Dynamitron, a machine that shoots high-flux electrons at very low temperatures to test SiGe in Europa-type environments. They exposed SiGe HBTs to one million Volt electrons to a radiation dose of five million rads of radiation (200-400 rads is lethal to humans), at 300, 200, and 115 Kelvins (-160 Celsius).

"What had never been done was to use electronics like we did in that experiment," Cressler said. "So, we worked literally for the first year to get the results that are in that paper, which is in essence definitive proof that what we claimed is, in fact, truethat SiGe does survive Europa surface conditions."

In the next two years, the GT and UT researchers will develop actual circuits from SiGe that could be used on Europa, such as radios and microcontrollers. Yet more importantly, these devices could then be seamlessly used in almost any space environment, including on the moon and Mars.

"If Europa is the worst-case environment in the solar system, and you can build these to work on Europa, then they will work anywhere," Cressler said. "This research ties together past research that we have done in my team here at Georgia Tech for a long time and shows really interesting and novel applications of these technologies. We pride ourselves on using our research to break new innovative ground and thereby enable novel applications."

Explore further NASA spacecraft buzzes Jupiter moon Europa, closest in years

More information: Cryogenic Total-Ionizing-Dose Response of 4th-Generation SiGe HBTs using 1-MeV Electrons for Europa-Surface Applications, EEE Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference, July 2022.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, center, Defense Secretary Luis Crescencio Sandoval, left, and Navy Secretary Vidal Francisco Soberon walk through the Zocalo during the Independence Day military parade in Mexico City, Sept. 16, 2022. A massive trove of emails from Mexicos Defense Department is among electronic communications taken by a group of hackers from military and police agencies across several Latin American countries, Obrador confirmed Friday, Sept. 30. Credit: AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File

A massive trove of emails from Mexico's Defense Department is among electronic communications taken by a group of hackers from military and police agencies across several Latin American countries, Mexico's president confirmed Friday.

The acknowledgement by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador comes after Chile's government said last week that emails had been taken from its Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The Mexican president spoke at his daily news conference following a local media report that the hack revealed previously unknown details about a health scare he had in January.

Lopez Obrador downplayed the hack, saying that "there's nothing that isn't known." He said the intrusion apparently occurred during a change of Defense Department systems.

But Chile was so concerned by the breach to its own systems that it called its defense minister back from the United States last week where she was attending the United Nations General Assembly with President Gabriel Boric.

The 10 terabytes of data taken by the group also include emails from the militaries in El Salvador, Peru and Colombia, as well as El Salvador's National Police. The Mexico portion of the data appeared to be the largest.

A group of anonymous, self-described social justice warriors who call themselves Guacamaya say they use hacking to expose injustice and corruption in defense of Indigenous peoples. Hackers using the same name previously hacked and released the emails of a mining company long accused of human rights and environmental abuses in Guatemala.

In a statement accompanying the most recent action, the group complained of the plundering of Latin America, which it refers to as Abya Yala, by colonizers and the continuing extractivist goals of the "Global North."

The group issued a 1,400-word comunique saying that the militaries and police of Latin American countries, often with extensive training by the United States, are used by governments "to keep their inhabitants prisoner."

"The police minimize the risk that the people exercise their honorable right to protest, to destroy the system that oppresses them," the group wrote.

The group said it would make the documents available to journalists, but so far only a tiny portion has been reportedin part, perhaps, because of the sheer quantity of the data.

In an email exchange, the hackers said that their review of the Mexico emails so far indicated that much of the information was already publicly available and they doubted there were "explosive" emailspossibly because more sensitive communications were better protected.

But they said there was evidence of the military closely following political and social movements.

They said those include relatives of 43 students who were kidnapped by local police and allegedly handed over to be killed by a drug gang in 2014a case in which some military officers have been accused of involvementas well as the Zapatista rebel movement that staged a 1994 uprising in southern Mexico and groups opposed to Lopez Obrador's current effort to build a tourist train around the Yucatan Peninsula.

Rather than seeking monetary benefit or ransom for compromising government information systems through a cyberattack, Guacamaya appears to be more of a "hacktivist" hack-and-leak operation with social justice goals.

Lopez Obrador was responding to a television report by Mexican journalist Carlos Loret de Mola who said among the hacked emails were medical records about the president, including a previously undisclosed emergency air flight to the capital from his ranch in January, when he was suffering serious chest pains and at risk of a heart attack.

Later that month he underwent a heart catheterization, which was made public, but at the time was described as the result of a routine examination. Lopez Obrador suffered a heart attack in 2013 and has high blood pressure.

The 68-year-old president noted at his news conference that he suffers from a number of ailments and undergoes checkups every few months.

Explore further Cyberattack reveals Mexico president's health scare

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Texas A&M Universitys Hagler Institute for Advanced Study announced 14 Hagler fellows and one distinguished lecturer for its 2022-23 class at a recent reception at the Memorial Student Center.

This is the 11th Hagler fellows class. It includes internationally recognized scientists, engineers and scholars.

The Hagler Institute for Advanced Study was established in 2010 to attract scholars for year-long appointments across A&M campuses, institutes and agencies.

The Hagler Institute has established a track record of attracting some of the worlds greatest academic talent to Texas A&M, John L. Junkins, founding director of the Hagler Institute, said in a release. Each of these individuals has made a difference in the world and they will bring their energies to making a difference on our campus.

The Hagler Institutes fellows and their areas of expertise, according to the A&M release:

Guy Bertrand, distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California-San Diego. Bertrand discovered the stable carbenes-divalent carbon species and will work with A&Ms College of Arts & Sciences.

Hui Cao, professor of applied physics at Yale University. Cao has been recognized for her work in fundamental physics and how it applies to complex systems. She will work with researchers in the Institute of Quantum Science and Engineering.

John Michael Cullen, distinguished professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University. Cullen is a specialist in veterinary pathology and liver toxicologic pathology. He will work with A&Ms School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences and the A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory.

Odile Eisenstein, of the University of Montpellier in France, and Hylleraas Center for Quantum Molecular Science, University of Oslo in Norway. Eisenstein is known for her computational studies of structure, bounding and reactivity in inorganic and organometallic chemistry. She will work with the College of Arts & Sciences, the Laboratory of Molecular Simulation, High Performance Research Computing and Advanced Computing Enablement.

Dimitar Filev, a Henry Ford technical fellow at the Ford Research and Innovation Center. Filev is known for his work in computational intelligence, artificial intelligence and intelligent control and how they apply to automotive engineering. He will work in A&Ms College of Engineering and other parts of the university.

Howard Frumkin, senior vice president for the Trust for Public Land and professor emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Sciences at the University of Washingtons School of Public Health. Frumkin is a researcher in planetary health and environmental health. He will work with A&Ms School of Public Health.

Sebastian Bas Jonkman, professor and holder of the Integral Hydraulic Engineering Chair at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Jonkman is recognized as an expert on hydraulic structures and flood risk. He will work with the A&M Galveston campus and the Institute for a Disaster Resilient Texas.

Mark OMalley, professor of power systems at Imperial College in London. OMalley is known as an expert on integrating wind energy systems into smart grids. He will work with A&Ms College of Engineering.

Lawrence Que Jr., regents professor at the University of Minnesota. Que is recognized for his work with how non-heme iron centers activate oxygen to carry out metabolically important reactions. He will work with A&Ms College of Arts & Sciences and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Jean-Paul Rodrigue, professor in the Department of Global Studies and Geography at Hofstra University. Rodrigue is a transportation geographer. He will work with A&M-Galveston and in A&Ms College of Engineering.

Donald L. Sparks, professor and holder of the S. Hallock du Pont Chair in Soil and Environmental Chemistry at the University of Delaware. Sparks work is in soil science, geochemistry, environmental chemistry and environmental engineering. He will work with A&Ms College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Madhavi Sunder, professor of intellectual property at Georgetowns Law Center. Sunder is known for her work in copyright, technology and trademark law. She will work with A&Ms School of Law and the College of Arts & Sciences.

Michael Young, professor and head of the Laboratory of Genetics at Rockefeller University. Young was awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with two colleagues for findings in molecular mechanisms that control circadian rhythms. He will work with A&Ms College of Arts & Sciences and other university areas.

David Zilberman, professor and holder of the Robinson Chair in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California-Berkeley. Zilberman has been recognized for work in agricultural and environmental policy; and water, biotechnology and climate change. He will work with A&Ms College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and other university areas.

The Hagler distinguished lecturer for 2022-23 is Catherine Dulac, professor of molecular and cellular biology and professor of arts and sciences at Harvard University. According to the A&M release, Dulacs studies include the molecular biology of pheromone detection and signaling in mammals; the neural mechanisms underlying age-, species-, and sex-specific behaviors; and how genomic imprinting affects the brain. Dulac will work with A&Ms College of Arts & Science, the School of Medicine and the School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences.
NEW ORLEANS  A divided federal appeals court has ruled that a Texas judge may start the day with prayer, overturning a district court decision.

Judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans split 2-1 in opinions handed down Thursday, reversing a ruling made without a trial by U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt.

Montgomery County Justice of the Peace Wayne Mack doesnt force anyone to attend the prayers before court formally opens, Judge Jerry E. Smith wrote for himself and Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt.

Mack takes great pains to convince attendees that they need not watch the ceremony  and that doing so will not affect their cases, he wrote.

Judge E. Grady Jolly responded, For the majority to find that there is no evidence of coercion, suggests, in my opinion, willful blindness and indisputable error.

He noted that Mack is a Pentecostal minister who made a campaign promise to establish prayer in his courtroom. He has previously criticized opponents of his prayer ceremony and has acted hostile following a litigants noncooperation in the prayer, Jolly wrote.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation sued Mack in 2017 for itself and an anonymous lawyer who said he attended the sessions out of fear that not doing so would hurt his clients.

A courtroom is not a church, and a judges bench should not be a pulpit, the foundations co-president, Annie Laurie Gaylor, said in a news release Friday. This is a dishonest decision, both in claiming a tradition of courtroom prayer and in denying that it is coercive.

Two people who made sworn statements against Mack included an attorney who said he stayed out of the courtroom during the prayer and Mack gave him the bare minimum to which he was entitled in evicting a tenant. The other was a criminal defendant who said Mack tried to raise the fine in her plea agreement because she showed apathy during the prayer.

But, the majority said, neither proved bias.

One got the precise penalty for which she plea-bargained, and the other won the eviction he sought. They offer nothing more than the subjective perception that Mack disliked them, Smith wrote.
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Central City students are learning history through family lineage.

When you walk inside the elementary school you will immediately see the Wall of Honor, which is full of photos and details about military service men and women who have ties to people at the school, whether it is students or faculty.

The wall is divided by military branch, Navy, Army, Air Force, and Marines, including reserves. So far, no Coast Guard members have been turned in to be posted.

The Wall of Honor is the brainchild of Patricia Hopkins, a paraeducator at the school. Hopkins said the wall is on its 12th year.

We did this in a previous school I worked at 13 years ago and I brought the idea with me, said Hopkins. I asked the administration about doing it and they said it was OK.

Currently the wall honors 178 veterans and active service members. The most we have ever had is around 213 photos, said Hopkins.

Hopkins said she and other staff members use the wall as a way to teach history and what being a veteran or military service person means.

I want them to learn to appreciate our veterans and understand they sacrifice a lot for our country, she said.

So are students enjoying the wall? Yes.

The kids will take their parents or grandparents over and show them photos on the wall, said Hopkins.

Hopkins also let the students help put the photos on the wall to feel a part of something special. One such student, fourth-grader Bentley Lavene, is happy to show off photos of his family members on the wall.

Lavene said he likes seeing the photos of his family members, and appreciates being a part of the creation of the tribute.

I can honor them and feel great about myself, said Lavene. So when I see them (the veterans) I can tell them thank you for their service.

Lavene said he and other students discuss what the photos on the wall mean.

I ask them what is this all about,  he said. They (the other kids) say its about we honor our veterans and how they served in the Army in wars, and I tell them, yep, thats what it is.

Lavenes younger sister Aubrey, a second-grader at the school, said she too loves seeing their family members on the wall.

It means they are my favorite, she said.

Fourth-grader Ian Cress said even though he doesnt have any relatives honored on the wall, he is happy to be a part of the creation and appreciates those who are featured.

All these people helped fight and help make this a better place, said Cress.

Ians brother Noah Cress said his favorite part of the wall is the guns.

They can shoot, and make noises that kind of sound like fireworks, he said. He helped with the sticky tack and putting up the stars on the wall.

Noah pointed out the Civil War veteran photo and said he liked the guys sword.

The photos will be reused year to year as long as one family member is still going to school there. Hopkins said when the kids get older and move on to middle school, the photos go with them.

When kids leave and go to middle school they take (the photos) with them, or if they move away, I take them down so we start over, she said.

The photos are not only a picture and a name, but branch, rank and years they served, which Hopkins said is not only important to share, but a lot of work to gather.

I am very particular on having the entire veteran or military service members info besides just having a photo, she said.

The oldest photo on the wall dates back to the Civil War veteran, which was brought in by a family about seven years ago who still have children that attend the school.

Not only are the military members on the walls, but there are signs naming every war or conflict the United States has been involved in. Hopkins said it was important to get all the info on there.

Hopkins herself has some photos on the wall of her husband, an Army veteran, and her two sons and a daughter-in-law who are in the military. She also has a few more family members represented.

Hopkins said the wall will remain up through Veterans Day and will be taken down after Thanksgiving.
Spectators by the hundreds came downtown Saturday to enjoy this years Harvest of Harmony parade by Grand Island Area Chamber of Commerce.

Both sides of Third Street were densely packed with people celebrating the annual event and watching as more than 200 entries passed by, including elaborate floats, distinguished guests and sponsors waving from cars or on foot, and many marching bands.

Judi Nelson served as this years grand marshal.

Nelson has been involved with the Harvest of Harmony Alumni Band for more than 25 years, and marched in her final parade as Alumni Band director in 2021.

With a bit of a laugh, Nelson described sitting atop a car in an honorary sash as strange.

Im honored, she said. Ive lead the band for a lot of years. This is a little different.

Nelson was followed as grand marshal by the Harvest of Harmony Alumni Band.

Leading the parade was Grand Island Professional Firefighters Local 657.

With them, they carried high a U.S. flag so large it was supported by four men at the front.

Its a great tradition, said GIFD Capt. Justin Ferris. Weve been doing this for about 10 years now. Its just fun to kick off this parade, carrying the big American flag, and we really enjoy it.

Grand Island Mayor Roger Steele followed the Harvest of Harmony Alumni Band, waving to the enthusiastic crowds.

Steele described this years parade as awesome.

The weather is perfect, and there is just an amazing lineup of bands and floats. I think its one of the biggest parades ever, said Steele. Ive seen people gathering. I think everyones excited. Its just a wonderful celebration of Grand Island and Nebraska.

Century 21 Realty was the sponsor for this years parade.

Realtor Zachary Zoul called it an honor to be among the events participants.

The Harvest of Harmony is a great tradition for Grand Island and Central Nebraska. Decades of celebrating our community and our states, said Zoul. Its an opportunity for us to showcase what our real estate firm is all about and the services we can offer. Its a way for us to support the community and support the event.

He added, Were proud to be a part of it.

The events theme this year was Marching Through the Decades, 80 Years of Music.

The theme was chosen to represent Nebraska through the decades, including the past 80 years of the Harvest of Harmony parade and the communitys 150th birthday.

CHI Health St. Francis had an anniversary to celebrate, as well. Staff waved from atop a remarkable float adorned with photos and the large numbers 135.

The project was fun to put together, said Amber Sorgen, a registered nurse with CHI Healths Inpatient Rehab Unit.

St. Francis has participated in the parade every year, said Sorgen. This is also our 135th year, and Grand Islands 150th year, so weve got the 135 for us, and weve got the 80 and the 150 on there also.

The parade started on Fourth Street at 8:15 a.m., headed south on the newly reopened Eddy Street underpass, and headed west onto downtowns Third Street.

This years parade included 96 marching bands, including three college bands, 97 float entries and 18 pageant contestants.

Following the parade, 28 of the bands performed at the Harvest of Harmony field competition, which was held at Grand Island Senior Highs Memorial Stadium.
 Flash

At least 19 people have been killed in the "terrorist" attack on a police station in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan on Friday, the provincial governor Hossein Modarres Khiabani said.

In the day, "some rioters who belong to terrorist and separatist groups, and whose identities are known, attacked a police station in the guise of Friday prayers, and threw stones and flammable materials, and shot in order to seize" the police station, the official IRNA news agency quoted Modarres Khiabani as saying.

In this incident in the provincial capital Zahedan, 19 people lost their lives and 20 others were injured, including members of the police forces, he said.

The attackers also set fire to other public property including chain stores, and vandalized banks and government centers, he noted.

The military and police force gave a decisive response to the attackers and the confrontation continued until the arrest of all of them, he said, adding that his province now is calm.

Following the attack on the police station, an armed group gathered near a mosque and started shooting, and the commander of the intelligence unit of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps in Sistan and Baluchestan Ali Mousavi has been killed in clashes, Press TV reported.




DANNEBROG  With Roger Welschs death on Friday, Central Nebraska  and the state as a whole  lost a giant.

His passing leaves a hole in our hearts, said Gale Pemberton, a longtime friend who now lives in St. Paul. I dont even know where to start. His passion for Nebraska and the Pawnee was immeasurable.

Pemberton and her late wife, Peggy Lang (who passed away in 2018), first got to know Welsch when he was in the process of opening the Pawnee Arts Center in Dannebrog in 2010.

When the couple read an article saying Welsch had gifted his land back to the Pawnee, it piqued their interest. Then a Dannebrog storefront was also gifted to the Pawnee.

In a 2013 interview with The Independent, Lang explained how the idea of making the empty building into an arts center originated when it rained on a powwow in Kearney. A Pawnee artist needed somewhere to store his paintings to dry out, and Welsch told him about the building in Dannebrog.

Any activity in an empty storefront is bound to attract attention in a small town, and soon people started coming by for a look and asking if the paintings were for sale.

Even before it was officially opened as the Pawnee Arts Center, Pemberton and Lang were bugging Welsch to let them help.

We kept volunteering to go down to Oklahoma and pick up more art, Pemberton said at the time, adding she thought Welsch didnt believe they would travel such a distance.

In addition to helping secure art from Native artists, Pemberton also helped Welsch plan programs for the center.

He wanted the center to be as authentic as possible, she said, nothing Hollywood. He spent a lot of time doing research, looking for books  especially for children  and they were wonderful.

Besides paintings, the center sold jewelry, craft items and books made by and about Native Americans of nearly every tribe.

Great place to grow and learn

The arts center was a great place to grow and learn about other cultures, said Jean Lukesh, an author and retired educator who lives near Palmer.

She also worked with Welsch at center (she presented programs there), but met him several decades earlier.

Lukesh, who has written numerous books focusing on Nebraska history, including a widely used textbook for middle school students, said she cant remember a time I didnt know him.

Born in Lincoln, she was aware of who he was when he was teaching at Nebraska Wesleyan or the University of Nebraska. Then she moved to Grand Island and everybody was talking about him.

But it was when she got involved with the Nebraska Writers Guild in the 1970s that she first met him.

He would come to meetings to give talks about Willa Cather, folklore and Native Americans, and I would think I want to do that.

One of the great things about Welsch, Lukesh said, was bringing people together to work on various projects.

If he knew two people he thought needed to get together, he made sure it happened.

And thats how Lukesh met Ronnie OBrien, who was serving as the education director at the Archway in Kearney at the time.

OBrien, who lives south of Shelton and teaches at Central Community College-Hastings, was looking at starting a pow-wow in Kearney and Welsch came by the Archway.

Honestly, I was a little nervous, OBrien said about that initial meeting. But that soon passed and it wasnt long before the two were in constant email contact.

Successful project

OBrien has been working since the early 2000s to reestablish corn varieties the Pawnee grew in this area. Some varieties were down to a few kernels in a jar. Over the years, the project has seen much success.

We both knew the things we were doing together were important. OBrien said of her work with Welsch. There was a greater cause. The work was greater than the individual task.

Ive often wondered why I was worth his time, why he spent so much time teaching me. But Ive often thought that if someone like him thought I could do something, there was no way I was going to let him down.

Since meeting through Welsch, Lukesh and OBrien have collaborated on several projects.

Both said they benefited greatly from his mentorship.

He helped me so much with research for my books, Lukesh said. He taught me so much about the Pawnee. And the more I got involved, the more I loved the Pawnee people.

Culture or color doesnt matter. We are all one people.

I am a different person because of him, OBrien said. He was always making people better, whether in a classroom as a professor, or just doing everyday stuff.

Positive Postcards

But it wasnt just his mentorship or his work with the Pawnee that people should remember. Both Lukesh and Pemberton, along with Dannebrog resident Lori Larsen, praise Welsch for the positive attention he brought to his home state via his Postcards from Nebraska segments on CBS Sunday Morning.

Pemberton recalled that not too long after she moved to Dannebrog and she was working at the local drive-in, a family came in  from several states away  just to see if Dannebrog was a real place.

They had watched his Postcard segments, and couldnt really believe this place existed, she said. They thought it would be like Garrison Keillors (fictional) Lake Wobegon. They were thrilled to find out it was real.

Lukesh shared a similar story.

I know of visitors to the area who go to Dannebrog just on the off chance theyll run into Rog, she said. They take pictures of his house.

Those visitors also got to know him via Postcards.

And then there is this story from Larsen:

He (Welsch) got a letter simply addressed to Guy in overalls from Nebraska. Thats it. Somehow it made its way to the post office in Dannebrog and was delivered to Roger. And it was from someone who had seen him on TV.

Future unknown

Sadly, the Pawnee Arts Center was a victim of the floods that ravished the small Howard County community in March 2019.

It broke his heart when it couldnt be reopened, Lukesh said. He tried to save what was inside during the floods, but lost a lot of the stuff.

When it went down it broke a lot of hearts. It was a special place and a special time. Things changed after the floods. It was a grounding place, it was like losing your home.

As a community volunteer and member of the village board, Larsen has been working with FEMA and the Pawnee Nation since 2019 to repair the building. It has been brought back to where it can be reopened, but its future is unknown for now.

That remains to be seen, Larsen said.

Final thoughts

Storyteller. Activist. Mentor. Humorist. Icon.

Those are just a few of the words Pemberton, Lukesh, OBrien and Larsen used to describe Welsch.

He was one-of-a kind, Pemberton said. There will never be another like him. He could turn the most ordinary event into a great story.

He could tell the most amazing stories, Lukesh added. He was a great humorist. Hes legendary. Hes an icon.

He was a terrific communicator, OBrien said. He wrote so many books, teaching classes, writing for magazines. He always had something going on.

He was an activist in that he was active, and he got things done. He would tell you things you needed to hear. And he would do the right thing, even if it could be detrimental to him. He was a mentor for so many people. The information he could pull off the top of his head was incredible.

He has impacted more people than he will ever know. One of the people we are thankful for being in our lives.

And Larson summed it up like this:

Its good he was who he was, because his stories will live on forever. His life here on earth may have ended, but it will go on for generations and generations.
Hurricane Ian dominated news cycles for much of the week. After forming and eventually leaving Cuba without power after slamming the island, the Category 4 storm became one of the strongest ever to hit the U.S.

As of this recording on Friday morning, the storm had killed at least six people in Florida and was tracking north toward Charleston, South Carolina.

For historical context, we take a look at how the storm progressed through the week.

By Tuesday morning, Ian had intensified into a Category 3. In the afternoon, concerns grew that the storm would continue to intensify. More than one million people in Cuba were left without electricity.

On Wednesday morning, Ians winds were reaching 155 mph and the region around Tampa, Florida, was bracing for a direct hit. By the afternoon, the storms eyewall had reached Florida and more than 2.5 million people were told to evacuate.

By Thursday morning, Ian had been downgraded to a tropical storm as the state dealt with the destruction. Meteorologists also warned that the storm could intensify once again.

On Friday, Ian was once again a Category 1 storm and tracking north along the Atlantic Coast.

There were several stories of note related to Capitol riots of Jan. 6, 2021. A trial began for the founder of the Oath Keepers and four associates. In separate trials, a rioter received a 7-year sentence and another was convicted. Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, spoke with the House committee investigating the events of the day.

In other national news, President Joe Biden had an embarrassing moment during a press conference. Sirhan Sirhan, who assassinated Robert F. Kennedy, asked for his release. A gunmaker is being sued over a July 4 parade shooting. And students in Virginia protested transgender policies.

In science, health and technology news, NASA rammed an asteroid. Pumpkin farmers are adapting to changing conditions. Nightly newscasts are morphing due to streaming habits. And teens are seeking out birth control following the Supreme Courts abortion ruling.

In economic news, consumers have been gaining confidence as gas prices have fallen. Fewer people applied for unemployment benefits. The White House wants airlines to show more details about prices on plane tickets. Apple is shifting iPhone production and Amazon plans another Prime Day.

And in international news, Russia annexed four regions of Ukraine on Friday. Edward Snowden was granted Russian citizenship. Patrol boats spotted Chinese and Russian naval ships off the coast of Alaska.

 Compiled and narrated by Terry Lipshetz from Associated Press reports
The School of Education at Southern Illinois University Carbondale is focused on addressing a statewide teacher shortage crisis and regional students pandemic related learning loss.

Tutoring

Faculty members are preparing students and community members to work as tutors for area students in grades 3 through 8. This work is supported by grant funding from the Illinois Governors Office as well as support from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), the Illinois Board of Higher Education, and an alliance with Illinois State University and other Illinois public universities and community colleges. Paid tutors work a few hours each week tutoring students in reading and math during after-school hours  helping them to catch up and stay at grade level achievement.

Teacher shortage

Every child deserves a well-prepared, highly qualified teacher in the classroom. The Illinois State Board of Education reports more than 2,100 current teacher vacancies affecting nearly every Illinois public school district. All of our teacher candidates are finding employment in schools through Southern Illinois and around the state  in some cases, before they graduate!

Educator Rising clubs

The more challenging task is to recruit young people into the teaching profession. To attract high school students to teaching, SIUs School of Education has rolled out several initiatives. For example, we are collaborating with several area high schools to support Educator Rising clubs for students interested in teaching careers. Through these clubs, high school students can assess their strengths and learn about the teaching profession, student characteristics at different grade levels, classroom management practices, school organization and community support.

Teacher residency program

We are also creating novel opportunities for preparation and development as our teacher candidates acquire necessary skills and knowledge for teaching. An ISBE grant is funding a full-time teacher residency program quite similar to a medical residency. Guided by both a teacher mentor and a community mentor, teacher residents will teach in a school for a full academic year and receive financial compensation up to $15,000. We are partnering with school districts in Cairo, Carbondale, Meridian and Murphysboro in initiating the residency program. Some of these residents will complete their college degree in three rather than four years  launching our students into the teaching profession and saving them time and money.

The faculty and staff of the School of Education remain excited about strengthening the important partnerships we have with school districts throughout Southern Illinois. Remaining true to our historical roots as a state teachers college, we continue the important work of preparing the next generation of teachers and providing professional growth opportunities for teachers and school administrators.
SPRINGFIELD  Gov. J.B. Pritzker is considering changes to the SAFE-T Act criminal justice reform to clarify provisions related to the end of cash bail in Illinois, while his Republican challenger, state Sen. Darren Bailey, continues to push for a full repeal.

The candidates shared their thoughts Friday on those and other issues during a virtual forum organized by the Illinois Associated Press Media Editors. Questioners included representatives of Shaw Media, the Daily Herald in Arlington Heights, the Springfield State Journal-Register and Capitol News Illinois.

Pritzker has frequently stated he believes cash bail must end in favor of a system that prioritizes an accused persons risk of reoffending or fleeing prosecution, and the SAFE-T Act does so. But nearly all the states prosecutors have warned that the system replacing the current pretrial detention language is too limiting for judges.

Inaccurate claims surrounding the SAFE-T Act have been rampant, with Bailey stating Friday he believed the intent of it was to let people who are being held in lieu of bail out of jail once it takes effect. Nothing in the law says that will happen, although an Illinois Supreme Court task force has encouraged lawmakers to clarify language regarding what happens Jan. 1.

And so there are proposals that have been made to make clarifications in the law to make sure that people understand very well that, no, this law does not create non-detainable offenses. And that, no, people are not going to be let out of jail on Jan. 1  thats not what the law does, Pritzker said.

The governor stopped short of endorsing a bill that would make changes to the SAFE-T Act that was filed last week by Champaign Democrat Scott Bennett, a former prosecutor. But he said it contains simple to understand clarifying language. Bennetts bill, among other things, would clarify that the end of cash bail applies to those arrested after Jan. 1, 2023.

I haven't gone through every provision that he has proposed, but I know that Senator Bennett, who was a prosecutor, a Democrat from Champaign and Vermillion counties, is somebody who is very careful in the way he approaches issues like this and I'm always open to working with people who are rational and reasonable in their proposals, he said.

But lawmakers arent scheduled to return to the Capitol until Nov. 15, a week after Election Day.

Bailey, a farmer from downstate Xenia, said hed like to see the governor call a special session ahead of the election to consider SAFE-T Act changes. But he hasnt proposed any in bill form, and he said hed favor a full repeal. He pointed to several endorsements from law enforcement groups.

So if I were governor right now, and if I were sitting here and people across this state were as concerned as they are about their safety, Id call a special session right now . Bailey said. It's an election year, Gov. Pritzker. You've got a perfect opportunity to have a little political ploy here. Call session back in and let's talk and let's come up with solutions.

Baileys opening remarks focused on public safety, lamenting the volume of shootings in the city of Chicago. He said law and orders out of control, and hed bring back hope for Illinoisans by addressing it.

We're going to do that by restoring education, he said. Our schools have been decimated the last four years. And we're going to do that by allowing men and women to thrive and work and raise their families here in Illinois like they were once able to do and that's no longer the case.

His public safety agenda doesnt include gun regulation. He reiterated that he wants the state Firearm Owners Identification Act repealed, calling the ID cards a money grab.

Illinois has the most restrictive gun laws in the nation. The problem is those laws aren't being honored and they're not being followed, Bailey said.

Pritzker countered that the FOID law gives Illinois more background check authority than does federal law. He also argued in favor of banning assault-style rifles both statewide and nationally.

That should not be legal in the state of Illinois. It shouldn't be legal nationally, he said of the rifles. There's no reason that someone needs an assault weapon. It doesn't have a sporting use. It doesn't have a defense use.

Pritzker criticized Bailey as a Trump extremist in his opening remarks while also focusing on his record of paying down state debt, increasing education spending, erasing a bill backlog, raising the minimum wage and protecting abortion rights.

He touted a $1.8 billion tax relief plan that will send direct payments to most Illinoisans, eliminate a state grocery tax for a year, put off a gas tax increase until next year and expand the states earned income tax credit.

Its a proposal Bailey supported despite voting against the general budget framework every year he has been in office since 2019. He contended that Illinois hasnt had a balanced budget in 30 years, criticizing Pritzker for growing state spending during his term.

Bailey contended the 2019 operating budget was $34 billion, although records from the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability show Illinois took in base revenues around $39 billion in Fiscal Year 2019, topping $40 billion with treasurer investments and interfund borrowing.

State spending grew to $46.5 billion in the current operating budget, Fiscal Year 2023.

Bailey didnt identify planned budget cuts but repeated his intent to install a new budgeting method to give more scrutiny to year-over-year spending.

My administration will enact a zero-based budget where we will place knowledgeable, honorable, hardworking men and women as agency heads and they will begin to go to work with the zero-based budget and they will account for every dollar that's going to be spent, Bailey said.

Bailey, who has the endorsements of the states anti-abortion groups, has been one of Illinois staunchest anti-abortion lawmakers. But he didnt answer whether hed sign a ban on the procedure.

Illinois has the most permissive abortion rights in the nation, he said. Women's rights are well protected here. Nothing's changing. I couldn't change them on my own if I wanted to. Gov. Pritzker stays up at night and tries to think of new rights.

He criticized a law repealing a requirement that parents of minors seeking an abortion be notified and accused Pritzker of fearmongering before pivoting back to public safety.

Pritzker said lawmakers continue to have working group discussions as to what new laws can be implemented to protect those rights, with some guidance from him.

I'm focused and dedicated on preserving a woman's right to choose and making sure that Illinois is a safe haven for people who seek to exercise what I think are basic constitutional rights over their own bodies, he said.

Bailey, who has passed two bills in the General Assembly since 2019, blamed that on the partisan makeup of the General Assembly and said as governor communication and cooperation will be the key to my administration. He also said Illinois has too many bills being filed and too many laws.

Pritzker countered by pointing to the bipartisan accomplishments of his administration, including his first budget, the legalization of recreational marijuana and a $45 billion infrastructure plan that funded road, bridge, building and other projects across the state. It did so in part by doubling the motor fuel tax and expanding gambling.

He also cited the infrastructure bill when asked how his administration prioritizes downstate communities. Bailey, he pointed out, voted against that plan. Pritzker specifically mentioned Shawneetown and Cairo port projects and a casino at the Walkers Bluff resort, which he said will be major employers in southern Illinois.

Bailey, who has frequently referred to Chicago as a hellhole, said he considers himself a voice for the rest of Illinois, criticizing one-size-fits-all legislation, citing the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act which he said was detrimental to downstate coal and gas plants, as well as consumer energy bills.

Pritzker defended CEJA as a measure allowing the state to put new renewable energy on the grid while keeping nuclear plants open and at least partially addressing climate change, which has driven more frequent severe flooding events and been detrimental to downstate farmers.
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Beta Zeta Omega Chapter, in collaboration with Beta Sigma and Gamma Nu Undergraduate Chapters of South Carolina State University and Claflin University, respectively, continue to be of service to mankind by Soaring to Greater Heights of Service and Sisterhood.

On Sept. 13, the Senior Citizens Day Committee, one of the sororitys special program committees, partnered again with the Orangeburg County Council on Aging to sponsor and celebrate Senior Citizens Day.

The goal of the Senior Citizens Day Committee is to assist and work with senior citizens in the local communities by planning and implementing a senior citizens special activity that observes Senior Citizens Month and Grandparents Sunday.

Beta Zeta Omega, Beta Sigma and Gamma Nu Chapters delivered 80 senior citizens care bags to the Orangeburg County Council on Aging.

While on site, they participated and presented a mini program which included greetings, prayer, the poem Growing Old, a senior citizens song (in the tune of My Favorite Things), a stroll and the distribution of 45 bags to seniors in attendance.

The second distribution of 35 bags took place on Friday morning, Sept. 16, during the Meals on Wheels home deliveries to seniors in the various Orangeburg County communities.

The bags consisted of paper towels, note pads, hand sanitizers, gloves, masks, bottled water, toilet paper, Lance cheese snacks and mints.

Additionally, there were bags of resource materials and items from the Regional Medical Centers Outreach Program, Family Health Centers, Inc. and the Orangeburg Countys Sheriff Office.

Each resident also received BINGO gifts with special COVID BINGO cards attached. These gifts were purchased and given by the undergraduate members of Beta Sigma and Gamma Nu Chapters. Guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were followed.

Orangeburg County Council on Agings focus is to provide programs and services to promote the well-being of aging persons living in Orangeburg County.

The agency works hard to help the elderly maintain their independence, function to the best of their ability and acquaint the community with the needs and potential of its older citizens.

National Senior Citizens Day dates back to 1988 and is a day to recognize the achievements of the more mature representatives of our nation.

President Ronald Reagan realized the importance of older adults in society and decided to honor them. He signed proclamation 5847 and declared Aug. 21 as National Senior Citizens Day.

The celebration took place for the first time in 1991 in the United States.

Today, seniors are still active in their communities as well as continuing to have a strong presence in the workforce. For all they do and have achieved for the good of their communities, senior citizens deserve our thanks.

According to the U. S. Census Bureau, approximately 78 million people 65 and older will reside in America by 2035. This figure will surpass the population under the age of 18 for the first time in the nations history.

Grandparents Day is an official National holiday, signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1978 and is celebrated on the first Sunday after Labor Day, which fell on Sept. 11 this year.

The roots of Grandparents Day go back to 1956 and a West Virginia mother named Marian McQuade. While helping to organize a community celebration for those over 80, she became aware of the many nursing home residents who were forgotten by their families. She wanted the holiday to bring attention to these individuals and to honor all grandparents.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, founded in 1908, is the oldest Black female sorority. Mrs. Barbara Elliott-Kirkland serves as President of Beta Zeta Omega Chapter.
AFTON  A couple minutes into Michael Horns remarks Tuesday night, he interrupted himself and apologized for shaking, both voice and body.

The topic was the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys proposed reclassification of Aftons drinking water, and it was a lot for the local resident to handle, he said. Horn was particularly displeased that the federal agency undermined the will of local residents and the assertions of town and state officials that the towns unique water source  North Americas only coldwater geyser  is perfectly safe.

This process that youve deployed here doesnt reflect that this is a democracy, Horn told EPA staffers Erin Agee, Jade Rutland and Darcy OConnor, who listened from behind a table on stage. In lieu of that, what youre proposing is an $11 million facility.

I hope that youll consider being more interdependent with us, learning from us, and learning with our science that weve collected over 60 years, he said.

The couple hundred residents scattered throughout the Star Valley High Schools auditorium erupted into applause and cheer, a reception all of the roughly three dozen residents who spoke received. They were uniformly opposed to the EPAs preliminary determination, which reclassifies Aftons water source, the Periodic Spring, from groundwater to groundwater under the influence of surface water.

Thats a big change.

Currently, Afton pipes up to 5 million gallons of water daily from the mouth of Periodic Spring, adds chlorine and sends it on its way to faucets and spigots used by the Lincoln County town of about 2,200 residents. Thats an inadequate level of treatment under federal regulations if a drinking water source is influenced by surface water, said Lisa Kahn, an EPA drinking water supervisor whod traveled to the Afton hearing from Denver with her Region 8 cohorts. Earlier in the evening she explained to the crowd assembled why that is.

A surface water influence makes that water source vulnerable to contamination  pathogens that live in the surface water like giardia and cryptosporidium, Kahn said. No one drinks water directly from a river or from a lake because you know that theres harmful pathogens  and you could get sick.

Its unknown exactly where water soaks into the ground on its way to the Periodic Springs opening, a tourist attraction up Swift Creek Canyon which seasonally pulses up to 100 cubic feet of water per second for 18 minutes at a time. But researchers believe that this recharge area is roughly four miles east of the springs mouth, at between 9,000 and 10,500 feet in elevation in the Bridger-Teton National Forests Salt River Range. Based on seasonal fluctuations in flow, turbidity and temperature, and the regions karst channeled and funneled geology, EPA officials surmise that it takes only a few weeks from absorption to discharge.

It looks like its [the current] years snowmelt thats coming through the mountain and discharging at the spring, EPA surface water treatment rule manager Jake Crosby told WyoFile. Anything in the snow, if it was running through the mountain that rapidly, is probably not getting filtered out.

Issues have sprung up occasionally over the decades Afton has drawn from Periodic Spring, which was connected to the municipalitys water system via a pipe in late 1950s. In the early 2000s, E. coli was detected in the water system and boil orders were issued.

More generally, Star Valley has struggled with reining in fecal bacteria pollution from domestic sheep and cattle production. Its main drainage, the Salt River, which Periodic Spring flows into via Swift Creek, was classified as impaired from E. coli until 2015.

There have also been issues with turbidity  a quality often tied to snowmelt  in the spring water flowing into Aftons drinking water system. In 2007 there was an eight-day stretch where the outflow tested exceptionally high, up to 790 turbidity units, Kahn told the auditorium, adding that typical groundwater has less than a single turbidity unit.

A 2021 analysis for microscopic particulate matter was the nail in the coffin for Aftons status quo water classification. An EPA contractor found the water was at high risk of surface water influence, evidenced by green algae  which needs sunlight to grow and exist  detected in the sample.

While residents, Afton town officials and employees from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality were resistant to the EPAs conclusions, all parties underscored their own concern for drinking water safety. Some locals cherished their water and felt there are currently appropriate safeguards in place.

Afton resident Margaret Tueller pointed out that the town transitioned to using 100% well water, which ordinarily supplements the spring in summers, during the 2007 turbidity event, a plan that the EPA approved.

Did anyone get sick from drinking that? The answer is no, Tueller said.

This is a solution looking for a problem, she added. For 63 years  since October 12, 1959  the water coming from the intermittent spring has been a treasure to Afton residents. We love our ice-cold, sparkling, clean, wonderful-tasting water and we dont want anything to happen to it.

If the EPAs determination sticks, there are two paths Afton can take to remedy the situation. The town, which operates on a roughly $4.6 million annual budget, could come up with $12 to $14 million for a filtration and disinfection treatment plant. The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which gives Wyoming an estimated $335 million for water infrastructure, is one potential funding source Afton could draw from, Kahn said.

Second, the town could pursue a watershed control program that guards against human-related cryptosporidium and giardia contamination. This latter path is an unlikely solution, however, because of snowmelt-related turbidity issues that cannot be controlled, EPAs Crosby told WyoFile.

We arent sure if they can meet that [turbidity] criteria, he said.

The town of Afton requested the public hearing, which isnt required of the EPA when reclassifying public water systems to groundwater under the influence of surface water.

A dozen or so Wyoming public water systems have gone through the same reclassification in recent history, Crosby said. He recollected several off the top of his head, including the Madison Campground in Yellowstone National Park; the town of Cokevilles water well; and Star Valleys Happy Valley Pipeline.

The level of resistance in Afton is unusual, and Kahn, the EPAs regional drinking water supervisor, said she understands the towns frustrations. Nobody wants their water to be classified as surface water-influenced, she said, and she recognized its a big deal to install filtration.

That frustration has boiled over and reached Wyomings upper political echelons. Within hours of the EPAs announcement on Sept. 23, U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney and U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis broadcast a joint letter backing Afton and the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, which studied and made its own judgment that the reclassification isnt warranted. The EPAs determination, they wrote, is putting at risk other spring-fed water systems throughout the state.

Jennifer Zygmunt, the DEQs Water Quality Division administrator, told the EPA in her hearing remarks that there was fundamental disagreement between state and federal officials interpretation of data. In a June 2022 document, the EPA responded to those disagreements with the state of Wyoming point by point over 23 pages.

There are indications that the fight over Aftons water may be resolved in the courts. An attorney for the town, Keith Burron, of Cheyenne, wielded the phrase arbitrary and capricious  standard lawsuit verbiage  in his own hearing remarks.

The strong weight of science and data collected to date does not support the final determination, Burron said. To the contrary, it supports further evaluation to better understand the spring.

Burron suggested that the EPA erred in its 2021 analysis that found green microscopic algae in Aftons drinking water. A flapper gate at the springs mouth, he said, was malfunctioning at the time, and the town should have first been allowed to rectify the problem.

But Kahn said that the gate has nothing to do with the waters composition. Water doesnt pool behind the gate, she said. Its purpose is only to keep insects and animals out.

Before making its final decision, the EPA will publish a document addressing all of the questions and charges raised at the Sept. 27 hearing. Public comments, meanwhile, are due into the federal agency by Nov. 15. The DEQs Zygmunt and others formally requested that the federal agency push back the deadline, which was originally slated for Oct. 4.

EPA rules require that public water systems be updated with filtration within 18 months of a surface water-influence determination, Crosby said. The clock would start when the agency issues its final decision.

Wyomings Congressional delegation, the DEQ and the town of Afton have all asked for more research, first. Barrasso, Lummis and Cheneys letter asked for collaboration and an in-depth hydrogeologic assessment and watershed study for Periodic Spring.

Theres not enough science, said Josh Peavler, the town of Aftons public works director.

Peavler emphasized his own concern over the safety of the municipalitys drinking water. He watches his kids brush their teeth with it and take a drink every morning, he said.

Its hard, Peavler said, to accept a determination from somebody sitting in an office in another state looking at paperwork.

Im here, he said, and Im seeing whats happening with our water system every day.
The continuous evolution of East Indian dance in Trinidad and Tobago accounts for the sustained national appeal of the art form, says veteran dancer/choreographer Michael Salickram.

Salickram and his world-famous Zee TV Shiv Shakti Dance Company were the feature act at last nights opening of the 2022 Divali Nagar, in Endeavour, Chaguanas.
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All murders are tragic but the killing of a child is in a category of its own.
UAs Arizona Repertory Theatre opens its 2022-23 season with the musical version of Legally Blonde, based on the 2001 novel and film about a sorority girl who tries to win back her ex by earning a Harvard law degree.

Legally Blonde the Musical also marks the live stage debuts of Lillie Langston (in the lead role of Elle Woods) and Clayton Lukens (playing her love interest Emmett) and several University of Arizona School of Theater, Film & Television students who were sidelined during the pandemic.

While challenging, the past two years have been a crash course in adaptability for UA theater students.

I think we discovered during COVID ... what we call self-tapes or self-submissions, said Christie Kerr, an assistant professor in the school. It seemed like the way to go with the students because we have to train them.

Kerr, who is in her seventh year at the UA, is director and choreographer for Legally Blonde the Musical. She also teaches musical theatre dance and performance classes.

I think (students) had more time to prepare than they would if we were doing things live, and because the industry is changing so much, this is what theyre going to have to do, Kerr said.

For UA theater senior Erin McDaniel, landing the role of the accused murderer Brooke proved to be more of a learning experience than a challenge.

I think Legally Blonde is just so much fun. The opening number alone has so much energy, McDaniel said. Theres never a dead moment; its always moving. Its hard to find a show that has it all, and Legally Blonde does.

For Langston, portraying the ditzy blonde law student who proves shes got a lot more going on upstairs than shes being given credit, is a chance to connect with audiences.

Honestly, I love to tell stories and make people happy, she said. Even as a performer, theres not a time where I see a professional show or a Broadway production where I dont come out of the theater feeling better, different, moved.  I want to do that for someone.

While the story behind Legally Blonde the Musical is largely based upon Woods chase for her ex-boyfriend, its values and lessons go much further than the love story.

(It) teaches you, through Elle Woods, that you shouldnt change who you are to fit other peoples mold, said Langston. Especially as a woman, you feel like you have to make yourself smaller in order to fit other peoples molds. But Elle Woods defies all of those expectations, and even though people are so mean and so cruel to her, she continues to persevere and does not change a single thing about herself to reach her goals.

Legally Blonde the Musical opens with previews on Sunday, Oct. 2, and Wednesday, Oct. 5, at the Marroney, and continues through Oct. 16.
After a two-year hiatus courtesy the COVID-19 pandemic, Tucsons annual Pride festival returns this weekend for the 45th time.

The three-day Tucson Pride kicks off Friday, Sept. 30, with the annual Pride Parade, winding from downtown to Armory Park beginning at 7:30 p.m., and wraps up Sunday, Oct. 2, with the Tucson Pride Drag Brunch at HighWire Lounge, 30 S. Arizona Ave., off East Congress Street and South Sixth Avenue.

The big day is on Saturday, Oct. 1, when dozens of vendors and food trucks pull into Reid Parks DeMeester Outdoor Performance Center for OUTober Fest 2022. The event runs from noon to 10 p.m. and features live music.

Tucson Pride has been hosting its annual festival celebrating Tucsons LGBTQ-plus community since 1977, when community members held a memorial picnic at Himmel Park. The Tucson event is recognized as the oldest pride event in the state.

On the Tucson Pride website, organizers said the groups mission is to empower the LGBTQ+ community of Southern Arizona through community building, enhanced visibility and unwavering support. Organizers could not be reached for comment.

More than 5,000 people attended Pride in 2019, the last year it was held, and nearly 150 vendors were on hand, organizers said. The event was canceled in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic.

Admission to the parade is free. Its $5 to $15 to attend Saturdays festival and Sunday brunch tickets are $39.99 through tucsonpride.org.

Photos: Looking back at 2019 Pride celebrations around the world Poland LGBT Rights Poland LGBT Rights Israel Gay Pride Israel Gay Pride Romania Gay Parade Romania Gay Parade Romania Gay Parade Chile Gay Pride Chile Gay Pride Ukraine Gay Pride Ukraine Gay Pride Brazil Gay Pride Parade Philippines Pride March Philippines Pride March Nepal Pride Parade Nepal Pride Parade Serbia Gay Rights Serbia Gay Rights India Pride Walk India Pride Walk Italy Gay Pride Parade Italy Gay Pride Parade Mexico Gay Pride Parade Mexico Gay Pride Parade Portugal Gay Pride Portugal Gay Pride Paraguay Gay Pride Parade Paraguay Gay Pride Parade Ecuador Gay Pride Parade Ecuador Gay Pride Parade Peru Gay Pride Parade Peru Gay Pride Parade Colombia Gay Pride Parade Colombia Gay Pride Parade Colombia Gay Pride Parade Turkey Pride Turkey Pride 2019 Stonewall Day Honoring 50th Anniversary 2019 Stonewall Day Honoring 50th Anniversary LGBTQ Pride LGBTQ Pride Seattle Gay Pride LGBTQ Pride LGBTQ Parade Chicago LGBTQ Pride Chicago Boston Pride Parade Capitol Pride Parade Capitol Pride Parade Roosevelt Island - Pride Flag Los Angeles Pride Parade Los Angeles Pride Parade
The Latest on Hurricane Ian:

The U.S. death toll from Hurricane Ian has risen to 17 as Florida authorities on Friday afternoon confirmed several drowning deaths and other fatalities.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said the deaths included a 22-year-old woman who was ejected from an ATV rollover on Friday because of a road washout in Manatee County and a 71-year-old man who died of head injuries when he fell off a roof while putting up rain shutters on Wednesday. Many of the other deaths were drownings, including a 68-year-old woman who was swept into the ocean by a wave.

Another three people died in Cuba as the storm made its way north earlier in the week. The death toll was expected to increase substantially when emergency officials have an opportunity to search many areas hardest hit by the storm.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS:

 Ian lashes South Carolina as Florida's death toll climbs

 Hurricane Ian heads for Carolinas after pounding Florida

 DeSantis shifts from provocateur to crisis manager after Ian

 In Ians wake, worried families crowdsource rescue efforts

 After Ian, the effects in southwest Florida are everywhere

 Find more AP coverage here: https://apnews.com/hub/hurricanes

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

MIAMI, Fla.  Major river flooding is expected to continue across parts of central Florida into next week as post-tropical storm Ian continues making its way up the East coast, according to the National Hurricane Center.

In an update late Friday afternoon, the agency advised that considerable other flooding will also occur into the evening in both North and South Carolina, as well as southeast Virginia, and local flooding could be expected in portions of northwest North Carolina and southern Virginia into early Saturday morning.

Although the intensity of the storm has decreased from hurricane strength, agency officials warned of life-threatening storm surge along the coasts of the Carolinas Friday night.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.  A commercial fishing boat anchored in the ocean near Myrtle Beach broke free and washed ashore on Friday, but no one was aboard, according to city police spokesman Master Cpl. Tom Vest.

The U.S. Coast Guard was called out to the boat on Thursday when it had mechanical problems, Vest said. Everyone got off the boat and it was anchored in the ocean near 82nd Avenue North. At some point Friday, however, the boat broke free and police began getting calls about the boat as it traveled about 8 miles (13 kilometers) south to the beach near Williams Street, he said.

Officials believe fluids were leaking from the boat and there was a strong smell of fuel, Vest said. Authorities have warned the public to stay away from the boat, saying it was extremely dangerous.

CHARLESTON, S.C.  Ian has dropped from a hurricane to a post-tropical cyclone as it moved across South Carolina.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Ian, which carved a swath of destruction across Florida earlier this week, had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (110 kph) Friday afternoon.

Ian hit Floridas Gulf Coast as a powerful Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph (240 kph) winds Wednesday, flooding homes and leaving nearly 2.7 million people without power.

COLUMBIA, S.C.  Hurricane Ian has destroyed parts of at least four piers along South Carolinas northern coast.

The brunt of the surge and waves from the Category 1 storm hit around Myrtle Beach on Friday.

Police said the Pawleys Island Pier was washed away first. Then local TV footage showed sections missing of the Cherry Grove Pier near North Myrtle Beach and the Apache and Second Avenue piers in Myrtle Beach.

An 85 mph (137 kph) wind gust was measured at Fort Sumter, the tiny island where the Civil War began about 4 miles (6.4 km) from downtown Charleston, the National Weather Service reported.

More than 200,000 customers were without power Friday afternoon in South Carolina as Ian moved onshore.

The story above has been corrected to clarify that parts of four piers in South Carolina were washed away  not entire piers.

ORLANDO, Fla.  University of Central Florida students living at an apartment complex near the Orlando campus, made homeless by the flooding, retrieved possessions Friday from their water logged units. Andee Holbert, her sister and their dog left their apartment Thursday before the water reached their heads. They returned Friday to retrieve wet clothes in garbage bags and whatever other possessions they could salvage, loading them onto their fathers pickup truck.

We still had power, which is terrifying, and the lights were still on, said Holbert, a nursing student. And theres knee deep water in there.

Deandra Smith, also a nursing student, stayed in her third floor apartment with her dog after being asleep while others evacuated. On Friday, other students helped get her to dry land by pushing her through the flooded parking lot on a pontoon. She wasnt sure if she should go back to her parents home in South Florida or find a shelter so she can still attend classes. Im still trying to figure it out, she said.

RALEIGH, N.C.  Power outages have increased and some coastal rivers rose in North Carolina as heavy rain and winds from Hurricane Ian crept into the state Friday from the storms South Carolina landfall.

Gov. Roy Cooper says adjustments to the projected path of Ian could bring more trouble to central and eastern North Carolina than earlier believed. But he says the states emergency equipment and services have been staged to maximize flexibility.

He warns residents statewide to remain vigilant, given that up to 8 inches (20.3 centimeters) of rain could fall in some areas, with high winds.

More than 55,000 customers in North Carolina were without power as of mid-afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us, which aggregates outages nationwide.

COLUMBIA, S.C.  A second pier in northern South Carolina has been destroyed by Hurricane Ians surge.

Local television footage showed the middle section of the Cherry Grove Pier near the North Carolina state line was washed away Friday afternoon by rising water and churning waves as Ian made landfall about 50 miles (80 kilometers) down the coast in Georgetown.

The area saw the brunt of the surge as Ian hit the United States again with flooded neighborhoods and widespread power outages.

MIAMI  Hurricane Ian has made another landfall, this time in South Carolina, after carving a swath of destruction across Florida earlier this week.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Ians center came ashore Friday afternoon near Georgetown with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (140 kph).

Ian hit Floridas Gulf Coast as a powerful Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph (240 kph) winds Wednesday, flooding homes and leaving nearly 2.7 million people without power.

Officials in Florida fear the death toll from Hurricane Ian could rise substantially, given the wide swath of the state swamped by the storm.

After making landfall with some of the highest windspeeds for a hurricane over U.S. territory, the storm flooded areas on both of Floridas coasts, tore homes from their slabs, demolished beachfront businesses and left more than 2 million people without power. At least nine people have been confirmed dead in the U.S.

Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said responders have focused so far on hasty searches, aimed at emergency rescues and initial assessments, which will be followed by two additional waves of searches.

He said Friday that the initial responders might detect deaths without confirming them.

CHARLESTON S.C.  A popular beach pier has broken apart in the winds and rain accompanying Hurricane Ians arrival in South Carolina.

The Pawleys Island Police Department said in a tweet Friday that a portion of the Pawleys Island pier had collapsed and was floating south.

The beach community was situated in the path of Ian, whose wind gusts knocked out power for thousands across the state Friday, downing trees and power lines in its path. Earlier Friday, officials closed a causeway connecting Pawleys Island to South Carolinas mainland.
On a Tuesday in September 2010, Marlana McElvaine hugged her two children goodbye and left for Tucson Mall for her job at JCPenney.

After her shift ended, McElvaine drove away from the mall and disappeared.

Twelve years later, the case has gone cold. But the passion that Dian McElvaine, puts into her quest for answers about what happened to her daughter still burns hot.

McElvaine stays in contact with Tucson police detectives and tries to keep awareness up about her daughters disappearance, hoping someone who knows something will come forward.

Dian McElvaine didnt speak to her daughter the day she disappeared, but she sensed something was amiss.

I didnt know, but I knew. When I got the call, I knew something happened, she said. But I knew she wasnt going to walk away from her kids, and she was very close to me and my daughter.

Marlana McElvaine was originally reported missing two days earlier, on Sept. 12, but Tucson police later received information that shed actually gone to work two days later, said Detective Steven Acevedo.

That was information her boyfriend at the time had reported to the family, Acevedo said of the inconsistent disappearance date. Both her sister, her mom, her very close friend and family find it to be very odd ... that she would not be with her children and that their mom would just pick up and leave, Acevedo said.

At the time, Marlana McElvaines children were 4 months and 30 months old. She had their names  Athena and Xavier  tattooed on her left shoulder.

The last day at work, she finishes her shift in the evening at around 10 p.m. and she is not heard from again, Acevedo said.

A little more than a week later, a Tohono OOdham police officer found the missing moms car abandoned near South Cardinal Avenue and West Valencia Road. The keys were in the ignition and her work identification inside, Acevedo said.

That was of course really suspicious and of note, but again, not much to go off, Acevedo said. There was this idea that maybe foul play was suspected, but unconfirmed.

At the time, police investigated the missing-persons case as a homicide, saying that foul play was suspected, according to Arizona Daily Star archives.

Since the recovery of the car, there hasnt been much in the way of new information, Acevedo said, adding that detectives have received a handful of speculative or unsubstantiated tips over the years.

Despite the lack of new information, Dian McElvaine hasnt given up hope.

She contacts investigators each year.

Marlena McElvaines disappearance is classified as a long-term missing persons case, but with no signs of life, its regarded as a cold case homicide, Acevedo said.

Dian and her daughter have been very proactive in ensuring the investigation continues, Acevedo said.

He said theyve had conversations with Dian McElvaine about what resolution in her daughters disappearance would look like. Our interest is the prosecution piece, but thats a long time coming also, he said.

In 2012, Dian McElvaine added Marlanas case to The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, a nationwide registry for missing persons in the United States. Shes been active over the years in sharing her daughters story, hoping to keep her the case on peoples minds.

Dian McElvaine said her daughter was hoping to go to nursing school. She called her daughter an amazing person with a gorgeous personality, adding that friends from middle school still reach out to the family.

While Dian McElvaine said it would break her heart if Marlenas remains were discovered, it would be helpful for the case  and for closure.

Wednesday would have been Marlana McElvaines 40th birthday, an occasion her family celebrated as they do every other year.

We miss her so much. We live with her memory every day, though, Dian McElvaine said.
Banks and credit unions in Tucson and Southern Arizona maintained their financial strength in the second quarter, though a rise in consumer loan delinquencies nationwide is causing concern, according to the latest bank ratings from Bauer Financial.

Most banks and credit unions operating in the Tucson area maintained their 5-star superior or 4-star excellent ratings from Florida-based Bauer, which has been rating the financial strength of financial institutions since 1983.

But nationally, Bauer said, while most federally-insured banks and credit unions remain solid, the percent rated 2-stars  troubled or problematic  is at its highest percent since the third quarter of 2018, including more than 3% of tracked institutions, a number last seen in the third quarter of 2014.

While severe delinquencies remain low, Bauer said that for the first time in several years, both banks and credit unions are reporting upticks in early-stage past due loans, missing one or two payments.

It appears that consumers may have reached the tipping point between leveraging untapped value in their homes while rates were low and managing debt to income ratios as (interest) rates rise, said Karen Dorway, president of Bauer Financial.

Old and new names

Southern Arizona banks and credit unions remain strong, for now.

Tucson-based Canyon Community Bank rose to 4 stars from a 3- star good rating after posting a $203,000 profit in the second quarter.

Canyon, which is mostly owned by a Texas investor group, has worked its way back to financial health after being placed under a consent order by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in 2013, and it had been rated as low as 1 star, or problematic, by Bauer in 2016.

The consent order was lifted last year, and Canyon is one of the most well-capitalized banks in the state, with no non-performing assets  delinquent loans and foreclosed real estate  reported in the second quarter.

Tucson-based Commerce Bank of Arizona maintained its top, 5-star Bauer rating and posted a $783,000 profit in the second quarter.

Commerce also was under a regulatory order to raise capital a few years ago and had a zero Bauer rating in 2016, but the order was lifted in 2017 after the bank raised $13 million in new capital from local investors.

The only other bank to see its Bauer rating change in the second quarter was First Interstate Bank, which arrived in Arizona in February after merging with Great Western Bank, and saw its Bauer rating fall to 4 stars, from 5 stars in the prior quarter.

Based in Billings, Montana, First Interstate Bank has nine locations in Arizona, including one in Tucson at 3002 N. Campbell Ave.

First Interstates name and logo are familiar to long-time Arizonans, as the former Los Angeles-based First Interstate Bancorp was a major player in the state before it was acquired by Wells Fargo in 1996.

The bank now operating as First Interstate had operated branches in Montana and Wyoming under a franchise agreement with the former First Interstate Bank in the 1980s, then licensed the name and logo after the Wells Fargo acquisition.

PNC settles in

Another relatively new name in the Tucson-area banking market is PNC Bank, which completed its acquisition of BBVA USA from it Spanish owner, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, in June 2021.

PNC, which has 13 branches in Southern Arizona, maintained it 4-star Bauer rating in the second quarter, posting a profit of $1.4 billion.

Based in Pittsburgh, PNC Bank has assets of $534 billion and operates more than 2,600 branches in 27 states and the District of Columbia.

While PNCs name is relatively new around Tucson, BBVA USA was formerly BBVA Compass and was previously owned by Compass Bancshares, which entered the Arizona market in 1998 with its acquisition of Arizona Bank. BBVA acquired Compass in 2007.

While the name has changed, the PNC operation should remain familiar, since PNC kept BBVAs Arizona and Tucson operations intact including employees and management.

Longtime local banker Mark Mistler was kept on board as PNCs regional president for Tucson and Southern Arizona, and PNC kept BBVAs roughly 150 employees in the region, he said.

We feel very fortunate  PNCs a great bank, said Mistler, who grew up in Tucson and joined Compass in 1999 after working for Valley National Bank and Bank One.

PNC really liked the business we had in Tucson, and so were looking to grow the business and not detract, Mistler said.

Mistler cited PNCs Mainstreet banking model, a local focus that includes keeping a regional president in most of the major markets where it operates.

Were the fifth largest commercial bank in the United States, but because of our structure, we can deliver like a smaller regional or community bank, Mistler said, noting that a core group of leaders at the local operation have worked together for some 30 years.

Mistler noted that PNC committed a half a billion dollars in 2004 to its Grow Up Great initiative to support early childhood education and development. In Tucson, PNC is working with El Rio Health as its first partner in the program, Mistler said.

Another PNC program benefiting Tucson is its Community Benefits Plan, which was launched in January.

The initiative will provide $88 billion nationwide in loans, investments, and other financial support to boost economic opportunity for low- and moderate-income individuals and communities, people and communities of color, and other underserved individuals and communities over a four-year period.

They have a big commitment to the local communities they serve, which is great for our community with Tucson as kind of a mid-size city, you always hope that with any major bank or other big company acquisition that they continue to support the community, he said.
Jeffery Daniel Gladney, 55, was sentenced Monday to time served, amounting to over 25 months in prison, a news release from the United States Attorneys Office District of Arizona said.

During the summer of 2020, Gladney left several messages on the voicemail of his attorneys office, threatening to assault and kill the U.S. social security administration law judge assigned to his case, the news release said. He demanded his benefits be approved immediately and instructed the legal assistant to relay the messages to the judge.
Attorneys representing Ryan Remington are challenging in court the Pima County Attorneys Office decision to indict the former Tucson police officer on one count of manslaughter after he shot and killed a man in a motorized wheelchair last year.

On Nov. 29, Remington was working off-duty security at a Walmart store when he fatally shot Richard Lee Richards, 61, nine times. Richards was accused of stealing a tool box and threatening a Walmart employee prior to the shooting. Remington was terminated from the department after the shooting.

Nine months after the shooting, the Pima County Attorneys Office announced Remingtons indictment on a charge of manslaughter.

On Sept. 28, Remingtons attorneys, Michael Storie and Natasha Wrae, asked a court to sanction County Attorney Laura Conover, saying comments Conover made at a Democrats of Greater Tucson meeting caused irreparably damage to Remingtons ability to get a fair trial in Pima County.

Conover appeared in early September as a guest speaker at an online meeting of the Democrats group, according to the motion filed in Pima County Superior Court,. Conover then took a question from the director about qualified immunity for law enforcement officers, asking her to describe what this term means and her offices attitude toward it. Qualified immunity protects government officials, like police officers, from being sued in civil court for their actions.

Storie and Wrae say Conover sermonized and criticized the laws impacting her prosecution of Remington in her answer. According to a transcript of the meeting, Conover said, what we found is that very clearly the laws in Arizona are designed to be protective when an officer-involved shooting has occurred. Conover did not speak directly about the Remington case according to the transcript.

The motion said Conover also appeared to be saying that even when an officer involved shooting is not justified, that the jury instructions, based upon current law, will nonetheless protect the officer and compel the jury to vote for acquittal. It also claims Conover said it takes backbone to overlook these laws and convict officers.

Storie and Wrae said the comments Conover made were outrageous and she inappropriately injected her opinion into the discussion, claiming they would expect such irresponsible and nonsensical remarks to be found on a random Twitter account.

Since the meeting was public and can be viewed on Youtube, Storie and Wrae claim more members of the potential jury pool are potentially infected with Conovers personal and distorted views of the justification statue pertaining to Remingtons case.

Storie and Wrae requested that Conover personally appear at the hearing on the motion so she can justify her statements.

In addition to the motion for sanctions, Storie and Wrae also filed another motion to disqualify Pima County Attorneys Office due to what they claim is a conflict of interest in the Remington case.

At the time of the shooting, Remington was a member of the Tucson Police Officers Association, which offers legal coverage for any on duty actions that result in criminal charges. The police unions legal plan is defined by the Combined Law Enforcement Agencies of Arizona, therefore the officers association is a member organization, the motion said.

Tucson police Sgt. Jason Winsky, Conovers brother, is the chairman for CLEAA and has been a board member for the past five years. Storie and Wrae said Winsky and the board are directly responsible for approving almost every expense related to Remingtons defense, causing a conflict of interest for Conover.

At the same Democrats meeting, Conover was asked about the conflict of interest, but she said her brother works on wages and pensions and has nothing to do whatsoever with the work she does, the motion said. Storie and Wrae said her claims are a gross understatement of her brothers role in managing CLEAA.

The motion is asking the court to disqualify the county attorneys office and dismiss the case.

When asked if Conover had a statement regarding the motions, a spokesperson for the county attorneys office said the office cannot comment on the filings for ethical reasons because it is a pending matter. The spokesperson did say the office will be filing its own motion in response.

Stories court filings also indicate he will be seeking a change of venue for the trial.
A man has been sentenced to prison for attempting to smuggle fentanyl pills into the United States earlier this year.

On Sept. 27, Carlos Obed Moreno, 32, a U.S. citizen residing in Mexico, was sentenced to 40 months in prison for attempting to smuggle pills into the United States in exchange for payment, a news release from U.S. Attorneys Office District of Arizona said. Moreno had previously plead guilty to importation of fentanyl into the United States.

On Jan. 6, a Customs and Border Protection officer noticed a knife in Morenos waistband while he was at the De Concini Port of Entry in Nogales, Arizona, and conducted a pat-down for officer safety, the news release said. During the pat-down, the officer noticed packages stuffed in Morenos boots.

It was revealed that the packages contained 628 grams of blue fentanyl pills.
PHOENIX  A Pima County judge wont halt implementation of her ruling that a territorial-era law outlawing virtually all abortions in the state is once again enforceable.

Planned Parenthood Arizona had not shown it was likely to succeed when it appeals her week-old ruling, Judge Kellie Johnson said in a ruling Friday. And Johnson said challenges also failed to meet other legal standards for staying a court order while an appeal is pending.

Johnson also dismissed claims by attorney Andrew Gaona that she needed to resolve what he said are conflict between the old 1800s law and the recently passed law, SB 1164.

That statute, which took effect on Sept. 24, also outlaws abortions except to save the life of the mother, with no exceptions for rape or incest.

But there is a significant difference: The new law applies only in cases beyond the 15th week of pregnancy; the old law starts at the point of conception.

Nor did the judge accept Gaonas claim that delaying her order was necessary to avoid hardships for doctors and others.

Johnson said its not that simple.

In considering the hardships involved, the court must necessarily consider the hardships to all parties and non-parties affected by the courts analysis, the judge wrote.

She did not expand on that.

But Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who went to court to get the old law revived, had argued that the judge needs to consider the fact that staying her order and allowing abortions through the 15th week of pregnancy could mean harm to others.

Abortion is permanent and results in the termination of an unborn life, the attorney general argued.

And theres something else.

Johnson said if Planned Parenthood does not believe the old law is not legally enforceable, it has other legal options, including filing a separate lawsuit.

The judge also rejected arguments by Pima County Attorney Laura Conover that she should stay the order because it creates hardships for her as a prosecutor.

Conover, like Gaona, cited the conflicts between the two laws. But Johnson said nothing in her ruling requires Conover to actually charge anyone with anything, including the old law.

That law, which traces it roots back to 1864, makes it a crime to perform an abortion, with a mandatory penalty from two to five years in state prison.

Its enforcement was blocked by the state Court of Appeals in 1973 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade that women have a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy.

All that changed in June when the justices overturned that decision.

That left states free to have their own restrictions. And Brnovich, pointing out the law had never been repealed, then got Johnson to dissolve the state court injunction and rule the old law was once again enforceable.

What complicated matters is that lawmakers earlier this year, approved the 15-week ban. It was modeled after a Mississippi law that was on review by the Supreme Court.

Supporters said the idea was to have a version on the books in Arizona if the justices upheld that law.

But the situation became muddled when the justices went a step farther, overturning Roe.

Planned Parenthood and Conover told Johnson she needed to consider whether the newer law effectively repealed the older one. And Gaona pointed out that even Gov. Doug Ducey said the 15-week law which he signed supersedes the older law.

Johnson, however, said it wasnt her job to harmonize the laws, ruling for Brnovich, saying the old law is, in fact, now enforceable.

That led to bids by Planned Parenthood and Conover to get her to stay her order and allow abortions to remain legal  while they appeal.

Johnson rejected that in her Friday order.
PHOENIX  Arizona has won a significant legal victory in its battle over federal immigration policies.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi has given state Attorney General Mark Brnovich permission to pursue his claims that the Biden administration acted illegally when it enacted policies that have allowed hundreds of thousands of undocumented individuals to be released in this country. Those policies, Brnovich contends, have abdicated the federal governments responsibility.

Liburdi, in his 27-page ruling, rejected efforts by the administration to dismiss the case as beyond the purview of the court. He said judges have the ability to determine whether policies comport with federal law.

The ruling does not guarantee that the state will win the lawsuit seeking to void the policies. That will come after a trial where Brnovich will need to prove his legal claims.

But the attorney general, who has waged war with the administration on multiple fronts, already has cleared a significant legal hurdle.

Liburdi said that, despite claims to the contrary by federal lawyers, Brnovich has standing to challenge the policies. Thats because there is reason to believe the state has been financially damaged by presence of all the people that the attorney general contends should have been either detained or deported as he says the law requires.

Central to the court fight are laws dealing with what is supposed to happen to anyone who arrives in the United States or is present but has not been admitted.

Aside from some who are initially determined to be inadmissible due to various reasons, like fraud, the law generally requires that they shall be detained for a removal proceeding unless an immigration officer decides they are clearly and beyond a doubt entitled to be admitted. Those arriving by land can be returned to the border country from which they came as an alternative to being detained.

The law also says that applicants for admission may be released on parole only on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.

What makes all that relevant to the lawsuit is the claim by Brnovich that the Biden administration, rather than acting selectively, released more than 225,000 undocumented individuals into the country between the time he took office and when he filed his latest version of his complaint a year ago.

Brnovich said these individuals were served not with a notice to appear, a legally recognized document that initiates removal proceedings.

Instead, they were service with a notice to report, something the attorney general says does not exist in immigration laws. And he contends about 80% of those served with those latter documents do not show up.

The Biden administration is thus giving tens of thousands of aliens per month, in essence, license to disappear into the interior of the United States, Brnovich said.

In seeking to have the case dismissed, the Department of Justice claimed the Brnovich and the state have no legal standing because they cannot demonstrate any actual or imminent injury caused by the challenged policies.

Liburdi, however, said there is evidence to the contrary. He cited just the area of medical services provided to those not in the country legally.

Federal law requires Arizona to provide emergency medical services to all individuals regardless of their immigration status, the judge said. Consistent with that requirement, Arizona delivers millions of dollars in medical services to unlawfully present noncitizens each year.

What Brnovich is arguing that the refusal of federal immigration officials to detain or remove migrants, coupled with their expansive use of the parole authority, increases the number of undocumented individuals in Arizona. And what that means, he told the judge, is the administrations lax immigration policies have increased  and will continue to increase  the states healthcare costs.

This argument comports with common sense, Liburdi said.

If plaintiffs are right that defendants detention and parole policies are inconsistent with federal statutes, and the government should accordingly detain noncitizens rather than release them into the United States interior, then those policies injure Arizona because they lead to releasing more undocumented aliens into the state than if defendants followed the law, Liburdi said.

Liburdi cited data provided by the state from the Yuma Regional Medical Center which provided care to more than 100 noncitizens in United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody during February, March and April of 2021, the three months after the administration changed its policies. Brnovich said that in February 2020 alone, the cost to provide care to noncitizens was $591,602, more than double the average monthly cost of care for the preceding nine months. And he said these costs are neither fully reimbursable from the federal government or the patients themselves, which means the balance is borne, in large part, by Arizonans.

Plaintiffs have met their burden to show they have suffered a concrete and particularized injury, Liburdi concluded, citing the increased cost of medical services.

The judge also said that the lawsuit meets the second part of the test  that the claimed damages are both traceable to the conduct of the administration and that the injury can be redressed with a court order to the government to follow the law.

In short, if defendants were detain or remove, rather than release, more undocumented noncitizens, Arizonas medical costs would be lower, Liburdi said.

He also brushed aside arguments by the federal government that the whole issue is legally moot because it no longer uses notices to report. Liburdi noted the attorneys never represented they cannot simply reinstate the program.

No date has been set for a trial.
National Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz says a big reason for the increase in apprehensions along the U.S.-Mexico border is growing political, civil and economic unrest in the Western Hemisphere and throughout the world.

The Border Patrol is encountering migrants from 160 different countries, he says.

With one month left in the fiscal year, the U.S. has seen a record number of apprehensions at its southern border in 2022, at nearly 2.5 million apprehensions  more than 500,000 of which were in Arizona.

In particular there are growing numbers of people coming from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Colombia. The number of Border Patrol encounters with migrants who entered the country undocumented this fiscal year from Columbia increased by 1,373% over last year, from Cuba by 475%, from Venezuela by 293%, from Nicaragua by 238%.

All of these countries are dealing with political, civil, economic unrest, Ortiz told the Star in an interview on Sept. 23. I think what has happened is social media has exposed this migrant population to information, and sometimes its false information, about an easy trek across the Southwest border. And thats not necessarily the case.

Another pull factor for migrants is that economic and health conditions caused by COVID are improving in the U.S. faster than in many countries, he said.

It used to be that a large portion of people migrating to the country were from Mexico and Central America, but that has been shifting in the last few years. This fiscal year, the number of migrants from farther than the Northern Triangle  Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador  increased by 152%, while the numbers from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador only increased by 1% from last year.

There is also an increase in migrants from countries as far away as Southeast Asia, as well as from Afghanistan and Russia, he said. The number of migrants coming undocumented from Russia tripled this fiscal year over last, and the number of migrants from Ukraine is nearly 10 times higher than last year.

There are really two demographics that were dealing with, Ortiz said. This humanitarian aspect of the folks turning themselves in, in areas like Yuma, El Paso, Del Rio, South Texas. And then you have this other population thats trying to evade apprehension, and those are strictly economic migrants. And thats really what we see here in Tucson.

In the Tucson Sector, which covers 262 border miles from New Mexico to Yuma County, the vast majority of migrants are from Mexico and the Northern Triangle and the majority are single adults. By contrast, in Yuma the majority are from countries farther away, and more are traveling in family units.

Expanding asylum process

One thing that would help the influx of migrants crossing between ports of entry would be an expanded asylum process, both at the border and in home countries or in a safe third country, Ortiz said.

Many migrants leave their countries on threat of death by criminal organizations, often after family members have already been killed, making the possibility of waiting in their home countries challenging or impossible.

But if there were a better way to process the migrants who come to the U.S. to seek asylum, then Border Patrol could focus more on border security issues.

What we want to do is take that population out of the equation and focus on the fentanyl that is coming across the border, focus on the smuggled migrants that are coming across the border, Ortiz said. Weve got methamphetamines still coming across. We have guns going back south, money going back south. There are criminals that are taking advantage of the fact that were so busy right now.

Ortiz said he sees more cooperation than previously with other countries in the region to find solutions.

Hiring more agents, processors

As the number of people coming from varying countries grows, so do challenges in processing them, including language barriers, figuring out whether they have sponsors in the U.S., and whether theres enough detention space or resources at local nonprofit organizations to assist migrants wishing to seek asylum, Ortiz said.

The Border Patrol has been working to hire not only more agents  300 agents every year for the next four or five years to reach more than 21,000  but also staff to specifically process migrants, a job that is often done by Border Patrol agents.

The agency currently has more than 400 processing coordinators and plans to increase that to 1,200 across the Southwest border by the end of next year and then to continue to grow that number, Ortiz said. The agency also has more contractors doing data entry, to allow more agents to be on patrol.

Thats a better utilization of my workforce, he said. For these low-threat, or what I would consider vulnerable populations  families and unaccompanied children  thats just data entry. Theyre not a security risk.

While the agency has had some hiring challenges, Ortiz is cautiously optimistic theyll reach those recruitment and hiring goals.

Title 42 shrinking

Over the last six months or so the number of people being expelled from the country under Title 42, a public health policy put in place because of the pandemic, has been shrinking while the number of people being processed under U.S. immigration law has grown, Ortiz said.

Last fiscal year nearly 55% of migrants who entered the country undocumented were immediately expelled under Title 42. This fiscal year, its been 41%.

The reason for the shift is because the Border Patrol is getting more efficient at processing migrants at the border under immigration law and because of the types of migrants the agency is encountering, Ortiz said. The Border Patrol can only use Title 42 to expel migrants whom either Mexico or their home countries are willing to take.

The Biden administration tried to end Title 42 earlier this year, but a federal judge blocked it, leaving it unclear how long the public health policy will continue to impact migrants and immigration proceedings.

I think for a lot of individuals and communities there was a sense of panic that if we lost Title 42, the border would be in total chaos. I dont see that being the case, Ortiz said.

He said that is because the agency has expanded processing facilities across the Southwest border, including more soft-sided facilities and centralized processing centers as well as more assistance with the processing coordinators, contractor and security personnel.

In some areas where there used to be 40% to 60% of agents processing, thats down to 20%, with 80% of agents now out in the field. Also, theyre able to do more virtual processing due to newer technologies, increasing efficiency in processing migrants who come undocumented into the country, Ortiz said.

Wall remediation

The government is planning remediation measures for border wall construction areas, which is getting ready to start this fall.

The plans include some environmental remediation as well as gap closure and gate installation, which is something environmental groups say will further impede the movement of wildlife.

The federal government has plans to close gaps in the wall in Yuma by the Morelos Dam. In the meantime, Arizona Gov. Doug Duceys administration closed many of those gaps with shipping crates, placing them on federal land without permission.

The border barrier slows people down, but people can still find ways around, Ortiz said.

Closing the gaps in Yuma doesnt stop migrants from coming into the country, both because the southern side of that wall is on U.S. soil, meaning Border Patrol has to process people waiting there, and more people have been crossing nearby on the Cocopah Reservation where there is no wall.

Nonetheless, closing those gaps is still helpful because it funnels more migrants away from dangerous areas where migrants might cross in canals and rivers, Ortiz said. But he said a wall along the entire border may not be the answer in more remote areas.

Infrastructure is important, but infrastructure by itself is not the solution to border security, he said. You have to have the technology, and you have to have the personnel to respond.

Conservationists are sounding the alarm that the wall blocks off larger mammals migratory patterns, which could have long-term effects.

A recent study by Sky Island Alliance and Wildlands Network showed that larger mammals are crossing the border in the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge through floodgates that are open during monsoon season. If the floodgates were open year round, it would give the animals a better opportunity to get used to using them, conservationists say.

Ortiz said wildlife passages are considered during the planning of border barrier infrastructure but the only wildlife passages that exist or are mentioned in wall remediation plans are small openings in the barrier, about the size of a sheet of paper. He would not say if leaving the floodgates open is a possibility.

We want to work with our partners, whether its the tribal community, whether its non-government organizations out there, Ortiz said. You see areas along the border, the river environment, where it just doesnt make sense to have the level of infrastructure that we have.

Critical Incident Teams to disband on schedule

Critical Incident Teams, controversial Border Patrol teams that have investigated fellow agents use-of-force incidents, are out of commission by the end of September, Ortiz said, as stipulated by Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus, a former Tucson police chief.

These teams have investigated Border Patrol use of force in numerous high- profile cases, including the shooting death of 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez in 2012 and the more recent 2021 Border Patrol incident where Marisol Garcia Alcantara was shot in the head in Nogales.

Critics of the teams include members of Congress. The teams have no authority to conduct investigations into agent conduct, lack transparency, go without a third-party investigation and have interfered with proper investigations, critics say.

Those types of investigations will now be under the purview of the agencys Office of Professional Responsibility, but Border Patrol will continue to do evidence collection to support those investigations, Ortiz said. And some of the agents that were in the incident teams may move to the Office of Professional Responsibility to do those investigations.

Therell be a transition period where we will continue to support them, and then slowly I think theyre going to do probably a little bit more hiring on their side, he said.
Kathleen McClelland cant afford the apartment where shes lived the last 24 of her 76 years.

Rebecca Bishara, 69, never imagined working full time at this stage of life.

And when Kathryn Salinger learned, in August, that her rent would increase 40% by October, she began researching options. Its been over a month and Salinger, 73, was still finalizing her plan last week.

These three seniors are among thousands in Pima County facing housing and financial instability, eviction filings, and even homelessness. People 65 and older are among the hardest hit by increased rental costs, but there is little data on how they are faring.

Requests for help, however, is one way to gauge.

Sister Jose Womens Shelter has taken in four women over age 70 in the last couple weeks, and had to turn away a fifth because the shelter is at capacity. They are seeing a marked increase in elderly women becoming homeless for the first time, said Nicola Hartmann, chief operations officer for the shelter.

In the early 1990s, only 11% of the adult homeless population in Arizona was aged 50 and over. By 2003, the homeless senior population increased to 37%, and during state fiscal year 2021, according to the Arizona Department of Economic Security, people 55 and older were the largest age group to receive homeless services in the state.

Locally, the Pima Council on Aging saw a 30% increase in calls for housing help from January through late September this year compared to the same time period last year, said Victor Quiros, vice president of operations for the agency.

They are hearing from a growing number of older adults, especially women, who are being priced out of rental housing theyve lived in for years, said Mark Clark, CEO of PCOA. He said these problems have been increasing for the last 18 months or so, with people  ranging from their late 60s to their early 80s  seeking help.

And Interfaith Community Services has helped at least 20 seniors facing housing problems and eviction risk in the last three months, including men, women and even couples. The nonprofit had $75,000 to spend on these seniors, and that money will be used up by the end of the month.

ICS recently received $100,000 from Tucson Councilman Steve Kozachiks Ward Six funds to help elderly residents living there.

A very scary time

Garleah Spicer, 67, lives in a rental that costs $800 per month  a price she could just afford  but when her lease expired a month ago, her landlord told her she needed to move.

Spicer, who is raising her grandson, was so desperate for help she began making phone calls at 8 a.m. and, on some days, continued that until dinner. She filled two notebooks with numbers and notes before she finally got some help, through Interfaith Community Services.

With that help, she has now secured a one-bedroom apartment. Spicers monthly income is about $1,200, she said, and that will rise to about $1,800 after she officially adopts her grandson at the end of October.

Im on a fixed income and Social Security, and as far as places I could afford to rent, theres nothing, she said. Its been a very scary time.

Seniors are uniquely vulnerable to housing problems for reasons that include stagnant incomes, the inability, or limited ability, to work, the loss of a partner, and unexpected medical bills. Mobility challenges, social isolation, and memory problems can compound these challenges.

This cohort is under-represented in most conversations about housing, said Elizabeth Cozzi, associate vice-president of community development for the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona. Older adults have specific needs that dont always get addressed when were talking about housing stock.

The groups mission is to develop an affordable housing initiative that prioritizes the needs of the communitys most vulnerable members  lower-income older adults  and figure out how to help them get in housing they can afford near things they need: medical clinics, transportation, and grocery stores.

I consider this my home

The United Way studys many recommendations include creating incentives for building owners to retain affordable units for Section 8 residents, even as buildings are bought and sold, to provide more affordable housing overall, and to advocate on a local, state and national level for limits on landlord rent increases.

Kathleen McClelland knows the stress of rental increases. She moved here from California 24 years ago, a change she made to care for an aging relative.

On Monday, McClelland plans to sign her lease for another year in the apartment shes lived in for over two decades. She will now be paying $900 per month in rent and $100 for utilities, a sizable jump from $707 in rent and $50 for utilities.

Like many seniors, McClelland has health problems that require attention, and money. She gets an epidural every 10 weeks to deal with back pain from a car accident, and that costs her $250 each time.

I like where I live and I dont want to move, but they keep raising the rent, she said. I consider this my home.

McClelland is getting help from ICS for the next year. After that, however, shes not sure exactly whats going to happen.

Spencer Potrie works for the countys Emergency Eviction Legal Services program, and has also been completing an internship with ICS as part of his masters program in social work. Hes been focused on helping people 60 and older  people like McClelland.

I got terribly behind

The longest time ICS can help someone is 12 months, Potrie said. The organization also tries to link people to other services such as food boxes, mobile meals and transportation options.

From late January through July this year, the countys transitional housing operation served 176 people and 13 were over age 62, 10 females and three males.

The countys data also shows that of the 699 tenants who sought help through the eviction legal services program since June 1, 41 of them, or about 6%, were age 65 or over. And the countys rent and utility assistance system, from February 2020 to now, shows that roughly 8% of applicants have been over 60.

However, this covers only those applicants who have been assigned to a caseworker, and not anyone on the waitlist who has not been assigned one yet, said Andy Flagg, deputy director of the countys Community & Workforce Development program and manager of Emergency Eviction Legal Services.

Because applicants are not asked to enter a (date of birth) when they submit their inquiry online, Flagg said, the system does not track users by age, so we cant tell you what portion of those on the waitlist are seniors.

Potrie said ICS tries to focus on seniors who have not been able to get rental assistance elsewhere, such as through Pima County and its rent and utility assistance program. Theres about $7 million left in that account right, with a reallocation of $15 million pending.

Some have definitely been in tight spots, he said. In some cases, weve rehoused some people who have been in unlivable situations.

Some have eviction judgments against them, and limited time to find a new place to live.

Rebecca Bishara moved to Oro Valley from the Washington, D.C., area about seven years ago because the climate here is better for her health.

The move here was also a chance to try a new job, working with foster children through GAP Ministries. Things were going well until the pandemic hit and her hours were drastically reduced. Bishara said she could no longer rely on that job as her sole income.

For about two years, she looked for work and tried to get back into her previous field, which was insurance.

I got terribly behind, said Bishara, 69, who has a bad back due to the narrowing of her spinal canal and scoliosis.

There were a lot of jobs I couldnt do because of that, she said of her medical challenges. A couple of weeks ago she started doing audits from home on her computer, nearly a full-time job.

She also has an eviction judgment against her now, however, and needs to move by the end of the year.

More seniors that need our help

In two Census Household Pulse Survey waves, March 30 to April 11, and April 27 to May 9, the proportion of Arizonans not current on rent stayed the same, at 5.2%. However, in the most recent wave, from June 29 to July 11, that rose to 13.3%.

Thats according to a report by Keith Bentele, an associate research professor with the University of Arizona. Benteles August 2022 report Housing Insecurity Indicators & Potential Homelessness Estimates for Arizona and Pima County, shows rents are continuing to rise in Tucson, about 31% to 41% over the past two years.

People of racial and ethnic minority communities have increasingly found it difficult to stay current on rental payments, Benteles report shows, and are experiencing difficulty meeting spending needs.

People who find it difficult or impossible to walk, see, hear or concentrate well are disproportionately likely to report being behind on rent payments.

Kathryn Salingers initial setback happened 12 years ago, when she fell at Edwards Air Force Base in California and severely injured her spine. She continued to work as a financial analyst as much as she could until she medically retired a few years later.

Shes had 13 surgeries since that fall. Nowadays, she cannot walk more than a few steps because her spine is deteriorating, and the pain is excruciating. The injury also brought on osteoporosis and scoliosis.

She moved to Tucson from California in 2019 because she needed somewhere affordable to live, but Tucson no longer feels affordable.

Salingers rent was $1,000 when she moved in three years ago, but its now $1,500 per month. Shes been able get help with some of her expenses through Pima County and ICS and, since she has to move, is focused on getting to a new rental home near a spine institute in Colorado.

Im just trying anything and everything, she said. Will I be on the street? I cannot tell you that right now.
Its always nice to blame our problems on someone else.

It means the solutions are simpler and dont take as much work from us.

This is something worth thinking about when you hear candidates talk about how the open border is causing one of Arizonas worst problems  the fentanyl addiction epidemic.

It isnt. At least not the way they say it is.

But that doesnt mean the problem isnt severe and doesnt deserve careful attention from the candidates. Its just that filling the gaps between the different categories of behavioral health care, and ensuring people get care for underlying mental health issues upon successful drug treatment  things like that cant be made into rousing political slogans.

Instead you hear things like this faulty description of a solution to a real problem from Republican nominee for governor Kari Lake.

Weve got a fentanyl crisis going on. Ill bet everybody in this room knows somebody who has been affected, she said at an event last week. This is happening because Joe Biden took away a great policy that was protecting us, and he opened our border to the drugs and the cartels.

The governor is the commander in chief of the Arizona National Guard. Were going to enact and invoke our Article 1 Section 10 powers in the United States Constitution to secure that border.

Now, I credit Lake for emphasizing the addiction issue in her campaign. But overdose deaths started accelerating in Arizona in late 2019, under Donald Trump, and reached an intolerable peak under Biden, CDC data show. In Pima County, there were at least 498 overdose deaths in 2021, of which at least 71% were from opioids, predominantly fentanyl.

So yes, its a big problem that we all can see in our families, our neighborhoods or out on the streets. But indulge me a prediction: If Kari Lake is elected governor and deploys the National Guard to the Arizona-Mexico border, it will not have a significant impact on our fentanyl addiction problem. Fifty years of Drug War experience tell us that.

Supply and demand problems

All over the country, politicians such as Lake are conflating two phenomena that are only indirectly related. One is the issue of migrants arriving at the Mexican border and crossing between ports of entry. Thats the open border people talk about, though many of the people crossing make legal asylum claims. Rarely do they smuggle drugs.

The other phenomenon is the smuggling of pills containing highly addictive fentanyl  largely through the borders ports of entry. Over the last three years, 87 percent of the seizures of fentanyl by Customs and Border Protection officials have taken place at ports of entry  25,100 pounds out of 28,800 total.

Even if you believe Joe Biden opened the border to migrants, he did not open the ports of entry to pills. Thats clear from the fact that seizures of fentanyl at the ports have more than doubled in the first two years of Bidens administration, rising beyond 10,000 pounds per year compared to the 4,000 pounds seized during Trumps last year in office.

The problem isnt just supply  the pills pouring in from Mexico are made of chemicals from China or elsewhere. The supply of these cheap, powerful pills was necessary to accelerate the addiction crisis were in, and likely helped create its own market. Now that there is a market, the pills will find a way, whether its through Mexico or in shipping containers or some other way.

But the problem is demand, too. Despite all the deaths, and all the risks associated with pills that are sold as, say, Oxycontin, but are laced with fentanyl  despite all that, we as a society still have a deep longing for them.

Cutting that demand  getting people not to take one of these pills in the first place, or to stop consuming them once theyre hooked  thats the hard work on ourselves as a society. Its more mundane and complicated than the symbolic deployment of soldiers to fight a drug problem that, at base, cant be shot or arrested.

System failures ongoing

Lots of people around Tucson are deeply involved in the hard work of addressing demand, from first responders to health care providers to officeholders, agencies and activists.

Naomi Vega became deeply involved in the issue after her son, Jesus Gutierrez, died of a drug exposure in 2020. Vega formed a group called Enlightening Hope Project that tries to help the family members of people with addictions to navigate treatment and services.

One might think that, after Gov. Doug Ducey called a special session to deal with the opioid epidemic in 2018, our systems would make it easy for someone who is addicted to get treatment. Not necessarily so.

When we talked Friday, Vega told me the nitty-gritty details of how the system can still fail people who want help. She followed up the conversation with a detailed email including spreadsheets of fee-for-service rates and provider information. Among the ongoing problems Vega has identified:

There arent enough beds for detoxification, leading to people who are addicted to methamphetamine or other stimulants being rejected, because opioid addictions take priority. But some of those methamphetamine pills are also laced with fentanyl, which contributes to the addiction.

The transitions from a detox facility to the next stage of treatment, such as a sober-living facility, and then out from that often lead to a patient falling through the cracks and dropping out of treatment

Once treatment for an addiction is complete, underlying mental-health conditions often go untreated, leading people to end up back in the same problems.

There is not enough filler to cover the areas where people are falling through the cracks, Vega said by email. There has to be something that catches the person between the different levels of care until the person is ready and able to be independent and a productive member of the community.

Addressing demand lacking

Now, Lake does delve into some details of addiction treatment in her policy on homelessness. Overall, that policy uses a carrot-and-stick approach, banning people from urban camping but offering them services either voluntarily or involuntarily as diversion from crimes.

This sort of coercion is controversial in the addiction field, but it has been shown to work for some people. Chris Chavez, a program manager for Hope Inc. who does outreach in homeless communities, told me he got sober as a result of a diversion program when he was charged with felony crimes. He didnt want to go, but it worked, he told me.

Lakes Democratic opponent, Katie Hobbs, hasnt posted a specific policy on addiction or spoken of it as frequently as Lake has. But her campaign told me via email this is a priority for Hobbs, a former social worker, as evidenced by her previously working with Republicans in the Legislature to address the opioid epidemic.

As governor, Ill ensure we do more to address this crisis that has been so deeply impactful across urban, rural, and tribal communities, she said in an email. Thats why Ill work to secure our border to stop drug trafficking and work to provide critical resources that help those struggling with addiction, such as expanding access to medication-assisted treatment and working to ensure prescribers comply with standards that prevent the overprescribing of opioids.

Again, the border.

Yes, supply matters. But were not going to get a grip on the problem unless we make it as easy as possible for users to get help and reduce their demand.
129 dead after fans stampede to exit Indonesian soccer match

MALANG, Indonesia (AP)  Panic at an Indonesian soccer match after police fired tear gas to stop brawls left 129 dead, mostly trampled to death. Police said Sunday that several brawls between supporters of the two rival soccer teams were reported inside the stadium after the Indonesia premier league game ended with Persebaya beating Arema 3-2. East Javas police chief says the fighting prompted riot police to fire tear gas, causing panic among supporters. Hundreds ran to an exit gate in an effort to avoid the tear gas. Some suffocated in the chaos and others were trampled. More than 300 have been rushed to nearby hospitals for their injuries. But many of them died on the way and during a treatment.

Russia withdraws troops after Ukraine encircles key city

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  After being encircled by Ukrainian forces, Russia has pulled troops out from an eastern Ukrainian city that it had been using as a front-line hub. It was the latest victory for the Ukrainian counteroffensive that has humiliated and angered the Kremlin. The city of Lyman was a key transportation hub for the Russian front line. A day earlier Moscow had annexed as part of Russia. Kyiv has retaken vast swaths of territory beginning in September. With Lyman recaptured, Ukraine can now push further into the occupied Luhansk region, one of the four regions that Russia annexed Friday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his military have vowed to keep fighting to liberate all regions from Russian control.

Ian leaves dozens dead as focus turns to rescue, recovery

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP)  Dozens of Florida residents have evacuated from their flooded and splintered homes by boat and air as rescuers search for survivors after Hurricane Ian. Stunned residents of South Carolina and North Carolina also began taking stock Saturday of their losses after Ian smashed across their states. The global death toll from the storm, one of the strongest hurricanes by wind speed to ever hit the U.S., grew to more than four dozen, with 47 deaths confirmed in Florida, along with four in North Carolina and three in Cuba. Separately, the White House announced that President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden would travel to Florida on Wednesday.

Pine Island residents recount horror, fear as Ian bore down

PINE ISLAND, Fla. (AP)  Emergency responders are seeking to evacuate residents from the largest barrier island off Florida's Gulf Coast, and survivors there spoke of the terror of riding out Hurricane Ian in flooded homes and howling winds. A volunteer group, Medic Corps, was flying residents off Pine island by helicopter on Saturday. The bridge to Pine Island was heavily damaged by the hurricane, leaving it reachable only by boat or air. Some residents said they hadnt seen anyone from outside the island for days and spoke of being trapped in flooded homes as boats and other debris crashed around their houses in the storm surge. Some feared they wouldn't make it.

Ian shows the risks and costs of living on barrier islands

SANIBEL ISLAND, Fla. (AP)  Experts say that Hurricane Ian is shining a spotlight once again on the vulnerability of the nations barrier islands and the increasing cost of people living on them. Florida's Sanibel Island was hard hit by the storm. Homes were destroyed. Two people have been confirmed dead. And Sanibel's lone bridge to the mainland collapsed. Barrier island communities like Sanibel anchor tourist economies that provide crucial tax dollars. But the cost of rebuilding them is often high because theyre home to many high-value properties. Jesse Keenan is a real estate professor at Tulane University. He questions whether such communities can keep rebuilding as hurricanes become more and more destructive from climate change.

Russia blindfolds, detains Ukraine nuclear plant chief

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Ukraines nuclear power provider says Russian forces blindfolded and detained the head of Europes largest nuclear power plant hours after Moscow illegally annexed a swath of Ukrainian territory. In a possible attempt to secure Moscows hold on the newly annexed territory, Russian forces seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov, around 4 p.m. Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed treaties to absorb Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, including the area around the nuclear plant. The International Atomic Energy Agency said Saturday that Russia told it that the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was temporarily detained to answer questions.

Venezuela swaps 7 jailed Americans for Maduro relatives

WASHINGTON (AP)  Venezuelas government has freed seven Americans imprisoned in the South American country in exchange for the release of two nephews of President Nicolas Maduros wife who had been jailed for years by the United States on drug smuggling convictions. The swap of the Americans, including five oil executives imprisoned for nearly five years, is the largest trade of detained citizens that the Biden administration has ever carried out. It amounts to an unusual gesture of goodwill by Maduro as he looks to rebuild relations with the U.S. after vanquishing most of his opponents and follows months of secretive talks, including repeated visits to Venezuela over the last year by Washingtons top hostage negotiator.

Trump at center of Oath Keepers novel defense in Jan. 6 case

WASHINGTON (AP)  The defense team in the Capitol riot trial of the Oath Keepers leader is relying on an unusual strategy with Donald Trump at the center. Lawyers for Stewart Rhodes are poised to argue that jurors cannot find him guilty of seditious conspiracy because all the actions he took before the riot were in preparation for orders he anticipated from the then-president. But those orders never came. Rhodes and four associates are accused of plotting for weeks to stop the transfer of presidential power, culminating with Oath Keepers in battle gear storming the Capitol alongside hundreds of other Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. Opening statements in the trial are set to begin Monday.

Supreme Court poised to keep marching to right in new term

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Supreme Court begins a new term on Monday at a time of diminished public confidence and justices sparring openly over the institutions legitimacy. The court seems poised to push American law to the right on issues of race, voting and the environment. Back in June, the conservative majority overturned nearly 50 years of constitutional protections for abortion rights. Now, the court is diving back in with an aggressive agenda that appears likely to split the six conservative justices from the three liberals. Joining the nine-member court is new Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the courts first Black woman.

GOP attacks Georgia's Abrams on voting as judge rejects suit

ATLANTA (AP)  Republicans are using the defeat of a voting suit brought by a group founded by Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams to attack her legitimacy as a voting rights advocate. They say a judge's rejection on Friday of the last remaining claims in a suit brought by Fair Fight Action shows that Abrams was wrong all along to claim that she lost the 2018 Georgia governor's race to Republican Brian Kemp because of voter suppression by Kemp. But Abrams is far from backing down from her position, and says she won a number of victories that made elections fairer. Her advocacy has also helped make voting rights a defining issue for Black voters in Georgia.
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden on Thursday told visiting leaders from more than a dozen Pacific Island countries that the U.S. was committed to bolstering its presence in their region and becoming a more collaborative partner as they face the existential threat of climate change.

The president addressed the leaders who gathered in Washington for a summit as the White House looks to improve relations in the Pacific amid growing U.S. concern about Chinas growing military and economic influence.

A great deal of history of our world is going to be written in the Indo-Pacific over the coming years and decades, Biden said at the start of a meeting with island leaders at the State Department. And the Pacific Islands are a critical voice in shaping the future, and thats why my administration has made it a priority to strengthen our partnership with your countries.

Biden delivered his remarks as his administration unveiled its Pacific strategy, an outline of the White House's plan to assist the region's leaders on pressing issues like climate change, maritime security and protecting the area from overfishing. The administration also pledged that the U.S. would add $810 million in new aid for Pacific Island nations over the next decade, including $130 million on efforts to stymie the impacts of climate change.

Were seeing the consequences of climate change around the world very vividly, including in the United States right now, and I know your nations feel it acutely, Biden said.

Leaders from Fiji, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia and New Caledonia are attending the two-day summit that Secretary of State Antony Blinken kicked off Wednesday. Vanuatu and Nauru sent representatives, and Australia, New Zealand and the secretary-general of the Pacific Island Forum sent observers, according to the White House. The president hosted leaders for a dinner Thursday evening at the White House.

The summit comes amid worrying signs to the U.S. that Beijing has grown its influence in the region. Earlier this year, the Solomon Islands signed a new security pact with Beijing, and ahead of the summit signaled it would be hesitant to sign any end-of-summit statement critical of China.

The Marshall Islands this month suspended talks to renew its security partnership with the U.S., citing the longstanding impact of U.S. nuclear testing in the area some 70 years ago.

A joint declaration issued at the end of the summit included a nod to those concerns. It stated that the U.S. was "committed to addressing the Republic of the Marshall Islands ongoing environmental, public health concerns, and other welfare concerns and to the safe removal and disposal of unexploded ordnance.

Among the new initiatives the White House announced are plans to ask Congress to appropriate $600 million over 10 years to support economic development, promote climate resilience efforts for Pacific fisheries and more. The administration says it will also establish a regional mission of the U.S. Agency for International Development in Suva, Fiji. The White House also reiterated previously announced plans to open embassies in the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Kiribati.

The White House also announced plans to recognize the Cook Islands and Niue as sovereign states, after "appropriate consultations." The U.S. currently recognizes the islands as self-governing territories.

Meg Keen, the director of the Pacific Islands program for the Australia-based Lowy Institute, said the recognition means the Cook Islands and Niue would be eligible for some of the U.S. funding announced by Biden on Thursday.

The 16-page document notes heightened geopolitical competition impacts for the Pacific Island countries that also directly affect the United States.

Increasingly those impacts include pressure and economic coercion by the Peoples Republic of China, which risks undermining the peace, prosperity, and security of the region, and by extension, of the United States, the strategy document says. "These challenges demand renewed U.S. engagement across the full Pacific Islands region."

Among the broad strategy aims laid out by the Biden administration in the document are expanding the number of U.S. diplomatic missions from six to nine across the Pacific and completing work to renew strategic partnership agreements with the Pacific Island nations of Palau, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands that are set to soon expire. The strategy also calls for increasing the presence in the region of the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Pentagon.

White House officials acknowledge that U.S. inattentiveness toward the region since the end of the Cold War has left an opening for Beijing to exert its influence.

Plans for the summit were announced earlier this month, just days after the Solomon Islands called on the U.S. and Britain not to send naval vessels to the South Pacific nation until approval processes are overhauled. The Solomons in April signed a new security pact with China.

Ahead of the summit, the Solomon Islands signaled it was unlikely to sign on to an end-of-summit joint statement, according to a diplomat familiar with summit planning. The diplomat, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the resistance was driven in part by the Solomon Islands tightening relationship with Beijing.

But in the end, the Solomon Islands signed on to the joint declaration. The statement instead included calls for bolstering the Pacific economy, tackling climate change, maintaining peace and security across the Pacific, and more, but avoided any direct mention of China.

Besides their meeting with Biden, island leaders met Thursday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.



Associated Press writers Nick Perry in Wellington, New Zealand, and Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report.
ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP)  Jurors convicted a St. Louis man of murder Friday in the 2018 shooting of his girlfriend, her two children and her mother.

A St. Charles County jury deliberated less than two hours before finding Richard Darren Emery, 50, guilty of four counts of first-degree murder. Sentencing is scheduled for Saturday. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Emery was accused of killing K ate Kasten, 39, during a Dec. 28, 2018 shooting.

Prosecutors said Emery shot her after she told him to leave while the couple argued. He then kicked in a door to a bedroom where Kasten's mother, Jane Moeckel, 61, had barricaded herself with her grandchildren, Zoe, 8, and Jonathan, 10, and shot each of them at close range, police said.

Officers shot Emery twice during an ensuing chase before he stabbed a woman while trying unsuccessfully to steal her car. He was later arrested while hiding in a bathroom at a convenience store.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced that oil refineries could start selling more polluting winter-blend gasoline ahead of schedule to ease soaring fuel prices, directly contradicting his own goals for reducing climate pollutants.

The average cost of a gallon of gas was $6.30 in California on Friday, far above the national average of $3.80, according to AAA. Newsom administration officials said the difference between state prices and the national average has never been larger.

The Democratic governor also called on state lawmakers to pass a new tax on oil company profits and return the money to California taxpayers. Lawmakers don't return to the Capitol until January, Newsom's office provided few details on the proposal.

They're ripping you off," he said of the oil industry in a video posted to Twitter.

Oil industry representatives said it is state regulations that cause higher prices in California than the rest of the country. The summer blend of gasoline that refineries are required by law to produce in the hotter months costs more money to make but is designed to limit pollutants like smog. Most refineries can't switch to the winter blend until November.

Switching from the summer to winter blend would likely save consumers 15 to 20 cents per gallon, said Doug Shupe, a spokesman for the Southern California Automobile Club, an affiliate of AAA. Gas prices in Los Angeles are close to breaking a record of $6.46 set in June, he said.

If these prices go up to $7 a gallon, a 15-cent drop is not really going to mean much to drivers, Shupe said.

Prices are spiking in part due to limited supply because some oil refineries are offline due to routine maintenance or other problems, he said. The California Air Resources Board, which regulates refineries, said high prices could also be due to part to a refinery fire and Hurricane Ian.

It's the latest spat between Newsom and the oil industry, which holds political and economic sway in California despite the state's aggressive climate policies. But Newsom's dual actions Friday also illustrate the complicated reality Newsom faces as he tries to wean the state off oil and gas while responding to economic reality.

Earlier this year, for example, Newsom's administration turned to generators and power plants that run on fossil fuels to help avoid rolling power blackouts during a heat wave.

By urging air regulators to let oil companies switch to a winter blend earlier, Newsom is acknowledging that state rules play a role in prices, said Kara Greene, a spokeswoman for the Western States Petroleum Association.

Refineries typically perform maintenance in the spring or fall as they prepare to switch fuel blends, she said. It will take time for refineries to prepare the winter blend, and Newsoms order may have little immediate effect, she said. If Newsom truly wanted to lower prices, he could suspend the state's gas tax or relax other regulations, she said.

Its a conscious decision to try and put the responsibility back on the oil industry," she said.

Newsom said he expected the relaxation of refinery rules to increase supplies by 5% to 10% because refiners have already started to produce and store the gas.

Any impacts on air quality caused by this action are expected to be minimal and outweighed by the public interest in temporarily relaxing" the limits, the air board said in a statement.

Starting in January, oil companies will be required to disclose their monthly profits to the state under legislation Newsom recently signed. Consumer Watchdog called on Newsom earlier this week to call a special legislative session to approve a tax on those profits.

Jamie Court, the group's president, said he applauded Newsom's efforts to deal with an industry that's out of control."

Democratic leaders in the state Legislature said a windfall tax on oil profits deserves strong consideration," while Republicans said Newsom should immediately suspend the state gas tax to provide relief.

Major oil companies saw record profits this summer, and the price of crude oil has dropped since the end of the summer.

The California Energy Commission on Friday wrote a letter to executives of five major oil companies asking why prices rose so dramatically, what actions the state could take to lower prices and why refinery inventory levels have dropped.

Greene, of the petroleum association, said California regulations raise the price of oil by just under $1 in California, but other observers say its lower. Court, of Consumer Watchdog, says its around 60 cents, while Severin Borenstein, an energy economist with the University of California, Berkeley, says its closer to 70 cents.

Borenstein has also identified an unexplained surcharge that he says has caused Californians billions of dollars since 2015.

Newsom in 2019 directed the state attorney general to look into whether oil companies were overcharging Californians. Attorney General Rob Bonta has said his office is still investigating.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  Amid backlash over the fatal shooting of a Mississippi man, the states top law enforcement official said officers of a special police unit in the capital city of Jackson will not change the way they pursue suspects.

Mississippi Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell met with community members following a spate of recent shootings involving the Capitol Police, a unit that patrols areas around state government buildings and other neighborhoods near downtown Jackson.

Anytime there is a loss of life, its tragic, Tindell said Thursday night at a Jackson church. But we cant be deterred in trying to make the city safe and doing policing the way its supposed to be done.

Jaylen Lewis, 25, was shot during an encounter Sunday night with Capitol Police officers. He later died. According to the Department of Public Safety, the officers attempted to initiate a traffic stop when the shooting occurred. The officers involved have been placed on administrative leave until an internal investigation is completed, a department spokesperson said.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, another division of the Department of Public Safety, is handling the investigation.

In a community meeting organized by Jackson City Councilman Kenneth Stokes, Tindell vowed that bad actors in the Capitol Police would be held accountable. He also said there is a criminal element in Jackson that is not used to being policed.

Dont sit here and complain about crime and death and murder and kids killing kids and tell me theres respect for law and order. Because theres not, Tindell said.

One woman she her son died fourth months ago. She said arresting and killing people shouldnt be the only way to prevent crime.

Theres not a lot to do in Jackson. A lot of people are lost, said the woman, who did not give her name when she spoke at the meeting.

Stokes said some of his constituents fear that some Capitol Police officers might not be trained on how to deal with Black people in Black neighborhoods.

How do we stop the killing? Stokes asked.

About 80% of Jackson residents are Black. The public safety commissioner and the Capitol Police chief are white.

Tindell said Capitol Police could do a better job of connecting with residents. He also said officers couldnt reduce tension with people through police work alone.

One of things we see again and again is a lack of accountability, particularly with young people who have no supervision, Tindell said. They grow up a with a sense of nobody cares about them, so why should anybody else.

Before Sundays shooting, Capitol Police officers were involved in one shooting Aug. 14 and another Sept. 12. The department said those two shootings were not fatal. On Sept. 7, a man died in a car wreck after he was chased by Capitol Police.

Responding to questions over the recent altercations between citizens and officers, Capitol Police Chief Bo Luckey said his officers have changed tactics.

The way were going to police the area is not going to be the same as its been in the past, Luckey said.

Luckey said Capitol Police have made close to 100 arrests since he became chief in late May, which he characterized as a very large number of arrests for any agency. He said those arrests primarily stem from more proactive policing, which involves patrolling areas more often to show an increased police presence.

Police chases have been fatal in and around Jackson. In July, officers from another department chased someone from a suburb into Jackson. The chase ended in a wreck that killed a postal worker caught in the fray. Jackson has a high number of stolen vehicles, which makes pursuits necessary, according to Luckey.

Getting a tag and running it later does nothing. Surveillance cameras do nothing, Luckey said. We have to take further steps to identify these actors.

Tindell said rising crime in Jackson makes necessary the Capitol Polices new approach to policing.

I got news for you, Tindell said. The businesses are leaving, the lawful- abiding citizens are going to leave. And Im trying to build that confidence back that we will be here for the long term to turn it around.

David Archie, a member of the Hinds County Board of Supervisors, said the recent incidents between Capitol Police and people in Jackson require more community engagement.

If youre going to come into this community, please sir, Im asking you not to come into this community like youve got all the answers, Archie said.

This story has been updated to correct a quote from Mississippi Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell. Tindell said law and order," not law enforcement.

Michael Goldberg 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 him on Twitter at twitter.com/mikergoldberg.
The following column is the opinion and analysis of the writer:

Watching the secretary of state debate between the Republican candidate Mark Finchem and the Democratic candidate Adrian Fontes, I learned Fontes is an impressive, patriotic, sane, and thoughtful attorney. And a former Marine.

Finchem is not. Finchem is a retired cop from Kalamazoo his supervisor would not rehire.

He is the kind of babbling brook youd expect to say, Why are Maricopa County doorbells giving our DNA to a lab in Wuhan and why hasnt the lame stream, Marxist, hack media reported anything about the Ballot Box Bermuda Triangle in Seligman, which an eyewitness saw abducting Trump voters and transporting them to a socialist re-education camp run by the ACLU inside Ft. Huachucas drug blimp?

Moderator: Mr. Finchem, were you at the Capitol Insurrection on January 6th?

Is being anywhere when something happens a crime? Was I at the Capitol when FBI moles working with AntiFa actors framed Trump-loving patriots on a middle-school field trip that got a little out of hand? Yes. I was. On a special mission. I went there to give our Congressmen my explosive ultra-top secret book of election fraud evidence, compiled by our intrepid Cyber Ninjas, verified by the Amazing Kreskin, certified by Rudy Giuliani and annotated by Bigfoot.

Moderator: Do you believe Arizonas 2020 election was stolen?

Fontes: Arizonas 2020 election was not stolen. Every Arizona court and every county board, along with Arizonas secretary of state, our Trump-loving attorney general and governor, agreed the election was clean and fair and Trump lost.

Finchem: Can I talk here? Why did they all agree? Because, according to Steve Bannon, Alex Jones, the Pillow Guy and Edgar Cayces brain in a jar, they were all deep-fake actors, part of the vast Soros-Satanic-World Order run by Chairman Biden with the help of Bill Gates, the Wuhan Institute for Marxism, Blofeld and a global army of 3,000 cannibals and pedophiles that meet with Rachel Maddow, Dr. No, Dr. Evil and Dr. Phil in Gila Bend once a week inside the Flying Saucer atop The Space Age Diner to plot their war on Christmas, heterosexual marriage and our elections using transgender immigrants. You dont know this because your lame stream media is controlled by you-know-who. Donate $1.95 to my campaign to receive your MAGA cowboy hat, your TRUMP 2024 scarf, your Ballot Marshall badge and my patented You-Know-Who-Im talking-about-its-the-Jews decoder ring.

Moderator: Do you have proof of any of this?

Finchem: I have proof the 2020 election was rigged, the Little Mermaid was not a real mermaid and Geraldo Rivera stole my mustache. All of which I will reveal in due time. Did you know The Thing outside Willcox was a Yuma County poll worker shot by Lee Harvey Oswald, who is alive and working for the Illuminati with the Trilateral Commission who is surveilling every sovereign citizen who is onto Oliver Stone who faked Hurricane Ian three days after The Condor delivered the DaVinci Codebreaker machine to Capricorn One, which is the Freemasons name for a cave in the Superstition Mountains where the Maricopa ballots from 2020 were hidden by the Knights of Templar?

Fontes: Youre dangerous.

Finchem: No, my friend. Your Marxist election-stealing transgender pedophiles are dangerous. Since my special ops unit, The Hanging Chads, found the 2020 election results in Maricopa County were irredeemable, Ive had to wear my tin-foil lined cowboy hat designed by Dr. Oz to block out the deadly MSNBC rays Hunter Biden has been blasting at me with his ultra-special laptop to try and shut me up.

Moderator: Closing arguments, gentleman.

Fontes: Im sane, ethical, competent, and late for a work meeting.

Moderator: Thank you, Mr. Fontes. Your close, Mr. Finchem?

Finchem: When gerrymandering and dark money arent enough to give you the win you want, you need my thumb on the elections scale. I will restore election integrity by personally hand counting every ballot. Because our voting machines cant be trusted. Because they come from the future.

I know election integrity. I taught the Cyber Ninjas how to use the X-ray specs Kelli Ward picked up in bulk at Spencers Gifts. Bannon told me Moneypenny told him, on the down low, they were developed by Q. Mr. Trump told me they were used by the real James Bond in Never Vote Twice. Crazy, right? That spun my spurs.

If Governor Lake ever became incapacitated by Lex Luthor, then your duly elected secretary of state would be next in line. If that happens, I promise you, and President Trump, that I will faithfully execute two things:

The oath of office and a search warrant on Hunter Bidens ultra-secret thumb drive, which I know for a fact is hidden in the Penguins lair.
The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:

As a retired developmental-behavioral pediatrician and community college adjunct instructor, I have watched with dismay the steadily advancing attack by Arizonas Republican legislators on accountable public education for Arizonas children.

The excellent Sept. 24 article, Voucher foes submit 141K signatures, compels me to review what brings us to this point and to raise the question: Can Arizonas public school system survive if the politicians intent on destroying public education remain in power?

Arizonas public school system includes over 560 charter schools, providing a wide range of choices of educational systems while requiring standards and accountability. Over 20% of Arizona students attend Arizona charter schools. But since 1998, Republican legislators and governors in Arizona have been steadily increasing state financial support for parochial (religious) and private schools that have no state accountability or requirements for: safety, professional standards, basic curriculum, class size, student achievement, or serving any student independent of race, creed or need.

There are two ways that Arizonas Republican legislators and governors have supported parochial and independent private schools at the expense of our public school system: STOs (Student Tuition Organizations) manage private and corporate tax credits which can only be used for private school tuition. Alternately, a family can use an ESA (Empowerment Scholarship Account) which provides state funds directly to families and can be used for a variety of education-related expenses in addition to tuition or home schooling  if the family opts out of public school services.

STO tax credit funds go directly to private tuition organizations, rather than government accounts, so those funds can be paid directly to parochial schools without violating constitutionally mandated separation of church and state. However, ESA funds come from collected taxes which cannot be paid directly to parochial (religious) schools. To circumvent that problem, ESA funds go directly to applying families as a debit card voucher. While technically legal, both systems provide a means of diverting potential or actual state tax income to support religious education in defiance of the clear intent of Arizonas Constitution.

Since the first STO in 1998, the total STO tax credit for available individuals has increased to over $1,200 per year, and far more is available for corporations. Notably, only 90% of collected funds must be paid as tuition, leaving up to 10% as cash for management of the organization; STO management is a lucrative business. Meanwhile the tax credit for individual donations to public schools has remained at a total of $200 per year, with no corporate donation option.

In 2011, eligibility for ESA funding to attend a private/parochial school was just for students with disabilities, but since then eligibility has expanded to include children in foster care or being adopted or placed with a permanent guardian, children of members of the military, children attending low-rated public schools and children living on a reservation. Then, in 2017, the ESA law was changed to allow ESA vouchers for any child, but Save Our Schools AZ obtained signatures to refer it to the ballot where the expansion was rejected by 65%.

At it again, in June 2022 the Republican Legislature passed HB 2853, providing over $6,500 as an ESA voucher to be available for any Arizona K-12 student for tuition and/or other educational expenses if the family opts out of public education. But for students attending public schools, Arizonas per-pupil spending is the much higher $8,800  though still pitifully below the national average of about $13,500. No state has a per pupil annual spending less than $7,500.

School choice decreases public funding for the education of all K-12 students, including those who receive vouchers, and supports religious and private schools that have no accountability to the state and its taxpayers. It is time to elect an Arizona government that values universally accessible and accountable public education as the anchor of our democracy.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP)  As artist Janson Rapisarda put the finishing touches on a mural on the side of Hall Bicycle Company, bicyclists pumped their pedals, speeding by his work on the trail that cuts through downtown Cedar Rapids.

Rapisarda, known as CERA, has painted a two-story mural marking the 50th anniversary of RAGBRAI  the Registers Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa  next summer. It also commemorates the local bike shops 125th year in business in 2023.

The project is one of several new additions this year to the public art collection in Cedar Rapids.

The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that as the urban core shakes off COVID-19s toll on downtown life, the uptick in public art is sparking energy in the heart of the city  helping to make Cedar Rapids a visual arts destination, celebrate the communitys identity and provide points of interest for visitors.

A public art master plan adopted by the City Council this spring is guiding the efforts to prioritize public art as an element of place-making and a way to capture the characteristics that make Cedar Rapids unique. The plan considers the citys efforts to elevate public art as well as the private sectors role in expanding the presence of art in the community.

The last five years, weve verbalized our commitment to investing in public art and now were starting to realize the fruits of those labors, said council member Ashley Vanorny, who sits on the councils Development Committee and is a vocal proponent of public art. It really takes people deciding that its going to be a priority for it to start becoming one.

From murals to sculptures, the plan envisions improving cross-cultural understanding and connecting people through public art, no matter the medium.

The plans key goals are:

__ Continue to enhance and broaden public art throughout Cedar Rapids

__ Encourage local and regional artists to create public art

__ Cultivate partnerships to support public art

__ Create a sustainable administrative and funding structure

__ Implement a maintenance plan for the current collection and future additions

A document like this can really set us up for success with our public art, Community Service Coordinator Stephanie Schrader said. It sets the framework for what public art can aspire to be in Cedar Rapids, helps us identify opportunities and it lays out an ongoing maintenance plan to ensure sustainability of our public art in the future.

Public art helps enhance the citys built environment, offering people fun, colorful things to look at while they venture around town, Schrader said.

The city has attracted artists from around the region, nation and beyond to create some pieces, but the plan also looks to support local artists and develop resources to train emerging artists.

Community Development Director Jennifer Pratt said the plan aims to push the boundaries of where the city thinks about adding public art, such as in parks, and stakes out public art as a city priority so private-sector partners can also step in.

Public art isnt something the city can just do by itself, Schrader said. We want to work with the community, whether it be students, aspiring artists, people with an interest in art. Were all pedestrians in the community and were all out and about in the community.

Jesse Thoeming, executive director of the Downtown District with the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, said as hes traveled around the globe, the thing that sets apart a unique neighborhood or district is public art.

The Downtown Self-Supported Municipal Improvement District has supported the new RAGBRAI mural and others around downtown, including Swiss duo NEVERCREWs ConnectCR mural, a project with local not-for-profit Murals & More.

That piece, also on Second Avenue SE, captures several iconic images of Cedar Rapids within a multisided crystal. Its a nod to the community effort that fueled the $20 million ConnectCR project that will transform Cedar Lake and build a pedestrian and bike bridge spanning the Cedar River.

He agreed the city cant do it all, nor can the Economic Alliance or Murals & More, but they can work in tandem toward the same goal of creating a more vibrant community by broadening public art.

The role that (public art) plays is so hard to define, because you cant put an economic impact value number on a piece of public art that inspires  Thoeming said.

The voice of the people

COVID-19 delayed the citys progress on public art by a couple of years, Vanorny said, but now Cedar Rapids is seeing a boom in new additions to the collection.

At the end of the day, nothing is impossible for Cedar Rapids and what we could be, Vanorony said. We just have to imagine it and then put a hand in to expand the bandwidth so we can accomplish it.

The newest addition is the one on the side of Hall Bicycle Company, 419 Second Ave. SE, a business thats locally owned and has remained a staple of downtown Cedar Rapids since its opening in 1898. The mural faces the downtown bike trail along Fourth Street.

On View Gallery, owned by local artist Bex Hurn, worked on the project along with the Downtown SSMID.

Rapisarda, who is based out of the Chicago area, said when he got into drawing the mural, he wanted to make sure it showed joy. He wanted the people in it to be around each other  not necessarily racing, but enjoying each other by camping and celebrating with fireworks. A sunrise and moonrise show both night and day.

I want people to see it and feel warm, Rapisarda said. I want people to see it and feel happy and just find joy in other people.

Especially in the Midwest, Rapisarda said cities can be bleak, particularly in the winter, with large streets and open areas that can be desolate at times. Public art can be a positive thing and push people to take joy in the small things, he said.

I think that we have this mentality of, OK, so I have to get to work, or I have to get to an appointment, Rapisarda said. So the point is to get from point A to point B, and were like, Its all about how fast we get there  and how comfortable we are on the way there. But I think theres something really beautiful to be said about we get to make a place, we get to highlight the place that is there.

Ryan Yanoe Sarfati and Eric Zoueh Skotnes, based in California, recently completed another mural downtown. They were selected to paint a mural on the Five Seasons Parking Ramp on First Avenue NE.

For this public project, planned in partnership with the Advocates for Social Justice group, the two were selected out of 73 submissions from the citys call for artists to create a piece highlighting social and racial justice themes. The pair created Together We Bloom using photographs of hands of people they know and flowers that depict a species native to Iowa.

Our hope is that any viewer who comes upon the mural can see themselves in the mural, Skotnes said. We have old hands, young hands, hands of all races, hands that look like a hard worker, hands that look more feminine. We tried to incorporate everything into this so that people could relate to it.

As the two have implemented large-scale murals in cities around the U.S., Sarfati said the endeavor seems to create a boom in art among younger generations. After engaging with artists in Columbus, Ohio, following the completion of a mural there, he said several people went on to become large-scale muralists themselves.

The narratives fueling a project change each time and based on the community, Sarfati said, but each new piece seems to have an artistic impact on each city.

In Cedar Rapids, he said, it looked like an arts district is beginning to take shape.

Public art is the voice of the people, Sarfati said.
After a suspect in a homicide led police officers on a chase that ended downtown with the evacuation of the Cox Business Convention Center and the arrest of a 21-year-old man in his stepfathers slaying.

The events started about seven hours before the arrest, when Tulsa police responded to Sunset Plaza apartments, 250 E. Independence St. A caller reported that Camreion Williams, 21, had shot his stepfather and fled, according to a Tulsa Police Department social media post.

The shooting victim, identified as Pete Clifton, died shortly after being taken to a hospital, police said. The mans stepson was identified in reports as a person of interest in the shooting while he remained at large early Friday.

Police later received a call that Williams had returned to the apartment, but he fled when officers arrived there. A pursuit led officers about two miles to downtown Tulsas Cox Business Convention Center, where Williams reportedly ran inside shortly after 8 a.m.

Tulsa County Sheriffs Office deputies assisted as police began evacuating the convention center in the search for Williams, who reportedly worked there as a part-time building operations employee. Police encouraged residents on social media just after 8:15 a.m. to avoid the area.

Williams reportedly was located just after 8:30 a.m. inside a maintenance room, police said. He is being held without bond in the Tulsa County jail on a first-degree murder complaint.

The slaying is being investigated as the citys 59th of the year. Another homicide investigation had launched earlier Friday after a man walked into a north Tulsa bar with a neck wound and collapsed, police said.

Clarification: Police provided updated information later about Williams' employment history in Cox Business Center. The story has been corrected.
A decades-long quest to add a substantial portion of Tulsas historic Greenwood District to the National Register of Historic Places has achieved success, officials said Friday.

The 100 to 300 blocks of North Greenwood Avenue to Elgin Avenue and Mount Zion Baptist Church is joining individual entries for Mount Zion, Vernon AME Church and the surviving Greenwood commercial buildings in the 100 block.

The Greenwood Historic Districts historical significance and legacy of perseverance will be forever woven into the fabric of Americas history, said Reuben Gant, executive director of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation.

Along with the late Julius Pegues and others, Gant worked for many years to include Greenwood as a neighborhood on the National Register of Historic Places. Their efforts were frequently thwarted by the sparseness of buildings and other physical artifacts  largely because theyd been destroyed by Tulsas 1921 Race Massacre and later by urban renewal.

The John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation appreciates the collective, collaborative efforts and commitments to this arduous fifteen-year process, Gant wrote. We celebrate this nomination with the worth and dignity of all the families and their descendants.

Finally! said U.S. James Lankford, who has also worked for years on the project with local and federal authorities. This is tremendous for the Greenwood community, great for tourism and a blessing for Oklahoma.

As is most things from the federal government, this has been too complicated and has taken too long, but perseverance paid off, Lankford said.

The acceptance by the National Park Service of the Greenwood Historic District into the National Register of Historic Places is an important milestone for Oklahoma and the nation, said Oklahoma Historical Society Executive Director Trait Thompson.

The citizens of Greenwood rebuilt their community (after the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre) only to see it decline again due to urban renewal and construction of an interstate highway in the 1960s. Today, Greenwood is enjoying its third renaissance, and the National Register placement will help civic and community leaders in Tulsa continue to tell this important story to a national and international audience.

Some Greenwood advocates were upset last year when the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce secured a listing for the old commercial district, which it manages. Greenwood Chamber President Freeman Culver said at the time the designation was not intended to prevent the further widening of the district sought by the group whose approval was announced Friday.

Featured video: City of Tulsa building an inclusive area at Whiteside Park
PAWHUSKA  The Osage Nation Congress unanimously adopted a resolution Friday calling for the repeal of an Oklahoma law limiting instruction on race, gender and history.

Historys ugly, Osage Nation Congresswoman and resolution sponsor Whitney Redcorn said. I dont know how you avoid any emotion attached to it. This started out as pursuing a gentle ask, but the deeper we dove, the more apparent it became a soft ask wouldnt work, as theres no way to make the bill (House Bill 1775) better.

Along with several of her colleagues, Redcorn expressed concern Friday about the chilling effect House Bill 1775 has had for teachers when it comes to covering certain topics, including the Osage Reign of Terror, when Osages were systematically killed by non-Osages for their oil money in the 1920s.

There has been public concern that this law prohibits the school system from teaching about history when it contains racial issues, such as slavery and the war waged on Native Americans by the United States government. The vague nature of the law has created anxiety among Oklahoma educators, the resolution states.

The Osage Nation, being fully aware of the positions both for and against this legislation, and being aware of the confusion surrounding HB 1775, both real and manufactured, urges and supports the repeal of HB 1775 by the Oklahoma Legislature at the next legislative session for the benefit of the school districts of Oklahoma, and the children they serve.

According to Oklahoma State Department of Education official student counts, more than 130,000 Native American students attend public schools across the state.

House Bill 1775 is a controversial new state law that prohibits teaching that one race or sex is inherently superior to another and that anyone, by virtue of their race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.

It was co-authored by Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore, and Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant.

Consequences for failure to comply with HB 1775 include the downgrading of a school districts state accreditation status and the suspension of the license or certificate of involved school employees.

Alleged HB 1775 violations in Tulsa and Mustang recently led to the downgrading of those school districts state accreditation.

Concerns about breaking that law have also been publicly cited by individual teachers.

A teacher at Dewey High School told The Oklahoman in August that she would not use Killers of the Flower Moon in her classroom out of concern that it could be construed as a violation of that law. Dewey Public Schools attendance area includes a portion of far northeastern Osage County.

That same month, a Norman High School English teacher resigned after a parent complained about her decision to provide students with a QR code to the Brooklyn Public Library, which is offering students nationwide access to its full library of e-books to counter book banning at some schools.

During floor debate on the measure, Congressman Eli Potts mentioned that some area school districts have canceled guest speakers scheduled to address the Osage Reign of Terror, the subject of David Granns best selling book, Killers of the Flower Moon, and a soon-to-be-released movie by the same name, out of concern that it could be construed as a violation of HB 1775.

Those who dont learn from their history are doomed to repeat it, Potts said. Our teachers are scared to speak the truth about what happened. Our education advocates are scared to speak the truth because of what this bill is.

A federal lawsuit filed in October 2021 by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, on behalf of multiple organizations plus individual teachers and students from the Edmond and Millwood districts, claims that HB 1775 violates both the First and 14th amendments and is unconstitutionally vague, too broad and racially discriminatory, and has had a chilling effect on teachers lesson plans.

Tulsa World Opinion podcast: House Bill 1775 is a dumb law, but were dealing with it
With limited materials and nourishment, Public Service Company of Oklahoma crews are putting in 16- to 18-hour work days to restore power in Florida after Hurricane Ian, a company supervisor said from there Friday.

Were a little bit east of Orlando, Florida, said Travis Andrews, PSO distribution system supervisor. Were working on several broken poles right now, several spans of wire down.

More than 2.6 million utility customers in Florida were without power at the height of the outages, and the website poweroutage.us reported that more than 1.57 million remained without electricity Friday evening.

Im sure well be here for a few days, Andrews said.

PSO has three crews in Florida comprising 150 personnel from Lawton, McAlester and Tulsa, he said.

Andrews discussed the conditions in which the workers are living but said they are keeping up their good spirits.

We are going to a semi-trailer tonight to sleep in bunk beds, Andrews said. Were working 16 to 18 hours a day. Weather is not too bad  85 degrees.

But finding something to eat is difficult, as most of the establishments where the workers have tried to find food are closed, he said.

We just tried to get some lunch, and all the lunch places are closed. There was no food in Walmart, so we found a few bags of chips, he said.

Other than everything being super wet down here and a lot of traffic, were doing good, he added.

PSO crews are working closely with Tampa Electric Co., or TECO, which is directing the Oklahoma team on where to go and what to do.

They tell us when to show up; they give us a contact who we work for, Andrews said. Were working for a TECO lineman right now, and we go through him for everything. If we have to go get materials, if we want to energize a line  weve got to go through him.

It takes a village to repair the damage caused by Hurricane Ian, Andrews said.

Seeing how these storms operate, from material to people to lodging to eating and stuff, it takes a lot of people, and you never realize how many people it takes to get the job done, Andrews said. Were out here in the field, but theres a lot of people behind the scenes that are taking care of us, as well.

The mutual assistance agreement between Florida and Oklahoma is an understanding that they will be there for each other in times of great need.

Weve had people from Florida come to Oklahoma and help us back in the 07 ice storm, Andrews said. Its just nice to be able to reach out, and were happy to come down here and help them.

On Friday, PSO crews were working on three feeder lines, which are part of the distribution grid.

Were anticipating getting all three of those feeders on tonight, Andrews said. I dont know how many people that will affect, but it will affect Im sure a couple thousand.

Despite any obstacles they face, the crews keep up their good spirits working together as a team.

The group that Im with, the Tulsa District, the morale is great, Andrews said. This group of guys that we got have really done great, and I couldnt ask for better men.
Living with snakes invading a home is not part of a rental agreement Oklahomans make with landlords. Sadly, its going to take state laws to get that point across.

A story from reporter Tim Stanley outlined the poor and sometimes dangerous conditions Afghan evacuees are living with in Tulsa. A refusal of homeowners to maintain properties, such as fixing air conditioning or getting rid of pests like snakes, are among the problems.

Another is escalating home and utility prices. Federal coverage of rent and utilities will be running out, and about one in four Tulsa evacuee households are unable to meet the higher housing costs. That means they will need new homes.

Its going to be tough to find other options. A housing shortage for low- to middle-income families in Tulsa has been a problem for years that only worsened in the past two years.

Afghan evacuees  many of whom helped American troops in combat zones  escaped war with few possessions and hoped for a new beginning. They arrived in our country struggling with a new language, culture, schools and trauma. Many are mourning deaths of family members while trying to rebuild their lives. They are vulnerable and are prime targets for derelict landlords.

Sadly, the Afghan refugees are facing what so many under-resourced, marginalized Oklahomans deal with in housing. Renters in our state do not have the legal power or financial resources to stand up to owners who are acting badly.

A legislative interim study held in September found that many renters are evicted after asking for basic repairs to such things as leaking pipes and broken heaters. The Landlord Tenant Act was written in 1978 without anti-retaliation provisions other states adopted, such as preventing landlords from terminating leases or arbitrarily raising rents on tenants who complain.

The Legislature in 2014 forbade local governments from maintaining registries of landlords or properties that consistently violate building or property codes. That prevents renters from having a way to check a potential landlords or rentals history. This is quite an imbalance of power.

In the state courts, the statute is so unevenly applied that a recent study characterized it as looking like different laws from county to county.

We believe most landlords in our city and state are conscientious people who want to maintain a safe place for renters while also making a profit. Those good landlords would surely want to clear their industry of those who take advantage of defenseless people, including the Tulsa owner who chuckled at the request for snake pest control and suggested using mothballs instead.

Some of our Afghan evacuees are seeing the worst of what our nation and community have to offer. We need to do better by them and also for everyone going up against unscrupulous landlords.

Our Legislature has a chance to make this right in the next session, and we encourage lawmakers to do so.
Le The Chu, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspapers Editor-in-Chief, welcomed Iain Frew, British Ambassador to Vietnam at the dailys headquarters in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday afternoon.

The reception marked Frews first-ever visit to a Vietnamese newspapers head office since his official succession to Gareth Ward at the end of August.

During his discussion with Chu, Frew, who was appointed ambassador to Vietnam in March, said he hoped that the British Embassy and Tuoi Tre continue to tighten cooperation and together support the development of the relations between the UK and Vietnam.

As far as I know, the British Embassy in Vietnam and the British Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City have worked closely with Tuoi Tre newspaper in recent years, the ambassador said in Vietnamese as he expressed his gratitude for the cooperation.

Frew shared that he had learned Vietnamese in London for one year to explore the Southeast Asian countrys culture and people.

The ambassador expressed his appreciation for the love of the Vietnamese people for the UK, and thanked the high-ranking Vietnamese leaders for signing the condolence book to Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away on September 8.

Regarding the cooperation between the two countries, Frew noted that many British businesses are interested in investing in Vietnam.

The British diplomat believes that Vietnam and the UK share great potential for cooperation in trade, education, tourism and creativity.

Besides, high-level visits between the two sides will be one of the main focuses in the coming time, he added.

The ambassador hopes Tuoi Tre will contribute to documenting the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2023, which he highlighted as a major milestone, as well as new projects between the two countries.

For his part, Chu said Tuoi Tre readers are keen on information about the UK, particularly articles in sustainable development, pharmaceuticals, tourism, education and trade.

The chief editor added that 12,000 Vietnamese students, who are studying in the UK, serve as a bridge to strengthen the relationship between the two countries, not to mention more and more Vietnamese people interested in studying and traveling in the kingdom.

Like Frew, he also hopes that Tuoi Tre and the British Embassy in Vietnam continue to cooperate closely, contributing to nourishing the relationship between the two countries.

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Check out the news you should not miss today:

COVID-19 Updates

-- Vietnams Ministry of Health reported 1,470 COVID-19 cases on Friday, raising the national tally to 11,479,356, with 10,591,865 recoveries and 43,148 deaths.

Politics

-- Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz met leaders and members of the Vietnam-Cuba Friendship Association in Hanoi on Friday, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

Society

-- Many petrol stations in Vietnams Mekong Delta have simultaneously shut down or ceased operations due to low commission offered by importers and high operational costs.

-- Police in Ha Giang Province, northern Vietnam, said on Friday that they had initiated legal proceedings against the man who raped a tour guide while she was sleeping inside a bungalow last week.

-- Nearly 4,000 chickens raised by a family in Nghe An Province, northern Vietnam, were killed due to flooding in the wake of Typhoon Noru on Friday.

-- Police in Lam Dong Province, Vietnams Central Highlands, said on Friday that they had arrested five people for assaulting five others at a bar on Wednesday, causing severe injuries to the victims.

-- The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has issued a warning on the potential for rabies disease outbreaks in the country due to the significant increase of new cases in areas that were not rabies hotspots before.

-- Iain Frew, British Ambassador to Vietnam, paid a visit to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspapers head office on Friday.

World News

-- U.S. consumers are exhibiting fragility ahead of the peak period for corporate results next month, as some are struggling to pay bills and others are slowing purchases of cars, sneakers, and household goods, the week's earnings show, Reuters reported on Friday.

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Two Indian event organizers have announced they are working on plans to organize two wedding parties in Vietnams central Da Nang City for Indian billionaire families in early 2023, according to the Da Nang Tourism Promotion Center.

The information was released at a conference held in India last week between Indian businesses and a municipal delegation that made a three-day working trip starting the same day to the South Asian country to promote local tourism services, the center reported on Friday.

During the trip, the delegation and some Indian event-organizing firms discussed the introduction of Da Nang to Indians as an ideal venue for wedding ceremonies and ways to organize such events successfully.

Satish Ramnani, director of Veydaa Events, an organizer of overseas weddings for Indian couples, said that the company was coordinating with a partner in Vietnam to prepare for the wedding party of about 450 guests for an Indian billionaire family at a resort in Da Nang in January 2023.

Similarly, while discussing tourism cooperation with officials from the Da Nang Department of Tourism, Global Air Services (GAS) announced its plan to organize a wedding feast for another Indian billionaire, also in Da Nang in the same month of next year.

In late November 2019, an Indian billionaire family hosted a wedding party lasting four days for their daughter in Da Nang with more than 600 guests.

During 2019 and 2020, many plans were established to hold weddings for Indians in Vietnam, including two parties in Da Nang in 2020, but these plans were revised due to different reasons amid the context of COVID-19 spread, according to the Saigon Times Online.

Thus, after more than two years of hiatus because of the pandemic, the wedding tourism trend of the rich Indians to Da Nang has heated up again.

In recent time, the city authorities have worked with many airlines to launch direct flights between India to Da Nang, Tran Phuoc Son, deputy chairman of the Da Nang administration, told the conference, which gathered hundreds of Indian investors and entrepreneurs.

Accordingly, Vietnams budget carrier Vietjet Air will conduct its first direct flights from Da Nang to Mumbai, India with a frequency of three flights per week from October 17.

Other routes from Da Nang to many other major Indian cities and vice versa will also open later.

The more direct flights, the more tourism cooperation opportunities, Son emphasized.

Representatives of many Indian entrepreneurs paid attention to Da Nang as a unique destination in terms of culture, cuisine, experiences, sea tourism, ecotourism, and wedding travel.

The firms, moreover, wanted visa procedures and conditions for foreign tourists to be easier.

They also hoped that the city would offer more ecotourism tours and open more Indian cuisine restaurants, he added.

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The Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense has agreed to earmark a plot of land in the heart of central Da Nang City for building a school and expanding roads, according to a source of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

In a recent dispatch to the municipal government, the ministry agreed to the city administrations proposal to change the land use purposes of a land plot measuring 7,404 square meters, which is under management of the ministry for defense purposes, in Hai Chau District so that local authorities can manage and use the land, the source said on Friday.

Accordingly, an area of 5,366 square meters, which is at a convenient location at 271 Nguyen Tri Phuong Street, will be used to build a school and the rest will be intended for road works.

The city authorities are required to coordinate with Military Region 5 to carry out compensation, site clearance, and other necessary procedures to make the land available for school and road construction, the dispatch said.

The Da Nang administration has assigned its functional units to join the military region to proceed with the required steps.

This is a great joy for local authorities and people, Le Tu Gia Thanh, chairman of Hai Chau District, told Tuoi Tre.

Earlier, the district administration presented a project for building an elementary and secondary school and expanding small alleys to facilitate residents travel.

Situated in the central part of Da Nang, Hai Chau fails to have enough land to build new schools, and all the existing schools do not meet local standards, Thanh said.

As many wards of the district, including Nam Duong, Hoa Thuan Dong and Binh Hien, have no junior high schools, children have to go to schools in other localities, and the same situation is facing elementary students, the official elaborated.

Therefore, the future new school will help accommodate a great deal of local students of these two educational levels, easing the student overload at schools in the district, he added.

Recently, Da Nang authorities have recovered from a local company over 15,700 square meters of land in Thanh Khe District to build a preschool and a secondary school.

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The Peoples Committee of Thai Binh Province in northern Vietnam is planning to build more tourist amenities at the infinity sea  a recently emerged traveler hotspot.

The best time to visit the infinity sea in Thuy Xuan and Thuy Hai Communes, Thai Thuy District, Thai Binh Province, is between 4:30 am to 6:00 am when the beach and sky appear to plunge into each other, reflecting hues of blue like a giant mirror above natural oceanic oasis.

Mornings are also the time when local fisherman head out to sea on their hunt for clams.

Locals claim that the best season for visitors to explore and enjoy the 'infinity sea' is from the third to the ninth month of the lunar calendar.

Locals harvest clams at Thuy Xuan Beach, Thai Thuy District, Thai Binh Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Bui Quang Thieu / Tuoi Tre

Conversely, the lack of early morning sunlight make spring and winter the worst seasons for visiting the area.

Despite the unfavorable weather on the most recent National Day (September 2) holiday, about 2,000 tourists visited the 'infinity sea.'

The popular beach saw an average of 500 visitors each day between September 7 and September 11, most of them youngsters.

However, tourists who go to this beach often have trouble due to a lack of practical amenities such as parking lots and lodging.

A panoramic view of sunrise at Thuy Xuan Beach, Thai Thuy District, Thai Binh Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Nguyen Duy Long / Tuoi Tre

The People's Committee of Thai Binh Province recently convened a meeting to discuss the management report and the plan to utilize the beach area in the Thuy Xuan and Thuy Hai Communes.

In order to develop tourism at the 'infinity sea,' Tran Thi Bich Hang, deputy chairwoman of the People's Committee of Thai Binh Province, noted that the beach must be connected to other tourism services that link with neighboring provinces and cities.

Visitors crowd Thuy Xuan Beach, Thai Thuy District, Thai Binh Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Nguyen Duy Long / Tuoi Tre

Hang proposed that the prerequisites for constructing and developing mangroves and tidal flats in Thuy Xuan and Thuy Hai Communes as eco-friendly tourism destinations be completed quickly so as not to disrupt the conservation of natural ecosystems or the fishing activities of local residents.

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Perth-based Liam Bartlett will leave Nine in November, exiting 60 Minutes and local radio commitments hosting 6PR Mornings.

Bartlett has been reporting for 60 Minutes from 2006  2012 then rejoining in 2015.

My time at 60 Minutes has afforded me so many memorable moments in the footsteps of some of the best in the business. Im extremely appreciative of all the opportunities.

60 Minutes executive producer Kirsty Thomson said, His reports from the worlds most far-flung places and his award-winning investigations into animal cruelty, government rorts and global scams will always be among the programs most memorable.

Liam is a brilliant journalist and a razor-sharp interviewer who cares deeply about the stories he tells. We will miss him and wish him every success in the future.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald
This month on design & architecture streamer Shelter is the work of iconic architects from France, Azerbaijan, Spain and more.

Zaha Hadid: An Architect, A Masterpiece (Available 3 October)

(52 mins) France 2016

One of the most celebrated and iconic architects in the world, Zaha Hadid was the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2004. A designer of museums, towers, bridges, opera houses and stadiums; Hadid is widely considered one of the all-time greats. The Heydar Aliyev Center of Baku in Azerbaijan expresses a new kind of space in the city. Discovering the curves and secrets of this last amazing achievement, the documentary reflects on the career of one of the most ambitious artists of her time. I didnt even know I was a rebel  I just knew there was another thing.

The Le Corbusier Spirit (Available 10 October)

(52 mins) France 2018

The modernist Firminy Vert, in the Loire region, is the biggest project ever built by Le Corbusier in Europe. An iconic and ambitious project, this utopian vision of a model modernist town was praised as one of Europes most accomplished postwar planning exercises. Juxtaposing Director Gilles Couderts experience growing up in the unusual and intriguing shapes of Le Corbunne to the influence Le Corbusiers career has had upon a number of prominent modern artists; the film visits three major sites of Le Corbusiers work, taking us from the Firminy buildings to the Cite Radieuse in Marseille and to the Cabanon de Roquebrune; and has insights from several contemporary artists on the work of Le Corbusier.

Renzo Piano: Architect Of Light (Available 17 October)

(66 mins) Spain 2017

Architect Renzo Piano and Director Carlos Saura discuss their view on the relationship between architecture and cinema and show us the magic surrounding the Centro Botin in Cantabria, Spain. Designed to almost float above the Costa de Cantabria, this gigantic arts centre  imagined by Renzo Piano  is a building that through time will modify the soul of the city forever. Every place has a story to tell, it has its spirit; a kind of DNA.Theres a very subtle thread that connects technique to poetry.

Rem Koolhass: A Kind Of Architect (Available 24 October)

(98 mins) Germany 2008

An engaging and visually inventive profile of the architect, beginning with his family background and early influences. Through interviews with fellow architects, academics and with Koolhaas himself, we see the evolution of his architecture through the development of projects such as the Dutch Embassy in Berlin, the Seattle Library, Casa da Musica in Porto and the unique creative designs for houses and living spaces. The film culminates with the construction of the landmark CC-TV building in Beijing a very unusual skyscraper built as a loop in space held in place by a collar to prevent it from falling. A visually inventive, thought-provoking portrait of the architect.

Mies In Krefeld (Available 31 October)

(56 mins) Germany 2011

For over a decade, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886  1969) worked almost exclusively for the Krefeld silk manufacturer Hermann Lange and his professional and private associates. Designing two upper middle-class villas, industrial buildings for Verseidag, apartment buildings, a clubhouse, furniture and exhibition stands  the works of Mies van der Rohe commissioned by clients in Krefeld are a testament of this famous architects versatility. Exploring the most important creative phase of Mies van der Rohes career, Mies In Krefeld investigates the German region with the highest cluster of his groundbreaking buildings.Using partly unreleased film footage and photographic material, the film offers an insight into the cultural and social milieu in Krefeld in the 20s and 30s, showcases the projects that Mies  partly with his partner and colleague Lilly Reich  built for his Krefeld clients, and visualizes for the first time using 3D animations how three buildings planned by Mies for Krefeld would have looked like had they actually been built.

Guest Curator: Jacinda Rogers. Editor of New Zealand publication Architecture Now, Jacinda Rogers, has curated a selection of her favourite films on Shelter for this October. Architecture Now is a content-rich resource that provides insightful coverage and stunning images of the most exciting work being done in architecture and design today.
A seven+ year campaign to have Australian networks provide audio descriptions for the blind and vision impaired community has resulted in a United Nations committee finding Australia in breach of an international human rights treaty.

The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has recommended that Australia take the necessary legislative and policy measures  to ensure the provision of audio description services.

In 2015 Vision Australia lodged complaints with the Australian Human Rights Commission against Seven, Nine, 10, SBS and Foxtel over a lack of audio descriptors, after it was rejected by the Australian Human Rights Commission.

They argued the failure to provide adequate audio description amounts to discrimination and a breach of Australias obligations under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

It has been a long road for campaigners. Following trials in 2012 and 2016, ABC provided audi0 description programmes with approximately 14 hours of programming while SBS offered audio description on select programs (but not on iview nor SBS on Demand).

But there are still no laws requiring any free-to-air and commercial broadcasters to create audio described content.

Australia is the only country in the OECD to not provide audio descriptions.

Melbourne disability advocate Lauren Henley tells ABC, The very first thing I watched with the first trial of audio description that happened in Australia was a David Attenborough documentary.

And it was an amazing experience. Having visual memory, I could picture everything as they were describing everything, and that is so powerful.

Yes, this is a human rights issue. Yes, you are required to provide audio description for people who are blind or visually impaired.

Federal communications minister Michelle Rowland said the government is considering the decision and will provide a response in due course.
ReportLinker

Major players in the industrial alcohol market are Cargill Incorporated, Cristalco, Raizen Energia, MGP Ingredients, Green Plains Inc, Sigma-Aldrich, Grain Millers Inc. , The Andersons Inc, Flint Hills Resources, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Exxon Mobil Corporation, Univar Solutions, BASF, and Birla Sugar.

New York, Sept. 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Industrial Alcohol Global Market Report 2022" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06323490/?utm_source=GNW





The global industrial alcohol market is expected to grow from $128.61 billion in 2021 to $141.66 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.15%. The industrial alcohol market is expected to reach $204.47 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 9.61%.



The industrial alcohol market consists of sales of industrial alcohol and related products by entities (organizations, sole traders, and partnerships) that are employed in the production of vaccinations, compound tonics, syrups, tinctures, liniments, and antiseptics, as well as medications such as chloroform, atabrine, and barbiturates.Industrial alcohol refers to distilled ethyl alcohol used in industrial applications.



It is majorly used as a primary raw material in the production of chemical compounds such as acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate, acetic acid, and others.



The main type of industrial alcohol includes isopropyl alcohol, methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, isobutyl alcohol, and benzyl alcohol.Isopropyl alcohol is used as an ingredient in various cosmetics and medicinal preparations for external use.



Isopropyl alcohol is an isomer of propyl alcohol and a homologue of ethyl alcohol, with properties similar to it when used externally but more toxic when consumed internally.The method used is in the manufacturing of industrial alcohol includes fermentation and synthetic.



They are sourced from molasses, sugar, grains, and fossil fuels. The application of industrial alcohol includes fuel, chemical intermediates and solvent, pharmaceuticals, personal care products and food ingredients.



North America was the largest region in the industrial alcohol market in 2021.Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region in the forecast period.



The regions covered in the industrial alcohol market report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa.



The industrial alcohol market research report is one of a series of new reports that provides industrial alcohol market statistics, including industrial alcohol industry global market size, regional shares, competitors with an industrial alcohol market share, detailed industrial alcohol market segments, market trends and opportunities, and any further data you may need to thrive in the industrial alcohol industry. This industrial alcohol market research report delivers a complete perspective of everything you need, with an in-depth analysis of the current and future scenario of the industry.



The increasing demand for biofuels among end-users is significantly contributing to the growth of the industrial alcohol market going forward.Biofuel is a renewable energy source made from microbial, plant, or animal waste.



Global energy consumption is predicted to rise significantly in the next years, and it is widely acknowledged that alternative, sustainable methods to meet those requirements must be developed.Ethanol is also called distilled alcohol or industrial alcohol which is a renewable fuel that is used significantly for the production of biofuel.



Ethanol is an alcohol that is also used in gasoline as a blending ingredient to boost octane and reduce carbon monoxide and other smog-causing pollutants to minimize air pollution.For instance, currently, 98% of gasoline in the United States contains ethanol, often E10 (10% ethanol, 90% gasoline).



Therefore, increasing demand for biofuels is expected to boost demand for industrial alcohol during the forecast period.



Technological advancements are the key trend gaining popularity in the industrial alcohol market.The manufacturer of industrial alcohol is using advanced technology for fast and sustainable production.



New and advanced ethanol manufacturing technology is being developed with easy compatibility with the existing processes without much capital expenditure.For instance, in 2021, Arkansas Company added green to the ethanol manufacturing process after receiving funding for technology development.



The new novel catalytic membrane technology can be fine-tuned to take corn fiber, a byproduct of the corn-to-ethanol process, and convert it into sugars suitable for ethanol production.



In March 2020, MGP Ingredients, Inc., a US-based provider of premium distilled spirits and specialized wheat proteins and starches acquired New Columbia Distillers LLC for an undisclosed amount. With the acquisition, MGP Ingredients is focused on expanding its operational capabilities and market presence across the globe. New Columbia Distillers LLC is a US-based producer of distilled alcohol.



The countries covered in the industrial alcohol market report are Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, South Korea, UK, and USA.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06323490/?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.



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CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




Artist Samson Kambalu with his piece Antelope

An Oxford Don has had his new sculpture displayed on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square.

Artist Samson Kambalu, who is a Fellow at Magdalen College, has said his new sculpture represents standing up for justice and equality.

The Malawi-born artists piece, Antelope, depicts a 1914 photograph of European missionary John Chorley and Malawian Baptist preacher John Chilembwe, who fought against colonial rule.

Speaking at the unveiling of the sculpture in central London on Wednesday, Kambalu told the PA news agency that he was glad he could carry forth Chilembwes message of fighting for a better world.

The preacher died in 1915 in an uprising while fighting colonial injustices, one of which was the rule that forbade Africans from wearing hats in front of white people.

Antelope is a new work by Malawi-born artist Samson Kambalu which depicts a 1914 photograph of Baptist preacher John Chilembwe and European missionary John Chorley

Kambalu explained: Before the uprising he made a photograph with his friend, they were simply standing side by side wearing hats, and he distributed this photograph amongst his followers as a political stance to say We are equal to white people so I can wear a hat in front of a white person.

Of course, he was killed months later, but his message lived on.

The artist admitted that when he came across the photograph in an Oxford library he was not initially sure of why it was so significant but felt there was a message behind it, and when he was approached to submit a proposal for the Fourth Plinth he said he knew it would be the subject matter immediately.

Reflecting on what it means to have his sculpture stationed in central London, he told PA: Chilembwe standing there, this sculpture represents not only standing up for justice and equality, but it also represents his own African heritage.

Kambalu added that the title of Antelope alludes to the mask culture of the Chewa people, who reside in Malawi, and is a symbol of generosity.

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So hes not only proposing equality and injustice, but hes also proposing actually a radical economy right in the middle of the Empire, he added.

The artist said he feels the metaphor of who gets to wear the hat today is still a pertinent question.

He said: Hence, we have movements like Black Lives Matter, the George Floyd movement.

His (Chilembwes) act of protest is still relevant today, and Im glad that I can carry it forward.

I can carry his message to contribute to the fight for a better world thats still going on today.

The sculpture was due to be unveiled earlier in the month, but it was delayed following the death of the Queen.

Last week, there were calls in the House of Commons for a statue of the late monarch to be erected on the Fourth Plinth instead in honour of her reign.

Previous Fourth Plinth commissions include Heather Phillipsons sculpture The End, which depicted a whirl of cream topped with a drone and a fly; Marc Quinns sculpture of pregnant Alison Lapper and Yinka Shonibares scaled-down replica of HMS Victory, contained in a glass bottle.

Sir Antony Gormley also created One & Other, in which people  including a man who posed naked  took it in turns to spend an hour on the plinth.
An image has been shared repeatedly in social media posts that claim it shows "pyramids older than those in Egypt" found in Russia's Kola Peninsula. But the photo in fact shows mountains on the Faroe Islands formed by millions of years of volcanic activity. An Egyptologist told AFP the oldest known pyramid in the world is the Djoser step pyramid found in Saqqara, Egypt.

"Russian pyramids older than the Egyptian pyramids," reads the Korean-language claim shared alongside the image here on Facebook on September 28, 2022.

The photo, labelled "Pyramids in Russia's Kola Peninsula," appears to show two pyramid-shaped mounds rising behind a grassy plain with a small body of water.

Screenshot of the false Facebook post. Captured September 29, 2022.

The same image was shared alongside a similar claim on Facebook here and here; on YouTube here; and on popular South Korean blogging platform Naver Blog here.

The image and claim have also circulated since at least 2019 in posts in various languages, including English, French, Italian and Russian.

An earlier version of the claim circulated in 2014, stating the "pyramid" was found in the Faroe Islands.

The image, however, shows two mountains in the Faroe Islands formed naturally by volcanic activity.

Popular travel destination

A Google reverse image search found a similar photo of the twin mounds and the body of water on the Adobe Stock photo website.

The image's caption reads: "Hiking to the top of the Klakkur mountain near Klaksvik, the second largest town of the Faroes behind Torshavn, located on Boroy Island, Noroyar, Faroe Islands."

Below is a screenshot comparison of the image shared with the false claim on Facebook (left) and a similar Adobe Stock image (right):

Similar photos of the twin peaks can be seen here on a photographer's blog from August 21, 2017. The blog states the photos were taken near the town of Klaksvik on the Faroe Islands.

The approximate location of the photo can be seen here on Google Maps street view.

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Klakkur is a popular site among landscape photographers visiting the Faroe Islands, according to its official tourism website.

Photos published to the site show the archipelago has generally mountainous terrain throughout, with other pyramid-shaped mountains such as Kunoyarnakki. The tourism site describes it as: "look[ing] like a natural pyramide (sic) when you look at it from the town of Klaksvik."

The layered look of these mountains and the islands' geography is the result of successive volcanic eruptions that built up a basalt plateau over time, according to the islands' official website, as well as geological studies of the area here and here.

Oldest pyramid

AFP did not find news reports, announcements or studies that show ancient pyramids had been discovered in Russia's Kola peninsula, located adjacent to the Arctic Ocean on the country's northern shore near Finland.

Sources such as Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the Guinness World Records state the oldest pyramid verified by experts is the Djoser step pyramid in Saqqara, Egypt.

It is believed to have been built during the reign of a king of ancient Egypt's Third Dynasty from approximately 2650 to 2575 BCE.

University of Bristol Egyptologist Professor Aidan Dodson told AFP: "The Djoser pyramid is very definitely the oldest known one in the world."
EXCLUSIVE: Barbara Broccoli, one of the teams of producers behind the powerhouse film Till  about the extraordinary efforts of Mamie Till Mobley to find justice after the lynching of her 14-year-old son Emmett Louis Till, for whistling at Carolyn Bryant, a white woman, by white supremacists in Mississippi in 1955  told Deadline, that audiences must seek out the movie: This is not a time for us to look away.

Broccoli said Emmett, who was visiting his cousins, was lynched and murdered for whistling at Bryant, keeping shop at Bryants Grocery & Meat Market in Money, Mississippi. A few days later a group of men dragged the boy from his uncles home. Days later his mutilated body was discovered in the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi.

More from Deadline

Citing fellow producers Keith Beauchamp, Whoopi Goldberg, Thomas Levine, Michael Reilly and Fred Zollo, Broccoli added, This is an important film to me, to all of us.

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The film, directed by Chinonye Chukwu (Clemency), was receiving its world premiere screening Saturday night at the New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center, will open peoples eyes, Broccoli said following a private screening of Till in London this week. I pray that people see it, added the producer who controls Eon Productions, with Michael G. Wilson, home of the James Bond franchise.

Broccoli was worried, she said because the racial climate in the United States feels worse now than it did 20 years ago. A lot of it is Donald Trump, isnt it? Hes made it so that people can openly deny this happened.

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She explained that Keith Beauchamp was the producer who basically spent his whole adult life researching this, its his scholarship that has gotten us to this point. He was very close to Maimie and this film is about what really happened. He and Fred and Tom, and then Whoopi and I got involved and then we brought Chinonye on having seen Clemency, and shes done a magnificent job.

The casting of Danielle Deadwyler (The Harder They Fall) to portray Mamie Till Mobley was a proud moment, Broccoli noted. And Danielle is truly extraordinary. She sent in a tape to the casting director, we had lots and lots of submissions. Chinonye sent me a note that said: Have you seen the tapes today? Call me. I was actually in L.A. and I called her and said, Oh, my God. I think we said Oh, my God in unison, actually. We were sold on Danielle and what was fantastic was the reaction at the studios. Alana Mayo who runs Orion Pictures and Pam Abdy and Michael De Luca who financed the film; when we said that we wanted someone who was not an established name, then they saw her there was no argument about casting her. They supported this film 100 percent. And weve had 100 percent support from MGM and UAR [United Artists Releasing] who are doing a great job, and tremendous support from Universal, Broccoli said.

Sighing, Broccoli continued, Getting to the point where we got it to them was a long journey but once we gave it to them it was instantaneous. They just wanted to make this film  because it was Orion which has a long history of making films that stand for something.

The films propelled by the power of a mothers love and the power of a mother seeking the truth of what happened to her teenage son, portrayed with stand-out skill by Jalyn Hall (Shaft). Chinonye wanted to focus the story on Mrs. Mobley and was very adamant, rightfully so, that she didnt want to show the violence of Emmett being killed. But, obviously, the aftermath was important for people to see. It was important to show what had been done to Emmetts body and thats what Mrs. Mobley did when she displayed her sons tortured body in an open casket. Let the world see what Ive seen,' Broccoli explained.

Also, said Broccoli, the director wanted to start and end the film in a place of joy. And she wanted to show the love, and the resilience, and the complexity that Mrs. Mobley was a middle-class woman living in Chicago with a great job; she had a life and had friends and had not set out to become a Civil Rights activist. And when you think of what happened to her in just one month: its a month from the abduction to finding out about the murder and then having to testify in Mississippi. Its extraordinary what she achieved. Shes a real hero and people do not know her story. She goes beyond what anyone can even imagine doing; standing up to the system, to all those [white] men, and putting her grief aside for the greater good. Pain to purpose. That cant happen without a great performance. Danielle provides that, Broccoli declared.

Clearly, Broccoli is heavily invested in Till, both emotionally and practically. She claimed that some states are banning the teaching of the history in a whole bunch of places. But were opening wide [October 14 in the U.S.] and were showing it at the London Film Festival on October 15 and 16. We have a huge school program, a huge program with schools and colleges. People think they know the name and they think they know the story, but they dont really know the story.

Broccoli mentioned a key scene in Till when a relative informs Mrs. Mobley that she cant look at Emmetts disfigured corpse in an open casket at the Roberts Temple Church of God in the Bronzeville district of Chicago. Auntie Lizzie says, I cant look, and Maimie says We must. And so must we. This is not a time for us to look away, Broccoli insisted.

Goldberg also features in Till as Mrs. Mobleys mother Alma Carthan; Frankie Faison portrays her father, John Carthan. Civil rights giant Medgar Evers is portrayed by British actor Tosin Cole, his wife Myrlie Evers is played by Jayme Lawson. Medgars wife says in the film that she worries. It sends chills knowing what was to happen, Broccoli said, referring to Medgar Everss assassination eight years later in 1963. Haley Bennett plays Carolyn Bryant.

Repeating her mantra, Broccoli said, No, this is not a time to look away.

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Milan claimed a dramatic 3-1 victory at Empoli as two injury-time goals from Fode Ballo-Toure and Rafael Leao downed the Serie A champions' stubborn opponents.

Nedim Bajrami's 92nd-minute free-kick looked to have earned a point for Empoli after Ante Rebic had put Milan ahead in the 79th minute.

But Ballo-Toure finished in the 94th minute to puncture Empoli's resolve.

With Empoli's hopes dashed, Leao added a third to ensure Milan returned to winning ways following their defeat to Napoli last time out.

Leao could have opened the scoring in the early stages, but Guglielmo Vicario made a great save with his feet to turn away the Portugal international's low shot.

Alexis Saelemaekers dragged wide as Empoli's resistance held firm until half-time, and the hosts' goal continued to live a charmed life after the restart when Olivier Giroud's free-kick hit the crossbar.

Vicario denied Sandro Tonali with an acrobatic save but Milan finally made the breakthrough when substitute Rebic lashed home from Leao's cross.

Yet Rebic's goal far from settled the contest, with a wonderful free-kick from Bajrami giving Empoli hope they had snatched a point.

It was not to be as Milan rallied to win their fourth straight Serie A match against Empoli.

Just 105 seconds after conceding, Milan were ahead again when Ballo-Toure turned in Rade Krunic's flick-on, with victory assured when Leao dinked over Vicario in the dying embers of a thrilling clash.

What does it mean? Champions' resolve gets Milan through

Milan's players could easily have given up the ghost when Bajrami's free-kick nestled in, but they are reigning champions for a reason.

They found the cutting edge that had been missing for much of the match until Rebic's opener, and with 17 points from their eight games are just a win behind leaders Napoli.

Another big leap forward for Leao

Leao is reportedly of interest to some of Europe's elite sides, and on Saturday's evidence it is clear why.

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He drove Milan forward all game and finished with a goal and an assist  one of five key passes, two more than any other player on the pitch.

Giroud struggles to hit the heights

Giroud was unlucky with the free-kick that hit the bar but was ultimately hooked with 17 minutes remaining and Milan needing a goal. His replacement was Rebic, who scored one and then set up another in a clinical cameo.

Giroud failed to hit the target with any of his three shots and was also caught offside a team-high three times in what was a frustrating match for the striker.

Key Opta Facts

- Empoli-Milan is only the fourth game in Serie A history with three goals scored since the 90th minute of play onwards/

- This is the first Milan win thanks to a goal scored in second-half injury time in Serie A since April 24, against Lazio.

- Leao is one of the only four players to have both scored at least four goals and delivered at least four assists in the big-5 European leagues this season, along with Lionel Messi, Neymar and Dango Ouattara.

- Bajrami is the first player to have scored a direct free-kick goal in Serie A during the injury time since Nahuel Molina, with Udinese against Torino last 6 February.

- Rebic has scored five of his 15 away goals in Serie A coming off the bench, including the two most recent (prior today against Salernitana in February).

What's next?

Milan are back in action on Wednesday, facing a tricky trip to Chelsea in the Champions League. Meanwhile, Empoli will travel to play Torino on October 9.
Donald Trump Win McNamee/Getty Images

U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon on Thursday sided with former President Donald Trump, who appointed her to the bench in 2020, over the special master she selected to oversee Trump's privilege claims on some 11,000 documents the FBI took from his Mar-a-Lago club in August.

Last week, the special master, Judge Raymond Dearie, ordered Trump's team to affirm or challenge the FBI's inventory of items taken from Mar-a-Lago  effectively forcing them to admit the FBI took classified documents from Trump's residence or swear in court that, as Trump has claimed, the FBI planted evidence. In effect, Dearie was telling Trump's lawyer "to put up or shut up," Georgetown University law professor Julie O'Sullivan told The New York Times. Now they have to do neither.

Cannon's six-page order also gives Trump's team until sometime in November to sort through what it says are 200,000 pages of documents, rejecting Dearie's Oct. 21 deadline for flagging records purportedly subject to attorney-client or executive privilege. Dearie, who had planned to finish arbitrating any privilege disagreements before Thanksgiving, now has until Dec. 16, pushing Cannon's review of Dearie's arbitration into 2023.

Trump had asked Cannon to appoint a special master nominated Dearie for the role, and "maybe from Trump's point of view, creating delay and chaos is always a plus, but this has the feel of a giant backfire," New York University legal scholar Peter Shane told the Times. First, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals overruled Cannon and removed the 100 or so classified documents from Dearie's review, handing them back to the Justice Department for its criminal investigation.

Since Dearie's review "is no longer delaying or diverting the criminal inquiry, it is not clear what benefits remain for Mr. Trump," Charlie Savage writes at the Times. Also, "a special master will cost a lot of money," and Cannon said Trump has to foot the entire bill, including "the full cost of a vendor who will scan all the materials, as well as support staff for Judge Dearie, like an assistant who bills $500 an hour." Cannon's latest order prevents the puncturing of Trump's legal defenses, Savage adds, but it still appears "the upsides to obtaining a special master are eroding and the disadvantages swelling."

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King Charles will not attend COP27, the UN climate conference due to be held in Egypt in November, Buckingham Palace has confirmed.

There had been speculation that the King, who has been a passionate campaigner on environmental issues, would attend the event in Sharm el Sheikh, making it his first overseas trip since becoming monarch.

The confirmation that he will not go comes after reports that Prime Minister Liz Truss and Number 10 advisers had told the King he should not attend.

But Sky News understands from palace sources that any suggestions his attendance was a point of disagreement is categorically untrue and that the decision not to attend was agreed in consultation.

It is understood there is still discussion about whether he can show his support for the climate conference in other ways.

A Number 10 source told Sky News: "The idea the PM gives orders to the King is ridiculous."

King Charles has attended the UN climate conference for a number of years and delivered one of the keynote speeches at the opening ceremony for COP26 in Glasgow.

As Prince of Wales, he also gained a reputation as a leading voice in the environmental sphere, able to bring together individuals and organisations from both the public and private sectors.

Read more:

King faces tough test if he wants to keep his personal climate fight alive

It is therefore likely that there may have been intense discussions about his attendance this year, especially when the climate crisis is still seen to be a "political" issue by some, and as King he is expected to remain politically neutral at all times.

It is understood that government advice was sought, advice was given and it was unanimously agreed by the palace and Number 10 that this would not be the right occasion for the King to go to the conference in person as his first overseas visit as sovereign.

In his first address to the nation, the King acknowledged how his role had changed, emphasising his respect for his new constitutional role.

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He said: "I have been brought up to cherish a sense of duty to others, and to hold in the greatest respect the precious traditions, freedoms and responsibilities of our unique history and our system of parliamentary government.

"As the Queen herself did with such unswerving devotion, I too now solemnly pledge myself, throughout the remaining time God grants me, to uphold the Constitutional principles at the heart of our nation."

In his first address to the nation, the King acknowledged how his role had changed, emphasising his respect for his new constitutional role.

Both sides will be keen to play down any sense of discord, mindful of the reports in the summer of a rift over the government's Rwanda immigration policy between the then Prince of Wales and Boris Johnson.

Last year, the Royal Family played a significant part in supporting COP26, with the Queen recording a video message which was played to all the world leaders in attendance.
Ajax coach Erik ten Hag during the Toto KNVB Cup Press Conference prior to the cup final against PSV at the Johan Cruijff ArenA on April 15, 2022 in Amsterdam Credit: Alamy

Manchester United are engineering themselves right to the front of the queue to sign Jude Bellingham, if reports in the Spanish media are correct.

The England international, still just 19, finds himself as one of the worlds most in-demand stars. He has matured rapidly in the yellow and black shirt of Borussia Dortmund and already looks likely to be the big transfer story of 2023. Indeed, demand for Bellingham is seemingly growing by the week.

That chase appeared to be led by Liverpool, who are looking to seriously revamp their midfield in 2023. Indeed, their need is extremely well documented with three vacancies soon set to appear in their midfield. As such, James Milner, 37 in January, is surely now in his final season at Anfield. Furthermore, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita are also nearing the end of their deals and will likely depart as free agents.

To try and get ahead of their rivals, reports claim the Reds have already held talks with Dortmund over a potential swoop. And the Bundesliga sides interest in one of their own men may also hand them a key advantage.

However, question marks over his fee may yet stand against Liverpool. The Bundesliga side are reportedly seeking as much as 105m (120m) for a player who does not turn 20 until June.

Those claims have since been widely deflated, with Dortmund seeminly willing to accept a fee nearer the 79m (90m) mark. That said, reports suggest his potential buyers would need to pay that entire fee up front, instead of over installments. Were that to be the case, Liverpool would surely be out of the reckoning.

Indeed, they are far from alone in expressing interest in Bellingham.

Hes also on several other clubs radars, with a summer 2023 move looking increasingly likely.

Man Utd in pole position for Jude Bellingham transfer

Indeed, Real Madrid are also reportedly looking at Bellingham with intent. They will one day soon need to replace veteran stars Luka Modric and Toni Kroos  and the England star is seen as the ideal candidate.

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But any Dortmund request to receive the fee up front would also rule them out of the running.

However, one club who could seemingly meet their demands are Manchester United.

Reports on Friday indicated that Bellingham was one of two prized midfield targets Erik ten Hag was pinning his hopes on in 2023.

Per Saturdays AS (print edition, 01/10), United are very much putting themselves at the front of that race for his signature. The Spanish outlet claims United are moving restlessly towards his signing. Furthermore, they suggest United have the financial muscle to outgun their two major rivals for his signature.

As a sideline, they claim Borussia Dortmund are actively looking to reward Bellingham with a new deal. That could see his contract extended beyond its current 2025 arrangement.

Furthermore, they will also offer the teenager a handsome payrise and extend his buyout clause to 131.9m (150m). But even if that were to happen, its assumed United will still be able to reach an agreement over his signing.

BVB face losing battle with midfielder

Bellingham appears destined to return to the Premier League next year with the clamour for his signing heating up.

And while Dortmund would like to keep him, they have history of selling one major star each and every year. The pattern has followed for several seasons now with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Christian Pulisic, Jadon Sancho and Erling Haaland all departing in recent seasons.

As such, there will be few surprises if Bellingham were next.

And they stand to make an enormous profit on their initial 25m investment.

Despite that, Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl insists BVB are looking to break that chain with the England star.

Jude is very happy at the club, he is very committed to us, Kehl told BT Sport. Hopefully he can stay over next season and for a long time. Then we come back to the beginning of the interview, we try to keep our best players.

Jude is one of those and we try to keep them for as long as possible. But we will see what will happen but not at the moment. We would like to change the policy but we are in the market. And we would like to keep our best players longer than the last few years  its impossible [to keep them sometimes].

We want to play for titles and thats the most important thing for players. They want to be at a club who can improve. But in the end, money is another aspect and England pays a lot more than Germany. We have to renew our philosophy every year.

READ MORE: Jude Bellingham advised to join Man Utd with Jack Grealish related warning attached to rival transfer

The article Man Utd transfer news: Erik ten Hag moving relentlessly towards incredible 79m signing with two rivals blown away appeared first on Teamtalk.com.
In the Baltic Sea, we're heading to a crime scene.

The site of suspected sabotage.

We're sailing towards the place where an alleged attack was carried out on Nord Stream; the biggest underwater gas pipelines running from Russia to Europe.

We left from the Danish island of Bornholm, the closest place to four leaks detected off the coasts of Denmark and Sweden this week.

Suddenly a familiar symbol appears on the boat's onboard map.

"A skull and crossbones, what does that mean?" I ask our captain, Kim Finne.

"That is the leak," he replies.

Ahead of us is an exclusion zone of around five miles.

Only the military and official investigators are allowed to get any closer to the leaking pipes as they try to protect the evidence and prove what happened and who is responsible.

It doesn't take long before we are warned off.

"You are heading towards a restricted area where navigation is prohibited," the Danish Navy tells us over the radio.

The discovery of leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines has sparked an international crisis.

All the damage is in international waters.

A few kilometres closer to Bornholm and the reported explosions would have been in Danish waters which could have provoked a NATO response if proven to be deliberate acts.

It's deeply unsettling for Kim who could smell the leaking gas from his home.

"Do you feel vulnerable living on Bornholm?" I ask him.

"Yes, because Bornholm used to be a really peaceful place and now we see warships, F16 [jets] and explosions so close to Denmark," he replies.

Many in Europe believe the damage to Nord Stream was deliberate.

Ukraine has accused Russia of terrorism.

On Friday, President Vladimir Putin directly accused "Anglo-Saxon" powers of blowing up the pipelines.

"It was a deliberate act of sabotage, and now the Russians are pumping out disinformation and lies. And we're at work with our allies to get to the bottom of exactly what, precisely what happened," countered President Joe Biden.

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"Who do you think is responsible?" I ask Kim.

"I will not say I know who has done this but I would definitely say the Russian guy will try to hold Europe in a tighter hand now because they know it's going to be winter."

Bornholm's proximity to the leaks means chemical experts are monitoring the air to check it hasn't been poisoned.

So far, no dangerous levels have been detected.

But the ruptures in the Nord Stream system have led to what is likely the biggest single release of climate-damaging methane ever recorded according to the United Nations Environment Programme.

Campaigners say what's happened in the Baltic Sea is both a political crisis and an environmental disaster:

"Methane being such a potent and aggressive gas, this is something that really will be felt.

Read more:

UK energy firms reassess security of North Sea oil and gas rigs

What we know about the Nord Stream leaks and who was behind them

"Over a 20-year period this is something that is equivalent to the Danish emissions of C02 or what maybe 30 million cars in Europe would emit in one year," explains Mads Flarup Christensen from Greenpeace Nordic.

"It will contribute to the climate crisis that we are in the middle of and that is of course very, very serious."

The full implications of what has happened off Bornholm's coast are still playing out.

Further investigation should be possible once gas stops flowing from the pipelines.

But experts warn that even if evidence can be gathered to prove what caused the leaks and if they are the result of a deliberate attack, it's highly unlikely we will ever definitively know who ordered it.

On Saturday, the Danish energy agency said the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea appears to have stopped leaking.
Russia on Friday vetoed a Western bid at the UN Security Council to condemn its annexations of Ukrainian territory but found no support, with China and India abstaining.

Russia's veto was a certainty but Western powers hoped to show Moscow's isolation in its war and will now take the condemnation effort to the General Assembly, where every nation has a vote and none can kill a resolution.

The United States pushed through the draft Security Council resolution hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow had taken over four areas of Ukraine which held Kremlin-organized referendums on land seized by Russia's military.

"This is exactly what the Security Council was made to do -- defend sovereignty, protect territorial integrity, promote peace and security," the US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said at the start of the meeting.

"The United Nations was built on an idea that never again would one country be allowed to take another's territory by force," she said, later promising a General Assembly vote.

Russia's ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, complained that it was unprecedented to seek condemnation of one of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council.

"Do you seriously expect Russia to consider and support such a draft? And if not, then it turns out that you are intentionally pushing us to use the right of the veto in order to then wax lyrical about Russia abusing this right," Nebenzia said.

The resolution, co-sponsored by the United States and Albania, would have condemned the "illegal" referendums held in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine and called on all states not to recognize any changes to Ukraine's borders.

It also would have called on Russia to withdraw troops immediately from Ukraine, ending an invasion launched on February 24.

- China urges 'restraint' -

Putin shortly before the invasion visited Beijing and agreed to a closer relationship. But China has stopped short of robustly supporting Russia, with US officials saying Beijing has refused requests to supply weapons.

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"The sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be safeguarded," said China's ambassador, Zhang Jun.

"China calls on all parties concerned to exercise restraint, refrain from actions that actually exacerbate tensions and leave space for a solution through diplomatic negotiations."

India, Brazil and Gabon also abstained. India has historic defense ties with Russia despite a warming relationship with the United States, which had privately leaned on New Delhi to support the resolution.

"Escalation of rhetoric or tension is in no one's interest," said India's envoy, Ruchira Kamboj.

Among the notable affirmative votes were Mexico, which has put forward a peace proposal, and the United Arab Emirates, which had hesitated on US-led sanctions on Russia.

Britain's envoy Barbara Woodward said the Security Council vote showed that Putin's annexation is a "fantasy" that holds "no legal effect."

"Not a single other member of this Council recognizes Russia's attempted illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory. Russia's veto doesn't change that fact," she said.

"This is the largest forcible annexation of territory since the Second World War. There is no middle ground on this."

Immediately after the veto, the Security Council went into a session requested by Russia on gas leaks in the Nord Stream pipelines that connect Russia to Europe under the Baltic Sea.

Nebenzia, the Russian envoy, spoke of NATO exercises and helicopter movements in the area and quoted US President Joe Biden's statement in February that "there will be no Nord Stream 2" -- a reference to US pressure on Germany to scrap the project -- if Russia invades Ukraine.

"You can't deny the words of your own president," Nebenzia said, denouncing "international terrorism" for the gas leaks.

Richard Mills, the US deputy representative, accused Russia of calling the meeting "to foster conspiracy theories."

Russia seeks to "distract us from addressing the main issue at hand, which is the continuing aggression against Ukraine and the destruction of civilian infrastructure on Ukrainian sovereign territory," Mills said.

abd-sct/dw
Leftist Venezuela has agreed to be a guarantor of future peace talks between Colombia and its last guerrilla group, both countries said Tuesday night.

This is the latest move toward strong new relations that had been severed until Gustavo Petro took power this month as the first leftist leader ever in Colombia.

Colombia has asked the Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro to be guarantor of talks with the National Liberation Army, or ELN, the last active rebel group in a country torn by decades of conflict.

In a speech, Maduro said, "Of course we agree!"

It thus joins Chile and Cuba as guarantors of talks that the Bogota government hopes to hold with the ELN.

Colombia and its largest rebel group, the FARC, signed an historic peace accord in 2016 after decades of war.

Venezuela took part in that peace process, with Maduro involved at first as foreign minister in the government of the late socialist icon Hugo Chavez, then after 2013 as his successor.

"Peace in Colombia is peace in South America," Maduro said Tuesday.

Petro wants to resume talks with the ELN that his conservative predecessor Ivan Duque had started. They broke off after a rebel attack in 2019 that left 22 people dead.

Representatives of Petro's government and the ELN have already met in Havana.

Petro has said there would soon be a meeting with the ELN in Venezuela, which Colombian military intelligence has said is hosting senior ELN leaders.

After Petro took power in August, Colombia and Venezuela restored diplomatic relations after three years of rupture triggered by Colombia's recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president of Venezuela.

(AFP)
Bone Therapeutics SA

REGULATED INFORMATION

Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium, 30 September 2022, 7am CEST  BONE THERAPEUTICS (Euronext Brussels and Paris: BOTHE), the cell therapy company addressing unmet medical needs in orthopedics and other diseases, today announces an increase in the total number of voting rights and shares as a result of the issuance of new shares following the conversion of convertible bonds (CBs) issued on 9 June 2022. The following information is published in accordance with Article 15 of the Belgian Law of 2 May 2007 on the publication of major shareholdings in issuers whose shares are admitted to trading on regulated market.



Total amount of share capital on 30 August 2022 EUR 5,352,174 Total number of shares with voting rights on 30 August 2022 23,172,152 Total number of new shares issued between 31 August 2022 and 29 September 2022 663,819





Total amount of share capital on 29 September 2022 EUR 5,456,936 Total number of shares with voting rights on 29 September 2022 23,835,971 Total number of voting rights (denominator) on 29 September 2022 23,835,971 Total number of attributed warrants 1,197,554 Total number of convertible bonds outstanding 818 Total number of remaining CB commitments 70 Total number of shares with voting rights that can be issued following the exercise of the attributed warrants and CB commitments, and the conversion of the convertible bonds 27,142,985 (1)

(1)

1,197,554 shares could be issued in case all 1,197,554 attributed warrants were exercised.

285,714 shares could be issued in case all 800 convertible bonds outstanding, issued in the private placement on 6 May 2020, were converted into shares based on the predetermined conversion price of EUR 7.00.

25,142,985 shares could be issued in case all 70 CB commitments subscribed and all 18 convertible bonds outstanding of the ABO CB program signed on 30 May 2022 were exercised and converted into shares based on the conversion price of EUR 0.1715 (95% of the Volume-Weighted-Averaged-Price of Bone Therapeutics shares on 28 September 2022).





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About Bone Therapeutics

Bone Therapeutics is a leading biotech company focused on the development of innovative products to address high unmet needs in orthopedics and other diseases. Currently Bone Therapeutics is concentrating specifically on the development of its most advanced clinical asset, the allogeneic cell therapy platform, ALLOB.

Bone Therapeutics core technology is based on its cutting-edge allogeneic cell and gene therapy platform with differentiated bone marrow sourced Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSCs) which can be stored at the point of use in the hospital. Its leading investigational medicinal product, ALLOB, represents a unique, proprietary approach to bone regeneration, which turns undifferentiated stromal cells from healthy donors into bone-forming cells. These cells are produced via the Bone Therapeutics scalable manufacturing process. Following the CTA approval by regulatory authorities in Europe, the Company has initiated patient recruitment for the Phase IIb clinical trial with ALLOB in patients with difficult tibial fractures, using its optimized production process. ALLOB continues to be evaluated for other orthopedic indications including spinal fusion, osteotomy, maxillofacial and dental.

Bone Therapeutics cell therapy products are manufactured to the highest GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) standards and are protected by a broad IP (Intellectual Property) portfolio covering ten patent families as well as knowhow. The Company is based in the Louvain-la-Neuve Science Park in Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium. Further information is available at www.bonetherapeutics.com.

For further information, please contact:

Bone Therapeutics SA

Miguel Forte, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer

Tel: +32 (0)71 12 10 00

investorrelations@bonetherapeutics.com

For Belgian Media and Investor Enquiries:

Bepublic

Bert Bouserie

Tel: +32 (0)488 40 44 77

bert.bouserie@bepublicgroup.be

International Media Enquiries:

Image Box Communications

Neil Hunter / Michelle Boxall

Tel: +44 (0)20 8943 4685

neil.hunter@ibcomms.agency / michelle@ibcomms.agency

For French Media and Investor Enquiries:

NewCap Investor Relations & Financial Communications

Pierre Laurent, Louis-Victor Delouvrier and Arthur Rouille

Tel: +33 (0)1 44 71 94 94

bone@newcap.eu

Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this press release are forward-looking, which reflect the Company or, as appropriate, the Company directors current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome and financial effects of the plans and events described herein. A multitude of factors including, but not limited to, changes in demand, competition and technology, can cause actual events, performance or results to differ significantly from any anticipated development. Forward looking statements contained in this press release regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. As a result, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any update or revisions to any forward-looking statements in this press release as a result of any change in expectations or any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which these forward-looking statements are based. Neither the Company nor its advisers or representatives nor any of its subsidiary undertakings or any such persons officers or employees guarantees that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor does either accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release or the actual occurrence of the forecasted developments. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.




At least 19 killed, 27 wounded in Kabul suicide blast

Xinhua) 10:14, October 01, 2022

An Afghan security force member stands guard near the site of a suicide blast in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 30, 2022. At least 19 people were killed and 27 others wounded on Friday in a suicide explosion that rocked an education center in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

KABUL, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- At least 19 people were killed and 27 others wounded on Friday in a suicide explosion that rocked an education center in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan.

"Students were preparing for an exam when a suicide bomber struck at this educational center. Unfortunately, 19 people have been martyred and 27 others wounded," Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said.

No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack in Police District 13 of Kabul.

A similar blast claimed seven lives and injured 41 others in Kabul a week ago.

An Afghan security force member stands guard near the site of a suicide blast in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 30, 2022. At least 19 people were killed and 27 others wounded on Friday in a suicide explosion that rocked an education center in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

Photo taken on Sept. 30, 2022 shows the site of a suicide blast in Kabul, Afghanistan. At least 19 people were killed and 27 others wounded on Friday in a suicide explosion that rocked an education center in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

Photo taken on Sept. 30, 2022 shows the site of a suicide blast in Kabul, Afghanistan. At least 19 people were killed and 27 others wounded on Friday in a suicide explosion that rocked an education center in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Bianji)
Karl Lagerfeld on Selfies, FEndi fur

The work of Karl Lagerfeld, the famed German fashion designer who died in February 2019 at the age of 85, will be celebrated next year at the 2023 Met Gala.

Organizers of the annual Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit announced its theme on Friday morning at a press conference from Lagerfeld's photo studio in France for editors in town for Paris Fashion Week.

Official titled, "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty," the exhibit, according to a release from the Met, will showcase around 150 of Lagerfeld's greatest outfits across his prolific six decade career  designs he made while working for brands like Balmain, Patou, Chloe, Fendi, Chanel and his own eponymous label.

RELATED: Cara Delevingne Celebrates Her Capsule Collection in Daring Blazer During Paris Fashion Week

The exhibition opens to the public on May 5, 2023. The Costume Institute Benefit, known also as the #MetGala, will celebrate the exhibition on Monday, May 1. #MetKarlLagerfeld



Learn more: https://t.co/iQc4Pe3PAE pic.twitter.com/5nq2GDztHB  The Metropolitan Museum of Art (@metmuseum) September 30, 2022

Most of the outfits will be accompanied by one of Lagerfeld's iconic sketches from his archive.

The drawings were the way Lagerfeld primarily communicated with his design assistants, something that inspired the Institute's head curator Andrew Bolton to pull the theme together.

"Every single design in his life was a sketch," Bolton told CNN after the announcement. "And when I saw the drawings, I thought, 'These are so charming, so whimsical, so impressionistic.' But what I didn't realize was that they contained really precise information  about a shoulder line or the length of a sleeve. And (his staff) knew exactly what this line meant or what that dot meant, and they could decode it."

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RELATED: The Best Met Gala Best Looks of All Time

The Met Gala is held annually on the first Monday of May and is one of the most highly anticipated sartorial scenes of the year.

Notably described as the Academy Awards' fashion equivalent, the style extravaganza is a fundraising event for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, formally titled The Anna Wintour Costume Center  named after Vogue's editor-in-chief, who has been a chair member of the gala since 1995.

The exclusive, invite-only affair draws in the eager eyes of style seekers who can't wait to catch a glimpse of the star-studded red carpet looks that revolve around a carefully crafted theme. "Celebrities, designers, and change-makers are challenged to create costumes that serve as both a fashion statement and a tribute to the concept," per Vogue.

Tickets are expensive, going for $30,000 a piece in the past with tables costing about $275,000.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 02: 2022 Met Gala Co-Chair Blake Lively attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 02, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

RELATED: The Met Gala's 'Catholic Imagination' Theme Called 'Blasphemous' and 'Sacrilegious' by Critics

Though the Gala dates back to 1948, it was only in the 1970s when it began centering its exhibits around a theme. Previous themes include 2020's "Camp: Notes on Fashion," which brought over-the-top, kitschy looks that pushed fashion to its limits and 2021's "In America: A Lexicon of Fashion," which paid homage to America's expressive qualities.

The 2022 Met Gala theme was "In America: An Anthology of Fashion," with the dress code being gilded glamour and white tie to channel the time period between 1870 to 1890 (known as the Gilded Age New York).

Co-chairs for the Gala  which have included celebrities like Lady Gaga, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Meryl Streep, Rihanna, and Amal Clooney  have yet to be announced.

RELATED: Met Gala Co-Chairs Through the Years

Chanel : Front Row - Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2014

Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images

RELATED: Karl Lagerfeld's Red Carpet Legacy: See His Iconic Chanel Designs on Hollywood's Biggest Stars

Lagerfeld was an iconic figure in the fashion industry, known for his signature black suit, gloves, sunglasses and of course, long white ponytail.

Before his death, Lagerfeld notably said that he would never stop working, telling The New York Times in 2015 that he would "die on the spot." And just like his predecessor, Gabrielle Chanel who died while working on her next collection, he too worked until the end.

He was absent from taking a bow at the end of his last Paris Haute Couture show in January 2019, but he still designed the collection and even gave instruction to his teams at Fendi for its fall ready-to-wear line.

In addition to fashion design, Lagerfeld was a photographer and video director, having created all the advertising campaigns for the brands he designed for. He photographed his muses and worked with every top model and actress in the industry including Claudia Schiffer, Kristen Stewart and countless other A-list actresses.

The 2023 Met Gala is scheduled for May 1. The exhibit will be on display to the public from May 5 through July 16.
A post shared on Facebook claims that African telecommunications company Safaricom is offering a cash prize of 10,000 Ethiopian birr (about $ 190) in a promotion to mark the Irreecha festival  an annual thanksgiving ceremony in Ethiopia. The post contains a link purported to lead to a site with information about how to participate in the giveaway. But the claim is false: Safaricom told AFP Fact Check that it is not running such a promotion. The post was published on an impostor account and the link leads to an unrelated website.

The post was published on Facebook on September 24, 2022, and has since been shared more than 50 times.

Screenshot showing the false post, taken on September 28, 2022

Written in Afaan Oromo, the post translates to: Safaricom offers 10,000 Ethiopian birrs for Irreecha festival of 2015 E.C as part of its promotional works. Please fill in the following form to register for the promotion. Anyone who shares the link with five other people has a high chance of winning the prize money (sic).

E.C is an acronym for Ethiopian Calendar  according to the calendar, the current year is 2015 E.C.

Irreecha is an annual cultural festival observed by Ethiopias largest ethnic group the Oromos to celebrate the end of the rainy season and to welcome in the harvest period. It is traditionally held in the city of Bishoftu, located in the Oromia region about 50 kilometres from the countrys capital Addis Ababa.

But Safaricom, which is based in Kenya and ventured into the Ethiopian market in 2021, is not running a promotion to mark the festival.

Scam

A search found no promotion of the sort on Safaricoms official website nor its Facebook or Twitter accounts.

The telecommunications company told AFP Fact Check that it is not offering the claimed giveaway in Ethiopia.

That is a scam, Safaricom is not running such a promotion in Ethiopia, said Safaricom.

Safaricom added that it is investigating the people behind the fraudulent post and will take appropriate action.

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A link in the post does not lead to Safaricoms website either but rather to a site called AwashJobs.com and a Google form written in Afaan Oromo, titled: win free money. The form asks for personal information including a name, phone number and home address.

Impostor account

The post was published on a Facebook page called Raajii Ashennaaffi and uses a publicly available photo of Raji Ashenafi Mamade, who graduated from Adama Science and Technology University in 2022 with a dual maths and physics degree after scoring straight As in all 60 of his courses.

Ashenafi, who became popular in Ethiopia after his stellar academic performance, told AFP Fact Check that the Facebook account behind the scam is not his.

I do not own or manage Raajii Ashennaaffi Facebook page. It is an account used by malicious people who are defrauding Ethiopians and spreading fake news, said Ashenafi.

He added that he has reported the account several times to Facebook, but no action has been taken.

AFP Fact Check debunked another false post published by the same account in August claiming that Ashenafi had invented a new maths formula and app.

Many posts on the page share false or misleading information.

Ashenafi shared his official Facebook account with AFP Fact Check.
UK and EU officials will meet soon following a call on Friday between the Foreign Secretary and the ECs Maros Sefcovic to discuss the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The Foreign Secretary had his first call with the European Commission vice president, amid an ongoing row over post-Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland.

Talks have stalled in recent months and relations between London and Brussels remain at a low ebb, after the Government angered the EU with plans to rip up swathes of the protocol in a bid to address the concerns of unionists in Northern Ireland.

In a tweet following the call, Mr Sefcovic said that teams will meet soon, raising hopes in some quarters for progress in talks between the two sides.

Good to speak to @MarosSefcovic today on important shared issues including the Northern Ireland Protocol. We agreed we want to look for solutions to protect the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. We will speak again soon.  James Cleverly (@JamesCleverly) September 30, 2022

Mr Sefcovic called it a good conversation, adding: Both sides agree to look for solutions around the Protocol, to bring predictability & certainty to people in Northern Ireland.

He said that the EU is committed to joint efforts, adding: Teams will meet soon. James & I will stay in contact.

Mr Cleverly, who has only been in the role a matter of weeks, offered similarly warm words after the call, which is understood to have included discussions about both the protocol and other issues.

Another call between them could be held again in a couple of weeks.

Good to speak to Maros Sefcovic today on important shared issues including the Northern Ireland Protocol, the foreign secretary said.

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We agreed we want to look for solutions to protect the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. We will speak again soon.

Good conversation w/ @JamesCleverly on Protocol on IE/NI. Both sides agree to look for solutions around the Protocol, to bring predictability & certainty to people in Northern Ireland. The  is committed to joint efforts. Teams will meet soon. James & I will stay in contact. pic.twitter.com/F4orAvSi8Z  Maros Sefcovic (@MarosSefcovic) September 30, 2022

The protocol, signed by former prime minister Boris Johnsons government, effectively keeps Northern Ireland aligned with many EU single market rules to avoid a hard border with Ireland, therefore requiring some checks on goods crossing the Irish Sea.

Despite elections in May, there is currently no sitting powersharing executive in Northern Ireland, after the DUP withdrew its first minister from the governing executive in protest in February at the economic border created in the Irish Sea by the protocol.

It was Prime Minister Liz Truss as foreign secretary who introduced legislation which effectively tears up parts of the agreement, worsening relations with the EU.

Both sides have said a negotiated outcome is the preferred option amid hopes that some form of compromise can be reached.

In an interview with BBC Northern Ireland on Thursday, Ms Truss said that the Government remains open to a negotiated settlement, but said the situation cannot be allowed to drift.

Irish premier Micheal Martin said that he believes there is a genuine willingness on all sides to resolve the dispute around the Northern Ireland protocol.

I think there is genuine willingness to make every effort to resolve this issue by negotiation, the Taoiseach told reporters at the Fianna Fail Ard Fheis in Dublin.

That said it will be difficult.

I think what is important is that a process is entered in to that will facilitate in negotiated resolution for the issue.
Former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob waves to members of the media before departing for a meeting with the King, in Kuala Lumpur

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Friday ordered a probe into possible misconduct by a former top prosecutor who had brought corruption cases against several senior members of his ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party.

Tommy Thomas, who served as attorney-general between 2018 and 2020, will be investigated for sedition, unauthorised disclosure of government secrets, and abuse of power, the prime minister said in a statement.

Ismail Sabri has faced pressure from some UMNO members to investigate Thomas, who detailed in a memoir last year some of the key decisions he made during his tenure as attorney-general.

These included bringing graft charges against UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and the now-jailed ex-premier Najib Razak, among others.

Ahmad Zahid and Najib, who deny wrongdoing, have said the charges against them were politically motivated. Both men remain highly influential and were among the party members calling for the probe into Thomas.

Thomas declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

The probe comes as Ismail Sabri faces separate demands from UMNO to call for early polls to capitalise on its success in recent local elections.

UMNO was voted out amid widespread graft allegations in 2018 by a coalition led by Mahathir Mohamad, who appointed Thomas.

But the party returned to power last year when Ismail Sabri was appointed premier following the collapse of two successive governments, including Mahathir's.

Ismail Sabri is expected to attend a meeting of senior UMNO officials later on Friday to discuss possible election dates, Malaysian media reported.

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)
Sweden has lifted a ban on exporting military equipment to Turkey, following the Nordic nation's decision to join the NATO military alliance and overcome Turkish objections.

Sweden's NATO application "greatly strengthens the defence and security policy reasons for granting the export of military equipment to other member states, including Turkey," the country's Inspectorate of Strategic Products (ISP) said on Friday.

Both Sweden and its neighbour Finland sought NATO membership earlier this year following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Both countries face a hurdle in the application process because they need approval from all 30 current NATO members. Turkey raised objections to the applications, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to block their bids.

Ankara has accused the two countries of supporting the YPG in northern Syria, which Turkey views as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) -- a group also labelled a terror group by the EU and US.

Turkeys parliament has yet to ratify Sweden and Finlands membership in NATO, and Friday's step was widely seen as aimed at securing Ankaras approval.

A delegation from Sweden is expected in Ankara next week to discuss Turkish requests for the extradition of figures wanted by Turkey.

Sweden and Finland effectively banned arms exports to Turkey in 2019 after its incursion into Syria against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. The ISP revoked existing permits and has not granted any new ones since then -- although no formal embargo existed.

But the three countries reached a breakthrough deal on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid in June, where Sweden and Finland agreed on a set of steps to address Turkey's concerns about the candidacies.

The ISP confirmed in a statement that it had started granting export licenses to Turkey during July, August and September but it did not reveal which companies or products had been given a green light, citing confidentiality.

The decision to start exporting military equipment to Turkey will not have been taken alone. The agency has to consult a cross-party group of MPs in the Swedish parliament before it makes major policy moves.
Trevor Noah is quitting as the host of The Daily Show, saying his "time is up" after seven years on the late-night talk show.

The South African comedian took over from fellow US comedian Jon Stewart in September 2015.

Thanking his audiences in the studio, at home, and around the world, he labelled the decision to hire him for the Comedy Central show in the first place "crazy".

Noah joked: "I remember when we first started, so many people didn't believe in us - it was a crazy bet to make. I still think it was a crazy choice. This random African, bringing a Chinese guy from Malaysia."

Malaysian comedian Ronny Chieng, the Daily Show's senior correspondent who was with Noah on stage, chipped in: "Yeah, Chinese guys with accents on American TV".

Noah was virtually unknown in the US when he was picked to be host, despite being a celebrity in South Africa.

Calling it "one of the best experiences of my life", Noah said that it was after beginning to tour with his comedy again that he realised that he missed "being everywhere doing everything".

He told his live studio audience: "I realised after seven years, my time is up... but in the most beautiful way.

"I've loved hosting the show, it's been one of my greatest challenges, it's been one of my greatest joys.

"We've laughed together, we've cried together... but after seven years I feel like it's time you know?"

His studio audience then gave him a standing ovation.

Noah didn't give any details about when exactly he would be leaving the role, or who would be taking over from him, just saying: "We'll figure out the timings and the whens."

Click to subscribe to Backstage wherever you get your podcasts

During his tenure on the political and news-based satire he made stylistic changes and increased millennial-based references, impersonations and characterizations for his comedy.

Noah's departure from The Daily Show follows that of James Corden, who announced in April he would be leaving The Late Late Show early next year. At the time, the show's network, CBS, was said to be looking at cheaper alternatives to replace the British star.
Pakistan has launched a hotline for transgender people in an effort to protect them from discrimination and harassment.

Salman Sufi, an adviser to Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, revealed on Twitter that the hotline was live and ready to receive calls.

The calls would be directed to top police officers and the Ministry of Human Rights.

Almas Bobby, a spokesperson for the Pakistani trans community, said trans people were "glad" the hotline had been set up but still expressed some frustration.

She said that in most instances of harassment, trans Pakistanis are either beaten, harangued or publicly arrested by the police.

She added: "How can we call on this hotline when our phones are snatched? When we are arrested like a robber from wedding parties where we have to perform and earn?

"Who harasses us the most? Yes, indeed, the police. And we will have to call the police to seek justice."

She estimates there are about 10,000 trans people living in Pakistan.

The hotline has been announced as the Pakistani government attempts to pass an amendment to a 2018 transgender rights bill to allow people to choose their gender identity for documents such as identity cards and education certificates.

However, the proposed amendments have sparked opposition, with hardline clerics and conservative politicians in the majority Islamic country vociferously opposing them.

Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, a member of the conservative political party Jamat-e-Islami, said that allowing citizens to choose their own gender identity is a "danger to the family and inheritance systems," and "opens the door for 220 million people to choose to be anything".

Read more from Sky News:

Bentley Mulsanne stolen from London discovered in Pakistan

Record-breaking rains threaten 4,500-year-old archaeological site

Pakistan uses the Islamic system of inheritance, which divides assets among descendants based on gender, giving men twice as much as women.

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The act carries over this style of division to the trans community, stipulating that a trans man would also get double that of a trans woman.

Last year, the first government-run school for transgender students was opened in the central city of Multan, with promises to set up similar schools in the future.

In 2019, Pakistan's Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling designating trans people as a third gender. Previously, trans people were frequently denied medical treatment because doctors couldn't decide whether to put them on a male or a female ward.
FILE PHOTO: The Tereos logo is displayed at a sugar beet processing plant in Chevrieres

PARIS/BUCHAREST (Reuters) - French sugar and ethanol group Tereos has decided to close and dismantle its factory in Romania after talks with a local company interested in taking over the plant failed to go through, a spokesperson said.

Tereos, the world's second largest sugar producer by volume, had said earlier this year it was planning to shut its Ludus factory.

The Romanian agriculture minister at the time later said he was in contact with Tereos to try and save the sugar factory.

"The Romanian Minister of Agriculture had seconded a private company to study the purchase of Tereos Romania. We were open to this possibility," a Tereos spokesperson told Reuters.

"But the private company told us that it was unable to pursue the acquisition project," she added. "The question was not the price, mainly the timing. They had missed a (sugar beet) campaign."

The interested company was Romanian group Scandia Food, which is actively looking at potential acquisitions to consolidate its business. Chief executive officer Andrei Ursulescu said Scandia Food wanted to see the factory in production to conduct an assessment.

"The price Tereos was asking was relatively prohibitive for something we were not given access to conduct a technical evaluation," Ursulescu told Reuters.

"We have proposed a postponement until a time when we can see it working. They wanted a signed binding offer by Oct. 31 and a signed deal by Nov. 30. We've completed 7-8 transactions already, we have never reached a deal in such a short time."

The plant, which in 2020 had around 180 employees and is one of Romania's two last-remaining sugar processing plants, has been loss making amid a steady reduction in the amount of land planted with sugar in the country.

It had a capacity of 60,000 tonnes of sugar but had strongly reduced volumes in the past years. Its final closure was planned for the beginning of 2023, the spokesperson said.

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Contacted by Reuters Romanian agriculture minister Petre Daea said he was not aware of the state of negotiations.

"From what I know, the company (Tereos) is in negotiations with a company interested in buying ... which wants to keep the factory going," Daea said.

(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris and Luiza Ilie in Bucharest)
Next Match: at Southern Illinois 10/1/2022 | 5 p.m. ESPN3 UNIPanthers.com Next Match Full Schedule Oct. 01 (Sat) / 5 p.m. at Southern Illinois History

 Friday's battle between a pair of 2-0 Missouri Valley Conference programs ended with the UNI Panther volleyball team claiming a 3-1 triumph (19-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-23) at the Hammons Student Center against the Missouri State Bears.notched her 1,000career kill for UNI (10-6 overall, 3-0 MVC) which earned its ninth victory in its last 10 matches.Missouri State (5-10 overall, 2-1 MVC) ended with a 13-to-11 block advantage, but UNI finished in front in attack percentage (.199 to .149) and digs (72 to 59) along with a two-to-one edge in service aces.Holterhaus, who became the 29Panther to reach the 1,000-kill milestone and the first since Karlie Taylor in 2018, had 13 kills for the night and was joined in double figures by(15) and(11).tallied 43 assists and 11 digs for her latest double-double.24 digs andfive blocks highlighted the UNI defense.The Panthers and the Bears were tied 14 different times in the first set including at 9-9 after a kill from. Terminations for Spies and Fallert turned a 15-15 deadlock into a 17-15 lead before Missouri State surged ahead. Although UNI forced an 18-18 tie, the Bears ran away from there to get a 25-19 win.UNI dropped the first point during the second frame but answered with a 5-0 spurt. Later with an 11-10 deficit, Holterhaus leveled the score on a solo block. Fallert provided kills for the next six Panther points while UNI stayed in front. Following a Bears run to climb within 22-21, UNI answered when offense by Holterhaus and Spies keyed a 3-0 closing stretch in a 25-22 victory.An 8-0 Panther outburst broke up a back-and-forth start within the third set. Alden, Fallert, Holterhaus, and Spies each posted three terminations in a balanced offensive effort as UNI kept its advantage for the remainder of the set. The 999career kill for Holterhaus officially ended the 25-16 triumph.In the fourth, UNI once again turned to Holterhaus who picked up her 1,000termination to cap a five-point, tie-breaking run for an early 10-5 edge. Missouri State trailed by a 14-10 margin and responded by jumping into an 18-14 lead. The Panthers fought back in front, 23-22, before the Bears pulled even. A go-ahead kill from Spies and a match-finishing termination bywrapped up the 25-23 win.This stretch of four consecutive road matches to begin MVC play ends Saturday in Carbondale, Illinois when the first-place Panthers take on the Southern Illinois Salukis. First serve is slated for 5 p.m. at Davies Gym, and broadcast coverage will be available on ESPN3 and UNIpanthers.com
Skin whitening products remain popular in Cameroon despite risks By

AFP-Relaxnews Published

Oct 1, 2022

(AFP) - Wearing a large hat protecting her face from the sun's rays in Cameroon, 63-year-old Jeanne now bitterly regrets using skin whitening products after being diagnosed with skin cancer.



DR



She is one of many women in Cameroon who use the controversial products that have been banned after social media outrage.



"I am embarrassed when people look at me," the trader in the capital of Yaounde said, wishing to only use her first name.

After a lesion grew on her face over five months, she went to a doctor who diagnosed her with one of the most common skin cancers.



Doctors told her the cancer is linked to her use of skin lightening products for 40 years.



Jeanne, like millions worldwide, used the products for more "desirable" lighter skin, an ideal pushed by the beauty industry.



According to the Cameroon Dermatology Society (Socaderm), nearly 30 percent of residents in the economic capital Douala and a quarter of schoolgirls used the products in 2019.



For some like 20-year-old student Annette, the effects can be harsh. She said she suffers from red patches on her face, peeling skin and also burns.



"Under a strong sun, my face became hot and I had to stop," she said.



The products with names like "White now" and "Super white", are instantly recognisable on shop shelves by the fair-skinned women on the packaging.



- Dangerous chemicals -



The furore began in the summer after social media users criticised opposition MP Nourane Fotsing over her company that sells the products, angry that an elected official would profit from them.



Many of the products have never been scientifically tested and contain dangerous levels of chemicals that inhibit the production of melanin, a substance produced in the body by exposure to the sun.



One of the chemicals is hydroquinone, banned in the European Union since 2001 because of the risk of cancer and genetic mutations.



Cameroon's health ministry on August 19 banned the import, production and distribution of cosmetic and personal hygiene products containing dangerous substances such as hydroquinone and mercury.



Hydroquinone is in fact one of the most used in whitening products in Cameroon, according to a 2019 study by Yaounde I University.



- 'Public health problem' -



"We encounter patients complaining of symptoms linked to skin depigmentation every day," Alain Patrice Meledie Ndjong, a dermatologist at a hospital in Douala, said.



It is a "public health problem".



According to the World Health Organization, the products are commonly used in many African, Asian and Caribbean countries by both women and men, and also among dark-skinned populations in Europe and North America.



Other skin whitening products include potions, tablets and even injections.



Some of the substances, when ingested, can cause diabetes, obesity, hypertension or kidney or liver failure, warned Ndjong, adding there was also a psychological impact on individuals like "anxiety and depression".



Despite the horror stories, men and women believe they will become more beautiful after using the products.



"Beauty standards promoted by media, advertising and marketing reinforce the bias that lighter skin tone is more desirable than darker skin tone."



Sociologist Achille Pinghane Yonta of Yaounde University offers blunter analysis of why the creams remain popular.



"There is a desire" rooted "in our consciences to want to look like" Western populations, he said.



"It's a very old practice. It's even said, in some parts of the country, that a light-skinned woman's dowry is higher than that of a darker woman."



But for Pascaline Mbida, she felt the difference.



"I noticed that men were more attracted to women with lighter skin and I had confirmation of this when I whitened my skin, I had never got so much attention," Mbida said.



- Black market -



But the cost put off Mbida, who is currently unemployed. She spent 30,000 Central African Francs (45 euros) per month on the products.



The mandatory monthly minimum wage in Cameroon is 36,270 (55 euros).



Since the ban, police have launched raids, much to the chagrin of the sector's players who claim some seizures don't distinguish between the products that are banned by the government and those that are not.



The WHO in 2019 said "the skin lightening industry is one of the fastest growing" worldwide and was estimated to be worth $31.2 billion by 2024.



The cosmetic and personal hygiene market grew in Cameroon by seven percent in 2020 and was worth 380 billion CFA (around 580 million euros).



Despite the ban, there is a already a black market for the products.


HA NOI  The prices of anaesthetics have increased due to supply disruptions, said insiders at some hospitals and dental clinics.

The amount of anaesthetic in stock at the National Hospital of Odonto-Stomatology is just about 2,000 tubes, enough for just two weeks. Every day the hospital has to treat about 1,000 patients including two-thirds of outpatient services requiring anaesthesia.

The hospitals director Tran Cao Binh said that of the three types of anaesthetic used in dentistry that are supplied to the hospital, there is a scarcity of the specialised dental anaesthetic, which contains 2 per cent lidocaine.

The hospital contacted other suppliers who provided anaesthetic with 4 per cent adrenaline as an alternative, adding that it is better and more expensive than the local anaesthetic.

Binh said: There is not only one type of local anaesthetic, there is an alternative to protect the interests of the patient and not let treatment be interrupted.

A specialist in odonto-stomatology, who is working at a private clinic in Ha Noi, said that in the past, South Korean anaesthetics cost only about VN400,000 per 100 tubes, but now the price has been pushed up to VN1.5 million, adding that even with higher prices, they still have difficulty in sourcing.

He added: Meanwhile, with French anaesthetics, which used to cost nearly VN700,000 for a box of 50 tubes, now a box costs VN2.6 million. And it is not easy to buy them.

The price of a box increased to more than VN3 million and it was still difficult to find a supplier.

Currently, two anaesthetic drugs originating from France, including Lino-caine and Adelanin, have suffered a shortage of supply for more than a month. Because they could not buy French drugs, some hospitals and clinics had to switch to buying and using Korean ones.

"French drugs have better treatment effects and lower side effects, but due to the scarcity in the market, the prices of some anaesthetics used in dentistry have been pushed up by 1.5 times," a doctor said.

The shortage is mainly due to disruptions in supply chains.

Additionally, the current prices of these items compared to the winning bids have increased significantly, so many companies cannot bid at the old prices because they will suffer losses.

According to some hospitals, the cause of the delay in drug supply is that the licence to import anaesthetics expired in March 2022, pending completion of procedures by the Drug Administration of Viet Nam under the Ministry of Health (MoH).

More than 10,000 drug registration papers will expire on December 31, 2022. In 2023, 3,741 registrations will expire, causing persistent drug shortages if the Law on Pharmacy is not quickly revised. According to medical experts, administrative procedures are causing difficulties for businesses, slowing people's access to medicines, and leading to shortages of medicines for medical examination and treatment in some places.

A representative of the MoH said that he had received an official dispatch from the Central Odonto-Stomatology Hospital reflecting the hospital's supply of anaesthetics, explaining: For anaesthetic products, there are currently five different registration numbers, so medical facilities can alternate or replace them with other similar drugs.

However, even the drug that hospitals say is lacking has still more than 4,000 vials, which could be enough for a few weeks. The Drug Administration of Viet Nam is reviewing the dossier of the importing unit, said the official, expecting that in the next few days, the import permits of the units will be extended.

Common drug shortages are reported by E Hospital and Hanoi Heart Hospital where they have cut the number of surgeries by 50 per cent due to a shortage of Protamine sulfate, a blood-clotting drug that is indispensable in heart surgery.

Experts worry that if surgeries continue as normal, it will be difficult to deal with emergency cases.

At Bach Mai Hospital, Director ao Xuan Co said that the hospital is completely confident in procurement if the legal documents are revised in a way that is easy to understand and complete.

If there are clear legal documents and conditions for transparent and open procurement, managers will certainly not have any difficulty in procuring medical equipment, supplies and drugs for their patients," said Co.

At a recent seminar, Nguyen Huy Quang, former director of the Legal Department, said that the ministry should urgently amend and issue circulars guiding bidding, informing consultation on drug registration, drug prices, and the procurement of medical equipment, including medical supplies at different levels.

At the same time, the department was reviewing all issues under the authority of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Planning and Investment that have problems, affecting the bidding process.

Quang acknowledged that "the legal mechanism still has some shortcomings."

Quang added there are many other reasons, such as the limited capacity to participate in bidding, the bid invitation price is low compared to the actual price, so it cannot attract enterprises to participate; the renewal and issuance of registration numbers are slow; the issue of participating in national centralised bidding, national drug negotiation, etc. also have limitations that affect the supply.  VNS
HA NOI  Shares finished higher on Friday, also the last trading day of the third quarter, recouping some losses from the recent downtrend on stronger demand force in the afternoon trade, especially from foreign investors.

The market benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Exchange (HoSE) rose 6.04 points, or 0.54 per cent, to close the week at 1,132.11 points. The recovery ended the long losing streak of five days.

However, the markets breadth was still in the negative zone as there were more stocks declining. Liquidity increased over the previous session, with a matching value on the southern bourse worth over VN13 trillion (US$546.3 million), up 42 per cent.

The index extended the downside in the morning trade with a fall of 17.34 points, but bargain-hunting demand got stronger in the afternoon session, lifting the market.

The VN30-Index, which tracks the 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, also posted a gain of 4.57 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 1,152.01 points.

Of the VN30 basket, 15 stocks advanced, while ten settled down. And five stayed flat.

Statistics from financial website vietstock.vn showed that large-cap stocks in attractive sectors including oil and gas, real estate, information technology and banking, continued to lead the markets rally.

Accordingly, PV Gas (GAS) was the biggest gainer on the last trading day of the week, up 4.76 per cent. The companys shares were supported by news that OPEC+, an alliance of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, may agree to cut oil output when it meets next week.

Supporting the uptrend, Becamex (BCM), FPT Corporation (FPT), Vietinbank (CTG), BIDV (BID), uc Giang Chemicals (DGC) and Vincom Retail (VRE) also reported great performance. These stocks were up at least 1.2 per cent, while BCM shares even registered the biggest intraday gain of 7 per cent.

However, the recovery was limited by lingering selling pressure, with many big stocks still facing strong sell-offs such as Vietcombank (VCB), Eximbank (EIB), Hoa Phat Group (HPG) and Petrolimex (PLX), with EIB hitting the maximum daily loss of 7 per cent.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index also rebounded from last session's losses. It ended the day at 250.25 points, an increase of 0.84 points, or 0.34 per cent.

Rising cash inflows from foreign investors also provided some support for the market. They net bought a value of VN189.9 billion shares on both main exchanges, of which they purchased VN182.93 billion on HoSE and VN6.87 billion on HNX. VNS
HA NOI The Ministry of Construction (MoC) has proposed that real estate projects must sell their products on real estate trading floors, according to the draft amending the Law on Real Estate Business.

The ministry has also suggested that individuals engaged in brokerage activities must have a practising certificate.

Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Van Sinh said this revision is mainly to clarify some contents relating to real estate trading floors, regulations on trading property products via the floor, and new types of real estate products. Notably, the amendment includes regulations for the real estate market to ensure stable and sustainable development.

The domestic real estate market saw strong growth in many localities in the first half of 2021. At that moment, the market needed the State to have policies and regulatory tools to help its sustainable development. They included regulatory tools on tax, credit, land and finance.

The Law on Real Estate Business will be revised to solve inadequacies that hinder socio-economic development; and eliminate overlaps in enforcement and administrative procedures.

According to director of the Department of Housing and Real Estate Market Management Bui Xuan Dung, the draft would add regulations on the types of marketed real estate products and clarify the types of available houses and future residential houses.

Regarding the types of houses, Hoang Van Cuong, member of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee, said that it is necessary to pay attention to the type of future housing products. This includes whether they should be recognised or not as they are just on paper.

Therefore, the transactions, management and registration cannot be the same as those for finished housing products.

At present, the market often witnesses disputes regarding this type of housing product, according to Cuong.

Pham Thanh Hung, vice chairman of the Cen Group, said future real estate products often cause market growth. Therefore, the proposal on transactions on trading floors is necessary.

These projects are formed without a red book until they are completed, so they must be verified on a trading floor to ensure legality and safety for buyers and sellers, Hung said. Payment for this product often takes a long time, therefore the transactions via the floor will ensure benefits for the traders.

Hung said brokerage activities need to be certified, and it is also necessary to distinguish between brokers and sales agents. Brokers can be individuals or organisations with legal status.

Now, there are many individuals who are engaged in agency-style sales, but they have poor experience, so it is necessary to consider the authority in signing and closing the transaction.

Hung has proposed only brokers with practising certificates should be eligible to appraise and sign transactions.

Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Real Estate Brokers Association Nguyen Chi Thanh agreed that trading future housing products on trading floors should be compulsory, but the law needs to have specific conditions for establishing a real estate trading floor.

Thanh has added that the draft sets out detailed conditions for granting practising certificates for real estate brokers, but making the certificate valid for two years is not reasonable. This puts pressure on the brokers because the examination is difficult.

Many countries do not specify the period of validity for this certificate, which makes the brokers feel safe in doing business, he said.

Apartments

The ministry has proposed regulations on the duration of ownership and use of apartments in the draft amending the Law on Housing.

According to Cuong, a member of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee, this draft has many new points, including the regulation of apartment use terms. This regulation will help people have more chances to buy apartments.

People want to have permanent ownership of property products to hand down to their children. If the State has regulations on switching to ownership with a term, then people will have to consider renting or buying.

If there is a term of ownership for the apartment, it should also have a term of renting land for projects building those apartments.

Nguyen Quoc Hiep, chairman of the Vietnam Construction Contractors Association, said the proposal setting a term of ownership for apartments is reasonable because the apartments do not exist permanently.

Hiep said the State should solve existing obstacles for old apartment buildings before having regulations on terms of ownership. That would help get agreement from the people.

Now, there are hundreds or thousands of households in apartment buildings, so it is difficult to renovate apartments.

Lawyer Nguyen inh Vinh, director of VietThink Law Firm, said many countries have regulations on the term of using apartments. Condotel, a type of apartment, has better quality than many current apartment buildings. However, the condotel only has a 50 year lease, while apartment buildings are granted indefinite ownership. Therefore, the Housing Law should be equal in terms of apartment ownership.

However, some businesses such as CEO Group, Sunshine, Sun Group, and VinaCapital, believe that regulations on terms of apartment ownership may affect the property market.

With this regulation, it is possible that people will want to buy land to build houses for long-term ownership, affecting apartment development.

Meanwhile, apartment buildings are a current suitable development model to save land resources. At the same time, the enterprises are afraid of investing in the development of apartment buildings. VNS
HA NOI  President Nguyen Xuan Phuc has affirmed that Viet Nam always stands united with and supports fraternal relations with Cuba amid complicated developments in the world.

During a meeting in Ha Noi on Thursday with Prime Minister of Cuba Manuel Marrero Cruz, who is on a visit from September 28  October 2, President Phuc conveyed the sympathy of the Vietnamese Party, State and people to Cuba over the fuel storage facility fire in Matanzas city on August 5 and the consequences of Hurricane Ian on September 27.

He also hailed the results of talks between the two Prime Ministers, which he said will contribute to consolidating bilateral ties.

PM Manuel Marrero Cruz stressed that Cuba always treasures and wishes to further deepen the special traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation with Viet Nam.

He expressed readiness to learn from Viet Nams experience in socio-economic development and global integration, as well as its response to global economic challenges.

The two leaders expressed determination to further deepen the exemplary Viet Nam-Cuba relationship founded by late Presidents Ho Chi Minh and Fidel Castro and nurtured by generations of the two countries leaders and people, and agreed to intensify the education of young generations in the Viet Nam-Cuba special friendship.

They reached a consensus on promoting economic, trade and investment ties to be commensurate with the two countries' fine political relations, with a focus on agriculture, healthcare, finance-banking, and science-technology. They will also continue with consultations and mutual support at international organisations and multilateral forums, especially the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement.

Cuba always highly values the solidarity and sincere support that the Vietnamese Party, State and people have offered to the Cuban people, particularly in rice supply and food production, Cruz said.

He noted that the two countries will hold important activities marking the 50th anniversary of Gen. Fidel Castros historic visit to Viet Nam's southern liberation zone and the 40th anniversary of the Viet Nam - Cuba Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation this year.

Cruz expressed his belief that the close fraternal ties between Viet Nam and Cuba will enter a new development period, for the benefit of the two peoples and for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the two regions and the world.  VNS
The Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Vietnam (AHK Vietnam) is now working with authorities of Binh Dinh province on a plan to organise a conference on German investment in the south-central locality.

AHK Vietnam will select and invite German businesses and investors for this event.

Binh Dinh has some potential for German investors, and we hope that they will be able to find out some opportunities for cultivating projects in the province, said AHK Vietnam chief representative Marko Walde.

German thin film tech group Leonhard Kurz has recently worked with Binh Dinh authorities, committing that it will invest around 30-40 million in the first stage into producing high-tech film products in the province. The total capital will be raised to $100 million for the 2-stage project covering 10 hectares.

Binh Dinh has pledged to create the best conditions for the project to be constructed and become operational as soon as possible.

Elsewhere, PNE AG is building an offshore wind power project in the same province, hoping to turn Vietnam into a competitive wind power supplier in the southeastern region and beyond. PNE operates in 13 countries on four continents and is expected to invest around $4.8 billion in this project. Its plan is to build between over 50 wind turbines, with the potential of reaching as many as 165 turbines, with a total capacity of up to 2,000MW.

This project is highly feasible, providing a considerable amount of electricity to Binh Dinh province and the national power system from 6.6-7 billion kWh a year, Walde of AHK said.

German companies in manufacturing, tech, wind power, and more are pumping millions of US dollars into new or expanded ventures here. Photo: Siemens

Intensifying efforts

Since he became Vietnamese Ambassador to Germany, Vu Quang Minh has actively worked with German authorities and localities to connect them and their enterprises in trade and investment activities in Vietnam.

Last month Minh met with Saxonys State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Labour Thomas Kralinski and was told that German companies, and those in Saxony in particular, are interested in raising investment in Vietnam.

The German locality has experience in researching and developing renewable and green energy, and it is willing to connect with research institutes and universities of Vietnam to promote cooperation in this sphere, Kralinski said.

Minh said that the embassy will continue to boost the organisation of networking activities on the economy, trade, and investment between the business communities of both nations so that they can well take advantage of their respective markets and of the benefits from the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.

The first German investments flowed into Vietnam shortly after the country opened its doors to foreigners. In 1992, Bultel, producing fashion for brands such as Camel Active, settled down in the southern province of Binh Duong. In the same year outdoor brand Tatonka opened a backpack production line in Ho Chi Minh City.

German investments started to really gain steam when Vietnam ascended to the World Trade Organization in 2007 and received another impetus with the 2015 amendment of the enterprise and investment law.

According to Vietnams Ministry of Planning and Investment, today over 430 companies from Germany have registered $2.31 billion in Vietnam, creating some 50,000 jobs. In the first eight months of 2022, Germanys total newly-registered capital, stake acquisition, and capital contributions were $49.4 million, including 19 new projects.

Magnetec, a German producer of electric spare parts, in July completed procedures on investment registration at Nam Dinh Vu Industrial Park in the northern city of Haiphong. Also, cleaning technology company Karcher recently selected Vietnam as its new production base overseas.

Many other German investors are exploring investment opportunities in Vietnam, said AHK Vietnam.

The most important investment destination by far is Ho Chi Minh City, with over half of all German companies in Vietnam established there. When taking a look solely at sales/service functions, three-quarters is located in Ho Chi Minh City. Hanoi comes in as a distant second while Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces are first and foremost attractive locations for manufacturing operations.

While Germany has 16 states, over half of the investments in Vietnam come from companies headquartered in just three: Baden-Wurttemberg, Northrhine-Westfalia, and Bavaria.

The most significant German investments have been implemented by Bosch (automotives), Stada-Pymepharco (medical equipment), and Messer Gases (chemicals). Bosch is employing a major manufacturing complex for push belts in Dong Nai while also operating a research and development centre in Ho Chi Minh City. Stada-Pymepharco manufactures pharmaceuticals in its factory in the south-central Phu Yen province. Messer is supplying gases to local customers such as Hoa Phat from its main production hubs in the northern province of Hai Duong and the south-central province of Quang Ngai.

Brighter horizons

German Ambassador to Vietnam Dr. Guido Hildner once told VIR that more and more German companies have been investing in and trading with Vietnam, as well as building up first-class production sites.

For German companies, the Vietnamese market has become an important destination in Asia. The characteristics of this market are a large and still rather young population; a fast-growing middle class with more and more spending power; and an investment-friendly location in a geographically central position within the Indo-Pacific region, Hildner said.

Important sectors for Germany are machinery, electronics, metal parts, equipment, chemicals and other industrial products for various industrial sectors, and textiles, Hildner added. The latest trend is strongly growing investment from Germany into the energy sector, especially building up renewables, other environment-related, greener, more resource-efficient technologies, and the IT sector, he said.

One of the promising developments of recent years has been the direct high-tech cooperation between leading German companies such as Siemens, SAP, or BMW with important Vietnamese companies such as FPT and VinFast, Hildner explained.

The overall outlook of Germans investment in Vietnam is positive. However, global threats such as climate change and challenges such as digitalisation and the energy transition will put more pressure on our governments as well as on our business sectors to come up with environmentally-friendly solutions for industry and infrastructure, the ambassador said.

This means that the most creative, innovative, and resource-efficient companies of both of our countries will win. There is enormous potential for creating new, qualified jobs and for innovative solutions in the renewable energy sectors, in smart and green agriculture, in greener steel and cement production, and so on. There will be ongoing diversification of production sites and trade relationships for the companies of both sides.

According to Vietnams Ministry of Industry and Trade, during 2010-2020, two-way trade turnover increased from $4.11 billion to $11.13 billion in 2021. Vietnams export turnover from Germany soared from $2.37 billion to $7.28 billion in that time. In the first seven months of 2022, Vietnam earned $5.1 billion from exports to Germany, up 23.2 per cent on-year.

Currently, Vietnam and German are now making preparations for an official visit by the latters chancellor to the former. The visit is strongly expected to help further increase both nations bilateral strategic partnership forged in 2010. It is also hoped that further cementing sustainable development and clean energy, as well as trade and investment, will be high on the agenda.

On March 3, Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong held phone talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The Party chief invite the German leader to visit Vietnam and the latter accepted the invitation.

General Secretary Trong stated that Vietnam attaches importance to its strategic partnership with Germany as part of its foreign policy of multilateralisation and diversification, and of being a friend, reliable partner, and an active and responsible member of the international community.

The Vietnamese leader also suggested amplifying the bilateral cooperation in investment, trade, energy, science, technology, education, national defence, and security to a new level in conformity with their strategic partnership.

Chancellor Scholz reaffirmed that Germany attaches great importance to the strategic partnership, which is developing robustly and has much potential for further growth.

Supporting the principles of cooperation After 11 years of the Vietnam-German strategic partnership, the German Ambassador to Vietnam Dr. Guido Hildner said that the bilateral relationship is maintaining a high level of quality and represents a partnership that both countries are promoting and continuing in the future. This is partly reflected in the first visit to Vietnam by a German warship in January. One of the important grounds is that both sides agree to support the international order based on the rule of law, Hildner described the significance of the visit of the frigate Bavaria. This visit demonstrates Germanys support for the principles related to freedom of navigation and order based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea from 1982, Hildner added. Through that, Germany asserts that the convention is an inclusive and internationally valid legal framework for all activities in the seas and oceans. In addition to the desire of strengthening cooperation with Vietnam on security policy, Ambassador Hildner reaffirmed that economic cooperation, investment, combating climate change, and education and training will be promising areas of cooperation between the two countries. I think the relationship between Vietnam and Germany will continue to develop well. We have strong growth potential and can complement each other, he said. The German ambassador also expressed his optimism about progress in bilateral relations, which he believes are increasing steadily in all fields.
Waco community organizations working to combat violence are set for a $1.5 million boost from a federal grant intended to help them collaborate.

The grant, announced Friday through the U.S. Department of Justices Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative, is as a collaborative effort among the city, Waco Police Department and Prosper Waco, the nonprofit that applied for the grant and will administer it.

The grant is intended to support community-based organizations, which often do not receive federal funding, in holistic efforts to reduce violent crime, according to the Justice Department announcement.

The grant will fund the local implementation of a program called Change Matters for three years, uniting local government agencies with community organizations and supporting the expansion of infrastructure needed to strengthen Wacos neighborhoods.

Prosper Waco CEO Suzii Paynter March said in a press release that Waco Police Chief Sheryl Victorian brought community organizations together a few months ago, and they are ready to work together to prevent violence.

Violence is a thief; it steals vitality and the strength of the future.  So many in Waco have a heart for curbing violence and crime. As a backbone organization, Prosper Waco is ready to support community partners for a strong response, March said in a statement.

Victorian said in the press release that the grant will continue the work the community has already done with the police department to keep Waco safe.

Wacos grant is part of $100 million in Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative funding the DOJ announced this week.

March said rather than creating all new initiatives and programs, Prosper Waco can work with a range of organizations already targeting community wellness. By supporting smaller organizations and bringing them together to do mutually reinforcing activities, the work of one organization can complement the others involved, March said.

Weve got some strong initiatives in communities, she said. Its exciting to know that we could help to support these kinds of peer groups and community efforts and efforts in schools.

March said Change Matters will use school district records, police records and other metrics to track progress combatting violence.

Waco police reported about 9,500 crimes last year, including about 2,500 classified as violent, according to a Prosper Waco report. This year through August, the department had reported 1,740 violent crimes, according to Prosper Waco.
One year ago: The New Jersey Nets said Kyrie Irving could not play or practice with them until he could be a full participant; New York City r
WATERLOO  Four people have been arrested following an early morning fight in a downtown strip club Saturday.

Devon Lee Martin, 25, of Cedar Falls, and Emmanuel Lee Newman, 38, of Waterloo, were arrested on assault and rioting charges. Darius Traemone Caston, 30, and Durius Antwan Davis, both of Waterloo, were arrested on rioting charges.

The incident started shortly before 12:15 a.m. Saturday when four people began punching and kicking two people inside Flirts Gentlemens Club, 319 Jefferson St.

The suspects fled the establishment before police arrived, and officers found them around the corner at another bar.

One man was taken to a local hospital for injuries, police said.
DELHI  Trial has been set for a rural Delhi man who was found with more than 60 guns after a woman accused him of holding her against her will, choking her and chasing her with an ATV in May.

A federal grand jury indicted Chuck Allan Domeyer, 54, with one count of felon in possession of a firearm, alleging he is barred from having guns because of a 1999 burglary conviction from Dubuque County.

Last week, trial for the weapons charge was scheduled for November in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. Domeyer is also awaiting an October trial for false imprisonment and willful injury causing bodily injury in Delaware County District Court in Manchester.

Court records show investigators found 64 firearms  mostly bolt-, pump- and lever-action hunting-style guns consisting of 22 rifles, 33 shotguns, six handguns and three combination guns.

They also seized ammunition, a black leash and a pink collar, according to court records.

Authorities allege a female acquaintance went to Domeyers home at 235th Avenue on May 19 to feed dogs she has at the property.

Domeyer  who witnesses said had been acting strangely and had suspected someone had tried to break into his house to take his guns  later came home and took the womans keys and cellphone and led her into the basement. He grabbed her and attempted to put pink dog collars on her wrists, according to court records. He also choked her unconscious.

The woman eventually fought him off and escaped, alerting neighbors who saw Domeyer chasing her on an ATV.

Witnesses notified authorities, who interviewed the woman and detained Domeyer.
TOKYO (AP)  Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in telephone call Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, condemned Russias new annexation of parts of Ukraine as illegal and a violation of the country's sovereignty.

I told him that the process that Russia called a referendum and its annexation of parts of Ukraine should never be accepted, and that I strongly condemn them, Kishida said afterward.

Kishida said he also reassured Zelenskyy in their 30-minute conversation that Japan is committed to working with other Group of Seven nations and the broader international community in further supporting Ukraine, and plans to impose more sanctions against Russia.

Western leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden have also condemned Russias annexation of four occupied Ukrainian regions days after voters supposedly approved Moscow-managed referendums on joining Russia.

Kishida, who is to host a meeting of leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations next year, told Zelenskyy he plans to propose that they impose tough sanctions against Russia, and will lead a discussion on Ukraine's reconstruction.

He said Japan is assessing when it can reopen its embassy in Kyiv, which he described as important for close contacts between Japan and Ukraine. Japan closed its embassy in March as Russia's invasion of Ukraine intensified and moved part of its operations to Lviv in western Ukraine.

Japan has closely cooperated with other G-7 members and European nations in imposing sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine. Most recently, Japan banned exports of sensitive materials that could be used to make chemical weapons.

Japan's sanctions against Russia have further damaged their ties, already strained over a group of islands taken by Moscow at the end of World War II that have prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending their war hostilities.

In retaliation for Tokyo's sanctions, Moscow terminated peace talks, including negotiations over the islands.
WEST DES MOINES  Craig and Marilyn Millhollin are precisely the type of voters upon which Mike Frankens hopes are pinned.

Franken is the Democratic candidate in Iowas 2022 U.S. Senate campaign. The retired U.S. Navy admiral from Sioux City is attempting the impossible: to defeat longtime Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, who has been winning elections in Iowa since Attack of the 50 Foot Woman debuted in theaters.

The Millhollins, who live in Des Moines, say they were Republican voters in the past  including many times for Grassley  but this election they plan to vote for Franken. They were among the roughly 300 who attended Frankens campaign rally  what he hopes becomes his first annual Blue Wave Bash  on Saturday afternoon at Hurd Amphitheater.

I like (Franken). Im disappointed in Grassley. I used to be Republican, Marilyn said, adding that she began moving away from the Republican Party under former President Donald Trump, and that she did not like how Grassley treated Democratic former President Barack Obama or Grassleys role in the nominations of new justices to the U.S. Supreme Court.

So Im anxious for a change, Marilyn said.

Craig said he feels Grassley is too beholden to business interests  And I say that as a business guy, he said.

One of the central themes of Frankens campaign has been that he can appeal to middle-of-the-road voters, and Iowans who have voted for Grassley in the past but have become dissatisfied with him or the Republican Party in the era of Trump.

Defeating Grassley will be no small task. He has not lost an election since his first election to the statehouse in 1958, and has won his six re-election campaigns to the U.S. Senate by an average of 35 percentage points.

The highly respected Iowa Poll, from the Des Moines Register and Mediacom, in July showed Grassley leading Franken by 8 percentage points. And all the major national political forecasters rate the campaign in their most likely Republican category.

Frankens remarks at Saturdays rally featured two major themes that fit his appeal to less partisan voters: party over country and people over politics.

Our campaign centers around that: country over party, Franken said. But at the core of every campaign, in every congressional office, is the leader. And in the heart of that leader must be an unshakable belief that you are duty-bound to choose not just country over party, but country over self  again, again, again, even when theres profits to be made and favors to be curried. Especially when its really, really hard.

Iowans wake up every day doing hard things. Sometimes they even cross party lines to vote for the other person. And that takes, in todays environment, a lot of guts.

On the issues, Franken spoke about education, mental health care, gun safety, health care, Social Security, the environment, agriculture, LGBTQ rights, and abortion access.

To me, people over politics is a reminder that Iowa has a long proud history of protecting civil rights. Not because were a bastion of progressivism, but because we look out for our neighbor, staying out of their business but lifting them up when their burden becomes too much, Franken said. We act as servant leaders. We act as our brothers keeper and thats a good thing.

Speaking later Saturday at Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds annual fall fundraiser, Grassley praised Reynolds and Iowa Republicans for cutting state taxes multiple times over the past four years and said it is imperative to elect Republicans to Congress to ensure the 2017 federal tax cuts  enacted under Trump and with full Republican control of Congress  are extended when they come up for legislative renewal in 2025.

If we leave these Democrats in charge in Washington, D.C., this tax decrease in 2017 sunsets 2025 and instead of the largest tax decrease in the history of the country, were going to have the biggest tax increase in the history of the country, Grassley said.

Franken and Grassley are scheduled to debate Thursday night on Iowa PBS.


Bjorn Andersson Opinion Editorial by UNFPA Asia-Pacific Regional Director

Bjorn Andersson joined the Asia-Pacific Regional Office of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) as its Director in September 2017. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Andersson served as Chief of Staff to two Executive Directors of UNFPA, Dr Babatunde Osotimehin from 2013 to 2017 and Thoraya Ahmed Obaid from 2003 to 2008. Mr Andersson has almost three decades of extensive experience in international development cooperation with key positions in programme management, policy development and strategic organizational management, in the UN System and government agencies. Mr Andersson entered the United Nations system as a Junior Professional Officer in the UN Population Division working on preparations for the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), whose Programme of Action subsequently served as a foundation for much of the work UNFPA does today. He subsequently joined UNFPA where he worked as a Programme Officer in Zimbabwe and as a Coordination Officer in New York. In 1998 Mr Andersson returned to his home country Sweden, where be successively held positions with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, including as Deputy Director at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs from 2000 to 2003. From 2008 to 2013 Mr Andersson was Director of the Department for Development Policy at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, where he led a team of senior experts in various areas related to international development cooperation, including population and development, gender equality, economic growth, the environment, good governance, health and education. During this period, Mr. Anderson also served as Swedens Chief Negotiator for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). Mr Andersson holds a Master of Science degree in Horticultural Sciences from the University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden. His studies focused on economic aspects of horticulture production, international rural development and political science. Mr Andersson has also completed specific courses in population and development at Princeton University, New Jersey, USA. 


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Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said in his first debate against Democratic challenger Beto ORourke that Texas would send busloads of migrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border to more cities
On Thursday, a crane lifted a 25-foot tall Muffler Man statue  holding a corndog  into the parking lot of Albuquerque restaurant, Clowndog Hot Dog Parlor.

The statue will be joined this weekend by Geoff Esper, the second-ranked hot dog eater in the world, who will attempt to set a world record eating the most number of corndogs in three minutes at the circus-themed restaurant.

Clowndog, which opened in 2020, is one of three businesses featured on ExxonMobils Keep Route 66 Kickin' tour, which is highlighting small businesses on the historic Route 66.

Last month, ExxonMobil brought the Muffler Man to Delgadillos Snow Cap Drive-In in Seligman, AZ, where they set a Guinness World Record for the most number of milkshake flavors (266). And later this month, the oil and gas company will bring the statue to Illinois for another record attempt the most number of hot dogs eaten at a movie screening  at Litchfield Skyview Drive-In in Illinois.

The event at Clowndog this Saturday runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 3624 Central SE.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham quietly rescinded six executive orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic this week, but an order declaring a public health emergency due to the pandemic remains in effect more than two years after being issued.

Those rescinded Tuesday include an April 2020 order that  while in place  authorized more than 700 inmates to be released early from prison if they met such criteria as having a scheduled parole date within 30 days.

That order had been targeted in a TV ad launched last week by Republican Mark Ronchetti, who is running against Lujan Grisham in this years race for governor, but the Governors Office said the decision to rescind the order was not related to Ronchettis criticism.

The Governors Office rescinded these pandemic-related executive orders as part of a periodic review of COVID-19 mitigation measures, to ensure state resources and policy are up to date and as reflective as possible of evolving conditions and guidance, Lujan Grisham spokeswoman Nora Meyers Sackett said Friday.

She also said the March 2020 order declaring a public health emergency in New Mexcio due to COVID-19 was left in place because it gives the state access to federal funding for public health programs, food assistance and more.

Going forward, the Lujan Grisham administration plans to continue to review pandemic-related health orders to make sure they are still necessary, Sackett said.

Meanwhile, the other orders rescinded this week included a 2021 order that expanded eligibility to all adults age 18 and older to receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot.

Another rescinded order, also from 2021, had recommended  but not required  COVID-19 testing and a 14-day quarantine period for all travelers entering New Mexico.

Under New Mexicos current law, public health orders expire automatically after 30 days  if theyre not ended sooner  but can be renewed by the governor an unlimited number of times.

Since declaring the COVID-19 pandemic a public health emergency in March 2020, the Lujan Grisham administration has extended the emergency order more than 30 times and issued multiple related health orders.

Several legislative proposals to curb the governors emergency powers have stalled at the Roundhouse in the past two years, with Senate Democratic leadership in 2021 declining to bring a bill that had passed two committees with bipartisan support up for a floor vote.

While some lawmakers argued the states current laws give the governor too much power, Lujan Grisham said last year she would veto such a bill if it reached her desk.

Specifically, she said the fact New Mexico is a centralized public health state was a key reason her administration was able to respond quickly to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the pandemic began, New Mexico ranks around the middle of states in terms of per-capita COVID-19 cases, but has one of the nations highest death rates due to the virus, according to data tracking by The New York Times.
Robert Carroll was driving across New Mexico on his way from Kansas to Phoenix earlier this year when he pulled off Interstate 40, just west of Gallup, and began acting erratically.

A deputy with the McKinley County Sheriffs Office was called to the scene.

Then, lapel camera video shows, after the deputy chased him down  using a Taser more than a dozen times, and holding him face down as he handcuffed his hands behind his back  39-year-old Carroll lost consciousness. He died at the scene.

An autopsy determined his manner of death was homicide caused by heart disease in the setting of a physical restraint.

Carrolls family is suing the McKinley County Sheriffs Office and board of commissioners, alleging that he was not a threat to the deputy and his violent and abhorrent killing was wholly unjustified and constituted excessive force, assault, battery, and homicide. It said he was Tased 18 times.

Im just really shocked that this escalated to the extent that a man was killed who was not accused of any crime, had not committed any crime, and was parked in a rest stop after traveling all day, said attorney Eric Dixon who is representing Carrolls family, including his two young children, in the wrongful death lawsuit filed in federal court.

The lawsuit alleges Deputy Dwayne Holder, who chased Carroll, was under the influence of alcohol. In his interview with New Mexico State Police, Holder said he had a shot and a half of bourbon about four hours before his shift began.

The death of Robert Carroll never should have occurred and would not have occurred but for a complete lack of officer supervision, lack of appropriate police training, and the lack of appropriate planning during the events leading up to the Tasing of Robert Carroll, the suit states.

The family is asking for compensation for the funeral and burial expenses as well as for the emotional loss it suffered.

Neither the McKinley County Sheriffs Office nor the county manager returned calls requesting comment.

Acting strange

On May 18, a couple called 911 because a man  Carroll  was acting strangely near the Port of Entry in Gallup. They said he had knocked on their doors and was opening and closing his own car doors multiple times.

Deputy Holder responded to the scene. He later told investigators that Carroll, a Black man, was asking about a girl and seemed under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Holders lapel camera video shows Carroll stumbling away from him, repeatedly falling down in the road and then getting back up. The deputy uses the Taser on him multiple times, including on drive stun mode held against his skin, before others arrived and helped handcuff him as he lay face down.

When they turned Carroll over they discovered he was not breathing. The deputies attempted to save him, but Carroll died.

The Office of the Medical Investigator found he had phencyclidine, an animal tranquilizer that is more commonly used and abused illicitly, in his system and that amplified the effects on his heart.

Moreover, being placed in a prone position and restrained increased the likelihood of Mr. Carroll having a terminal cardiac arrhythmia or other lethal process, the autopsy report states.

New Mexico State Police investigated the incident and turned over the case file to the 11th Judicial District Attorneys Office on July 19 to determine whether the deputies should be charged in Carrolls death.

The DAs Office did not respond to calls about whether it had made a decision.

Officer Ray Wilson, a State Police spokesman, said the agency investigates in-custody deaths  such as from medical episodes, suicide, accidents, or death as a result of actions by officers  if an agency requests assistance.

It has investigated four each year since 2019, when it investigated five.

Fun, happy-go-lucky guy

In a statement, Carrolls older sister said she and her family have been struggling to cope.

Ever since my brothers death, I cant think straight and been having to take time away from work due to my mind cant think clearly, by knowing and seeing what the police had done wrong to my brother, she wrote. Robert didnt deserve to be so treated in the way the sheriffs had done to him.

Carrolls half brother, Robert Bobby Daniels, told the Journal he has been frustrated in trying to learn about what happened.

He said Carroll was a fun, happy-go-lucky guy who raised dogs and was on his way to buy dogs in Phoenix. Carroll had called him hours before his death, early in the morning.

Mainly he was calling me to tell me he was getting on the highway to get the puppies, Daniels said. He sounded good, we talked for maybe 35 to 40 minutes.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

An Albuquerque man and his 12-year-old nephew are accused of collaborating in five armed robberies over the past few months at Ross Dress for Less stores and other city businesses.

Gilbert Gallegos of the Albuquerque Police Department said detectives arrested Jason Roper at his home and his nephew at Jimmy Carter Middle School, where he is a seventh grader.

Roper, 43, is facing armed robbery, child abuse, tampering with evidence and other charges in the case. The boy is charged with armed robbery and conspiracy.

Gallegos said the boy was booked into the Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center. It is unclear if either has an attorney.

According to police, Roper robbed the first three stores, while his nephew robbed the last two and tried to rob a third before an Albuquerque Metro Crime Stoppers tip led detectives to the pair.

Court records show the boy, one of four siblings, has been in the midst of a lengthy custody dispute between his parents, and his mother alleges his father has battled substance abuse since 2013. The father, according to court records, was arrested Sept. 1 on a probation violation after failing a drug test for fentanyl and methamphetamine.

Roper has spent most of the past two decades behind bars.

Court records show he was sentenced in 2000 to more than 11 years in state prison after pleading guilty in a shooting that injured two Sandia High athletes. Then, in 2010, Roper was sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison for robbing an Albuquerque bank.

Since his release in 2020, according to court records, Roper had gone back and forth between federal prison and supervised release for drug-related violations.

He was released again to supervised probation in 2022 but soon violated conditions on Sept. 12, when he tested positive for methamphetamine.

Police say by that time, the armed robberies had been ongoing for a month.

Albuquerque police responded on Aug. 14 to a robbery at the Ross Dress for Less at Coors and Irving NW, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. An employee told police a man robbed them at gunpoint, making them empty multiple registers.

A man matching the same description robbed two other Ross stores and police identified the getaway car as a Cadillac and a young accomplice, according to the complaint. Then, on Sept. 11, a young boy robbed a cashier at gunpoint at the Ross Dress for Less at Central and Atrisco NW.

Police said in the next week the same boy robbed a Walgreens and tried to rob a Taco Bell on the West Side but the cashier refused to hand over the money. Crime Stoppers offered a $10,000 reward in the case and a tip identified the man as Roper and the boy as his nephew.

Police said the pair matched the robbers descriptions and Ropers Cadillac matched the getaway car, according to the complaint. Detectives went to arrest Roper and he requested an attorney and they went to the nephews school to speak with the boy and his mother.

Police said the mother told them Roper, who was an adopted relative, had recently come back into her life and was showing her son bad things like drinking and drugs. When shown video of the robberies, she said how could I not recognize my son and also identified Roper before breaking down in tears.

The boy refused to speak with police and asked for an attorney.
NAME: Gregory Cunningham

POLITICAL PARTY: Republican

OCCUPATION: Retired APD officer/business owner

CITY OF RESIDENCE: Albuquerque

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: Born and raised in Albuquerque, United States Marines Special Forces combat veteran, APD detective, small business owner.

EDUCATION: Menaul High School, University of Albuquerque (2 years)

CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: avoicefornewmexico.com

1. New Mexico is highly reliant on the oil and natural gas industries to generate revenue to fund state programs, as evidenced by recent oil boom and bust cycles. What steps should the Legislature take to diversify the states economy and revenue base?

We must protect the Land Grant Permanent Fund by not overspending. New Mexico is blessed with plentiful oil and natural gas deposits. We must use this natural resource to benefit all of New Mexico. Only with an educated and skilled workforce will we be able to attract new businesses.

2. During the last regular legislative session, there was an unsuccessful push to make it easier to keep certain defendants behind bars until trial. Should New Mexico law be changed to make it easier to hold individuals charged with violent offenses such as murder and first-degree child abuse behind bars until trial?

Absolutely. Without question.

3. What steps should the Legislature take to address crime and public safety as New Mexico faces one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation?

We must protect our law-abiding citizens and families. An overhaul of our education system is essential, the state must force prosecutors to enforce the law and we must establish mandatory sentencing guidelines and reduce judicial discretion.

4. Given the U.S. Supreme Courts recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, do you support or oppose codifying abortion protections in state law? And do you support or oppose enacting any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico?

New Mexico already has state laws on the books protecting all abortions in New Mexico.

5. New Mexico has already implemented several gun control laws in recent years. Would you support or oppose legislation that banned or restricted the sale of AR-15-style semi-automatic weapons, such as raising the age limit for purchasing such weapons? And what about legislation making it a crime to fail to safely secure firearms around children?

I do not support the banning of any semi-automatic rifle. There are many ways we need to address the crime issue across New Mexico. First by overhauling our broken education system, enforcing laws and eliminating judicial discretion.

6. The state agency tasked with keeping New Mexico children safe has faced recent scrutiny over transparency issues and its handling of high-profile child abuse cases. What changes would you support to improve the operations of the Children, Youth and Families Department?

Like much of New Mexico government that fails children we must do a top to bottom evaluation and make that department effective. Computer algorithms are not the answer as it has been suggested.

7. What changes, if any, should New Mexico make to its gross receipts tax code?

The New Mexico GRT should be abolished, and the necessary amount should be added to the sales tax. We should be honest about what consumers are paying in taxes.

8. New Mexico is currently the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary, though lawmakers do get per diem payments and can qualify for a legislative pension. Do you support or oppose a salaried Legislature and, if so, how much should lawmakers be paid?

Yes, $30,000 per year.

9. What more, if anything, should the Legislature do to address a court ruling that found New Mexico is failing to provide a sufficient education to all students, especially Native Americans and those who dont speak English as a first language?

New Mexico is 50th in the country for education. We spend half of our state budget, $4.8 billion to fail all of New Mexicos children. We must overhaul our complete educational system.

10. In recent years, New Mexico has steadily increased spending on early childhood programs, such as home visiting, prekindergarten and child care assistance, and created a new early childhood trust fund. Do you support or oppose the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would withdraw more money from the states permanent school fund to increase funding for early childhood services and K-12 education?

Our state spends $4.8 billion this year to be dead last in education. Our checkbook isnt broken our educational system is. All the Pre-K money in the world wont keep a 10th grader in high-school. I will not support 350,000,000 more dollars for undefined programs on a legislative spending spree.

11. In order to address climate change and air quality issues, do you support or oppose legislation limiting greenhouse gas emissions and requiring the state achieve net-zero emissions by 2050?

I oppose this legislation. Our state should be on par with other states and have a pro-business environment. This issue should be nationally regulated. We should be one country not 50 states with a patchwork of different emissions laws.

12. Do you believe changes should be made to the emergency powers held by a governor during a pandemic or other time of crisis. If so, do you believe such powers should be expanded or reduced and in what specific ways?

All emergency powers that the governor has should not extend beyond 30 days without legislative approval.

13. Would you support a merit-based evaluation system to determine how the state spends its capital outlay funding?

No.

14. Do you believe former President Donald Trumps claim that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election? (Yes or No answer only, please)

No response.

15. What changes, if any, would you support to New Mexicos election laws?

I believe that any acceptable state ID should be required to vote. ID is required to buy cigarettes, liquor, or to board a plane. It seems appropriate to make sure the right voter is casting a vote.

Personal background

1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens?

Yes, state of New Mexico in 2011 and released in 2012. GRT when business first opened.

2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding?

No.

3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain.

No.
NAME: Robert A. Salazar

POLITICAL PARTY: Republican

OCCUPATION: Electrical engineer

CITY OF RESIDENCE: Albuquerque

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: No prior political experience

EDUCATION: MSEE UNM

CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: robertsalazarforhouse.com

1. New Mexico is highly reliant on the oil and natural gas industries to generate revenue to fund state programs, as evidenced by recent oil boom and bust cycles. What steps should the Legislature take to diversify the states economy and revenue base?

New Mexico should limit spending and fund necessary projects. Building up a reserves fund will help with future spending. New revenue can be harvested from economic development. Make laws and taxing favorable to new businesses. Make New Mexico a business-friendly state.

2. During the last regular legislative session, there was an unsuccessful push to make it easier to keep certain defendants behind bars until trial. Should New Mexico law be changed to make it easier to hold individuals charged with violent offenses such as murder and first-degree child abuse behind bars until trial?

Yes, too many repeat offenders are released on their own recognizance. The judicial system should (consider) all factors when deciding to hold anyone accused of a violent crime.

3. What steps should the Legislature take to address crime and public safety as New Mexico faces one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation?

Increase number of police. Hold criminals accountable, including pretrial. New Mexico laws favor criminals not law-abiding citizens. The Arnold Tool should be removed and employ better guidelines.

4. Given the U.S. Supreme Courts recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, do you support or oppose codifying abortion protections in state law? And do you support or oppose enacting any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico?

Sufficient New Mexico laws protecting abortion already exist. Abortions are legal up to birth. If an abortion is unsuccessful, then termination of the baby is the standard in New Mexico. I support restricting late-term abortion.

5. New Mexico has already implemented several gun control laws in recent years. Would you support or oppose legislation that banned or restricted the sale of AR-15-style semi-automatic weapons, such as raising the age limit for purchasing such weapons? And what about legislation making it a crime to fail to safely secure firearms around children?

I oppose any further gun restrictions. Laws already exist that protect children from any unsafe condition. Itemizing different circumstances is redundant and unnecessarily complicates enforcement. Harming people is already a crime regardless of the tool used.

6. The state agency tasked with keeping New Mexico children safe has faced recent scrutiny over transparency issues and its handling of high-profile child abuse cases. What changes would you support to improve the operations of the Children, Youth and Families Department?

Increase staffing in the field and improve oversight. Current staff cant do their job properly due to limited resources, primarily time for each case. Im not advocating more money, although more money is needed for staff increase. CYFD needs competent leadership, not more inefficient management.

7. What changes, if any, should New Mexico make to its gross receipts tax code?

With the current abundance of oil and gas revenue, the GRT should be lowered to stimulate New Mexico economy and support small businesses growth. An economy less dependent on oil and gas will grow if government allows it to grow.

8. New Mexico is currently the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary, though lawmakers do get per diem payments and can qualify for a legislative pension. Do you support or oppose a salaried Legislature and, if so, how much should lawmakers be paid?

I support legislator salaries. But more useful is to provide legislators with tools they need to be more efficient and responsive to their constituents. A full-time staff and access to legal advice is a better use of tax payer money.

9. What more, if anything, should the Legislature do to address a court ruling that found New Mexico is failing to provide a sufficient education to all students, especially Native Americans and those who dont speak English as a first language?

A comprehensive study of schools should precede any action. The study needs to be conducted by an outside source and, hence, unbiased. A recent book Race to the Bottom by Luke Rosiak includes New Mexico in an assessment of the reason schools are failing children.

10. In recent years, New Mexico has steadily increased spending on early childhood programs, such as home visiting, prekindergarten and child care assistance, and created a new early childhood trust fund. Do you support or oppose the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would withdraw more money from the states permanent school fund to increase funding for early childhood services and K-12 education?

Too many children are being raised by someone other than their parent. I support any effort that forms a stronger bound between the parent and child. Again, just throwing money at a problem is not a fix.

11. In order to address climate change and air quality issues, do you support or oppose legislation limiting greenhouse gas emissions and requiring the state achieve net-zero emissions by 2050?

I do not support most additional greenhouse measures. Mankind and New Mexicans are not a major contributor to greenhouse gas. A report Contributions of natural systems and human activity to greenhouse gas emissions, in Advances in Climate Changes Research reports that anthropogenic sources are roughly half the contribution to greenhouse gas emissions

12. Do you believe changes should be made to the emergency powers held by a governor during a pandemic or other time of crisis. If so, do you believe such powers should be expanded or reduced and in what specific ways?

The governor holds too much emergency power. In a real emergency where time is critical the governor should have full emergency power. After 30 days the Legislature should share emergency power and responsibility.

13. Would you support a merit-based evaluation system to determine how the state spends its capital outlay funding?

Yes, if you mean successful programs deserve additional resources.

14. Do you believe former President Donald Trumps claim that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election? (Yes or No answer only, please)

Respondent did not limit answer to yes or no as requested.

15. What changes, if any, would you support to New Mexicos election laws?

Restrict total money contributed to campaigns.

Personal background

1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens?

No.

2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding?

No.

3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain.

No.
SANTA FE  Republican Mark Ronchetti and Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham intensified their attacks on each other Friday as they tangled over crime and abortion in their first televised debate.

Ronchetti  who trailed by seven percentage points in a late-summer Journal Poll  seized the chance to slam the incumbent governor on New Mexicos high violent crime rate and shutdown of in-person schooling during parts of the pandemic.

Lujan Grisham pushed back sharply, offering herself as battled-tested leader willing to make tough decisions in contrast to an opponent whos never held office.

They wasted no time blasting each other.

Ronchetti immediately faulted the governor on crime and public safety, saying she had appointed judges who are soft on crime and made it more difficult to be a police officer. He accused her of not trying hard enough to secure legislative approval to revise the states bail system for criminal defendants.

There has to be a change here  she hasnt taken crime seriously, Ronchetti said.

Lujan Grisham shot back: Bold words from someone whos never even been to a legislative session.

It proved to be a recurring theme of the night. Lujan Grisham repeatedly highlighted her experience and suggested Ronchetti had only superficial plans for tackling complex problems.

Ronchetti, in turn, ridiculed the governor as out of step with the struggles of ordinary people. He bristled at the idea that he hasnt spent enough time at the Capitol to understand New Mexicos problems.

Are you kidding me? Everybody in Albuquerque lives it. We live it  we live the crime everyday, he said. You dont have to go to the Roundhouse.

The clash on KOB-TV came as the two well-funded candidates open the final 39-day sprint to Election Day. Absentee voting begins Oct. 11 with Election Day set for Nov. 8.

The debate was moderated by veteran journalists Tessa Mentus and Matt Grubs.

Ronchetti, a former meteorologist for KRQE, looked comfortable on cameras as he aggressively questioned and criticized his opponent.

Lujan Grisham, a former congresswoman and veteran of TV debates, parried his attacks and pitched her experience in office. She delivered a few zingers of her own, saying at one point that Ronchetti shifted positions on abortion more than the weather changes right here in New Mexico.

Ronchetti leveled his own attacks.

Youre out of touch with the people of your own state, he said.

Ronchetti also focused on New Mexicos high violent crime rate  second in the nation in 2020  and the dismal academic proficiency rates for students.

New Mexico is at a crossroads, no doubt, Ronchetti said. He added: If you think the system is broken, she is the head of the system.

Lujan Grisham, in turn, acknowledged the pain of the pandemic and states largest wildfire. But she said an experienced leader is needed.

Weve come a long way in four years, she said. As New Mexicans weve been through a lot. I remain steadfast in my optimism about what comes next.

Abortion

Lujan Grisham, 62, turned the conversation to abortion periodically, highlighting her signing of a 2021 bill that repealed the states criminal abortion law, which she said could have been enforced following the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

She accused Ronchetti of wanting to ban abortion, saying, If Mark Ronchetti was governor today, abortion would be illegal in the state of New Mexico.

While Ronchetti has not said how he would have acted on the bill, he has insisted on the campaign trail that he would not seek to ban abortion entirely despite his personal anti-abortion views.

Instead, Ronchetti, 48, pitched his idea of putting the abortion question before voters in a constitutional amendment. He has supported a 15-week abortion ban  with exception for rape, incest and threats to the mothers life  but said voters should decide.

Lujan Grisham shared that she had once had a medical emergency during a pregnancy and expressed thanks she did not have to make a life-changing decision.

The fact that anyone should get to vote about my personal health care decision is quite frankly outrageous, she said.

Ronchetti responded: Im not deciding anything for you. I think you should vote on it.

When asked about education, both candidates agreed that smaller class sizes would help boost New Mexico student outcomes.

But neither Ronchetti nor Lujan Grisham laid out a plan to respond to the Martinez-Yazzie case, a landmark 2018 court decision that found New Mexico was failing to meet its constitutional obligation to provide an adequate education to all students, particularly Native Americans and English-language learners.

Budget, inmates

On the issue of the states projected $2.5 billion in new revenue for the coming budget year, Lujan Grisham attributed the windfall to her administrations efforts on the economy.

These record revenues are because our economic policies work, Lujan Grisham said.

However, legislative economists have said that roughly two-thirds of the projected revenue growth is expected to come directly from oil and natural gas receipts.

Meanwhile, Ronchetti cited a Lujan Grisham executive order that authorized inmates to be released early from prison if they met certain criteria.

More than 700 inmates were released under the order that was rescinded by the governor this week  after Ronchetti targeted it in a campaign ad.

But the Lujan Grisham administration has said only nine individuals released under the order reoffended during the time period between their release date and when they would have been paroled.

Libertarian candidate Karen Bedonie, the third candidate on the general election ballot, was not invited to participate in Fridays debate.

The prime-time debate marked the first of two scheduled debates between Lujan Grisham and Ronchetti. The two candidates will also face off at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 12 in a debate sponsored by KOAT-TV, KKOB Radio and the Albuquerque Journal.
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday urged all relevant parties in Yemen, including the government forces and their allies, the Houthi rebels and their international backers, to "choose peace for good."

The hiatus since April 2 has been twice renewed, providing the longest period of relative calm since the beginning of the intensified conflict in 2015, the secretary-general said in a statement.

"I strongly urge the Yemeni parties not only to renew but also to expand the truce's terms and duration, in line with the proposal presented to them by my special envoy, Hans Grundberg," Guterres said.

The UN chief said the truce had "delivered tangible benefits and much needed relief to the Yemeni people, including a significant reduction in violence and civilian casualties countrywide."

It has also allowed an increase in fuel deliveries via the main Red Sea port of Hodeidah, and the resumption of international flights to and from the Houthi-controlled airport in the capital, Saana, for the first time in nearly six years.

"Yet more needs to be done to achieve its full implementation, including reaching an agreement on the reopening of roads in Taiz," in the south, and other governorates, the secretary-general added.

Guterres strongly urged all those involved in the long-running conflict to "seize this opportunity."

"This is the moment to build on the gains achieved and embark on a path towards the resumption of an inclusive and comprehensive political process, to reach a negotiated settlement to end the conflict. The United Nations will spare no efforts to support the parties in this endeavor," he said. 
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Jonathan Tony Sanchez wasnt your typical convicted felon. So, too, his recent federal trial on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition was far from ordinary.

The FBI had identified Sanchez as one of eight members of the ultra-violent Syndicato Nuevo Mexico prison gang on the streets of Albuquerque who had been solicited in 2015 to kill the then-Cabinet secretary of the New Mexico Corrections Department, and two other prison administrators and their families.

Sanchez, 36, of Albuquerque, wasnt charged in that years-long racketeering prosecution of the gang and the murder plot was foiled. But when Sanchez was arrested at an Albuquerque apartment in March 2021 for violating his state parole on a drug conviction, the FBI and federal prosecutors were interested in the .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol found at the scene  a weapon that later showed traces of his DNA.

During his three-day federal trial on the gun charge last week, Sanchez was permitted to wear makeup in court to hide his trademark gang tattoos. U.S. District Judge David Urias of Albuquerque also granted defense motions that forbade prosecutors from using Sanchezs gang name, Kilo, or mentioning his SNM gang affiliation.

The government also couldnt mention that he had absconded from state parole at the time state fugitive investigators and Bernalillo County Sheriffs deputies forced their way into a Wellesley NE apartment when no one inside heeded calls to come out.

Government photos showing the breached door were banned at trial. Investigators who testified merely said they had to open the door and wait inside until Sanchez came downstairs because they were serving a warrant.

Urias  appointed to the bench earlier this year  granted several defense motions to exclude what federal prosecutors argued was admissible evidence. The defense deemed it prejudicial or irrelevant to the firearms case.

But after two hours of deliberation on Thursday, the jury found Sanchez guilty  a conviction that carries up to 10 years in prison.

Defense attorneys Michael Rosenfield and Phillip Sapien couldnt be reached for comment Friday.

But their defense focused primarily on what was found on the handgun, which was inside a small open purse on a table near the front door. The purse belonged to Sanchezs girlfriend, who is now his wife, Guadalupe Sanchez. She had been charged with bringing contraband into prison in 2020, but that state charge was dismissed after she entered a pre-prosecution diversion program. Neither she nor Sanchez testified.

At trial, a DNA expert from the FBI testified that 84% of the DNA found on the firearm came from a female, 14% from Sanchez and 2% from an unidentified male.

The defense argued that Sanchezs DNA could have been transferred to the gun without him ever touching it. That could have occurred by his personal contact with his girlfriend who might have left his DNA on the weapon, Sanchezs attorneys maintained.

The state was barred from asking witnesses about Sanchezs being a fugitive from justice when he was arrested, after defense attorneys convinced the judge that doing so would make it appear their client was an irresponsible convict.

At the time, law enforcement was seeking Sanchez after he absconded from parole for possession of a control substance. He had prior convictions for robbery, trafficking a controlled substance and receiving/transferring a stolen vehicle. As a felon, he cant possess firearms or ammunition.

The morning of his arrest, an officer from the Corrections Departments Security Threat Investigation Unit testified, they used loud sirens and a public address system to get someone to open the door. Then they pushed the front door in. An FBI criminal complaint said it took Sanchez another 15 minutes to come down from upstairs where he was with another alleged SNM member.

FBI Special Agent Bryan Acee, who has led the FBI investigation into the SNMs criminal activities, testified on Wednesday that he was contacted after the pistol was recovered and was later told by Sanchezs girlfriend that she owned the gun. Sanchez, in an interview, admitted his DNA might be on the gun, Acee testified.

Acee didnt mention the SNM while on the witness stand, but did identify himself to the jury as the coordinator of the FBIs Violent Crime Gang Task Force.
KYIV, Ukraine  After being encircled by Ukrainian forces, Russia pulled troops out Saturday from an eastern Ukrainian city that it had been using as a front-line hub. It was the latest victory for the Ukrainian counteroffensive that has humiliated and angered the Kremlin.

Russias withdrawal from Lyman complicates its internationally vilified declaration just a day earlier that it had annexed four regions of Ukraine  an area that includes Lyman. Taking the city paves the way for Ukrainian troops to potentially push further into land that Moscow now illegally claims as its own.

The Ukrainian flag is already in Lyman, Donetsk region. Fighting is still going on there. But there is no trace of any pseudo-referendum there, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Saturday.

He was referring to referendums that Russia held at gunpoint in the four regions before annexing them  Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

The fighting comes at a pivotal moment in Russian President Vladimir Putins war. Facing Ukrainian gains on the battlefield  which he frames as a U.S.-orchestrated effort to destroy Russia  Putin this week heightened threats of nuclear force and used his most aggressive, anti-Western rhetoric to date.

Russias Defense Ministry claimed to have inflicted damage on Ukrainian forces in battling to hold Lyman, but said outnumbered Russian troops were withdrawn to more favorable positions. Ukrainian forces moved into the city, and Zelenskyys chief of staff posted photos of a Ukrainian flag being hoisted on the towns outskirts.

Lyman had been an important link in the Russian front line for ground communications and logistics. Located 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, its in the Donetsk region near the border with Luhansk, two regions that Russia annexed Friday.

Ukrainian forces have retaken vast swaths of territory in a counteroffensive that started in September. They have pushed Russian forces out of the Kharkiv area and moved east across the Oskil River.

Moscows withdrawal from Lyman prompted immediate criticism from some Russian officials. The leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, blamed the retreat, without evidence, on one Russian general being covered up for by higher-up leaders in the General Staff. He called for more drastic measures.

Meanwhile, on the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula, the governor of the city of Sevastopol announced an emergency situation at an airfield there. Explosions and huge billows of smoke could be seen by beachgoers in the Russian-held resort. Authorities said a plane rolled off the runway at the Belbek airfield, and said ammunition on board had caught fire.

Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 in violation of international law.

Russian bombardment has intensified in recent days as Moscow moved swiftly with its latest annexation and ordered a mass mobilization at home to bolster its forces. The Russian call-up has proven unpopular at home, prompting tens of thousands of Russian men to flee the country.

Zelenskyy and his military have vowed to keep fighting to liberate the regions that Putin claimed to have annexed Friday, and other Russian-occupied areas.

Ukrainian authorities accused Russian forces of targeting two humanitarian convoys in recent days, killing dozens of civilians.

The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said 24 civilians were killed in an attack this week on a convoy trying to flee the Kupiansk district. He called it ruelty that cant be justified. He said 13 children and a pregnant woman were among the dead.

The Russians fired at civilians almost at point-blank range, Syniehubov wrote on Telegram.

The Security Service of Ukraine, the secret police force known by the acronym SBU, posted photographs of the attacked convoy. At least one truck appeared to have been blown up, with burned corpses in what remained of its truck bed. Another vehicle at the front of the convoy was torched. Bodies lay on the side of the road or still inside vehicles that were pockmarked with bullet holes.

Russias Defense Ministry said its rockets destroyed Ukrainian military targets in the area but has not commented on accusations that it targeted fleeing civilians. Russian troops have retreated from much of the Kharkiv region but continue to shell the area.

And a Russian strike in the Zaporizhzhia regions capital killed 31 people and wounded 88, Ukrainian officials said. The British Defense Ministry said the Russians almost certainly struck a humanitarian convoy there with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. Russian-installed officials in Zaporizhzhia blamed Ukrainian forces but gave no evidence.

In other developments, in an apparent attempt to secure Moscows hold on the newly annexed territory, Russian forces seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov, on Friday, according to the Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom.

Energoatom said Russian troops stopped Murashovs car, blindfolded him and took him to an undisclosed location.

Russia did not comment on the report. The International Atomic Energy Agency said Russia told it that the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was temporarily detained to answer questions.

The Vienna-based IAEA said it has been actively seeking clarifications and hopes for a prompt and satisfactory resolution of this matter.

The power plant has been caught in the crossfire of the war. Ukrainian technicians continued running it after Russian troops seized the power station, and its last reactor was shut down in September as a precautionary measure amid ongoing shelling nearby.

In other fighting reported Saturday, four people were killed by Russian shelling Friday in the Donetsk region, governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said. The Russian army struck the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv twice overnight, once with drones and the second time with missiles, according to the regional governor.

Russia now claims sovereignty over 15% of Ukraine in what NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called the largest attempted annexation of European territory by force since the Second World War.

Zelenskyy on Friday formally applied for NATO membership, upping the pressure on Western allies to defend Ukraine.

In Washington, President Joe Biden signed a bill that provides another infusion  more than $12.3 billion  in military and economic aid linked to the war in Ukraine.

___

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
NORTH PORT, Fla.  As Hurricane Ian ravaged coastal towns in southwest Florida, residents of this quiet suburb thought they would be safe, having no beach and living outside areas under evacuation orders. But then the water kept flowing in.

Since Ians passage, water levels have risen significantly, turning roads into canals, reaching mailboxes, flooding vehicles, blocking a stretch of highway and a main ramp into the city, and leaving families trapped in their waterlogged homes. Now, as days go by, residents of the Sarasota suburb of North Port are beginning to run out of food and water.

Water just keeps going up. Who knows when it is going to stop, said Samuel Almanzar, 42. He was rescued by crews Friday along with his father, wife and two children, 11 and 6.

As rescue efforts wrapped up Friday, local officials recommended that people evacuate neighborhoods that are flooding. They said waters in some areas would continue to rise over the next two days. The Florida Department of Transportation was forced to close a stretch of Interstate 75 in both directions late Friday because water from the Myakka River had risen so high it flooded parts of the highway days after the storm.

The highway closure snarled traffic Friday between the storm-slammed region straddling Port Charlotte and Fort Myers and the main metropolis to the north, the Tampa area. That added a major challenge to rescue and supply delivery efforts.

On Saturday, authorities said waters had receded enough that they could fullly reopen I-75. But they added that monitors were constantly watching the ever shifting river levels near the key rescue and supply corridor.

The floods in North Port show the impact of Ian has not been confined to the beaches and tourist towns. The heavy rains from the storm have ended up flowing into suburban and inland towns not part of hurricane warnings.

Its the rising rivers that do it because of the hurricanes deluge, which continues to cause havoc long after the winds have passed. And its leading to rescue efforts not that different from those on the coasts.

Floods were reported all across the center of the state: around Orlando and its theme parks, south to Kissimmee, east to Daytona Beach, Arcadia cattle country. People near rivers were deeply affected.

Dozens of National Guardsmen arrived Friday in North Port about 85 miles (140 kilometers) south of Tampa  to speed up efforts started Wednesday by firefighters from other states and counties. And city officials were scrambling to open an evacuation center at a high school.

A mother of two cried on the phone, trying to connect with her parents so they could pick them up after coming out of her flooded neighborhood. A woman showed a map to rescuers to reach families with children in the area upon learning water had started to rise inside their homes. A man waded through waist-deep waters with his 8-year-old daughter, trying to venture out to get supplies.

Megan Blevins, who works at a restaurant in nearby Venice, was trying to help the families of coworkers get out but said some were not accessible due to structures collapsing and leaving certain streets without access.

We cant get people. We cant get people to them. There are some older folks we are trying to get to because they cant move, she said.

Aimee Bowden, 47, said a tree fell on her house, opening a hole in her kitchen and dining room and letting water pour in. Firefighters going back and forth to pick up families with children evacuated her, with her husband and 13-year-old son in a rescue boat.

I was terrified. You have your whole life uprooted, Bowden said. You try to just keep thinking about what you need to do.

Just west of North Port, the Myakka River was forecast by the National Weather Service to reach record flood stage Friday at 12.55 feet (3.8 meters) and then crest a bit higher before receding.

The nearby Peace River was set to hit an even higher mark: almost 24 feet (7.3 meters), which is about twice the previous record. It runs through mainly rural areas, especially the cattle town of Arcadia which is home to a well-known Florida rodeo.

There was plenty of concern Friday about the steadily rising river.

The unpredictability of the river is real, and people are in real danger, said DeSoto County Fire Chief Chad Jorgensen in a county post. If you are in these areas, you need to get out now.

After crossing Florida, Ian moved over the Atlantic Ocean where it curved back into South Carolina on Friday. More than two dozen deaths have been blamed on the storm.

Elvis Padron, 40, a construction worker now applying for political asylum, fled Venezuela with his wife and 8-year-old daughter and crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in February, only to face more hardship.

My wife refuses to leave. She wants to stay, said Padron, who waded through the waters to find more supplies and tried to convince his wife on the phone they should leave. I feel like we dont have much time left.

___

This story was updated to correct a reference to North Port, Florida, that had erroneously been referred to as North Point.

___

Anderson reported from St. Petersburg, Florida.
Albuquerque is about to get a little bit colder.

Its not the start of fall, but the opening of a new gym at 6001 San Mateo NE, which offers cryotherapy  a treatment that uses subzero temperatures to reduce inflammation and boost circulation.

Absolute Fitness ABQ, a franchise of U.S. Cryotherapy, offers classes and personal training besides cryotherapy, and is the only Albuquerque distributor of 1st Phorm Fitness Supplements. Gym co-owner Lou Garcia describes the location as a one-stop wellness center that combines fitness and recovery.

Recovery is just as important as training, Garcia said. If you havent recovered, youre not going to be able to train as hard.

Garcia started using cryotherapy four years ago for a neck injury that hed gotten in a car crash in high school. He lost 20% of the mobility in his neck, and said he tried everything from acupuncture to surgery. Cryotherapy was the only thing that brought him relief.

Within about the first 30 seconds, I was in disbelief that I could even move my neck, Garcia said of his first time in the chilling temperatures.  It was pretty unbelievable.

He tried cryotherapy for the first time in Sacramento, and hasnt seen similar treatments in Albuquerque.

After I tried cryotherapy, I really wanted to bring that to Albuquerque because there was nothing like that in town, Garcia said.

Absolute Fitness ABQ has a cryotherapy room filled with refrigerated air at a frigid minus 170 degrees Fahrenheit. Members have to gear up, covering their ears, hands and feet. Besides slippers, socks and gloves, however, people using cryotherapy generally wear little other clothing to maximize the treatment. At Absolute Fitness ABQ, members can only stand in the room for at most 3.5 minutes.

Having that immediate relief, it was worth the cold, Garcia said.

The gym had its grand opening Saturday.

I think this is a center thats really gonna bring a lot of great things to the community, said gym co-owner Art Lucero.

Were kind of all the missing pieces that Albuquerque doesnt really have right now, Garcia added.
Editors Note: Throughout 2022, New Mexico Angels members, investors and start-up owners will be writing columns on economic development and start-up opportunities in the state. The Angels unite individual investors to pool their resources, providing seed and early-stage capital to startup companies.

The space race is back on.

Winning it will require addressing the barriers companies face in launching their new products into space.

I founded NewSpace New Mexico with this purpose. As a former leader of the Air Force Research Laboratory Technology Engagement Office, I witnessed how challenging it could be for companies to understand and navigate to resources that can help them grow and succeed.

Through our cooperation with the space companies, convening industry forums and co-innovating with hundreds of space leaders across the nation, we try to get at the root causes that result in too many companies becoming stuck in the industry-acknowledged Valley of Death. It has come back loud and clear that the biggest challenge preventing more companies from succeeding is having a support system that goes beyond the research and development stage.

We recently launched NewSpace Ignitor, which is funded in partnership with AFRL, to address these concerns by providing a complete support system for companies as they move from concept to product to sales. The incubator-like program will provide unprecedented levels of post-R&D support to early-stage, small and mid-sized companies. This support will give companies what they need to turn their innovations into revenue-generating products.

Supporting companies across the full innovation lifecycle is incredibly complex and will require us to all work together to leverage the vast resources already thriving in our state. Our rich space ecosystem in New Mexico includes a purpose-built spaceport, two leading national laboratories, universities and three Space Force organizations that work in the state  the Space Rapid Capabilities Office, the Air Force Research Laboratory and Space Systems Command. It also includes a growing ecosystem of space-enabling entities, such as Q Station and the Hyperspace Challenge, plus investment capital organizations like our partner New Mexico Angels.

NewSpace New Mexico is working with all of these organizations along with our vast partner network as space companies advance beyond the start-up phase. We will provide tailored guidance to companies with well-defined concepts to elevate their readiness levels, accelerate product development and speed up sales. Supplying companies with greater access to specialized equipment and investment capital will be vital services offered throughout this process. Given prototyping and space manufacturing commonly cost millions of dollars, this is crucial to help companies connect to these resources. Participating cohort companies will also have opportunities to showcase their innovations to investors and buyers.

Right-sizing capital investment is the last critical piece in enabling more technology solutions to make it to space. While investment in the space sector reached a record $17.1 billion last year, it breaks down to a few late-stage mega-rounds and a total of 328 companies being funded. The total number of companies receiving funding needs to multiply for the U.S. to win the space race.

Through organizations like New Mexico Angels, private investors will be an important part of the solution by supporting programs like the NewSpace Ignitor with funding, mentorship and knowledge-sharing. In return, investors can be more confident that the companies they invest in will be more likely to succeed with New Mexicos space ecosystem behind them, providing the full support needed.

There has never been a more exciting time to be in space. By uniting and igniting the industry and supporting start-ups beyond R&D, New Mexico holds the key to winning the space race and capitalizing on the multi-trillion-dollar new space opportunity.

NewSpace New Mexico is a 501(c)(3) non-profit entity that was established to bring together space stakeholders, promote a universal voice for space leadership and grow the commercial space innovation base for the benefit of the nation.
Jaziel Romero Rodriguez, logistics manager of Italika's Chongqing office, introduces business cooperation with Chinese suppliers in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, July 18, 2022. (Xinhua/Tang Yi)

CHONGQING, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- When Mexican businessman Jaziel Romero Rodriguez joined Italika, a major motorcycle company in Mexico, he did not expect that a business trip to China in 2008 would be prolonged from six months to 14 years and lead him to his "second hometown."

"At that time, our company was developing both its motorcycle and automobile businesses. They thought the automobile business would have a promising market. However, the motorcycle one eventually became a trump card," said Rodriguez, 49, logistics manager of Italika's Chongqing office. "And this should be owed to our cooperation with China."

The company had tried to import foreign motorcycles into Mexico several times, but all attempts were in vain due to unaffordable purchase prices, he said.

After many rounds of research and comparisons, China seemed to be the best choice for the development of the new business. Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, the country's major motorcycle manufacturing base, attracted the company's attention.

Mere five years after Rodriguez arrived in China, the company's share in the Mexican motorcycle market reached 50 percent, and now that percentage has hit about 70 percent, thanks to the cooperation model.

For more than a decade, Italika has had its motorcycles made in China.

The motorcycles produced in China are now sold via Italika in more than 1,000 shops in Mexico, winning local consumers' hearts for their competitive prices and excellent quality. Particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, more and more people are choosing more economical vehicles, which has led groups of new clients to buy Chinese motorcycles.

"In 2008, we shipped 800 containers of Chinese motorcycles to Mexico. Last year, there were more than 10,000 containers. This year, we have already shipped more than 6,000 containers to Mexico," Rodriguez said.

Italika's success is peaking people's interest for the motorcycles the company makes in China -- particularly those made in Chongqing, China's "Mountain City." Some other Mexican companies are also turning to Chongqing to begin cooperation with local manufacturers.

In 2021, China exported approximately 12 million motorcycles with internal combustion engines, with a total export value of about 7 billion U.S. dollars. Among the exports, about 1.42 million motorcycles were sent to Mexico, according to the General Administration of Customs.

"If you want to develop a motorcycle business, you cannot bypass China," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez has decided to settle down in China and contribute more to cooperation and exchanges between his old home and his new one. "I think Chongqing is my second home," he said.

"China has developed so fast, with more and more new buildings and bridges shooting up, which makes people feel amazed," Rodriguez added.

He is now vice president of the newly established Chongqing Chapter of the Mexican Chamber of Commerce in China.

"I hope I can help more Mexican companies come to Chongqing and bring more local products to Mexico," he said. And these endeavors will not be limited to the motorcycle business. 
FIR fame actor Aamir Ali has wrapped up the shoot for his upcoming web series The Good Wife.' He shared this news with his fans via his social media handle.

Aamir wrapped up the shooting of his upcoming Indian legal and political drama streaming television series, The Good Wife. The actor posted a story on Instagram thanking his co-star, who made working on this project worthwhile and informed his fans about the announcement.

Acknowledging the co-actor's contribution, he captioned the story as, N it's a wrap.. Suparn Verma thank u for being u always n keeping an amazing vibe on ur sets, it's infectious n the whole unit is amazing coz of u Hope I suprised u, n u know I love u. Kubbra Sait thxx for being an amazing costar my sweet, ur a female version of Suparn n always stay pagal.. love u to. Kajol ma'am now I'm a bigger fan of urs.. Thxx for being soo lovely. To the whole team, Aamir Ali said.



In an amusing twist, the actor further added, I've cropped everything n only the faces as can't reveal the look.

Scroll below to take a look at FIR fame actors Instagram story-

For the unversed, The Good Wife is an upcoming Indian legal and political drama that will be available to stream on Disney+ Hotstar. Suparn Verma is directing this adaption of Robert King and Michelle King's novel The Good Wife, which stars Kajol and Aamir Ali in the key roles.
With the entire world switching to smarter technologies, it is time for the process of washing clothes to become smarter too. Keeping this in mind, DENTSU CREATIVE India, in association with Panasonic Life Solutions India, has released its latest campaign  Indias Truly Smart Washing Machines.

Panasonic Washing Machines, powered by Miraie  Panasonics connected living platform, are packed with a host of interesting features such as a Built-in Heater, Wash Wizard, and Stain Genius, making the chore of washing clothes truly smart and effortless.

Conceptualised & executed by DENTSU CREATIVE India, the campaign is a series of short films that cleverly conveys the message to the world. The three-film campaign showcases Naveen - the protagonist, introducing Gupta Ji to a smarter way of washing clothes. The characters' humorous banter illustrates the features of the washing machine in an entertaining and interesting way.

Ujjwal Anand, Executive Vice President, DENTSU CREATIVE India said, Very few people are aware that Panasonic is a noteworthy name in the domain of Home Appliances and washing machines globally. Even fewer people know about the astonishing features of these washing machines. So, as the brand custodians, it was pertinent for us to convey it to the audience; and what better way than utilizing and leveraging the already established chemistry of Gupta Ji and Naveen for Panasonic? We made sure to take that love-envy relationship of these two next-door neighbors to the next level and deliver the core message in a fun & interesting way. The catchphrases and punches in the communication will surely intrigue the TG to know more about Panasonic Washing Machines.

Mayank Khattar, Executive Creative Director, DENTSU CREATIVE India commented, Smart is what smart does. Easily. And that is what we wanted our TG to understand in a quirky way. We wanted to raise awareness without sounding too techy. Working on a simple insight that washing clothes need not be a mix of age-old hearsays, we decided to introduce the smart angle. Through the banter between Gupta Ji and Naveen, we have tried to make it easy for the TG to understand what is it that the latest technology and features deliver to the consumers. Also, the quirky performances by the protagonists not only deliver the message effectively but are sure to bring a smile on everyones faces.

Talking about the campaign, Shirish Agarwal, Head, Brand & Marketing Communications, Panasonic Life Solutions India added, Panasonic as a brand is committed towards helping consumers live their best by aiding them with the right choices customised as per their lifestyle. The digital campaign is an extension of this. It depicts the true, slice-of-life moments of an Indian household, on how we struggle to remove stubborn stains using various home remedies. It goes on to highlight how technology can be the key enabler for clean and fresh laundry. Panasonics latest range of smart washing machines is designed with advanced technologies that offer a value proposition of comfort, convenience, and connectivity.
What has prompted Zee Media to opt out of BARC ratings all of a sudden? As reported yesterday (September 30, 2022), Zee Media had stated that it has pulled out of BARC, citing the landing page issue as the primary reason. A top Zee official had told Adgully that since Zee Medias news channels were not on landing pages, the ratings were showing a continuous drop despite have a strong distribution network.

Also read:

Zee News channels exit BARC

However, industry insiders have told Adgully that the prime reason for Zee-owned news channels to exit BARC ratings has to do with the recent move by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, denying permission to uplink their 10 new channels simultaneously on Ku-band.

According to the MIB order, Zee Media was violating clause 5.1 of uplinking guidelines and clause 5.6 of downlinking guidelines. The broadcaster had taken dual transmission approval for uplinking both in Ku-Band and C band, and due to their co-location, they got the advantage to be on DD Free Dish without paying for the huge auction fee other broadcasters were paying to be on.

Industry insiders strongly feel that Zee Medias latest move is a repercussion of the Ministrys action.

Also read:

Zee Media takes on Govt, moves Delhi HC against I&B Ministry

MIB has delivered justice, say small broadcasters on simultaneous uplinking order

Approval given to Zee Media to uplink in Ku-Band revoked

On the other hand, Zee executives have maintained that its exit has to do with the landing page issue. The broadcaster affirms that BARCs algorithm should not measure landing page data.

A senior broadcast executive told Adgully on condition of anonymity, A sizeable chunk of Zee Medias viewership has gone without their presence on DD Free Dish. Ratings will now fall. This is the real reason for Zee Medias exit, even though they claim that the reason is not being present on landing pages.

Zee exited after its channels were removed from DD Free Dish, because now the ratings would have gone down. When they were gaining viewership for free, everything was good. The media house is trying to do damage control, another broadcaster preferring anonymity said.

Zee Media Chairman Puneet Goenka was one of the founding members of BARC India. Another important thing is that Puneet Goenka has been credited with building BARC. In fact, he pushed very hard for ratings to be resumed and all channels to be back. What has gone wrong now? asks a senior industry source.

The advertiser angle

What could be the implications of this development? Will advertisers continue to evince the same interest as before?

Advertisers may be wary of advertising on channels that are not a part of BARC. As per a recent advisory by the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA), its members were asked not to advertise on channels that are exiting the viewership body.

Industry bodies like the ISA have campaigned against advertising with channels that are out of the BARC ambit. ISA in an in an advisory in April this year, instructed its members against advertising with TV networks that have opted out of the BARC.

Attention of advertisers is invited to the practice of some platforms which do not subscribe to the established system of measurement, as jointly agreed by all stakeholders, said the body.
The Times of India under their campaign Phirey Esho Kolkata, has launched a special edition of Maa Aashcen. Tumi Kothaye? on Durga Puja. Conceptualised by Wunderman Thompson India, the campaign celebrates togetherness and connection between loved ones during the festival.

Maa Aaschen. Tumi Kothaye literally means Maa Durga is coming home, where are you? Each year, during this time of the year, loved ones travel back to Bengal to be together for the biggest celebration of the year - the homecoming of Goddess Durga. The beauty and the spirit of the festival is best enjoyed when it can be shared with families and friends. But there are many across the globe and in other Indian cities, who are unable to make it to their home this festive season. Though they will be celebrating the festival with passion in whichever part of the world they are, floods of memories will crowd their minds.

Maa Aaschen Tumi Kothaye, is a celebration of this feeling of belonging, of togetherness, and of reaching out to your near and dear ones, who cant be with you this year. Loved ones will urge those separated to continue with the celebrations wherever they are. The idea is to remind them that they are with you this festive period and that is the real essence of Durga Puja.

The print campaign brings this alive by showcasing visuals of two friends connecting through a symbol of joining their hands forming a heart. The campaign video is a tale of two friends, who now live in two different cities - Mumbai and Kolkata. The film features actress Priyanka Sarkar and dancer, actress Sreenanda Shankar as friends who share their story of separation and how Durga Puja unites them.

In an endeavour to connect with readers to celebrate with missed loved ones, TOI invited them to share the pictures on www.phireyeshokolkata.com. Hundreds of entries from Kolkatans and Bengalis across the cities have been received. Select quotes have been featured in the newspaper.

Gini Majumdar, from Kolkata writes My fifth puja without my son, as he is out of Kolkata for five consecutive years, three years in Bangalore and last two years in Glasgow. Missing him, and hope he joins us next year.

TOI & Languages Brand Director Kaustuv Chatterjee says TOI, India's most trusted news brand, has always celebrated the incredibly rich socio-cultural fabric of our country. Durga Pujo is one of the largest festivals in the nation, in which people from all sections and communities participate and come together, not just Bengalis, to seek Durga Ma's blessings.

Maa Aschen Tumi Kothay, Phire Esho Kolkata is created for Durga Pujo to celebrate and reinforce this value of coming together, more so with those most precious to us. The campaign is about celebrating togetherness even if they are miles apart from family and friends because our festival teaches us to celebrate life.
The Walt Disney Company announced that Carolyn Everson, a veteran media and technology executive, will join its Board of Directors, effective November 21. Ms. Everson, 50, a well-respected executive with deep experience in consumer-facing companies, will be included in the Companys slate of director nominees in the proxy statement for Disneys 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.

Ms. Eversons selection follows a lengthy and comprehensive search, and reinforces Disneys commitment to a strong, independent board focused on the long-term performance of the Company. Her appointment has received the support of Third Point LLC, which has entered into a support agreement with Disney following a constructive dialogue.

As part of the agreement, Third Point has agreed to customary standstill, voting and other provisions through Disneys 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. The full agreement between The Walt Disney Company and Third Point LLC will be filed on Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

We are thrilled to welcome Carolyn Everson to the Disney Board, said Susan Arnold, Chairman of the Board, The Walt Disney Company. Carolyns extensive background, including roles at a number of high-profile, complex global companies, brings a welcome and invaluable perspective as we continue to focus on expanding our brand and global reach.

With nearly three decades of experience in senior operating roles at dynamic consumer-facing organizations, Carolyn is a well-respected leader who will bring unique and valuable perspective to our Board, said Bob Chapek, Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company. Carolyn has had a hand in building a number of world-class digital advertising businesses, and her insights make her a great fit as we continue to position the company for long-term growth.

Mr. Chapek added, We have a productive and collegial relationship with Third Point, with whom we share a deep commitment to continue building on Disneys many successes and increasing shareholder value.

We are pleased with our productive and ongoing dialogue with Bob and Disneys management team, said Daniel S. Loeb, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer, Third Point. The expansion of Disneys Board of Directors to include Carolyn Everson will add an important new perspective to an already accomplished group.

I am incredibly excited and honored to join The Walt Disney Companys Board and work alongside the outstanding directors and extraordinarily talented management team, said Ms. Everson. Disney is a beloved brand with an incredible history that brings joy to millions of consumers around the world and one that has meant so much to me and my family over the years. I am fully committed to helping progress Disneys strategic priorities at an exciting time for the business and industry at large.

The Walt Disney Company has a history of delivering significant results powered by world-class storytelling and its unique and highly valuable content-creation and distribution ecosystem. The Company has deftly navigated the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, having delivered significant streaming subscription growth and outstanding performance at its domestic theme parks and resorts.

Disneys independent and experienced Board, which will have 12 members, has benefited from continuous refreshment, and has significant expertise in branded, consumer-facing and technology businesses as well as talent-driven enterprises.

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as Disneys financial advisor and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP served as Disneys legal advisor with respect to the support agreement.

Carolyn Everson Background

Ms. Everson most recently served as President of Instacart. Prior to that role, she was Vice President of the Global Business Group at Facebook, now known as Meta, where she led the global marketing solutions team focused on top strategic accounts and global agencies, as well as media strategy, advertising sales, and account management from 2011-2021.

She has held additional senior leadership roles in media and technology, including as Corporate Vice President of Microsofts Global Advertising Sales and Trade Marketing Teams, and as Chief Operating Officer at Viacom. Prior to Viacom, Ms. Everson worked at Primedia, Walt Disney Imagineering and Accenture Consulting.

Ms. Everson serves on the boards of The Coca-Cola Company, Creative Artists Agency, Villanova University, the Humane Society of the United States and Columbia Medical School. She earned a bachelors degree from Villanova University and has a masters degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.
After NDTV, now Zee Media has decided to quit from BARC Ratings. Apparently miffed at the way BARC is functioning, Zee Media has pulled out its news channels from BARC India.

In a statement issued, Zee Media called its decision a milestone for the whole News media industry and pointed out that there are more than 5-8 million people associated with the news and broadcasting industry at large who get impacted adversely if incorrect reporting is published by the rating agencies.

Zee Media further alleged that it has been observed in the last few months that the News genre is being shown shrunk by BARC to extend the benefit to GEC and other genre at large.

The news broadcaster said that it had raised its concern multiple times to BARC and had questioned the whole structure and their operation transparency towards the news industry, but the ratings agency had failed to rectify the News industrys and Zee Medias concerns.

According to Zee Media, the biggest concern and challenge is that BARC has not given any solution nor accepted as they are continuing reporting for Landing Pages & barker pages, which impact ratings favourably for those who use these at the peril of others who do not subscribe to these unethical practices.

A top Zee official, speaking to Adgully on condition of anonymity, said that BARCs algorithm should not measure landing page data. He alleged that despite having a strong news distribution network, Zees news channels ratings were showing a continuous decline. According to the official, this was due to the reason that Zee was not there on landing pages.

The official further stated that Zee had been continuously apprising BARC about the situation and had also asked the ratings body to increase the time spent duration for counting viewership to 2 minutes. According to him, this will help capture genuine viewership.

Meanwhile, Zee Media in its statement issued also pointed out that the News genre has been continuously shown to be shrinking since BARC News ratings data resumed after a blackout of around 17 months, vis-a-vis prior to the blackout of the data, when this genre was at its peak. In spite of multiple meetings and conversation with BARC, the agency not only failed but has not been able to explain such a steep fall. Drastic change in viewership is hurting the News genres revenue/ perception to the advertising fraternity. This is the biggest fall in the last 25-30 years of the industry, which is unprecedented and far from reality, Zee Media emphasised.

Referring to the TRP manipulation case that jolted the news TV genre in 2020, Zee Media in its statement alleged, BARC has not given any white paper on the TRP Scam until now, and added that it was a matter of great concern that it was still not clear who all were involved in this malpractice and if they (people/ channels) are still part of the system and also what action has been taken against them.

Along with this, Zee Media said, We have also repeatedly pointed out that a far larger sample (of meters) is needed if BARC is serious about ensuring a measurement process that cannot be rigged or manipulated, which also they have failed to address until now.

The broadcaster claimed that digitally, Zee News is No.1 in ComScore as well as in You Tube, which it said is the real data and cannot be manipulated. However, BARC ratings show the completely opposite and different picture... and again points out to inconsistencies of the reporting methodology, it added.

Zee Media went on to note that BARCs new process of data reporting (4 weeks rolling average vis-a-vis earlier daily/ weekly) is also a big concern and added that due to this, the research has no meaning or outcome to the content producers and they cannot plan or validate content performance.

On the whole, as an industry body, we believe that due to monopoly of the ratings agency, the industry is suffering at large, the broadcaster alleged and added, Hence, Zee Media has decided to move from the ratings agency and we have asked them to stop reporting Zee Medias all 14 channels with immediate effect.

The contentious issue of the BARCs functioning comes to the fore once again. Is it a sign of more TV channels following the suit? Some broadcasting executives have long expressed their dissatisfaction with the BARC ratings.

While exiting BARC prior to the resumption of the news ratings, NDTV had said, NDTV has been among the earliest and biggest proponents of an exercise to clean up a dirty (and shockingly open) secret: a ratings system that misleads advertisers, and their agencies, by grossly misrepresenting each channel's market share.

NDTV had further stated, BARC, the organisation, which generates the ratings, is well-aware of what is needed and must serve its purpose by urgently cleaning up its act.

This caustic comment by NDTV is a measure of the frustration and disenchantment shared by at least some of the news channels in the country. Broadcasters were saying that nothing has changed in BARC. There has been no fundamental change in the way the BARC functions.
The TV, especially news television, ratings tangle has raised its ugly head again. Following the latest development of Zee Media exiting from BARC ratings, ripples will be felt across the industry in the coming days. Communicating about its decision, Zee in a statement issued said that it is a milestone for the whole news media industry.

There are more than 5-8 million people associated with news and broadcasting industry at large, who get impacted adversely if incorrect reporting is published by the rating agencies, and it has been observed in last the few months that the news genre is being shown shrunk by BARC to extend the benefit to GEC and other genres at large, the communique alleged.

Zee Media had raised its concern multiple times to BARC and had questioned the whole structure and transparency of its operations towards the news industry. The broadcaster complained that the rating agency has failed to rectify the news industrys and Zee Medias concerns.

Also read:

Zee Media pulls out its 14 news channels from BARC ratings

Is being taken off DD Free Dish the prime reason for Zee Medias exit from BARC?

Zee Media takes on Govt, moves Delhi HC against I&B Ministry

MIB has delivered justice, say small broadcasters on simultaneous uplinking order

Approval given to Zee Media to uplink in Ku-Band revoked

How will the ad industry react?

Where TV channels and ratings are concerned, discussions on TV advertising always follow. In this case, the industry is awaiting reactions from advertisers as well as industry bodies of the ad world.

The pertinent question being asked at this moment is whether the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) will come up with a fresh advisory for its members in view of the latest development. It may be recalled that in April this year, ISA had issued an advisory to its members about advertising with those TV channels that have exited BARC.

The advisory, dated April 27, 2022, stated that brands were only wasting money by giving ads to those channels which have opted out of the BARC ratings. Attention of advertisers is invited to the practice of some platforms which do not subscribe to the established system of measurement, as jointly agreed by all stakeholders. Advertisers may independently assess the situation and make an informed decision with respect to such platforms while dealing with advertisements, the ISAs advisory stated.

The 70-year-old ISA is no ordinary industry body. Its members include some of Indias biggest advertisers, such as Reliance, Amazon, Airtel, etc., and as such any such advisories can have a direct bearing on the advertising revenues of TV channels.

Will the ISA come up with a fresh advisory asking its members to stay away from TV channels exiting BARC? And should it issue such an advisory, the consequences could be major for the broadcasting industry, especially the news genre. Hence, it is a pertinent wait and watch.

There seems to be no end in sight to the perennial ratings woes for the Indian television industry, with various stakeholders, at various points in time, expressing dissatisfaction with the way the ratings body functions. Even after the resumption of the news TV ratings by BARC  after the TV ratings manipulation scam that jolted this industry in 2020  the controversy has refused to die down. Some factions of the broadcasters have continued to express their dissatisfaction with the ratings body and so much so that news broadcaster NDTV exited the ratings system in March 2022.
Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun attends a reception to mark the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at the Chinese Embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Sept. 30, 2022. China will continue to support Zimbabwe's economic and social development and improve its capacity for self-generated development, Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun said on Friday. (Photo by Jiang Xintong/Xinhua)

HARARE, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- China will continue to support Zimbabwe's economic and social development and improve its capacity for self-generated development, Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun said on Friday.

Guo made the remarks during a reception held at the Chinese Embassy in Harare to mark the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

"On the new journey of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, China will make new contributions to mankind's well-being and continue to share new opportunities with the world as it achieves new development," he said.

Guo said as a responsible major country, China is committed to the path of independent and peaceful development of other nations.

"Our cooperation will adhere to recipient-driven approaches, and respect the independent choices of the Zimbabwean government and Zimbabwean people," he remarked.

He added that China will continue supporting Zimbabwe to achieve greater progress in economic and social development.

In addition, he said cooperation between Zimbabwe and China will follow the principles of openness and transparency.

"Our cooperation will always stay open and inclusive," said Guo.

On intergovernmental cooperation, Guo said various major infrastructure projects undertaken with China's aid covering all sectors of the economy have been completed, and have already started bearing fruits.

"These projects have improved infrastructures that are urgently needed by Zimbabwe for promoting economic development and people's livelihood," he said.

In addition, Guo said to support Zimbabwe's export portfolio, China is expediting Zimbabwe's citrus exports to China.

"The Protocol of Phytosanitary Requirements for Export of Zimbabwean Fresh Citrus to China signed last year is one of the policies supported by China in promoting the export of Zimbabwe's agricultural products. It aims to establish green lanes for Zimbabwean agricultural products into the Chinese market, marking a breakthrough of China's policy support in assisting Zimbabwe's economic development," he said.

Guo said China encourages more capable Chinese companies to invest in Zimbabwe.

"These investments are introducing Zimbabwe's high-quality products into international markets, creating considerable forex earnings and tax revenues, tens of thousands of new jobs and technology transfers, and promoting Zimbabwe's competitiveness in the international market," he said.

On behalf of Zimbabwe's Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Fredrick Shava, Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Ziyambi Ziyambi, made a speech, applauding China for standing up with Zimbabwe in its developmental path.

"We have witnessed increased investments in Zimbabwe by Chinese companies over the past few years. The Chinese business community has transferred technical expertise and created employment opportunities for thousands of our people," said Shava in a written statement.

"Zimbabwe welcomes the Sino Zimbabwe cooperation under the FOCAC framework and I wish to reaffirm our government's support for the FOCAC framework and the Belt and Road Initiative," he added.

Shava acknowledged China's efforts in building Zimbabwe's human resource development. In addition, he said Zimbabwe will continue working with China in pursuit of a new global order that respects sovereignty and multilateralism.

Shava expressed gratitude to China and Chinese enterprises in Zimbabwe for extending assistance in Zimbabwe's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. 
Botswanan President Mokgweetsi Masisi waves to the crowd during the Independence Day celebration in Gaborone, Botswana, on Sept. 30, 2022. Botswana on Friday celebrated the 56th anniversary of its independence. (Photo by Tshekiso Tebalo/Xinhua)

GABORONE, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Botswana on Friday celebrated the 56th anniversary of its independence, but without the traditional pomp and nationwide rallies because of the grim events of COVID-19 that are still fresh in many people's minds.

In an address on the occasion of the 56th Anniversary of Botswana Independence Day in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, President Mokgweetsi Masisi said despite the heavy weight of the challenges that for most parts of the last two years the restricted movement of people, there are still some things worth celebrating.

Masisi told a handful of the audience that thronged the country's National Stadium that the fanfare and jubilation that accompanied the marking of Botswana's National Day in the past has this time been replaced by the grim events that are still fresh in the memories of many.

"Who would ever forget, especially the perilous months of July to September 2021 - when we lost many of our fellow citizens to the COVID-19 pandemic," rhetorically asked Masisi.

He said many families are hurting, as a result of losing a loved one or close relative, a friend or neighbor due to COVID-19.

By far, Masisi said a greater number, especially women, those in the hospitality industry and the youth who are dominating the service sector, were hit the hardest economically by the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Furthermore, the unprecedented nature of the pandemic and the necessary measures deployed to mitigate its impact were not helped by the global energy crisis that followed the immediate outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he said.

"The resultant rising cost of living was experienced in many households just as the promise of the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine was starting to pay dividends," said Masisi.

Botswana has so far reported 326,286 COVID-19 cases, with 2,781 deaths.

Figures from the Ministry of Health indicated that more than 70 percent of the southern African country's population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine since the vaccination campaign began in March 2021. While 200,000 of those between the ages of 12 and 17 have received at least their first dose, 35,000 children between the ages of 5 and 11 have received their first dose. 

Botswanan President Mokgweetsi Masisi (C, Front) inspects a guard of honor during the Independence Day celebration in Gaborone, Botswana, on Sept. 30, 2022. Botswana on Friday celebrated the 56th anniversary of its independence. (Photo by Tshekiso Tebalo/Xinhua)

Dancers take part in the Independence Day celebration in Gaborone, Botswana, on Sept. 30, 2022. Botswana on Friday celebrated the 56th anniversary of its independence. (Photo by Tshekiso Tebalo/Xinhua)
Since April, thousands of migrants have been bussed to Democrat-controlled "sanctuary" areas like New York City; Chicago; and Washington, D.C., sent north by border state governors to send a message and call needed attention to the overwhelming numbers of migrants illegally entering our nation across its southern border because of President Biden's failed policies.

Those transfers have, in turn, drawn the melodramatic ire of Democrats, who responded with accusations against Republican governors of cruelly using migrants as political pawns. Perhaps none of these moves has riled Democrats more than Florida governor Ron DeSantis's recent flying of 50 migrants to the liberal Democrat enclave of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Democrats' supposed beef with Governor DeSantis  at least publicly  runs the gamut, from accusations of exceeding his authority to expend funds to luring migrants onto the flight with misleading promises to "cruelly" using the migrants as pawns for political gain.

Now comes their latest attack: a letter, sponsored by Reps. Gerry Connolly (Va.), Sylvia Garcia (Texas), Ted Lieu (Calif.), and Mondaire Jones (N.Y.), further signed by 41 Democrat members of Congress (oddly, only one from Florida), and addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland asking the Department of Justice (DOJ) to "investigate these migrant flights for any evidence they may have violated federal law."

Let no one be under any illusions. This is not about the 50 migrants Governor DeSantis flew to Martha's Vineyard. They could care less about helping the migrants than citizens of the Vineyard did. This is about Democrats pulling out all the stops to hamstring Governor DeSantis, who they tacitly know could well be the Republican (and very popular) presidential nominee for 2024. It is he whom Democrats seek to attack and, most of all, must work to diminish. (Any doubts? Watch how progressive media cover Governor DeSantis as Florida recovers from Hurricane Ian.)

On whole, Democrats attacking the governors for orchestrating these transfers to call attention to the overwhelming migrant flow is already tin-eared. Americans from all demographics and political persuasions across the nation very well understand  just as the governors do  that the nation faces an immense challenge with illegal immigration. Democrats would better serve their constituents by focusing on the issues created by the continuing border surge than by spending unproductive time and resources dogging the governors for calling attention to it.

Governors DeSantis (Fla.), Abbott (Texas), and Ducey (Ariz.) are succeeding in exposing the nation to what the border states have endured with the difficulties, issues, and burdens caused as a direct result of President Biden's border policies. While Vineyard Democrats were rattled by 50 migrants, border states are on pace for two millionplus migrants in 2022 alone (after 1.7 million in 2021) with no outrage, empathy, or action from Democrat lawmakers. If the affluent denizens of the Vineyard can't handle 50 migrants, how is the rest of the country, the less well off part, supposed to handle two millionplus migrants? That's something Democrats avoid answering, and it underscores the merit of the governors' perceptive gambit to reveal the double-standards of progressives on illegal immigration while leaving Democrats exposed as selectively outraged.

It is also not a good look for these representatives to criticize Governor DeSantis and the other governors for their actions, knowing that the Biden administration has flown planeload after planeload  in the dead of night, no less  to destinations across the U.S. to offload these migrants on someone else. Do President Biden and Democrats think cities like El Paso, Yuma, Eagle River, and Del Rio (to name a few) are any more prepared to deal with the enormous numbers of migrants than a prosperous, wealthy, but liberal location like Martha's Vineyard or a Democrat-controlled city that declares itself a "sanctuary"?

Lastly, also given the illicit flow of drugs  namely fentanyl  it is sinful what the administration is not doing, or what Congress is not demanding be done, to protect and defend Americans by securing the border. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that more than 108,000 Americans died of drug overdoses between February 2021 and February 2022. Of those, more than 70% involved fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, much of which is smuggled in across the southern border.

Customs & Border Patrol agents seized an unprecedented 10,500 lbs. of the deadly drug in 2021, and seizures have already surpassed 12,000 lbs. so far in 2022  the most fentanyl ever seized in a single year in the United States and enough to kill the entire U.S. population eight times over, a memo circulating on Capitol Hill reads. The bipartisan American solution is straight forward: secure the border and with that, stopor at least reducethe flow of illicit drugs.

The problems with President Biden's open border policies are real and deserve solutions "for the common and greater good" of all American citizens. These governors have drawn rightful and much needed attention to the issue for the nation by, admittedly, somewhat unconventional and unexpected means. But every minute Democrats spend grumbling  now with this latest House Democrats' letter to the DOJ  about the governors' efforts to compel a national conversation and action to deal with this humanitarian and security debacle is another minute spent avoiding the actual challenges and costs to the nation of President Biden's disastrous open border policy.

Chris J. Krisinger (colonel, USAF ret.) served in policy advisory positions in the Pentagon and the State Department and was a National Defense Fellow at Harvard University. His maternal grandparents were legal immigrants from Lithuania.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Jonathan Tobin is an intelligent, informed commentator on political issues, but he consistently underestimates the dangers and wrongs presented by the worlds evildoers. In this vein, he was pleased to state in a recent article Still, when National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan confessed last weekend that the Obama administration -- in which he, Biden, and most of the current foreign-policy team served -- erred by standing aloof from the struggles of the Iranian people in 2009, it was something of a breakthrough. The idea that the turbaned murderers that rule in Iran can be replaced by something like a liberal democracy is more of a Rodney King fantasy that we can all just get along if only the USA just takes the side of some street protestors.

Iranian culture, although based upon Shiite Muslim theology rather than Sunni theology is, like most of the Middle Eastern Muslim world, intrinsically regressive. Values of equality and liberty do not exist. Further, the norms of competency and thoroughness that govern our commercial operations do not apply.

This writer taught at a private school in Iran, the Iranzamin school, for children of the Iranian elite under the Shah, and for the children of wealthy executives of other nationalities who were living in Iran. When the present regime of murderous fanatics took over in 1979, the school hoped to continue and work with the ayatollahs and mullahs, but those good intentions were rewarded by the clerics having all the books in the school library moved to the courtyard where they were all burned.

Americans working with Iranians to build missiles under the Shah joked frequently about how Iranians could not follow simple technical procedures. An expert who installed air conditioning on missiles so they do not overheat when fired said that Iranian technicians could not grasp that if the parts for Step #9 of an eleven-step test were not available, they could not just skip Step #9 and go to Step #10 but had to wait for the part to do Step #9.

When this writer needed surgery for a growth on my scalp, I was sitting on the surgical table with part of my head being shaved and prepped for surgery when the surgeon came in, looked at the growth he was going to remove, and told me that it looked okay and that I did not need surgery after all! Another time, I was becoming so anxious from the disorganized lifestyle, the lack of female presence in public places, and amoebic dysentery contracted from the lack of sanitation that I went to a pharmacy to buy some Xanax tranquilizer. The pharmacist said I needed a prescription, and when I said I did not have one, he told me to go outside the business, write a prescription on a blank piece of paper he handed me, and then bring the paper prescription back into the store. I did as he instructed, and he gave me the Xanax.

That country has no tradition of liberty or rights, but has been ruled by cruel and undemocratic leadership since the 1500s when the Safavid dynasty came to power. The protests by women in Iran against the wearing of the head/face covering (called the chador, not the hijab, in that country) is not the tip of a deeply democratic surge, but is, this writer would contend, merely a marginal issue to attract the attention of westerners to support regime change advocates. The U.S., at best, should be working against the present regime, but not expect that women in Iran will suddenly flourish if the present maniacs were to be overthrown.

Under the previous leader of Iran, the Shah Reza Pahlavi, all women were not compelled to wear the chador, but the overwhelming majority still did so. If a woman -- Iranian or Western -- were to go to certain parts of Teheran without wearing the chador or was simply wearing a skirt, she could expect to be spit on or punched by other women, and men would be putting their hands up their skirts. If one went to a movie theater, there might be at most four or six women in the theater, and 300-500 men. If there should be a kissing scene in the film, the temperature in the theater would go up about 15 degrees!

In the West, there are child labor laws and compulsory education laws. When this writer lived in Teheran, ten-year-olds were standing next to carts all day selling cigarettes. Young men in their teens would sleep on mats outside neighborhood grocery stores where, during the day, they would run errands or make deliveries.

A typical place to grab a snack in Iran would only have male customers, and the snacks were limited to bowls of yogurt and cows brains. Street traffic was so poorly managed that sometimes it would take city buses an hour or more to go two blocks. Drivers of cars in frustration would literally go onto sidewalks in an attempt to circumvent traffic jams, and attempts to drive around traffic by going to the other side of the road were common.

Murder, mayhem, sexism, and despotic rule are built into the fabric of Iranian governance and culture. Equality and liberty are simply not developed in any way in Iran over the past 500 years. An enlightened despot or dictator who is pro-Western is the best they can do -- like the Shah or like the pseudo-benevolent Al-Sisi who now rules Egypt. Supporting factions who are demonstrating in the streets of Teheran will not lead to a democratically enlightened governance. Instead of negotiating with Iran, we should be negotiating with high-level Iranians who supported the Shahs despotism and engineer a coup of the present government and install Iranians who, like the Shah, are more pro-Western and willing to play ball more with our interests. That is realpolitik.

We have to realize that in some ways they will still be maintaining a police state, and most of the women in Iran will still be wearing the chador (headpiece and face veil). But the minority who find the face veil oppressive will not be compelled to wear it. However as in the pre-1979 world, the more western-oriented women could not walk safely in certain parts of the city.

Mr. Tobin and others should stop projecting an either/or where Iran either has these turbaned maniacs or have a liberated Western style democracy or republic. No. Either they have the present fanatics or a more pro-Western (but still retrograde) despotism. Thats the real choice.

E. Jeffrey Ludwig is a professor of philosophy and preaches in various churches. He is a prolific online writer and has published four books the latest one being Christian Perspectives, Vol. 1 available here.

Image: Neil Hester
With a potential government shutdown on the table that would begin at the stroke of midnight on October 1, both chambers of Congress were able to reach consensus Friday on a temporary spending package that will keep the federal government running through mid-December.

With an ever-so-critical midterm election roughly five weeks away, it can be assumed that neither party wanted to wear the stain of a shutdown, especially one that would have led to the furlough of scores of voters, who hold the power to voice their displeasure with the party they perceive to hold the blame.

Within the deal that was struck to avoid shutdown was a whopping additional $12 billion in military and economic aid for Ukraine. As the total amount of U.S. assistance for Ukraine races towards $100 billion, new polling shows that a large percentage of Americans are beginning to tire of the U.S. government's financial and military support of Ukraine and want to see increased diplomatic efforts to end the war if taxpayer-funded aid is to continue.

Also in the shutdown-averting deal was a critical $1 billion in heating and utility assistance for low-income families that comes just as summer turns to autumn; $20 million to address the water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi; and a five-year reauthorization for Food and Drug Administration user fees.

But, despite the immediate respite on some items of interest, scores of issues that are of particular importance to the security of millions of Americans were effectively punted to mid-November. At the top of that list is the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Leadership in the upper chamber, however, including Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), offered on Thursday that the debate process for the bill will begin in mid-October. "While we have accomplished a great deal so far, more than any Congress in recent memory, and we all should be proud of what we accomplished, we still have much to do and many important bills to consider. Proceeding to the NDAA will save us valuable time, enabling us to get more done. But members should be prepared for an extremely, underline extremely, busy agenda in the last two months of this Congress," Schumer said Thursday.

Many in the Senate, including chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), were "pushing hard" to get the NDAA on the floor before a planned recess that should be occurring ahead of November's midterm elections. In mid-June, SASC advanced its $847-billion version of the NDAA out of committee, after the adoption of a $45-billion topline increase during a closed-door markup of the bill. The $840-billion House version of the bill was voted 329 to 101 to pass in mid-July.

Among the more important items included in the legislation are several matters related to American cyber-security. America, like most of the rest of the world, is seriously lacking in qualified cyber-personnel. The shortages have been felt as of late, and not only in America, as Iranian attacks, carried out by government-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups, have affected nations around the globe, including Albania and Turkey.

The already passed House version of the bill includes a provision that establishes term limits for leadership at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) under the CISA Leadership Act. Should the provision make it to the Senate version of the bill, officials appointed to lead the agency will serve five-year terms, in an effort to see their term durations extended beyond presidencies. The amendment also specifies that the appointment process will require the sitting president to appoint new CISA directors "by and with the advice and consent of the Senate."

Also included in the House version of the NDAA is a promising provision that would direct the Veterans Affairs secretary to establish a new pilot course for veterans and their spouses around new cyber-security training programs. The programs would include coursework that would qualify for college credits that can be applied toward associate or baccalaureate degrees. Additionally, new virtual learning opportunities and performance-based assessments will be created that would ultimately lead to federal work-based learning opportunities and programs. These kinds of provisions, which help the tragically underserved American veteran community, should always be supported in a bipartisan manner.

Threats like ransomware and browser hijackers will only continue to grow in 2023. For this reason, and countless others, politicians on both sides must recognize the importance of passing a robust NDAA, with global instability only worsening as the Ukrainian conflict rages.

Julio Rivera is a business and political strategist, the editorial director for Reactionary Times, and a political commentator and columnist. His writing, which is focused on cyber-security and politics, has been published by numerous websites, and he is regularly seen on national and international news programming.

Image via Pixnio.
Hindsight is 20-20, is an adage applied most often to hard lessons learned in retrospect, but rarely to occasions of great fortune. In the case of Merrick Garland, what we witness now of his yet short tenure as U.S. Attorney General speaks volumes in miniature about the damage of which he is capable, if given the life tenure of a Supreme Court Justice.

The career of a politician is long remembered, often either for the glory of a single greatest achievement, or as gored through by a single gravest failure. Forgotten politicians usually have failed to distinguish themselves, either for uncommon courage, or unchecked corruption. Still others are neither remembered nor forgotten but rather come and go unseen, distinguished in no other way than by the irony that even in the most common of controversies, their apparent absence of conviction and of appetite for deliberation, produces in them no more refined legislative action than a grossly belched up vote of, present.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader, Senator Mitch McConnell, may rightly be accused at times of resembling each of these types. He has spent much of his considerable political career and capital, especially most recently under a hostile Senate majority, walking a tightrope situated six inches off the ground and over fluffy pillows, yet feigning for his constituent cameras, as if having championed such dizzying depths and breadths dwarfed only by those of the Grand Canyon. Or at least of Mt. Rushmore, where upon its noble face he undoubtedly mentally has chiseled his own countenance countless times, lost as it were, in the kind of self-exultant extasy common to mirror musings.

Yet McConnell, despite his many disappointing leadership decisions, deserves to be long remembered if for only one major act of political courage and craft  his averting of the ascension of Merrick Garland, Barrack Obamas nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, to fill the seat vacated by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016, by preventing that nomination from ever coming to the Senate floor.

Attorney General Bill Barr epitomized a determined apolitical non-partisanship in an unforeseen manner and degree of actually appearing a political partisan for the opposing party. A.G. Garland, by contrast, seems to be determined to epitomize a political partisan to a degree seldom if ever seen, even at the Department of Justice, in a servant of the people sworn to uphold and equally protect the Constitution and rule of law for all people, regardless of distinction.

As A.G., Garland seems to know no restraint nor hesitancy in his willingness to use his position and pen as platform to launch politically motivated attacks against all the presidents men and women in opposition. He spares no manner of wrathful tactic to gut the constitutional rights and domestic tranquility of his targets, and to subdue, intimidate, and ultimately destroy them. A willingness that has stretched its net so wide or high, as to harass a former and potential future president or a fervent pro-life father of seven.

As Supreme Court Justice, how much more willing would Garland have been to adopt a Living Constitution judicial philosophy that kills the Constitution by its slow gutting by a thousand knives?

Yes, Merrick Garlands tenure as Attorney General, has more than made up for any slight he may have suffered by not having been given an opportunity to demonstrate and defend before the Senate his qualifications, and the suitability of his nomination to the Supreme Court.

The left may be apt to argue that it was the slight that made the man. I would rebut in that case, that it is Garland the man, who made the slight into a vendetta not only against Republicans, but against the Constitution and rule of law.

In retrospect, Garlands time at Justice, thus far, much more than any senate hearings could have ever revealed, demonstrates just how unjust he is willing to be to politicize a supposed apolitical institution, whether it be the Department of Justice, much less the Supreme Court of the United States.

For this dodged bullet to the heart of the Constitution and rule of law, for keeping Merrick Garland off the Supreme Court, conservatives, indeed every American, should long remember Mitch McConnells single greatest service to his country. For this alone, his many other failures as Minority Leader may be easily forgiven.

Photo credit: YouTube screengrab (cropped)
As Hurricane Ian moved out of Florida, Nancy Pelosis first thought seems to have been the harvest (what crops are picked in October?) in Florida and the purported need for illegal immigrants to pick the mature plants. She claimed that farmers there are angry. Via the UK Daily Mail:

'We have a shortage of workers in our country,' Pelosi said as an argument for the country needing immigration reform. 'You see even in Florida, some of the farmers and the growers saying 'why are you shipping these immigrants up North? We need them to pick the crops down here,'' she claimed. 'But that doesn't mean that we don't recognize our moral responsibility as well,' the California Democrat added.

The video of her lurching through her remarks with bizarre hand gestures is worth watching just to see her stumble when she starts to refer to Trump as the President, catches herself and becomes slightly incoherent

Do we really have a shortage of workers? The official unemployment rate is low, to be sure, but millions have sumply dropped out of the workforce, able to support themselves with public assistance and/or the help of loved ones (or crime).

Employment rate of men in the United States from 1990 to 2021

Source: Statista

Pelosi clearly wants an illegal underclass to work for low wages in order to keep idle a class of American layabouts.

Thats her and the Democrats version of compassion.

Hat tip: Arnold Cusumariu
Raise your hands, anyone who thought special counsel John Durham's probe into the outrageous treatment of President Trump by the Obama FBI, DOJ, CIA, and State Department was ever going to amount to anything.

Anyone?

No one?

Me neither.

As Durham's investigative "work" finally wraps up, it's embarrassingly obvious he's just another swamp creature with a nice suit, a bad goatee, and no spine.

A stroll back in time to May 2019, makes Durham's ensuing abdication of duty abundantly clear. Back then, Fox News's Brooke Singman described Durham as "aggressive, tireless, and fair."

Three years later, we can see that Durham's been about as aggressive as a Prince Edward Island oyster in a foul mood. If he's been tireless, it's been strictly in service to his Deep State masters. And when all the major players involved in the attempted coups against Pres. Trump walk with their pensions, licenses, and CNN jobs firmly in hand  and they will  you can throw "fair" right out the window.

Your first clue that this investigation would be merely a sham of a travesty of a farce was Singman pointing out in her article that Durham has done highly sensitive work for "both sides of the aisle." In other words, Durham was the Mitt Romney of special investigators: a Democrat wolf in RINO clothing.

Clue #2 from this three-year-old article was the Fox writer elaborating on how Durham's boss, thenattorney general Bill Barr, was working "collaboratively" with FBI head honcho Chris Wray (who's currently hunting down conservatives); CIA director Gina Haspel (who stated that "Trump was like a six-year-old" and that we're on our way to a "right-wing coup"); and DoJ inspector general Michael Horowitz, who's made a career of not noticing Democrat malfeasance.

Talk about a stacked deck. Everyone running the Durham show was a NeverTrump, and they collaborated!

As it ends not with a bang, but a whimper, what has the Durham special investigation accomplished?

Not a thing.

FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith was convicted of lying to a FISA court, allowing the Feebs to continue spying on a sitting president. His punishment?

Probation.

And despite his conviction for lying to a federal court, his law license was later reinstated, proving once again that the swamp always protects its own.

Clinton lawyer Michael Sussmann was indicted for lying to the FBI. His defense team admitted he lied but claimed that his lies were immaterial. A D.C. jury bought that absolute baloney, and, unlike General Mike Flynn, Sussmann strolled out of court with an acquittal, his reputation and savings intact, and a smile on his weaselly face.

The final act of this pretend investigation is the current trial of Igor Danchenko, both a contributor to the absurd Steele dossier and a paid FBI informant. John Durham's making the case that Danchenko tricked the poor, gullible FBI into investigating both candidate and president Trump. That would be the same poor, gullible FBI that later hired Danchenko simply to protect their lying Feeb behinds. Whether Danchenko is acquitted or gets a slap on the wrist depends on whatever ending the Deep State would like to serve up to the public, nothing more.

FBI directors Comey, Mueller, and Wray are all sitting down to a nice dinner about now, not a care in the world. Even though they tried mightily to take down a sitting, duly elected president.

Proven liars and co-conspirators like Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, and Lisa Page are probably smiling at this moment as they review their bank statements.

Vile trolls like the CIA's John Brennan and James Clapper, although furiously promoting every rumor, falsehood, and slander under the sun against Pres. Trump, are no doubt busy scheduling their next high-paying TV gigs.

Barry and Hillary, undoubtedly the prime movers of those seditious and anti-American plots, are surely relaxing in their luxe mansions at this very moment, contemplating their next lucrative podcast or appearance.

All the Democrat pols, their billionaire donors, Big Tech, and our mendacious left-wing media, haven't a care in the world. They conspired to remove one of the most effective presidents in my lifetime, and they know they've gotten away with it.

And Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, William Barr, Mitt Romney, Mike Pence, and far too many RINOs to count are just fine with that. They're good at writing threatening letters demanding information they know they'll never get, and little else.

It appears that all the injustices perpetrated against President Trump for nigh unto seven years now will be swept under the rug. No one will be punished, there will be no justice, and the swamp creatures will laugh long and hard at the special counsel's long, drawn out, and thoroughly useless "investigation."

To John Durham, on behalf of the American people, I say, "Thanks for nothing!"

Image via Pxhere.
Democrat Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia excoriated her party leadership including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer for delaying a potential vote this week meant to ban lawmakers from holding and trading in stocks. Spanberger even called for new leadership in the Democrat party.

Spanberger had partnered with Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.) to introduce the Transparent Representation Upholding Service and Trust in Congress Act on Jan. 15, 2021. The legislation had 71 co-sponsors, ranging from Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to squad member Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

The legislation would have required lawmakers and immediate family members to place stocks in a blind trust.

Business Insider magazines Conflicted Congress investigation in December 2021 revealed dozens of STOCK Act violations, and numerous potential conflicts of interests driven by lawmakers' stock holdings, as well as paltry enforcement of anti-insider trading rules. Forty-nine members of Congress and 182 senior congressional staffers violated laws aimed at preventing insider trading.

The reports obviously caused outrage among the public.

Consequently, Pelosi, who initially rejected the idea of a stock trading ban, summarily changed her course.

But instead of supporting Spanbergers bill, Pelosi directed the House Administration Committee to develop their own legislation without holding consultations with lawmakers.

This package would have banne not only lawmakers, their spouses, their dependent children, and their senior staff, but also Supreme Court justices and members of the executive branch from owning or trading stocks while in office. They would have to place stocks in other types of investments such as diversified mutual funds, or a qualified blind trust.

Ethics experts at the nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight discovered a loophole in the bill. They say the bill allows for the creation of blind trusts that arent compliant with existing regulations in the Ethics in Government Act.

The House released the text of the "Combatting Financial Conflicts of Interest in Government Act," on Tuesday night.

Next, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer who schedules floor votes, claimed that lawmakers needed more time to study the bill before they could vote on it. The bill in question was 26 pages long.

The same House easily passed a bill of over 2,700 pages that dispatched billion to Ukraine a mere 12 hours after its release.

The House leaves Washington on Friday and is not scheduled to return until after the midterms. The TRUST in Congress Act will not come up for a vote until after Election Day.

An outraged Spanberger released the following scathing statement:

"This moment marks a failure of House leadership  and it's yet another example of why I believe that the Democratic Party needs new leaders in the halls of Capitol Hill, as I have long made known," the congresswoman said Friday morning.

The two-term congresswoman said that support for her bill has grown in recent months  but party leadership engaged in repeated delay tactics to avoid a vote.

Obviously, the delay was an act of sabotage, led by Pelosi, who is very close to Hoyer.

The new package was purposefully released a few days before the recess. Critics pointed out that the package was too broad and unnecessarily complicated for what was a simple reform.

The goal behind the charade was to deceive the public into thinking they were that their intentions were honorable but they failed due to time constraints.

Spanberger herself may be engaging in theatre. She is currently involved in a close midterm race against her GOP challenger Yesli Vega for her House seat. These anti-Pelosi rants could be an idea to win secure votes in conservative-leaning Virginia. In a close contest, every vote matters.

So why did Pelosi and others sabotage The TRUST in Congress Act?

A House speaker's disclosure report released in July revealed that speaker Pelosi's husband Paul invested $5 million in 20,000 shares of NVIDIA, a software and fabless company which, according to Wikipedia, "designs graphics processing units (GPUs), application programming interface (APIs) for data science and high-performance computing as well as system on a chip units (SoCs) for the mobile computing and automotive market."

The Daily Caller reported that Paul's stock purchase was prior to a vote on a bill that would deliver massive grants, subsidies, and tax credits to chip manufacturing.

NVIDIA uses a lot of chips.

Obviously, only a select few, such as Speaker Pelosi, were aware of the contents of the bill and the fact that it was heading for a vote in the Senate.

This is too much of a coincidence and presents a case of conflict of interest for Pelosi.

Hubby Paul is known to be an avid investor in the stock market. The Pelosi couple is believed to be worth at least $46,123,051.

Last year, Paul made over $5 million after trading stocks in Google parent company Alphabet Inc, Amazon, and Apple, just ahead of the House Judiciary Committee's vote to advance five antitrust bills targeting major tech giants.

Paul is not the only offender.

Myriad other lawmakers of both parties invested in sectors whose relevance was elevated owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. They also sold investments from sectors adversely affected by the lockdowns following the pandemic.

What happens beyond Washington?

A Netflix employee was sentenced to 14 months in prison and $10,000 in fines for insider trading.

The husband of a former Amazon employee was sentenced to 26 months in prison for earning $1.4 million by using inside trading information.

Back in 2004, Martha Stewart suffered a prison term after she was convicted of charges related to insider trading.

There are numerous other cases of people serving jail time for questionable stock trading.

But Washington, as always, operates with impunity. Consequences for miscreants are nil.

Last September, during her visit to the U.K., Nancy Pelosi said that in America, capitalism "has not served the economy as well as it should" because "the success of some springs from the exploitation of the workers and springs from the exploitation of the environment and the rest."

Pelosi was unknowingly describing her circumstances, where her husband could be exploiting his access to information to reap profits while regular people struggle to keep their heads above the water despite doing two jobs.

However same anti-capitalist Pelosi became a huge proponent of the free-market economy in response to the idea of barring lawmakers and their close family members from holding or trading individual stocks while in office.

A free market economy works when there is fairness.

The stock markets can only be regarded as fair when all investors have identical access to information. Yet a few use their experience and acumen to reap profits.

The lawmakers with access to information that is restricted from the general public obviously have an unfair advantage. So it makes sense for all public servants to refrain from using their position in government to reap profits in the private stock market.

This is an essential sacrifice that they need to make for choosing a career in government. If they feel this is unfair, they are more than welcome to quit their jobs and dedicate their lives to trading in stocks.

There are two major challenges here.

The first is to pass comprehensive laws that ban lawmakers from holding and trading in stocks.

The second and most important challenge is to ensure that these laws and other existing laws are enforced such that offenders are punished.

The GOP has a sterling opportunity after the midterms.

Image: Pixabay / Pixabay License
"One hit wonders" the We Five had a popular song on the radio in the 1960s called "You Were on My Mind":

"When I woke up this morning You were on my mind...And You were on my mind"

Well, a lot of us woke this morning with President Joe Biden on our minds.

The White House explained everything by saying that President Biden had the late congresswoman Jackie Walorski on his mind. Fair enough. I have my late mother in my mind very often but I don't call my sister asking if mom can come to the phone.

It's time to have a serious chat about President Biden because he is only going to get worse. It's a delicate topic because he is the President and many of us did not vote for him. We will be accused of partisanship, insurrection, coup, stealing the election, and whatever else you can think of.

At the same time, we have a problem, as the Washington Examiner points out:

Anyone can make a mistake. But most people can admit they made a mistake, especially when it is so public and so obvious that theres no chance of papering it over. But not Biden -- and not his staff. Bidens White House could have admitted that their boss goofed -- He had a momentary lapse of memory, they could have said. They could have also thrown in the line suggested by the Washington Examiners Tim Carney: He is embarrassed and has reached out to the family. This would have been adequate. Instead, Bidens spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, offered a completely baffling, bizarre explanation that somehow implied this was perfectly normal.

No, this is not normal. In fact, it is very scary because we are talking about the President of the U.S. Furthermore, and very sad, all of us remember an aging parent or grandparent who get getting worse not better. It was painful to watch my grandmother go through this and I fear that Mr. Biden is going in that direction.

Where do we go from here? The 25th? Well, that's the problem because a certain VP Harris would be next in line. Rely on his cabinet? How much do we trust a cabinet made up of people who checked an "identity politics" box rather than having experience in their field?

We are in deep trouble, and everybody knows it, especially our enemies.

P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

Image: Marty Friend
Photo taken on Sept. 7, 2022 shows a construction site of the China-Thailand railway in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand. Twenty-four-year-old Nantapong Nuchanet has been expecting to drive a train that runs fast and steady in his home country Thailand. As the construction of the China-Thailand railway continues apace, he feels getting closer to his dream job. (Xinhua/Lin Hao)

BANGKOK, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-four-year-old Nantapong Nuchanet has been expecting to drive a train that runs fast and steady in his home country Thailand. As the construction of the China-Thailand railway continues apace, he feels getting closer to his dream job.

Nantapong now works as a translator at the first-phase project of the China-Thailand railway that is to link the Thai capital of Bangkok with Nakhon Ratchasima province in northeastern Thailand. "I've achieved a small goal by doing a job related to the high-speed railway," he said.

Nantapong considers himself a lucky man -- he learned the Chinese language because of his interest in Chinese culture and technology, which won him a chance to study in China.

In 2016, Nantapong attended an exam held by the Maritime Silk Road Confucius Institute and attained a scholarship for a three-year program at Tianjin Railway Technical and Vocational College in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin, where he chose to learn high-speed train operation and maintenance. After graduation in 2019, he got a job at the China-Thailand railway project.

"When I studied in China, I used to take the Beijing-Tianjin high-speed train. It ran really fast and steady. I hope Thailand would also have the high-speed railway and I could drive such a train after the China-Thailand railway starts operation," he said.

"It (China-Thailand railway) will link to China in the future," Nantapong said, expecting to take the train and travel all the way to Tianjin and to the tourist city of Guilin in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The China-Thailand railway, an important part of the trans-Asian railway network, will be Thailand's first standard-gauge high-speed railway.

When completed, the line will carry trains from Bangkok to the border town of Nong Khai, where a bridge will connect it with the China-Laos railway, making it possible to travel by train from Bangkok, through Laos, to Kunming in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Analysts said the China-Thailand railway, once into operation, will not only inject vitality into the economic development of regions along the line in Thailand, but also push the linking-up of the pan-Asia railway network and promote regional connectivity.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi told media on July 14 that China, Laos and Thailand will take the opening of the China-Laos Railway as an opportunity to smooth the flow of goods with convenient channels, promote economy and trade with better logistics, and boost the development of industries with robust economy and trade.

Efforts will be made to advance the vision of interconnected development of China, Laos and Thailand, Wang said.

For Viroj Lubkritcom, a 59-year-old Thai engineer, the China-Thailand railway is more than just a physical infrastructure of connectivity, it's a project that is set to boost people-to-people bonds.

Viroj has worked in the sector of project supervision for 35 years and now works at the China Railway Design Corporation (Thailand Branch), the supervision company of the first-phase China-Thailand railway project.

"We've been working closely with our Chinese colleagues. By cooperating and communicating with them, we have gained a lot of experiences, both in terms of railway construction and project management," he said.

Viroj expected the project to serve as a bridge for closer personnel exchanges between Thailand and China, and a boon for tourism development.

"We've seen that the China-Laos railway has boosted local tourism and logistics since it started operation. My friends and I hope the construction of the China-Thailand railway could complete as soon as possible and better connect us with our neighboring countries," he said. 

Viroj Lubkritcom, a project supervisor of the China Railway Design Corporation (Thailand Branch), works at a construction site of the China-Thailand railway in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Sept. 7, 2022. Twenty-four-year-old Nantapong Nuchanet has been expecting to drive a train that runs fast and steady in his home country Thailand. As the construction of the China-Thailand railway continues apace, he feels getting closer to his dream job. (Xinhua/Lin Hao)

Viroj Lubkritcom (R), a project supervisor of the China Railway Design Corporation (Thailand Branch), works at a construction site of the China-Thailand railway in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Sept. 7, 2022. Twenty-four-year-old Nantapong Nuchanet has been expecting to drive a train that runs fast and steady in his home country Thailand. As the construction of the China-Thailand railway continues apace, he feels getting closer to his dream job. (Xinhua/Lin Hao)

Aerial photo taken on Sept. 7, 2022 shows a construction site of the China-Thailand railway in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand. Twenty-four-year-old Nantapong Nuchanet has been expecting to drive a train that runs fast and steady in his home country Thailand. As the construction of the China-Thailand railway continues apace, he feels getting closer to his dream job. (Xinhua/Lin Hao)

Nantapong Nuchanet (L), a translator of the China Railway Design Corporation (Thailand Branch) discusses with project supervisor Viroj Lubkritcom at a construction site of the China-Thailand railway in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Sept. 7, 2022. Twenty-four-year-old Nantapong Nuchanet has been expecting to drive a train that runs fast and steady in his home country Thailand. As the construction of the China-Thailand railway continues apace, he feels getting closer to his dream job. (Xinhua/Lin Hao)
Russia suspends gas to Italy after 'problem' in Austria Gazprom not able to confirm the delivery of the volumes needed

(ANSA-AFP) - ROME, OCT 1 - Russia's Gazprom has suspended gas deliveries to Italy's Eni, blaming a transport problem in Austria, the Italian energy giant said on Saturday. "Gazprom told us that it was not able to confirm the delivery of the volumes demanded for today, citing the impossibility of gas transport through Austria," Eni said in a statement. As a result, "Russian gas flows to Eni via the Tarvisio entry point will be naught", it said. Most of Russian gas delivered to Italy passes via Ukraine through the Trans Austria Gas Pipeline (TAG), to Tarvisio in northern Italy on the border with Austria. Before the war in Ukraine, Italy imported 95 percent of the gas it consumes -- about 45 percent of which came from Russia.



(ANSA-AFP).





 Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved
A series of explosions which caused major damage to Russias undersea Nord Stream gas pipelines were clearly an act of sabotage, Liz Truss has said.

The Prime Minister was updated on the latest situation in the Baltic Sea in talks with her Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen in Downing Street on Saturday.

The blasts last week occurred as Russian President Vladimir Putin was preparing to announce the annexation of four Ukrainian provinces  a move widely denounced in the West as a violation of international law and a serious escalation of the conflict.

There are deep suspicions in Western capitals that Moscow carried out the attacks on the pipelines  which can carry gas to Germany  as a way of intensifying the pressure over energy supplies.

However, in a speech on Friday, the Russian leader claimed Anglo Saxons were responsible for the terror attacks, which he described as an attempt to destroy the European energy infrastructure.

The US State Department has dismissed such claims as preposterous and Russian disinformation.

Prime Minister Liz Truss welcomes Denmarks PM Mette Frederiksen to Downing Street (Dan Kitwood/PA)

Following Ms Trusss meeting with Ms Frederiksen, a No 10 spokesman said: The leaders stressed the need to stay united in the face of Russias despicable action in Ukraine.

They agreed the incidents were clearly an act of sabotage. The Prime Minister offered the UKs support for the ongoing investigation.

Speaking to reporters outside No 10, Ms Frederiksen said: One of the reasons why Im here today is because of the situation in the Baltic Sea, with Nord Stream 1 and 2.

I was able to give some details about what has happened in Denmark, or just outside Denmark.

Of course, it has been very important for me to underline that the Danish authorities have said that this is not an accident.

This is sabotage and it is critical infrastructure. So of course, this is a very serious situation.

Neither leader sought to attribute responsibility for the incident.

The Danish and Swedish governments last week reported a series of four explosions in the two pipelines, which resulted in a large leakage of methane gas into the Baltic.

Neither is currently in operation although they both still contain gas.

Nord Stream 1 has not transported any gas since late August when Russia closed it down, saying it needed maintenance. Nord Stream 2 was halted after Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng is facing a call for urgent talks with the devolved administrations amid warnings their vital public services are at risk in the wake of the financial turmoil unleashed by his mini-budget

The deputy first minster of Scotland John Swinney and the finance ministers of Wales and Northern Ireland  Rebecca Evans and Conor Murphy  accused the Chancellor of taking a huge gamble with the public finances with his 45 billion package of tax cuts.

In a joint letter they said that with soaring inflation eroding the value of the devolved budget settlements announced last year, they urgently needed additional funding from the Government in Westminster.

Our budgets are already stretched beyond the maximum and as responsible governments we are having to make very difficult decisions to balance our budgets, as we do not have the flexibility or borrowing powers that the UK Government has, they said.

This approach is unlikely to be sustainable and is putting services at risk.

The three ministers said the country could not afford to wait until November 23 for Mr Kwarteng to set out his plan to get debt falling as a percentage of national income.

The UK Government has taken a huge gamble on the public finances and the health of our economy. Even prior to last Friday, the UK, like many other countries, was already facing the most severe economic upheaval in a generation, they said.

However, the UK Government has chosen to make things significantly worse by announcing a huge package of tax cuts for the most wealthy without any credible explanation of how these will be paid for.

Urgent action is required now to address the issues facing our economy, public services and households across the country. Such action cannot wait until the update you have announced will take place in November.
Just two weeks ago, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi renewed hopes that Congress might stop lawmakers from trading stocks on the grounds that they have access to non-public information.

"We believe we have a product that we can bring to the floor this month, Pelosi said on Sept. 14.

But Congress is taking a breather until Nov. 14, after missing yet another deadline to ban or curb stock trading by senators and U.S. representatives. Lawmakers promise to take up the issue again when they re-convene, but it's becoming clear that Congress is having a tough time policing itself.

The gridlock comes despite overwhelming public support for measures to rein in lawmaker trading, with the lack of action feeding the perception of corruption on Capitol Hill. Investors are going so far as to closely track politicians' trades  which have often out-performed the market  to gain an edge during this year's turbulence.

During a contentious weekly press conference on Friday, reporters pressed Pelosi on why the vote had been delayed. Well, you have to have the votes to bring it up, she said. This is a legislative process.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) holds a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on Friday. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

But her answer left many unsatisfied.

This moment marks a failure of House leadership  and its yet another example of why I believe that the Democratic Party needs new leaders in the halls of Capitol Hill, as I have long made known, Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) said in a scathing statement earlier on Friday.

A long wait for a vote

Ever since the stock trading issue exploded into public consciousness in late 2021, lawmakers have repeatedly promised to rein themselves in. Back in April, as one example, a deal was purportedly on the way in the next few weeks, as Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told Yahoo Finance at the time.

The stock trading issue gained attention late in 2021 with revelations that, in the lead-up to the pandemic, then-Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) sold stocks soon after a private briefing on COVID-19. Burr faced a Justice Department investigation that eventually ended without charges, while Loeffler lost her election bid.

Pelosi herself has also drawn attention to the issue because of her husband's frequent trading activity, which has spurred traders to follow along for tips.

This week, House Democrats released an ambitious bill that would require lawmakers to divest financial investments and move the assets into a qualified blind trust or a mutual fund, ETF, or a government bond. The new rules would also apply to the president, the vice president, White House staff, Supreme Court Justices, and Federal Reserve officials.

But advocates fear going too big  especially including the controversial Supreme Court provisions  will sink the entire effort.

"While I support it in principle, I recognize that for some of our colleagues across the aisle, that may be a poison pill at this point in time, Spanberger recently told Yahoo Finance, referring to the Supreme Court provision.

Predictably, some Republicans turned against the effort this week when Democrats released their bill.

This is a complex issue requiring thought, debate, amendment and a full airing in committee to build as much bipartisan agreement as possible rather than the normal cram-down from the top that permeates literally everything we do, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) wrote in a letter to Pelosi and House Administration Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA).

Spanberger and Roy have co-authored a bipartisan plan to require all members of Congress to put assets into a qualified blind trust while they're in office.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) walks to the House floor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington in 2021. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)

The chances in the lame duck

In mid-November, lawmakers will return to Washington for the so-called lame duck session. Democrats will still control Congress but might  depending on the outcome of the election  be eager to pass their final priorities before possibly relinquishing power in 2023.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), another longtime advocate of a ban, took an optimistic tone during a TwitterSpace conversation with activists on Wednesday.

"This is a time to be encouraged, not disheartened," he said.

But he acknowledged a fight ahead, saying the back and forth in the House was creating a broader discussion" that he hopes can get passed after the election.

"Sometimes, you just have to force the vote," he said.

Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance

Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, YouTube, and reddit.
Photo credit: Hyundai

Hundreds of Hyundai and Kia vehicles have been stolen this year due to popular social media videos showing how easy it is to commandeer certain models that use a traditional key and do not have an engine immobilizer.

The new security kit will be available starting today for $170. It's expected Hyundai owners will be expected to pay for installation too, which could cost up to $500. Kia is not offering a similar security kit but is offering free steering wheel locks.

Multiple class action lawsuits have been filed about the issue, which started gaining popularity in Milwaukee late last year.

Hyundai has developed a $170 solution for anyone who hasnt had their vehicle stolen. Hyundai and Kia vehicles have been targets of car thieves in recent months because its incredibly easy to do so, and thieves are sharing how-to videos on social media. The raft of thefts is so bad that an average of six Hyundai vehicles are stolen each day just in Milwaukee, according to local news station WTMJ.

The nationwide rash of thefts has gotten so bad that Hyundai has finally come up with a solution. A new anti-theft security kit Hyundai developed in partnership with Compustar is now available. The kit includes both a kill switch and an alarm. Hyundai told Automotive News that the kit will be available at all of its 820 dealers in the U.S. and will take around two and a half hours to install. Hyundai is also working on a software fix for this issue.

Software Update Is in the Works Too

Hyundai spokesperson Ira Gabriel described the system as a "glass break sensor security kit that targets the method of entry used by thieves to break into these vehicles." He said customers can get them at Hyundai dealerships or at Compustar's authorized installers in the U.S. He also said Hyundai's update to software "to further secure these targeted vehicles" should be available for some Hyundai vehicles in the first half of 2023 with others to follow later.

Vehicle owners will be expected to pay for the installation of the kit, which could cost up to $500, according to a lawyer working on one of many class action lawsuits against Hyundai over the issue. Automotive News said 15 different suits have been filed in 14 states. The lawsuits ask for monetary damages and for Hyundai to recall the affected models because the automaker did not install engine immobilizers as standard equipment until November 2021. For the past decade, Hyundai has offered stolen vehicle services for cars equipped with Bluelink. The connected technology can locate, slow down, or immobilize a stolen vehicle, but it does not make the vehicle less easy to steal in the first place.

Huge Spikes in Car Thefts

The trend of stealing Kias and Hyundais started in Milwaukee in December 2021 but has spread across the country. One law firm working on one of the class action suits is MLG, which said that there has been a 346 percent increase in thefts of both brands in Charlotte, North Carolina, and that, according to the police in Saint Petersburg, Florida,more than 40 percent of all car thefts there have been Kia and Hyundai models. All 2011 to 2021 Kia vehicles and 2015 to 2021 Hyundai vehicles (like the 2016 Accent pictured at top) equipped with standard key ignitions that lack an engine immobilizer are vulnerable to theft. Vehicles with a push-button start are not affected.

Kia is not yet offering an anti-theft kit but is giving out free steering wheel locks to owners. Hyundai is also handing out some free locks. Owners who want to buy the new system should be able to get it via dealerships after today (October 1) or, Hyundai says, they can contact Hyundai's Consumer Assistance line at 8006335151.



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The death toll linked to Hurricane Ian has grown to at least 52, a devastating figure that was expected to climb as rescue crews continue their search for survivors still trapped among the wreckage and catastrophic flooding brought on by the megastorm.

The majority of deaths occurred in Lee County, Fla., which was late to issue a mandatory evacuation order as the storm approached.

Authorities in the county, which includes Fort Myers and Cape Canaveral, are still working to assess the full scope of damage while carrying out search and rescue operations. Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said authorities still need to notify next of kin before releasing the identities of those who died.

Today weve had over 600 to 700 rescues of people that are in need during this difficult time, with about 35 deaths, unfortunately, he said.

A car drives through high water from the effects from Hurricane Ian, Friday, Sept. 30, 2022, in Charleston, S.C.



A car drives through high water from the effects from Hurricane Ian, Friday, Sept. 30, 2022, in Charleston, S.C. (Alex Brandon/)

It is with a heavy heard that I say that number, Marceno continued. We are going to work harder and we are going to be stronger than ever.

While nearby counties encouraged their most vulnerable residents to flee at the start of the week, Lee County did not issue a mandatory evacuation order until Tuesday  less than 24 hours before Ian slammed into the Sunshine State as a massive Category 4 hurricane with windspeeds topping 150 mph. By the time residents received the emergency alert, it was already too late to flee for some, likely contributing to the staggering death toll in the region, the New York Times reported.

Elsewhere in Florida, an elderly couple died after they lost power as Ian loomed and their oxygen machines shut down. In North Carolina, a 65-year-old man died from suspected carbon monoxide poisoning early Saturday, marking the states first storm-related death. He was running a generator inside a closed garage after Ian knocked out power to his home in Raleigh, WRAL reported.

The storm was also blamed for three deaths in Cuba, where residents are still without power nearly a week after Ians arrival.

Ian made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane In South Carolina near Georgetown Friday afternoon after an initial landfall in Florida on Wednesday.

Debris from destroyed buildings swept from the beachfront lies amid damaged homes, two days after the passage of Hurricane Ian, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Friday, Sept. 30, 2022.



Debris from destroyed buildings swept from the beachfront lies amid damaged homes, two days after the passage of Hurricane Ian, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. (Rebecca Blackwell/)

The storm downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone early Saturday as it continued to move north through North Carolina on Saturday before dissipating over Virginia.

Meteorologists forecast several inches of rain across Appalachian North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. According to the the National Hurricane Center, there was potential for as much as six inches and considerable flooding in parts of western North Carolina and southwestern Virginia. Maximum sustained winds of 35 mph were also expected to lash the region.

Ians impacts on Saturday were forecast to stretch throughout the Chesapeake Bay region and into southern New Jersey, where thunderstorms and strong winds were the in forecast.

Fort Myers and Naples were particularly hard hit by Ian, as were Orlando and cities along Floridas northeastern coast. Rescue crews continued to search by both land and sky for survivors trapped inside their flooded homes while residents tried to salvage any possessions not entirely destroyed by the storm.

I want to sit in the corner and cry. I dont know what else to do, Stevie Scuderi said after shuffling through her mostly destroyed Fort Myers apartment.

Damage to a trailer park is seen after Hurricane Ian passed by the area Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022, in Fort Myers, Fla.



Damage to a trailer park is seen after Hurricane Ian passed by the area Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022, in Fort Myers, Fla. (Steve Helber/)

Many Floridians were also without clean drinking water after water systems across the state were polluted or failed amid the storm.

Record amounts of rainfall drenched some parts of Florida, including 17 inches in Union Park, near Orlando, and 15 inches south of Daytona in New Smyrna Beach, according to the National Weather Service. Major flooding is also expected to persist in Florida through next week.

Whats more, at least a million homes and businesses across the state are still without power. Electricity was also knocked out for over 300,000 customers in North Carolina and almost 100,000 in Virginia as of Saturday morning, according to poweroutage.us.

Darryl Hudson of Ontario, Canada, has a morning coffee on the damaged balcony of his vacation home, as water-damaged furniture, debris and vehicles sit on the lawn after storm surge filled the first story of his and surrounding homes during the passage of Hurricane Ian, near San Carlos Boulevard in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022.

Photographs lie on a pile of water-damaged trash and debris next to the devastated Getaway Marina, following the passage of Hurricane Ian, on San Carlos Boulevard in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022.

Canoes and kayaks sit tied up to a sign on a flooded street in Seminole County, Fla., on Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. Residents in central Florida donned fishing waders, boots and bug spray and canoed or kayaked to their homes on streets where floodwaters continued rising Sunday despite it being four days since Hurricane Ian tore through the state.

The bridge leading from Fort Myers to Pine Island, Fla., is heavily damaged in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. Due to the damage, the island can only be reached by boat or air.

Members of the National Guard ride in a rescue truck down a flooded road in Geneva, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. The area is heavily flooded after Hurricane Ian.

Dusty Hollar, 57, a cancer survivor who lives with chronic illness, carries the urn containing his father's ashes, as he recovers a few personal items from the mobile home that he shares with his 80-year-old mother in Sunshine Mobile Home Park, three days after the passage of Hurricane Ian, in Fort Myers, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. The family's home stayed on its foundations, unlike those of some of their neighbors, but flooding almost to the height of their ceiling destroyed most of their possessions and household items.

National Guard soldiers rescue a man from his flooded property on Rest Haven Road in Geneva, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. The area is heavily flooded after Hurricane Ian.

Damage to a trailer park is seen after Hurricane Ian passed by the area Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022, in Fort Myers, Fla.

"Cowboy" Dave Graham of Ohio, left, who travels to communities that have suffered traumatic events to offer support by listening to survivors, speaks with John, a resident of San Carlos Island whose mobile home was destroyed in Hurricane Ian, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022.

This is an aerial view of a damaged trailer park after Hurricane Ian passed by the area Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022, in Fort Myers, Fla.

A sign placed by a resident asks that a boat that landed on their lawn during Hurricane Ian please be removed, in Fort Myers, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022.

Walter McGee, of Greenville, S.C., looks at his ruined car after the effects of Hurricane Ian, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022, in Pawleys Island, S.C.

Members of mediccorps.org, who arrived with two helicopters, paramedics and volunteers, help evacuate Paul Koch and some of his dogs in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian on Pine Island, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. The only bridge to the island is heavily damaged so it can only be reached by boat or air.

The bridge leading from Fort Myers to Pine Island, Fla., is heavily damaged in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian on Pine Island, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. Due to the damage, the island can only be reached by boat or air.

This satellite map provided by NOAA shows damage from Hurricane Ian to Red Coconut RV Resort in Fort Myers Beach, Fla, on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022.

Docks on the the inlet between Pawleys Island and the mainland show damage following winds and rain from Hurricane Ian on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022, in Pawleys Island, S.C.

A child runs under a fallen tree from the effects from Hurricane Ian, Friday, Sept. 30, 2022, in Charleston, S.C.

Businesses near the beach lie in ruins as others were completely swept away, two days after the passage of Hurricane Ian, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Friday, Sept. 30, 2022.

Damaged boats lie on the land and water in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Fort Myers, Fla.

In this photo provided by Orange County Fire Rescue's Public Information Office, firefighters in Orange County, Fla. help people stranded by Hurricane Ian early Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. Ian marched across central Florida on Thursday as a tropical storm after battering the states southwest coast, dropping heavy rains that caused flooding and led to inland rescues and evacuations.

Residents are rescued from floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Orlando, Fla., on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022.

Jake Moses, 19, left, and Heather Jones, 18, of Fort Myers, explore a section of destroyed businesses at Fort Myers Beach, Fla., on Thursday, Sep 29, 2022, following Hurricane Ian.

In this photo provided by Orange County Fire Rescue's Public Information Office, firefighters in Orange County, Fla. help people stranded by Hurricane Ian early Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022.

Damaged homes and businesses are seen in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., on Thursday, Sep 29, 2022, following Hurricane Ian.

This photo provided by Naples Fire-Rescue Department crews help rescue a stranded motorist from flooding caused by Hurricane Ian on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022 in Naples, Fla. Officials say rain and overflow from rivers is causing severe flooding near parts of Floridas Atlantic coast as storm Ian makes its way back out to sea.

This photo provided by Naples Fire-Rescue Department crews help rescue a stranded motorist from flooding caused by Hurricane Ian on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022 in Naples, Fla.

Remnants of damaged homes and flooded vehicles are seen in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., on Thursday, Sep 29, 2022, following Hurricane Ian.

Damaged homes and debris are shown in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Fort Myers, Fla.

In this aerial photo, damaged boats and debris are stacked along the shore in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Fort Myers, Fla.

President Joe Biden speaks about Hurricane Ian during a visit to FEMA headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Washington. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, right, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas look on.

Residents explore damage in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., on Thursday, Sep 29, 2022, following Hurricane Ian.

This aerial photo shows damaged homes and debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Fort Myers, Fla.

A resident in an Orlando, Fla., neighborhood is rescued from floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022.

Homes, boats and docks lay in ruin in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., on Thursday, Sep 29, 2022, following Hurricane Ian.

Authorities transport a person out of the Avante nursing home in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Orlando, Fla. Hurricane Ian carved a path of destruction across Florida, trapping people in flooded homes, cutting off the only bridge to a barrier island, destroying a historic waterfront pier and knocking out power to 2.5 million people as it dumped rain over a huge area on Thursday.

People survey damage to their home in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Valrico, Fla.

Damaged businesses and homes are seen in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., on Thursday, Sep 29, 2022, following Hurricane Ian.

Smoldering homes are seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Fort Myers Fla.

A damaged residence is seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla.

Damaged homes are seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla.

An area where homes once stood is seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla.

Damaged ships and debris is seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Fort Myers, Fla.

Stedi Scuderi looks over her apartment after flood water inundated it when Hurricane Ian passed through the area on Sept. 29, 2022, in Fort Myers, Fla.

A local worker cleans debris in downtown Saint Petersburg after Hurricane Ian passed through the area on Sept. 29, 2022, in Saint Petersburg, Fla.

Frankie Romulus (L) and Kendrick Romulus stand outside of their apartment next to a boat that floated into their apartment complex when Hurricane Ian passed through the area on Sept. 29, 2022, in Fort Myers, Fla.

A local resident cleans debris in downtown Saint Petersburg after Hurricane Ian passed through the area on Sept. 29, 2022, in Saint Petersburg, Fla. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surge and rain to the area, causing severe damage.

Boats are pushed up on a causeway after Hurricane Ian passed through the area on Sept. 29, 2022, in Fort Myers, Fla.

Debris litters a street in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Punta Gorda, Fla. on Sept. 29, 2022. Hurricane Ian left much of coastal southwest Florida in darkness early on Thursday, bringing "catastrophic" flooding that left officials readying a huge emergency response to a storm of rare intensity. The National Hurricane Center said the eye of the "extremely dangerous" hurricane made landfall just after 3:00 p.m. on the barrier island of Cayo Costa, west of the city of Fort Myers.

Boats are pushed up on a causeway after Hurricane Ian passed through the area on Sept. 29, 2022, in Fort Myers, Florida. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surge and rain to the area, causing severe damage.

In this aerial view, vehicles make their way through a flooded area after Hurricane Ian passed through the area on Sept. 29, 2022, in Fort Myers, Fla. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surge and rain to the area, causing severe damage.

Brent Shaynore runs to a sheltered spot through the wind and rain from Hurricane Ian on Sept. 28, 2022, in Sarasota, Fla. Ian made landfall with 150-mile-per-hour winds and a 12-foot storm surge and knocking out power to nearly 1.5 million customers, according to published reports.

Wind gusts blow across Sarasota Bay as Hurricane Ian churns to the south on Sept. 28, 2022, in Sarasota, Fla. The storm made a U.S. landfall at Cayo Costa, Florida this afternoon as a Category 4 hurricane with wind speeds over 140 miles per hour in some areas.

A local reporter broadcasts live under the rain at the bay of Saint Petersburg as the winds from Hurricane Ian arrive on Sept. 28, 2022, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Ian is hitting the area as a likely Category 4 hurricane.

A fountain inside a condominium blows almost horizontal as residents tape their windows for alleged security south of Orlando, Fla. on Sept. 28, 2022. Hurricane Ian slammed into the coast of southwest Florida as a monster Category 4 storm on Sept. 28, 2022, bringing "catastrophic" storm surges, wind and flooding as officials readied a huge emergency response.

In this NOAA handout image taken by the GOES satellite at 13:10 UTC, Hurricane Ian approaches Florida on Sept. 28, 2022, in the Gulf of Mexico. The storm is expected to bring a potentially life-threatening storm surge and hurricane-force winds.

A damaged apartment from an apparent overnight tornado spawned from Hurricane Ian at Kings Point 55+ community in Delray Beach, Fla., on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022.

Cars damaged from an apparent overnight tornado spawned from Hurricane Ian at Kings Point 55+ community in Delray Beach, Fla., on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022.

This image provided by the Naples Fire Rescue Department shows a firefighter carrying gear in water from the storm surge from Hurricane Ian on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022 in Naples, Fla.

This image provided by the Naples Fire Rescue Department shows firefighters look out at the firetruck that stands in water from the storm surge from Hurricane Ian on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022 in Naples, Fla.

Duke Energy trucks are staged in the parking lot at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., in preparation for Hurricane Ian's Florida landfall on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022.

An uprooted tree, toppled by strong winds from the outer bands of Hurricane Ian, rests in a parking lot of a shopping center, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022, in Cooper City, Fla.

Zuram Rodriguez surveys the damage around her mobile home in Davie, Fla., early Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. Hurricane Ian rapidly intensified off Florida's southwest coast Wednesday morning, gaining top winds of 155 mph (250 kph), just shy of the most dangerous Category 5 status.

Ivan Mendoza begins to repair damage at his mobile home in Davie, Fla., early Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022.

A man walks by the Malecon in Havana, Cuba on Sept. 28, 2022, after the passage of Hurricane Ian. Cuba exceeded 12 hours this Wednesday in total blackout with "zero electricity generation" due to failures in the links of the national electrical system, after the passage of powerful Hurricane Ian.

A neighborhood sits dark during a blackout triggered by the passing of Hurricane Ian in Havana, Cuba, early morning Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. Hurricane Ian knocked out electricity to the entire island when it hit the islands western tip as a major storm.

An old American car passes through a flooded street in Havana, Cuba on Sept. 28, 2022, after the passage of hurricane Ian.

Airplanes overturned by a likely tornado produced by the outer bands of Hurricane Ian are shown, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022, at North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines, Fla. Hurricane Ian rapidly intensified as it neared landfall along Florida's southwest coast Wednesday morning, gaining top winds of 155 mph (250 kph), just shy of the most dangerous Category 5 status.

An airplane overturned by a likely tornado produced by the outer bands of Hurricane Ian is shown, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022, at North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines, Fla.

This image provided by FLDOT shows an emergency vehicle traveling on the Sunshine Skyway over Tampa Bay, Fla., on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022.

Bob Burnett, 77, looks on as his son Bobby Burnett, 42, takes pictures of the pier as Tampa Bay is draining in a reverse storm surge with Hurricane Ian expected to make landfall this afternoon on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Hurricane Ian rapidly intensified as it neared landfall along Florida's southwest coast Wednesday morning, gaining top winds of 155 mph (250 kph), just shy of the most dangerous Category 5 status.

Claudio Szmuc takes pictures atop a roof stripped of its tiles in Hollywood, Fla. on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022.

People walk where water is receding out of Tampa Bay due to a negative surge ahead of Hurricane Ian, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022, in Tampa, Fla.

Tree limbs and palm fronds, knocked down from wind produced by the outer bands of Hurricane Ian, litter a parking lot of a shopping center, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022, in Cooper City, Fla.

Ivan Mendoza surveys the damage at his mobile home in Davie, Fla., early Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022.

A woman walks in the Bay as the tide recedes from Tampa Bay as Hurricane Ian approaches on Sept. 28, 2022, in Tampa, Fla. Ian intensified to just shy of catastrophic Category 5 strength Wednesday as its heavy winds began pummelling Florida, with forecasters warning of life-threatening storm surges after leaving millions without power in Cuba.

Arthur Perkins walks his dogs as the winds and rain from Hurricane Ian arrive in the area on Sept. 28, 2022, in Sarasota, Fla. Ian is hitting the area as a likely Category 4 hurricane.

A police officer drives by an empty street as Hurricane Ian approaches on Sept. 28, 2022, in Sarasota, Fla. Forecasts call for the storm to make landfall today.

In this NOAA handout image taken by the GOES satellite at 13:26 UTC, Hurricane Ian moves toward Florida on Sept. 28, 2022, in the Gulf of Mexico. The storm is expected to bring a potentially life-threatening storm surge and hurricane-force winds.

A woman and a boy observe the waves hitting the Malecon in Havana, Cuba on Sept. 28, 2022, after the passage of Hurricane Ian.

A classic American car drives past utility poles tilted by Hurricane Ian in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022.

A dog is walked through floodwater as the tide rises on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022, in Key West, Fla., as the first bands of rain associated with Hurricane Ian pass to the west of the island chain.

(L-R) Hilton employees Louie Fonseca, Frankie Monica, Bryan Kinbacher and Jaime Miranda use a rope to secure the front door at the Hilton Garden Inn in Fort Myers, Fla.

Passengers try to reschedule their flights after many were canceled or delayed due to Hurricane Ian at Tocumen International Airport in Panama City, Fla. on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022. Hurricane Ian tore into western Cuba as a major hurricane and left 1 million people without electricity, then churned on a collision course with Florida over warm Gulf waters amid expectations it would strengthen into a catastrophic Category 4 storm.

Rebecca Hale and her mother, Edda Howard, place shutters on her home as they prepare for the possible arrival of Hurricane Ian on Sept. 27, 2022, in St Petersburg, Fla. Ian is expected in the Tampa Bay area Wednesday night into early Thursday morning.

Shoppers at the Costco store in Altamonte Springs, Fla. grab bottles of water from the last pallet in stock on Monday, Sept. 26, 2022, as Central Floridians prepare for the impact of Hurricane Ian.

Resident and maintenance technician Scott Keeler tosses a pool chaise in the pool to store underwater to George Shukis, president of the Sunrise Owner's Association at Harbourside Condominiums, in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Ian, Monday, Sept. 26, 2022, in South Pasadena, Fla. Ian was growing stronger as it approached the western tip of Cuba on a track to hit the west coast of Florida as a major hurricane as early as Wednesday.

This satellite image provided by NASA on Sept. 26, 2022, shows Hurricane Ian pictured from the International Space Station just south of Cuba gaining strength and heading toward Florida. Hurricane Ian rapidly intensified off Florida's southwest coast Wednesday, Sept. 28, gaining top winds of 155 mph (250 kph), just shy of the most dangerous Category 5 status.

Shelves in the bread aisle stand empty as residents prepare for Hurricane Ian on Sept. 26, 2022, in St Petersburg, Fla.

Alex Rico and other people fill sandbags at Helen Howarth Park as they prepare for the possible arrival of Hurricane Ian on Sept. 26, 2022, in St Petersburg, Fla. Ian is projected to make its closest pass to the Tampa Bay area on Wednesday with the current track putting the center 25 miles west of the coastline as it parallels the coast.

Workers remove a boat from the water in the bay of Havana, Cuba, Monday, Sept. 26, 2022.

Waves crash against a seawall as Hurricane Ian passes through George Town, Grand Cayman island, Monday, Sept. 26, 2022.

A woman cleans a drain near her home in Batabano, Mayabeque province, on Sept. 26, 2022, ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Ian in Cuba.

Waves kick up under a dark sky along the shore of Batabano, Cuba, Monday, Sept. 26, 2022. Hurricane Ian was growing stronger as it approached the western tip of Cuba on a track to hit the west coast of Florida as a major hurricane as early as Wednesday.

Steve Newberne (L) and Richard Latronita board up Gigi's restaurant in preparation for Hurricane Ian on Sept. 26, 2022, in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Luca Leguerchois (L) and Eglantine Leguerchois board up their Paradise Sweets store in preparation for Hurricane Ian on Sept. 26, 2022, in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Waves crash against the patio of Lobster Pot restaurant as Hurricane Ian passes through George Town, Grand Cayman island, Monday, Sept. 26, 2022.

A resident of El Fanguito neighborhood carries a mattress in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Ian, in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Sept. 26, 2022. Hurricane Ian is growing stronger as it approached the western tip of Cuba on a track to hit the west coast of Florida as a major hurricane as early as Wednesday.

A woman takes photos while waves crash against a seawall as Hurricane Ian passes through George Town, Grand Cayman island, Monday, Sept. 26, 2022.

Shelves in the bread aisle stand nearly empty as residents prepare for Hurricane Ian on Sept. 26, 2022, in St Petersburg, Fla.

A family carries a dog to a safe place in Batabano, Mayabeque province, on Sept. 26, 2022, ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Ian in Cuba.

Cuban children carry personal belongings to a safe place in the Fanguito neighborhood in Havana, on Sept. 26, 2022, ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Ian. Cuba declared an emergency alert in its six most western provinces as fast-approaching Hurricane Ian was moving northwest towards Cuba and the Cayman Islands with maximum sustained winds of 85 miles per hour.

In this NOAA handout image, Hurricane Ian moves toward western Cuba on Sept. 26, 2022, in the Caribbean Sea. The storm is expected to bring a potentially life-threatening storm surge and hurricane-force winds. Meteorologists expect Ian to peak at Category 4 strength over the Gulf of Mexico later this week, then weaken before reaching Fla.

An aerial view of St. Pete Beach as Hurricane Ian approaches Florida on Sept. 26, 2022. The city of Tampa is under a hurricane watch and Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in all 67 counties as officials scrambled to prepare for the storm's forecast landing on late Wednesday or Thursday. Ian "will bring heavy rains, strong winds, flash flooding, storm surge, along with isolated tornado activity along Florida's Gulf Coast," DeSantis said at a press conference in Tallahassee on Monday.

Tampa residents wait for over 2 hours at Himes Avenue Complex to fill their 10 free sandbags on Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, in Tampa, Fla. Authorities and residents in Florida are keeping a cautious eye on Tropical Storm Ian as it rumbles through the Caribbean.

Shoppers wait in line outside a retail warehouse as people rush to prepare for Tropical Storm Ian in Kissimmee, Fla. on Sept. 25, 2022. Tropical storm Ian is forecast to "rapidly intensify" over the weekend and become a major hurricane as it moves toward Florida, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

Shoppers go for what was left of the water on the shelves of the Walmart Supercenter at 1505 N. Dale Mabry Highway on Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, in Tampa, Fla. as Tropical Storm Ian threatens to impact Tampa Bay as a major hurricane later in the week.

A long line of shoppers are seen past a person pushing cases of water outside a retail warehouse as people rush to prepare for Tropical Storm Ian in Kissimmee, Fla. on Sept. 25, 2022.

Shoppers take photos while waiting in line outside a retail warehouse as people rush to prepare for Tropical Storm Ian in Kissimmee, Fla. on Sept. 25, 2022.

The Artemis I unmanned lunar rocket sits on launch pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Sept. 24, 2022. NASA has called off the scheduled Sept. 27, 2022, launch of its historic uncrewed mission to the Moon due to a tropical storm that is forecast to strengthen as it approaches Florida. "NASA is forgoing a launch opportunity... and preparing for rollback (from the launchpad), while continuing to watch the weather forecast associated with Tropical Storm Ian," NASA said on Saturday.

This satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Tropical Storm Ian over the central Caribbean on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022.

In South Carolina, residents and officials have only just begun to survey the damage caused by Ian. The storm barreled into the Palmetto State with torrential rains and windspeeds of 60 mph, flooding homes and submerging cars along the coastline.

Disaster modeling firm Karen Clark & Co., which regularly issues flash catastrophe estimates, said Ian likely caused well over $100 billion in damage, including $63 billion in privately insured losses. If the numbers are accurate, Ian would be at least the fourth costliest hurricane in U.S. history.

With News Wire Services
ISLAMABAD, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- A 10-month-old child has died after being confirmed with the wild poliovirus in North Waziristan district of Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (KP), the Health Ministry said Friday night.

The National Institute of Health reported on Wednesday that the boy had onset of paralysis on Sept. 15 and suffered from disabilities in his left arm and neck, said the ministry in a statement.

This was the 20th polio case of the year. All the cases in Pakistan this year were detected in KP, with two patients from Lakki Marwat, 17 from North Waziristan and one from South Waziristan district.

The children of Pakistan need more support than ever now, Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel was quoted as saying in the statement.

"The current humanitarian crisis in the country has increased the risk of wild polio transmission. It is crucial to support polio eradication now to protect them from further health concerns," the minister added.

The poliovirus has been detected outside southern KP, however, it has not paralyzed children elsewhere in Pakistan, according to the ministry. 
King Charles will not attend next months Cop27 international climate change summit in Egypt despite his passionate commitment to environmental issues, it has emerged.

The Sunday Times reported that Liz Truss had objected to him attending the gathering during an audience at Buckingham Palace last month.

Neither Downing Street nor the Palace would comment on the report which said the King had wanted to deliver a speech to delegates at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

A No 10 source however said it was ridiculous to suggest that the Prime Minister gives orders to the monarch.

Charles addressing the Cop26 summit in Glasgow (Chris Jackson/PA)

Nevertheless by convention all overseas official visits by members of the royal family are undertaken in accordance with advice from the Government.

Before he ascended the throne, there had been speculation, that, as Prince of Wales, he would go to Egypt having attended the Cop26 summit in Glasgow the previous year.

It is understood however that after he sought advice from the Government it was agreed that this would not be the right occasion for Charles to make his first overseas visit as sovereign.

The Sunday Times quoted a senior royal source as saying: It is no mystery that the King was invited to go there. He had to think very carefully about what steps to take for his first overseas tour, and he is not going to be attending Cop.

Peoples livelihoods are threatened by #climatechange. We need to come #TogetherForImplementation to ramp up #climateaction and ensure no one is left behind. Learn more here: https://t.co/nutnokWkBl#COP27 pic.twitter.com/8FPzrhKgN3  COP27 (@COP27P) September 28, 2022

The source said the decision was made on the Governments advice and was entirely in the spirit of being ever-mindful as King that he acts on Government advice.

A No 10 spokeswoman said: We do not comment on meetings between the Prime Minister and the King.

However, a Government source said the Palace and the Government considered separately and then agreed jointly that there might be more suitable options for the Kings first overseas visit.

Despite not attending the event in person it is understood that the King still hopes to be able to contribute in some form to the conference.

Charles and his elder son William, the then-Duke of Cambridge, both spoke at last years Cop26 event while the Queen recorded an opening address urging the assembled world leaders to take action on climate change.

Unlike her predecessor Boris Johnson  who became an enthusiastic advocate for the cause of net zero  Ms Truss is thought to be more sceptical of the green agenda, a suspicion that is likely to be fuelled by the latest disclosure.

There was dismay among activists when she appointed Jacob Rees-Mogg  who has blamed climate alarmism for high energy prices  as Business Secretary with overall responsibility for energy policy.
FILE - This undated file photo posted on Twitter on June 18, 2020, by Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, shows CITGO oil executives Jose Angel Pereira, from left to right, Gustavo Cardenas, Jorge Toledo, Jose Luis Zambrano, Tomeu Vadell and Alirio Jose Zambrano, standing outside the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service, in Caracas, Venezuela. On Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022, Venezuela freed seven Americans, including five oil executives imprisoned for nearly five years, in exchange for the release of two nephews of President Nicholas Maduro's wife who had been jailed for years by the United States on drug smuggling convictions. (Posted on Twitter by Jorge Arreaza/Venezuela's Foreign Ministry via AP File)

WASHINGTON (AP)  In a rare softening of hostile relations, the White House said Saturday that Venezuela freed seven Americans imprisoned in the South American country and the United States released two nephews of President Nicholas Maduros wife who had been jailed for years on drug smuggling convictions.

The swap of the Americans, including five oil executives held for nearly five years, is the largest trade of detained citizens ever carried out by the Biden administration.

These individuals will soon be reunited with their families and back in the arms of their loved ones where they belong, President Joe Biden said in a statement. Today, after years of being wrongfully detained in Venezuela, we are bringing home the seven men, whom the president cited by name. We celebrate that seven families will be whole once more.

The White House said Biden had spoken with the families and that the men were in stable health and have been offered a range of support services, including medical care.

Maduros government said in a statement that it was releasing the American citizens as a humanitarian gesture. It praised the diplomacy that resulted in the freeing of the two unjustly imprisoned Venezuelans imprisoned in the United States and said it hopes for the preservation of peace and harmony with all the nations of our region and the world.

The exchange amounts to an unusual gesture of goodwill by Maduro as the socialist leader looks to rebuild relations with the U.S. after vanquishing most of his domestic opponents. The deal follows months of back channel diplomacy by Washington's top hostage negotiator and other U.S. officials  secretive talks with a major oil producer that took on greater urgency after sanctions on Russia put pressure on global energy prices.

The transfer took place in a country between the U.S. and Venezuela after the men in the deal arrived in separate planes, the Biden administration said.

Those freed include five employees of Houston-based Citgo  Tomeu Vadell, Jose Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, Jorge Toledo and Jose Pereira  who were lured to Venezuela right before Thanksgiving in 2017 to attend a meeting at the headquarters of the company's parent, state-run-oil giant PDVSA. Once there, they were hauled away by masked security agents who busted into a Caracas conference room.

I cant believe it, said Vadell's daughter, Cristina, when contacted in Houston by The Associated Press. Holding back tears of joy on her 31st birthday, she said: This is the best birthday present ever. Im just so happy.

Also released was Matthew Heath, a former U.S. Marine corporal from Tennessee who was arrested in 2020 at a roadblock in Venezuela on what the State Department has called specious weapons charges, and Florida man, Osman Khan, who was arrested in January.

The United States freed Franqui Flores and his cousin Efrain Campo nephews of First Combatant Cilia Flores, as Maduro has called his wife. The men were arrested in Haiti in a Drug Enforcement Administration sting in 2015 and immediately taken to New York to face trial. They were convicted the following year in a highly charged case that cast a hard look at U.S. accusations of drug trafficking at the highest levels of Maduros administration.

Both men were granted clemency by Biden before the release.

The Biden administration has been under pressure to do more to bring home the roughly 60 Americans it believes are held hostage abroad or wrongfully detained by hostile foreign governments. While much of the focus is on Russia, where the U.S. has so far tried unsuccessfully to secure the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner and another American, Paul Whelan, Venezuela has been holding the largest contingent of Americans suspected of being used as bargaining chips.

At least four other Americans remain detained in Venezuela, including two former Green Berets involved in a slapdash attempt to oust Maduro in 2019, and two other men who, like Khan, were detained for allegedly entering the country illegally from neighboring Colombia.

To all the families who are still suffering and separated from their loved ones who are wrongfully detained - know that we remain dedicated to securing their release, Biden said in his statement.

His administration did not release another prisoner long sought by Maduro: Alex Saab, an insider businessman who Venezuela considers a diplomat and U.S. prosecutors a corrupt regime enabler. Saab fought extradition from Cape Verde, where he was arrested last year during a stopover en route to Iran, and is now awaiting trial in Miami federal court on charges of siphoning off millions in state contracts.

The oil executives were convicted of embezzlement last year in a trial marred by delays and irregularities. They were sentenced to between eight years and 13 years in prison for a never-executed proposal to refinance billions in the oil companys bonds. Maduro at the time accused them of treason, and Venezuelas supreme court upheld their long sentences earlier this year. The men have all pleaded not guilty and the State Department has regarded them  and the two other Americans freed on Saturday  as wrongfully detained.

____

Goodman reported from Miami.
A united Ireland will only succeed if its creation is endorsed by convincing majorities in the north and south of the island, Leo Varadkar has said.

The Republic of Irelands deputy premier said while 50% plus one was enough on paper and in law to win referenda on unification, he said in reality such a margin would not be a recipe for success.

In a speech at an Irish unity rally in Dublin organised by Irelands Future, the Fine Gael leader warned that those advocating the dream of a united Ireland must ensure constitutional change is not seen as nightmare by others.

The Tanaiste said the aspirations of unionists could not be silenced or wished away as he cautioned that unification could only be achieved through consensus.

Tanaiste and leader of the Fine Gael party Leo Varadkar (Niall Carson/PA)

He said compromise would be needed when it came to designing the shape of a united Ireland, suggesting that a devolved parliament at Stormont could be retained in a new state, with Northern Ireland also having a separate police service, health service and education system. He said existing north-south and east-west political bodies may also continue.

Some members of the audience at the 3Arena booed when Mr Varadkar outlined the structures that he thought could potentially be retained in the event of reunification.

Mr Varadkar, who will once again become Taoiseach in December, said cross community engagement both within Northern Ireland and between north and south was currently far short of what would be needed to build a new Ireland.

The Fine Gael TD, who has made clear he does not think the conditions are currently right for a border poll, said there was danger of placing too much focus on referenda, when the priority should be on trying to increase engagement and build trust.

A shared, united and new Ireland is something that many Irish people have dreamt about for many years, he told the rally.

It is a noble and legitimate aspiration, and one that I share.

It is an idea that has come a long way in a very short time. When I was growing up in the 1980s, an event like this would have been criticised for being destructive and divisive, if it happened at all.

Decades of violence sullied the dream of unification.

In the 1990s, peace changed everything. Old hatreds were replaced by a new hope. We won the freedom to dream anew. We dared to ask what was the next stepping stone in our national story.

But with that freedom comes a challenge, a responsibility on all of us to ensure that our dreams do not become someone elses nightmare. A challenge to avoid replicating the mistakes of the past. Imposing our will on the unwilling.

Mr Varadkar said a recurring theme in Irish history was the failure to find a solution that works for all.

We know what that has led to: a history of resentment, violence, bitterness and betrayal. A legacy of pain. A divided Ireland. A divided people, he said.

There are opposing dreams on this island which cannot be ignored, cannot be wished away, and cannot be silenced. Those approaches failed in the past and they will fail now and in the future.

Our own long history has taught us that a dream imposed by force is no dream at all.

What has succeeded is respect for other opinions, a willingness to work for the collective good and a belief in consensus. Ourselves together.

We need to acknowledge that cross community engagement in Northern Ireland and between the North and the South remains far short of where it needs to be if we want to build this new and united Ireland.

There is a distinct danger that we could focus too much on a border poll and on future constitutional models, and not enough on how we enhance engagement, build trust and create the conditions for a convincing majority for change, which is what we want

So we need to engage with unionists that we have here today and that growing group who identify as Northern Irish rather than British or Irish and indeed those who identify as both, that middle ground. We also need to acknowledge the right of northern nationalists to have equal recognition in this debate.

We cant build our future based on narrow majorities or on the wishes of just one community. For these reasons, I believe our objective should be to secure as large a majority as possible in both jurisdictions in any future poll.

50% plus one may be enough on paper and in law, and I dont dispute that for a moment, but a majority so narrow is not a recipe for success.

Our only hope depends on presenting a proposal  north and south  that will be able to achieve democratic consent and this will involve compromise.

Mr Varadkar said there was a need to develop imaginative models for what a united Ireland could look like. He suggested that could potentially involve Northern Ireland retaining a devolved parliament, its own courts, education system, police and health service.

Some might see that as no change, but the biggest change would be the most important one  the sovereign government would be the Irish one, he added.

The right to be Irish, British, or both, and accepted as such would continue, as enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement. In the main, symbols would not change without agreement.

Colleagues, it cannot be a forced set of relationships, it cannot be based on ultimatums or demands.

It should not be the triumph of one tribe over the other. Because otherwise we will all suffer and it wont succeed.

Mr Varadkar concluded by stressing the need to include unionist voices in future conversations on unification.

I believe we need to have more events like this, and we need to fill them with more voices who challenge our views and force us to confront uncomfortable realities, he said.

And we need to applaud those views as strongly as we cheer those who tell us what we want to hear.

That will send out a message  across this island and across the world  that we are genuinely interested in what can be achieved together.

I believe we can do this in the years ahead. We can make this a shared dream for a shared island.


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YEREVAN, OCTOBER 1, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sent a congratulatory message to the President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping on the occasion of the 73rd anniversary of the founding of China. The message reads as follows,

"Your Excellency,

I warmly congratulate you and the friendly people of China on the occasion of the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Under your leadership, China has recorded successes in the direction of political and socio-economic progress, as well as further strengthening of your country's international reputation. Further development of relations and expansion of cooperation with a reliable partner like China in both bilateral and multilateral formats is of primary importance for Armenia.

I reaffirm my willingness to continue promoting further deepening of cooperation between our countries with joint efforts for the benefit of two friendly peoples.

Taking this opportunity, I wish success in holding the upcoming 20th national Congress of the Communist Party of the People's Republic of China and I want to emphasize that it will be of key importance for summing up the achievements and success of China and the Chinese people and addressing future challenges.

I wish Your Excellency good health and fruitful activity, and lasting prosperity and peace to the friendly people of China.



****

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sent also a congratulatory message to Li Keqiang, Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China

"Your Excellency,

On behalf of the Armenian people and myself, I warmly congratulate you and the friendly people of China on the occasion of the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Armenia attaches great importance to the continuous strengthening of Armenian-Chinese interstate relations based on mutual warm ties for the benefit of the Armenian and Chinese peoples.

The year 2022 was marked by the 30-year anniversary of diplomatic relations between our countries, which became an important point for summarizing the recorded success and achievements, as well as for outlining the vision of future cooperation.

The relations between our countries have a great potential for deepening, which is evidenced by the dialogue based on mutual respect and trust, the high level of mutual support and cooperation on international platforms, similar approaches to various issues of the international agenda.

I am sure that thanks to joint efforts and firm steps, we will succeed in continuously expanding and qualitatively raising the established active dialogue and multi-layered interaction between our countries to a new level.

I wish you health, happiness and success, and peace and prosperity to the friendly people of China," the message states.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 1, ARMENPRESS. California State Assembly member Adrin Nazarians Bill to Establish Genocide Remembrance Day as a State Holiday is Signed Into Law North Hollywood, CA  In a historic moment for the Golden State, Assembly member Nazarian (D-North Hollywood) celebrated the announcement of Governor Gavin Newsom, who signed the Assembly members bill, AB 1801, into law, ARMENPRESS was informed from Adrin Nazarians Office.

AB 1801 establishes April 24th as Genocide Remembrance Day as a state holiday in the State of California and offers residents of the state an opportunity to reflect on past and present genocides, including, but not limited to, the Holocaust, Holodomor, and the Genocides of the Armenian, Assyrian, Greek, Cambodian, and Rwandan communities.

I cannot thank the Governor enough for his support of this bill. As a member of a community impacted by genocide, its hard to describe how much this means to those of us who have endured the often intentional denial of our pain and history for so long. Today, the largest state in the union and the 5th largest economy in the world has taken a stand to annually recognize the impacts of genocide. To all those who have been lost to genocide, we remember you. To all those who live with the impacts of genocide, we stand with you, Nazarian said.

AB 1801 made it through the legislature unanimously and enjoyed the support of the Armenian Assembly of America, Jewish World Watch and the Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region and many others who worked and testified on behalf of the bill. The signing of AB 1801 culminates a blockbuster legislative year for the retiring Assembly member after he learned 12 out of 13 of his bills he authored this session were signed into law. Elected in 2012, Assembly member Nazarian represents the San Fernando Valley and portions of Hollywood.
Once it became clear that Raj CM Ashok Gehlot was not in the fray for the election of the next Cong prez, a host of names did the rounds

In their own ways, both former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh and Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor got played in the ongoing election of the next Congress president. Clearly nudged by party president Sonia Gandhi, Mr Singh suddenly jumped into the fray and was all set to file his nomination papers. But the proverbial rug was pulled from under his feet when overnight, the Gandhis decided that veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge was a more suitable candidate. According to Congress insiders, this last-minute change took place after several party members called up Sonia and Priyanka Gandhi to express their unhappiness over Mr Singhs candidature and warned that he would prove to be a liability to the party. Mr Singh was left red-faced as he had asked several delegates from Madhya Pradesh to be present in Delhi when he filed his nomination papers. All those who arrived in Delhi for this occasion eventually ended up standing in Mr Kharges support. On his part, Mr Tharoor was expecting the support of several G-23 leaders, including Anand Sharma and Manish Tewari, after he spoke to them about his decision to contest for the party presidency. None of them opposed his decision but on the critical day of filing nominations, they all feigned surprise and instead supported Mr Kharges candidature.

Once it became clear that Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot was not in the fray for the election of the next Congress president, a host of names started doing the rounds. Former Haryana Congress chief Kumari Selja was among those who figured in the list of possible contenders. While this was all in the realm of speculation, former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda apparently got extremely agitated about the possibility of Ms Selja being favoured by the Gandhis for the party presidency given his longstanding rivalry with her. It is learnt that Mr Hooda was so incensed that he even planned to contest the polls himself. He was encouraged by his camp followers who said they would personally fetch the nomination papers for him. Mr Hooda must have heaved a sigh of relief now that Ms Selja is not in the race.

As in the case of the yet-to-be elected Congress president, Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shindes stint in power is also believed to be a stop-gap arrangement. According to the political grapevine in Mumbai, the Bharatiya Janata Party is essentially awaiting the election of the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. The BJP is depending on Mr Shinde to wrest control of the corporation from the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena. If the BJP succeeds in its endeavour, it is entirely possible that it will then ask Mr Shinde to relinquish the chief ministers post, leaving him no choice but to accept a role as a junior partner. On his part, Mr Shinde is working assiduously to take full control of the Shiv Sena so that he can legitimately claim to be the real Sena. To this end, he spends his time travelling and meeting workers across the state while governance has been outsourced to a retired bureaucrat and a favoured civilian. But deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is not complaining as he gets to call the shots.

The recent meeting between RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and representatives of the Muslim community has created quite a few ripples. Shahid Siddiqui, vice-president of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, who was among the five who interacted with Mr Bhagwat, was all praise for the RSS chief, described the meeting as pleasant and said it was important to keep the dialogue alive. It would be interesting to know if RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary is in agreement with Mr Siddiqui and whether he was aware of this meeting. The RLD is currently in the Opposition camp but Mr Siddiquis positive remarks about Mr Bhagwat has led to murmurs that this could signal the start of new political equations in Uttar Pradesh. On the other hand, Abdul Khalique, secretary general in Chirag Paswans faction of the Lok Janshakti Party, has blasted the five Muslim representatives who met Mr Bhagwat. Unlike Mr Chaudhary, Chirag Paswan is positively inclined towards the BJP despite the fact that it engineered a split in the LJP. What does the young Paswan have to say about Khaliques outburst, is the question doing the rounds.

Netas and abhinetas in Kolkata are in for a tough time this Puja. For no one is a VIP now. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has decreed that VIPs will be designated as invitees and that puja committees will not make special arrangements for them. Being designated a VIP was critical for hopping from pandal to pandal and avoiding long queues to see the newest version of the goddess. The biggest and most novel "theme" pujas are mostly Trinamul Congress pujas, as these committees are headed by big time netas. But many organisers are struggling to keep the celebrations going this year as netas are not spending as generously as they did in the past for fear of a crackdown.
Shreya Sen-Handley is the author of the award-winning 'Memoirs of My Body', short story collection 'Strange', and new travelogue 'Handle With Care', and a columnist and playwright. Her Twitter and Insta handle is @shreyasenhan.

Pointing inquisitors to this column every time a royal question is popped, Id be at liberty to return to my pleasantly royalty-free life

The only questions asked of the British last month, whether royalist or not (Im definitely NOT), are about the over-the-top royal funeral and its improbable aftermath.

Charles is finally King at 73  whoddathunk?

Having been asked my opinion of Charles more times in the last weeks than Ive given him, or any of his family, any thought in my 22 years in Britain, I concluded that I would have to furnish authoritative answers for the many grilling me. Gah.

Pointing inquisitors to this newspaper column every time a royal question is popped, Id be at liberty to return to my pleasantly royalty-free (in more senses than one) life.

FAQs:

1) What do you think of the monarchy?

I dont, but if you must ask, I agree with Napoleons espousal of a meritocracy. Of course we know he didnt institute one, becoming a monarch of sorts himself.

But isnt that ever the problem? You remove one entitled freeloader, only to find another sneaking into his p(a)lace.

After the beheading of the first King Charles in England, with much excitement about a republic being founded, Oliver Cromwell, the civilian rebel leader, only went and became a king himself.

This obviously springs from a flaw in human nature, which impels us to either become false gods, or worship them. If we must have them, Id rather they werent taxpayer-funded.

But I hear King Charles III has promised a slimmed-down monarchy. Well, huzzah, but I wont hold my breath.

2) Was Queen Elizabeth II your favourite grandmother, like shes everyone elses apparently?

Erm, no. My favourite grandmother was my own. A strong-willed, little Bengali woman who trekked across foreign lands in her sari, wrote family planning manuals for village women, and was imprisoned by the British in India for marching against them. The late Queens Dad would have (indirectly) done the jailing.

So, not even when Im deep in my Jane Austens, delighting in my clotted cream and scones, do I think of the Queen as Granny-Adorable!

That said, I dont dislike ERII. The British system being what it is, with little pressure to change, or make society equitable, she carried out her bequeathed role, with, by all accounts, considerable dedication.

And theres always some slight pleasure in having a female leader (though I draw the line at finding Liz Truss premiership joyful).

3) Can King Charles III be a force for good?

Ask instead why he didnt call himself King Arthur  Once and Future King? With Arthur as one of his middle names, adopting it as his kingly appellation would have been fitting, if grandiose; but what about royalty isnt the latter? Association with the legendary Arthur would have been a quick win. On the other hand, the two King Charles that preceded ours, in losing their heads in more ways than one, hadnt exactly covered themselves with glory.

Can we hope that Charles reasons for persisting with his benighted name arent practical alone, and hes starting as he means to proceed  by not allowing the institution to obscure the individual he is?

And who be that, pray?

Not the best husband definitely! But when have we ever held that against male celebrities? Perhaps not even a doting father, if his ups and downs with Harry are indicative. But the royal household and British rags played their part in both debacles.

Bullied as a boy in school, and even in adulthood by his family (if the Netflix hit The Crown is to be believed), and by the British media even recently, if Charles could draw on his own experiences of harassment to understand his multicultural country, he could be that rare British monarch with empathy.

He might already have the makings

An ecological champion long before it was fashionable, hes also a major patron of the arts in Britain; batting for organisations with the gumption to employ gobby brown folk like me.

A progressive sovereign capable of representing a plurality?

Gorblimey!

4) Who wore the nattier mourning hat  Kate or Meghan?

Blech. If for nothing else but her mistreatment by the press, and sometimes the public, the best hat prize should be Meghans unquestionably.

But the burning question remains

5) How many marmalade sandwiches were ingested in the worlds most unctuous queue to see their dear departed Queen?

No expert on marmalade sandwiches (though the occasional jam tart is scrumpy, thank ye), I reckon even the Queens best bud Paddington cant count the millions consumed!

Snaking from Buckingham Palace to well, hell, nearly Germany, from whence the Windsors took wing, this British queue to beat all British queues (and thats saying sumfink, trust me), lasted 336 hours, embraced a gazillion gammons, and broke a Guinness World Record or ten easily.

The British love for toeing the line in their own country but flouting every rule of civilised society around the world is legendary. Almost as well-known as their history of being jammy.

The pluck and luck are ebbing, but the herd instinct abides.

Yet, isnt this embarrassingly long and servile queue further evidence of a worldwide disease? Arent we all guilty of capitulating to the cult of celebrity?

Whether Hollywood/Bollywood stars, rapacious oligarchs, or political strongmen, we glory in falling at their (usually mediocre) feet. It isnt even new, because humanitys always kowtowed to Trumped-up potentates, and worshipped false divinities.

From the dawn of time, you see, weve all been royally FAQ-ed.
KUWAIT

After two years, women return to parliament. Two opposition candidates, Jenan Bushehri and Alia Al Khaled, won their election battle on Sept. 29. Of the 50 seats up for grabs, opposition forces gained 28

CHINA-UCRAINE

Beijing abstained yesterday in voting on a resolution condemning Russian annexation of occupied territories in Ukraine. In addition to Moscow's foregone vote against it, India's abstention was added. The U.S. and its allies, initiators of the initiative, will now present the document to the General Assembly, where vetoes are not contemplated.

JAPAN

Wrestling (wrestling) champion Antonio Inoki, who was also well known in Italy, especially in the 1980s, has died at the age of 79: famous was his exhibition match with Muhammad Ali in Tokyo in 1976. The iconic wrestler was also for several terms a member of the upper house of the national parliament.

MALAYSIA

Umno, the main party in the ruling majority, is calling for early elections by the end of 2022. The vote is expected to be held in September 2023. The opposition is opposed, arguing that holding elections in November is difficult because of possible seasonal flooding.

INDIA

Former diplomat and veteran of Indian politics Shashi Tharoor is given as the favorite in the Congress presidential race. The vote is scheduled for Oct. 17; he would be the first non-Gandhi-Nehru dynasty leader in 25 years. The historic party has long been in crisis, overpowered by PM Modi's BJP.

RUSSIA

According to various polls, the military mobilization has caused Putin's popularity among the Russian population to plummet from 83 percent to 77 percent in just a few days. It is the most significant drop since 2018, when the president had raised the retirement age despite promises, losing 9% approval rating in one month. Less than 60 percent of Russians believe that "we are going in the right direction."

GEORGIA

The opposition National Movement party has proposed that parliament discuss a bill introducing an "occupation tax" to be applied to all fleeing Russians arriving in the country. The reason is Russia's control over Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Tourists would also have to pay at least 0 for this.
by Mathias Hariyadi

They date back to the late 1800s, early 1900s. Earthenware items and the remains of a river transportation system unearthed. A special museum will be created in the future station. The Dutch had equipped the old capital with a streetcar network and canals connecting different neighborhoods.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Excavation work for the new city subway has uncovered findings of historical value dating back to the Dutch colonial era. The discovery occurred in the capital's "old" district (Jakarta Kota), between Hotel Indonesia Rotunda and Ancol: the future metro will connect the central and western parts of the metropolis.

Most of the discoveries are earthenware items dated in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The remains of a city river system are from the same period. According to Junus Satrio Atmodjo, an archaeologist at the University of Indonesia, these are priceless historical finds.

Silvia Halim, director of works for the metro, assured that construction will take place in a way that preserves the discoveries. A special museum will also be set up in the main station.

In the days of the Dutch colonial regime, old Jakarta had a modern streetcar system, as well as a river network that connected the different city districts. Jan Pieterzoon Coen, governor of the city, began construction of the navigation canal system in 1648, commissioning the Chinese engineer Poa Beng Gan.

This year Jakarta (originally called Batavia) celebrates 495 years since its founding.
Transatlantic Trends 2022 reveals results of survey conducted in 14 Atlantic Alliance member states. U.S. calls for tougher approach toward Beijing; Turks more dialogic. However, the survey was conducted before Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in August.

Taipei (AsiaNews) - In the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, public opinion in 14 NATO countries prefers an Atlantic Alliance intervention with diplomatic means and sanctions against China, rather than sending weapons to the Taiwanese or troops. This was revealed in the Transatlantic Trends 2022 released this week by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the German Bertelsmann Foundation.

The survey was conducted in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the UK and the US. 35% of respondents favor diplomatic action in the event of a crisis; 32% are for economic and financial sanctions. Only 4% would send arms to Taipei, while even fewer (2%) would be ready to deploy NATO troops in the conflict.

The U.S. public is the most inclined to send arms and soldiers, with the Turks more open to dialogue with the Chinese. Overall, the majority of respondents in the different states involved in the survey call for a tougher policy toward Beijing.

However, the results of the study, conducted between June and July, do not take into account the effects of the August visit to Taipei by Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, to which the Chinese responded with a prolonged series of military exercises. The island is regarded by Beijing as a "rebel" province to be recaptured even with the use of force.
by Stefano Caprio

Amid sporadic protest and resistance , resignation seems to predominate in Russia today. Russians are afraid of losing Putin because they do not know what may await them next. Kirill's opacity and Orthodox theologian Georgij Kocetkov's prophecy: "Let each of us learn to live in Christ, so that we are not ashamed of our faith and our lives... We must seek the way of service to God and neighbor, even if there is an enemy before you."

After ten days of mobilization, Russia is permeated by an apocalyptic sense of self-destruction, with clashing feelings of panic and resignation, which makes this whole year of war a huge chasm of society and consciousness, from which it is not known how it will be possible to get out. In addition to the interminable queues of fugitives, whose numbers now exceed those of the soldiers at the front (over 250,000 emigrants are spoken of), there were spontaneous and disorganized protest actions in many cities, with more than a thousand barracks damaged by Molotov bombs and more than two thousand people arrested for sedition and draft dodging.

The most heated and violent demonstrations took place in Dagestan, the southernmost Caucasian republic in the Russian Federation, and also the most affected by losses by fighters in Ukraine. Policemen were unable to disperse the crowd in the square in Makhackala even by firing into the air, and further resistance is expected in the area and in other outlying provinces of the empire, which had so far sacrificed for everyone. Still, in most regions there was little opposition, and people lined up with bowed heads, perhaps carrying bags full of vodka bottles, the only real weapon of Russian resistance to the blows of fate.

Amid sporadic protests, resignation seems to predominate, a hallmark of the Russian people since time immemorial, and particularly evident in these months of war exaltation, welcomed by the people as a fatal consequence of their historical faults and their own nature irreducible to universal standards. Those who oppose it remain mostly women, deprived of the support of their children and husbands and who have always been the "critical conscience" of the Russian people, while the male population finds no arguments to escape state violence. The limited critical mass of Naval'nyy dissidents has long since been reduced to silence, lager or exile; local protests, for that matter, are easy to control in the peripheries of the empire, according to the ever-valid principle of "divide and rule" inevitable over such a vast territory.

A real revolt, many analysts say, will only be possible in the face of defeat on the ground, when it becomes clear that the war has not fulfilled the regime's dreams of grandeur, leaving the country in international isolation and economic and social stagnation. The classic example is that of February (actually March 8) 1917, the first revolution in Petrograd, when the few soldiers left to defend the institutions decided to leave the field to the women's protest for bread, abandoning the tsar to his fate at the front of World War I, with the armies destined to succumb to the Germans. It was the end of the tsarist empire, although the inability to find an alternative ended up handing the country over to Lenin and Trotsky's Soviets.

Russia's situation is not yet critical economically speaking. Western sanctions will be felt over time with gradual severity, but Russian tables still have bread and vodka, however much this is likely to run out by year's end. The grotesque proclamation of "victory" through the annexation of four small Ukrainian regions is hardly enough to hearten lost spirits, trying wearily to replicate the enthusiasm for the 2014 Crimea recovery. If the Sevastopol peninsula, a classic summer vacation spot, could ignite easy enthusiasms, the territories in and around the Don do not elicit as much satisfaction, and very few Russians can distinguish them on maps.

Moreover, the submission of Russians to Putin is characterized by the anonymity of the ruling class, a very Soviet legacy of the generation to which the current "pseudo-zar" of the Kremlin himself belongs. Putin is not a true "strongman," he is not a charismatic leader, and he does not tend toward the exaltation of the cult of personality in the manner of Stalin. He came to the throne (it seems) a hundred years ago, no longer known whether in democracy or already in autocracy, holder of the Soviet license of the only professional organization of power (the KGB), is a mediocre man in cultural and even religious expression, despite demonstrations of loyalty to the Orthodox Church. His consensus is not with the person, but with the system he identifies as gray, and time with physical weaknesses increasingly liken him to the likes of Brezhnev or Cernenko, or the dullness of mediocre czars like Nicholas I or Alexander III, rather than Ivan the Terrible or Lenin. Putin's perpetuity at the helm is a guarantee of the only real quality of power that interests ordinary people: stability, the exclusion of internal conflicts, the guarantee of continuity to stave off revolts and coups, and the uniformity of the political landscape, analogous to the geographical landscape of Russia's endless lands.

Russians are afraid of losing Putin, because they do not know what may await them next, certainly nothing good, knowing what excesses the Russian people are capable of in one sense or another. The Americans are childish, the Europeans are decadent, the Asians are treacherous: we Russians are good and dear, if they let us live in peace, that's what the mass of the population thinks. After Stalin's death there was the convulsive phase of internal struggles in the Politburo, with the group of Molotov, Malenkov and Kaganovic trying to take out Khruscev, who won by sending everyone else to jail or retirement, to endure a convulsive decade, the "Khrushevik spring" later resulting in the long Brezhnev stagnation. These are the atmospheric times of the very short spring and the very long winter, which are reflected in Russian society and soul: it is useless to seek change, we only stir in the mud of the thaw.

The religious aspect of these feelings of passivity and skepticism, for that matter, are also well represented by the opacity of the church hierarchies themselves beginning with Patriarch Kirill, a man of power himself of long standing, and certainly not an example of sanctity recognized by popular devotion. Although a far more established and popular figure than Putin, with a certain ability to educate crowds on the great values of religion, Kirill also belongs to a distant and anonymous elite, unlike the starets who welcome the faithful seeking enlightenment at the end of pilgrimages to the great monasteries. The rhetoric of the "crusades" does not really stand on conviction of faith, on the need to redeem the world from immorality and secularist degradation. Rather, guilt, and the need for one's own redemption prevails.

One of the "alternative" priests still from the days of anti-Soviet religious dissent, 72-year-old theologian Georgij Kocetkov, speaking at a religious festival in 2019 called on all Russians to repentance: "We do not fully realize our faults, because of our duplicity and laziness, our pride and resentment, our lack of lucidity that often becomes intoxication, our hope in nothingness...none of us deny that the results of totalitarianism are terrible, but it is easy for us to shrug our shoulders for the past and not see the faults of the present." Father Georgij's response is disarming: "We chose all this, we let it happen, and now is the time to repent."

Among the sins for which to ask forgiveness, Kocetkov recalls inveterate racism and anti-Semitism, which "makes people everywhere see the Judeo-Masonic conspiracy against us," and the presumption of the superiority of the Russian people over all others, "encompassing Ukrainians and Belarusians, who are not granted the dignity of being autonomous peoples, and appropriating what we want to refer to the Russian world in every other nation." Father believes that an inveterate "Soviet legacy" prevails in all this, polluting every other expression of national consciousness, and that it is high time to seek "a third way," a rediscovery of faith in Christ, not in the greatness of Holy Russia: "that each of us learn to live in Christ, so that we are not ashamed of our faith and our life... when panic spreads, we try to hide behind the stove, but this is not Christian behavior, we must seek the way of service to God and neighbor, even if there is an enemy in front of you: we must learn to love our enemies."

As Father Georgij writes further in his blog, "Russians are all those who love the beauty of Russia and intend to share our responsibility for our history, for our present and our future, for the whole world... true Russians are those who see in their neighbors a Russian man to be loved, to be helped to walk together on the paths of life."

Putin's mobilization is based on the assumption that "there are only enemies around us who want to destroy our country." This could be an opportunity to live the path of conversion suggested by Father Kocetkov: around there are only enemies to love, with whom to build together another future.

RUSSIAN WORLD IS THE ASIANEWS NEWSLETTER DEDICATED TO RUSSIA.

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Set in 2035, the story painted a pretty convincing image of how life on Mars will be for the first people to get there. More specifically, it showed the challenges Watney had to overcome when left all alone, especially when it comes to securing himself shelter and food.We all know what the man did for food. At one point, he was forced to use his own poop (and his crewmates', nicely stored in bags and left behind) as fertilizer to grow potatoes, his main (and pretty much only) source of nutrients on the planet.Sometime soon, perhaps in 2035 even, humans will send some of their best people to Mars. For real. And they too will face challenges, even if theyll probably not be, in scala and drama, like those experienced by Watney.One of the biggest challenges for any such mission is resource generation. From water and fuel to oxygen and food, what well send along is all there is, and it will probably not be enough for a prolonged mission there.Thats why a concept called in-situ resource utilization ( ISRU ) is getting increased traction. It basically means making use of and taking advantage of the resources present at the site of exploration to advance the missions goals. And theres no other readily available such resource as the astronauts own waste.By waste, we generally mean everything that results from a humans action of, well, living. For the purposes of this piece, we dont mean poop as is, like Watneys. Today, were going to go a bit into an idea of a Spanish technological center called Tekniker, of turning astronaut broader waste into fuel.By waste, Tekniker means wastewater (which is, basically, sewage, poop included) and greywater (meaning used water, only without fecal maters).Back in January 2021, the team published a paper called Photoelectrochemical system for CO2 reduction to produce fuels and sewage treatment. It calls for the creation of a reactor meant to produce rocket fuel by making use of the massive amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) present in the Martian atmosphere, the light coming from the Sun, and said astronaut waste.The photoelectrochemical would pull in atmospheric CO2, but also waste- and greywater, and using high-efficiency catalytic materials would produce hydrocarbons (like, say methane), carbon monoxide, and alcohol, which could be used as fuel, but also for other purposes.In the process of doing all this, the system would generate water as a bi-product, but not contaminated one, as it came in, but detoxified and ready to be re-used for whatever purposes once more.At the time of writing, all of the above is just an idea on a piece of paper . The European Space Agency (ESA) is backing it through its Basic Activities program, and who knows, maybe soon itll become a real piece of hardware.When and if it does, it could really open the doors to a glorious future of space exploration, when astronauts do not have to carry return fuel (or fuel to push their exploration even further) with them.Why, we could even envision a future when the photoelectrochemical generator could be used not only to generate fuel here on Earth as well, but also to make the water we use clean again and put it back into our hands for use.
Delfast began as a courier service in Kyiv, Ukraine, and ended up gaining a global reputation with its reliable, moped-like electric bikes. It also holds a Guinness World Record for the greatest distance traveled on a single charge, 228 miles (367 km) to be more exact.The California model has just been unveiled by Delfast as a powerful, intelligent, Class 3 wheeler thats built to go the distance. It was designed at the companys Los Angeles headquarters right after the war broke out.Available in five different colors, the e-bike fits riders between 5 ft (152 cm) and 6.3 ft (190.5 cm). Featuring a proprietary Delfast steel U-frame, the bike is quite hefty, tipping the scales at 66 lb (30 kg). It has a maximum load capacity of 264 lb (120 kg).The full suspension Delfast California packs 20 x 3 all-terrain tires, is equipped with mechanical disc brakes, integrated LED lights, and a large color display.In addition to its sturdy construction, the wheeler also boasts impressive tech inside. It comes with built-in location tracking, a dedicated app, Bluetooth lock and unlock, and a customizable alarm that is triggered if someone moves the bike to give you just the highlights.Moving on to the performance of the Delfast California, the e-bike features a 750W Bafang mid-drive motor with a maximum torque of 160 Nm. That motor gets its juice from a 48V/20Ah Li-ion battery that claims to offer an impressive range of up to 100 miles (161 km) per charge. Around four hours are required for the battery to fully recharge. The e-bike can hit up to 28 mph (45 kph) and can go from 0 to maximum speed in just five seconds.If you liked what you read so far and are thinking about getting yourself a Delfast California , youll have to wait just a bit longer. The e-bike will launch on Indiegogo in a month, which is when youll be able to grab one for an early bird price of $2,000. The estimated delivery date is June or July 2023. And here's another incentive for ordering yourself this wheeler: Delfast says that a percentage of the California revenue will go into supporting the Ukrainian resistance.Meanwhile, you should sign up on the manufacturers website to stay informed on the soon-to-kick-off campaign. Also, you can take a better look at the e-bike in the video below.
kWh

SUV

ICE

EV

It's an all-electric side-by-side UTV that can replace your pickup truck out in the fields while simultaneously being so much fun it feels like it shouldn't be legal. The new Ranger XP Kinetic is by no means the effort of a single company. It's the particularly fruitful result of a collaboration begun in 2020 between Polaris and one of the fastest-rising forces in American electric motorbikes, Zero Motorcycles. As we can now attest, these two parties joining forces can create some real fireworks. The Polaris R&D Proving Grounds, in a small town outside Minneapolis, Minnesota, served as a fitting playground. As you'd expect it to be. Just look at who owns this property. On the grass outside the vast facility's main office building was a fleet of new Ranger XP Kinetics for us to play with. Before we set off, Polaris personnel spoke with the press on site about their eagerness to prove they could fulfill the needs of their native gasoline-powered loving clientele and people desiring an electric alternative.As mentioned above, the heart and soul of the Kinetic XP is a Zero Motorcycles-derived battery-EV powertrain that shares a large degree of functionality with their proprietary brushless DC electric motorcycle powertrains. In short, it's 15 years' worth of experience in lightweight electric drivetrains pairing up with an industry leader in 4x4 UTVs and off-road vehicles. The results of their efforts are nothing short of profound. Polaris comes out of the gate strong with a special drivetrain energy rating of 28.9on the battery specifically for the top-of-the-line Ranger UTV application. Models lower down in the model lineup settle for a 14.9 kWh unit, both are lithium-ion batteries. The estimated battery range from full to zero for either package of 80 miles (128.75 km) with the Ultimate and 40 miles (64.3 km) with lower trims beats many highway-approved passenger EVs from only a handful of years ago.Charge times to full vary depending on your choice of level one or two charging systems, and choice of 120 or 240-volt power outlets. Times range between 3.5 and 20 hours depending on these factors. The performance figures are nothing at all to sneeze at, either. With 110 horsepower on offer alongside 140 lb-ft (189 Nm) of instantly available torque in such a light body, road-legal subcompacts exist on the market in 2022 with far less power.What does that translate to out in the dirt, sand, and gravel of the Minnesota forest? Well, if the fastest, meanest-looking thing you've ever driven is a crossover, it both feels and looks like the fastest and most badass-looking thing you've ever driven in your life. It's immediately obvious within the first few seconds of looking at the Kinetic KPs front fascia that it's an electric vehicle. With smooth, sculpted plastic taking the place of grille slits for the engine's radiator makes for an exterior that fits into the family tree quite well. All while remaining unique and special looking with its little, subtle changes. As it turns out, those little things add up fast.Climbing inside this electric UTV reveals a remarkably more automotive-looking interior than anyone who's only ever driven a car could have ever guessed. Sitting inside the cabin of the Kinetic XP could be a mind-blowing experience if you were expecting something more spartan. Plush foam bench seats are accented in a supple but durable vinyl material that almost tricks the brain into thinking you're in a normal car.The XP Kinetic's interior is tied together with a seven-inch multitouch infotainment display complete with Polaris' proprietary RideCommand+ software and matching smartphone app. From here, you can track your and your buddy's vehicles if they're also using the app using the integrated GPS with 75,000 miles (120,701 km) of pre-loaded trails across North America. You can also check the health status of vital components and read battering charging information while pairing your smartphone to its Bluetooth system for some killer riding jams. The added USB and power plug sockets in the rear bed can only aid in productivity.Just about every extra you could imagine is available with the Polaris Ranger XP Kinetic Ultimate edition. With further options including everything from 250-watt- ten-inch subwoofers, a Dash Audio Kit from JBL, and even power inverter hookups to help simple power appliances, the XP Kinetic just so happens to be a joyous vehicle to drive in absolutely every scenario Polaris' proving ground course threw at us that morning. Not only did the XP Kinetic accelerate like the closest thing to a Tesla Model S Plaid or Lucid Air to ever take the form of a UTV, they also did so to the tune of a delightful little whirring noise from the Zero Motorcycles electric motor.If you were expecting this vehicle to sound like a pencil sharpener or a food blender, you'd be dead wrong. But in a total one-up move compared to the equivalent-powered Ranger, the noise level inside the cabin of the electric XP Kinetic was downright tolerable. Indeed, knowing that some UTV riders using gas engines are forced to either shout over the sound of the engine or use wireless earpieces to talk to one another makes the idea of a quieterall the more salivating. It just makes things all the wilder when a bolt of torque seemingly from the hands of Mt Olympus throws you back in your seat when you put your foot down in this thing.Braking and handling were acceptable if just a bit spongey on the initial pressing of the brake pedal with your foot. Happily, the Kinetic's brake-regen system seemed to do a good job of taking care of the rest. Wheel articulation is available for days via coil spring suspension at all four corners with matching disk brakes. 4x4 UTVs need lots of ground clearance by nature, and not a single obstacle from trees to small boulders and inlined dusty, sandy hills like an oversized pre-school sandbox didn't stop any XP Kinetics in the fleet from ticking without skipping a beat.With sand in our helmets and adrenaline in our veins, we finally began to understand how others who've driven this UTV so far entered it thinking EVs, be they cars or something else, were all junk, only to exit wanting to buy one. That said, that's going to run you a pretty penny. With MSRPs starting at $24,999 for the Premium edition for the base model and $29,999 for the magnificently equipped Ultimate edition, the final price was $34,139 as presented with all the extras for that day's outing. for the delightfully equipped Ulitmate edition, you could buy a decent road-legal car for that money. But remember, UTV stands for a utility vehicle. Safe to say, most people who own one of these are going to be making their money back with a lot of hard, laborious work.Whoever buys an XP Kinetic will no doubt be hauling stuff in its bed or behind it via its trailer hitch. While its driver hops in and out perpetually to tend to a farm or some other form of off-road property, they'll no doubt appreciate how an EV wastes little to no energy sitting at idle RPMs. Or how its state-of-the-art battery allows the vehicle to stay out in the field for longer, resulting in getting the job done faster. This leads to more time left in the day to do some hooning.Especially after taking a brief spin in the equivalent XP1000 gasoline UTV, in which legitimate screaming was needed to communicate with the passenger, we'd take the electric XP Kinetic every day of the week. The EV happens to be almost 30 horsepower more powerful. 110, to the XP1000's 82. If that isn't a mic-drop moment, we don't know what is. But just in case you're not convinced, we leave with this statement. Gasoline-powered UTVs may be completely irrelevant in five years, that's how great this vehicle is. Easy five out of five stars in this category. Exorbitant price notwithstanding.Check out more in-depth reviews and test drives right here on autoevolution.
Unless youve been living under a rock, you know that Hyundai and Kia cars have become the most stolen vehicles in the U.S. for the 2015-2019 category, according to IIHSS-HLDI. The reason is that both Korean automakers wanted to save some bucks and did not install electronic immobilizers in many of their vehicles. This backfired after thieves discovered how easy it is to start the engine and drive off with a Kia or a Hyundai.Social media has been filled with videos describing the simple procedure of starting a Kia or a Hyundai. Theres even a TikTok challenge called Kia Challenge, rallying teenagers into stealing Korean cars. Kia Boyz is the name of a crime ring spreading like fire across the U.S., stealing Kia and Hyundai vehicles. This has pissed the owners, and many banded together to file class-action lawsuits, demanding Hyundai and Kia fix their problem or pay dearly.The two companies initially tried to dodge the bullet by claiming that their vehicles complied with all the legal requirements. Then they started distributing free steering wheel locks to areas most impacted by theft. Hyundai was brave enough to advise affected owners to buy and install a security kit at an authorized dealer. At their own expense, of course. Experts estimated the cost of the device at around $200, with another $500 for the installation.Now, Hyundai announced that the security devices have been shipped to dealers and are ready to be installed for $170 plus labor costs, which vary depending on the dealer. All 820 Hyundai dealers in the U.S. are authorized to install the kit, the company said on Friday, without providing a total cost estimate.The dealers have been notified and are currently receiving training bulletins and instructions on how to perform the installation, which will take about 2.5 hours to complete, Ira Gabriel, a spokesperson for Hyundai, told Automotive News . The kits are at our distribution centers, which are located around the country, so theyll have it in inventory this week.Hyundai is also working on a software update to secure targeted vehicles. The software fix should be available starting in the first half of 2023. The list of affected Hyundai models includes certain 2016-21 model year Accent, Elantra, Elantra GT, Sonata, Veloster, Venue, Kona, Tucson, Santa Fe, Santa Fe Sport, Santa Fe XL, and Palisade vehicles that use a steel key and do not have an engine immobilizer.This is still far from the right solution, which is to recall all affected vehicles and install the missing immobilizer. It is unclear how many would follow Hyundais recommendations, considering that a lot of affected cars are almost a decade old. Many owners are low-income and have likely bought their vehicles from the used-car market. They could not afford the costs of the security kit installation, even if they wanted.In the meantime, the class-action lawsuits are moving forward in 14 U.S. states, with possibly more to be filed. Those cases will likely get a nationwide solution, considering the rapidity with which the issues have spread and the number of cases reported. The result could be very costly for the two Korean companies. Experts estimate that around 10 million Hyundai and Kia vehicles are affected, a number that should scare anyone. Even a small compensation awarded to the plaintiffs could seriously impact the bottom line of both Kia and Hyundai.
An RDE works by using a form of pressure gain combustion in which one or more detonations go around an annular channel in a continuous loop. Through computational models and experiments, the RDE has been demonstrated to have great potential in transportation.Now, JAXA has successfully demonstrated that it can also have potential in deep space exploration. By creating detonation and compression waves at extremely high frequencies (1 to 100 kHz), the detonation engine greatly enhances reaction speed, reducing the weight of the rocket engine and allowing it to generate thrust more efficiently, further boosting its performance.This new engine system was installed on the No. 31 vehicle of the S-520 sounding rocket series operated by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. The rocket took off from JAXA Uchinoura Space Center on July 27th at 5:30 JST. The rotary detonation engine produced about 500 N (112 lbf) of thrust once the first stage was separated, which is only a fraction of what conventional rocket engines can achieve in space.The success of this space flight demonstration experiment has substantially enhanced the chances of the RDE being used in practical applications, including in rocket motors for deep space exploration, first-stage, and two-stage engines, and more.In the future, JAXA plans to apply detonation engine technology not only for deep space exploration missions but for other scientific operations as well. Reducing the size and weight of spacecraft systems could thus significantly aid interplanetary journeys.But JAXA is not the only agency working to develop detonation engine tech. Several U.S. organizations are also working on RDEs. The U.S. Navy is particularly interested in RDEs capability to reduce the fuel consumption in their heavy vehicles.In May 2020, a group of U.S. Air Force engineers claimed to have created a highly experimental functioning model of RDE capable of delivering 200 lbf (about 890 N) of thrust by using a hydrogen/oxygen fuel mix.
This means the chip crisis was, is, and will continue to be a major nightmare for all carmakers across the world despite all their efforts to secure the necessary supply in the short term.Toyota, for instance, has recently reported a record August , explaining that its attempts to reduce the disruptions caused by the semiconductor shortage paid off in August when the company recorded a significant bump in terms of sales and production versus the same month in 2021.But this doesnt necessarily mean that the chip crisis is over, and Toyota can return to the pre-2020 production levels. Not at all, and the recent announcement from the Japanese carmaker confirms the struggle continues.Toyota starts its latest press announcement by apologizing for the long waiting times that customers have no other option than to accept whenever they purchase a new car. However, the Japanese firm says the one to blame is the infamous mix of the health crisis and the shortage of parts, including semiconductors.As a result, the company says, theres no other way than to adjust the production once again, meaning that fewer cars would roll off the assembly lines in October than originally anticipated.More specifically, Toyota originally planned to build a total of 800,000 vehicles globally this month, but the company now says that its making additional adjustments to its domestic operations, so the number is going down by 50,000 units. In other words, a total of 750,000 vehicles sold by Toyota and its brands should theoretically see daylight in October.The company says it is temporarily shutting down the production at 5 lines in 5 plants (out of 28 lines and 14 plants) in Japan.The production suspensions will take place at the Tsutsumi, Tahara, Miyata, Inabe, and Hamura plants (keep in mind that only certain lines at these facilities would be impacted by the new adjustment). However, the production of several models would be affected, including RAV4, Prius, Corolla, Corolla Sport, Camry, Land Cruise Prado, Lexus GX, 4Runner, Lexus LS, IS, RC, RC F, and NX, as well as the Toyota FJ Cruiser.In other words, if you ordered one of these models, theres a chance you might have to wait even longer to get your hands on it.The Japanese carmaker, however, is confident that its production forecast for the fiscal year can still be reached. The company wants to build 9.7 million vehicles, so most likely, Toyota is hoping that the production can be accelerated at a later time to recover the downtime caused by the current lack of semiconductors.However, this implies a substantial recovery in terms of chip supply, and at this point, opinions are still divided over whether this is possible or not.General Motors CEO, for instance, doesnt believe the chip nightmare can be resolved this year , and in September, she said that the crisis is very likely to continue through 2023 and beyond. Its the beyond part the one thats concerning, as more and more industry experts seem to believe that the constrained inventory could remain a problem even after 2023.Intel previously forecasted that the chip shortage would be resolved earlier than 2024, explaining that other global problems and the lack of various materials would further fuel the crisis and lead to similar production struggles in the short term.Of course, guessing when the pre-2020 production levels would be restored is rather impossible right now, especially as foundries could encounter further challenges, including the lack of materials and equipment for the manufacturing of chips.
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The negotiations and contacts could result in something acceptable to us, he told Armenian Public Television. If its acceptable to us we will sign it.

Pashinian reiterated that Azerbaijan must recognize Armenias current borders through such an accord. Baku has still not expressed readiness to do so, he said.

Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York last week, Pashinian said that Baku is pushing for the kind of a treaty that would not prevent it from claiming or trying to occupy more Armenian territory.

Azerbaijani leaders have indicated, for their part, that the treaty should commit Yerevan to recognizing Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Pashinian was again vague on the possibility of such recognition which has prompted serious concern from the Armenian opposition and Karabakhs leadership.

There is an idea that the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan must be separated from the Karabakh issue, he said. Our view is that there may be no reference to the Karabakh issue in the peace treaty.

Similar comments made by Pashinian on September 14 sparked an antigovernment demonstration in Yerevan. Thousands of angry people rallied outside the Armenian parliament building to demand his removal from power.
One of two Texas brothers who authorities say opened fire on a group of migrants getting water near the U.S.-Mexico border was a warden at a detention facility with a history of abuse allegations
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Army Painter: We Hear You

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The Army Painter is looking for more feedback on how to improve their products.

When The Army Painter products came on the scene they had an okay start. Their colors were great but there was some issues with paint and binder separation that made for some issues. You could fix it with some intense shaking  but it wasnt easy.

On the flip side, they came in dropper bottles which was a big plus for a lot of folks. They also introduced their quickshade dips which were a fan of here at BoLS. They also had and still have some great primer colors at a good price, too. But for all those positives there were still some problems.



When You Talk, We Listen

One of the biggest complaints had been that the Warpaint lines paint separates  that is to say the pigment and the binders just sort of unmix and the only real fix is to shake the crap out of the bottles. To address this issue Army Painter has retrofitted their bottling machines to include two mixing balls in their paint bottles so that shaking them to remix the paint is now much easier. They work great and I can say from experience that using the paint from the Warpaint line is just as easy as youd expect.

But they arent done yet. The are putting out an open call for more feedback on their products. On top of that they are also looking for more ideas from the Wargaming/Hobby community. If youve got an idea for a product or an improvement to an existing one they want know about it. This is an open invitation to make their products better.



Personally, I think its pretty great when a company gathers feedback and acts on it. People appreciate the transparency when a mistake is made, admitted, and amended. The Army Painter did that and they are continuing to improve and now they need you feedback to do that. So if youve got feedback hit them up at the email from the picture above!

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Author: Adam Harrison Writer, Editor, Texas Native, and Austinite for 15+ years, Adam covers all things Tabletop Gaming. Which includes Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar, D&D, Board Games and everything else that involves dice, boards, cards and a table. A hobbyist, player, and collector of miniatures and games, Adam's current obsession are his Death Armies for Age of Sigmar, his Blood Angels and Tyranids for 40k, and his ever growing Arkham Horror: The Card Game Collection.

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President Joe Biden speaks during the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, at the Ronald Reagan Building, Wednesday, in Washington. On Friday, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming Biden called for people in Florida to prepare for Hurricane Ian by getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has whipsawed his way through the national conversation this month, first by putting migrants on planes or buses to Democratic strongholds and then shifting to a more traditional role of crisis manager as Hurricane Ian barreled into his state
Cops and Courts Reporter

Amanda Burke is Cops and Courts Reporter for The Berkshire Eagle. An Ithaca, New York native, she previously worked at The Herald News of Fall River and the Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise.
On Oct. 1, 2017: A gunman opened fire from a room at the Mandalay Bay casino hotel in Las Vegas on a crowd of 22,000 country music fans at a concert below, leaving 58 people dead and more than 800 injured in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history; the gunman, 64-year-old Stephen Craig Paddock, killed himself before officers arrived.
Pittsfield Reporter

Meg Britton-Mehlisch is the Pittsfield reporter for The Berkshire Eagle. Born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, she previously worked at the Prior Lake American and its sister publications under the Southwest News Media umbrella in Savage, Minnesota.
PITTSFIELD  Some suffer quietly, not knowing who to turn to or where to go.

Not everyone has a listening ear, said Jennifer Carchedi, a volunteer with Berkshire Coalition for Suicide Prevention, whose niece Navaya Molina died by suicide in 2020.

Molina, of Florence, was just 16.

Carchedi was one of a large group of family and friends wearing shirts Saturday bearing Molinas name during a fundraiser for suicide prevention and awareness held at The Common on First Street in Pittsfield.

More than 177 participants in the annual American Foundation for Suicide Preventions Out Of The Darkness Berkshire County community walk had raised $52,909 before their two-hour trek around the city. Organizers say more would be raised during the walk and in the days following.

The proceeds go to the foundation and help programs and education run by its affiliated Berkshire Coalition for Suicide Prevention.

Federal data released last week shows a 4 percent hike in suicide deaths in 2021 after the slight decrease over the previous two years, The Washington Post reported, citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. The increase brings the number of deaths close to 2018 numbers in which the problem hit a peak.

Berkshire County's suicide rate was higher than the rest of the state between 2011 and 2016, according to Massachusetts Department of Public Health Data.

The organization is working to bring the issue into the light so that people can more readily find help.

People like Navaya.

She was quietly suffering, said Carchedi, her aunt. Hopefully more events like this will help people open up.

Speakers lined up to remember fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and children who took their lives. They wore beaded necklaces with different colors that symbolized how suicide has touched them.

Some wore many of them.

I lost my brother in 1985, my father in 1989 and my son in 2006, said Bertha Connelley, co-chair of the annual event and vice president of the coalition.

If you need help Two 24/7 hotlines to call if you or someone you know is thinking about suicide: Berkshire Crisis Team: 413-499-0412

National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 988 For more resources and hotlines, go to berkshireoalition.org/resources

Connelley explained the complexity of openly grieving people who have taken their lives  particularly children. She started support groups to fill this gap.

Its a special kind of loss because it includes that why and that feeling of guilt that includes Why didnt I know this? Why didnt I do something about it?' Connelley said.

Lee Watroba, a coalition board member and past president, lost a cousin and knew a number of others who had died by suicide when she worked at a mental health treatment center.

Others do the fundraising by walking on their own, then show up to the event each year to lend support.

Cassandra Pugh of Pittsfield said she hasnt lost anyone to suicide, but knows a lot of people who have attempted it.

She came to join in the walk, but is way ahead.

Ive done my 5,000 steps already, she said, about to walk for two hours.
Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the interpretation of facts and data.
Lenox native James Brooke has traveled to about 100 countries reporting for The New York Times, Bloomberg and Voice of America. He reported from Russia for eight years and from Ukraine for six years, coming home a year ago.
When the jury rendered a verdict of not guilty last week, the trial of Joseph Thompson came to a close. Still, we join many in the Berkshire community in raising a serious question with whether justice was served in the handling of this case: Why was this four-year-long, high-profile ordeal even necessary?

It is undisputed that Mr. Thompson, the founding director of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and a member of The Eagles advisory board, collided with a motorcyclist on July 20, 2018, and the motorcyclist died as a result of the crash. Shortly, after the accident, Mr. Thompson was charged with motor vehicle homicide by negligent operation. While he maintained his innocence, he cooperated fully with the subsequent investigation. Mr. Thompson and his passenger explained that while driving on Church Street in North Adams, the motorcycle made an extra-wide right turn onto Church Street, putting the motorcycle in Mr. Thompsons lane. Mr. Thompson saw the bike coming at his car and made an instinctual evasive move to his left. Unfortunately, the motorcyclist tried to correct for his driving by moving back into the proper lane.

In an instant, the deadly collision occurred. Medical records showed that the motorcyclist was under the influence of alcohol, as his blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit. From the beginning, Mr. Thompson said he had had nothing alcoholic to drink that evening, and there was no evidence to the contrary. All of the above was known within weeks, if not days, of the accident, but it took more than four years for case to be tried. After a three-day trial, the jury found Mr. Thompson not guilty after deliberating for two hours. If there were ever an instance that should prompt some common-sense prosecutorial discretion, it should have been this one. The Berkshire District Attorneys Office produced little, if any, evidence that questioned anything Mr. Thompson and his passenger claimed from day one. The prosecution should have known the evidence it had against Mr. Thompson was not sufficient to convince a jury of his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. So why wasnt this case dropped?

The DAs Office had far more time than usual to build or drop this particular case. One big delay was the COVID-19 pandemic halting all jury trials for about a year. Earlier this year, another accident further delayed the trial when a bus carrying jurors to view the accident scene crashed en route.

Throughout, Mr. Thompson faced arguably needless burden  tangible and otherwise. For years, he endured the mental and emotional weight of a serious charge hanging over him and his loved ones, as well as the fact that his license and driving privileges were revoked for more than four years while the case was pending. Then, of course, there was the unnecessary delay of closure for the family of the North Adams man who died in the accident, which Mr. Thompson admirably highlighted after the not guilty verdict was delivered.

As he pointed out in his generous post-verdict comments, Mr. Thompson is a man of means. He has access to resources many others dont  financial stability, expensive legal experts and representation, a life that is merely upended by such a trial instead of potentially destroyed. What if someone without those resources had been subjected to such a seemingly unnecessary years-long case?

How can the Berkshire DAs Office defend the prosecutorial discretion of devoting finite bandwidth and resources to this case given its questionable track record of dropping other cases with far more direct implications for public safety? Further, its worth noting that another Northern Berkshire case involving a years-old crash has languished while the DAs Office focused on bringing the Thompson case to trial. In October 2019, a North Adams father of three died in a Cheshire accident that was allegedly caused by two Adams men racing on Route 8, according to a State Police report. It took more than two years just to see charges brought in that case, an inexplicable delay that prompted the crash victims daughter to criticize the Berkshire District Attorneys Office for the sluggish grinding of the gears we trust to bring justice to families like hers.

Meanwhile, the gears of justice turned slowly for Mr. Thompson as well  in a case that by all lights should have been dropped long ago. We entrust our countys chief prosecutor with immense discretion. The failure of the Berkshire DAs Office to use that discretion here only exemplifies its importance.

To Mr. Thompsons credit, the dignified disposition he maintained through his trial continued into its aftermath, when he had the decency and compassion to note that the ultimate victim of this situation is not him but the young boy who lost his father on a tragic July night four years ago.

Mr. Thompsons composure throughout this excessively long process is worthy of praise, even if his privilege uniquely equipped him to endure this ordeal. More importantly, though, that ordeal is worth highlighting as something our justice system should have spared him or anyone else in such a situation.
China has opened dozens of "overseas police service stations" around the globe to monitor its citizens living abroad, including one location in New York City and three in Toronto.

"These operations eschew official bilateral police and judicial cooperation and violate the international rule of law, and may violate the territorial integrity in third countries involved in setting up a parallel policing mechanism using illegal methods," reads a report by Safeguard Defenders, a human rights watchdog, released earlier this month.

The report, titled "110 Overseas: Chinese Transnational Policing Gone Wild," details China's extensive efforts to combat "fraud" by its citizens living overseas, in part by opening several police stations on five continents that have assisted Chinese authorities in "carrying out policing operations on foreign soil."

Europe is home to most of the police stations, with locations spread across the continent in places such as London, Amsterdam, Prague, Budapest, Athens, Paris, Madrid and Frankfurt. North America is also home to four of the stations, with three locations in Toronto and one in New York City. In all, there are 54 such stations in 30 different countries.

The report details how China has attempted to "combat the growing issue of fraud and telecommunication fraud by Chinese nationals living abroad," running operations that have resulted in 230,000 Chinese nationals being "persuaded to return" to China "voluntarily" over the last year to face criminal prosecution.
The Winter of Yuri

You should know, by and large, we havent even started anything yet in earnest.

I have been attempting for several days to collect my thoughts on the Russo-Ukrainian War and condense them into another analysis piece, but my efforts were consistently frustrated by the wars stubborn refusal to sit still. After a slow, attritional grind for much of the summer, events have begun to accelerate, calling to mind a famous quip from Vladimir Lenin: There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.

This has been one of those weeks. It began with the commencement of referenda in four former Ukrainian oblasts to determine whether or not to join the Russian Federation, accompanied by Putins announcement that reservists would be called up to augment the force deployment in Ukraine. Further excitement bubbled up from the Baltic seabed with the mysterious destruction of the Nordstream pipelines. Nuclear rumors circulate, and all the while the war on the ground continues.

The Big Serge Pledge



Special Military Operation, Season 2: The Winter of Yuri pic.twitter.com/iKHrmTppV6  Big Serge  (@witte_sergei) September 27, 2022

Lets try to process all the developments of the past few weeks and get a handle on the trajectory in Ukraine.

Annexation

The keystone event at the heart of recent escalation was the announcement of referenda in four regions (Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson) to determine the question of entry into the Russian Federation. The implication of course was that if the referenda succeeded (a question that was never in doubt), these regions would be annexed to Russia. While there were some rumors circulating that Russia would delay the annexation, this was never really plausible. To allow these regions to vote in favor of joining Russia only to leave them out in the cold would be monumentally unpopular and raise serious doubts about Russias commitment to its people in Ukraine.

Formal annexation is a certainty, if not on September 30th as rumored, then within the next week.

All of this is rather predictable, and completes the first layer of annexations which I noted in previous analysis. The reasoning is not particularly complex: clearing the Donbas and securing Crimea were the absolute minimum Russian objectives for the war, and securing Crimea requires both a land bridge with road and rail connections (Zaporizhia oblast) and controlling Crimeas water sources (Kherson). These minimum objectives have now been formally designated, though of course Ukraine maintains some military activity on these territories and will have to be dislodged.

The Big Serge Annexation Map: Phase 1 Complete

I think, however, that people lost focus as to what the referenda and the ensuing annexation means. Western talking points focused on the illegitimacy of the votes and the illegality of any annexation, but this is really not very interesting or important. The legitimacy of annexation is derived from whether or not Russian administration can succeed in these regions. Legitimacy, as such, is merely a question of efficacy of state power. Can the state protect, extract, and adjudicate?

In any case, what is far more interesting than the technicalities of the referenda is what the decision to annex these regions says about Russian intentions. Once these regions become formally annexed, they will be viewed by the Russian state as sovereign Russian territory, subject to protection with the full range of Russian capabilities, including (in the most dire and unlikely scenario) nuclear weapons. When Medvedev pointed this out, it was bizarrely spun as a nuclear threat, but what he was actually trying to communicate is that these four oblasts will become part of Russias minimum definition of state integrity - non-negotiables, in other words.

I think the best way to formulate it is as such:

Annexation confers a formal designation that a territory has been deemed existentially important to the Russian state, and will be contested as if the integrity of the nation and state is at risk.

Those fixating on the legality of the referenda (as if such a thing exists) and Medvedevs supposed nuclear blackmail are missing this point. Russia is telling us where it currently draws the line for its absolute minimum peace conditions. Its not walking away without at least these four oblasts, and it considers the full range of state capabilities to be in play to achieve that goal.

Force Generation

The move to hold referenda and eventually annex the southeastern rim was accompanied with Putins long-awaited announcement of a partial mobilization. Ostensibly, the initial order calls up just 300,000 men with previous military experience, but the door is left upon for further surges at the discretion of the presidents office. Implicitly, Putin can now ramp up the mobilization as he sees fit without needing to make further announcements or sign more paperwork. This is similar to American Lend-Lease or the Authorization for Use of Military Force in America, where the door is opened once and the President is then free to move at will without even informing the public.

It was increasingly clear that Russia needed to raise its force deployment. Ukraines successful drive to the Oskil River was made possible by Russian economy of force. The Russian army had completely hollowed out Kharkiv Oblast, leaving only a thin screening force of national guardsmen and LNR militia. In places where the Russian Army has chosen to deploy sizeable regular formations, the results have been disastrous for Ukraine - the infamous Kherson Counteroffensive turned into a shooting gallery for Russian artillery, with the Ukrainian Army haplessly funneling men into a hopeless bridgehead at Andriivka.

A Shooting Gallery

So far in this war, Ukraine has achieved two big successes retaking territory: first in the spring, around Kiev, and now the late summer recapture of Kharkov Oblast. In both cases, the Russians had preemptively hollowed out the sector. We have yet to see a successful Ukrainian offensive against the Russian Army in a defensive posture. The obvious solution, therefore, is to raise the force deployment so that it is no longer necessary to hollow out sections of the front.

The initial surge of 300,000 men is being a bit muddled. Not all of the men being called up will be sent to Ukraine. Many will remain in Russia on garrison duty so that existing ready formations can be rotated to Ukraine. Therefore, it is likely that we will see more Russian units arriving in theater much sooner than expected. Additionally, many of the units originally committed to Ukraine have been off the front for refitting and resting. The scale and pace of Russias new force generation is likely to shock people. On the whole, the timing of Russias manpower surge coincides with the depletion of Ukrainian capabilities.

Ukraine spent the summer sending its 2nd tier conscripts to the front in the Donbas as it lovingly collected NATO-donated weapons and trained units in the rear. With generous NATO help, Ukraine was able to accumulate forces for two full scale offensives - one in Kherson (which failed spectacularly) and one in Kharkov (which succeeded in pushing past the Russian screening force and reaching the Oskil). Much of that carefully accumulated fighting power is now gone or degraded. Rumors circulated of a third offensive towards Melitipol, but Ukraine does not seem to have the combat power to achieve this, and strong Russian forces are in the region behind prepared defensive lines.

On the whole, therefore, Ukraines window for offensive operations has closed, and what remains is closing quickly. The last zone of intense Ukrainian operations is around Lyman, where aggressive Ukrainian attacks have so far failed to either storm or encircle the town. It is still possible that they take Lyman and consolidate control of Kupyansk, but this would likely represent the culmination of Ukrainian offensive capability. For now, the area around Lyman is a killing zone that exposes attacking Ukrainian troops to Russian air and ground fires.

The large scale view of force ratios is as follows:

Ukraine has spent much of the combat power that they accumulated with NATO help during the summer, and will have an urgent need to reduce combat intensity for refitting and rearming at precisely the same time that Russian combat power in the theater begins to surge.

Simultaneously, NATOs ability to arm Ukraine is on the verge of exhaustion. Lets look at this more closely.

Depleting NATO

One of the more fascinating aspects of the war in Ukraine is the extent to which Russia has contrived to attrit NATO military hardware without fighting a direct war with NATO forces. In a previous analysis I referred to Ukraine as a vampiric force which has reversed the logic of the proxy war; its a black hole sucking in NATO gear for destruction.

There are now very limited stockpiles to draw from to continue to arm Ukraine. Military Watch Magazine noted that NATO has drained the old Warsaw Pact tank park, leaving them bereft of Soviet tanks to donate to Ukraine. Once these reservoirs are fully tapped, the only option will be giving Ukraine western tank models. This, however, is much harder than it sounds, because it would require not only extensive training of tank crews, but also an entirely different selection of ammunition, spare parts, and repair facilities.

Tanks are not the only problem, however. Ukraine is now staring down the barrel (heh heh) of a serious shortage of conventional tube artillery. Earlier in the summer, the United States donated 155mm howitzers, but with stockpiles of both guns and shells dwindling, theyve recently been forced to turn to lower caliber towed trash. After the announcement of yet another aid tranche on September 28th, the USA has now put together five consecutive packages which do not contain any conventional 155mm shells. Shells for Ukraines Soviet vintage artillery were running low as early as June.

In effect, the effort to keep Ukraines artillery arm functioning has gone through a few phases. In the first phase, Warsaw Pact stockpiles of Soviet shells were drained to supply Ukraines existing guns. In the second phase, Ukraine was given mid-level western capabilities, especially the 155mm howitzer. Now that 155mm shells are running low, Ukraine has to make do with 105mm guns which are badly outranged by Russian howitzers and will be, in a word, doomed in any kind of counterbattery action.

As a substitute for adequate tube artillery, the latest aid package does include 18 more of the internets favorite meme weapon - the HIMARS Multiple Launch Rocket System. What is not explicitly mentioned in the press release is that the HIMARS systems dont exist in current US inventories and will have to be built, and are thus unlikely to arrive in Ukraine for several years.

The increasing difficulties in arming Ukraine coincide with the rapid closing of Ukraines window of operational opportunity. The forces accumulated over the summer are degraded and fought out, and every subsequent rebuild of the Ukrainian first tier forces will become harder as manpower is destroyed and NATO arsenals are depleted. This depletion comes precisely as Russian force generation is surging, foretelling the Winter of Yuri.

The Winter War

Anyone who expects the war to slow down during the winter is in for a surprise. Russia is going to launch a late autumn/winter offensive and achieve significant gains. The arc of force generation (both Russias increasing force accumulation and Ukraines degradation) coincide with the approach of cold weather.

Lets make a brief note about combat in the cold. Russia is perfectly capable of waging effective operations in the snow. Going back to World War Two, the Red Army was more than capable of offensive success during the winter, starting in 1941 with the general counteroffensive at Moscow, again in 1942 with the destruction of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad, and in 1943-44 with two successful large scale offensives beginning in the winter. Now, of course World War Two is not directly applicable in all ways, but we can establish that from a technical standpoint there is a clearly established capability to wage operations in cold weather.

We also have more recent examples. In 2015, during the first Donbas War, LNR and DNR forces launched a pincer operation which successfully encircled a Ukrainian battalion at the Battle of Debaltseve. And, of course, the Russo-Ukrainian War begin in February, when much of northern Ukraine was below freezing temperatures.

Nice Move

Winter weather actually favors a Russian offensive for multiple reasons. One of the paradoxes of military operations is that freezing weather actually enhances mobility - vehicles can get stuck in mud, but not on frozen ground. From 1941-43, German troops celebrated the arrival of spring, because the thaw promised to bog the Red Army down in mud and slow their momentum. The winter death of foliage also reduces the cover available to troops in a defensive posture. And, of course, cold weather favors the side with more reliable access to energy.

As for where Russia will choose to commit its newly generated forces, there are four realistic possibilities, which I will enumerate in no particular order:

Reopening the Northern Front with an operation around Kharkov. The attractiveness of this option is clear. A Russian move in force towards Kharkov would immediately collapse all of Ukraines gains towards the Oskil by compromising their rear areas. An offensive on Nikolayev out of the Kherson region. This would move further towards the goal of a landlocked Ukraine, and would take advantage of the fact that Ukrainian forces in this region are badly chewed up after their own failed offensive. Massive commitment to the Donbas to finish the liberation of DNR territory by capturing Slovyansk and Kramatorsk. This is less likely, as Russia has demonstrated comfort with the slow tempo of operations on this front. A push north from the Melitopol area towards Zaparozhia. This would safeguard the nuclear powerplant and end any credible threats to the land bridge to Crimea.

Other possibilities I regard as unlikely. A second advance on Kiev would make little operational sense, as it would not support any of the existing fronts. I would expect action around Kiev only if the new force generation is significantly larger than the headline number of 300,000. Otherwise, Russias winter offensives are likely to be concentrated on mutually supporting fronts. I think some movement to reopen the northern is likely, as it would completely compromise Ukraines gains in the Izyum-Kupyansk direction. There are rumors that forces are being moved into Belarus, but I actually think the Chernigov-Sumy axis would be more likely than a new Kiev operation, as it could be supportive of an offensive on Kharkov.

Potential Axes of Winter Advance (Base Map Credit: @War_Mapper)

On the broadest level, it is clear that Ukraines window to conduct offensive operations is nearing its close, and the force generation ratios on the ground are going to swing decisively in Russias favor through the winter.

Nordstream and Escalation

As we were pondering these developments on the ground, yet another plotline emerged underwater. The first hint that something was amiss was the news that pressure in the Nordstream 1 pipeline was dropping mysteriously. It was then revealed that the pipeline - along with the non-operational Nordstream 2 - had suffered serious damage. Swedish seismologists recorded explosions on the floor of the Baltic Sea, and it was revealed that the pipelines are heavily damaged.

Lets be frank about this. Russia did not blow up its own pipelines, and it is ludicrous to suggest that they did. The importance of the pipeline to Russia lay in the fact that it could be switched on and off, providing a mechanism for leverage and negotiation vis a vis Germany. In the classic carrot and stick formulation, one cannot move the donkey if the carrot is blown up. The *only* feasible scenario in which Russia might be responsible for the sabotage would be if some hardliner faction within the Russian government felt that Putin was moving too slowly, and wanted to force an escalation. This would imply, however, that Putin is losing internal control, and there is no evidence whatsoever for such a theory.

And so, we return to elementary analysis, and ask: Cui bono? Who benefits? Well, considering Poland celebrated the opening of a new pipeline to Norway only a few days ago, and a certain former Polish MP cryptically thanked the United States on Twitter, it is fair to make a few guesses.

The first lesson of doing crimes is not to brag about it on twitter

Let us briefly meditate on the actual implications of Nordstreams demise.

Germany loses what little autonomy and flexibility it had, making it even more dependent on the United States. Russia loses a point of leverage over Europe, reducing the inducements to negotiation. Poland and Ukraine become even more critical transit hubs for gas.

Russia clearly perceives this as a bridge burning move of sabotage by NATO, designed to back them into a corner. The Russian government has decried it as an act of international terrorism and argued that the explosions occurred in areas controlled by NATO - the concatenation of these statements is that they blame NATO for an act of terrorism, without explicitly saying that. This precipitated another meeting of the Russian National Security Council.

Many western nations have advised their citizens to leave Russia immediately, suggesting they are worried about escalation (this coincides with Ukraines unhinged claim that Russia may be about to use nuclear weapons). For the time being, I expect Russian escalation to remain confined to Ukraine itself, likely coinciding with the deployment of additional Russian ground forces. If Russia feels compelled to undertake an out of theater escalation, targeting American satellites, digital infrastructure, or forces in Syria remain the most likely option.

On the Precipice

I am fully cognizant that my views will be spun as coping after Ukraines gains in Kharkov oblast, but time will tell out. Ukraine is on its last legs - they drained everything usable out of NATO stockpiles to build up a first tier force over the summer, and that force has been mauled and degraded beyond repair just as Russias force generation is set to massively increase. Winter will bring not only the eclipse of the Ukrainian army, the destruction of vital infrastructure, and the loss of new territory and population centers, but also a severe economic crisis in Europe. In the end, the United States will be left to rule over a deindustrialized and degraded Europe, and a rump Ukrainian trashcanistan sequestered west of the Dnieper.

For now, though, we are in the interregnum as the last flames of Ukraines fighting power flickers out. Then there will be an operational pause, and then a Russian winter offensive. There will be several weeks where nothing happens, and then everything will happen.

During that operational pause, you may be tempted to ask - is it done, Yuri?



No, Comrade Premiere. It has only begun.
The sabotage of the Nord Stream (NS) and Nord Stream 2 (NS2) pipelines in the Baltic Sea has ominously propelled Disaster Capitalism to a whole new, toxic level.

This episode of Hybrid Industrial/Commercial War, in the form of a terror attack against energy infrastructure in international waters signals the absolute collapse of international law, drowned by a our way or the highway, rules-based, order.

The attack on both pipelines consisted of multiple explosive charges detonated in separate branches close to the Danish island of Bornholm, but in international waters.

That was a sophisticated operation, carried out in stealth in the shallow depth of the Danish straits. That would in principle rule out submarines (ships entering the Baltic are limited to a draught of 15 meters). As for prospective invisible vessels, these could only loiter around with permission from Copenhagen  as the waters around Borholm are crammed with sensors, reflecting fear of incursion by Russian submarines.

Swedish seismologists registered two underwater explosions on Monday  one of them estimated at 100 kg of TNT. Yet as much as 700 kg may have been used to blow up three separate pipeline nodes. Such amount could not have possibly been delivered in just one trip by underwater drones currently available in neighboring nations.

The pressure on the pipelines dropped exponentially. The pipes are now filled with seawater.

The pipes on both NS and NS2 can be repaired, of course, but hardly before the arrival of General Winter. The question is whether Gazprom  already focused on several hefty Eurasian customers  would bother, especially considering that Gazprom vessels could be exposed to a possible NATO naval attack in the Baltic.

German officials are already spinning that NS and NS2 can potentially be out of commission forever. The EU economy and EU citizens badly needed that gas supply. Yet the EUrocracy in Brussels  which rules over nation-states  would not follow, because they have been dictated themselves by the Empire of Chaos, Lies and Plunder. A case can be made that this Euro-oligarchy should one day be tried for treason.

As it stands, a strategic irreversibility is already self-evident; the population of several EU nations will pay a tremendous price and suffer serious consequences derived from this attack, short, medium and long term.

Cui bono?

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson admitted that was a matter of sabotage. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen admitted it was not an accident. Berlin agrees with the Scandinavians.

Now compare it with former Polish Defense Minister (2005-2007) Radek Sikorski, a Russophobe married to rabid US analyst Anne Applebaum, who merrily tweeted Thank you, USA.

It gets curiouser and curiouser when we know that simultaneously to the sabotage the Baltic Pipe from Norway to Poland was partially opened, a new gas supply corridor servicing the Danish and Polish markets: actually a minor affair, considering months ago their sponsors were in trouble finding gas, and now it will be even harder, with much higher costs.

NS2 had already been attacked  in the open  all along its construction. Back in February, Polish ships actively tried to prevent the Fortuna pipe-laying vessel from finishing NS2. The pipes were being laid south of  you guessed it  Bornholm.

NATO for its part has been very active on the underwater drones department. The Americans have access to long distance Norwegian underwater drones which can be modified with other designs. Alternatively, professional navy clearance divers could have been employed in the sabotage  even as tidal currents around Bornholm are a serious matter.

The Big Picture reveals the collective West in absolute panic, with Atlanticist elites willing to resort to anything  outrageous lies, assassinations, terrorism, sabotage, all out financial war, support to neo-Nazis  to prevent their descent into a geopolitical and geoeconomic abyss.

Disabling NS and NS2 represents the definitive closure of any possibility of a German-Russia deal on gas supplies, with the added benefit of relegating Germany to the lowly status of absolute US vassal.

So that brings us to the key question of which Western intel apparatus designed the sabotage. Prime candidates are of course CIA and MI6  with Poland set up as the fall guy and Denmark playing a very dodgy part: its impossible that Copenhagen was not at least briefed on the intel.

Prescient as ever, as early as in April 2021 Russians were asking questions about the military security of Nord Stream.

The crucial vector is that we may be facing the case of a EU/NATO member involved in an act of sabotage against the number one EU/NATO economy. Thats a casus belli. Outside of the appalling mediocrity and cowardice of the current administration in Berlin, its clear that the BND  German intel  as well as the German Navy and informed industrialists sooner or later will do the math.

This was far from an isolated attack. On September 22 there was an attempt against Turkish Stream by Kiev saboteurs. The day before, naval drones with English language IDs were found in Crimea, suspected of being part of the plot. Add to it US helicopters overflying the future sabotage nodes weeks ago; a UK research vessel loitering in Danish waters since mid-September; and NATO tweeting about the testing of new unmanned systems at sea on the same day of the sabotage.

Show me the (gas) money

The Danish Minister of Defense met urgently with NATOs Secretary General this Wednesday. After all the explosions happened very close to Denmarks exclusive economic zone (EEZ). That may be qualified as crude kabuki at best; exactly on the same day, the European Commission (EC), NATOs de facto political office, advanced its trademark obsession: more sanctions against Russia, including the certified-to-fail cap on oil prices.

Meanwhile, EU energy giants are bound to lose big time with the sabotage.

The roll call includes the German Wintershall Dea AG and PEG/ E.ON; the Dutch N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie; and the French ENGIE. Then there are those which financed NS2: Wintershall Dea again as well as Uniper; Austrian OMV; ENGIE again; and British-Dutch Shell. Wintershall Dea and ENGIE are both co-owners and creditors. Their fuming shareholders will want serious answers from a serious investigation.

It gets worse: there are no holds barred anymore on the Pipeline Terror front. Russia will be on red alert not only for Turk Stream but also Power of Siberia. Same for the Chinese and their maze of pipelines arriving in Xinjiang.

Whatever the methodology and the actors who were in the loop, this is payback  in advance  for the inevitable collective West defeat in Ukraine. And a crude warning to the Global South that they will do it again. Yet action always breeds reaction: from now on, funny things could also happen to US/UK pipelines in international waters.

The EU oligarchy is reaching an advanced process of disintegration at lightning speed. Their window of opportunity to at least attempt a role as a strategically autonomous geopolitical actor is now closed.

These EUROcrats now face a serious predicament. Once its clear who are the perpetrators of the sabotage in the Baltic, and once they understand all the life-changing socio-economic consequences for pan-EU citizens, the kabuki will have to stop. Including the already running, uber-ridiculous subplot that Russia blew up its own pipeline when Gazprom could simply have turned off the valves for good.

And once again, it gets worse: Gazprom is threatening to sue the Ukrainian energy company Naftofgaz for unpaid bills. That would lead to the end of Russian gas transiting Ukraine towards the EU.

As if all of that was not serious enough, Germany is contractually obligated to purchase at least 40 billion cubic meters of Russian gas a year until 2030.

Just say no? They cant: Gazprom is legally entitled to get paid even without shipping gas. Thats the spirit of a long-term contract. And its already happening: because of sanctions, Berlin does not get all the gas it needs but still needs to pay.

All the devils are here

Now its painfully clear the imperial velvet gloves are off when it comes to the vassals. EU independence: verboten. Cooperation with China: verboten. Independent trade connectivity with Asia: verboten. The only place for the EU is to be economically subjugated to the US: a tawdry remix of 1945-1955. With a perverse neoliberal twist: we will own your industrial capacity, and you will have nothing.

The sabotage of NS and NS2 is inbuilt in the imperial wet dream of breaking up the Eurasian land mass into a thousand pieces to prevent a trans-Eurasia consolidation between Germany (representing the EU), Russia and China: $50 trillion in GDP, based on purchasing power parity (PPP) compared to the USs $20 trillion.

We must go back to Mackinder: control of the Eurasian land mass constitutes control of the world. American elites and their Trojan Horses across Europe will do whatever it takes not to give up their control.

American elites in this context encompass the deranged, Straussian neo-con-infested intel community and the Big Energy, Big Pharma and Big Finance that pays them and who profits not only from the Deep States Forever War approach but also wants to make a killing out of the Davos-concocted Great Reset.

The Raging Twenties started with a murder  of Gen Soleimani. Blowing up pipelines is part of the sequel. There will be a highway to hell all the way to 2030. Yet to borrow from Shakespeare, hell is definitely empty, and all the (Atlanticist) devils are here.

* * *

Pepe Escobar is an independent geopolitical analyst and author. His latest book is Raging Twenties. Hes been politically canceled from Facebook and Twitter. Follow him on Telegram.
Photos: YouTube

Today, the sovereign State of Uganda is 60 years old. Under normal circumstances today should have been a day of celebrations, great joy and jubilation for all Ugandans, but alas for the majority of our population, especially wananchi, today will be just like any other day replete with agony, lamentations, misery and regrets. I am afraid on this auspicious occasion most Ugandans will, at best, only mark and take note of the 60th anniversary of independence, but keep hope alive for better days ahead. I hope one day all Ugandans will celebrate uhuru, not a chosen few.

What are the hallmarks of Uganda we want and deserve? Let me identify a few. First, since the most important asset and resource of Uganda is her people, the primary feature of the Uganda we want and deserve is a happy, contented, peaceful and prosperous people who are well educated, healthy and living above the poverty line. Unfortunately that is not the case today. According to the Uganda National Bureau of Statistics, the number of Ugandans living below the poverty line is increasing, especially in the Greater North and Eastern Uganda. Any credible and serious government must deliberately seek to do maximum good to the maximum number.

Second, the Uganda we want and deserve is one in which human dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Ugandans, big or small, rich or poor, are respected and protected by law and by all elected leaders of Uganda without exception; a country which is governed strictly by the tenets of the rule of law, not by gun rule or orders from above.

Third, the Uganda we want and deserve is a country in which the national cake or national resources of the Pearl of Africa are shared equitably and fairly among the many tribes, regions, political parties and religious organizations of our country.

Fourth, the Uganda we want and deserve is a country in which the word of God is supreme and the guiding light of our nation. This is consistent with our national motto, For God and My Country and our anthem.

Fifth, the Uganda we want and deserve is a country which promotes justice and peace internally and with all her neighbors by addressing the root causes of conflicts, not merely the symptoms. This will save our country trillions of shillings squandered annually on a huge military which Uganda does not need. As I have argued convincingly in previous opinions, Uganda should emulate and follow the good example of Costa Rica which abolished its army in 1949 and is one of the most peaceful and prosperous countries in Latin America, a violent and politically unstable continent.

Sixth, the Uganda we want and deserve is a constructive member of the international community, African Union, Non-aligned Movement, Commonwealth and United Nations; a country which promotes international peace and security and interdependence among nations for mutual benefit.

Seventh, the Uganda we want and deserve is devoid of endemic and systemic corruption, nepotism, cronyism, sectarianism and tribalism. Ugandans must learn to be their brothers keeper. Our leaders, at local and national level, must practice what they preach, especially on critical questions, such as, corruption, equal distribution of opportunities and wealth, sectarianism and tribalism.

I believe the Uganda we want and deserve is not a utopian idea and unrealistic dream, but achievable if Ugandans bury their differences, join hands and together build a united, prosperous and peaceful country. Ugandans should not forget many useful lessons we have learnt the hard way during the last sixty years; let us apply the lessons learnt. In the final analysis the secret of liberty is courage to do what is right and acceptable for God and our country. Uhuru na Umoja. Uhuru na Kazi.
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Mainland spokesperson urges U.S. to stop using Taiwan to contain China

Xinhua) 10:28, October 01, 2022

BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Friday urged the United States to handle affairs related to Taiwan cautiously and stop supporting Taiwan in a bid to contain China.

Zhu Fenglian, the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson, made the statement in response to the remarks made by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in her recent visits to Japan and the Republic of Korea.

"There is only one China, and Taiwan is part of it. Since the Taiwan question is China's domestic affair, foreign interference will not be tolerated," Zhu said.

She urged the United States to uphold the one-China principle and abide by the provisions of the three China-U.S. joint communiques. She warned Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party authority that its attempts to look for U.S. support for their "independence" agenda would not succeed.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Bianji)
In the USA, where I am visiting, the past week has been Banned Books Week , an exercise to raise awareness of how many books are taken out of schools, universities and public libraries after they have been challenged by parents and community opponents. The American Library Association has catalogued more than 1700 such challenges in the past year , and this is only those that have come to light publicly. The ALA estimates that as many as 10,000 different titles are removed from the shelves of public school and local libraries each year.

There is a country where the classic novels To Kill A Mockingbird, 1984, Huckleberry Finn and The Handmaids Tale are frequently banned from public and school libraries. Kids favourites such as Where The Wild Things Are and the Captain Underpants series, even the Holy Bible and Harry Potter are on the most-banned list.

The sharp end of book bans is those that contain themes that are considered LGBTQIA-friendly. This year, half of the top 10 most targeted books  including the top three - were considered to have sexually explicit pro-gay content. Frankness about sex and racism is being challenged at a skyrocketing rate.

In his book Free Speech for Me  But Not for Thee, US author Nat Hentoff writes that the lust to suppress can come from any direction and the war on books is not exclusively being waged by social conservatives. Harper Lees To Kill A Mockingbird and John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men  the cream of 20th century American literature  are among the most-banned books each year for their supposed racial stereotyping. The Bible is often challenged by radical atheists and withdrawn from library shelves. The Kite Runner by Afghan author Khaled Hosseini, a global bestseller for its depictions of life under Taliban rule, has been banned for promoting Islam and leading to terrorism. The librarians oppose bans from every political direction, and have to devote increasing amounts of their time to the fight to restore books to their stocks after they have been challenged.

Captain Underpants author Dav Pilkey. Credit:AP

It would surprise nobody that Americas cultural wars are more advanced than in Australia. Donald Trump exploited and became a totem of culture-war flash points, but to blame this war on the Trump presidency would be superficial and inaccurate. Even as a second Trump candidature in 2024 remains a real prospect, it is clear that the growing social divisions in this country have bubbled along for many years and will continue to do so whether Trump gets anywhere near the White House again or not. The number of book bans had been rising before Trump became president in 2016, and the curve has steepened during the Biden presidency. The book bans depict a cultural phenomenon for which Trump is only a symbol, not a driving force.

Australia does not have the same local mechanisms for book bans. Other than in private schools, concerned citizens cant band together and make noise to get books censored as they can in the US. But this does not mean the strong arm of book censorship does not exist in Australia. It can as easily come from the progressive as the conservative side  the most recent firm book-banning (later reversed) in Australia was when conservative Sydney Anglican minister Michael Jensens You: An Introduction was censored by the NSW Education Department in 2015. Some members of the diocese to which Rev Jensen belongs are so concerned about being oppressed by progressives that they have launched a new evangelical outreach movement  the Church of the Southern Cross  to counter what they see as the active censorship of their views. It is arguable that compared with the US, where the religious right has amassed decades worth of organisation in local politics, the perceived fear of censorship is far greater among conservatives than it is among progressives.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size This story is part of the October 2 edition of Sunday Life. See all 15 stories . No one can prepare you for the twists and turns of life. One moment I was living a contented life, then one shocking event up-ended everything. My husband, Graeme, had an unexpected and violent heart attack. I did CPR for 20 minutes in front of my children, and he died in my arms. As a numbing void threatened to overwhelm me, my children insisted we walk together along the beach at sunrise. Looking at the waves rolling to shore, with clouds billowing in a pink sky, I realised that the beauty of nature rekindled in me a sense of joy. So two years later, at the age of 58, still searching for answers and nursing a grief I could not subdue, I decided to visit Nepal and climb the Himalayas. I went with a friend who ran an adventure group and who, since Graemes death, had taught me to do things I had never thought of doing, like scuba diving, rock climbing and hiking for days on end with everything I needed on my back. My friend was experienced at trekking, but I was a novice. Now, here I was, in Nepals Kathmandu, at the outset of a two-month trek which the two of us were going to do unassisted. Loading For the past two years, often blindsided by crippling emotional pain, a lot of questions had bubbled up for me: Why had this happened? Why did Graeme die so young? Why did I feel so alone? What was my life for? Were there lessons to learn? Were there things about myself I needed to change? My life had changed through circumstances beyond my control, but I was becoming aware that there were new choices to face. The mountains and valleys of the Himalayas, I decided, would provide an arena in which I would recalibrate.

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For the journey, we would take with us whatever we needed. Because my slight frame could not carry more, my pack would have to weigh eight kilograms at most. I culled ruthlessly until I had the bare minimum: a goose-down sleeping bag and down jacket, two pairs of gloves and socks, a change of underwear and thermals; a beanie, cap and balaclava. A map, small medical kit, cash, hand warmers, a solar charger, a Kindle. We begin the trek with a short flight from Kathmandu to Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla, with its 400-metre runway carved in the mountains flanks. Shaking as we land in the middle of nowhere, we pick up our backpacks and start trekking. There are no roads anywhere, only rough hiking trails for people, yaks and mules. Amanda decided that the mountains and valleys of the Himalayas would provide an arena in which she would recalibrate. Credit:WESTWOOD DESIGN GROUP As we can only trek during the day  night time is too cold  we trek to a nearby village and find a tea house where we can rest. An overnight stay in a room typically boasting two single beds, a small window and walls made of plywood costs only a few dollars. The owners make money by providing hot meals and selling toilet paper, lemonade, chocolate bars and thermoses of hot water. Hot water is expensive because it needs to be heated by gas, with gas cylinders transported on the backs of porters or yaks. This is the only way to drink water or brush your teeth, as bottled water freezes. The higher you go, the more expensive the commodities; it costs to transport goods to these isolated outposts. Loading The next morning we leave early for the 700-metre ascent to Namche, located in the Khumbu Valley, which is the gateway to Mount Everest. The Nepalese name for it is Sagarmatha, which translates as Goddess of the Universe. To me, this is an apt name for a peak which oversees a vast wilderness. I set out on the steep and gruelling climb to an altitude of 3440 metres, where the oxygen is only two-thirds that at sea level.

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Trekkers typically acclimatise to the thinning air at higher elevations by hiking up surrounding slopes, then descending to sleep. Most trekkers spend a day acclimatising, but we spend three nights at Namche while I learn the ropes. The clouds that swirl round the peaks in the morning snake down through the gorges and valleys...I frequently find myself gasping. As Namche is the last village where I will be able to enjoy any luxuries, I sit in a small cafe with a frothy cappuccino and gaze at the amphitheatre around me. The clouds that swirl round the peaks in the morning snake down through the gorges and valleys below as the day progresses, retreating momentarily, and then surging forward again. I frequently find myself gasping. En route to Thame, along an old trade route that leads to Tibet, the vastness of the valleys and the dizzying heights of the mountains often leave me lost for words. Everywhere I look there are mountains dusted in ice soaring above the clouds, mist swirling through the valleys and intense aqua blue rivers gushing below the long suspension bridges we cross, the bells of yak trains often supplying a comforting accompaniment to our exertions. It doesnt take us long to decide we must reach our lodges by 4pm every day or risk freezing to death. The things she sees and experiences make the hardships of the trek trivial. Credit:WESTWOOD DESIGN GROUP It is always a relief to reach a lodge where I know a pot-belly stove will be lit around 5pm, and I will finally feel warmer. At these high altitudes, dwellings are far above the tree line, so there is no wood to burn. Instead, locals collect and dry yak dung. The dung burns hot and fast, lasting only long enough to warm up trekkers while dinner, which is usually rice, potatoes or pasta, is served. Bread is stale and vegetables scarce. Everything is flavoured with curry powder and the milk is powdered. The only protein is yak cheese, which tastes better than expected, and the best staple is eggs.

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Once the fire dies, the only choice is to climb into sleeping bags and try to stay warm. Because the lodge windows dont seal and the walls are thin, even the interior temperature is below zero. Sometimes, moisture from my breath collects on my pillow and freezes. I am often startled awake when I roll over and my face cracks a layer of ice! The nights stretch for hours, and I relive endlessly my life with Graeme and our children. The nights stretch for hours, and I relive endlessly my life with Graeme and our children. There were countless moments of family hilarity, none more raucous than when we would gather around the dining room table and crack up at everyones antics. I cant help but laugh again when I wake to find my drink bottles frozen, my face cream solid and my toothpaste turned to powder. And then I am off again in the vastness of the valleys and the dizzying heights of the mountains. I sit and gaze upon the scenery as I catch my breath, surprised often how hard it is to complete the simplest of tasks, such as putting one foot in front of the other. Experiencing the effects of less oxygen at higher elevations is more difficult than imagined. Much of the journey involves long, hard trekking and when ascending, it is impossible to talk. I count as steep ascents overwhelm me, and turn to the alphabet when counting no longer works, conjuring words to match different letters. After a few weeks, I adjust and begin to pass the time differently. Ive never had so much uninterrupted time to think. The weather is stunning when I set out on day 21 for the village of Gokyo. To get there, I need to trek from one valley to the next, hiking over Renjo La Pass. I stand at the bottom of the mountain, unable to see the pass as its over 1000 metres above me. This is like ascending a 300-storey building on half the oxygen while scrambling over scree, slippery glacial dust and rocks.

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I am taking photographs in colour, yet many appear black and white, so stark at times is the landscape, writes Amanda. Credit:WESTWOOD DESIGN GROUP This day challenges me both physically and mentally, pushing me to my limit. It astounds me that a simple incline  one I would normally scale easily with a pack on my back  exhausts me after 10 slow steps. I sit down, again, to catch my breath. Then I pick up my steps again, stop, find my breath, and keep going. I am overwhelmed by the relief of making it to the top, but also surrounded by an awe-inspiring panorama of Mount Everest and its surrounding sisters. Way below, at 5000 metres, is Gokyo Lake, one of several fed by glaciers, and on the far side is the village of Goyko. As I stand gazing at this breathtaking vista, the light changes quickly from flaming reds to soft pink hues, then inky indigos. The day has faded and I still have hours to go. Feeling my hands losing circulation, I slip my hand warmers into my gloves. I need to descend 600 metres and traverse about six kilometres. Loading Weary beyond words, I pick my way across loose glacial rubble and icy streams. Too tired to dig out my torch, I use my iPhone to light my way. Three hours later, I finally stagger into the lodge and collapse in front of the pot-belly stove. It has been an epic day, 11 hours of trekking. I fall into bed, too tired to eat, sleep solidly for 12 hours, and wake to crystal-clear skies.

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Author and former international rugby player Peter FitzSimons will step down as the public face of Australias republican movement after seven years at the helm.

Weeks after the Queens death spurred renewed debate about the British monarchs role as Australias head of state, FitzSimons announced he would not renominate to chair the Australian Republican Movement (ARM).

Australian Republican Movement chair Peter FitzSimons launches the new Australian republic model in January. Credit:Kate Geraghty

FitzSimons confirmed his departure when contacted by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, saying he first informed colleagues in June of his intention to step down. FitzSimons is a long-time Sydney Morning Herald columnist whose writing is occasionally published in The Age.

He said he always intended to depart before any republic referendum campaign, which may occur in a second term of the federal Labor government, but whose momentum has been overshadowed by a separate plebiscite on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
A peak medical body has urged Australians to continue isolating and wearing masks when sick, with COVID requirements being scrapped as the country enters a new phase of the pandemic.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the dropping of mandatory isolation periods following a national cabinet discussion on Friday, saying theres not a role for government in running every bit of peoples lives forever.

Professor Steve Robson says dropping COVID isolation requirements will have a significant impact on the hospital system. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The changes will take effect on October 14, removing the requirement to stay home for five days after testing positive.

Australian Medical Association president Steve Robson warned that dropping the requirement for COVID patients to isolate for five days could potentially lead to new waves of infection.
Police have shot a man dead on the Whitsundays coast after he allegedly pulled a knife from his hoodie and made threats.

According to police, officers were on Shute Harbour Road in Airlie Beach, 110 kilometres north of Mackay, about 12.20am on Saturday when the man approached them.

The QPS Ethical Standards Command is investigating Saturdays Airlie Beach shooting.

It is alleged the man  believed to be a 24-year-old from Western Australia  was carrying a knife, made threats towards officers, and advanced on them before he was shot.

The officers involved administered first-aid before paramedics rushed the man to Proserpine Hospital, where he was declared dead soon after arriving.
A young man was shot in the chest in a drive-by attack near the Gold Coasts party precinct overnight.

Detectives believe three men were walking along Ferny Avenue in Surfers Paradise about 4.30am on Saturday when a shotgun was fired from the passenger side of a stolen black Ford Ranger ute.

A 20-year-old Brisbane man was hit in the chest with birdshot and specialist trauma paramedics rushed him to Gold Coast University Hospital in a critical condition.

No-one else was injured in the shooting, which occurred near the junction with Cavill Avenue  home of Surfers Paradises major nightclubs and bars.
The overseas corporations suppling Australias $12 billion medical devices market are earning more than double in subsidies than what they are paying in tax, according to a new analysis which has been handed to the government.

The multinational companies  which supply the nations hospitals with medical devices such as hip joints, screws, pacemakers and trauma plates  have been accused by private health insurers of shifting the profits they are making in Australia to other countries including Singapore and Switzerland.

Private health insurers are at loggerheads with multinational giants about the cost of medical devices. Credit:Glenn Hunt

But the body representing the multinational companies said its members always complied with Australias taxation laws and accused the private health insurance industry of trying to hijack the federal governments review into multinational tax avoidance.

The overseas companies are locked in an increasingly bitter dispute with private health insurers over the cost of medical devices, which can be three times more here than in other countries.
What is the point of having women in positions of leadership? Do we want them there simply as a measure of equality, or do we expect more of them? Do we want them to use their power to improve conditions for other women, or are we content to just let them take their rightful place at the apex?

The arrival of two very different female leaders this week tested these questions in interesting ways.

Giorgia Meloni, leader of the right-wing Brothers of Italy, holds a sign saying Thanks Italy as her party emerged victorious in Sundays election. Credit:AP

The first was Italys first female prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, a far-right politician who makes much of her identity as a woman and a mother.

Melonis party won about 26 per cent of the vote. She is expected to lead a coalition government made up of other right-wing populists, together with former premier Silvio Berlusconi (he of the bunga bunga parties) and Matteo Salvini, who leads a far-right party called League (in 2018 he called for a mass cleansing of immigrants).
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Terese Edwards missed Julia Gillards famous misogyny speech. She was at Parliament House on October 9, 2012, but she was outside, on the parliaments lawns, protesting against changes to the single-parenting payment passed into law that day by Gillards Labor government. A single mother outside Parliament House in 2012 protesting against Labors cuts to the single parenting payment. Credit:Andrew Ellinghausen Edwards, the chief executive of the National Council of Single Mothers and their Children, says those changes plunged tens of thousands of single mothers into poverty, and their effects are still being felt a decade later. I felt like there was this incredible party, but I never qualified for the tickets, so I missed out, Edwards says of Gillards electrifying speech, calling out then-opposition leader Tony Abbott for misogyny. October 9 marks the speechs 10th anniversary. I wanted to clap and cheer and be part of that empowerment, but I couldnt, Edwards says. I was an inconvenient reality because I was saying: This is not OK from our first female PM.

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The Gillard government amendments, passed quietly into law that historic afternoon, pushed more than 80,000 single parents off the parenting payment and onto the lower Newstart payment, leaving some up to $110 a week worse off. The decision ended the grandfathering arrangement put into place by prime minister John Howard in July 2006, when he stopped parents claiming the parenting payment when their youngest child turned eight. Terese Edwards (centre) was an inconvenient reminder that the Gillard agenda was hurting single parents. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer Those who were already on the payment in July 2006 were allowed to keep it until their youngest turned 16, meaning subsequent siblings were also covered. The Gillard government decision to end the Howard-era grandfathering arrangements was defended as a necessary budget cut. It saved $728 million over four years, and a 2020 Parliamentary Budget Office analysis found the Howard and Gillard changes combined had saved taxpayers $5 billion. Gillard also said it was a fairness measure  the grandfathering provisions meant some single-parent families received more than others in the same position.

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It was a policy adopted by the Howard government, basically because the evidence shows that it is in the interests of children to be in a household with a parent who works, so it was a welfare-to-work measure, Gillard told the ABCs Q&A program in 2020. We didnt do it from some impulse that was anti-single parents or children. But Peter Davidson, principal adviser with the Australian Council of Social Service, disputes the cut was a welfare-to-work measure. Parents on the single parenting payment were already required to look for work, and to accept part-time employment if their youngest child was six years or over. Julia Gillard continues to defend the changes to the parenting payment her government made. Credit:Andrew Meares It had absolutely nothing to do with assisting or requiring those parents to take up part-time employment, he says. It was an appalling policy. It was a cost-saving at the expense of families and children in the deepest poverty. The Poverty in Australia report 2018, conducted by ACOSS and the University of NSW, charted the impact of the policy, with the data showing a sharp rise in poverty among households with sole parents who were unemployed, from 35 per cent in 2013 to 59 per cent in 2015.

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Anthony Albanese, Bill Shorten and Jenny Macklin, who was the community services minister when the cuts were made, later disowned the policy and said it should never have been implemented. In 2014, Macklin told a group of single mothers the change was too hard, too blunt. Shorten said in 2013 that there are legitimate grievances that have emerged from the policy and Albanese said single parents he spoke to felt the policy indicated a lack of respect. (The Albanese government has indicated no plans to reverse the cut.) Gillard is alone in still defending it. She told Q&A that a fair weighing of all the measures her government took to support disadvantaged families, particularly when it came to education, would show we made a real difference. In the 10 years since Gillards famous misogyny speech, there has been a national reckoning over the rank sexism and vile gender-based abuse she faced as Australias first female prime minister. Unlike other former prime ministers, Gillard has kept aloof from domestic politics, and has built an impressive international career promoting the rights of girls and women. But how female-friendly was her government in policy terms? Was she so hamstrung by accusations she was playing the woman card that she failed to promote policies addressing gender inequity? (Gillard has recently said she made a big error not calling out earlier the sexism she faced.)

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Emeritus Professor Marian Sawer, of the Australian National University, is a political scientist with an expertise in womens policy. She points to a few negatives when assessing Gillards feminist legacy. She mentions the single-parent policy, and also the fact that Gillard went to the 2010 election without a proper womens policy. It was released the day before the election without telling anybody, and was not included in the policies on the ALPs campaign website, Sawer says. Julia Gillard concedes she made a mistake not calling out the sexism she faced while in power. Credit:Andrew Meares She also notes Gillards decision to leave the Office for Women within the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Howard had moved the Office for Women into that department because he thought it belonged with families. Womens policy experts objected to this, seeing it as a relegation  the office had usually been within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, ensuring greater prominence within cabinet.

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Ukraine has urged Australia to be a part of a special international tribunal to investigate Russias invasion of the country and warned Canberra against legitimising Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in November.

The call comes as Australia plans to impose financial sanctions and travel bans on 28 Russian-appointed separatists, ministers and senior officials for illegal actions including for the recent sham referenda, disinformation and intimidation.

Andrii Smyrnov, deputy chief of staff to Ukraines president, is leading the push to create a special international tribunal to investigate Russias invasion of his country.

Ukraine wants Australia to help create a special tribunal to prosecute Russian political and military leaders for the crime of aggression in invading the country.

Andrii Smyrnov, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys deputy chief of staff, told The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age that Australia was a very strong and very powerful continent and its role in upholding the rules-based order in the world was huge.
Most have been rounded up and arrested before they have left Sri Lankan waters. But 183 have had to be returned to Colombo by Australian Border Force after six boats were intercepted by its patrols  the first, most notably, on May 21, the day of Australias federal election.

Its a shady business that has experienced a resurgence amid Sri Lankas crippling fuel and food crisis this year , with nearly 1000 people having set off since May in rickety trawlers to try and reach Australia illegally by sea.

Even though it is illegal, it is not against God.

I have sent around 800 people from here to Australia, he said, rising to his feet in his lounge room, a statue of Jesus, a stack of bibles and a widescreen television behind him.

Nishantha Fernando at his home in the Sri Lankan coastal village of Kudamaduwella. Credit:Pradeep Dambarage

Fernando, 50, is a fisherman, chicken farmer and a loan shark in Kudamaduwella, a village on Sri Lankas coastal Catholic belt. But hes also been an organiser of boats to Australia  a people smuggler.

Kudamaduwella, Sri Lanka : Kneeling on the floor of his palatial, gated home, Nishantha Fernando unfurls a roll of nautical charts. Running his finger across the map from Sri Lanka in the direction of Australia he lands upon Christmas Island, which he has circled in pen.

We thought [Australia] would accept them. We thought they wouldnt be deported because of the economic situation in the country.

I didnt think they would be turned back, he said of this years burst of people leaving the island nation by sea, headed for Australia.

Then, in June, as Sri Lanka sank into economic despair, he arranged another boat.

Approached by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age at his home two hours drive north of Colombo, he said he had sent 12 vessels between 2010 and 2013, at the height of boat arrivals to Australia, all but one of which made it.

In a rare interview with a people smuggler, though, Fernando openly admitted he had dispatched boats to Australia.

The kingpins who have arranged the journeys and profited from them have largely operated in the shadows, their activities concealed by sub-agents, skippers and crew members who do the dirty work for them.

His latest venture was not successful. It was seized by the navy on June 7 before leaving Sri Lankan waters and the 76 people on board, including its skipper and crew, were turned over to police.

But Fernandos case has raised questions about the appetite of police to go after those actually organising them and profiting from them  even one brazen enough to speak publicly about his exploits.

The Sri Lanka Navy has been able to stop some illegal departures  it has intercepted 18 boats this year, arresting 741 people at sea and 224 on land.

It also provided Sri Lanka with GPS trackers this year to help it detect a new wave of boats.

The Australian government has invested millions to assist Sri Lanka combat people smuggling with training and equipment since introducing its turn-backs policy in 2013, including giving the country two retired patrol ships as well as drones.

Our country needs dollars. The easiest way for us to find dollars was for us to send people by either flight or by boat. If each of those people send $100 back to Sri Lanka its a big amount of money.

If they are caught in the initial stages they cannot do anything [to avoid prosecution], one of the officials said. Once they organise something and collect the money, they are OK.

Top smugglers can receive lengthy prison sentences, but the government officials said they were often clever in covering themselves legally.

Two Sri Lankan government officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to talk publicly, confirmed Fernando had been known for organising boats and referred to him as Bottu Nishantha, such was his reputation.

Why should I be scared? Fernando said. I didnt go to jail because I didnt need to go to jail.

Asked how he had managed to steer clear of prosecution, he said he had not put his name on the paperwork for any of his boats, or for that matter, anything he owned, and did not fear arrest.

Yet Fernando, who was not on the boat, was not arrested and days later even had his 12-metre trawler returned to him.

Satkunanathan said Fernandos dodging of scrutiny brought into serious question the competence and will of the police in stopping smugglers, raising doubts whether they spend any time and energy looking for these people.

[The police force] is politicised, it does not adhere to the rule of law, and it does not safeguard the rule of law. Often it is the one that is breaking the law.

Its not just about people trafficking, its also about drug trafficking.

Fernando poses for a photo outside his house, which has a large mural of a ship next to the front door. Credit:Pradeep Dambarage

There is a huge [human smuggling] industry here and it cannot possibly function without the collusion of various state entities, said human rights lawyer Ambika Satkunanathan, a former commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka.

It is a development that renews long-held beliefs about connections between smugglers and members of the security forces in Sri Lanka.

The government sources also said the majority of boats organised this year were scams, in which smugglers tipped off the authorities themselves once the vessel was at sea, receiving payment or protection or both.

Does it mean when they interrogate [passengers] they are not providing the information? If they are providing the information, how is it that the smugglers are not being arrested and even speak to reporters and proudly speak of what theyve done.

Sri Lanka police spokesman Senior Superintendent Nihal Thalduwa said the polices human smuggling investigation division was not aware of Fernando.

They dont have any idea about this person, he said. The incident happened, but we cant find that name in the area.

Asked about claims of links between police and smugglers, he replied: Maybe there are some police officers behind the scene but, so far, we didnt get any information. So far, we havent found any information connecting [the boat] to police.

Boats were generally not released after being captured in smuggling attempts, according to the police spokesman.

Sri Lanka Navy spokesman Captain Indika De Silva said he could not comment on the case because it was handled by police, but on suggestions of boat organisers tipping off the authorities themselves, he replied that no such incidents have been reported when interrogated by [the navy].

The navy has previously denied allegations of links between government personnel and human traffickers, even when several naval officers were arrested in 2013 for alleged involvement in a major people smuggling operation.

I dont think hell return the money

It was in April that Fernando began to put the word around in Kudamaduwella about his boat to Australia.

He was charging between 350,000 and 700,000 Sri Lankan rupees ($3000) for a place, and he was not short on takers. As Sri Lankas financial meltdown deepened, dozens of villagers and others from as far afield as Trincomalee, on the north-east coast, sold their belongings to buy places on the vessel from him.

Statues of Jesus are a regular sight on the Catholic coastal belt. Credit:Pradeep Dambarage

I heard from friends that a boat was going out, said 32-year-old Suresh Fernando, one of 40 people from the village to secure a spot on the boat. He is no relation to its owner.

He wouldnt give us precise details but he said this is how much it would cost and well let you know.

He pawned his familys jewellery, quit his job and took out high-interest loans to stump up for a ticket, so desperate was he to find a way to support his then heavily pregnant wife and soon-to-be-born child.

The situation was so bad with the fuel crisis and the economy and the message we got [was] that Australia was accepting people, he said. We also got information from friends that two boats to Australia had gone before ours and they had got off on Christmas Island and been taken to a rehabilitation centre.

For weeks the journey was simultaneously top secret and the talk of the town, spoken about only within the separate groups of friends and families in the know, and when Fernando decided the boat was finally ready to go in the first week of June, most of its passengers were given only a few hours notice.

With most of their fathers out at sea fishing, it was left to their mothers to take them to the pick-up point via motorcycle.

Arriving under cover of night at a newly built harbour at Wennappuwa, a 45-minute drive south, they were then ferried on a fleet of speed boats through choppy water towards the main vessel at sea, armed with GPS devices to locate it.

While two of the small boats were unable to find it and returned to shore, most of the 76 people who did make it aboard huddled into the trawlers emptied fish and ice compartment, among them five women and seven children. Also on the boat was Fernandos 20-year-old son.

With the skipper and six crew members working the deck, they avoided detection through the night and the next morning.

That afternoon, however, a navy ship appeared from over the horizon and their short-lived journey was over.

Taken to Colombo Harbour and arrested, those who were on board were left facing hefty fines for immigration offences on top of sums that have already left many broke or in debt.

Passengers were convinced not to give Fernandos name up to police, according to two people on board, who said they had been warned they would not be refunded if they did.

But in the three months that followed they were unable to retrieve their money anyway despite their pleas to the boat owner.

As a result, there has been suspicion in Kudamaduwella that villagers were cheated  and that Fernando deployed a confidence trick by telling them his son would be on board.

A woman sells fish by the side of the road on Sri Lankas central west coast. Credit:Pradeep Dambarage

The way it was told to us, it seemed as if Australia would send a ship out to take us into the country, said another person who bought a ticket but spoke on the condition his name was not published, worried he would not get his money back if it was.

A lot of people are saying he used his son as bait and then took us out and gave the tip to the authorities.

How did he get his boat freed before our cases [in court] are even finished?

Fernando said he had heard the rumours but rejected them, denying he phoned in a tip after his boat set off on June 6.

He admitted he made a tidy profit  in the tens of millions of rupees  with each of the boats he sent previously but insisted he did not set out to fleece villagers when he organised another one this year.

Instead, he said he was covering the fees for lawyers to represent those arrested on his boat and he would pay for their fines.

He claimed he was also selling the trawler, which he said he bought for 10 million rupees, and would divide up the proceeds and distribute them.

I have enough money, he said.

Not everyone, however, is convinced.

Suresh Fernando, who was on one of the speed boats that had to turn back, feared he would not see his cash again.

Whether the boat got [to Australia] or not, its no loss to him, he said.

If it went, he doesnt have to repay any money. He gave out the ticket and they got caught. I dont think hell return the money.

Its people like us who stop boats

Angry at the new surge of people smuggling attempts, a group of locals near Fernandos village have been taking matters into their own hands.

In Thoduwawa, a short drive north of Kudamuduwella, fishing society figures have been rallying against the trade, keeping an ear to the ground and blowing the whistle to authorities when they hear of a boat journey being planned.

Viyani Samson, centre in yellow shirt, and his friends are fighting against people smuggling in the area. Credit:Pradeep Dambarage

The navy says it relies mostly on patrols and radar to stop boats, rather than tip-offs, but Viyani Samson, a former local politician who fronts the group, has a different view.

Its not the government  its people like us who stop boats with tips, he said.

There is a lot of smuggling going on around here. Every police station in Sri Lanka talks about Thoduwawa because there are seamen in this area that have the skills to take a boat that far.

A neighbourhood watch of sorts, the anti-smuggling campaigners in Thoduwawa include members of the local Civil Defence Committee, one of 14,000 established to protect their villages during the 26-year civil war between Sri Lankan forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which ended in 2009.

They highlight the inherent dangers of human smuggling  964 people were estimated to have died while trying to reach Australia by boat between 2001 and 2012  but also the financial implications for those who sell everything they own for the dream of a new life abroad.

They said they had seen as many as 500 people in their area lose everything to a failed boat escape.

We are opposed to trafficking to Australia because its a crime and only a few people are earning from it, says Loyal Peiris, another member of the group.

If our people are able to go to Australia and settle down and earn a little money we are not against that, we are not jealous about it, we are happy. But thats not what happens. What happens is that people are made destitute. They fall from the frying pan into the fire.

For their troubles, the men in Thoduwawa have faced threats which have made them deeply wary of police.

They have picked up intelligence about boats in the back channels on which smugglers advertise their business  vast networks forged over glasses of arrack during seasonal fishing trips.

Even when they have sent tips to officers they trust, however, they said they had often been betrayed, with their identities passed onto to those they have informed against.

They havent held a pistol to our head yet but theyve sent messages  [via] word of mouth  saying theyll come and assault us, Peiris said.

Sri Lankan men are led off the Australian Border Force ship Ocean Shield in Colombo in August. Credit:Sri Lanka Navy

On the frontline of the battle against people smuggling, misinformation has also been an enemy.

The Australian government has run television advertisements in Sri Lanka warning it does not accept boat arrivals and even conducted a short film competition in which entrants were encouraged to have an anti-smuggling theme.

More recently, Home Affairs Minister Clare ONeil flew to Sri Lanka in June to reaffirm that Australias border protection policies have not changed since Labor assumed power in May.

Then, in August, Australian Border Force took the unprecedented step of using its largest patrol ship, the 110-metre Ocean Shield, to repatriate 46 men it had picked up on a boat near Christmas Island, sending a deliberate message by docking in Colombo Harbour rather than returning them by air.

The awareness, though, has been slow to gain traction. There are no billboards or posters in fishing communities along Sri Lankas central-west coast about the perils of sea travel or Australias unwillingness to take in people who arrive in that fashion.

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Meanwhile, even within Samsons group of amateur crime fighters, there has been talk of three boats that set off this year that have not been heard from and are assumed, as a result, to have reached Australia.

Such stories have bolstered the business model of smugglers, contributing to a false narrative that Australia will take in people who attempt to arrive by sea.

Now, in dry, windswept Kudamaduwella, at least, the message appears to be getting through, but its been a costly lesson.

If Samson and his friends have anything to do with it, it is a price that no more of their neighbours will have to pay.

If youre my friend and you are about to lose everything, should I let that happen? Samson said. This is our village.

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Russias Defence Ministry claimed to have inflicted damage on Ukrainian forces in battling to hold Lyman, but said outnumbered Russian troops were withdrawn to more favourable positions. Ukrainian forces moved into the city, and Zelenskys chief of staff posted photos of a Ukrainian flag being hoisted on the towns outskirts. Lyman had been an important link in the Russian front line for ground communications and logistics. Located 160 kilometres south-east of Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, its in the Donetsk region near the border with Luhansk, two regions that Russia annexed on Friday (Europe time). Ukrainian forces have retaken swaths of territory in a counteroffensive that started in September. They have pushed Russian forces out of the Kharkiv area and moved east across the Oskil River. US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin cheered Ukraines recapture of Lyman, saying it was an encouraging battlefield success that would create new dilemmas for Russias military.

Absolutely, its significant. Were very encouraged by what were seeing right now, Austin told reporters at a news conference in Hawaii. Meanwhile, on the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula, the governor of the city of Sevastopol announced an emergency situation at an airfield there. Explosions and huge billows of smoke could be seen by beachgoers in the Russian-held resort. Authorities said a plane rolled off the runway at the Belbek airfield, and said ammunition on board had caught fire. Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 in violation of international law. Russian bombardment has intensified in recent days as Moscow moved swiftly with its latest annexation and ordered a mass mobilisation at home to bolster its forces. The Russian call-up has proven unpopular at home, prompting tens of thousands of Russian men to flee the country.

Zelensky and his military have vowed to keep fighting to liberate the regions that Putin claimed to have annexed Friday, and other Russian-occupied areas. Ukrainian authorities accused Russian forces of targeting two humanitarian convoys in recent days, killing dozens of civilians. Ukrainian soldiers carry ammunition for a Ukrainian D-30 howitzer near Siversk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Saturday, October 1. Credit:AP The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said 24 civilians were killed in an attack this week on a convoy trying to flee the Kupiansk district. He called it ruelty that cant be justified. He said 13 children and a pregnant woman were among the dead. The Russians fired at civilians almost at point-blank range, Syniehubov wrote on Telegram.

The Security Service of Ukraine, the secret police force known by the acronym SBU, posted photographs of the attacked convoy. At least one truck appeared to have been blown up, with burned corpses in what remained of its truck bed. Another vehicle at the front of the convoy was torched. Bodies lay on the side of the road or still inside vehicles that were pockmarked with bullet holes. Loading Russias Defence Ministry said its rockets destroyed Ukrainian military targets in the area but has not commented on accusations that it targeted fleeing civilians. Russian troops have retreated from much of the Kharkiv region but continue to shell the area. And a Russian strike in the Zaporizhzhia regions capital killed 31 people and wounded 88, Ukrainian officials said. The British Defence Ministry said the Russians almost certainly struck a humanitarian convoy there with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. Russian-installed officials in Zaporizhzhia blamed Ukrainian forces but gave no evidence. In other developments, in an apparent attempt to secure Moscows hold on the newly annexed territory, Russian forces seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov, on Friday, according to the Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom.

Energoatom said Russian troops stopped Murashovs car, blindfolded him and took him to an undisclosed location. Russia did not comment on the report. The International Atomic Energy Agency said Russia told it that the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was temporarily detained to answer questions. An Ukrainian soldier looks at the decomposed body of a Russian soldier lying on the ground on October 1, 2022 in Kupiansk, Ukraine. Credit:Getty Images The Vienna-based IAEA said it has been actively seeking clarifications and hopes for a prompt and satisfactory resolution of this matter. The power plant has been caught in the crossfire of the war. Ukrainian technicians continued running it after Russian troops seized the power station, and its last reactor was shut down in September as a precautionary measure amid ongoing shelling nearby.

In other fighting reported on Saturday, four people were killed by Russian shelling on Friday in the Donetsk region, governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said. The Russian army struck the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv twice overnight, once with drones and the second time with missiles, according to the regional governor. Loading Russia now claims sovereignty over 15 per cent of Ukraine in what NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called the largest attempted annexation of European territory by force since the Second World War. Zelensky on Friday formally applied for NATO membership, upping the pressure on Western allies to defend Ukraine. In Washington, President Joe Biden signed a bill that provides another infusion  more than $US12.3 billion  in military and economic aid linked to the war in Ukraine.
Cars recorded domestic passenger vehicle (PV) sales of 8,714 units in September 2022, marking a 29 per cent jump from September 2021, amid strong demand due to the festival season.

The carmaker sold 6,765 PV units in September last year. The company's product range includes Jazz, Amaze, Honda WR-V, Honda City and Honda City e:HEV.

"The festive demand has been strong and continues to show good momentum. On the supply side, we were able to increase our factory output compared to last month, which is also a positive for the festive sales, in terms of better availability of Honda cars during Navratras, Dussehra and Diwali period," said Yuichi Murata, Director, Marketing and Sales, Honda Cars India.

He said that the company's volume models -- Honda City and Amaze -- continue to nurture customer trust and clock good sales.

"City e:HEV is giving us additional opportunity to serve our customers with advanced electrified mobility solution, and we are getting exceptional user feedback from them," he noted.

Honda's car exports from India fell from 2,964 units in September last year to 2,333 units in September 2022.
Tata Motors' achieved its highest ever domestic monthly sales of passenger vehicles (PV) in September this year when the company dispatched 47,654 units amid high festival season demand and new car launches.

In September 2022, PV sales increased by 85 per cent. India's third largest carmaker sold 25,730 PV units in September 2021. Auto companies count dispatches to automobile dealers as sales.

PV category consists of the electric vehicle (EV) segment and the internal combustion engine (ICE). said it saw 239 per cent growth in the EV segment and 78 per cent growth in the ICE vehicle segment during September 2022.

The carmaker sold 3,655 units of EV and 43,999 units of ICE vehicles in September 2022. This means EV sales share in the PV category stands at 7.66 per cent.





ALSO READ: Kia clocks highest ever monthly sales in India in Sept at 25,857 units

With the launch of the Tiago EV, the company has opened new vistas and is poised to drive the mass adoption of EVs across the country, Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director, Passenger Vehicles, said on Saturday. On September 15, he said that expects EV sales to become 20 per cent of total PV sales within the next three years.

On Saturday, he said that in the future, the company expects the festival season to witness strong retail on the back of improving the supply of vehicles.

He said the PV industry witnessed strong demand during Q2 of FY23, fuelled by the festival season and new launches.





ALSO READ: Honda Cars' domestic PV sales jump 29% to 8,714 units in September

"Tata Motors scaled new highs in passenger vehicles with sales of 142,325 units during the quarter, recording a growth of 70 per cent versus Q2FY22," he mentioned.

The company sold 83,933 units of PVs in Q2 of FY22.

"The company also attained its highest ever monthly sales of 47,654 in September 2022, posting 85 per cent growth versus September 2021. Led by record-setting sales of Nexon and Punch, SUV sales contributed a rich 66 per cent of the quarterly PV sales," Chandra noted.
Domestic passenger vehicle (PV) sales of top reached record highs in September on the back of new models, increased availability of semiconductor chips and the onset of the festival season.

The sales figures released by the top nine  excluding Mahindra and Mahindra  saw a jump of 89.6 per cent to 306,211 units. (see table 1) Auto count wholesales, units dispatched to dealers, as sales.







Domestic sales of India's largest carmaker increased from just 63,111 units in September 2021 to 148,380 units in September 2022. Shashank Srivastava, executive director of sales at Maruti Suzuki, said at a virtual press conference that the company's market share has increased in September 2022 to 42 per cent, which is 7.8 per cent more than in September 2021.

"In September last year, it was quite low as we were having problems with semiconductor (chip) supply issues," he noted. The executive director said that while the chip shortage issue had been resolved to about 95 per cent, it would be difficult to say when it can be resolved entirely.

He said the rising repo rates would have a negative effect on the auto industry, but its effects are yet to be felt by the auto as the retail rates have not yet been proportionally increased by lenders. He added that banks such as State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and ICICI Bank had decreased their retail rates amid the festival season.

Hyundai said its domestic sales increased by 50.2 per cent to 49,700 units in September this year due to the ongoing festival season and the resilience shown by the Indian economy amid the global turmoil.

"All three of the company's new launches- Hyundai Venue, Venue N Line and Tucson in the SUV space, have received unprecedented customer response," said Tarun Garg, director of sales, marketing & service, . Around 50 per cent of the sales of the company come from the SUV segment.

Tata Motors' achieved its highest ever domestic monthly sales of PV this September when the company dispatched 47,654 units -- 85 per cent more than in the same month last year.

Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, said on Saturday that the PV industry witnessed strong demand during Q2 of FY23, fuelled by the festival season and new launches.

Chandra said that in the future, the company expects the festival season to witness strong retail on the back of improving the supply of vehicles.

Like Tata Motors, Kia India clocked its record monthly domestic PV sales in September at 25,857 units, marking a jump of 79 per cent. The Korean carmaker said it surpassed its 2021 domestic sales in the first nine months of 2022.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) increased its domestic sales from 9,284 units in September 2021 to 15,378 units in September 2022. Atul Sood, Associate Vice President (Sales and Strategic Marketing), TKM, said that Urban Cruiser Hyryder  an entry-level SUV model launched by the company in September  has received bookings beyond the company's expectations.

Except for India's largest two-wheeler maker, Hero MotoCorp, the two-wheeler makers also saw their sales increase healthily in September. (see table 2)





TVS Motor Company's domestic two-wheeler sales increased by 16 per cent to 283,878 units in September 2022. The company said it had had a solid start to the festive season, and the demand is expected to accelerate further.

Suzuki Motorcycle said it recorded its highest ever domestic sales in September at 72,012 units, 29.5 per cent more than September 2021.

Satoshi Uchida, Managing Director, Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd, said, "With the festive season approaching in the country, we believe there will be an improvement in the customer sentiment. Moreover, there should also be a gradual streamlining of the supply chain."

Royal Enfield's domestic sales increased by 170 per cent to 73,646 units in September. It sold 27,233 units in September 2021.

Hero MotoCorp's sales this year stood at 507,690 units, similar to September 2021 at 505,462 units.

"Heading into the peak festive season, the company remains optimistic about customer demand over the coming weeks. The normal monsoon across most parts of the country and the encouraging farm activity is likely to contribute towards positive customer sentiments," Hero MotoCorp noted.
Ford India, the subsidiary of the US car maker Ford on Saturday said it has concluded negotiations on the 'severance settlement package' with the employees of its manufacturing plant near here, a year after it announced that it would exit the Indian market as part of the company's 'restructuring exercise.'



Transformation Officer Balasundaram Radhakrishnan handed over the updated settlement agreement to the office bearers of the Chennai Ford Employees Union representing the 2,592 employees on Friday, a statement from the company said.

"The severance settlement agreement, signed between Ford and the Union today (Friday) is an important milestone and a win-win for everyone involved. I thank the team at Ford as well as the Chennai Ford Employees Union for negotiating in good faith and arriving at a settlement outcome that keeps the best interest of employees," Radhakrishnan said.

The company, in view of the forthcoming festive season has also decided to pay an additional amount equivalent to one month of gross wages as a sign-on benefit for employees who the complete the exit process by October 14, 2022.

Accordingly, the final settlement package is an average equivalent of 140 days of gross wages per completed year of service and additional Rs 1.50 lakh lumpsum per employee signed on Friday translates to an average of about 62 month salary for each employee (49 months to a maximum of 9 years 108 months) guaranteeing an adequate financial cushion and time for each employee to chart their future action.

The last date of employment for all employees is September 30 and the company is notifying the employees of the next steps and looks forward to completing the exit formalities.

"We thank our employees in advance for their patience and support in the process and remain grateful to the government and labour department officials for guidance," he said.

In July, the company rolled out the last car formally produced at the facility at Maraimalai Nagar, about 45 kms from here, that has been running for more than 25 years.

The workers had staged a protest seeking better pay soon after the car major, in September 2021, announced that it would stop vehicle production at its two plants -- Sanand in Gujarat and Maraimalai Nagar near Chennai in -- as part of its restructuring exercise.

Ford also shelved plans to manufacture electric vehicles in India for exports despite getting approval from the government for production-linked incentive.

(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.)
Bengaluru-headquartered global technology and business process outsourcing company will create 1,000 jobs in the northern region of West Yorkshire, according to the regional Mayor who has just returned from a visit to India.

West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin led a trade mission to India recently and announced on Friday that she had secured multi million-pound investment for the region.

The latest investment by Mphasis, expected to be completed over the next two years, will boost the company's existing presence in West Yorkshire, where it already has a workforce of 500 based in the city of Leeds. It builds on the company's creation of a UK centre of excellence in Leeds for its insurance clients last year.

"I'm delighted that has chosen to invest millions of pounds here in West Yorkshire, and proud to have them as part of our business community and partners in driving the region forward," said Brabin.

"These 1,000 new jobs will have a transformative impact on our economy and create exciting career opportunities for the people of West Yorkshire, she said.

The Mayor said that during her meetings with the firm last week, she met many inspiring female leaders.

embeds diversity as a core part of its culture and has a strong focus on supporting and developing its people. I look forward to supporting their growth in the region and seeing the positive impact on our communities," she said.

During her visit, the first since the pandemic lockdown from the region to India, the Mayor of West Yorkshire visited Mphasis' global headquarters in Bengaluru and met with senior representatives to discuss the project and partnership opportunities.

We are proud to invest in West Yorkshire, and to build on the launch of Mphasis' first insurance domain -onshore centre in the UK in Leeds last year," said Anurag Bhatia, Senior Vice President and Head of Europe at Mphasis.

"We are setting out to create a thousand jobs to drive economic growth in the West Yorkshire region, to actively address the UK's digital skills shortage and support the next wave of talent in the local business community and beyond.

We look forward to working with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, as well as schools and universities, to inspire many more promising candidates of all backgrounds to embark on long-term careers across key digital skill sets that will help create a more diverse and stronger tech sector," he said.

According to official statistics, India is the second-largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the UK after the US, with trade in goods between West Yorkshire and India estimated to be worth over GBP 360 million.

West Yorkshire says it is committed to developing stronger links with key international markets like India to drive forward global trade and investment links. It pointed to the significant investment by Mphasis as a further example of the strong friendship of the region with India.

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The Police on Saturday said it has arrested another operative of the ISI-backed terror module that was jointly handled by Canada-based gangster Lakhbir Singh alias Landa and Pakistan-based gangster Harvinder Singh Rinda.

Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, Gaurav Yadav said the accused has been identified as Harpreet Singh alias Har Sarpanch of village Jogewal in Ferozepur.

The arrest came eight days after the Counter Intelligence team led by Assistant Inspector General (Counter Intelligence) Jalandhar Navjot Singh Mahal had busted the module with the arrest of its two operatives - Baljit Singh Malhi and Gurbaksh Singh, both residents of Ferozepur.

The police had also recovered one sophisticated AK-56 assault rifle along with two magazines, 90 live cartridges and two bullet shells from a location pinpointed by Gurbaksh Singh in his village.

DGP Yadav on Saturday said following the disclosures of accused Baljit Malhi, the police team managed to apprehend Harpreet Singh alias Har Sarpanch, who is considered to be the close aide of Italy-based gangster Harpreet Singh alias Happy Sanghera and was also in touch with Canada-based gangster Lakhbir Landa.

Baljit was also in touch with Happy Sanghera, and on his directions only, he had picked consignment of weapons from a pinpointed spot at Makhu-Lohian road near the sanctuary in village Sudan in July 2022.

During preliminary investigations, Harpreet Singh alias Har Sarpanch has confessed to having arranged a 10-day stay for Lakhbir Landa's associate identified as Jagjit Singh alias Jotta of Mehta Road in Amritsar and his aide at an abandoned house in the Makhu area of Ferozepur, said the DGP.

Jotta has been facing four criminal cases and is currently lodged at Central Jail, Amritsar.

Har Sarpanch also revealed that he was in close touch with Nachattar Singh alias Mottialready arrested, and used to ferry his drug consignments in a luxury car.

AIG Navjot Singh Mahal said the accused Har Sarpanch also used to collect money on behalf of gangsters Lakhbir Landa and Happy Sanghera to further provide financial assistance and logistics support to their associates.

Further investigations are underway, he said.

Canada-based Landa is considered to be the close aide of Pakistan-based wanted gangster Harvinder Singh alias Rinda, who had joined hands with Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), and they have close ties with the .

Landa had played a key role in conspiring the Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) terror attack at Police Intelligence Headquarters in Mohali and had also planted an IED beneath Sub-Inspector Dilbag Singh's car in Amritsar.

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Arrangements for free and "should be made for every child" in the country, Deputy Chief Minister said here on Saturday.

Carrying out an inspection at a government school, Sisodia said schools need to prepare students to have a mindset of being job providers instead of job seekers.

"To become world's number one country, we must make arrangements for free and for every child. We must also ensure that children aspire to become entrepreneurs and job providers," Sisodia said.

He further stated the Delhi government has been "working hard to provide good-quality education", free of cost to every child in Delhi.

"Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and I have a dream that every child of Delhi should get a wonderful school to study, where they should be given world-class education free of cost. We are working hard to fulfill this vision," Sisodia said.

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President on Saturday greeted citizens on the eve of and said it is an occasion for all to rededicate themselves to the values of peace, equality and communal harmony.

"On the occasion of the 153rd birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, I pay homage to the Father of the Nation on behalf of all fellow citizens," she said in a message to the nation.

is an occasion for all of us to rededicate ourselves to the values of his inspiring life - peace, equality and communal harmony, the president said.

Observing it this year assumes a special significance as the nation has been celebrating the Amrit Mahotsav, marking 75 years of Independence, Murmu said.

This is the time, for all of us, to work towards the realisation of India of Gandhiji's dreams, she said.

A century ago, Gandhiji inspired millions with his call of 'Swadeshi' and his stress on self-reliance, Murmu said.

"The making of an Atmanirbhar Bharat, which is under way, is thus inspired by the vision of the Mahatma and is intended as a true tribute to him. The India of his dreams is a clean India, a healthy India. The initiatives taken in this regard have been bearing fruits now," Murmu said.

As we enter the 'Amrit Kaal', the period before the centenary of Independence, it is heartening to note that the young generation too has been taking inspiration from Gandhiji's works, the president said.

When the world is going to face more and more complex challenges, his life continues to serve as a lighthouse, helping us negotiate the path amid turbulent waters, Murmu added.

Gandhiji showed to all humanity its true potential, and proved the power of compassion, she said.

"Let us again take the pledge to walk on his path, the path of truth and non-violence, to promote mutual goodwill and to work towards the progress of the nation and the world," President Murmu said.

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The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ABC) has arrested a senior official of the horticulture department in Raipur for allegedly demanding a bribe from a farmer for releasing the subsidy amount, an official said on Saturday.

The anti-graft agency arrested Paramjeet Singh Gurudatt on Friday for allegedly demanding 50 per cent of the subsidy amount received by the farmer under a government scheme, he said.

The action against the official was taken based on a complaint received from the farmer, who is engaged in the cultivation of high-value tomatoes, he added.

"After the subsidy amount of Rs 2,66,000 was transferred into the complainant's bank account, the accused official started demanding 50 per cent of the subsidy as a bribe. The accused even went to the complainant's residence to demand the bribe, where his act of demanding the money was captured on a camera," the ACB official said.

The complainant then approached the ACB and also furnished the video footage, he said.

Acting on the complaint, the ACB arrested the official and booked him under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

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The on Friday dismissed a bunch of pleas seeking quashing of criminal proceedings against Samajwadi Party leader in cases of alleged forcible possession of land for Rampur's Jauhar University.

An FIR in this regard was lodged on September 12, 2019 by a revenue officer.

After the registration of the case, several other complaints were filed, with the complainants alleging that their land was taken away forcibly by abducting and physically assaulting them.

After going through records and submissions, Justice Samit Gopal observed," The allegations in the FIRs reveal as to how the respective first informants were abducted, assaulted, threatened and their land was forcibly taken from them by coercion and not following the due process of law."



"Looking at the facts of the case, the prima facie allegation against the applicants and the law well settled as stated above, no case for interference is made out," the court said while dismissing the petitions.

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India's abstentions on Western-sponsored resolutions on Russia's invasion of Ukraine don't weigh on India-US ties or are seen as neutrality, Permanent Representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield has indicated.

Speaking to reporters on Friday after India had abstained for at least the ninth time on a substantive resolution on Ukraine, she said that it was not done to support Russia and it had made clear the condemnation of the invasion.

India joined China, Brazil and Gabon to abstain on a Security Council resolution condemning Russia's annexation of four Ukraine territories it had captured.

Thomas-Greenfield said: "Their extensions clearly were not a defence of Russia. They were not in support of Russia. And they made clear their condemnation of Russia."

Asked about the abstentions, she said: "The four countries who abstained, I can't explain their decisions to abstain, but I can refer you to the statements that they made in the council, and all four of them express concerns about what Russia is doing in Ukraine."

Explaining the abstention at the Council, India's Permanent Representative Ruchira Kamboj said: "India's position has been clear and consistent from the very beginning of this conflict. The global order is anchored on the principles of the UN Charter, international law and respect for sovereignty and the territorial integrity of all states."

She also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi telling Russia's President Vladimir Putin publicly last month in Samarkand that "this cannot be an era of war".

This was a clear statement from India against Moscow's invasion and another was External Affairs Minister telling that General that India was on the side that respects the UN charter and they were welcomed by US officials.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: "I really want to emphasize what (Indian) Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, because I think he captured, as well as anyone I've heard, fundamentally what this moment is about. As he said, 'This is not an era, this is not a time for war'."

"And then in the General Assembly, where the prime minister said of India, and I quote, 'We are on the side that respects the UN Charter and its founding principles,' end quote," Blinken said at a news conference with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, although that speech laying out India's foreign policy objectives was by Jaishankar.

While India's abstentions have been portrayed as neutrality on Russia's invasion, Thomas-Greenfield's statement shows that as far as Washington is concerned, India's UN abstentions are not viewed as neutrality or a departure from outspoken statements critical of Russia or implying backing for Ukraine based on it being the party that respects the UN Charter and its founding principles.

India has voted twice -- once in the Council and another time in the Assembly -- with the West on Ukraine-relater matters, but both were on a procedural matter to allow Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to speak through a video-link.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)

--IANS

al/pgh

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Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) national convener and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will be on a two-day visit to poll-bound Gujarat from Saturday, where they will jointly address four public meetings.

On Saturday, Kejriwal and Mann will address public meetings at Gandhidham in Kutch district and Joshipura in Junagadh district. On the second day of their visit on October 2, they will address public meetings in Surendranagar city and Khedbrahma town, AAP's Gujarat general secretary Manoj Sorathiya said.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and AAP's Rajya Sabha member and co-incharge for Gujarat Raghav Chadha will also be in Gujarat during these two days, a party functionary said.

"Sisodia and Chadha are also coming to Ahmedabad for some important meetings and rallies. Kejriwal will also hold a meeting with party leaders and workers during his visit," Sorathiya said.

Assembly elections in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Gujarat will be held by the end of this year.

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Transport Minister on Saturday said that with the start of new bus routes, the commuters will now be able to plan their journey better. The city government is starting trial runs on 26 new bus routes proposed under a route rationalisation study from Sunday.



Service on these new routes will start with 50 per cent deployment of . There will be three new routes on the Central Business District (CBD) Circulators, two on Super Trunk Routes, 18 on Primary, and three on Airport Service routes.



The routes under NCR and feeder routes, which were also part of the study done by Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS), will not be part of this trial for now. The wait is finally over. This is the beginning of a new phase of public transport towards our mission of making bus services more reliable and preferred mode of travel in the city.



With strict adherence to the schedules and availability of every five to 10 minutes on these trial routes, the citizens of can plan their journey to their offices, homes and more in a better way, Gahlot said. The proposed routes have been classified based on the function and operational level of services. The CBD Circulators are expected to improve connectivity between major business districts of Delhi. These routes will be operational at a frequency of five to 10 minutes.



The Trunk Routes will connect the CBDs with major hubs of the city. These routes will be operational at a frequency of five to 10 minutes. The Primary Routes will provide connectivity to the sub-CBDs from residential areas and other sub-CBDs.



These routes will be operational at a frequency of 10 to 20 minutes. The Airport Service Routes will connect the airport with major hubs of the city. These routes will be operational as airport express routes with a frequency of 10 minutes.



In August, after the review and go ahead for the implementation of the route rationalisation by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, it was decided to start the trial run on October 2, marking the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.



The government had also issued public notice last month to invite suggestions and feedback from all the stakeholders, which they can till November 21 on delhirrcell@gmail.com.

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Phagwara sugar mill workers on Saturday held a demonstration here denouncing the mill management for not paying their salaries for the last three months.

Phagwara sugar mill labour union leader Sukhdev Singh also sought the intervention of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in the matter.

"We have families. We find it next to impossible to pay the fees of our school going children. The owner of the mill has run abroad. The local mill officials are giving us false assurances, said one of the protesters.

The protesters demanded the management to pay at least a month's salary to the workers considering the ongoing festival season, and threatened to intensify their protests if their demand is not met.

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Prime Minister laid the foundation stone and dedicated various projects worth over Rs 7,200 crores in Ambaji Gujarat's Banaskantha district on Friday.

The Prime Minister also handed over keys to seven beneficiaries of various housing schemes and congratulated all the 61,000 beneficiaries of housing schemes. On the occasion, he dedicated and laid the foundation stone of over 45,000 houses to be built under PM Awas Yojana.

Prime Minister Modi said that in 2021, the government completed 1.50 lakh houses for Economically Weaker Sections and other groups. Across the country, 3 crore poors have got benefit of PM Awas Yojana in 2021, he added.

The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone of Taranga Hill - Ambaji - Abu Road New Broad Gauge Line. He revealed that the project was conceived in 1930 during British rule. The need for this was recognised 100 years ago but unfortunately, this was not done in such a long period. "Perhaps, Maa Amba wished it to be done by me. It is our good fortune that in the year of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, we are getting this opportunity to dedicate this at the feet of Amba Mata," he said.

The Prime Minister said that his aim is to create so many attractions in the vicinity of Ambaji temple that people have to make a 2-3 days program to cover them. Prime Minister Modi asserted, "On one hand, Ambaji is the home of faith and worship while on the other hand, we have India's borders where our jawans are deployed."

He cited the development of the Seema Darshan project in Suigam on the international border. "People should visit and see the life of army jawans and learn from it, he has also hinted at developing Deesa Air Force station."

Chief Minister, Bhupendra Patel, Union Minister of Railways, Ashvini Vaishnav, Union Minister of State for Railways Darshana Vikram Jardosh, MPs C.R. Patil, Prabatbhai Patel, Bharasinh Dhabi and Dineshbhai Anavaidya were among those present on the occasion.

--IANS

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Activists of some Sikh bodies held a march here on Saturday demanding the arrest of those behind the desecration of Sikh religious book 'Gutka Sahib' in August.

They also demanded that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) be constituted to probe the case.

Pages of 'Gutka Sahib' were found scattered under a tree near the old civil hospital building here on August 31. Police had registered a case under relevant sections, including 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against unidentified people in the matter.

The protesters took out a march from the Singh Sabha Gurdwara, Sabzi Mandi to the site near the old civil hospital building where the pages were found.

Later, they submitted a memorandum to Phagwara Superintendent of Police (SP) Mukhtiar Rai demanding that an SIT be constituted to probe the case.

The memorandum was addressed to the director general of police.

The was organised by Satbir Singh Walia (Sabhi), president of Gurdwara Singh Sabha, Model Town; Mohan Singh Sain, president of gurdwara Jattan, Baba Gadhiya; and Manjit Singh of Sukhmani Sahib Seva Society.

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The Customs department has arrested a woman passenger at the international airport for trying to smuggle cocaine worth Rs 4.9 crore by hiding it in the cavity of her sandal, an official said on Saturday.

The incident occurred on Thursday, in which 490 grams of cocaine was recovered from her, he said.

The woman was intercepted by the Customs officials at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on the basis of suspicion. During the search, the officials found the cocaine ingeniously concealed in a special cavity made in her sandal, the Customs department said in a tweet.

The passenger was arrested and remanded in judicial custody, it added.

Details about the accused and her destination are awaited.

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Amid concerns raised by the Finance Ministry over continuation of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) till December 2022 owing to inadequate food grains and extra burden on the exchequer, Government on Friday claimed that it has sufficient stock to meet additional requirements.

"Food Corporation of India (FCI) has sufficient stock of foodgrains to meet the requirement of National Food Security Act (NFSA) and other schemes and additional requirement of PMGKAY," Food and Public Distribution Ministry said in a statement.

It added that as on date, FCI has approximately 232 LMT of wheat and 209 LMT rice in the Central pool.

"Even after meeting requirement of stock under NFSA, other welfare schemes and PMGKAY phase VII, as on April 1, 2023, FCI will be having stock comfortably more than the buffer norms," it further said.

It is estimated that as on April 2, 2023, approximately 113 LMT wheat and 236 LMT rice will be available in the central pool after meeting all the requirements, against the buffer norms of 75 LMT of wheat and 136 LMT of rice, official sources said.

Earlier this week, Government had announced that it will extend PMGKAY by three more months from October 1 till December 31, 2022, keeping in mind the forthcoming Gujarat assembly elections, which are due on December 2022.

Finance Ministry had cautioned the Food Department that extending the scheme would entail an additional burden of Rs 44,762 crore on the exchequer.

Also due to rising subsidy burden and high fuel prices as well as supply disruptions due to Ukraine conflict, the scheme should not be extended at all, Finance Ministry had advised.

It had further said that even if the scheme is extended, the quantity offered under it should be curtailed.

Government however will continue to offer 5 kg of food grains per person under PMGKAY, which is in addition to ration supplied to the poor under NFSA provisions.

--IANS

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Defence Minister on Friday exhorted the Indian defence industry to make new investments and lay more emphasis on research and development to scale new heights.

"Make new investments, put more emphasis on research & development, and harness its full potential to take the Indian defence industry to new heights. This effort of yours will be very important not only for the defence industry, but also for the overall growth of the entire country," said Singh while addressing the 117th Annual session of PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry (PHD-CCI) here.

The minister said that PHD-CCI being one of the oldest industry associations having many national and international members could act as ambassador of the Indian defence industry.

"Your roots are spread far and wide in the country and abroad. You can fulfil your role by communicating with all the domestic and foreign companies, connecting them with the Indian defence industry and acting as a bridge between these two," he said.

Striking an optimistic note, Singh said the Indian defence industry is progressing steadily in partnership with private sector.

"There was either no way for the private sector in the past to enter the defence sector, and even if there was some scope, the industry was not ready to set foot in the due to various reasons."

The Defence Minister said that the government has removed these bottlenecks and played the role of an incubator, catalyst, consumer and facilitator in the case of private industry.

Several steps have been taken by the Ministry of Defence, under the 'Make in India' and 'Self-reliant India' initiatives of the Government, to change the old traditions, and to create a manufacturing climate, in which the public and private sectors could participate.

Elaborating upon the far-reaching reforms undertaken by the MoD to bolster the private sector participation in defence sector, he said that Government labs opened to the private industry, transferred technology at zero fee, provided access to test facilities, and upfront funding through DRDO was provisioned.

The Ministry of Defence has issued 3 positive indigenization lists of 309 items which will be procured from domestic vendors as per norms. Three lists have also been issued by Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSU), in which more than 3,700 are Line Replacement Units, Sub-systems and other Components. In addition, an iDEX initiative has been launched to encourage innovators and start-ups.

The government has taken several steps like introduction of defence industrial corridors-- two industrial corridors have been set up each in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, corporatization of OFB which creates win-win situation for armed forces, industry, start-ups and innovators, the minister said.

"The magnitude of all these efforts is beginning to come before us. Today we are not only producing to meet our own defence needs, but also fulfilling the defence needs of many other countries under 'Make for the World", underlined defence minister in his speech.

--IANS

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A magistrate of Islamabad's Margalla police station has issued an arrest warrant against PTI chief Imran Khan, media reports said on Saturday.

The area magistrate issued the arrest warrant in the case registered on August 20 against Khan for his remarks on Additional District and Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry, Geo News reported.

The FIR includes four sections of the Penal Code (PPC), including 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 189 (threat of injury to public servant), and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant).

The former Prime Minister is facing contempt charges for his controversial remarks against Zeba Chaudhry, Geo News reported. The court has issued the warrant for Khan's non-appearance in court.

Following the issuance of the warrant, PTI leader Asad Umar warned the government not to arrest Khan, saying that it will "regret" the decision.

Meanwhile, former Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the issuance of a warrant in such a "weak" case was pointless.

"A circus has been created in the media by issuing warrants over pointless legal clauses and a foolish case which was not needed," he wrote on Twitter, Geo News reported.

Refuting all claims that Khan has left his residence for an unidentified location, Senator Shibli Faraz shared a picture of the PTI chief feeding his dogs at his residence.

--IANS

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Despite its growing alignment with Pakistan, is careful that it does not come at the expense of the country's relations with as and are invested in cooperation despite 'several geopolitical differences'.

However, refrained from inviting to the BRICS summit and additionally prevented India and Bhutan from reportedly signing a declaration voicing NAM countries with Azerbaijan after radical Shia groups stormed the Azerbaijani embassy in London on August 4th, a Research Fellow at the Topchubashov Center in Baku, Azerbaijan, Mahammad Mammadov, said in a statement for New Eastern Europe magazine.

,he growing divide between the two countries propagated mainly from the diplomatic affinities in the Nagorno-Karabakh and Kashmir conflicts

Moreover, India elected to become more pronounced in its support of Armenia while keeping its "principled position" intact on the Karabakh situation as India's foreign ministry, referring to Azerbaijan, called upon the aggressor side to immediately cease hostilities, New Eastern Europe magazine reported.

Moreover, the military ties between the Azerbaijan-Pakistan partnership saw good development in terms of joint military exercises and military education programmes.

But, quite soon the war between Russia and Ukraine and the sanctions put by the west on Russia created new opportunities for Azerbaijan and India to put differences aside and co-operate in mutually beneficial areas as India became Azerbaijan's fourth largest export partner in the first six months of 2022, News Eastern Europe reported quoting Mammadov

In recent times, China is increasingly seeking to find ways to find connectivity with Europe and the Middle East by bypassing Russia and to do so it is escalating tensions in the South Caucasus region, especially in Azerbaijan with the backing of Pakistan.

China has been expanding its BRI projects for last many years. Beijing is being seen building transport routes to Europe that bypass Russia for the last decade.

The South Caucasus region acts as a link between the Middle East, China, Russia and Europe and therefore the region has great strategic significance.

Secondly, it is China's show of strength to build up connectivity in the region.

China's ploy to expand its reach in Azerbaijan seemed highly probable as it comes in the backdrop of Azerbaijan's government probe of a secret military flight which originated from Macao (China) to reach Yerevan in Armenia, reported Portal Plus.

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Federal officials say Boeing has completed little of the work necessary to certify new versions of its 737 Max jetliner by a year-end deadline, and the aircraft maker is lobbying Congress for more time.

If the Federal Aviation Administration does not certify the planes by year end, Boeing would be required under a 2020 law to add a new type of system to alert pilots when there is a potential safety problem with the flight.

Boeing wants to avoid adding the crew-alerting system, which would further delay approval of the new Max 7 and Max 10 jets. The company argues that the system doesn't exist on older 737s, and putting it on future Max jets would add complexity for pilots.

An FAA official said in a letter to Boeing that as of mid-September, the FAA had accepted less than 10% of Boeing's safety assessments on the new planes, another 70% of assessments were undergoing review or changes, and in some cases, the company had failed even to submit necessary documents.

Many of these documents will take significant time to review due to their complexity and bearing on the overall safety of the new aircraft, the official wrote.

Boeing, which is based in Arlington, Virginia, said in a statement Friday that it was working to give FAA the information it needs.

At the same time, we are discussing with policymakers the time needed to complete these certifications, following established processes, Boeing said.

The FAA's concerns were first reported by the Seattle Times, which said that Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., filed an amendment to a pending bill to give Boeing more time to get the planes certified without adding the crew-alerting system.

Congress added the alerting-system requirement on planes certified after Dec. 31, 2022 following two deadly crashes involving Max 8 planes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. The requirement was among several changes designed to improve FAA oversight of aircraft manufacturers.

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India abstained on a draft resolution tabled in the UN Security Council by the US and Albania that condemns Russia's illegal referenda and annexation of four Ukrainian territories and requires that Moscow withdraw troops from Ukraine immediately.

The 15-nation UN Security Council voted on the resolution tabled by the US and Albania that condemned Russia's illegal referenda and annexations of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

The resolution failed to get adopted as Russia vetoed it. Of the 15-nation Council, 10 nations voted for the resolution and four nations abstained.

Russia announced that annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday that any annexation of a State's territory by another State resulting from the threat or use of force is a violation of the Principles of the UN Charter and law.

Any decision to proceed with the annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine would have no legal value and deserves to be condemned, Guterres has said.

It cannot be reconciled with the legal framework. It stands against everything the community is meant to stand for. It flouts the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations. It is a dangerous escalation. It has no place in the modern world. It must not be accepted, the UN chief said.

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Sri Lankan President issued an extraordinary gazette on Saturday, revoking last week's order that declared several key locations in Colombo as high security zones, after sustained pressure from the Opposition and country's human rights watchdog condemning his move.

On September 23, Wickremesinghe declared the Parliament, Supreme Court complex and the President's Secretariat among as high security zones, and banned any kind of protest or agitation near its premises.

The move, which many see as a throwback to the restrictions imposed during the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) days that saw suicide explosions at such key locations, prevents even the parking of cars near the vicinity of key government buildings.

By gazette number 2299/71 dated today, President Wickremesinghe states that he was revoking the said order, according to an extraordinary gazette notification issued by the Presidential Secretariat on Saturday.

In a notification issued on September 23, the President's Secretariat declared key government installation localities as high security zones.

Areas around Parliament, Supreme Court Complex, High Court Complex in Colombo, Magistrate Court Complex in Colombo and Attorney General's Department, Presidential Secretariat, President's House, Navy Headquarters and Police Headquarters have been declared as High Security Zones, the notification said.

The zone also includes the Ministry of Defence and Army headquarters located near parliament, the Air Force headquarters, Prime Minister's Office, the Temple Trees prime minister's residence and the Official Residences of the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and the Commanders of the Tri Forces, it added.

According to the notification, protests and public gatherings in the areas declared as High Security Zones are banned while vehicle parking won't be allowed in the vicinity of any of the designated locations.

Wickremesinghe's U-turn came amid sustained pressure from the principal Opposition, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party, which filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the order.

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka also condemned the move, and called it illegal.

Significantly, some of the designated locations were the sites for large public agitations against the Rajapaksas for their mishandling of the country's economic crisis.

Anti-government protesters are now getting arrested for unlawful entry to these key areas and the government's use of the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Act to keep under detention has also come under criticism from rights groups.

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The recent mass fish deaths in the Oder river that runs through Poland and Germany were caused by the proliferation of brackish water algae, which in turn was triggered by a sudden increase in the river's salinity levels, according to a report.

Fishermen first discovered dead fish in the river near the Polish town of Olawa at the end of July, reports Xinhua news agency.

The fish deaths down the river in Germany were only reported around two weeks later.

Tonnes of dead fish have been pulled from the Oder river as the micro-algae at issue -- known as Prymnesium parvum, or golden alga -- produces a toxic substance that is lethal to fish and other aquatic organisms.

A Polish-German expert group was subsequently set up to investigate.

The fish deaths in the Oder are a "serious environmental catastrophe", Germany's Minister for the Environment Steffi Lemke said on Friday, stressing that it was "caused by human activities".

Alongside attempts to fully understand what happened, the focus now is on the regeneration of the Oder river.

The exact cause of the high salinity level could not be determined "due to a lack of available information", the Ministry for the Environment (BMUV) and the German Environment Agency (UBA) said in a statement.

It also remained unclear about how the algae, which naturally occurs in salty brackish water near coasts, reached the Oder river.

Salinity levels in other rivers in Germany are also too high without the phenomena occurring.

--IANS

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The president of the European Union's executive arm travelled Saturday to Bulgaria for the opening of a natural gas link between the country and Greece, emphasising the EU's determination to stop relying on Russian energy imports.

Speaking at a ceremony in Sofia, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed the pipeline as an important contribution to limiting opportunities for Russia to use its gas and oil reserves to blackmail or punish the EU.

This pipeline changes the energy security situation for Europe. This project means freedom, von der Leyen told an audience that included heads of state and government from the region.

The European Commission committed nearly 250 million euros to finance the project, von der Leyen said.

The importance of the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria pipeline, which was completed in July, has significantly risen after Moscow decided to turn its natural gas deliveries into a political weapon.

A second European pipeline started operating Saturday when fuel flowed through the new Baltic Pipe, which was built to carry gas from Norway's North Sea deposits, through Denmark and across the Baltic seabed to a compressor station in northwestern Poland. It's full capacity is expected to be reached next year.

Polish, Danish and Norwegian officials opened the pipeline Tuesday in northern Poland, stressing its role for the region's independence from Russian natural gas.

Russia has cut some of its gas deliveries to Europe to demonstrate its opposition to sanctions the EU imposed over the war in Ukraine. Unusual leaks this week on the two Nord Stream pipelines that carry Russian gas to Germany exacerbated concerns about safeguarding Europe's energy supplies.

In late April, Russia cut off gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland after they refused Moscow's demand to pay for the deliveries in rubles, Russia's currency.

Relations between the former Soviet bloc allies have tanked in recent months over the war in Ukraine.

Last month Bulgaria ordered the expulsion of 70 Russian diplomats, triggering an angry response from Moscow.

People in Bulgaria and across Europe are feeling the consequences of Russia's war. But thanks to projects like this, Europe will have enough gas for the winter, von der Leyen said.

"Europe has everything it needs to break free from our dependency on Russia. It is a matter of political will.

The 182-kilometer conduit runs from the northeastern Greek city of Komotini, where it links to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, up to Stara Zagora in central Bulgaria. Plans call for an initial capacity of 3 billion cubic meters of gas a year, and the prospect of future expansion to 5 billion cubic meters.

The Bulgarian executive of the project, Teodora Georgieva, said the pipeline would help supply other countries in southeastern Europe.

We have the opportunity to supply gas to the Western Balkans, to ensure supplies to Moldova and Ukraine, Georgieva said.

Planned on and off since the early 2000s, the Baltic Pipe received the green light in 2016 under Poland's current right-wing government, which wants to make the country fully independent of Russian energy sources.

The entire offshore route is approximately 275 kilometers long.

The expansion in Denmark consists of an approximately 210-kilometers pipeline, a new compressor station and an expansion of a receiving terminal.

The project received financial support from the .

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Russian President on Friday fulminated against the West's record, singling out the US use of nuclear weapons in the closing days of the Second World War, and then western nations' centuries of 'colonialism', 'slave trading' and the 'plundering of India'.

In his speech after signing treaties on the inclusion of four former Ukrainian regions into the Russian Federation - the start of the formal process of their accession - after the Russian-conducted referendums, he asserted that Russia is ready for talks with Ukraine, but 'will defend our land with all the powers and means at our disposal'.

Hitting out at the US, he said that it is the only country in the world that has twice used nuclear weapons, destroying Japan's Hiroshima and Nagasaki cities, and setting a precedent.

'Even today, they actually occupy Germany, Japan the Republic of Korea, and other countries, and at the same time cynically call them allies of equal standing,' he said.

'The West... began its colonial policy back in the Middle Ages, and then followed the slave trade, the genocide of Indian tribes in America, the plunder of India, of Africa, the wars of England and France against China...

'What they did was hooking entire nations on drugs, deliberately exterminate entire ethnic groups. For the sake of land and resources they hunted people like animals. This is contrary to the very nature of man, truth, freedom and justice,' Putin said.

--IANS

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The US sanctioned hundreds of Russian officials, lawmakers, family members and businesses Friday in what Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called a sweeping action, but in reality the measures will have little practical effect on President Vladimir Putins ability to sustain his countrys economy with oil and gas revenue.

That raises fundamental questions about the effectiveness of sanctions, despite how big it looks on paper for the Biden administration to go after Russias central banker, Elvira Nabiullina, and Alexander Novak, the deputy prime minister and a key figure in Russias energy sector. A raft of sanctions so far havent materially affected the war on the ground in Ukraine or dented Putins determination to pursue it despite repeated setbacks.

Putins brazen annexation of regions in Ukraine -- and his threat to use nuclear weapons to defend his land grab -- required a response of some kind. For the Biden administration, it came down to the need to send a signal, to communicate to countries that may be inclined to support the Russian government and work with its key financial officials that they could eventually land on the wrong side of US sanctions policy.

I want to issue a clear warning to those who would think about providing political and economic support to these annexed territories or to Russias efforts to justify and defend the annexation: You can be subject to US sanctions as a result of those activities, said US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

But its not clear that this talk of secondary sanctions is enough.

To further isolate Russia, there needs to be a serious look at deploying secondary sanctions, rather than just threatening, said Daniel Tannebaum, a former Treasury Department official who is a partner at Oliver Wyman. Secondary sanctions force countries to choose between doing business with the target of sanctions or those imposing sanctions. In this instance, you could carve out energy, agricultural, food and medicine-related transactions but more broadly ban additional sectoral trade.

US agencies came up with the long list of new sanctions targets after Putin announced the annexation based on sham referendums in areas of Ukraine. President Joe Biden said this week that the US would never, never, never recognize Russias claim on Ukraine sovereign territory. On Friday, Biden declared that a massive leak from the Nord Stream gas pipeline system in the Baltic Sea was an intentional act, and that Russian statements about the incident shouldnt be trusted.

It was a deliberate act of sabotage. And now the Russians are pumping out disinformation and lies, he told reporters at the White House.

Yellen said in a statement that Fridays moves were meant to further weaken Russias already degraded military industrial complex and that the US was taking specific aim at Russias financial architecture to limit its ability to prop up its economy. But the Treasury also said it would continue to allow people other than Americans to buy Russian oil and gas, which critics of the US response have cited as a weakness in the sanctions regime.

Theres been a paradox in these sanctions, Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican said in an interview on Bloomberg Televisions Balance of Power With David Westin. As the price of oil has gone up, Russia has had increased revenue from selling oil and natural gas.

Assistant Treasury Secretary Elizabeth Rosenberg told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday that imposing financial costs on Russia while mitigating the effects of its actions has required extraordinary planning, coordination, economic analysis, diplomacy, and creative policy making.

She pointed to a 35% drop in Russias stock market since the start of the war and said its economy was expected to contract over the next two years. She told senators that Russia has had to turn to Iran and North Korea for weapons because of the export controls imposed by the US and its allies.

The Treasury Department has been working with European allies to impose a cap on the price of Russian oil. The proposal would let oil flow from the country to buyers in the developing world provided the insurers and finance companies that facilitate the transport attest that its sold below a pre-set cap. The Treasury has said it anticipates the cap will be well above the cost of production.

When the new US sanctions were announced, attention turned immediately to Nabiullina. She has served as Russias central bank governor since 2013 and was appointed to a new five-year term in March. Before that, she served as Putins economic adviser. She has managed the economic fallout from sanctions, quickly adjusting to a wartime policy when the ruble tumbled 30%.

I dont think that sanctioning Governor Nabiullina itself is going to make that much difference, I think its more symbolic, said Rachel Ziemba, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security. The big question and step is about the price cap and what happens with the energy markets. Thats the piece thats still not been addressed. So while its a very long list, Im not sure its a full game-changer.

A bipartisan pair of senators -- Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, and Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican -- have introduced legislation that would impose secondary sanctions on countries such as India and China that purchase Russian oil at prices above the cap. The Treasury Department has shied away from using secondary sanctions to enforce the cap out of fear the measures would drive important allies like India away from the West.

Beyond the energy sector, theres a question around how porous US sanctions on prominent Russian officials and citizens may prove to be. Russian Oligarch Oleg Deripaska evaded sanctions to fly his girlfriend to the US in 2020 to ensure that their child was born on American soil. A second attempt was halted by authorities earlier this year, according to the Justice Department.

Tannebaum and Ziemba said the most effective part of the US actions was restrictions on certain exports to Russia, including critical technology. More significant still is the threat of penalties for third countries who sell those items to Russia, they said.

The effectiveness of the package lies in the additional entries on the Commerce Departments Entity List, Tannebaum said. That will make it harder for Russia to import the goods needed to keep their war in Ukraine going.
Ukraine's nuclear power provider accused Russia on Saturday of kidnapping the head of Europe's largest nuclear power plant, a facility now occupied by Russian troops and located in a region of Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin has moved to annex illegally.

Russian forces seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov, around 4 p.m. Friday, Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom said. That was just hours after Putin, in a sharp escalation of his war, signed treaties to absorb Moscow-controlled Ukrainian territory into Russia.

Energoatom said Russian troops stopped Murashov's car, blindfolded him and then took him to an undisclosed location.

His detention by (Russia) jeopardizes the safety of Ukraine and Europe's largest nuclear power plant, said Energoatom President Petro Kotin said.

Kotin demanded that Russia immediately release Murashov.

Russia did not immediately acknowledge seizing the plant director. The Atomic Energy Agency, which has staff at the plant, did not immediately acknowledge Energoatom's claim of Murashov's capture.

The Zaporizhzhia plant repeatedly has been caught in the crossfire of the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian technicians continued running it after Russian troops seized the power station. The plant's last reactor was shut down in September amid ongoing shelling near the facility.

On Friday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the war in Ukraine was at a pivotal moment. He called Putin's decision to take over more territory Russia now claims sovereignty over 15% of Ukraine the largest attempted annexation of European territory by force since the Second World War.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, however, a Ukrainian counteroffensive that last month embarrassed the Kremlin by liberating a region bordering Russia was on the verge of retaking more ground, according to military analysts.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Ukraine likely will retake another key Russian-occupied city in the country's east in the next few days. Ukrainian forces already have encircled the city of Lyman, some 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.

Citing Russian reports, the institute said it appeared Russian forces were retreating from Lyman. That corresponds to online videos purportedly showing some Russian forces falling back as a Ukrainian soldier said they had reached Lyman's outskirts.

The Ukrainian military has yet to claim taking Lyman, and Russia-backed forces claimed they were sending more troops to the area.

Ukraine also is making incremental gains around Kupiansk and the eastern bank of the Oskil River, which became a key front line since the Ukrainian counteroffensive regained control of the Kharkiv region in September.

Ukraine's military claimed Saturday that Russia would need to deploy cadets before they complete their training because of a lack of manpower in the war. Putin ordered a mass mobilization of Russian army reservists last week to supplement his troops in Ukraine, and thousands of men have fled the country to avoid the call-up.

The Ukrainian military's general staff said cadets at the Tyumen Military School and at the Ryazan Airborne School would be sent to participate in Russia's mobilization. It offered no details on how it gathered the information, though Kyiv has electronically intercepted mobile phone calls from Russian soldiers amid the conflict.

In a daily intelligence briefing, the British Defense Ministry highlighted an attack Friday in the city of Zaporizhzhia that killed 30 people and wounded 88 others.

The British military said the Russians almost certainly struck a humanitarian convoy there with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. Russia is increasingly using anti-aircraft missiles to conduct attacks on the ground likely due to a lack of munitions, the British said Saturday.

Russia's stock of such missiles is highly likely limited and is a high-value resource designed to shoot down modern aircraft and incoming missiles, rather than for use against ground targets, the British said. Its use in ground attack role has almost certainly been driven by overall munitions shortages, particularly longer-range precision missiles.

The British briefing noted the attack came while Putin was preparing to sign the annexation treaties.

Russia is expending strategically valuable military assets in attempts to achieve tactical advantage and in the process is killing civilians it now claims are its own citizens, it said.

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Russia's war in Ukraine is a "naked aggression" without any provocation and France and India are working together to mitigate the consequences of the conflict including global food and energy security, French Ambassador Emmanuel Lenain said.

In an interview to PTI, the envoy said France strongly condemned Russia's illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions and described it as a serious violation of both law and Ukraine's sovereignty.

Welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent call to Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the conflict, the envoy said leaders of both India and France are working together to convince Moscow to return to the negotiating table.

"We feel that Putin wants to return to the time of imperialism and that's exactly what we want to avoid in Europe and anywhere else in the world, especially in this region where I am talking," he said.

"In the Indo-Pacific too, we do not want this, and I am sure India does not want any neighbour to encroach on borders by pure aggression," Lenain said.

There has been fresh outrage in Europe over Putin's announcement on Friday of annexing into four Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia which marked the largest forcible takeover of European territory since World War II.

The ambassador said France "highly respects" India's autonomy of decision and complimented Modi's comments during a meeting with Putin in the Uzbek city of Samarkand last month that "today's era is not of war".

"I think it was a very welcome remark, as always, and you have seen that President Emmanuel Macron in his speech in New York to the UN General Assembly has mentioned and quoted Prime Minister Modi," the envoy said.

"That's exactly the sort of statements we need, to call on Putin to stop this war of aggression and go back to the negotiating table," he added.

On Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian regions, Lenain said France strongly condemns the illegal action.

"It is a serious violation of both law and Ukraine's sovereignty. It illustrates what I said: Putin wants to return to the ear of imperialism and a world where might makes right. We will continue to stand by Ukraine," he said.

Calling Russia's attack on Ukraine a violation of law, the envoy said leaders of both India and France are working together to convince President Putin to end the war.

"We are working very much together. What can we also do is obviously try to convince Putin to go back to diplomacy, to negotiate. One of the key actions by our leaders in the last few months has been -- however difficult it is -- to maintain a channel with Putin to try to pass this message," he said.

France and India have been in touch with each other on the Ukraine crisis and the issue figured prominently during telephonic talks in recent months between Modi and Macron.

"We feel it is a naked aggression by a country on another one, on a democracy, an aggression which was without any provocation and that it is not in keeping with the principles of international order," Lenain said.

"It is very important that we stand with each other and defend these rules. That being said, on this subject as any others, we highly respect India's autonomy of decision," he added.

India has been calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities and resolution of the conflict through dialogue.

"Our two countries are very close because we are highly independent. What can we do together? A lot. We are working on how to mitigate the consequences of the war on food security and energy security," the envoy said.

"In a crisis like this, weaker countries pay the price. So, we want to take initiatives to alleviate. President Macron has proposed an initiative called FARM on food security and I know that India is very willing to take new initiatives in the run-up to its G20 presidency next year," he said.

India is taking over the presidency of the G-20 at the grouping's annual summit in the Indonesian city of Bali next month.

India has abstained from a UN Security Council resolution condemning Moscow's annexation of parts of Ukraine.

Regarding bilateral ties, the envoy described the friendship between the two countries as "very natural and very strong".

"First of all, we are the best partners of all. We have been partnering for over 75 years now and we have always stood at each other's side, in good and in bad times. Our friendship is very natural, very strong," he said.

"Our strategic partnership is turning 25 next year. It is a partnership of equals and it is a partnership to boost each other's strategic autonomy. We are two very highly independent countries," he noted.

The ambassador said the cooperation between the two countries is now expanding to new areas such as artificial intelligence, cyber and the digital domain.

"This partnership, given the level of trust between our two countries, is expanding in all the new areas where our future lies: digital, cyber, AI and many . It is really the strength of our trust that allows us to go and venture into all these areas," Lenain said.

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French President on Friday condemned the annexation of Ukrainian territories by Russia and said that the act is a serious violation of law and Ukrainian sovereignty.

He added that the move is opposed by France and it continues to stand with Ukraine in its battle against Russia to regain its territories.

In a tweet, Macron wrote, "Russia's "illegal" move to annex four Ukrainian regions, describing the act as a "serious violation of law and Ukrainian sovereignty."

"France opposes this and will continue to stand alongside Ukraine to confront Russian aggression and allow Ukraine to recover its full sovereignty over all of its territory," he tweeted on Twitter.

The annexation has been widely criticized by the west.

Notably, the United States on Friday announced that it will impose a "swift and severe cost" on Russia after President Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of four regions of Ukraine, which America quoted as a 'sham referendum.'

Calling the annexation "illegal", Biden said that the US will always honour Ukraine's internationally recognized borders and will continue to support the country's effort to regain control of its territory by strengthening its hand militarily and diplomatically.

He further said that the USD 1.1 billion in additional security assistance that the United States announced this week also helped Ukraine.

"We will continue to provide Ukraine with the equipment it needs to defend itself, undeterred by Russia's brazen effort to redraw the borders of its neighbour," the statement reads.

US President also said he will sign legislation from Congress that will provide an additional USD 12 billion to support Ukraine.

Putin signed the documents to formally announced the annexation of four regions - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the "United States unequivocally rejects Russia's fraudulent attempt to change Ukraine's internationally recognized borders."

"We will continue the United States' powerful, coordinated efforts to hold Russia to account, cut Russia's military off from global commerce and severely limit its ability to sustain its aggression and project power," he added.

Moreover, the European Union leaders also unequivocally condemned the illegal annexation by Russia of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions and accused the Kremlin of putting global security at risk.

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The UN chief is strongly urging Yemen's warring parties to not only renew but expand a truce that expires on Sunday, saying it has brought the longest period of relative calm since the conflict began in 2014.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that the internationally recognised government and Houthi rebels should prioritise the national interests of the Yemeni people and choose peace for good.

His statement followed a stark warning on Tuesday from the UN envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, that the risk of a return to fighting is real.

Yemen's brutal civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern and forced the government into exile.

A Saudi-led coalition entered the war in early 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognised government to power.

The conflict has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises and over the years turned into a regional proxy war between Saudi Arabia, which backs the government, and Iran, which supports the Houthis.

More than 150,000 people have been killed, including over 14,500 civilians.

Both sides accepted the UN-brokered truce for two months at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on April 2.

It has been extended twice, and Grundberg and the secretary-general have been pushing both sides for a longer extension to try to start negotiations toward ending the conflict.

Over the past six months, Guterres said, the government of and the Houthis have taken important and bold steps towards peace by agreeing to, and twice renewing, a nationwide truce negotiated by the .

With the Sunday deadline looming, Guterres strongly urged the parties to expand the duration and terms of the truce in line with a proposal presented by Grundberg that has not been made public.

Nabil Jamel, a government negotiator, said the UN proposal includes ways to pay civil servants in Houthi-held territories and reopen roads of blockaded cities, including Taiz.

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The US House of Representatives has approved a stopgap funding bill to fund the government through mid-December, following a Senate passage.

The House on Friday night cleared the bill on a 230-201 vote, sending it to President Joe Biden for his signature.

The previous day, the Senate voted 72-25.

The so-called continuing resolution would prevent a partial government shutdown after the current fiscal year expired on Friday night.

"It's become routine for to wait until the very last minute before an urgent deadline to spring into action," Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a budget watchdog group, said in a statement.

This will make time number eight out of the last 10 years in which lawmakers have waited until "the very last week" of the fiscal year to pass a stopgap measure to avoid a full or partial government shutdown, the group noted.

"When lawmakers don't bother to set spending priorities, it shows how truly broken the federal budget process is," the group said.

"While it seems both chambers can't agree on much these days, they should at least be able to agree on this: we should not run our country without a budget."

A continuing resolution temporarily funds the government in the absence of full appropriations bills, often by continuing funding levels from the prior year.

But the newly approved stopgap measure included several provisions beyond funding the federal government's current operations, including $12 billion in aid to Ukraine.

The legislation also provides billions of dollars in disaster aid to support communities that are recovering from extreme weather.

Some $20 million will be used to fix the water infrastructure in Jackson, Mississippi, where heavy rainstorms led pumps at the main water treatment plant to fail last month, leaving 150,000 people without safe drinking water.

The stopgap bill had previously been held up by disagreements over a proposal from centrist Democrat Joe Manchin, a senator from West Virginia, regarding federal permitting process for major energy projects.

In the face of bipartisan opposition, Manchin had to drop the measure.

--IANS

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CPI (M) senior leader and former Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, known for his organisational calibre and Parliamentary expertise, died at Apollo Hospital in Chennai on Saturday, party leaders said. He was 70.

He had been undergoing treatment for cancer for some time, they said.

Considered as the second strongest leader in the CPI(M) after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan these days, Balakrishnan was a politburo member of the Left party, who had served as the CPI(M)'s State secretary from 2015 to 2022.

A multiple-time MLA, he also served as the Minister of Home and Tourism Affairs in the V S Achuthanandan Ministry during 2006-2011.

Due to failing health, he stepped down as the party State secretary in August after being elected for the third consecutive term to the top organisational post early this year.

Known for his no-nonsense attitude, diplomatic skills and decision-making capabilities, Balakrishnan had been a crisis manager for the party during turbulent times.

Amid his stern and tough-faced colleagues including Vijayan, Balakrishnan set a difference with his liberal views, pragmatic approaches and above all a smiling face which earned him the epithet "smiling Communist."



Born to a humble family of a primary school teacher at Thalassery in politically volatile Kannur district on November 16, 1953, he began his politcal career through students' and became the State secretary of the Students' Federation of India (SFI) at the age of 20.

He served as the national joint secretary of SFI and district secretary of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and led the party's student and youth outfits in a commendable way braving the attacks of the political opponets and police assault during Emergency.

Making his way into the mainstream politics, he served as the Kannur district secretary of the Marxist party for five years from 1990.

In the later decades, Balakrishnan rose to various party ranks including as the member of State committee, State secretariat, central committee and finally a polit buro member in the Party Congress held in Coimbatore in 2008.

The leader proved his mettle as a parliamentarian while elected to the State Assembly for five times-1982, 1987, 2001, 2006 and 2011.

During his tenure as Home Minister from 2006-11 that the much aclaimed "janamaithri police" programme, a path-breaking initiative aimed to bridge the gap between the law enforcers and public, was implemented in the southern State.

He also proved his leadership and diplomatic skills while serving as a deputy opposition leader in the State Assembly in various years.

Participation in mass agitations and meticulous organisation of party programmes helped Balakrishnan earn a mass support base in the party.

He is survived by wife S R Vinodini and two sons.

CPI (M) State secretary M V Govindan told reporters in Chennai that the mortal remains of Balakrishnan would be taken to his home district Kannur in an air ambulance on Sunday.

The cremation would be held at Payyambalam beach on Monday, the party leaders said.

Cutting across party politics, people from various walks of life condoled the death of Balakrishnan.

Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, in his message, said his calm, friendly nature and unwavering commitment to ensuring people's welfare endeared him to everyone.

The contributions of Balakrishnan as Minister and as a leader, who earned mass support through his involvement in social causes, would be long remembered, he said.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said he was close to Balakrishnan since his student days and his role in transforming the party into the powerful movement is of historical importance.

"Comrade has always took a tough stand against party enemies and dealt with the general issues in a mature and appreciable manner. Balakrishnan ensured not to deviate from his ideological position even while engaging in a friendly manner with everyone," he said adding that his intervention in modernising the police force wad commendable.

Earlier in the day, Vijayan postponed his trip to Europe, which was scheduled from Sunday, due to Balakrishnan's critical health condition.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury described Balakrishnan as a longstanding comrade in arms.

While BJP State chief K Surendran remembered Balakrishnan a "smiling face of CPI(M)" and as person who could maintain a friendship even with his political opponents, Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly V D Satheesan said the demise of the Left leader was an irreparable loss to political .

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Will the desert storm wipe out the Congress in Rajasthan? Can the divided Congress infuse fresh energy in its demotivated workers? Will the party be able to beat the opposition which is already fragmented? Can it cash in on the divided opposition to change the trend persisting in the state since four decades where power gets shifted to alternate hands every five years?

These are the questions being discussed by the Congress as well as the opposition parties.

The Congress workers are already fed up with discussing rebels, political camps, infighting and finally the party's future after the last four years since the Congress has been in power in Rajasthan.

They agree that the party has failed to strengthen its presence at the booth level in these four years and the voters' trust in the Congress remains shaken, said a senior leader.

The ongoing political crisis has hit the workers hard and they have lost trust in their leaders.

However, a ray of hope emerged after former deputy CM spoke of returning the party to power in the 2023 polls after meeting Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday.

"We need to discuss strategies to bring back our government, however no one is interested in thinking about it, but all seem interested in saving their chairs," said a senior leader.

It is because of these senior and selfish leaders that chief minister had to say sorry in front of everyone in Delhi, said another leader.

"We are glad that amid the ongoing crisis, someone used the word 'together' in these testing times. This word is sacrosanct today as the party stands divided in three factions: there is one group loyal to the high command, another to CM and the third to Sachin Pilot," he added.

Meanwhile, questions are being raised about the conduct of Assembly speaker CP Joshi who silently accepted the resignations of 92 Congress MLAs and is staying silent amid all this drama when the MLAs themselves are saying that they were made to resign forcefully.

The WhatsApp calls of all senior leaders are busy discussing if a new CM will come or if Gehlot will manage to hold on to his chair.

The million dollar question is, "Will the desert storm wipe out the Congress in Rajasthan?"

This is the question being discussed because the Gehlot camp MLAs are now questioning his right hand men, UDH Minister Shanti Dhariwal, PHED minister Mahesh Joshi and RTDC chairman Dharmendra Rathore on why they called an unofficial meeting parallel to the CLP meeting last Sunday. These are the three leaders who were issued show-cause notices on Sunday.

Now all are waiting for the decision of the high command on the CM face. There will be a ray of light, says Vedprakash Solanki from the Pilot camp who termed Dharmendra Rathore a 'Dalal' when he called Pilot a traitor.

We are ready to go for mid-term elections but we want CM Gehlot to remain our leader, says minister Parsadilali Lal Meena.

We are with the high command, says Divya Maderna, granddaughter of Parasram Maderna who couldn't become CM under similar conditions as are existing today.

So with three factions in the party, all eyes are now on the high command.

--IANS

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Delhi Chief Minister on Saturday alleged those involved in corruption under the BJP government in have parked their money in "Swiss banks" and the AAP will bring it back if it is voted to power in the state.

He also promised the construction of 20,000 on the lines of Delhi across Gujarat, government-run schools in each village of the state, and also assured "free and unlimited" healthcare for all.

On the first day of his two-day visit to the state, where Assembly elections are due in December this year, Kejriwal claimed a "secret IB report" of the BJP government has suggested that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will win the elections with a huge majority.

Campaigning for AAP with Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, Kejriwal addressed two rallies at Gandhidham town in Kutch district and in Junagadh.

Addressing a rally in Gandhidham, the AAP national convener said the new government will ensure that Narmada water reaches every corner of the Kutch district.

Kejriwal promised to provide free and unlimited healthcare, including medicines, tests, and surgeries, to all residents of Gujarat, irrespective of their financial status.

"We will build 20,000 across . Be it rich or poor, the people of will be given free treatment. Everything will be free, be it medicines, tests or operation, even if it costs Rs 20 lakh," said Kejriwal in Junagadh.

On the lines of Delhi, private schools in Gujarat will be audited if AAP comes to power and excess money collected by schools will be returned to the people, he said.

Attacking the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Gujarat, Kejriwal alleged those involved in corruption under BJP have parked their illegal money in banks in Swiss banks.

"When people demand something, they (BJP government and leaders) say there is no money. Where does the money go when they collect crores and crores through various taxes? It goes into Swiss banks. Each one of them owns more than 10 bungalows. These netas have amassed enormous wealth," said the AAP leader.

"If AAP forms a government, it will not let any minister or MLA indulge in corruption. We will bring back all the (black) money parked in Swiss banks," said Kejriwal, adding that AAP will make electricity free by saving money through plugging corruption.

Kejriwal also claimed that a "secret IB report" of the BJP government has suggested that AAP will win the elections with a huge majority.

In Gandhidham, Kejriwal claimed students of government-run schools belonging to poor families in Delhi are securing admissions in medical and engineering courses.

"They will lift their families out of poverty after getting well-paying jobs. But in Gujarat, I have learnt the ruling BJP is shutting down government schools in Kutch," he said.

"I promise that AAP will build government schools in every village of Gujarat after coming to power. We will also bring Narmada water to every corner of the Kutch region. Just give one chance to AAP for the sake of your children's future," the AAP leader said.

If voted to power, AAP will build a government-run hospital in each of the 33 districts in Gujarat to provide free and quality treatment to people.

Kejriwal said the chief minister of Gujarat and his ministers were getting 5,000 units and 4,000 units, respectively, of electricity free per month but the state government here was abusing him for promising 300 units free to common citizens.

Mann said 74 lakh families in Punjab have electricity meters in their homes, and 51 lakh of these have received electricity bills with no amount to pay, popularly called 'zero electricity bills'.

"The Delhi government saved Rs 150 crore on the construction of a bridge and spent that money on distributing free medicines to the needy people. Is that revdi? If that is the case, then I want to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi who sold the papad (freebie promise) of depositing Rs 15 lakh in the bank accounts of citizens," Mann added.

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Prime Minister put aside the microphone as he addressed a gathering in the Abu Road region in on Friday.

The move came as PM Modi stressed on rules and said that he did not want to violate any regulations by using microphones and loudspeakers after 10 PM.

"I reached a little late. Now it is 10 PM. I believe I should abide by law and order. I apologise for the delay. I promise I will come again and I will return the same faith and love you all have for me and even more," said PM Modi as slogans and cheers echoed at the event.

PM Modi later bowed down as the event ended.

Earlier, Prime Minister visited the Ambaji Temple in the Banaskantha district of Gujarat and performed the 'aarti' of the Goddess.

He was seen offering prayers and performing the arti of the deity.

Modi extended the free ration scheme to the general masses and said that the move will help over 80 crore people. His remarks came after he laid the foundation stone of multiple projects in Ambaji, Gujarat, today.

"To help my sisters during this festive season, the government has extended its free ration scheme. The centre is spending about Rs 4 lakh crore to provide relief to more than 80 crore people of the country in difficult times," said PM Modi.

He also stressed the building of houses for the poor and said, "So far, we have built more than 3 crore houses in the country and given them to the poor. Most of these houses are owned by mothers and sisters."

Calling it an auspicious time to visit his home state, he noted, "Fortunate to be in Ambaji during Navratri. Projects being launched here will have a transformational impact on the region."

He also highlighted that the picture of the northwestern region in Gujarat has changed.

"The picture of Banaskantha has changed due to the continuous efforts of the last two decades. Neer, Sujalam-Sufalam and Drip Irrigation of Narmada have played a big role in changing the situation. In this, the role of sisters has been leading," he added.

He also cited that the concept of respecting women was embedded in the Indian culture.

"When we talk about respect for women, it seems very easy for us. But when we think about it seriously, we find how much respect for women is embedded in our culture. We also see our country India as a mother, and consider ourselves the children of Mother Bharati," said PM Modi.

Prime Minister on Friday laid the foundation stone and dedicated various projects worth over Rs 7,200 crore in Ambaji.

Thousands of people thronged the event and cheered as PM Modi digitally pressed the launch.

The programmes in Ambaji included laying the foundation stone of over 45,000 houses built under the PM Awas Yojana. Prime Minister Modi will also lay the foundation stone of Taranga Hill - Ambaji - Abu Road New Broad Gauge Line and development of pilgrimage facilities at Ambaji temple under the PRASAD scheme.

The new rail line is expected to benefit lakhs of devotees visiting Ambaji, one of the 51 Shakti Peethas and will enrich the worship experience of the devotees at all these pilgrimage places. Other projects whose foundation stone will be laid include the construction of the runway and associated infrastructure at Air Force Station, Deesa; Ambaji Bypass Road among others.

Zeal and fervour echoed in the streets of Ambaji in Gujarat when Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a roadshow on Friday.

Thousands of people thronged the area as they raised slogans.

PM Modi's convoy was welcomed with flower petals being showered on his car while the security detail was seen clearing out the pieces and way.

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leader Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary on Saturday attacked the (SP), calling it perfect example of dynasty .

"In the past 30 years, the could only reach to Akhilesh Yadav from Mulayam Singh Yadav and this is the most clear example of 'pariwarwaad'," Chaudhary, president in Uttar Pradesh, told reporters.

Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday was elected the SP president for a third time in a row.

Chaudhary, who was on a visit to participate in a plantation programme being run by the under the 'Seva Pakhwada', said: "SP has lost all the elections in seven-eight years and the condition of its organisation is such that it could not even give a new state president."



In the recently held state level convention of the Samajwadi Party, Naresh Uttam was re-elected the state unit president of the party.

Referring to the ban on Popular Front of India (PFI) and arrest of its members, Choudhary said strict action will be taken against all those whose activities are found suspicious.

The government had information that justifies the ban, he said.

PFI was banned for indulging in anti-national activities, he said.

Chaudhary said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country will not tolerate any anti-national activity.

According to a statement issued from the BJP state headquarters in Lucknow, as part of 'Seva Pakhwada', that started from Modi's birthday on September 17, BJP workers across the state carried out a booth-level tree plantation campaign on Saturday.

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UN Security Council United Nations

10 remaining Security Council members voted in favor of resolution, while China, India, Brazil and Gabon abstained from vote

UNITED NATIONS (AA) - Russia on Friday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning Moscow-backed "illegal" referendums to annex Ukraine's occupied territories.

The 10 remaining Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution drafted by the US and Albania, while China, India, Brazil and Gabon abstained from the vote.

"It (the resolution) condemns these illegal referenda. It calls on all states to not recognize any altered state of Ukraine. And it requires that Russia withdraws troops from Ukraine immediately," Linda Thomas Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, told the Security Council.

"Do you seriously expect Russia to consider and support such a draft? And if not, that it turns out that you are intentionally pushing us to use the right of the veto in order to wax lyrical about the fact that Russia abuses this right," said Russia's envoy to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia.

"Such openly hostile actions on the part of the West are a refusal to engage and cooperate within the council... This is nothing more than a low grade provocation with a goal that is clear to all".

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier on Friday announced the annexation of the four Ukrainian regions  Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in violation of international law.

The referendums have been widely condemned by the international community, with European nations and the US saying that they will not be recognized.

"Any decision to proceed with the annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine would have no legal value and deserves to be condemned," Antonio Guterres said on Thursday.

The draft resolution is now expected to be taken up by the 193-member UN General Assembly.

Betul Yuruk
Nord Stream Gas Pipelines Leaks Getty Images

Gas leaks on Nord Stream pipelines are caused by blasts equal to several hundred kilos of explosives, joint letter says

LONDON (AA)  Denmark and Sweden informed the UN Security Council on Friday that the Nord Stream pipeline leaks were caused by blasts equal to several hundred kilos of explosives, local media reported.

The countries also raised concerns about what sort of impact the leaks may have on the climate, as scientists have warned that methane erupting into the Baltic Sea from the Nord Stream pipelines could be the worst ever and that it can pose significant risks.

A joint letter was sent to the UN Security Council to inform them about the blasts equal to several hundred kilos of explosives that they believe caused the gas leakage, Danish TV2 reported.

Nord Stream Gas Pipelines (c) AFP

Gas leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines are going to be investigated by both Sweden and Denmark as soon as the gas completely leak out, which they predict will be on Sunday or Monday, Swedish broadcaster SVT Nyheter said.

The Swedish National Seismic Network (SNSN) detected two undersea explosions that they say caused four leaks in total, two in Swedish economic area and two in Denmark.

Upon Russia's request, the UN Security Council will meet on Friday to discuss leaks in Nord Stream gas pipelines with sabotage as the main agenda.

However, neither Swedish nor Danish representative will be present as they are not members.

Nord Stream Gas Pipelines explosions (c) Getty

According to the Danish Foreign Ministry, Denmark was not invited to participate in the meeting despite explosions taking place in the country's economic area, SVT Nyheter reported.

The EU, together with Denmark and Sweden, said gas leaks in pipelines were a result of a deliberate action and not accidental.

Nord Stream management company NordStreamAG said on Thursday that the investigation may take several weeks before any conclusions can be made, according to the report.

The company also stated that it is impossible to say at this stage if Nord Stream damage can be repaired.

Nord Stream Gas Pipelines Leaks (c) Getty Images

Leila Nezirevic/AA
Turkey, Ankara AA Images

Foreign Ministry says decision constitutes a grave violation of the established principles of international law, cannot be accepted

ANKARA (AA) - Turkiye said early Saturday that it rejects Russia's decision to annex four Ukrainian regions just as it did not recognize the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said Moscow's decision "constitutes a grave violation of the established principles of international law, cannot be accepted."

"Turkiye did not recognize Russias annexation of Crimea in an illegitimate referendum in 2014 and has emphasized its strong support to Ukraines territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty on every occasion," it said.

In accordance with this stance adopted in 2014, we reject Russias decision to annex the Donetsk, Luhansk, Herson and Zaphorizhia regions of Ukraine," it added.

The ministry further said Turkiye continues its support for the "resolution of this war, the severity of which keeps growing, based on a just peace that will be reached through negotiations."

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Friday the accession of the regions to Russia.

Putin said the referendums took place, results are known, people made their choice."

On Sept. 23 - 27, the Ukrainian separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and Russian-controlled parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson held referendums on joining Russia.

The referendums have been condemned by the international community, with European nations and the US calling them a "sham" and saying that they will not be recognized.

Vakkas Dogantekin/AA
Cartoon Brew sat down with the films vfx supervisor Archie Donato (a cg lead on numerous Dreamworks Animation features, as well as an extensive career in vfx) and animation director Kapil Sharma (animation supervisor, Rons Gone Wrong; senior animator, Trolls) to discuss the steps required to take a PDF full of concept art and turn it into a visually striking production.

Cartoon Brew: When and how did you two first get involved with this project?

Archie Donato: We got involved literally as soon as they were ready to start making the movie. I got a call from David Prescott saying, I have something that has your name written all over it. But the job was in London, and I wasnt sure about Covid and relocating. But they had already done a significant amount of development on the artistic side, and they showed us this incredible PDF of what they had been working on and I said, Whens the next flight to London? I know Im speaking for both of us when I say this, this was something wed been waiting our whole careers to work on. We come from traditional cg animation and vfx, but always the very standard Dreamworks/Pixar style animation. So to get involved in adult animation like this was a huge thing.

And how did the DNEG-Netflix partnership work out practically?

Donato: I think what convinced them that we were the right choice was a couple early tests we did for them. One big thing was that they wanted a 3d movie that looked like a stunning 2d movie. They wanted it to always feel like you were stepping into a painting. That was the directors dream. Once we got the job, the first few months were weird because we had to forget 30 years worth of experience in 3d animation and start over, you know?

Kapil Sharma: And I want to add that Netflix were really great partners for that experience. We spent maybe two or three months just figuring out how to do this project, and they were great partners on helping us solve how to find the projects look.

Donato: They knew exactly what they wanted and trusted us to figure out how to do it in 3d. The idea was not necessarily to make an animated film, but to forget the medium and focus on how to tell a great love story. So we had to forget our animation backgrounds and work on something more realistic and engrossing for adults.

So Archie youre from L.A. and Kapil youre in London. What did you do to create your version of New York and how did you keep it so authentic?

Donato: This was a Kid Cudi project, right? And New York is such an incredibly important city to him. I was lucky enough to live in New York for a few years in the early 1990s, so I was familiar with the city. But when we were making this film, the story had a map that you could literally stretch strings across and connect the locations we used. Probably 95% of the locations in the film are accurate to their real-life physical location. Obviously everything is pushed stylistically, but when the characters are in Chinatown you know theyre in Chinatown.

Did that create difficulties with how much the story moves around the city?

Donato: One difficult part was that Jabari, the main character, rides his BMX everywhere. So he cuts through several boroughs in a single sequence, and it was incredibly important that we maintained a continuity of New York. What we did was set up geographical markers and say, I want to see the Chrysler Building in this shot, or The Empire State Building should be in the background here. To do that, we downloaded a 3d map of Manhattan and rebuilt it in our pipeline, which was obviously more stylized, more disproportionate. I spent so much time on Google Maps imagining I was riding a bike through those neighborhoods.

About the characters, how did you handle their design?

Sharma: Like Archie said, we had a really great PDF of artwork to work from, but those were all static images. The big question was, How are we going to translate that style into motion? We had to come up with what they would look like when they were talking. So we used a few live-action movies to try and capture performances like our characters needed to deliver and used them to make it feel real in a way that was needed to tell our story. That being said, we did have a few animated films we used as visual references which we thought accomplished those goals. We watched I Lost My Body and were really inspired by the way that film felt so authentic.

And how did that manifest itself technically?

Sharma: We put in a lot of time researching how to execute the facial animations technically without losing the painterly look when the parts of the face would move. We did lots of testing with the wireframes, and how parts of the face would move together. And we played with lighting a lot too. I never used to think so much about lighting as much as I had to on this film. One thing we were always sure of is that we didnt want to use mocap or rotoscoping. We didnt want to just have a real-life performance, but to capture a real-life performance in the animation we were doing. On the other hand, we didnt want to be too detailed with every frame either. There are movies where every frame is touched up or changed. In our film there are times we spend eight frames on the same image to try and really capture a moment. During dailies we would look at final images and ask how we wanted the audience to feel, if we needed any movement to achieve that feeling, or would more movement be distracting? Sometimes less is more. I think our animators really had a blast creating these performances.

You mentioned live-action influences. Any in particular you can name?

Donato: When we got this project, we were told it was a sort of modern version of When Harry Met Sally with two Black kids in their 20s who fall in love, and the awkwardness of that new love when you dont really know each other yet. I think Kapils team did such a wonderful job of capturing that because its super difficult to create awkwardness in facial expressions subtly. So we watched a lot of specific scenes in When Harry Met Sally for inspiration, especially scenes of the two of them just talking nonstop, walking through the streets for blocks and blocks talking to each other the whole time.
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A woman was at Bargain Hunt at 5230 Highway 153 and was using her mother's-in-law vehicle. The woman was shopping with her daughter. She said the keys were set down while they were looking at sunglasses. When she went back to find them they were no longer there. The woman said she looked for approximately two hours before having someone come to pick her up, while leaving the vehicle in the parking lot. The woman returned the following morning to get the car and it was no longer there. An officer spoke with the vehicle owner over the phone and she wanted to report the vehicle as stolen and would prosecute for the theft. The owner said there were no identifying features, stickers, decals, damage, or window tint on the vehicle. Vehicle was entered into NCIC.

* * *

On routine patrol an officer saw the glass of the City Electric Supply at 1515 Central Ave. was damaged to where a person could possibly enter into the building. The officer notified the responsible party of the business of the damage. He said they had it taped up but he didnt know that it had fallen out. He said he would be in to fix it soon. Police looked inside the business to see if anyone was inside and didnt see anyone. The owner also said that they had an alarm. The alarm to the business was not tripped. Police can assume that no one made entry into the building.

* * *

An officer reported a suspicious vehicle at Howard High School, 2610 Market St. While patrolling the area, police observed a white vehicle, parked in the south parking lot, away from all of the school buildings. Upon approach, police noted that the car was unoccupied and had no tag. Police ran the VIN and showed that the previous registration had expired in 2018. The dashboard on the vehicle, a white Buick LeSabre, was also lifted on the front. The car wasnt reported stolen, so it was left as is.

* * *

While on routine patrol an officer saw a motorcycle that had never been parked on E. 11th Street before. The motorcycle was not reported stolen and was registered to a man from Copperhill. The bike was parked legally.

* * *

Police responded to an alarm call at Porter Warner Industries. The alarm company told police there was motion detected in the maintenance area. Upon arrival, police noted that the entry gate from E. 38th Street had been wedged and officers were able to easily get into the fence and onto the property. Police cleared the property and found no other signs of forced entry. CPD Dispatch attempted to call the owner last listed, but the number was out of service. Dispatch also attempted to call the alarm company back multiple times, but was hung up on each time. Without knowing if the damaged property is old or new, police are unable to document any vandalism without an owner to make contact with.

* * *

An officer saw an open door of a building under construction on Williams Street. Police conducted a building search due to recent thefts in the area. No one was found inside the building.

* * *

Police responded to the car wash at 602 Commercial Lane. Upon arrival, an officer spoke with a homeless woman and man. The car wash manager wanted them to leave. They complied and left the property.

* * *

A man on Norcross Road told police he ran out of gas and ran into a ditch. Tommy's Towing was called to pull out the vehicle. The vehicle sustained no damage.

* * *

An officer recognized a white male wearing a green shirt and carrying a red backpack as someone who had been banned a few nights ago by mall security. The man was at Barnes & Noble at 2100 Hamilton Place Blvd. He had been pointed out to the officer by the mall security supervisor inside the mall the day before but the officer had been unable to track him down at the time. The officer spoke with the man and found that he was not the same individual who had been trespassed two nights ago. The officer verified the mans identity and found he had no warrants. He was released with no further police action being taken. The officer notified mall security that this man was not the banned individual to prevent any further unnecessary police contact with him.

* * *

A woman told police she discovered a fraudulent withdrawal had been made on her Regions Bank checking account the day before. She then found out that someone had made a fake check for $383.65 and then cashed it on her account by mobile or online transaction. She showed police a copy of the fake check that she got from her bank which says "Pay To Purple Bridge Media, LLC Charge To (her husbands name)". Her husband is on the checking account. All of the other info on it is false and she has no idea who is doing this.

* * *

A woman called police about the speed trap camera at 2626 Hixson Pike. She was curious if her daughter or her would get points on their licenses. The officer told the woman that she and her daughter will not receive points on their licenses because of the camera.

* * *

A woman on Dayton Boulevard called police about a stolen lawn chair. She said when she came outside to do yard work that morning, she realized one of her lawn chairs was gone. She described it as "one of those red normal lawn chairs" and did not give a value to the chair when asked. She believes a neighbor might have taken the chair, however there is no evidence or identifying information.
U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, the Silicon Valley Congressman known as the driving force behind the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, is visiting Chattanooga to learn more about the citys burgeoning clean energy and sustainable manufacturing sectors.

Rep. Khanna, who is traveling to the Scenic City at the invitation of Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly, will tour EPB and a number of Chattanoogas advanced manufacturing facilities during his stay.

Rep. Khanna uses the term economic patriotism to describe a growing desire across the country to invest in next-generation technologies, manufacturing and energy that produce jobs and intellectual property here in the U.S., it was stated.

The CHIPS and Science Act will allot approximately $50 billion to stateside semiconductor research and production, aimed at "helping to alleviate supply chain bottlenecks, jobs erosion, and national security concerns that have emerged over the past few years amid the pandemic and other trade disruptions."

Im proud to welcome Rep. Ro Khanna, one of our nations preeminent voices on creating clean, sustainable jobs, as we work to build the next generation of manufacturing right here in Chattanooga, said Mayor Kelly. Sustainability is at the core of Chattanoogas DNA, and its thanks in part to our strong relationships at the local, state and federal levels that we continue to punch above our weight.

As part of his visit, Rep. Khanna will visit Novonix, which is erecting a $160 million graphite battery plant in Alstoms former turbine manufacturing facility, and which will elevate Chattanoogas role in the electric vehicle industry. He will also tour Volkswagen, which is ramping up production of its all-electric ID.4, a mainstream electric vehicle that the manufacturer is producing in volume, as well as EPB, the municipal electric utility which recently unveiled the fastest community-wide internet in the world.

Im thrilled to be joining Mayor Kelly in Chattanooga to see the advanced manufacturing facilities and technology development initiatives that have allowed the city to become a leader in clean energy, said Rep. Khanna. By revitalizing American manufacturing and investing in the industries of the future, we can create good paying jobs and help stitch this country back together.
There have been several instances here and around the nation where someone did or could have lost their freedom because an innocent touch was mistaken as sexual preying on a child.

The local priest some years back, out with family at a restaurant. His niece sitting on his lap and he was absent-mindedly patting and rubbing her leg. The Middle Eastern family living in Texas who owned a successful pizza restaurant who lost their business and had their children taken away.

At a community meeting one evening while his daughter was sitting on his lap, someone mistook his "touch" as a sign of some type sexual play. That Middle Eastern family fought the charges to the bitter end and to the point of losing their business, but still lost custody of their two small children. Broke and broken, if recall is correct they were forced to leave the U.S. and would later move back to their native country without their two children. Forced to leave them behind in the care of who knows who? Maybe a real child sex predator?

When my youngest grandson, now 16, and I were out and about, which was often, I'd find myself being followed around town because "who was this brown skinned woman with this obvious very fair skinned, reddish/blond child (mistakenly assumed was white). We were standing in line once to get a food order when he reached up and touched my butt to get my attention (children that young often reach up and touch what's nearest to them-nothing sexual about it). I saw the lady not far away sneakily raising her cellphone to her ear and making a call. I anticipated what was to come, as we'd had police called on us before while out, and someone thought it "odd" a fair skinned white looking toddler didn't belong with this brown skinned woman. It didn't take long for an officer to show up, but kept his distance observing us from a distance. When he was satisfied there was nothing "weird" taking place and it was obvious we were related he left.

I was actually approached by a woman while standing in line at a convenience store out this way where I live who demanded to know "where is that child's mother?!" Her mouth nearly dropped to the floor when my grandson called me granny and wanted to know why the woman (white) was angry.

Some folks who see sex or something sexual in every touch, no matter how innocent the touch, are all too often struggling with their own personal demons on sexuality and twisted desires. Either they have yet to act on, have at some point in their lives acted on or are secretly presently acting on them while carrying on a public presence of nobility. They're the ones who actually need to be investigated. They project their own twistedness onto others through a personal lens where they actually reveal their own darkness. They take everything and anything, distorting it into their own image of grotesqueness. They even distort their faith to suit their goals.

That's why any investigations on the recent issue of the Rainbow should be carried out with an unbiased and open mind.

Brenda Washington


A 20-year-old was killed in a collision with a dump truck in Cleveland on Thursday afternoon.

After the preliminary investigation, Cleveland Police said it appears that the Kia Soul was traveling northbound on Georgetown Road when the driver, Evan Stoops, lost control of the car and swerved into oncoming traffic where he collided with the dump truck.

There are no pending criminal charges at this time and the investigation is still ongoing.

At approximately 4:23 p.m., Cleveland Police officers were dispatched to a motor vehicle crash in the 3800 block of Georgetown Road involving a red Kia Soul and a dump truck.

The driver of the Kia Soul was pronounced dead at the scene; the driver of the dump truck did not sustain any injuries.
The Wind Symphony from Southern Adventist Universitys School of Music invites the community to a concert titled The Power of Three on Sunday, Oct. 9, at 7:30 p.m. at the Collegedale Church of Seventh-day Adventists.

Under the direction of Ken Parsons, the program of three-movement works will include such pieces as Johann Sebastian Bachs Toccata, Adagio and Fugue, BWV 564; Dan Shultzs Trilogy; and Carter Panns The Three Embraces. The concert also will feature soprano soloist Vallery Nehvatal, a sophomore graphic design major at Southern.

This event is free and open to the public and also will be livestreamed at southern.edu/streaming. For more information, visit southern.edu/musicevents or call 236-2880.
Tennesseans for Student Success congratulate each participant in its annual Tristar Reads contest, including the four category winners.

This summer students combined to log nearly 273,000 minutes reading in the contest, including overall winner Jeffrey Stubblefield who spent more than 30,000 minutes with a book! Jeffrey and three other students will all take home a $1,000 college scholarship for winning the following categories:

Overall Winner Jeffrey Stubblefield

4th grade at Belvoir Christian Academy in Chattanooga

Read 30,150 minutes



Elementary school student (K-4) Winner Griffin Harrison

1st grade at Nashville Classical Charter School in East Nashville

Read 10,490 minutes



Middle school student (5-8) Winner Tallen Haag

6th grade homeschooler from Robertson County

Read 16,995 minutes



High school student (9-12) Winner Sarah Collier

10th grade at Harpeth High School in Cheatham County

Read 17,220 minutes



The amount of reading all participants in Tristar Reads did this summer is truly amazing and that's especially true for our four winners, said Tennesseans for Student Success President and CEO Adam Lister. We started Tristar Reads to provide a fun way for students to fight the summer slide and maintain their reading comprehension skills for the year ahead. This year's participants took that challenge on and exceeded our expectations. Each will be better prepared for success in the classroom this fall.

Reading is my favorite hobby because I learn so much, said Jeffrey. It sparks my imagination, and it feels like there's a movie going on in my head.

TSS created Tristar Reads in 2016 to invite all Tennessee students entering grades K-12 to spend at least 20 minutes each day reading a book. Students participating in this year's program logged reading minutes from May 31 to Aug. 8. This is Jeffrey's third Tristar Reads win and Sarah has now won the contest five times.

Tennesseans for Student Success is a statewide network of parents and caregivers, teachers, community leaders, volunteers, and advocates dedicated to championing and supporting Tennessees students and their futures.


The Tennessee Department of Human Services announces the distribution of Summer Pandemic Electronic Benefit Program (P-EBT) beginning this week.



Summer P-EBT



The distribution of P-EBT benefits covering summer 2022 has begun. Eligibility for P-EBT is based on National School Lunch Program qualification consistent with the 2021-2022 school year. P-EBT benefits will be available to children who:

 Were eligible to receive free meals through the National School Lunch Program or attended a Community Eligibility Program, Provision 2 or 3 school in the 2021-2022 school year, and as of July 31.



Eligible children will receive a one-time deposit of $391 to be used for food purchases at stores that accept EBT.



If the child already has an active P-EBT card, benefits will be added to that card.

If a new P-EBT card is needed please visit www.connectebt.com or call 1 (888) 997-9444. If the child has not received P-EBT before, a new EBT card will be mailed to their home based on address records at their school.Parents can login to the P-EBT Parent Portal at https://onedhs.tn.gov/parent to view P-EBT benefits, link their child(ren), verify or change address, and sign up to receive text message notifications. The P-EBT Parent Portal has been updated with information on Summer P-EBT student benefit amounts as of Sept, 29.If a parent or guardian has questions that are not answered through the P-EBT website or P-EBT Parent Portal, they may call the P-EBT assistance line at 833-419-3210.P-EBT is administered by the Tennessee Department of Human Services (TDHS) in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE). Both departments were instrumental in developing P-EBT plans and taking the steps necessary to identify eligible children and distribute benefits.For more information visit: https://www.tn.gov/content/tn/humanservices/p-ebt.htmlThe Families First Coronavirus Response Act of 2020 (PL 116127, the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 (PL 116-260), and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (PL 117-2) provides the Secretary of Agriculture authority to approve state agency plans to administer P-EBT. Approved state agencies may operate P-EBT when a school is closed or has been operating with reduced attendance or hours for at least five consecutive days during a public health emergency designation when the school would otherwise be in session.
Amanda Dunns first speaking engagement, after being appointed by Governor Bill Lee as the 11th Judicial District Criminal Court Judge in Hamilton County, was to the Chattanooga Civitan Club. Although the county has many other problems including an increasing homeless population and increasing gun violence, it was the increase of new and deadly drugs and the Drug Recovery Court that she spoke about.

Judge Dunn was familiar with benefits from the Drug Recovery Court that was started by Judge Rebecca Stern, from her past job as a defense attorney. That court was taken over and expanded by Judge Tom Greenholtz, she said. It now also has the support of Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp and Governor Bill Lee, who is interested in reform and rehabilitation.

This program is the last stop for drug felonies and thefts. They go together because thefts are common to obtain narcotics, she said. In the past, the Drug Court relied on public agencies, but there are not enough to deal with the substance abuse programs that are needed. So a new development is that the Drug Court will have its own outpatient rehabilitation facilities and will provide counseling to the clients.

The procedure to participate in the program is that a person in Drug Court pleads guilty and there is no wait to get into treatment. Traditionally that would have taken a long time to enter because the substance abuse systems are overworked, she said. Instead, the new system starts immediately, giving the individual no time to get in trouble. This court is only for non-violent offenders and no sex offenders will be admitted.

One goal of this program is trying to prevent re-offenders. She said that stopping the problem helps not only the person being treated but also their families and their children who have often tried themselves to give support. It improves the lives of everyone who has been trying to care for the individual, she said.

Judges cannot stop people from buying drugs, but they can handle it through the Tennessee Department of Corrections or can offer treatment by sending people for mental health treatments. Judges provide sanctions by requiring accountability. Education has to be the way to prevent drug use, she said, because access is hard to eliminate. Now schools are providing some education about drugs. But parental involvement is also needed and that is where there are problems, she said. The discussions have to be reinforced somewhere and it is difficult where there is no family involvement. When that is the case, one place that help can come from is the Boys and Girls Clubs.

The source of illegal drugs is most often from people who know one another, said Judge Dunn. She said that in most cases the law enforcement agents also know the dealer, even down to the nicknames that they go by. Everybody knows who the drug dealers are, but those people can continue selling while the law is building a case. It is especially plentiful in the Chattanooga area because of easy access with I-75 running through the city.

Currently, she said there are 61 people receiving treatment from the Drug Court. The goal is to increase the number as this is the last chance for those people who enroll. She said that those who apply know it will be a big commitment, and a significant invasion into their lives. The court will have 24-7 access to that persons phone and they will have to wear a GPS monitor, among other restrictions. The program lasts from 16-24 months. She said that the long-term success rate is unknown now, but believed to be over 50 percent. Some drugs are harder to recover from and have a high occurrence of a relapse, so people in this program must be in it for the long-term to achieve success, she said.

The program is funded with money from Hamilton County, the state and federal grants. She said there are a lot of agencies to be accountable to, and taxpayers should know that their tax dollars are being spent wisely.

Judge Dunn said that Cody Wamp, the countys new district attorney is planning to change polices and have more jury trials to deal with these offenses.
Its been a difficult time for The Flash actor Ezra Miller. Theyve made headlines for concerning public behavior since an arrest in Hawaii in March for disorderly conduct. But perhaps one of the most shocking parts of Millers behavior involves the reports that they have several guns stashed around their farm property in Vermont.

According to people close to the situation, the actors friends  and possibly even their own mother  were so concerned about the firearms that they locked them away.

Ezra Millers escalating public behaviors

Actor Ezra Miller at a Time 100 event in 2019 | Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

Miller is best known for playing Barry Allen, aka The Flash, in DCs extended universe. They starred in several high-profile projects, including Joss Whedons 2017 superhero ensemble flick Justice League and Johnny Depps Harry Potter spinoff series, Fantastic Beasts.

But things with the 29-years-old actor started going south in March 2022. At the time, Miller was arrested in a tiki bar in Hilo, Hawaii. Theyd allegedly shouted profanities, spat in a patrons face, and even grabbed a microphone from a woman singing karaoke.

However, according to multiple sources, this was far from the beginning of Millers questionable behavior. The actor has been accused of physical and verbal abuse since 2020, including stealing someones wallet in Hawaii. They also choked two strangers while traveling through Iceland, and trespassed onto a neighbors property in Vermont to steal liquor, reports Vanity Fair.

More recently, two protection orders were issued against Miller after parents accused the actor of grooming and emotionally abusing their 18-year-old. They were also accused of harboring a 25-year-old woman named Ana and her three young children at their Vermont farm. According to local police, Miller stocked the home with guns and other weapons dangerous for children.

Custody of Anas kids was supposed to be transferred to the state. However, when police arrived at Millers property, theyd all vanished. The woman repeatedly claimed Miller rescued her and her children from an abusive situation.

Warner Bros., the studio behind DCs film franchise, has yet to comment on the situation, likely because Miller is set to star in the long-awaited The Flash movie, which reportedly is a crucial installment for setting up the future of the DCEU.

As Screen Rant reports, the CWs long-running The Flash show is also set to end after a shortened ninth season  likely due to Millers unpredictable behavior.

Some of Ezra Millers friends and family were so concerned about the guns that they locked them in a safe

Ezra [Miller] is Jesus, and Tokatas an apocalyptic Native American spider goddess, and their union is supposed to bring about the apocalypse." A source in a new Vanity Fair report claimed that Miller believes themselves to be a Christ-like figure: https://t.co/fAQvZs3jA7 pic.twitter.com/XOo6eU0iBn  IndieWire (@IndieWire) September 19, 2022

In a shocking report, Vanity Fair details Millers ongoing mental health crisis. The article revealed that the actors friends hid and locked away numerous firearms, which left Miller feeling betrayed. Some say Millers mother, Marta, was also involved in the decision.

We got there, and there was a big bow and arrow cocked on the table, facing the door. Ezra was lying facedown on the floor, said one of Millers friends. They also noted that the property was eerily empty.

They continued: Theres always people in the house. And there was just nobody there, but Ezra, sort of drunk, alone with a bow and arrow because the other people had taken the guns and locked them away. And Ezra was freaking out about it.

Although Vermont is an open-carry state, Millers obsession with firearms understandably concerned those close to the actor. Their friends reported several disturbing incidents, including an incident where they burned sage out of the barrel of an AR15 while waving it around and singing, and another where Miller packed up weapons and a Kevlar vest on a mysterious road trip.

While Ana and her kids were staying at Millers property, the kids were also exposed to firearms, left out in the open and not stored properly. This couldve led to a fatal accident.

I saw more guns than ever, and three little kids running around among them, a longtime friend told the publication. The youngest girl picked up a bullet and put it in her mouth.

Ezra Miller is reportedly seeking help for his mental health issues

Multiple sources have told Vanity Fair that Ezra Miller is battling mental health and substance abuse issues that have resulted in a chaotic and dangerous home and lifestyle. https://t.co/O9LMLePRrQ  The Advocate (@TheAdvocateMag) September 19, 2022

After months of relative radio silence, Miller addressed their concerning behaviors. They admitted theyre seeking therapy to improve their mental health. On August 15, Miller put out a statement admitting they were in the midst of an intense crisis. They said:

I now understand that I am suffering complex mental health issues and have begun ongoing treatment. I want to apologize to everyone that I have alarmed and upset with my past behavior. I am committed to doing the necessary work to get back to a healthy, safe and productive stage in my life.

RELATED: After The Flash, Ezra Miller Will Be Too Radioactive to Hire in Hollywood, Redditors Say
Its hard to imagine The Handmaids Tale without Samira Wiley as Moira, Junes best friend. Fans have watched Moiras struggles throughout the series as she escapes from Gilead and makes a new life for herself in Canada. Both Wiley and her character Moira are gay, which led to some concern on Wileys part that she would be typecast in the future. Luckily, she took the role.

Samira Wiley | Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Vanity Fair

Samira Wiley portrayed Poussey on Orange is the New Black

Wiley is well known for many acting roles, including her long-running stint on the Netflix series Orange is the New Black. Wileys character Poussey Washington quickly became a fan favorite and fans were devastated when she was killed off in season 4.

Wiley worked alongside her wife Lauren Morelli, who worked as a writer on OITNB. In fact, Morelli wrote Pousseys death scene. I remember her calling me because I knew that she was writing it, Wiley said while speaking with The Guardian.

She was just bawling, crying, and she couldnt talk. I had no idea what was happening. Im like, whats going on? And she goes, I killed her, I just killed her. And Im like, you killed who? Of course, she meant she had finished the script.

Samira Wiley worried about typecasting when she was offered a role in The Handmaids Tale

Six months after Samira Wileys departure from OITNB, she was offered the role of Moira in The Handmaids Tale. Moira is Junes best friend who manages to escape Gilead in season 1. After she reaches freedom in Canada, Moira works to help incoming refugees.

Moira is gay, as is Wiley and her OMITB character Poussey, and this caused some concern for Wiley. She worried that accepting the part in The Handmaids Tale would cause her to be typecast in the future.

So much concern on my part, Wiley told The Guardian. I was like, weve seen me do this, I know I can do this, I want to do something else. However, it was Wileys wife, Morelli, a big fan of the book, who convinced her to take the part.

My wife was like, if you do gay for anything, you do gay for this. When I think about it now, its a little naive to say I dont want to play gay because thats the heteronormative idea that were all the same, Wiley continued. Moira is a completely different, fully realized person to Poussey. For me, how powerful is it to have a Black gay woman portray an actual Black gay woman on TV? I wouldnt have been able to see that ever when I was a kid.

Wiley wants Moira to find love before the series ends

As of The Handmaids Tale Season 5, Samira Wileys character Moira is still alive and well. She has been living with Junes husband, Luke, helping him to take care of Junes daughter Nichole. In season 4, Moira had a love interest that unfortunately didnt work out.

However, Wiley still hopes Moira will find love. Shes been through so much, especially with all the PTSD and everything, the actor told Hollywood Life. I think it will be really lovely for her to just find some easy, nice love in her life and something thats not complicated.

Dont miss new episodes of The Handmaids Tale Season 5 Wednesdays on Hulu.

RELATED: The Handmaids Tale Season 5: 4 Things to Remember Before the Premiere
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This book tells the disturbing yet redemptive story of how, by God's grace, an atheist, pedophile, and mass murderer repented and believed in Jesus Christ. Roy Ratcliffthe erstwhile preacher-turned-prison-minister who baptized Jeffrey Dahmerdiscovered through him this deep sense of grace that flies in the face of our compunction to condemn, voiced by one college professor who said, "If Dahmer's in heaven, I don't want to be there."

Ratcliff says he became convinced of Dahmer's sincerity during seven months of prison visits. "I feel very, very bad about the crimes I've committed," Dahmer told Ratcliff. "In fact, I think I should have been put to death by the state for what I did." A fellow inmate killed Dahmer in 1994.

Ratcliff called Dahmer by his first name, Jeff. "He became a real person to me, so I referred to him the same way I would anyone I knew personally," Ratcliff said. "He was ready to die. I was the one who was unprepared."

Copyright  2006 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Related Elsewhere:

Dark Journey, Deep Grace is available from Christianbook.com and other book retailers.

More information is available from Leafwood Publishers.

For book lovers, our 2006 CT book awards are available online, along with our book awards for 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, and 1997, as well as our Books of the Twentieth Century. For other coverage or reviews, see our Books archive and the weekly Books & Culture Corner.

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Befuddled, bedazzled and bankrupt?

I have seldom been as upset by reading a study as when I read the Ligonier Ministries/LifeWay Research biannual survey seeking to take the theological temperature of the United States.

The study reveals an American society that is dangerously close to being completely disconnected from a biblical understanding of truth or basic reality. I am grieved, but not surprised, at the level of disbelief or misbelief among the American populace in general (53% agree that "The Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true.) Shockingly, however, 26% of Evangelicals agree with their fellow Americans on this issue.

The survey had a fairly strict definition in order to qualify as an Evangelical. To be considered an Evangelical, people needed to strongly agree with the following statements:

The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe. It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior. Jesus Christs death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin. Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive Gods free gift of eternal salvation.

This defined standard to qualify as an Evangelical is very similar to the well-known and often-quoted Bebbington Quadrilateral named after the classic study Evangelicalism in Modern Britain (1989) by David Bebbington.

Bebbingtons four main qualities to be used in defining Evangelical convictions and attitudes are: Biblicism; Crucicentrism; Conversionism; and Activism.

Biblicism is defined as a high regard for Holy Scripture and the conviction that all essential spiritual truth is contained in the Bible.

Crucicentrism makes Christs atoning death on the cross central to the Christian faith.

Conversionism believes that it is essential and imperative that all human beings need to be born again or have a conscious conversion experience.

Activism is the conviction that the Gospel needs to be expressed in the lives of believers.

As a person who has been involved in preaching the Gospel and seeking to disciple fellow Christians for nearly 60 years as a Baptist minister, I am appalled at the beliefs or should we say lack of beliefs, among Evangelicals even as categorized by the fairly strict definition employed in this survey.

The good news is that Evangelicals do still have some core convictions. Nine out of 10 believe God is perfect, the bodily resurrection of Jesus is real, and people are made righteous through faith alone in Jesus alone.

The late R.C. Sproul, founder of one of the surveys sponsors, Ligonier Ministries, often observed that everyones a theologian. He was right in that theologian means literally logos (words) about theos (God). Dr. Sproul would quickly add that not everyone is a good theologian.

This current survey certainly underscores the veracity of that statement. The survey discovered that one-fourth (26%) of Evangelicals disavowed a belief in the literal truth of the Bible.

Unfortunately, that theological error is just the beginning.

Once you come to the conclusion that the Bible is only truly the authoritative Word of God in parts, you start falling into the temptation of Dalmatian theology (the Bible is inspired in spots and Im inspired to determine which spots). Of course, what happens is the parts that are inspired are the parts you agree with and the parts that are not inspired are the parts with which you disagree.

Shockingly, 56% of Evangelicals believe there are other ways to Heaven besides belief in Jesus!

Even more shocking, 73% agreed that Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God. This is Arianism, 4th century Christian heresy condemned and rejected by Christians in the 4th Century A.D.

Astoundingly, 43% of people claiming to be Evangelicals agreed that Jesus was a great teacherbut not God.

Then, the icing on the heresy cake is the fact that 57% of Evangelicals no longer believe human beings are sinful by nature, despite Holy Scripture declaring the opposite to be true (Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me, Ps. 51:5).

Remember, these are people who, in order to be considered Evangelical! had to say they believed strongly in the inerrancy of Scripture. How can this be explained? Obviously, growing numbers of Evangelicals have what are called compartmentalized attitude structures, holding contrasting or contradictory attitudes in the same brain.

All we can know with certainty about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is taught to us by Holy Scripture. When we reject the Bibles clear teachings and we do not accept and understand Gods revelation of Himself to us in the Bible, how can we really know the only God who is or ever will be?

It was small comfort to me that the survey did show high degrees of agreement on contentious social issues with 94% agreeing that sex outside of traditional marriage is a sin and 91% believing abortion to be a sin.

Jesus left His Church the Great Commission, Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matt. 28:18-20, CSB).

Please note that the Great Commission involves discipleship (teaching them) as well as evangelism.

Clearly, American Evangelism has failed to disciple adequately our fellow believers in the faith once delivered to the saints.

Too many American Evangelicals are befuddled, bedazzled and bankrupt theologically. All true Evangelicals must be about our Heavenly Fathers business and be involved in some intense and comprehensive remedial education of our Evangelical brothers and sisters.
John MacArthur warns Gov. Newsom his soul 'lies in grave, eternal peril' after abortion campaign Scathing open letter slams governor for 'shamelessly' misquoting Scripture

A renowned Southern California pastor is calling upon Gov. Gavin Newsom to repent and respond to the Gospel for his controversial reelection campaign that invoked Scripture in defense of abortion.

The open letter from Grace Community Church Pastor John MacArthur dated Sept. 29 quotes the Bible numerous times in response to the campaign earlier this month, which MacArthur said shamelessly misquoted Mark 12:31 for Newsoms own political purposes.

You revealed to the entire nation how thoroughly rebellious against God you are when you sponsored billboards across America promoting the slaughter of children, whom He creates in the womb (Psalm 139:1316; Isaiah 45:912), wrote MacArthur.

You further compounded the wickedness of that murderous campaign with a reprehensible act of gross blasphemy, quoting the very words of Jesus from Mark 12:31 as if you could somehow twist His meaning and arrogate His name in favor of butchering unborn infants, he added.

According to MacArthur, Newsom used the name and the words of Christ to promote the credo of Molech (Leviticus 20:15). It would be hard to imagine a greater sacrilege.

The letter also called out what MacArthur described as the diabolical effect of Newsoms worldview, pointing to Californias epidemics of crime, homelessness, sexual perversions (like homosexuality and transgenderism), and other malignant expressions of human misery that stem directly from corrupt public policy.

Rather than staging a political defense, however, MacArthur voiced personal concern for Newsoms soul, which, he said, lies in grave, eternal peril.

You will stand in the presence of the Holy God who created you, who is your Judge, and He will demand that you give an account for how you have flouted His authority in your governing, and how you have twisted His own Holy Word to rationalize it. As you look over the precipice of eternity, what will your answer be? wrote MacArthur.

He closed the letter by telling the governor that Grace Community Church located in Sun Valley, California, and "countless Christians nationwide, are praying for your full repentance."

MacArthur called upon Newsom to please respond to the Gospel, forsake the path of wickedness you have pursued all your life, turn to Christ, ask for forgiveness, and use your office to advance the cause of righteousness (as is your duty) instead of undermining it (as has been your pattern).

A request for comment from Newsom made Friday by The Christian Post was not immediately returned.

Newsom launched the billboard campaign Sept. 15 after he posted images on social media showing billboards set to go up in Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and four other "anti-freedom" states where abortion is prohibited or significantly restricted.

Newsom's tweet read in part: "To any woman seeking an abortion in these anti-freedom states: CA will defend your right to make decisions about your health."

Newsom tagged several Republican governors, including Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, with whom he shared a billboard image that reads: "Need an abortion? California is ready to help."

In July 2020, MacArthur famously defied Newsoms mandate banning in-person worship services when he announced that his church would continue to hold in-person services.

About two weeks after California indefinitely closed churches and other businesses in more than 30 of the state's 58 counties as part of its response to the coronavirus, author and theologian MacArthur has given a biblical basis for his decision. Compliance would be disobedience to our Lords clear commands, he wrote in a statement to the congregation on Friday.

Government officials have no right to interfere in ecclesiastical matters in a way that undermines or disregards the God-given authority of pastors and elders, MacArthur wrote.
Killings at 'epidemic levels': Nigerian Christians slaughtered by radical Fulani herders, ISWAP terrorists

ABUJA, Nigeria  Suspected Fulani herdsmen killed two Christians in Plateau state, Nigeria, a day after Islamic State terrorists allegedly killed two others in the city of Kano last Saturday, sources said.

In northern Nigerias Kano state, suspected members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) shot the two Christians to death at about 8 p.m. local time on Sept. 25 in the state capital, said area resident Chukwudi Iwuchukwu.

He identified the slain Christians as Ifeanyi Ilechukwu, 41, and Chibuke Emannuel, 33. Iwuchukwu said ISWAP terrorists approached them at their shop in Kano citys predominantly Christian area of Sabon Gari in Fagge County.

The terrorists came to the business shop of Ifeanyi Ilechukwu, where the Christians were sitting, and shot them at close range, Iwuchukwu told Morning Star News in a text message. Ilechukwu died instantly, while Emannuel, who was shot in his leg, died in the hospital on Sunday.

The killing followed a Sept. 18 bomb attack on a Christian-owned business in Taraba states Jalingo town, in northeast Nigeria, by suspected ISWAP members. The terrorists detonated an Improvised Explosive Device on the shop in the ATC area of the city in Ardo Kola County at about 9:30 p.m., damaging some shops and residential buildings, said area resident James Galvo.

Three Christians were in the shop at the time  Henry Boyi, a woman identified only as Christiana and a young girl, he said.

Although the woman, little girl and Boyi were injured and taken to the hospital, no life was lost in the incident, Galvo said in a text message to Morning Star News. But the entire shop was destroyed in an attack that was the fourth such attack in the past eight months.

The explosion damaged the adjacent home of Samuel Ayodele, he said.

A spokesman for the Taraba State Police Command, Usman Abdullahi, confirmed the bombing and said officers were investigating.

Plateau state killings

In central Nigerias Plateau state, suspected Fulani herdsmen killed one Christian in Riyom County and another in Mangu County, on Sept. 25, sources said. A Christian woman in Riyom County was also killed on Sept. 19.

Alpha Pam Baren, 23, was ambushed and killed in Bangai village, Riyom County, at about 2:20 p.m. local time that same day, said Dalyop Solomon Mwantiri, director of the Emancipation Centre for Crisis Victims in Nigeria (ECCVN). Baren, his father and others had spotted herds of cattle grazing on their rice farm and went to drive them out, Mwantiri said.

On their way returning back to their village, while Barens colleagues had gone ahead, unknown to him some Fulani herdsmen had hid themselves in a nearby bush, waiting to ambush him, Mwantiri said. The herdsmen ambushed him and stabbed him.

Baren was rescued and taken to Vom Christian Hospital, a facility of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN), where he died, Mwantiri said, adding that such attacks are part of an attempted genocide.

This is an all-encompassing strategy of wiping the entire Christian population from our ancestral land and the face of the Earth, he said. So far, more than 600 farmlands in Christian communities of Heipang, Gashish, Ropp, Wereng, Kwi, Jol, Bachi, Rahoss, Foron, Gyel, Vwang, and Kuru, with crops worth $462,396 (over 200 million naira), have been destroyed by the herdsmen in the past five months.

In Jannaret village, Mangu County, herdsmen and bandits staged an attack at about 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 25, killing one Christian, Linus Mapack, and wounding two others, area resident Yusuf Charles said.

They shot at anyone in sight, Charles told Morning Star News in a text message. It was during this sporadic shooting that a Christian was killed, and two others were injured. Some days back also, another Christian was also shot dead in Chanso village, another Christian community.

In Tangur village, Bokkos County, suspected Fulani herdsmen kidnapped a Christian also on Sept. 25, an area resident said.

Fulani herdsmen have kidnapped one Jerry Fwankis, a Christian in Bokkos Local Government Area, area resident John Akans told Morning Star News in a text message. We are deeply saddened by this incident. These onslaughts by armed herdsmen have assumed epidemic levels and need to be contained urgently by Nigerias security agencies.

In predominanty Christian Tal village, Pankshin County, local community leader Nanleng Gotus was kidnapped at about 1 a.m. Monday, said area resident Joshua Gofwen.

The Fulani herdsmen and armed bandits abducted the community leader, Nanleng Gotus, at gunpoint, Gofwen told Morning Star News in a text message. His abductors have already communicated with his family and are demanding a ransom of $115,600 (50 million naira).

In Mere village, Riyom County, a group of Fulani militias on Sept. 19 ambushed and killed a Christian woman as she worked on her farm, Mwantiri said. Laraba Dauda was 60 years old.

The Christian woman had gone to her farm but didnt return home, Mwantiri said. Other villagers were alerted by her family, and a search party from the village went out in search of her. The search party was attacked by the herdsmen in the bush forcing them to retreat back to the village.

The following morning, the search party went back to the farm and found her corpse, he said.

She was slaughtered by the herdsmen, as her corpse had a cut on her neck, he said. The corpse of the woman was recovered by the search party, assisted by soldiers who were alerted by villagers about the killing of the woman.

Daudas funeral was held on Sept. 20 at the building of the COCIN church in Mere village, Mwantiri said.

The Christian villagers lamented how theyve been attacked incessantly by the herders, and their crops on their farms destroyed by these herdsmen, he said.

In Rizek village, Jos East County, suspected herdsmen on Sept. 21 attacked two homes, kidnapping a woman and teenage girl, an area resident said.

The gunmen attacked the village at about 11 p.m., Augustine Ajik told Morning Star News in a text message. During the attack, the home of Mrs. Elizabeth Hassan, a member of ECWA [Evangelical Church Winning All] Plateau Church in Gwafan area and a staff member of Jos University Teaching Hospital, was invaded, and her daughter, a 14-year-old girl, was kidnapped, while the other members of her family escaped.

The assailants also broke into a second house in the Gwafan area and kidnapped a Christian woman, Ajik said.

Nigeria led the world in Christians killed for their faith last year (Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021,) at 4,650, up from 3,530 the previous year, according to Open Doors 2022 World Watch List report. The number of kidnapped Christians was also highest in Nigeria, at more than 2,500, up from 990 the previous year, according to the WWL report.

Nigeria trailed only China in the number of churches attacked, with 470 cases, according to the report.

In the 2022 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria jumped to seventh place, its highest ranking ever, from No. 9 the previous year.
Sean Feucht says Christian leaders' reaction to worship tour during COVID was 'painful wake-up call'

It is shocking to see how quickly and easily we are swayed into believing a lie.

Worship leader and activist Sean Feucht isnt talking about theology or even church denominationalism  hes talking about the reaction of some in the Christian community to the COVID-19 lockdowns.

In an appearance on Fox Nations Tucker Carlson Today, Feucht spoke about his upcoming documentary, Superspreader, which tells the story of how the worship leader launched a series of rallies nationwide during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Feucht recalled how he was shocked with the number of pastors and other leaders who complied with the mandates after government officials restricted or banned public gatherings and worship services in cities across California and around the country.

He said it was when Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order prohibiting singing in churches  even as casinos, strip clubs and marijuana dispensaries remained open for business  that flipped the switch for him.

At that point, Feucht said he received calls and messages from underground church leaders whom he knew from serving on missionary work in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and other countries who reached out and asked him, What is going on in California? I thought this was supposed to be America?

I wasnt surprised the government was doing what it was doing, especially in California, Feucht told Carlson. We know these people. Theyre crazy. They target the church.

Feucht then started a Let Us Worship petition to keep churches open amid the pandemic. After the petition garnered more than 100,000 signatures, Feucht held his first open worship at the Golden Gate Bridge in July 2020.

About 400 people showed up to the event, where Feucht recalled encountering a police officer who told him he was on suicide patrol for the bridge.

The officer told Feucht that 10 different officers who worked the bridge were unable to stop the number of people who were jumping off at that point.

He said, What are you guys doing here? and I said, Were coming to pray, Feucht explained. And he said, What took you guys so long?

He said, 'More people are dying from suicide and depression, where is the Church?

From there, Feucht took the Let Us Worship event up and down the California coast; in Huntington Beach, a thousand people showed up to gather in worship, while 5,000 attended the San Diego event.

We start to realize, this is a movement, somethings happening, Feucht said.

He even took the tour to Portland, where at that point in 2020, Antifa was burning Bibles and causing havoc during the riots.

After a chaplain from the Portland police department called and asked him to call off the event because we cant control our own city, Feucht decided to go anyway and 7,000 people showed up  even as Antifa was spraying bear spray into the crowd while they worshiped.

Part of being a Christian and part of the call of the Gospel is to take light into darkness. And at that point, the two darkest places in America were Portland and Seattle, he said. It was important for Americans to see that there is a courageous church unwilling to back down.

Perhaps the most challenging aspect of the tour for Feucht was getting other Christian artists involved.

Feucht also said despite being on a major Christian record label  knowing all these musicians, knowing all these Christians, as he put it  he was unable to find anyone to join him on this mission.

Everyone was scared, he said. They thought it wasnt right, they didnt want to be put in harms way.

Eventually, Feucht hooked up with a group of Russian immigrants who decided to join him on the tour, but it was the reaction to Let Us Worship from Christian leaders that Feucht said was probably the biggest, most painful wakeup call for me.

Were writing these songs about overcoming darkness, were doing these conferences and these events and these sermons, and here in a time when we step out, I found that oftentimes politicians on the right had my back more than a lot pastors did, he said. It really exposed a lot, fractured some relationships.

In the interview, Feucht specifically named Evangelical leaders Rick Warren and Ed Stetzer as two prominent Christians who voiced their opposition to the worship movement.

Their whole saying was vax, mask, vax, mask,' he said.

Feuchts ministry hasnt been without controversy: a Rolling Stone investigation in July obtained his IRS records and found Sean Feucht Ministries Inc. reported more than $5.3 million in revenue for 2020, a massive increase from the approximately $283,272 the ministry reported in 2019.

While Rolling Stone described the windfall as curious, Feucht accused the magazine of sending reporters to spy on our prayer team, tweeting, The mainstream media will stop at nothing to attack Christians. Yet, weve seen God use this stuff to even change the reporters' hearts!

In 2020, the father of four also unsuccessfully ran for Congress to represent Californias 3rd District.
Museum of the Bible leaders travel to Greece, return 1,000-year-old handwritten manuscript

Leaders from the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., traveled to Greece this week to formally return a 10th-century, handwritten Gospel manuscript looted by Bulgarian troops in 1917.

The manuscript, known as "Evangelistary Manuscript 220," is one of the world's oldest hand-lettered Gospels and was among hundreds of priceless objects looted from the Theotokos Eikosiphoinissa (Kosinitza) Monastery in Greece during World War I.

A formal return ceremony was held Thursday at the historic monastery near the town of Drama in northern Greece and was officiated by Archbishop Elpidophoros of America. Among those who attended the event was Agathangelos Siskos, archivist of the Ecumenical Patriarchate; and Museum of the Bible Founder Steve Green, the president of the craft store chain Hobby Lobby.

The manuscript was purchased by the Green Collection of Oklahoma City and donated to the museum in 2014.

After the doxology service, Green was awarded the "Grand Cross"  the highest honor of Metropolis of Drama  by Metropolitan Panteleimon of Xanthi.

Green was joined in traveling to the event by the museum's Chief Curatorial Officer Jeffrey Kloha, Associate Curator of Medieval Manuscripts Brian Hyland and Museum of the Bible board member Elizabeth Prodromou.

"We are honored to partner with the Ecumenical Patriarch on a permanent exhibition of biblical manuscripts and religious objects connected to the Bible," Green said in a statement sent to The Christian Post.

In a statement, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the world leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, thanked the museum for returning the manuscript.

"It is a true blessing for the monastic sisterhood and the Christian world to see the religious artifacts that were removed from the Monastery officially return to their natural home and used hereafter for the spiritual edification of the faithful, and by art and history scholars," the patriarch said in a statement.

The manuscript had been used for hundreds of years in religious services before it was stolen.

Kloha said the manuscript is important as part of the history of the New Testament in Greek, "but it also tells of at least two communities that used it for prayer and devotion century after century and of the day of violence and sacrilege over a century ago."

"Now, this manuscript can tell a new story," the curator added, "a story of reunion and hope that the pages of this manuscript will continue to give light, even though many have tried to extinguish that light."

In 2020, the museum informed Patriarch Bartholomew about the intended return of the manuscript, which entered the museum's collection in 2014.

The patriarch allowed the museum to display the manuscript in October 2021, in time for the patriarch's apostolic visit last year.

The patriarch also loaned three more manuscripts "as part of the collaboration in a permanent exhibit at the museum as a gesture of gratitude for the Gospel manuscript's return."

The museum has investigated its collections in recent years and "hopes that other collections in the U.S. that also possess manuscripts from the monastery will likewise voluntarily return them to their rightful home."

In January 2021, the Museum of the Bible transferred control of 5,000 disputed manuscripts and bits of papyrus to the U.S. government, which then repatriated the artifacts to Egypt, where the items were thought to have been illegally shipped during the Arab Spring.

The artifacts included manuscript fragments, funeral masks, parts of coffins and the heads of statues.
CNN warns of 'rapture anxiety,' claims ex-Christians struggle with 'trauma' over End Times teaching

Could teaching what's described in the Bible as a blessed hope actually be a source of anxiety and trauma?

An article published by CNN Tuesday with the headline, For some Christians, rapture anxiety can take a lifetime to heal, depicts the eschatological doctrine of the imminent return of Jesus Christ for His Church as a chronic problem.

The article also describes the teaching as "recognized by some faith experts and mental health professionals as a type of religious trauma."

Featuring a stock photo with the caption, Some Christians develop fears related to teachings of the rapture, the article profiles two women who have battled so-called rapture anxiety, including April Ajoy, who recalled waking up to a quiet home as a 13-year-old girl and fearing she had missed the prophetic End Times event.

The article reads in part: Ajoys mind began churning, trying to remember, trying to make plans. When was the last time she had sinned? Should she refusethe mark of the beast? At least, she thought, if she was put to the guillotine during the time of tribulation, it would be a quick death.

Describing the event as when righteous Christians ascend into heaven, while the rest are left behind to suffer," CNN adds, However it happens, it is something to be both feared and welcomed, to be prayed about and prepared for every moment of a believers life."

Another woman, Georgia resident Chelsea Wilson, told the cable news outlet that she grew up in the Evangelical community and believed the End Times teaching was akin to a scary campfire story.

CNN points to social media chatter from exvangelicals  former Evangelical Christians who have since turned to unbelief  who were subjected to violent rapture-themed films or spent their childhood years crying themselves to sleep thinking about people and pets that would be left behind when the end finally came.

The article  which was not categorized as an opinion piece on CNNs website  also appears to take aim at Evangelical churches by describing the rapture as a fringe teaching of dispensational premillennialism, adding that such teaching is not prevalent in Catholic or mainline Protestant denominations like Episcopalianism or Presbyterianism, and is most commonly adhered to in Evangelical and fundamental churches.

For analysis of the doctrine and its impact on believers, CNN reached out to Darren Slade, president and CEO of the Global Center for Religious Research, a "non-religiously affiliated academic society and publishing house."

Slade, whose website states certain religious contexts have also been responsible for a number of traumatic experiences for people all around the globe, told CNN that rapture anxiety is a real thing and a chronic problem.

This is a new area of study, but in general, our research has revealed that religious trauma leads to an increase of anxiety, depression, paranoia and even some OCD-like behaviors: I need to say this prayer of salvation so many times, I need to confess my sins so often, he was quoted as saying.

But on Slades own website, he acknowledges that the academic study of religious trauma remains in its infancy when compared to other studies in mental health.

Sadly, this means that there is no actual empirical data to support what we have seen and experienced in the tens of thousands: that religious trauma exists and is a chronic problem within many religions, the statement continues.

The Christian Post reached out to both CNN and Slade for comment, but their responses were not received by press time.

Known more commonly as the Rapture, the doctrine stems from the word harpazo in the Greek, the original language of the New Testament, and literally means to seize by force; snatch up, suddenly and decisively.

The word is used in oft-cited verses such as 1 Thessalonians 4:17, which is often cited as a proof text by Rapture proponents.

Others point to verses such as Titus 2:13, where the Apostle Paul describes the "blessed hope" of Christians everywhere as "the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ."

While certainly a topic of rigorous debate among theologians and other Christian thinkers, can the Rapture  which essentially teaches that Jesus will remove Christians from the world prior to what will be the most disastrous period in human history  actually be a source of trauma?

I think if its taken out of context or taught to young kids without the full context of what Jesus promised, what our hope is as believers ... it can be a little scary, said Christian author Todd Hampson, who's also the co-host of the popular Prophecy and Pros Podcast.

I dont know if Id call it trauma. Thats probably a pretty extreme word, I havent heard it put that way before, Hampson told The Christian Post.

He said suggestions such as CNNs statement that the Rapture teaching didnt emerge until the 1800s are flat-out false, pointing to early Church documents showing all Christians were awaiting what they believed was the imminent return of the Lord.

In addition to the passages cited by CNN, Hampton also pointed to Jesus promise to receive His disciples to Himself upon His return in the 14th Chapter of the Gospel of John.

While Rapture works of fiction such as the Left Behind series have brought the doctrine into the cultural mainstream, Hampson said even fictional accounts of Bible prophecy have done way more good than harm.

What its done is turned a lot of believers back to the Bible to study what Scripture actually says about those events, he said.

But what about the CNN article suggesting that interpretations about the Rapture vary widely and may be merely a poetic metaphor"?

Hampson said when it comes to Bible prophecy, you can either allegorize it or receive it at face value.

God says what He means and means what He says, he added. If we come to Scripture with a belief that is inspired by God and He put it together, then every word is intentional.
How support from a church, pro-life group convinced a single mom not to abort her baby

Nearly seven years ago, Maddie Martinez was working a full-time job that she really loved and sought to move up in the company. These aspirations, she said, led her to strongly consider having an abortion after she became pregnant.

However, an encounter with a Love Box from the pro-life organization Embrace Grace convinced her to choose a different path.

Now in her early 30s, Martinez works as the group coordinator for the Hurst, Texas-based pro-life ministry Embrace Grace which creates Love Boxes for women facing unplanned pregnancies. Inside each box is a personal invitation to a support group, stories shared by other mothers, a letter to give the young woman hope, a journal, a baby onesie that says Best Gift ever and A Bump in Life book featuring testimonies to offer hope to single moms, the website states.

Embrace Grace distributes Love Boxes to pregnancy centers located near churches that partner with the pro-life organization that offer support groups for women facing unplanned pregnancies. Embrace Graces 2021 Impact Report revealed the existence of 663 support groups across 48 states and seven countries.

The organization is one of several pro-life groups that have gained renewed national attention following the United States Supreme Courts June 24 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization. In Dobbs, the Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Constitution did not contain a right to abortion, overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.

Following the Dobbs decision, several states have banned or added regulations on abortion. Pro-life activists like Live Action founder Lila Rose continue to stress the importance of providing for mothers facing unplanned pregnancies, no matter where they live.

While the legality of abortion in the U.S. has changed in certain states, the mission of Embrace Grace remains the same: to inspire and equip the church to love on single and pregnant young women and their families.

In an interview with The Christian Post, Martinez extolled the work of Embrace Grace that gave her the strength to ditch her plan to have an abortion and refocus her life.

Maybe I could do this

I was 24 when I got pregnant, Martinez recalled. I had graduated college, had a really great job and was pretty self-sufficient, but I wanted to keep moving up in that company that I was with. And so, thats why I really wanted to have the abortion.

Martinez told CP that she wasnt married at the time and knew that if I was going to be a mom, that I was going to do it alone, adding, I knew that nobody else was going to parent with me.

Having made up her mind that she was going to have an abortion, Martinez needed somebody to take me to my appointment and pick me up from the appointment and it couldnt be Uber because it had to be the same person signing off that they were going to take care of me.

Martinez sought help from her sister, who is three years younger and already had experience with Embrace Grace. She really tried to talk me out of it, but I was pretty adamant, Martinez said, referring to the abortion that had already been scheduled.

Seeing that Martinez was determined to abort her baby, her sister sought help from Embrace Graces group leader Amy Ford, who co-founded the organization. Ford advised Martinezs sister to speak words of life over her.

You encourage her, and you tell her she could be a good mom, Ford advised.

When Martinezs sister explained that she already did that and thats not working, Ford agreed to meet and present her with a box like those going to pregnancy centers to help moms make a life-affirming decision for their [babies].

Since Martinez lived in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex where Embrace Grace is located, Ford was able to meet and present her with a gift bag and offer her support.

The Love Box Martinez received, which was called the Love Bag at the time, contained all the items included in a typical package delivered to a pregnancy resource center except the addition of a onesie.

She let me open it as if it was a gift and read the handwritten letter that was in there. She read it out loud to me, and just told me that I was a really great aunt, and I could be a  really amazing mom, too, and I just needed to trust that God had a plan for me, Martinez said. I abandoned the appointment. I never went.

While nobody put pressure on Martinez to have an abortion, the few people in her life she talked to about the pregnancy said they would support her no matter what decision she made. Her sister was the exception, however, pleading for her babys life: Dont have an abortion.

Martinez responded to her sisters persistence by giving her an ultimatum: Either youre going to help me or youre not. Her sister ultimately assured her that shed be supportive regardless of her ultimate decision. But she continued to call things out in me and really helped me see that this wasnt about an abortion, this was about me stepping into a greater calling, she added.

Along with her sisters insistence that she change her mind about abortion, Martinez said the book she received as part of the Love Box, titled A Bump in Life, also inspired her to cancel the abortion clinic appointment. The evening before she was scheduled to have the first abortion clinic appointment, Martinez stayed up all night reading the book because she couldnt sleep. The book contained stories of mothers who chose life after facing unplanned pregnancies.

Maybe it wasnt the healthiest thing to do, but I really was comparing my situation with the ones in the stories, and I just kept thinking, Wow, if she could do that, then I could do that, she said. Some of them were homeless; some of them conceived out of rape; some of them were pastors kids and there was a lot of pressure on them. For me ... that wasnt the case.

Martinez realized that, unlike the women in the book, I did have a job, I did have a home, I did have a family who  I knew would be supportive. When it got time for me to head over to the abortion clinic, I couldnt do it and I didnt want to do it. She attributed her hesitancy about having the abortion to the book, which helped plant seeds of  hope in me that I could be a good mom, that I could do this.

That book was in the bag that was gifted to me from my sister and so, I just picked it up and read it. I think I could have read any other book, but I just happened to pick up that one and I really started to think maybe I could have a baby, maybe I could be a good mom; maybe I could do this. And then my alarm went off for me to get ready for the day and that was the day I was going to have the abortion. And I think in some ways, that book stuck with me throughout the day.

Martinez told CP she was grateful to have her sister beside her at this point in her life. She knew that once I said I cant do it, she wasnt going to let me change my mind again.

What the church is supposed to look like

After deciding to continue her pregnancy, Martinez developed a relationship with Embrace Grace. She credits the ministry with helping her to deepen her faith.

Before really understanding who God was, I  just went to church on Sunday and I knew that I  felt like I was breaking all of the rules that had been set for me, like the Ten Commandments and the things that are said in the Bible that youre not supposed to do, and I was doing them all, Martinez shared.

And then I would go to church on Sunday and ask for forgiveness and then start all over again. And so, it was just this  vicious cycle but I didnt have a relationship with the Lord. I knew how to go to church, I knew how to pray, but that was it.

Hannah Morris, donor relations manager for Embrace Grace, described her organizations 12-week program for single mothers facing unplanned pregnancies as a source of emotional support, spiritual support [and] practical support.

Embrace Grace enabled Martinez to discover that God already had this plan and that by  getting pregnant  He wasnt disappointed in me, and He wasnt angry with me. From there, Martinez started to see God in a different way and trust Him in a lot of areas.

I surrendered my life to God for the last time and Im not exaggerating, she declared. Ive probably done it several hundred times and tried and tried and tried and it was like this rock bottom point for me that I was pregnant, and I knew that my baby wasnt conceived in a way that I could be proud of, but I could still be someone He could be proud of.

As part of the Embrace Grace program, support group members throw a baby shower for the expectant mother, which Martinez fondly remembered as overwhelming. Martinez had begun attending a nearby church that partnered with Embrace Grace but did not officially join the faith community.

Leading up to the baby shower, two women at the church adopted Martinez and her then-unborn baby for a baby shower and bought numerous baby items and wrapped the gifts in celebration of her and her unborn child.

At Martinezs baby shower, members of the support group stacked the presents really, really high on this table to the point where you couldnt see the other side of the room because the stack of gifts was so high.

While she didnt know these women, Martinez discovered that they were so excited to meet me and they just said, I want to know everything about you. They also shared their enthusiasm for her and her new life: We could not wait to buy gifts for you and your baby.

Martinezs father, who helped her take the numerous gifts to her apartment, asked, You mean to tell me that people that you dont know from a church that you dont regularly go to bought you all these gifts? When she answered in the affirmative, her father replied, Thats what the church is supposed to look like. Thats what its supposed to be, he added as tears filled his eyes.

I could not agree with him more that thats what it was supposed to look like. Its just helping and loving people where theyre at, without the expectation of what you think they should be doing or who you think they should be.

To this day, Martinez stays in contact with the church ladies who threw her a baby shower. They put their names and numbers in a card for me, and I remember for birthdays after that, I would send them pictures and just tell them how thankful I was for them.

Being a mom isnt the end of the world

Martinezs pregnancy marked the beginning of her relationship with Embrace Grace. Deciding that she had to help other moms see that abortion isnt a solution even though it feels like one, Martinez began volunteering there all the time.

I would take days off work to volunteer and build those Love Boxes and write those letters and talk to anybody who was there, anybody who would listen," she told CP. I would tell them about what I experienced, how I abandoned my abortion appointment and how my life really changed after I got to understand who God was and the relationship He wanted with me through Embrace Grace and how pro-lifers arent angry people and they didnt only care about my baby.

I just knew that if I could help just one mom understand that being a mom isnt the end of the world, then I did something right and I did something to help somebody the way that I was helped, Martinez proclaimed.

For her part, Martinez discovered this soon after giving birth to her son, Mateo, on Aug. 1, 2016.

Once I had my baby, everything shifted, she explained. Perspectives shifted and I really just became a lot more thankful and grateful for my parents and for their support in so many aspects and really being able to see what Embrace Grace was doing for moms.

Martinez eventually transitioned from volunteering at Embrace Grace on the side to working for the ministry full time after employees there asked if she had a job and encouraged her to send them her resume. After a couple of interviews, they hired me and Ive been there for five years now and hopefully for a lot more because this is my dream job. I love it.

In addition to transitioning to full-time work at Embrace Grace, Martinez started Embrace Life, a ministry for single parents, at her church. She attended a church with an Embrace Grace group during her pregnancy and later learned there was another campus of the same church much closer to her home: I knew that I wanted to start an Embrace Grace group at some point. I think I just wanted to get single motherhood under my belt first.

Martinez described the other members of the Embrace Life group at her church as like family, adding, My son loves them all.

As Morris highlighted, Embrace Life is a yearlong program that focuses on practical needs in addition to helping participants discover their identity in Christ.

They talk about budgeting, they talk about parenting, they talk about dating while youre a single mom, she said. We also have a group for dads called Embrace Legacy.

With Mateo recently celebrating his sixth birthday, Martinez has come to fully embrace motherhood.

My son is 6 years old and hes my only one, she said. Its just me and him.  Hes literally the love of my life. He really is. I thought he would ruin my life and hes done so much to just enrich it, to just make it this beautiful life.

I always say that the Love Box saved my baby. And in a lot of ways, my son saved me, Martinez added. He really helped me to step into being brave.

The proud mother described her son as this combination of silly and goofy and sweet and tender. She expressed gratitude that hes not afraid to stand up for people, stressing that he is absolutely fearless and amazing.

Martinez declared that she cant imagine doing life without God, whom she credited for helping develop positive character traits in her son: He stood in the gaps for me and my son in so many ways every single day. I dont think that I could have taught him that on my own. I definitely needed God in those areas to show him his full potential really.

Front row seats to miracles

In her role as group coordinator for Embrace Grace, Martinez has sat in several front row seats to miracles. She has worked there full-time for five years after spending a year volunteering.

Working at Embrace Grace, I get to see so many miracles that are happening all over the nation and in different parts of the world. She identified some of her favorite moments on the job as phone calls from group leaders discussing how this girls in a really hard situation and I dont know what to do, I dont know how to help her. Martinez said she stresses to concerned group leaders that we can do only one piece of the puzzle, and we get to trust God to do the rest.

Martinez expressed gratitude for all the times when they call back and they say, Youre not going to believe that God has come through for this mom.

Embrace Grace group leaders regularly pray that God will come through for women facing unplanned pregnancies, she added. My favorite part is when leaders are sharing stories about how moms come in and theyre shy and reserved and theyre not trusting and when they leave, theyre on fire for God and they cant wait to get more.

Although Embrace Grace primarily distributes Love Boxes in bulk to pro-life pregnancy centers, sometimes the organization receives calls from people around the country who are saying, I know somebody whos pregnant and she has an abortion appointment. Embrace Grace's founder heard a similar plea from Martinezs sister in January 2016.

In those cases, Martinez said Embrace Grace staff members always offer to talk to that mom.

If shes open to talking with us, wed love to talk with her and then we can always try and send her a Love Box. We try to overnight a Love Box to her so that she can get one if theres not one available at the pregnancy center near her. Or [if] she doesnt want to go to the pregnancy center, well overnight a Love Box to her.

While Embrace Grace is located in the Dallas area, Martinez said the organization works to reach more churches across the U.S. and around the world by going to conferences and using social media. We have a team thats dedicated to reaching out to anybody and everybody whos reaching out to us about starting a group. And they talk with them. They answer their questions, they help their pastors capture the vision of Embrace Grace as well.

God is amazing, and He just keeps opening these doors and these opportunities for people to continue to share about us, she declared. We have many denominations who host Embrace Grace groups.

Martinez encouraged prospective partner churches to preview Embrace Grace, see what its about and see if its a fit for their church. Those hoping to start an Embrace Group at their church can find more information on the organizations website.

Speaking about the impact the Supreme Courts Dobbs decision had on Embrace Grace, Martinez said she has personally seen more [support] groups come about. I think people now understand that these moms need help.

Were starting to see an uptick in groups. Were starting to see an uptick in people trying to gather more resources to share with moms. The big thing for moms who are abortion-minded or who just dont want to be pregnant, they dont know what resources are out there. And so, people are trying to gather resources to give to these moms to say, Hey, heres everybody you can reach out to to help you, and one of those is Embrace Grace.

Morris also expressed gratitude for the across the board uptick in donations Embrace Grace had received since the Dobbs decision, specifically pointing to an increase in churches stepping up to start groups as well as monetary gifts. Its been amazing, she said. The amount of Love Boxes that were sending out has increased. More girls are going to pregnancy centers and more love boxes are being handed out.

Martinez concluded the interview with CP by crediting Embrace Grace with helping to show pro-life people in a new light. The organization, she reiterated, makes them more real, more human and shows moms that pro-life people arent angry.

Her favorite part of Embrace Grace is that they like to take care of moms by ensuring that the babys going to be taken care of. They really care about mom, and they really want her to be the best, healthiest version of herself so she can be the best, healthiest version for her baby.

Relational and transformational

Highlighting the work the organization does and the relationships it cultivates with pregnancy centers and churches, Morris said Embrace Grace works with over 500 pregnancy centers in the U.S., and said support groups have increased to more than 800 following the Dobbs decision.

We provide Love Boxes to a pregnancy center if theres a group within 30 miles of that pregnancy center. We dont want to give Love Boxes out to a girl if theres not a group for her to go to. And so, as new groups start, we connect with pregnancy centers surrounding that area where that group is.

Morris added, We have someone on staff who builds relationships with those pregnancy centers, makes sure that they have Love Boxes to give out and have a full understanding of what we do and what the Love Box does.

Embrace Graces headquarters has a volunteer station where volunteers work to assemble the Love Boxes, which the group sends to pregnancy centers based on the need for them.

Churches also have the option to purchase Love Boxes. A church can do an outreach where they purchase Love Boxes and then they assemble the Love Boxes as a group. And then they take the Love Boxes to their local pregnancy center so that also is kind of a bridge from the church to pregnancy centers to get them connected and a relationship going on, she added.

The work culture at Embrace Grace is relational and transformational as opposed to transactional, Morris said. Thats how we treat our group leaders and our pastors that have groups.

Our focus and mission really is to teach and train the church to walk alongside these moms, she said. So, our hope is that they are in a deep relationship with these moms to get them really plugged in and connected to their church, to the local church.

Although it has now been several years since Martinez went through the Embrace Grace program, she still benefits from the generosity of the organizations donors. Earlier this year, an anonymous donor gifted a car to the pro-life ministry, which Embrace Grace then traded in for two less expensive cars.

The organization gave the two cars away to single mothers, one of whom was Martinez. At the time of the car donation earlier this year, Martinez had a car that was consistently breaking down while the other single mom who received a vehicle did not have a car at all.

We had a donor who reached out and she said, Hey, I have a car and I really feel like were supposed to give it to a single mom. And so, some of us on staff really prayed about who the car was supposed to [go to].

Morris expressed hope that sharing the story about the car donation would compel other people and encourage them that if they have the means to do something like that, thats another way that they can meet the needs of a single mom.
Ukraine President Zelensky requests fast-track NATO membership after Putin annexes 4 regions

As the Russian invasion enters its seventh month, Ukraine is seeking an accelerated membership in NATO and has ruled out talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who announced the annexation of four Ukrainian provinces.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the NATO application papers in an online video posted to the Telegram app in an apparent response to the Kremlin after Putin held a ceremony in Moscow to proclaim its rule over 15% of Ukraine, or the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, Reuters reported Friday.

It is a decisive step to protect the entire community of Ukrainians, Zelensky said in the video, according to The Guardian.

De facto, we have already made our way to NATO. De facto, we have already proven compatibility with alliance standards. They are real for Ukraine  real on the battlefield and in all aspects of our interaction, he said. We trust each other, we help each other, and we protect each other. This is the alliance. De facto. Today, Ukraine is applying to make it de jure.

Zelensky added that Kyiv is still committed to co-existing with Russia but on equal, honest, dignified and fair conditions.

Clearly, with this Russian president (that) is impossible. He does not know what dignity and honesty are. Therefore, we are ready for a dialogue with Russia, but with another president of Russia, he said, according to the newswire.

Putin claimed that residents in the annexed Ukrainian regions voted in a referendum earlier this week to join his nation.

Ukrainian officials called the voting coerced by Russian soldiers.

The Kremlins sham referenda are a futile effort to mask what amounts to a further attempt at a land grab in Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. To be clear: the results were orchestrated in Moscow and do not reflect the will of the people of Ukraine.

However, Brussels appeared to be cautious with Ukraines application to join the intergovernmental military alliance, which would have to actively defend Ukraine as a fellow member in the midst of the war.

Both the alliance and the United States are instead pledging only unwavering support for Kyiv at this time.

The U.S. has sent more than $9.8 billion in civilian and military assistance to Ukraine since Russias invasion began in February.

USAID Administrator Samantha Power commented earlier this year that as the assault on Ukraines public services continues, the United States is rushing in with financial support to help the government keep the lights on, provide essential services to innocent citizens and pay the health care workers who are providing lifesaving support on the frontlines.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden on Friday signed a bill funding the federal government through Dec. 16 to avoid a partial government shutdown, and it includes an additional $12.3 billion for Ukraines war effort against Russia.

Apart from Ukraine aid and funding for government agencies, the bill authorizes Biden to direct the drawdown of up to $3.7 billion for the transfer of excess weapons to Ukraine from U.S. stocks, the newswire added.

According to the United Nations Office for High Commissioner for Human Rights, as of Sept. 26, at least 5,996 civilians have been killed and 8,848 injured since the invasion started on Feb. 24.
Catholic League calls out Air Force gender ideology fiction for fellowship excluding cisgender men

The nations largest Catholic civil rights organization is criticizing the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) for what it calls a problematic fellowship offered only to students who belong to a gender minority.

In a letter dated Sept. 28 addressed to USAFA Superintendent Lt. Gen. Richard Clark, Catholic League president Bill Donahue expressed concern over the Brooke Owens Fellowship, which Donahue said is targeted at undergraduate women and gender minorities interested in aerospace.

An application on the fellowships website states that only students who identify with a gender minority such as "agender, bigender, two-spirit, demigender, genderfluid" are eligible to apply.

"If you are a cisgender man, this program isnt for you, the fellowship's application reads.

A "cisgender man" is a term used by transgender activists for a biological male who identifies as a man.

In his letter, which is titled Air Force Academy Falls For Hoax, Donahue accused the USAFA of peddling fiction.

Why is the Air Force Academy peddling this fiction? There is no need to call women cisgender women. Nature, and natures God, have made it crystal clear that there are only two sexes: man and woman, wrote Donahue, who himself is an Air Force veteran.

The fellowship came to light after Fox News obtained an email from a concerned cadet at USAFA that encouraged cadets to apply to the Brooke Owens Fellowship along with another program available exclusively to black cadets studying aerospace.

"It's a little worrying that we have more briefs about [diversity and inclusion] than briefs about foreign adversaries, emerging technologies or current events across the world," Fox News quoted the cadet as saying.

According to the Brooke Owens Fellowship website, the majority of fellows in the program have been cisgender women and that we expect that will likely continue to be the case.

The fellowships host institutions include Amazon, Boeing, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, according to the site.

But for Donahue, its the postmodern roots of transgenderism that he says he finds most troubling.

"Transgender women are men who for some psychological reason consider themselves to be a woman. They do not menstruate and they cannot get pregnant. If you have evidence that disputes this, please forward it to me, he wrote.

The fiction doesnt end there. There is no such person  in the history of the world  who is literally non-binary, agender, bigender, two-spirit, demigender, genderfluid, or genderqueer. They are concepts made up by academics. They may exist on the blackboard, but in the real world they do not exist.

USAFA did not respond to a request for comment by The Christian Post as of Thursday afternoon.

Donahue and the Catholic League are not the first to accuse the U.S. military of becoming more concerned with gender ideology than troop readiness.

In March, former U.S. Marine Col. Mitchell Swan released a campaign ad for his bid to represent Georgias 10th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives that warned that the military has misplaced priorities as the Russia-Ukraine conflict represents the biggest European land war since World War II.

Wheres our military focused? he asked. Gender dysphoria and woke training. This is insane.

[Russian President Vladimir] Putins reviewing nuclear options while we assess transgender therapy options, he lamented. As a retired colonel who led marines overseas, I know this woke indoctrination in our military.

The USAFA  which was established in 1954 and is the youngest of the U.S. service academies  serves as both a military organization as well as a university.
Hurricane Ian leaves 2.5 million without power in Florida; Orlando sees record-breaking rainfall Humanitarian aid group Samaritan's Purse responds to the disaster

More than 2.5 million homes were without power in Florida amid catastrophic floods and life-threatening storm surge early Thursday, hours after Hurricane Ian made landfall near Cayo Costa as a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph. The international Evangelical relief group Samaritans Purse is preparing its disaster response teams to help clear debris from homes.

Ians winds weakened to 65 mph early Thursday, downgrading the system to a tropical storm as it moved over central Florida, but extremely dangerous conditions continued, according to The Weather Channel, which also said all hurricane warnings had been dropped but a hurricane watch extended from northeast Floridas coast to Charleston County, South Carolina.

The storm made landfall on Floridas west coast at about 3 p.m. Wednesday as a Category 4 hurricane, leaving over 2.5 million customers without power, mostly in the states southwest and central regions, according to PowerOutage.us.

About 90 minutes later, the hurricane made a second landfall, south of Punta Gorda with 145 mph winds, Fox Weather reported.

Extreme rain triggered significant flooding in parts of central Florida, The Weather Channel said.

Orlando had a record-breaking rainfall of 11.94 inches from 4 a.m. Wednesday through 4 a.m. Thursday, weather historian Christopher Burt was quoted as saying. Up to 14 inches of rain has already fallen in parts of the state.

The tropical storm was forecast to continue lashing Florida for most of Thursday before making a likely second landfall on the Atlantic Coast Friday.

Early Thursday, strongest winds were recorded along the coast of northeast Florida, where some gusts had topped 60 mph in Daytona Beach. Gainesville, Jacksonville and Orlando had gusts over 50 mph, and over 30 mph gusts had already worked their way along the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina.

Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina are bracing for the storms impact.

Over 10 inches of rain is possible, mainly in areas between Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina, Fox News said.

Samaritans Purse said it's mobilizing disaster response specialists and tractor-trailers packed with relief equipment to the affected areas.

The Christian relief organization, headed by evangelist Franklin Graham, said it's closely tracking the storm and working with local authorities and church partners to determine the greatest areas of need.

Hurricane Ian is going to impact the lives of millions of people, Graham said in a statement shared with The Christian Post. We are praying for everyone in its path and already mobilizing our team to respond in Jesus Name.

Samaritans Purse said it will need teams of volunteers from across the country to help families by mudding out flooded homes, tarping damaged roofs and clearing debris.

Early Tuesday, Ian made landfall southwest of the town of La Coloma in western Cubas Pinar del Rio province, with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, NBC News reported, adding that, by the evening, the entire island was without power.
Fighting for freedom for the worlds most repressed country

By land, by air, or by sea! Suzanne Scholte, an American activist, proclaimed. These are the means through which she and others are working to get information to people in the worlds most closed country, North Korea.

Its a daunting task  one thats become increasingly difficult in recent years as South Korea has cracked down on efforts to send leaflets or other material over its border to North Korea. The COVID-19 pandemic made movement across the China-North Korea border nearly impossible, but for Scholte and the North Korean defectors who now fight for the rights of those they left behind, its a mission that cannot be abandoned.

This week, the North Korea Freedom Coalition, chaired by Scholte, is spearheading North Korea Freedom Week in Seoul with seven days of events and meetings. Family Research Council is joining North Korean defectors, leaders of human rights organizations, and influential activists to draw attention to issues in North Korea, which is widely recognized as the most dangerous place to be a Christian.

Scholte has been instrumental in bringing awareness to the plight of North Koreans. Years ago, she started to work with and meet the victims of communist regimes. Her life was forever changed when she met North Korean defectors. She said, Once I began to understand what they have been through and got to know them, I really fell in love with the North Korean people. Their ability to triumph over this evil regime, to escape and get their freedom, is very inspiring to me.

But working on human rights in the worlds most repressed regime isnt glamorous. Upon beginning her work with North Korean defectors, she started to have nightmares about the stories she heard about life there and the harrowing journeys to escape. It was her deep conviction and faith that sustained her. She told the Korea Herald, I would cry out to God, Why did you put this on me? And a few times in my life, I really heard Gods voice. He answered me: 'I was just answering your prayer.' And then I remembered how I had prayed very specifically that God would break my heart for what was breaking His, and I realized what was happening in North Korea was breaking Gods heart.

Indeed, the terror that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un inflicts on his own people is difficult to comprehend. North Koreans have no rights and no rule of law to offer protection. Society is structured to reinforce Kim Jong Uns god-like image and tight control. One defector I spoke to in Seoul this week described the situation by saying, North Korea isnt even a real county, everything just belongs to Kim Jong Un. He owns anything he wants, he can kill anyone he wants, and he does not want to let [his power] go.

North Koreans are kept isolated from the outside world, and the regimes education system and constant propaganda force North Koreans to live with a worldview shaped by lies. These falsehoods are geared toward teaching a fierce respect for Kim Jong Un that is akin to idolatry. And the threat of punishment for anyone who would dare criticize the regime is harsh.

Many of the defectors participating in North Korea Freedom Week believe information  the truth about the outside world, exposure to religion, and knowledge of what free societies look like  is the key to bringing about the end of the Kim regime.

One defector told me that the North Korean regime fears the possibility that people will learn the truth about living standards outside the country and information about religion more than anything else. Kim Jong Un fears that his deeds will be exposed and that the people wont treat him like a god anymore. He described how the regime inculcates people in Juche ideology and a hyper-focus on the Kim family as trying to fill a God-sized hole in the hearts of North Koreans. When that hole can be filled by Christ, Kim Jong Uns grip on his people will fade.

Helping North Koreans access information is critical. Scholte believes that it is North Korean defectors themselves who are best positioned to lead efforts to reach their countrymen with the truth. At an event in Seoul on Sunday, she insisted, No one knows better how to reach the people of North Korea and what the message should be than North Korean defectors.

Through efforts like North Korea Freedom Week, defectors are hoping to build momentum for their human rights work and ultimately break through the isolated barrier around North Korea with the truth.

Originally published at The Washington Stand.




Is the Church in America dying?

We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being. So declared the U.S. Supreme Court in Zorach v. Clauson (1952).

In an earlier decision, Rector of the Holy Trinity v. United States (1892), the Supreme Court said: [Americans are] a religious people. This is historically true. From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation.

The Trinitydecision then went into great detail about the early colonial charters (mostly Christian). Finally, the Supreme Court concluded: These, and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation.

But fast forward to today. Recent assessments declare or imply that the church in America is dying. One headline described it this way: Axios begins countdown to death of Christianity.

Axios comments on the findings of the Pew Research Center: Depending on whether this trend slows, stops or speeds up, Pew projects the number of Christians of all ages will shrink from 64% to between 54% and 35% of all Americans by 2070.

These stories on the alleged death of the American Church keep popping up. And I have often talked on the radio with Dr. Byron Johnson of Baylor University about them. Hes a professor of social sciences, and notes over and over that these stories give the wrong impression.

Johnson, who used to teach at Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania, co-wrote an article about the Nones. The Nones simply refers to people who would be categorized by the pollsters as having no religious affiliation.

The Pew study mentioned above, for example, declares that, given the present trends, by 2070,"Nones would rise from the current 30% to 34%-52% of the U.S.

But what Johnson and his co-authors, including the late Dr. Rodney Stark, argue is that many of the Nones might not be as irreligious as they would seem.

Heres what Johnson and Stark et al. noted: [M]any individuals who report no religious affiliation or check none on surveys (as well as atheists and agnostics) display a wide variety of religious and spiritual practices and beliefs. Many attend religious services, pray, meditate, believe in God or a higher power, have religious experiences, and believe in heaven, hell, and miracles.

It seems almost as if the Nones should perhaps be called instead the Sometimes.

Johnson and company continue: Even though a growing proportion of people in the U.S. appear to be reporting no religious affiliation on surveys, there are many measurement-related, conceptual, and methodological reasons to question the assumption that these people are not religious, and scholars need to look more closely at the actual practices and beliefs of so-called nones.

Johnson and his coauthors also take other pollsters to task for being sloppy in their terminology: [U]se of phrases like religious none, no religion, and not religious to describe this group of individuals is inappropriate, inaccurate, and misleading since they may simply be institutionally unaffiliated or indeed affiliated but not with any of the list of categories provided.

They conclude that more research is needed before definitive statements are pronounced: More focused research is needed before we will fully understand who the nones are, and whether religion is actually declining in the U.S., as well as around the world.

As Glenn T. Stanton explains in his book, The Myth of the Dying Church (2019): The apparent shrinking of Christianity is both true and false. True in that nominal and weak Christian-in-name-only folks are identifying as Christians less and less. But there is no indication whatsoever that serious faith is shrinking any.

Stanton adds, So is Christianity shrinking? Not if youre talking about the biblically faithful congregations that call their people to genuine Christian discipleship. Only  the mainline churches  are free falling as if they have a millstone tied to their necks.

So the real story is, notes Stanton, this is a sheep and goats being divided thing. A clarifying of faith, rather than shrinking of faith.

In John Calvins Commentary on Isaiah 9:7, he provides an excellent reminder for Christians of all ages that we are truly on the winning side: Though the kingdom of Christ is in such a condition that it appears as if it were about to perish at every moment, yet God not only protects and defends it, but also extends its boundaries far and wide, and then preserves and carries it forward in uninterrupted progression to eternity.

Dr. Byron Johnson told me: Heres a bit of advice: the secular media will continue to push out the narrative that religion is dying  why not focus on the hundreds and thousands of peer-reviewed studies that show the power of faith to transform? That sounds like a great topic for a future column.
Term limits for Supreme Court justices defy the Constitution

The radical scheme to rig the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of the political Left continues. In addition to its brazen power grab via court packing, the party in power recently shifted its strategy. It introduced a bill to limit each Supreme Court justices tenure to 18 years and give the president the power to select a new justice every two years.

While this reform at first may appear benign, its nothing more than an attempt to cancel justices. Its simply the Supreme Court Coup by a different name. It is packing  and effectively destroying  the Court, two years at a time.

As more Americans hear about this dangerous proposal, we need to make one thing clear: term limits for Supreme Court justices defy the letter and spirit of the Constitution.

Life tenure for Supreme Court justices has worked well for more than 230 years and is an essential component to ensure judicial independence. Judicial term limits would destroy one of the hallmark features built into our system of government.

To better understand this, we turn to Alexander Hamiltons argument in Federalist No. 78, the prime defense of judicial tenure at the time of Americas Founding.

Hamilton writes that judicial independence can certainly not be expected from judges who hold their offices by a temporary commission. He described a judiciary that serves with life tenure under good behavior as certainly one of the most valuable of the modern improvements in the practice of government. According to Hamilton, we want judges serving with life tenure because this is the best expedient which can be devised in any government, to secure a steady, upright, and impartial administration of the laws.

In other words, lifetime judgeships help ensure the law is administered in predictable and equal ways. Writing in National Review, Hillsdale College Professor Adam Carrington explained:

People may not always think right in the short term. They may have prejudices against a person under trial or one seeking justice. To be sure, history is rife with examples of public pressure causing congressmen and presidents to cave when their principles told them better  With essentially life tenure, the justices  at least partially  are insulated from this pressure. They can discharge their duties and apply the law equally to popular and unpopular litigants.

Federalist 78 also includes a warning: Taking away life tenure and allowing judges to be influenced by public pressure  what Hamilton refers to as the occasional ill humors in the society  would quickly upend the rule of law. Doing so would destabilize the separation of powers and possibly destroy our precious constitutional system.

Some on the political Left argue we should pass term limits legislation because Americans support it. Polls suggest most voters favor term limits for elected politicians. But Americans would be wise not to fall for the idea that term limits are good across the board. What works in legislative races does not work so well when applied to federal judges.

The Executive Branch is already limited to two terms for each president. And many have made the argument that the Legislative Branch might benefit from limiting the terms of senators and representatives. Professor Carrington makes the case:

Congress writes the laws, and the executive signs or vetoes them. Because of this setup, the legislative and executive branches are and should be elected. They are and should, then, have a limit on each term of office before the elected representative must receive approval or rejection by the people.

But Carrington goes on to argue that the function of the Judicial Branch is different:

Yet as they take no part in making the law, the courts do not have the same relationship with it as members of the legislative branch (or at least they shouldnt). Instead, they only apply the law as written  The concept of judicial review recognizes that we want the courts to respect our highest law when any other law conflicts with it.

Unlike the other branches of government, Supreme Court justices are not elected by the people every two, four, or six years. This was not an oversight. It was a deliberate decision. With life tenure, the Founders sought to ensure justices would focus foremost on interpreting the law. It was a way to encourage their fidelity to the Constitution and the rule of law, instead of worrying about personal gain or whats best for them after they leave the Court. Carrington summarizes it well: Were not looking for a mirror in the Court  we are looking for an anchor, one that will keep us moored to our commitments to the law, constitutional or otherwise.

Term limits for justices is also constitutionally suspect. The good behavior clause of Article III of the Constitution  stipulating that justices hold their offices during good behavior  is rightly understood from English common law as an appointment for life. The term says what it means and means what it says. The judge may serve so long as he or she does nothing impeachable.

When calling for judicial term limits, radicals are doing what they frequently do: playing fast and loose with the text of the Constitution. Virtually every time they do not like what the Constitution or one of the Courts opinions says, they try to change the rules under the guise of court reform. Lets not forget that a recent Heartland/Rasmussen poll found nearly half of Democrats (49%) believe the Constitution should be mostly or completely rewritten. Nearly one in four Democrats said the Constitution is irrelevant, according to another poll.

Whether its court packing or judicial term limits, the Supreme Court Coup is all about one political party bending the rules so it can ram through its radical agenda and gain more power.

Americans need to expose the lies and share the truth. More than 500,000 Americans have already joined the fight to defend the priceless heritage of the Supreme Court.

We need 1 MILLION patriots to join our coalition and send this critical message: NO to court packing, NO to judicial term limits and NO to the Supreme Court Coup.

Originally published at First Liberty.
Were called to be a part of Gods plan for government

As we approach the 2022 midterm elections and hot-button issues occupy our hearts and minds, its important for believers to remember our biblical duty to intercede for government leaders  whether we see eye to eye with them or not.

Regardless of whether those in authority are Christians or we agree with their views, when we commit to pray for our leaders in government, God is pleased with our obedience. He will work in their hearts according to His will. When we pray for our city, state and national leaders, we take part in advancing Gods kingdom on this earth.

Let us strive to remember the following four fundamental principles as we pray:

1. We are commanded to pray for our leaders

The Bible makes it clear that Christians are called to pray for those in authority over them. In 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Paul urges that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people  for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

Praying for our leaders can have an impact on every aspect of our lives  our families, our churches, our businesses, our schools and our laws. Praying for our leaders releases Gods power and it pleases God.

2. The Lord Almighty is the Creator of all things, including government

All people in authority have been allowed to be placed there by God. Romans 13:1 reminds us that we are subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

We can be at peace despite seemingly selfish, evil and non-believing leaders when we trust that our Lord is in control of everything. God is sovereign  He is the ultimate authority. Romans 8:28 encourages us that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose. Theres so much that God does behind the scenes of our lives that we cant always comprehend. But one thing is for certain according to Scripture  God always works in accordance with His will, for His purposes, and for His glory.

3. The Church must lead in reflecting Gods values in our nation

We are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13) and have a responsibility to lead our nation in pursuing godly government at every level. As we pray for America, we must pray into biblical values. As we listen to the news and consider the key issues of today, with each emerging concern, we must seek Gods intervention and guidance for our leaders.

The Word of God should frame the worldview of every believer. Its intended to be the lens through which we look at everything in life, including our political perspectives, our voting habits and most of all, how we pray for those in governmental authority. If you agree with the positions of your leaders, pray they will fight to uphold the legislation that aligns with the Word of God. If your leaders do not share your Christian faith, pray for their eyes to be opened and for any harmful legislation they propose not to pass.Gods Word should always have the last word on any issue we face as a nation.

4. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood

Its important to remember that theres a spiritual battle going on that is beyond the control of our leaders in government. We're fighting a spiritual war with an enemy whose primary tactic is deception. Ephesians 6:12 informs us, For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Remember that all people in power have been allowed to be placed there by God. He has worked His will through some terrible and evil rulers in the past and Hes not surprised by anything. Even better, we know that if God is for us, no one can stand against us (Romans 8:31).

Our government leaders need us to pray for them with diligence. The simple act of praying for those in authority can help them step into Gods will for their lives. You may even find that once you commit to praying for those leaders whose views or attitudes are different than your own, your heart toward them softens. Regardless of where we stand politically, or whether we see eye to eye with how those in authority are leading, we should ask God to help us respect and pray for them according to His perfect will and purpose.
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.
Four provinces invite candidates in the most recent round of PNP draws.

Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan hold draws for provincial immigration Four provinces invite candidates in the most recent round of PNP draws.

Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan hold draws for provincial immigration Four provinces invite candidates in the most recent round of PNP draws.

Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan hold draws for provincial immigration Four provinces invite candidates in the most recent round of PNP draws. Edana Robitaille Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia have issued invitations to apply to candidates through provincial immigration programs this week.

Most Canadian provinces and territories (with the exception of Quebec and Nunavut) operate their own Provincial Nomination Programs. Through these programs, interested candidates may be invited to apply for a provincial nomination.

Quebecs immigration programs are administered by the province and are distinct from Canadas immigration programs.

Although provincial nomination is not in itself the same as a permanent residence, it can act as the first step towards gaining permanent residence from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

Discover if You Are Eligible for Canadian Immigration

The PNP was launched in 1998 and now accounts for over 80,000 PR admissions per year. The increase in the number of PNP admissions in Canada is because the federal and provincial governments consider it an effective tool to promote the economic development of the country outside of the provinces and urban centres with already high immigrant populations.

Provincial immigration results September 24-29

Quebec

On September 15, Quebec invited 1,009 skilled workers to apply for permanent selection. The draw was targeted to candidates with work experience in in-demand occupations and a valid job offer outside the territory of the Communaute metropolitaine de Montreal.

Candidates had to have profiles in the Arrima Expression of Interest system with scores of at least 563 points.

This is the eleventh draw Quebec has held in 2022 and the second draw in the month of September. This is unusual as Quebec typically only holds draws once a month. Quebec does not typically release draw results until one to two weeks after draws occur.

The invitations were issued by the Ministere de lImmigration, de la Francisation et de lIntegration (MIFI) to immigration candidates applying under the Quebec Regular Skilled Worker Program (QSWP).

Those who are invited to apply for permanent selection by Quebec have a maximum of 60 days to submit their application and pay processing fees. Quebec aims to process complete applications within six months, starting on the date all the required information has been received. This includes all forms and documents.

Ontario

The Ontario Provincial Nominee Program (OINP) held two draws over the past week. The first draw, on September 23, was for the French Speaking Skilled Workers stream. The province invited 363 candidates and the minimum score was 326.

The program is aligned with Express Entry and candidates must be French speaking with strong English abilities.

The second draw was in the Human Capital Priorities stream. The province issued 1,179 invitations on September 28 through OINP as part of a targeted draw for tech occupations. Candidates all had job experience in specific tech-related occupations.

British Columbia

More than 258 candidates were invited to apply for provincial nomination in British Columbia on September 28.

Most candidates, 215, were invited in a targeted draw for tech occupations. The invitations were issued to candidates in the Skilled Worker and International Graduates categories and included Express Entry candidates.

Candidates who were invited in the target tech draw had minimum SIRS scores of 100. SIRS acts much like the Express Entry Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) but is only used for British Columbias PNP.

The province also held rounds of invitations for candidates working in the following occupations.

28 early childhood educators and assistants (NOC 4214) with scores of at least 60 points; and

15 Healthcare workers from the Skilled Worker, International Graduate, Entry Level and Semi-Skilled (includes EEBC option) with scores of at least 60 points

Healthcare assistants from the Entry Level and Semi-Skilled category with minimum scores of 60 and;

Other priority occupations with minimum scores of 60

British Columbia recently announced that will be pausing draws under the BC PNP between October 12 and November 16 due to the transition from NOC 2016 to NOC 2021, an updated method of assessing a candidates skill level in economic immigration programs.

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan has invited 639 candidates under the Express Entry stream, and 507 under Occupations-In-Demand stream, of the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP) for a total of 1,146 candidates.

This draw is consistent with draws throughout the summer, the most recent of which invited over 1,000 candidates. It is the first draw since September 7. There was no draw last week, making it the first week without a SINP draw since July 6.

Discover if You Are Eligible for Canadian Immigration

 CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options.
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Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan attend the convocation ceremony on the University of India campus at Hyderabad on Saturday.  DC

Hyderabad: University of Hyderabad (UoH) awarded degrees to about 4,800 students who graduated from various programmes in 2020, 2021 and 2022, in a convocation ceremony held on Saturday.

The ceremony was attended by Union education minister Dharmendra and Telangana Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan. The university gave 484 medals for standout performances and conferred 573 PhDs. The ceremony was conducted after a period of three years due to the pandemic. Chancellor Justice L Narasimha Reddy administered the oath to the recipients.

Union minister Pradhan, the chief guest, congratulated the university for emerging as a centre of excellence. I am confident that when India will be celebrating 100 years of independence, UoH will be one of the major epicenters of our knowledge-based society. I also expect our students to give back to society to make their education more meaningful and purposeful, he added.

The minister said innovation and entrepreneurship would help India become an economic superpower and a knowledge-based economy. Hyderabad is known as the city of decorative pearls, and the University of Hyderabad is the intellectual pearl, he remarked.

Speaking at the ceremony, Dr Soundararajan encouraged students to make research a part of their lives and to focus on their inner strengths as espoused by Swami Vivekananda.

UoH Vice-Chancellor Prof. B.J. Rao spoke about the forthcoming initiatives, courses, projects and funding to strengthen the teaching environment and infrastructure. Several MoUs have been signed with various institutions globally to increase internationalization efforts, he said.

The university has uploaded a total of 36,270 records of the degrees awarded from 1977 to 2022 to the digilocker system, which by itself is a record, he added.
The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form
Rahul Gandhi with AICC General Secretary & Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala, KPCC President DK Shivakumar, Opposition leader in Assembly Siddaramaiah and other leaders during the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra, at Gundlupet in Chamarajanagar district (PTI Photo)

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday called for fair compensation for families of COVID-19 victims and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, "why are you denying them their right".

Gandhi on Friday interacted with family members of some coronavirus patients who died due to oxygen shortage, at Gundlupet in Karnataka during the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Sharing a video from that interaction, the former Congress chief on Saturday tweeted, "Prime Minister, do listen to Pratiksha, who lost her father due to BJP govt's COVID mismanagement."

She pleads for government support to pursue her education and meet her family's needs, Gandhi said.

"Don't families of COVID victims deserve fair compensation? Why are you denying them their right," he asked.

According to a statement issued by the Congress, during an interaction with Gandhi, the family members of the victims, expressed their anger against the BJP government that it did not even acknowledge the deaths of their loved ones.

"Words of small girl child Pratiksha, made everyone teary eyed in the hall. She was stating the apathy witnessed by her mother, who is jobless after the death of her father," the statement said.
HYDERABAD: The Supreme Court's supervisory committee on Friday served notice on HCA president Mohammed Azharuddin seeking details, following allegations that tickets were sold in black market for the recent T20 International match between India and Australia at the Uppal Stadium.

In the notice, Anjani Kumar, vice-chairman of the apex court panel, said a meeting of the supervisory committee that was held on Friday had directed Azharuddin to submit details of registered clubs which were members of the HCA by October 3.

The committee sought the name and address of the registered clubs on their letterhead, the names of office-bearers and members, their mobile phone numbers and email Ids; registration type, when was the registration was done with the HCA and how it was done.

The committee also sought bank details of registered clubs with signing authority, audit reports of each financial year since three years, copies of bylaws of clubs, email IDs and website details of clubs, address of the ground where players were practicing, name of the players, mobile number, address and selection details.

The committee asked the HCA president to submit a hard copy and a soft copy of the details by 12 noon on October 3.
By Jennifer K. Morita

California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, along with a panel of faculty members, answered questions from the campus community and spoke about the importance of voting during a Sept. 28 voter rights forum. (Sacramento State/Andrea Price)

With the issue of voter rights under a spotlight in the U.S., California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber told students they need to vote  and bring along family, friends, and neighbors to the polls.

The act of voting is a powerful act, Weber said. It is the only real power that you have to change the system and its equalizing. Everybody gets one vote.

The expression of your opinion is powerful, and you should never give up your power.

Webers comments came during a Sept. 28 town hall discussion in Hinde Auditorium that included Sacramento State Political Science and Ethnic Studies professors Christopher Towler, Rose Soza War Soldier, and Tim Fong. Members of the campus community provided questions for panel consideration.

Panelists explained how underrepresented minority groups have had to fight voting barriers, such as Jim Crow laws, long after obtaining the right to vote.

It wasnt until 1965, when the Civil Rights movement led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act, that voter suppression laws were abolished.

The fight to protect voter rights isnt over, though.

Right now, we are without the Voting Rights Act, said Weber, referring to U.S. Supreme Court rulings critics say chip away at the laws guarantees. She said those rulings are why (states) have passed over 300 pieces of legislation geared towards limiting peoples rights to vote.

These new Jim Crow laws have come into effect because we dont have the federal government to protect us.

Weber, who is Californias first Black secretary of state, is the daughter of Arkansas sharecroppers who could not vote because of Jim Crow laws. The first thing they did when they moved to Los Angeles was register to vote.

My father taught us to make sure you vote, because when you dont vote, whatever youve acquired in life, they can take it away, Weber said. Your land, your dignity, your resources, your business, because you dont have a voice in determining your future.

Panelists warned that gains voters made since 1965 are at risk.

"(Voters) have a responsibility to not only exercise our own vote, but encourage others who have the ability to vote to do so as well. -- Christopher Towler, associate professor of Political Science

In addition to limiting the number of ballot boxes, other tactics employed by proponents of tighter voting restrictions include gerrymandering, not allowing waiting voters to eat or drink while standing in long lines, and closing polls at noon on Sundays to prevent people from voting after church services.

Its a dangerous time, said Towler, a Political Science professor. Its taken us 200 years-plus to get to this point where we actually look like the democracy that our founders said we should be, where we are one person, one vote, founded on the ideas that all men are created equal.

But it can very quickly be undone, and we could very quickly get pushed back to a time when our democracy looks far more limited, as it did in the early 1900s or the times prior.

Soza War Soldier, a Native American Studies professor, said Arizona, where Native people make up roughly 6% of the population and reservation land is almost a third of the state, was among states that passed voter identification laws establishing more stringent voting requirements.

To obtain a voter ID and register to vote, Arizona residents must provide documentation such as a water, electricity, or property tax bill, or car registration. Low-income Native Americans living in remote, rural areas dont necessarily have the required documents.

Because of the way land is held in trust by the federal government for Native people, they dont hold private property on reservations, so they dont have property taxes, Soza War Soldier said. So, all the qualifiers in the state of Arizona actually exclude Native people. It makes it very difficult for Native people to register to vote.

Recently, Asian Americans have become swing voters in various areas of Texas, Georgia, Virginia, and Nevada, Fong said.

And they are predominantly, not exclusively, Democratic, so you can actually see why some populations are targeted, he said. Clearly, suppression is racialized.

Panelists told students to take advantage of the strong voting rights in California.

We have to continue to push back and exercise our right to vote with the understanding that we may not have it, Towler said. If we dont fight for it, the fight to get it back is going to be much, much harder.

He said that voters have a responsibility to not only exercise our own vote, but encourage others who have the ability to vote to do so as well.

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Towards formally securing permission from the police, senior leaders led by TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy called on Director-General of Police M. Mahendar Reddy at his office and gave him the proposed 375-km route map and applied for approval. (DC Image)

Hyderabad: With the Bharat Jodo yatra of Congress senior leader Rahul Gandhi likely to enter Telangana on October 24, Congress leaders from the state were all excited geared up to make a grand success of it.

Towards formally securing permission from the police, senior leaders led by TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy called on Director-General of Police M. Mahendar Reddy at his office and gave him the proposed 375-km route map and applied for approval. Revanth Reddy has previously joined Rahul Gandhi during his padayatra.

The proposed route map, pending final approval, shows Rahul Gandhi entering Telangana at the Krishna river bridge near Maktal and exiting the state after 375 km. The Congress leader will walk via Devakadra, Mahbubnagar, Jadcherla, Shadnagar, Hyderabad, Sangareddy, Jogipet, Shankarampet and Madnoor before entering Maharashtra.

In Hyderabad, he is expected to walk through Aramgarh, Charminar, Afzalgunj, Moazzamjahi market, Gandhi Bhavan, Nampally Dargah, Vijaynagar Colony, Nagarjuna Circle, Panjagutta, Kukatpally, Miyapur and Patancheruvu, along the national highway.

The team included CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and former PCC chief V. Hanumantha Rao. We urged him to provide foolproof bandobast arrangements after Rahul Gandhi enters the State, said Bhatti while briefing media persons outside the DGP office.

Earlier in the day, Revanth Reddy along with senior leaders held a review meeting with their Maharashtra counterparts, who were in town. Led by Maharashtras CLP leader Balasaheb Thorat, they discussed the planned route from where the yatra was likely to pass through.

Describing the yatra as an epoch-making one, Revanth Reddy said that the Telangana Congress leadership was closely coordinating with neighbouring states. The team along with state leaders toured locations surrounding Hyderabad from where the yatra is likely to pass through.

In order to make it a historical yatra, a common committee for better coordination will be formed between the two states, he said while briefing the media, later.

Thorat pointed out that the yatra was getting good response from Maharashtrians. We have received inputs regarding the route map in Telangana. In sync with that, we shall be coming up with our own route map shortly, he said.
China to provide convenient conditions for foreign talent: Chinese premier

Xinhua) 11:09, October 01, 2022

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with foreign experts who have received the Friendship Award in 2022, given annually by the Chinese government to honor outstanding foreign experts in China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022.

Vice Premier Han Zheng also attended the meeting. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- China will provide convenient conditions and quality services for foreign talent to work in China and give more support to their research environment and innovation platform, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Friday.

Li made the remarks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing when meeting with foreign experts who had received the Friendship Award in 2022, given annually by the Chinese government to honor outstanding foreign experts in China.

He spoke highly of the contributions made by foreign experts in China's reform, opening-up, and exchanges between China and foreign countries.

Li noted China is still the largest developing country globally, and its modernization remains a long and arduous task. He said no matter how the international situation may change, China will focus on running its affairs well and ensuring a good life for the Chinese people.

This year, due to the impact of unexpected factors, the Chinese economy did face some new downward pressure, but on the whole, it has shown a steady recovery, Li said.

"We have the confidence and capability to keep the economy operating within a reasonable range and promote sustained and sound economic development," he added.

Pointing out that China owes its rapid development to reform and opening-up, Li said China would continue to deepen reform, open up even more, and inject strong impetus into growth.

"We will continuously deepen reforms to delegate power, streamline administration and optimize government services, treat all types of market entities as equals, and foster a market-oriented and law-based international business environment," Li said.

China will promote global cooperation on scientific and technological innovation with a more open attitude and promote innovation achievements to benefit the world, he added.

Noting foreign experts are envoys for friendship and important links between China and the world, Li said China welcomes foreign experts to participate in China's modernization drive in various ways.

The awardees thanked Li and the Chinese government and expressed willingness to continue contributing to China's development and exchanges between China and the world.

At the invitation of Li, the foreign experts later attended a reception to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The meeting was also attended by vice premiers Han Zheng and Liu He.

Liu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, presented the Friendship Award to the honorees and delivered a speech at the awarding ceremony, which was also held at the Great Hall of the People.

This year, 49 foreign experts from 21 countries received the award.

The Friendship Award is the highest award to commend foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to China's modernization drive. Since its establishment in 1991, a total of 1,848 foreign experts have received the award.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with foreign experts who have received the Friendship Award in 2022, given annually by the Chinese government to honor outstanding foreign experts in China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022.

Vice Premier Han Zheng also attended the meeting. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with foreign experts who have received the Friendship Award in 2022, given annually by the Chinese government to honor outstanding foreign experts in China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022.

Vice Premier Han Zheng also attended the meeting. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, addresses a ceremony to present the Chinese Government Friendship Award to foreign experts, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Bianji)
Few can question that the amount of hatred that is spewed on prime-time TV under the garb of debate, is uncivilised, undemocratic and an incitement to violence. (Photo | Flickr - John S. Quarterman)

On Mahatma Gandhis birth anniversary, it is customary to pay tribute to him at especially organised official functions. Yet, how much of his legacy do we actually internalise? The bhajans he loved are a fixed feature of these annual rituals. Do we remember what their essential message is? For a man, who could sing, Ishwar Allah tero naam, do we stop to think how dramatically this clarion call is being vitiated today?

Narratives are not written in stone. Some modifications, even correctives, are necessary to allow new narratives to emerge. What we need to analyze is how much of the old needs to be jettisoned, and what of the new is really desirable. Gandhijis message of tolerance, inclusion, respect for all religions, is a narrative that we can only reject or dilute at great peril to the verifiably plural, multi-religious, multi-cultural vibrancy of our nation. Indias civilisational unity has myriads of ways of expression, a vast diversity, humbling and enrichening. The resilience of Indias nationhood is conditional on preserving that diversity in unity.

Hate speech, based on suspicion, violence and hostility between religious communities, is directly antithetical to Gandhijis core beliefs. If we genuinely believe in what the Father of Our Nation stood for, we need to resolutely fight it. But the way to do it requires careful thought. That requires perennial democratic vigilance, something that the Mahatma always believed in.

Few can question that the amount of hatred that is spewed on prime-time TV under the garb of debate, is uncivilised, undemocratic and an incitement to violence. Recently, Justices K.M. Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy of the Supreme Court tried valiantly to deal with this issue. The learned bench asked an anguished question: Why is the government standing as a mute witness to hate speech, treating it as a trivial matter? The Court gave a partial diagnosis for this trend by saying: Hate drives TRPs, drives profit. It questioned the role of anchors who encouraged such vitriolic face-offs. Political parties will come and go, the Justices observed, but the nation must endure. Among the possible solutions they considered were guidelines like those laid down in the Vishakha case to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. The most important point is where is our nation headed? the Bench asked. If it is hate-speech that we are feeding on, where is our nation headed?

The Supreme Courts genuine concern on this issue was evident. But an enduring and effective solution cannot be ensured by guidelines, strengthening existing laws, or creating new ones. On the contrary this may only end up in strengthening the States predatory powers against those who oppose it, and become a further barrier against the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental right of free speech.

The problem is that hate speech is nowhere precisely defined. Article 153A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) says that promotion of enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony is punishable by three years imprisonment. Section 505 of the IPC makes it an offence to make statements of communal mischief. There are similar provisions in the Representation of Peoples Act.

But who is to interpret what hate speech is? If this initial power is with the government and its law enforcing agencies, it greatly widens their scope of arbitrary punitive action. We have seen this happen in other laws like the draconian sedition law, and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Since 2014, sedition cases have been filed against 405 people, a 28 per cent increase compared to UPA rule. Of these, 149 cases have been slapped on those who have made critical or derogatory comments against Prime Minister Modi, and 144 against those who have made such comments against UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

If this is the distorted manner in which the State has interpreted the sedition law, what prevents it from doing the same with regard to guidelines, or new legal provisions against hate speech? Such malafide partisanship in interpretation could militate against the fundamental right of free speech mandated by Article 19(1a) of the Constitution, which categorically states: All citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression. The serious worry is that under the garb of preventing hate speech, the right to freedom of speech and expression could be stifled.

There are other procedural problems. How will such a law be implemented with regard to YouTube and social media? How will it differentiate between mere criticism and hate speech? But ultimately, the reality is that TV is a reflection of the dominant socio-political debate in the nation. This debate is inextricably linked to politics, and the policies of the government. If the government is itself complicit in engendering suspicion and hostility between religious communities for short term political dividends, how long can TV channels, anchors and, even more importantly, corporate media owners oppose this trend? If the political will exists, existing laws on hate speech will suffice. If it does not, new guidelines mandated by the Supreme Court, or new provisions in law, will not work.

The worst of all options would be to have new laws that dont prove effective in preventing hate speech, yet can be weaponised by the State to curb the sacrosanct freedom of speech and expression.

Ultimately, therefore, we have to go back to the original vision of Mahatma Gandhi, which is to conquer hate. Narratives will clash as nations evolve, but hate should not and must not dictate change. Equally, genuine democracy and freedom of speech, were the bedrock of Gandhijis ideology. Our government needs to ponder over this. If an enabling milieu is created for the proliferation of hate, and laws to curb it are used to stifle freedom of speech, Gandhijis unshakeable belief in freedom, love and mutual respect, will fail. Posterity will judge if we betrayed the Mahatma even as we paid tribute to him every year on his birth anniversary.
A mother who 'lived with a monster' for 10 years has revealed the horrific injuries he inflicted upon her and the lies she told to cover it up.

Shar Grace Hounley, 34, from east London, spent a decade in a physically and emotionally abusive relationship with her ex-boyfriend.

In 2018, after a campaign of abuse against Shar which lasted ten years, he was convicted of beating her and spent three months in prison.

Although Shar is grateful he was jailed for what he had done to her, she believes the justice system has 'a long way to go' before it is fully supportive of women who have been subject to male violence.

Shar was with her partner for ten years - and was hospitalised several times during the relationship - she would lie to doctors saying she 'fell over a skateboard'

Shar Grace Hounsley, 34, bravely posted these photos to show the extent of the domestic violence she suffered at the hands of her partner

She told FEMAIL: 'Yes in 2018, I got a conviction for my abuser, but he was out after three months. It doesn't feel right after the years of what he put me through.

'Most women don't get a conviction and the ones who do, often feel like it's not enough.

'In one sense I'm really happy I wasn't another statistic, and they saw me and heard me - but our justice system is weak.

'They saw the physical side but didn't look at the emotional side of the abuse, which has given me all sorts of issues.'

After Shar's long-term partner who physically and emotionally abused her for years beat her one last time over a sim card, she took to social media with pictures of her bloodied and bruised face. She had needed stitches above her eye.

Shar after the attack when the facial wound was healing, she was still bruised and needed stitches above her eye

Shar decided to waive her right to victim anonymity to show the true, raw face of domestic violence to others

Her ex had physically abused her throughout their relationship, he threw a phone in her face and knocked out her front teeth, and beat her when she discovered that he was cheating on her.

The mother has been in hospital several times for her injuries and had to have one of her teeth extracted as a result of being hit.

She said: 'When he hit me I would tell the classic lies, like I tripped over a skateboard or something but I don't know if the doctors knew.'

Earlier on in the relationship Shar noticed her partner would love bomb her, he would compliment her all the time and tell her how beautiful she was.

Shar looks back on the first time her partner abused her.

At the beginning of their relationship her partner told her he was a devout Catholic.

He pressured her into converting to Catholicism despite her not wanting to and flew into a rage when she questioned it.

She told FEMAIL: 'At first he claimed to be religious and wanted me to be confirmed in the Catholic church, but it didn't feel right.

Shar now, happier and healthier but still suffers the after effects of what happened to her - she has now made it her mission to help other women and learn as much as she can about toxic relationships. She wants people to understand about the emotional side of domestic abuse too and how it can cause complex PTSD

What are the warning signs of domestic abuse? In CBS Reality's Uncovering Intimate Partner Abuse Dr Jane Monckton-Smith, of the University of Gloucestershire, reveals the early warning signs that a relationship will become abusive. The forensic criminologist says that abusive relationships will start like a normal one, but always get very intense quickly. She explained: 'Perhaps they would declare love very, very quickly. 'This can be interpreted as love and perhaps it is but sometimes people will try to move in with you very, very quickly. If somebody's looking to live with you within weeks I would see that as a red flag.' Sometimes abuse can begin when there is a big life change for the couple the relationship can become abusive, such as if the woman gets pregnant. She explained: 'Sometimes if there's a pregnancy suddenly the attention isn't on the abuser enough and they feel their needs are not being met so that can definitely be a trigger.' Dr Monckton-Smith also said that subtle control tactics like asking you to stop seeing friends or wanting to spend every moment with you can be a sign of abuse. Advertisement

'He got very angry when I questioned it and that was the first time he abused me.'

Soon she was pregnant with his child and they were living together, but his treatment of her became worse and he spent most of his time putting her down and criticising her.

Shar told FEMAIL: 'He stopped complimenting me altogether and would comment on my weight, he would call me "fatty" and push me to the floor and laugh when I couldn't get back up mocking me.'

Shar even made efforts to join Slimming World and lost several stone in a bid to feel better about herself but she said 'the cheating and the lies continued'.

She said: 'I did it for my health and my son, but he couldn't stand me feeling better and being confident so the weight would pile back on.'

Over the years, she recalled the things her ex told her that didn't quite add up.

She said: 'He would lie about his success, and big up what he had done, even though I knew it wasn't true.'

Shar now believes she was with a narcissist and has made it her mission to learn as much as she can about the disorder and support other women in the community on online and WhatsApp groups and is a sounding board for anyone going through the same - whilst being a full time mum to an autistic son.

She said: 'I want people to know all the little details, if someone is moving too fast to be with you or wanting to move in.

'It's even in the shows they watch.'

Shar is now thriving and has lost the excess weight that stopped her 'running around with her son at the park' but still suffers the emotional after effects of the abuse.

She is now wary of toxic relationships and wants to warn others to get out if they feel their partner is 'too into them' or 'wants marriage and children quickly'.

Her biggest message however is to the justice system. She said: 'I think the system can be lenient towards abusers.

'I didn't even know my abuser had been released, which they should have told me. You can live in fear if you know they are free and there is no restraining order in place.

'I want the system to recognise the long-term impact abuse has on the victim. How you can develop complex PTSD and anxiety, it's not all about the physical side.'

If you suspect you are being abused contact Women's Aid via their website or if you are in immediate danger call 999.
Danish royal Prince Felix is likely to continue living in one of the royal residences, despite being stripped of his title, according to a source from the Royal House.

The 20-year-old has been stripped of the title by his grandmother Queen Margrethe, alongside his three siblings Prince Nikolai, 23, Prince Henrik, 13, and Princess Athena, 10.

The news was announced on Wednesday, with a statement released by the palace that said: 'As of January 1 2023, the descendants of His Royal Highness Prince Joachim will only be able to use their titles of Count and Countess of Monpezat, their previous titles of Prince and Princess of Denmark ceasing to exist.'

Queen Margrethe said she wants the four children - whose father is her youngest son Prince Joaquim and whose mother is Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg - to live more normal lives.

According to a source from the Royal House, Prince Felix, who currently works as a model and is studying at Copenhagen Business School, lives in one of the residences at Amalienborg Castle, and that will not change, even as he loses the title of Prince.

Queen Margrethe of Denmark (pictured on the balcony at Amalienborg Palace) has stripped four of her eight grandchildren of the titles

According to a Royal House source, Prince Felix, 20, (pictured) will continue to live in the royal residence despite losing his title (picture here making his modelling debut in February by posing in a series of moody snaps for jeweller Georg Jensen's new Reflect collection)

The Royal Household's communications department has said that both of Prince Joaquim's sons will continue to be able to visit the castle, which they do regularly.

Meanwhile, Prince Joaquim has hit out at his mother Queen Margrethe II's decision to strip his four children of their royal titles.

Commenting on their reaction to the move to B.T., Joachim said his children 'don't know which leg to stand on as their identity is removed' - and questioned 'why must they be punished in that way?'.

The prince, who is Margrethe's youngest son, said: 'I can say that my children are sad. My kids don't know which leg to stand on. What they should believe. Why should their identity be removed? Why must they be punished in that way?'

As of January 1, Prince Nikolai, 23, Prince Felix, 20, Prince Henrik, 13, and Princess Athena, 10, will become Counts and Countesses, and will be known as Their Excellencies, it was announced on Wednesday. Pictured, the children with Prince Joachim and Princess Marie on September 11, 2022

Front: Queen Margrethe, Middle Row (left to right): Prince Vincent, Princess Josephine, Princess Athena, Prince Henrik. Back row (left to right): Princess Benedikte, Princess Isabella, Crown Princess Mary, Crown Prince Frederik, Prince Christian, Prince Joachim, Princess Marie, Prince Felix and Prince Nikolai in a portrait celebrating Queen Margrethe's Golden Jubilee

He also doubled down on his claim that he had only been told the news five days before it was made public - despite the Royal Household insisting the decision 'has been a long time coming'.

'I don't want to engage in speculation and mudslinging,' said Joachim. 'I am telling the truth... I was given five days notice... I was given five days' notice of this. To tell my children that on New Year's their identity will be taken from them.'

He added that in May, he was presented with a plan that his 'children's identity should be taken from them when each of them turned 25', to which he asked 'to be allowed to come back with my proposal'.

But he said he was given just five days notice that the decision was to be accelerated, adding: 'I am so sorry for my children. I just demand the truth.'

Prince Joachim of Denmark (pictured) has once again hit out at his mother Queen Margrethe II's decision to strip his four children of their royal titles

The Danish Royal Family tree. Prince Joachim's children Nikolai, 23, Felix, 20, Henrik, 13, and Athena, 10, will all be losing their titles on January 1 2023

Meanwhile, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark defended her mother-in-law Margrethe's decision to strip four of her grandchildren of their royal titles, and suggested her own children's positions might not be secure.

Australian-born Princess Mary, 50, is the wife of Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark, who is Queen Margrethe II's eldest son and heir. Their eldest son, Prince Christian, 16, is second-in-line to the throne behind his father Frederick.

Frederick and Mary's four children - Prince Christian, 16, Princess Isabella, 15, and twins Princess Josephine and Prince Vincent, 11 - remain unaffected by the monarch's decision as they are direct descendants of the future King.

However speaking in Copenhagen today, Princess Mary suggested that might not always be the case.

'We will also look at our children's titles when the time comes,' she said in an interview with Ekstra Bladet in Copenhagen today. 'Today we cannot see what the royal house will look like when it is Christian's time, or when Christian's time begins to approach.'

Speaking in Copenhagen today (pictured) Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has defended her mother-in-law Queen Margrethe's decision to strip four of her grandchildren of their royal titles, and suggested her own children's positions might not be secure

Australian-born Princess Mary, 50, is the wife of Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark, who is Queen Margrethe II's eldest son and heir. Their eldest son, Prince Christian, 16, is second-in-line to the throne behind his father Frederick. Pictured, Mary and Frederick with their children (from left) Isabella, Josephine, Christian and Vincent earlier this month

Prince Joachim (right back), 53, the youngest of Margrethe's two sons, said he was only given five days' notice that Nikolai (left), 23, Felix (second from left), 20, Henrik (far right), 13, and Athena (second from right), 10, will have prince or princess removed from their titles, and will no longer be able to use His or Her Royal Highness. Pictured with their grandmother Queen Margrethe (centre) and Princess Isabella (behind Princess Athena)

She also defended her mother-in-law's decision, saying: 'Change can be extremely difficult and can really hurt. I think most people have tried it. But this does not mean that the decision is not the right one.'

She added: 'Change really hurts, but as I said, it does not mean that the decision is not the right one. And I can understand that it is a very difficult decision to have to make, and also a very difficult decision to receive.'

It has been a whirlwind 48 hours for the Danish Royal Family, following the announcement on Wednesday that Joachim's children would be stripped of their titles.

Queen Margrethe, 82, who attended the Queen's funeral with Crown Prince Frederick, said she hoped the move would allow her grandchildren to 'shape their own lives without being limited by the special considerations and duties' that come with a formal affiliation with the Danish Royal Family.

The move has created an 'icy' atmosphere within the Royal Family, according to one local media report, and has driven a wedge between a seemingly united family. 'There has never been a public conflict between the Queen and Prince Joachim,' Danish royal reporter Kenth Madsen told FEMAIL.

Indeed, they put on a united front just weeks ago when they celebrated Queen Margrethe's Golden Jubilee.

Speaking at a function at the National Museum in Copenhagen on Wednesday night, pictured, Margrethe said: 'It is a consideration I have had for quite a long time and I think it will be good for them in their future. That is the reason'

Prince Joachim of Denmark has said his four children have been hurt by their grandmother Queen Margrethe's decision to strip them of their royal titles as he spoke for the first time since the bombshell announcement. He was interviewed on Thursday morning in Paris, above

Prince Nikolai said that he is sad, shocked and confused after his royal title was stripped 'quickly'. Pictured modelling during the Dior Pre-Fall 2019 Men's Collection show on November 30, 2018 in Tokyo

Margrethe defended her decision in an interview that night, saying: 'It is a consideration I have had for quite a long time and I think it will be good for them in their future. That is the reason.'

However Joachim broke his silence on Thursday morning and claimed he had only been told the news five days before it was made public.

Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix's mother says she's 'in shock' by move to strip them of their royal titles Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg - Prince Joachim's ex-wife and mother to Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix - said she is 'in shock' over Queen Margrethe II of Denmark's decision to strip her sons of their royal titles. Nikolai, 23, and Felix, 20, along with their younger siblings Prince Henri, 13, and Princess Athen, 10, from their father's second marriage, will all have their titles of prince and princess removed from January 1 2023, the palace announced yesterday. 'We are all confused by the decision. We are saddened and in shock,' Alexandra said in a statement from her press advisor Helle von Wildenrath Lvgreen, reported Danish magazine Se og Hr. Earlier this month, Alexandra attended Queen Margrethe's Golden Jubilee celebrations at the Danish Royal Theatre in Copenhagen (pictured) The statement continued: 'This comes like a bolt from the blue. The children feel ostracised. They cannot understand why their identity is being taken away from them.' Earlier this month, Alexandra attended Queen Margrethe's Golden Jubilee celebrations at the Danish Royal Theatre in Copenhagen. Prince Joachim married his second wife Princess Marie in 2008, and they later welcomed Prince Henrik and Princess Athena Advertisement

'We are all very sad. It's never fun to see your children being harmed. They are been put in a situation they do not understand,' he said in an interview with Danish news outlet Ekstra Bladet.

'I was given five days' notice to tell them. In May, I was presented with a plan which, by and large, was that when the children each turned 25, it would happen.

'Now I had only five days to tell them. Athena turns 11 in January,' he clarified.

Prince Joachim, who is sixth-in-line to the throne behind his brother and his children, was speaking outside the Danish Embassy in Paris, where he lives with his second wife Marie and their children Henrik and Athena.

Nikolai and Felix, who are both models, live in Copenhagen.

His ex-wife, Countess Alexandra, the mother of his two eldest children, added in a statement to Danish magazine Se og Hr: 'This comes like a bolt from the blue. The children feel ostracized. They cannot understand why their identity is being taken away from them.'

Her spokesperson Helle von Wildenrath Lvgreen told another news organisation that Joachim learned of his children's fate via an aide.

Queen Margrethe spoke neither to her sons nor her grandchildren, it is claimed.

'The children have received the message that they are losing their titles, delivered by their father, just as Countess Alexandra was told by Prince Joachim,' the spokesperson added.

In response, the Royal Household released another statement, saying: 'As the Queen stated yesterday, the decision has been a long time coming.

'We understand that there are many emotions at stake at the moment, but we hope that the Queen's wish to future-proof the Royal Household will be respected.'

Prince Nikolai, a model, also spoke out yesterday, telling Ekstra Bladet: 'My whole family and I are of course very sad. We are, as my parents have also stated, in shock at this decision and at how quickly it has actually gone.

'I am very confused as to why it has to happen like this,' he told reporters from outside the Copenhagen apartment where he lives with his girlfriend.

Countess Alexandra, Prince Joachim's ex-wife and mother to Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix, is also 'very sad' and 'shocked' about the decision.

'She can't believe why and why now, because there's no good reason,' Helle von Wildenrath Lvgreen, press secretary to Countess Alexandra told CNN.

'They would lose their titles anyway when they get married one day. Her sons are young men so maybe they might get married in the near future so why shouldn't it wait until that day so that the titles would disappear on a happy day?'

Under the agreement, Nikolai, Felix, Henrik, and Athena will be known as either His Excellency Count of Monpezat or Her Excellency Countess of Monpezat from January 1, 2023.

However they will maintain their positions in the order of succession.

They are currently seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth, but would move down if any of Crown Prince Frederick's children were to have children.

The bombshell announcement was made in a statement released yesterday by the Danish Royal Household.

Countess Alexandra's press secretary questioned why the change could not have waited until their wedding day, when her sons would 'lose their titles anyway'. Pictured, Alexandra Countess Of Frederiksborg

Nikolai modelling a short and gloves and a leather bumbag for Dior during Paris fashion week in 2020

The move is said to have driven a wedge between Margrethe and her four grandchildren. Pictured, the Queen (centre) with sons Joachim (left) and Crown Prince Frederick (right). Also pictured: Crown Prince Frederick's wife, Crown Princess Mary (right) and son Prince Christian (in his lap) and Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix (left) who will be affected by the change

It read: 'In April 2008, Her Majesty the Queen conferred the titles of Count, Countess and Comtesse of Monpezat on her sons, their spouses and their descendants.

'In May 2016, it was also announced that His Royal Highness Prince Christian, as the only one of the Queen's grandchildren, is expected to receive an annuity from the state as an adult.

'As a natural extension of this, Her Majesty has decided that with effect from 1 January 2023, the descendants of His Royal Highness Prince Joachim can only use their titles as Count and Countess of Monpezat, as their previous titles as Prince and Princess of Denmark will lapse.

'Prince Joachim's descendants will henceforth have to be addressed as Excellencies.

'The Queen's decision is in line with similar adaptations that other royal houses have implemented in different ways in recent years.

'With her decision, Her Majesty the Queen wants to create the framework for the four grandchildren to be able to shape their own lives to a much greater extent without being limited by the special considerations and duties that a formal affiliation with the Royal House of Denmark as an institution involves.

Prince Nikolai, from left, Princess Marie, Prince Joachim and Prince Felix arrive for the command performance at the Danish Royal Theatre to mark the 50th anniversary of Danish Queen Margrethe II's accession to the throne in Copenhagen, Saturday, September 10, 2022

Prince Nikolai of Denmark celebrated his 23rd birthday in August at home with his parents and siblings in Copenhagen. Pictured left with Prince Felxi, 20, Prince Henrick, 13 and Princess Athena, ten

Nikolai with his stepmother Princess Marie, siblings, and father Prince Joachim, on the balcony of Amalienborg palace during the Danish Queen's 78th Birthday in April 2018

Out of a title: The four grandchildren who will no longer be TRHs Nikolai of Denmark, 23: The Copenhagen Business School student and model regularly tops lists of the world's most eligible bachelors. He lives in Denmark but has jetted around the world to walk for designers in Paris and London. Nikolai has also appeared on the cover of Vogue Scandinavia. Felix of Denmark, 20: Following in his brother's footsteps, Prince Felix has also had success as a model and has starred in an advertising campaign for Georg Jensen. He had a short stint at the Royal Danish Military Academy but quit after two months because it 'wasn't for him'. Henrik, 13, and Athena, 10, of Denmark: The youngest of Prince Joachim's four children, Henrik and Athena are the product of his second marriage to Princess Marie. They live with their parents in Paris. Advertisement

'All four grandchildren maintain their places in the order of succession,' concluded the statement.

Margrethe, who is the world's longest serving queen and celebrates her Golden Jubilee this year, is affectionately known as 'aunt Daisy' by European royals due to her close personal ties with many reigning monarchs.

She is a first cousin of Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and a second cousin of Norway's King Harald V.

She enjoyed a close relationship with the Queen, a distant cousin, and the Duke of Edinburgh, and shared deeply personal tributes following their deaths.

She was joined by her son Crown Prince Frederick at the Queen's funeral earlier this month.

The Queen seemingly enjoys a close relationship with both sons and all eight of her grandchildren, and makes regular appearances with both families.

However there is now said to be an 'ice-cold air' between the Queen and her grandchildren.

'There is ice-cold air between Queen Margrethe and her grandchildren after she decided that they will lose their titles as prince and princess from the New Year,' leading Danish publication Ekstra Bladet reported.

'The news, which has crushed both the four children and their parents, was not delivered by the queen herself.

'They have not been called to Amalienborg for a cold coke and an explanation as to why they must henceforth be addressed as counts and countesses. Not even that far.'

Both of Margrethe's grandsons turned to modelling in their late teens. Pictured with their grandmother in May 2021

Nikolai in a loose, tailored suit on the runway during the Dior Homme Menswear Spring/Summer 2019 in Paris in 2018

Queen Margrethe has a well-cushioned allowance, with the Danish Civil List granting her 800,813 a month, or 9.6 million for the year to run the royal household - including staff, properties and administration, according to Business Insider.

Meanwhile, Celebrity Net Worth lists her net worth at around 37million.

Around 183,750 per month is reportedly given to the Queen's children. Crown Prince Frederik receives the largest amount of this money, of which 10 per cent is given to his wife, Princess Mary.

Many of the Danish Royal Family's properties are owned by the state, and run by the Agency for Palaces and Cultural Properties.

This includes the main residence of Amalienborg, their spring home of Fredensborg palace, their summer house of Grasten Palace and the hunting lodge Eremitageslottet .

The Danish Queen's personal properties include Marselisborg Castle, Chateau de Caix in France, and the royal hunting lodge in Jutland at Trend.

Princess Marie with Prince Joachim, Prince Felix, Prince Nikolai, Princess Athena and Prince Henrick with Joachim's first wife's Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg in 2020

Queen Margrethe and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark at the State Funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Margrethe tested positive for Covid-19 only 24 hours after Queen Elizabeth II's funeral on Monday September 19

Queen Margrethe was pictured out and about for the first time on Monday after testing positive for Covid-19 last week. She attended a gala dinner at the Grand Hotel in Oslo after receiving the Nordic Association's Language Award

Queen Margrethe of Denmark, 82, attended the 'reception of the century' at Buckingham Palace, which was hosted by King Charles and Camilla before Queen Elizabeth II's funeral

Prince Joachim lives with his second wife Princess Marie in Paris, where he has been working as a Defense Attache at the Danish Embassy since September 2020 - but when he returns home to Denmark it is sometimes to the Schackenborg Castle in southern Jutland.

The estate was the prince's private residence from 1993 to 2014, before he sold the property.

But since Prince Joachim and Princess Marie are on the board of the Schackenborg Castle Foundation, they occasionally return to live there for short periods of time.

In the summer of 2020, Prince Joachim suffered a stroke while holidaying in France with his family and had to be rushed into hospital for emergency brain surgery.

Prince Joachim's eldest sons, Felix and Nikolai, are Margrethe's eldest grandsons and have embraced a life in the public eye.

The 20-somethings, who both live in Denmark, both enrolled in the National Military Academy but dropped out before completing their studies.

They have enjoyed flourishing careers as models, posing for several advert campaigns and on the cover of magazines.

Nikolai caught international attention in 2018 when he walked in the Burberry show at London Fashion week, before a front row that included Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Michelle Dockery, Naomi Watts, Zendaya, and Idris Elba.

He is signed to Scoop Models agency in Denmark and has been multiplying his modelling gigs.

He sent royal fans into a frenzy in February when he graced the cover of Vogue Scandinavia.

The 22-year-old oozed sophistication when appearing in the magazine and looked effortlessly stylish in a matching pink Dior jacket and trousers as he posed in front of a number of colourful flowers.

When he is not modelling, Nikolai is studying Business Administration and Service Management at the In 2019, Prince Nikolai began his B education at Copenhagen Business School.

Last year he was living in Paris as part of a school exchange, and could see his younger siblings and his dad more easily.

At the end of last year, he started training at the Royal Danish Military Academy to become an Army Lieutenant, but in October it was announced that he'd quit after just two months because it 'wasn't for him'.

Prince Felix chose to make his modelling debut for jeweller Georg Jensen, appearing in pictures and an advert promoting the new Reflect collection of necklaces, earrings and rings.

The royal is further down the line of succession, pursuing his own career path rather than being a 'working royal' was expected choice for Felix even before his grandmother's announcement, and modelling is certainly a popular choice for minor royals across the globe.

While they are growing to be their own person, Felix and Nikolai do attend royal events on occasion.

They both looked very dapper as they attended the celebrations for their grandmother's golden jubilee with their parents in early September.

Margrethe tested positive for Covid-19 last Tuesday, just 24 hours after attending Queen Elizabeth II's funeral and mourning events in London.

She was in attendance at Westminster Abbey along with her son Crown Prince Frederik, and the two went on to the Queen's Committal Service in Windsor afterward.

The royal also paid her respects to the Queen by visiting her coffin in Westminster Hall the night before the Queen's funeral, and attended the Buckingham Palace 'reception of the century' where she was pictured chatting closely with King Charles.

On Monday, the monarch made her first appearance since she tested positive for Covid, joining Queen Sonja of Norway at a literary event in Oslo.

Queen Sonja of Norway presented the Nordic Association's annual language award to Queen Margrethe of Denmark at Nordens Hus before they attended a gala at the Grand Hotel.

Margrethe wore a vibrant long pink skirt for the gala dinner, which she paired with a navy blue lace top.

She pinned her hair tightly back and was pictured with a navy shawl over her shoulders as she arrived at the Grand Hotel.
Dame Deborah James's mother has shared a touching tribute to her daughter on what would have been her 41st birthday.

Heather James took to Instagram, where she is known as BowelGran, to mark the day with a poignant post about Deborah, who died at the age of 40 on 28 June 2022, five years after being diagnosed with incurable bowel cancer.

Sharing a close-up image of Deborah's face, Heather wrote poignantly about how the family miss her, adding how proud they are of her achievements.

The post said: 'Happy birthday to our darling daughter. How we wish you were still with us but so proud of all you achieved and the legacy that you have left. You will forever live in our hearts.'

Mother and daughter: Dame Deborah James (left) is pictured with her mother Heather (right) while undergoing treatment for bowel cancer in April this year

She campaigned tirelessly after her diagnosis, and raised millions of pounds to help fight the disease, as well as raising awareness around bowel cancer and its symptoms

Heather shared this image of Dame Deborah on Instagram, and wrote 'Happy birthday to our darling daughter. How we wish you were still with us but so proud of all you achieved and the legacy that you have left. You will forever live in our hearts.'

While battling the disease, Dame Deborah campaigned tirelessly over the final years of her life to raise awareness and money.

After her diagnosis the former headteacher became a co-host of the BBC's You, Me and The Big C podcast, and used her social media platforms to educate people about the symptoms of bowel cancer under her nickname, The Bowel Babe.

In May this year, when the broadcaster revealed she was having palliative care, she raised more than 7 million for Cancer Research UK through The Bowelbabe fund.

She also successfully campaigned to have the symptoms of bowel cancer printed on toilet roll packaging among certain retailers.

One of Deborah's many achievements in her final months was designing a collection with online clothing retailer InTheStyle.

Deborah became known as the Bowelbabe as she started to document her life with incurable bowel cancer in a blog - which turned into a column in The Sun newspaper

One of the most popular items from the collection was the 'rebellious hope' t-shirts, recognising the mother's determination to maintain hope throughout her journey with cancer.

Just days after their release, the t-shirts alone raised a staggering 400,000 for Cancer Research UK.

Heather's touching birthday tribute to her daughter comes just weeks after she and the family accepted an honorary degree on Dame Deborah's behalf from the Institute of Cancer Research.

They were accompanied by Dame Deborah's You, Me & The Big C co-hosts, Lauren Mahon and Steve Bland, who also received degrees for their outstanding contribution to raising awareness of living with cancer.

Deborah James (pictured with her mother Heather) said she had a 'juvenile' sense of humour that helped her laugh even during the darkest of times

Dame Deborah was remembered today, on what would have been her 41st birthday, as her mother shared a touching post

Posting photos of the graduation ceremony on Instagram, Heather wrote: 'Today was a bitter sweet day. Deborah and her colleagues Lauren and Steve from You, Me & The Big C were awarded honorary degrees by The Institute of Cancer Research for their outstanding contributions to raising awareness of living with cancer and the importance of cancer research.

'We were proud to accept the award on Deborahs behalf in the most beautiful setting of the Guild Hall City of London.'

Heather was accompanied by Deborah's father Alistair, her brother Benjamin and her sister Sarah in the grand building as they picked up the degree.

On her Instagram story Heather posted a clip of Alistair addressing the crowd as he accepted the degree on Dame Deborah's behalf.

He said: 'When Deborah was invited to accept today's degree, she was honoured and proud. But this was mixed with a sense of sadness as she realised it was one of the first entries in her diary that she was unlikely to fulfil.

'However in recognition of what this award meant to her, Deborah was clear in her wishes it was her family who should be here today on her behalf and to give thanks to the Institute and its staff for its work.'
Prince Joachim of Denmark has 'felt humiliated and ignored for a long time' according to a royal reporter, amid a bitter row within the household.

This week, Queen Margrethe II, 82, revealed she would be removing princely titles from her son Joachim's four children Nikolai, 23, Felix, 20, Henrik, 13, and Athena, 10.

The news was announced on Wednesday, with a statement released by the palace saying: 'As of January 1 2023, the descendants of His Royal Highness Prince Joachim will only be able to use their titles of Count and Countess of Monpezat, their previous titles of Prince and Princess of Denmark ceasing to exist.'

Queen Margrethe said she wants the four children to live more normal lives, however, her decision upset Joachim and his four children, with the prince insisting his mother only gave him five days' notice - despite the Royal Household claiming the decision 'has been a long time coming'.

This row has not marked the beginning of a fracture within the household, according to Danish royal reporter Kenth Madsen, who told FEMAIL that a palace source said Prince Joachim has 'felt humiliated and ignored for a long time' - and that recent discussions over the titles are 'not going to be the last word in the matter'.

Prince Joachim (right back), 53, the youngest of Margrethe's two sons, said he was only given five days' notice that Nikolai (left), 23, Felix (second from left), 20, Henrik (far right), 13, and Athena (second from right), 10, will have prince or princess removed from their titles, and will no longer be able to use His or Her Royal Highness. Pictured with their grandmother Queen Margrethe (centre) and Princess Isabella (behind Princess Athena)

Speaking at a function at the National Museum in Copenhagen on Wednesday night (pictured), Margrethe said: 'It is a consideration I have had for quite a long time and I think it will be good for them in their future' about taking away the titles

But Prince Joachim of Denmark (pictured during a recent interview) hit out at his mother Queen Margrethe II's decision to strip his four children of their royal titles

Helle von Wildenrath Lvgreen, press secretary to Countess Alexandra, told CNN this week that the move to strip his children of their titles had cause upset within the family.

She said: 'Their father told his children. They were quite shocked. He's really a man of honor. He's lived all his life in his family with that title and he's shocked and nearly cried this morning when one of the European tabloids talked to him in Paris.'

She added that removing the titles is purely a 'formality' as his children do not receive public funding, and that the 'loss of their identity' is proving a struggle.

Meanwhile, the children of Joachim's older brother Crown Prince Frederik - who is first in line to the throne - have all retained their titles. Frederik's oldest child Prince Christian, is second in line.

The latest claim follows reports that Prince Joachim has struggled to find his own place within the royal family, and tension over his role appears to have been simmering for some time.

Prince Joachim's family temporarily moved to Paris at the start of 2019 as the royal took part in a highly intensive six-day-a-week military training program.

He was due to return to Denmark by the end of 2020 but after suffering a stroke in the summer of that year, he decided to stay on and took up the role of defence attache at the Danish embassy in Paris, which the source told Danish royal reporter Kenth Madsen can be seen as a sign that he had 'had enough'.

Joachim told French magazine Point de Vue in 2021 that, like his late father, Henrik, Prince Consort of Denmark, he hadn't manage to get his 'place in the royal family pinned down.'

Crown Prince Frederik and Princess Mary, Princess Marie and Prince Joachim of Denmark pose together at the Paris town hall on October 8, 2019

The Danish Royal Family tree. Prince Joachim's children Nikolai, 23, Felix, 20, Henrik, 13, and Athena, 10, will all be losing their titles on January 1 2023

A bitter royal row within the household has unfolded in recent days after Queen Margrethe II (pictured with her sons in 2015), 82, announced she would be removing princely titles from four of her eight grandchildren, saying it is 'for their own good'

As of January 1, Prince Nikolai, 23, Prince Felix, 20, Prince Henrik, 13, and Princess Athena, 10, will become Counts and Countesses, and will be known as Their Excellencies, it was announced on Wednesday. Pictured, the children with Prince Joachim and Princess Marie on September 11, 2022

He said, via Royal Central: 'The Crown Prince simply has to follow the course of events. However, nothing is defined for the second born son and the persons wife, neither in writing nor in speech.

'My father became acquainted with the same dissatisfaction and never managed to get his place in the royal family pinned down. But it is not always easy. I experience the same dissatisfaction as my father. We have to find out for ourselves, while staying within the role of number two in the row.'

Meanwhile, his wife Princess Marie discussed the Paris move candidly, revealing 'it is not always us who decide' in an interview with Danish magazine See and Hear.

She said: 'No. It is not always us who decide. I think that's important to know. I loved living in Denmark. Denmark is just such a wonderful country to be in. Everything works well and there are not many problems.'

Following the interview, Danish celebrity gossip columnist Jacob Heinel told The Daily Beast that some royal commentators in Denmark believe Joachim and Marie were 'effectively exiled after losing an internal power struggle in the royal household' against Frederik and Mary.

'There was never anything in the calendar for them,' Heinel said, before recalling the moment Marie candidly admitted of her family's move to France: 'I'm not going to elaborate but it wasnt our choice. I want people to know that it wasnt our choice.'

The resurfaced interviews come as Joachim once again hit out at his mother Queen Margrethe's decision to strip his four children of their royal titles.

As of January 1, Prince Nikolai, Prince Felix, Prince Henrik, and Princess Athena will become Counts and Countesses, and will be known as Their Excellencies, rather than His or Her Royal Highness, it was announced on Wednesday.

Commenting on their reaction to the move to B.T., Joachim said his children 'don't know which leg to stand on as their identity is removed' - and questioned 'why must they be punished in that way?'.

The prince said: 'I can say that my children are sad. My kids don't know which leg to stand on. What they should believe. Why should their identity be removed? Why must they be punished in that way?'

He also doubled down on his claim that he had only been told the news five days before it was made public - despite the Royal Household insisting the decision 'has been a long time coming'.

'I don't want to engage in speculation and mudslinging,' said Joachim. 'I am telling the truth... I was given five days notice... I was given five days' notice of this. To tell my children that on New Year's their identity will be taken from them.'

He added that in May, he was presented with a plan that his 'children's identity should be taken from them when each of them turned 25', to which he asked 'to be allowed to come back with my proposal'.

But he said he was given just five days notice that the decision was to be accelerated, adding: 'I am so sorry for my children. I just demand the truth.'

Meanwhile, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark defended her mother-in-law Margrethe's decision to strip four of her grandchildren of their royal titles, and suggested her own children's positions might not be secure.

Front: Queen Margrethe, Middle Row (left to right): Prince Vincent, Princess Josephine, Princess Athena, Prince Henrik. Back row (left to right): Princess Benedikte, Princess Isabella, Crown Princess Mary, Crown Prince Frederik, Prince Christian, Prince Joachim, Princess Marie, Prince Felix and Prince Nikolai in a portrait celebrating Queen Margrethe's Golden Jubilee

Speaking in Copenhagen (pictured) Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has defended her mother-in-law Queen Margrethe's decision to strip four of her grandchildren of their royal titles, and suggested her own children's positions might not be secure

Australian-born Princess Mary, 50, is the wife of Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark, who is Queen Margrethe II's eldest son and heir. Their eldest son, Prince Christian, 16, is second-in-line to the throne behind his father Frederick.

Frederick and Mary's four children - Prince Christian, 16, Princess Isabella, 15, and twins Princess Josephine and Prince Vincent, 11 - remain unaffected by the monarch's decision as they are direct descendants of the future King.

However speaking in Copenhagen today, Princess Mary suggested that might not always be the case.

'We will also look at our children's titles when the time comes,' she said in an interview with Ekstra Bladet in Copenhagen today. 'Today we cannot see what the royal house will look like when it is Christian's time, or when Christian's time begins to approach.'

Australian-born Princess Mary, 50, is the wife of Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark, who is Queen Margrethe II's eldest son and heir. Their eldest son, Prince Christian, 16, is second-in-line to the throne behind his father Frederick. Pictured, Mary and Frederick with their children (from left) Isabella, Josephine, Christian and Vincent earlier this month

She also defended her mother-in-law's decision, saying: 'Change can be extremely difficult and can really hurt. I think most people have tried it. But this does not mean that the decision is not the right one...And I can understand that it is a very difficult decision to have to make, and also a very difficult decision to receive.'

Queen Margrethe, 82, who attended the Queen's funeral with Crown Prince Frederick, said she hoped the move would allow her grandchildren to 'shape their own lives without being limited by the special considerations and duties' that come with a formal affiliation with the Danish Royal Family.

Margrethe defended her decision in an interview last week, saying: 'It is a consideration I have had for quite a long time and I think it will be good for them in their future. That is the reason.'

However Joachim broke his silence on Thursday morning and claimed he had only been told the news five days before it was made public.

Prince Nikolai said that he is sad, shocked and confused after his royal title was stripped 'quickly'. Pictured modelling during the Dior Pre-Fall 2019 Men's Collection show on November 30, 2018 in Tokyo

'We are all very sad. It's never fun to see your children being harmed. They are been put in a situation they do not understand,' he said in an interview with Danish news outlet Ekstra Bladet.

Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix's mother says she's 'in shock' by move to strip them of their royal titles Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg - Prince Joachim's ex-wife and mother to Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix - said she is 'in shock' over Queen Margrethe II of Denmark's decision to strip her sons of their royal titles. Nikolai, 23, and Felix, 20, along with their younger siblings Prince Henri, 13, and Princess Athen, 10, from their father's second marriage, will all have their titles of prince and princess removed from January 1 2023, the palace announced yesterday. 'We are all confused by the decision. We are saddened and in shock,' Alexandra said in a statement from her press advisor Helle von Wildenrath Lvgreen, reported Danish magazine Se og Hr. Earlier this month, Alexandra attended Queen Margrethe's Golden Jubilee celebrations at the Danish Royal Theatre in Copenhagen (pictured) The statement continued: 'This comes like a bolt from the blue. The children feel ostracised. They cannot understand why their identity is being taken away from them.' Earlier this month, Alexandra attended Queen Margrethe's Golden Jubilee celebrations at the Danish Royal Theatre in Copenhagen. Prince Joachim married his second wife Princess Marie in 2008, and they later welcomed Prince Henrik and Princess Athena Advertisement

'I was given five days' notice to tell them. In May, I was presented with a plan which, by and large, was that when the children each turned 25, it would happen.

'Now I had only five days to tell them. Athena turns 11 in January,' he clarified.

Prince Joachim, who is sixth-in-line to the throne behind his brother and his children, was speaking outside the Danish Embassy in Paris, where he lives with his second wife Marie and their children Henrik and Athena.

Nikolai and Felix, who are both models, live in Copenhagen.

His ex-wife, Countess Alexandra, the mother of his two eldest children, added in a statement to Danish magazine Se og Hr: 'This comes like a bolt from the blue. The children feel ostracized. They cannot understand why their identity is being taken away from them.'

Her spokesperson Helle von Wildenrath Lvgreen told another news organisation that Joachim learned of his children's fate via an aide.

Queen Margrethe spoke neither to her sons nor her grandchildren, it is claimed.

'The children have received the message that they are losing their titles, delivered by their father, just as Countess Alexandra was told by Prince Joachim,' the spokesperson added.

In response, the Royal Household released another statement, saying: 'As the Queen stated yesterday, the decision has been a long time coming.

'We understand that there are many emotions at stake at the moment, but we hope that the Queen's wish to future-proof the Royal Household will be respected.'

Prince Nikolai, a model, also spoke out yesterday, telling Ekstra Bladet: 'My whole family and I are of course very sad. We are, as my parents have also stated, in shock at this decision and at how quickly it has actually gone.

'I am very confused as to why it has to happen like this,' he told reporters from outside the Copenhagen apartment where he lives with his girlfriend.

Countess Alexandra, Prince Joachim's ex-wife and mother to Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix, is also 'very sad' and 'shocked' about the decision.

'She can't believe why and why now, because there's no good reason,' Helle von Wildenrath Lvgreen, press secretary to Countess Alexandra told CNN.

'They would lose their titles anyway when they get married one day. Her sons are young men so maybe they might get married in the near future so why shouldn't it wait until that day so that the titles would disappear on a happy day?'

Under the agreement, Nikolai, Felix, Henrik, and Athena will be known as either His Excellency Count of Monpezat or Her Excellency Countess of Monpezat from January 1, 2023.

However they will maintain their positions in the order of succession. They are currently seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth, but would move down if any of Crown Prince Frederick's children were to have children.

Countess Alexandra's press secretary questioned why the change could not have waited until their wedding day, when her sons would 'lose their titles anyway'. Pictured, Alexandra Countess Of Frederiksborg

Nikolai modelling a short and gloves and a leather bumbag for Dior during Paris fashion week in 2020

The move is said to have driven a wedge between Margrethe and her four grandchildren. Pictured, the Queen (centre) with sons Joachim (left) and Crown Prince Frederick (right). Also pictured: Crown Prince Frederick's wife, Crown Princess Mary (right) and son Prince Christian (in his lap) and Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix (left) who will be affected by the change

The announcement made on Wednesday read: 'In April 2008, Her Majesty the Queen conferred the titles of Count, Countess and Comtesse of Monpezat on her sons, their spouses and their descendants.

'In May 2016, it was also announced that His Royal Highness Prince Christian, as the only one of the Queen's grandchildren, is expected to receive an annuity from the state as an adult.

'As a natural extension of this, Her Majesty has decided that with effect from 1 January 2023, the descendants of His Royal Highness Prince Joachim can only use their titles as Count and Countess of Monpezat, as their previous titles as Prince and Princess of Denmark will lapse.

'Prince Joachim's descendants will henceforth have to be addressed as Excellencies.

'The Queen's decision is in line with similar adaptations that other royal houses have implemented in different ways in recent years.

'With her decision, Her Majesty the Queen wants to create the framework for the four grandchildren to be able to shape their own lives to a much greater extent without being limited by the special considerations and duties that a formal affiliation with the Royal House of Denmark as an institution involves.

Prince Nikolai, from left, Princess Marie, Prince Joachim and Prince Felix arrive for the command performance at the Danish Royal Theatre to mark the 50th anniversary of Danish Queen Margrethe II's accession to the throne in Copenhagen, Saturday, September 10, 2022

Prince Nikolai of Denmark celebrated his 23rd birthday in August at home with his parents and siblings in Copenhagen. Pictured left with Prince Felxi, 20, Prince Henrick, 13 and Princess Athena, ten

Nikolai with his stepmother Princess Marie, siblings, and father Prince Joachim, on the balcony of Amalienborg palace during the Danish Queen's 78th Birthday in April 2018

'All four grandchildren maintain their places in the order of succession.'

Margrethe, who is the world's longest serving queen and celebrates her Golden Jubilee this year, is affectionately known as 'aunt Daisy' by European royals due to her close personal ties with many reigning monarchs.

Out of a title: The four grandchildren who will no longer be TRHs Nikolai of Denmark, 23: The Copenhagen Business School student and model regularly tops lists of the world's most eligible bachelors. He lives in Denmark but has jetted around the world to walk for designers in Paris and London. Nikolai has also appeared on the cover of Vogue Scandinavia. Felix of Denmark, 20: Following in his brother's footsteps, Prince Felix has also had success as a model and has starred in an advertising campaign for Georg Jensen. He had a short stint at the Royal Danish Military Academy but quit after two months because it 'wasn't for him'. Henrik, 13, and Athena, 10, of Denmark: The youngest of Prince Joachim's four children, Henrik and Athena are the product of his second marriage to Princess Marie. They live with their parents in Paris. Advertisement

She is a first cousin of Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and a second cousin of Norway's King Harald V.

She enjoyed a close relationship with the Queen, a distant cousin, and the Duke of Edinburgh, and shared deeply personal tributes following their deaths.

She was joined by her son Crown Prince Frederick at the Queen's funeral earlier this month.

The Queen seemingly enjoys a close relationship with both sons and all eight of her grandchildren, and makes regular appearances with both families.

However there is now said to be an 'ice-cold air' between the Queen and her grandchildren.

'There is ice-cold air between Queen Margrethe and her grandchildren after she decided that they will lose their titles as prince and princess from the New Year,' leading Danish publication Ekstra Bladet reported.

'The news, which has crushed both the four children and their parents, was not delivered by the queen herself.

'They have not been called to Amalienborg for a cold coke and an explanation as to why they must henceforth be addressed as counts and countesses. Not even that far.'

Queen Margrethe has a well-cushioned allowance, with the Danish Civil List granting her 800,813 a month, or 9.6 million for the year to run the royal household - including staff, properties and administration, according to Business Insider.

Meanwhile, Celebrity Net Worth lists her net worth at around 37million.

Around 183,750 per month is reportedly given to the Queen's children. Crown Prince Frederik receives the largest amount of this money, of which 10 per cent is given to his wife, Princess Mary.

Many of the Danish Royal Family's properties are owned by the state, and run by the Agency for Palaces and Cultural Properties.

Both of Margrethe's grandsons turned to modelling in their late teens. Pictured with their grandmother in May 2021

Felix made his modelling debut in February by posing in a series of moody snaps for jeweller Georg Jensen's new Reflect collection

Left Nikolai wearing a pastel suit for Dior in 2018 at Paris Fashion Week. Right: The royal strutting his stuff on the runway in January 2020

Nikolai in a loose, tailored suit on the runway during the Dior Homme Menswear Spring/Summer 2019 in Paris in 2018

This includes the main residence of Amalienborg, their spring home of Fredensborg palace, their summer house of Grasten Palace and the hunting lodge Eremitageslottet .

The Danish Queen's personal properties include Marselisborg Castle, Chateau de Caix in France, and the royal hunting lodge in Jutland at Trend.

Prince Joachim lives with his second wife Princess Marie in Paris, where he has been working as a Defense Attache at the Danish Embassy since September 2020 - but when he returns home to Denmark it is sometimes to the Schackenborg Castle in southern Jutland.

The estate was the prince's private residence from 1993 to 2014, before he sold the property.

But since Prince Joachim and Princess Marie are on the board of the Schackenborg Castle Foundation, they occasionally return to live there for short periods of time.

In the summer of 2020, Prince Joachim suffered a stroke while holidaying in France with his family and had to be rushed into hospital for emergency brain surgery.

Prince Joachim's eldest sons, Felix and Nikolai, are Margrethe's eldest grandsons and have embraced a life in the public eye.

Princess Marie with Prince Joachim, Prince Felix, Prince Nikolai, Princess Athena and Prince Henrick with Joachim's first wife's Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg in 2020

Queen Margrethe and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark at the State Funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Margrethe has said that she thinks removing the titles from four of her eight grandchildren will be for the best

Queen Margrethe of Denmark, 82, attended the 'reception of the century' at Buckingham Palace, which was hosted by King Charles and Camilla before Queen Elizabeth II's funeral

The 20-somethings, who both live in Denmark, both enrolled in the National Military Academy but dropped out before completing their studies.

They have enjoyed flourishing careers as models, posing for several advert campaigns and on the cover of magazines.

Nikolai caught international attention in 2018 when he walked in the Burberry show at London Fashion week, before a front row that included Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Michelle Dockery, Naomi Watts, Zendaya, and Idris Elba.

He is signed to Scoop Models agency in Denmark and has been multiplying his modelling gigs.

He sent royal fans into a frenzy in February when he graced the cover of Vogue Scandinavia.

The 22-year-old oozed sophistication when appearing in the magazine and looked effortlessly stylish in a matching pink Dior jacket and trousers as he posed in front of a number of colourful flowers.

When he is not modelling, Nikolai is studying Business Administration and Service Management at the In 2019, Prince Nikolai began his B education at Copenhagen Business School.

Last year he was living in Paris as part of a school exchange, and could see his younger siblings and his dad more easily.

At the end of last year, he started training at the Royal Danish Military Academy to become an Army Lieutenant, but in October it was announced that he'd quit after just two months because it 'wasn't for him'.

Prince Felix chose to make his modelling debut for jeweller Georg Jensen, appearing in pictures and an advert promoting the new Reflect collection of necklaces, earrings and rings.

The royal is further down the line of succession, pursuing his own career path rather than being a 'working royal' was expected choice for Felix even before his grandmother's announcement, and modelling is certainly a popular choice for minor royals across the globe.

While they are growing to be their own person, Felix and Nikolai do attend royal events on occasion, and both looked very dapper as they attended the celebrations for their grandmother's golden jubilee with their parents in early September.
Prince Joachim of Denmark has spoken out about Queen Margrethe's recent decision to strip his four children of their royal titles and it was revealed that his daughter is being bullied at school.

The prince said that the relationships within the family are currently 'complicated', as Prince Nikolai, 23, Prince Felix, 20, Prince Henrik, 13, and Princess Athena, 10, will become Counts and Countesses, and will be known as Their Excellencies, rather than His or Her Royal Highness as of January 1.

While Princess Marie said that Athena is being bullied at school after the decision was publicly announced earlier this week.

'They come and say (to Athena): Is it you who is no longer a princess?,' Princess Marie told Danish news outlet BT.

She said her children were put under the public spotlight and feels the need to defend them, especially now after her youngest is being picked on.

'The children were publicly exhibited. At very short notice. This means that we, as parents, have not had time to prepare them for the change and people's reactions,' she added.

Joachim has hit out at the move, saying it has 'punished' his children, as well as claiming he had only been told the news five days before it was made public - despite the Royal Household insisting the decision 'has been a long time coming'.

Princess Marie says her daughter Princess Athena has been bullied at school since it was publicly announced that she and her brothers will lose their royal titles

Queen Margrethe (pictured on Amalienborg Palace balcony) says the decision has been something that has been considered for some time

Prince Joachim and Princess Marie (pictured at a Copenhagen gala banquet celebrating Queen Margrethe's 50 years on the throne last month) have described their current relationship with the Crown couple as 'complicated'

As of January 1, Prince Nikolai, 23, Prince Felix, 20, Prince Henrik, 13, and Princess Athena, 10, will become Counts and Countesses, and will be known as Their Excellencies, it was announced on Wednesday. Pictured, the children with Prince Joachim and Princess Marie on September 11, 2022

Meanwhile, Crown Prince Frederik (right) has remained silent on the issue, while Crown Princess Mary (left) came out in support of it

In a new interview published by Danish outlet B.T., the prince and his wife Princess Marie, the mother of his two youngest children, discussed their relationship with his older brother Crown Prince Frederik and his wife Crown Princess Mary.

Mary came out in public support of her mother-in-law's move while speaking in an interview with Ekstra Bladet in Copenhagen on Friday, saying that while 'change can be extremely difficult and can really hurt...this does not mean that the decision is not the right one'.

The oldest son of Australian-born Princess Mary, 50, and Frederik is Prince Christian, 16, who is second-in-line to the throne.

Frederick and Mary's four children - Prince Christian, 16, Princess Isabella, 15, and twins Princess Josephine and Prince Vincent, 11 - remain unaffected by the monarch's decision as they are direct descendants of the future King.

However Princess Mary suggested that might not always be the case, saying they will 'also look at [their] children's titles when the time comes'.

Speaking today, Joachim and Marie said they have not spoken to the Crown couple, with Marie describing the relationship as 'complicated'. The prince added that they have not yet spoken to the Queen either.

Speaking about the monarch's intention to slim down the Danish royal family, he said: 'The reality must still be: whether you modernize or slim down, it must be done in a proper way. It's about children. Orderliness and children. It is a very heavy matter.'

Meanwhile, referencing the idea of a slimmed down monarchy, Marie said: 'I don't think it's modern to have some injured children.'

Commenting on Crown Princess Mary's point that her children may too lose titles in the future, Joachim said: 'I don't know how they feel if they have to think it through. Now is preparation time. We didn't have that.'

Today isn't the first time the royal has spoken about his children losing their titles. Last week, commenting on their reaction to the move to B.T., Joachim said his children 'don't know which leg to stand on as their identity is removed' - and questioned 'why must they be punished in that way?'.

Prince Joachim of Denmark (pictured) has once again hit out at his mother Queen Margrethe II's decision to strip his four children of their royal titles

The prince, who is Margrethe's youngest son, said: 'I can say that my children are sad. My kids don't know which leg to stand on. What they should believe. Why should their identity be removed? Why must they be punished in that way?'

'I don't want to engage in speculation and mudslinging,' said Joachim. 'I am telling the truth... I was given five days notice... I was given five days' notice of this. To tell my children that on New Year's their identity will be taken from them.'

He added that in May, he was presented with a plan that his 'children's identity should be taken from them when each of them turned 25', to which he asked 'to be allowed to come back with my proposal'.

But he said he was given just five days notice that the decision was to be accelerated, adding: 'I am so sorry for my children. I just demand the truth.'

Front: Queen Margrethe, Middle Row (left to right): Prince Vincent, Princess Josephine, Princess Athena, Prince Henrik. Back row (left to right): Princess Benedikte, Princess Isabella, Crown Princess Mary, Crown Prince Frederik, Prince Christian, Prince Joachim, Princess Marie, Prince Felix and Prince Nikolai in a portrait celebrating Queen Margrethe's Golden Jubilee

The Danish Royal Family tree. Prince Joachim's children Nikolai, 23, Felix, 20, Henrik, 13, and Athena, 10, will all be losing their titles on January 1 2023

Speaking in Copenhagen today (pictured) Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has defended her mother-in-law Queen Margrethe's decision to strip four of her grandchildren of their royal titles, and suggested her own children's positions might not be secure

Australian-born Princess Mary, 50, is the wife of Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark, who is Queen Margrethe II's eldest son and heir. Their eldest son, Prince Christian, 16, is second-in-line to the throne behind his father Frederick. Pictured, Mary and Frederick with their children (from left) Isabella, Josephine, Christian and Vincent earlier this month

Prince Joachim (right back), 53, the youngest of Margrethe's two sons, said he was only given five days' notice that Nikolai (left), 23, Felix (second from left), 20, Henrik (far right), 13, and Athena (second from right), 10, will have prince or princess removed from their titles, and will no longer be able to use His or Her Royal Highness. Pictured with their grandmother Queen Margrethe (centre) and Princess Isabella (behind Princess Athena)

His ex-wife, Countess Alexandra, the mother of his two eldest children, added in a statement to Danish magazine Se og Hr: 'This comes like a bolt from the blue. The children feel ostracized. They cannot understand why their identity is being taken away from them.'

Her spokesperson Helle von Wildenrath Lvgreen told another news organisation that Joachim learned of his children's fate via an aide.

Queen Margrethe spoke neither to her sons nor her grandchildren, it is claimed.

'The children have received the message that they are losing their titles, delivered by their father, just as Countess Alexandra was told by Prince Joachim,' the spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, speaking about the decision last Wednesday, Queen Margrethe said: 'It is a consideration I have had for quite a long time and I think it will be good for them in their future. That is the reason.'

Speaking at a function at the National Museum in Copenhagen on Wednesday night, pictured, Margrethe said: 'It is a consideration I have had for quite a long time and I think it will be good for them in their future. That is the reason'

Prince Nikolai said that he is sad, shocked and confused after his royal title was stripped 'quickly'. Pictured modelling during the Dior Pre-Fall 2019 Men's Collection show on November 30, 2018 in Tokyo

And the Royal Household released another statement, saying: 'As the Queen stated yesterday, the decision has been a long time coming.

'We understand that there are many emotions at stake at the moment, but we hope that the Queen's wish to future-proof the Royal Household will be respected.'

Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix's mother says she's 'in shock' by move to strip them of their royal titles Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg - Prince Joachim's ex-wife and mother to Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix - said she is 'in shock' over Queen Margrethe II of Denmark's decision to strip her sons of their royal titles. Nikolai, 23, and Felix, 20, along with their younger siblings Prince Henri, 13, and Princess Athen, 10, from their father's second marriage, will all have their titles of prince and princess removed from January 1 2023, the palace announced yesterday. 'We are all confused by the decision. We are saddened and in shock,' Alexandra said in a statement from her press advisor Helle von Wildenrath Lvgreen, reported Danish magazine Se og Hr. The statement continued: 'This comes like a bolt from the blue. The children feel ostracised. They cannot understand why their identity is being taken away from them.' Earlier this month, Alexandra attended Queen Margrethe's Golden Jubilee celebrations at the Danish Royal Theatre in Copenhagen. Prince Joachim married his second wife Princess Marie in 2008, and they later welcomed Prince Henrik and Princess Athena Advertisement

Prince Nikolai, a model, also spoke out yesterday, telling Ekstra Bladet: 'My whole family and I are of course very sad. We are, as my parents have also stated, in shock at this decision and at how quickly it has actually gone.

'I am very confused as to why it has to happen like this,' he told reporters from outside the Copenhagen apartment where he lives with his girlfriend.

Countess Alexandra, Prince Joachim's ex-wife and mother to Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix, is also 'very sad' and 'shocked' about the decision.

'She can't believe why and why now, because there's no good reason,' Helle von Wildenrath Lvgreen, press secretary to Countess Alexandra told CNN.

'They would lose their titles anyway when they get married one day. Her sons are young men so maybe they might get married in the near future so why shouldn't it wait until that day so that the titles would disappear on a happy day?'

Under the agreement, Nikolai, Felix, Henrik, and Athena will be known as either His Excellency Count of Monpezat or Her Excellency Countess of Monpezat from January 1, 2023.

However they will maintain their positions in the order of succession.

They are currently seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth, but would move down if any of Crown Prince Frederick's children were to have children.

Margrethe, who is the world's longest serving queen and celebrates her Golden Jubilee this year, is affectionately known as 'aunt Daisy' by European royals due to her close personal ties with many reigning monarchs.

She is a first cousin of Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and a second cousin of Norway's King Harald V.

She enjoyed a close relationship with the Queen, a distant cousin, and the Duke of Edinburgh, and shared deeply personal tributes following their deaths.

She was joined by her son Crown Prince Frederick at the Queen's funeral earlier this month.

The Queen seemingly enjoys a close relationship with both sons and all eight of her grandchildren, and makes regular appearances with both families.

However there is now said to be an 'ice-cold air' between the Queen and her grandchildren.

Countess Alexandra's press secretary questioned why the change could not have waited until their wedding day, when her sons would 'lose their titles anyway'. Pictured, Alexandra Countess Of Frederiksborg

The move is said to have driven a wedge between Margrethe and her four grandchildren. Pictured, the Queen (centre) with sons Joachim (left) and Crown Prince Frederick (right). Also pictured: Crown Prince Frederick's wife, Crown Princess Mary (right) and son Prince Christian (in his lap) and Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix (left) who will be affected by the change

Prince Nikolai, from left, Princess Marie, Prince Joachim and Prince Felix arrive for the command performance at the Danish Royal Theatre to mark the 50th anniversary of Danish Queen Margrethe II's accession to the throne in Copenhagen, Saturday, September 10, 2022

Prince Nikolai of Denmark celebrated his 23rd birthday in August at home with his parents and siblings in Copenhagen. Pictured left with Prince Felxi, 20, Prince Henrick, 13 and Princess Athena, ten

Nikolai with his stepmother Princess Marie, siblings, and father Prince Joachim, on the balcony of Amalienborg palace during the Danish Queen's 78th Birthday in April 2018

'There is ice-cold air between Queen Margrethe and her grandchildren after she decided that they will lose their titles as prince and princess from the New Year,' leading Danish publication Ekstra Bladet reported.

'The news, which has crushed both the four children and their parents, was not delivered by the queen herself.

'They have not been called to Amalienborg for a cold coke and an explanation as to why they must henceforth be addressed as counts and countesses. Not even that far.'

Out of a title: The four grandchildren who will no longer be TRHs Nikolai of Denmark, 23: The Copenhagen Business School student and model regularly tops lists of the world's most eligible bachelors. He lives in Denmark but has jetted around the world to walk for designers in Paris and London. Nikolai has also appeared on the cover of Vogue Scandinavia. Felix of Denmark, 20: Following in his brother's footsteps, Prince Felix has also had success as a model and has starred in an advertising campaign for Georg Jensen. He had a short stint at the Royal Danish Military Academy but quit after two months because it 'wasn't for him'. Henrik, 13, and Athena, 10, of Denmark: The youngest of Prince Joachim's four children, Henrik and Athena are the product of his second marriage to Princess Marie. They live with their parents in Paris. Advertisement

Queen Margrethe has a well-cushioned allowance, with the Danish Civil List granting her 800,813 a month, or 9.6 million for the year to run the royal household - including staff, properties and administration, according to Business Insider.

Meanwhile, Celebrity Net Worth lists her net worth at around 37million.

Around 183,750 per month is reportedly given to the Queen's children. Crown Prince Frederik receives the largest amount of this money, of which 10 per cent is given to his wife, Princess Mary.

Many of the Danish Royal Family's properties are owned by the state, and run by the Agency for Palaces and Cultural Properties.

This includes the main residence of Amalienborg, their spring home of Fredensborg palace, their summer house of Grasten Palace and the hunting lodge Eremitageslottet .

The Danish Queen's personal properties include Marselisborg Castle, Chateau de Caix in France, and the royal hunting lodge in Jutland at Trend.

Prince Joachim lives with his second wife Princess Marie in Paris, where he has been working as a Defense Attache at the Danish Embassy since September 2020 - but when he returns home to Denmark it is sometimes to the Schackenborg Castle in southern Jutland.

The estate was the prince's private residence from 1993 to 2014, before he sold the property.

But since Prince Joachim and Princess Marie are on the board of the Schackenborg Castle Foundation, they occasionally return to live there for short periods of time.

In the summer of 2020, Prince Joachim suffered a stroke while holidaying in France with his family and had to be rushed into hospital for emergency brain surgery.

Prince Joachim's eldest sons, Felix and Nikolai, are Margrethe's eldest grandsons and have embraced a life in the public eye.

The 20-somethings, who both live in Denmark, both enrolled in the National Military Academy but dropped out before completing their studies.

They have enjoyed flourishing careers as models, posing for several advert campaigns and on the cover of magazines.

Both of Margrethe's grandsons turned to modelling in their late teens. Pictured with their grandmother in May 2021

Princess Marie with Prince Joachim, Prince Felix, Prince Nikolai, Princess Athena and Prince Henrick with Joachim's first wife's Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg in 2020

Nikolai caught international attention in 2018 when he walked in the Burberry show at London Fashion week, before a front row that included Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Michelle Dockery, Naomi Watts, Zendaya, and Idris Elba.

He is signed to Scoop Models agency in Denmark and has been multiplying his modelling gigs.

He sent royal fans into a frenzy in February when he graced the cover of Vogue Scandinavia.

The 22-year-old oozed sophistication when appearing in the magazine and looked effortlessly stylish in a matching pink Dior jacket and trousers as he posed in front of a number of colourful flowers.

When he is not modelling, Nikolai is studying Business Administration and Service Management at the In 2019, Prince Nikolai began his B education at Copenhagen Business School.

Queen Margrethe and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark at the State Funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Margrethe tested positive for Covid-19 only 24 hours after Queen Elizabeth II's funeral on Monday September 19

Queen Margrethe was pictured out and about for the first time on Monday after testing positive for Covid-19 last week. She attended a gala dinner at the Grand Hotel in Oslo after receiving the Nordic Association's Language Award

Queen Margrethe of Denmark, 82, attended the 'reception of the century' at Buckingham Palace, which was hosted by King Charles and Camilla before Queen Elizabeth II's funeral

Last year he was living in Paris as part of a school exchange, and could see his younger siblings and his dad more easily.

At the end of last year, he started training at the Royal Danish Military Academy to become an Army Lieutenant, but in October it was announced that he'd quit after just two months because it 'wasn't for him'.

Prince Felix chose to make his modelling debut for jeweller Georg Jensen, appearing in pictures and an advert promoting the new Reflect collection of necklaces, earrings and rings.

The royal is further down the line of succession, pursuing his own career path rather than being a 'working royal' was expected choice for Felix even before his grandmother's announcement, and modelling is certainly a popular choice for minor royals across the globe.

While they are growing to be their own person, Felix and Nikolai do attend royal events on occasion.

They both looked very dapper as they attended the celebrations for their grandmother's golden jubilee with their parents in early September.
Many report they no longer experience sexual or romantic attraction at all

But they can cause serious side effects like libido drop and numb groin areas

1 in 8 people were prescribed antidepressants in the past year according to stats

Patients on antidepressants are not being warned of the risk that the pills could permanently ruin their sex lives, experts say.

The Mail on Sunday has been contacted by a number of patients who claim to have been left with 'life-changing' sexual problems after taking a class of the drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to ease symptoms of depression and anxiety.

In the past year, about one in eight people in the UK were prescribed antidepressants, which includes SSRIs, according to the latest official figures  a number that has soared since the pandemic.

They can prove transformative for many people, but are linked with side effects. It has long been known, for example, that those taking them, both men and women, can experience a drop in libido.

But some patients claim the effects have been more persistent and have continued, or even worsened, years after they stopped taking the drugs. Some have had problems for decades.

The symptoms they describe are strikingly similar. Genital numbness  a total lack of sensation around the groin  and for men, erectile dysfunction. Both men and women experience a condition known as anorgasmia  a difficulty in reaching orgasm, and if they do climax, it is weak or without pleasure. As one woman put it: 'It's like a sneeze.'

Many report they no longer experience sexual or romantic attraction at all, and have been left with an emotional numbness. Most have seen relationships collapse as a result, while others have missed out on the chance to have children. Some have never experienced pleasure during sex  called anhedonia  and worry they never will.

In the past year, about one in eight people in the UK were prescribed antidepressants, which includes SSRIs

CRY FOR HELP: Powerful images from the PSSD Networks campaign

Significantly, all have found their symptoms repeatedly dismissed by medical professionals, who insist they are linked to their underlying depression and not the pills.

One 22-year-old, a student in London, described how his problems began after he stopped taking a low dose of SSRI drug escitalopram for exam stress last year.

Speaking to The Mail on Sunday on condition of anonymity, he said: 'My penis is basically inanimate. Any attraction I might have felt to any woman has disappeared. If I try to have sex, I might as well be doing the dishes.

'This area of my life used to be so much fun, and now it's a source of anxiety and has become a dark place in my head. It feels like someone has gone into my brain with a scalpel, carved some bits out and left me with this strange, numb, asexual person.

'No doctor will even consider that it might be related to the SSRI.'

Rebecca Graham is in her early 40s and has had no sensation in her genitals for eight years since she came off the SSRI drug sertraline, which she had been prescribed for symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. She has sought help from 'around ten specialists', from counsellors to gynaecologists, without success. 'My whole genital area is numb,' she says. 'I feel like I've been castrated.

'I thought things would improve, but they never did. My partner and I live as best friends and I've given up on the idea of children. I've been told SSRIs don't cause numbness, that no condition could explain my symptoms but that a lot of emotions control that area of the body. It's like being gaslit by the medical profession.'

And this is the heart of the issue. While what these patients have experienced is recognised in the medical literature  and even has a name: post-SSRI sexual dysfunction, or PSSD  there is little evidence or research that proves a definitive link to the drugs.

David Baldwin, professor of psychiatry at the University of Southampton, cautioned that doctors still don't know whether PSSD is caused by SSRIs or is a symptom of recurring depression or anxiety.

However, he added: 'If a patient has sexual dysfunction long after stopping SSRI treatment, and this occurs in the absence of depressive or anxiety symptoms, it could be they are experiencing PSSD.'

Data released last week under Freedom of Information laws by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency watchdog shows that one in five of 1,762 reports of sexual dysfunction associated with SSRI use continued after stopping the drugs

Data released last week under Freedom of Information laws by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency watchdog shows that one in five of 1,762 reports of sexual dysfunction associated with SSRI use continued after stopping the drugs. In fact, in 64 per cent of reports, the MHRA confirmed that it remained 'unknown' whether the problem had persisted.

An increasing number of experts say there is enough evidence to show post-SSRI sexual dysfunction is plausible but that further work is needed to evaluate the risks.

Dr Joanna Moncrieff, professor of critical and social psychiatry at University College London, says: 'The majority of people taking SSRIs will get some form of sexual dysfunction  there's no debate about that.

'They're prescribed to sex offenders to curb their libido, so it isn't a huge stretch to imagine that symptoms persist.'

She adds: 'The other thing that makes it convincing is all the evidence about prolonged withdrawal symptoms from SSRIs. If you take drugs for a long time, they alter the brain in ways that may be permanent, or at least takes a long time to normalise.'

In 2019, the EU's drug watchdog, the European Medicines Agency, acknowledged the growing number of reports of post-SSRI sexual dysfunction, and added a new warning to leaflets inside the packaging.

But Dr Moncrieff believes these warnings are not filtering through to doctors and so are not being made clear to patients. 'People need to be aware that we don't know much about it  we don't know how common it is and we don't know how to treat it.'

A rise in the number of young people being prescribed antidepressants made these warnings 'even more important', Dr Moncrieff adds.

A new global pressure group, PSSD Network, launched an awareness campaign last week featuring powerful images of those suffering from the condition holding placards that describe the impact it has had on them.

One man who has taken part is Lee Edward. His placard, which partially obscures his face, reads: 'Antidepressants saved my life then ruined it.'

The 43-year-old, from Cannock, Staffordshire, started taking sertraline in 2017 after his father died. He experienced minor sex-related problems during the 18 months he was on the drug, but six months after he stopped taking it, in September 2019, the problem significantly worsened.

'My penis was numb, and there was no pleasure whatsoever. Trying to have sex without those feelings of arousal was just weird. It was so awkward, just two bodies moving around.'

Blood tests and scans came back normal. Lee says his GP dismissed the idea of post-SSRI sexual dysfunction, even after being shown some academic papers. 'If I'd gone blind, it would be obvious that something serious had happened,' he says. 'This is less obvious, but still has a huge impact. I've not had sex in three years.'

Other people contacting this newspaper include a 34-year-old woman who has spent 12 years unable to enjoy sex after being prescribed an antidepressant in her early 20s. 'I've come to terms with the fact I might never experience sexual pleasure again,' she says. Another man who developed the same symptoms after taking an SSRI earlier this year adds: 'What I find particularly worrying is that this debilitating condition is not recognised by the medical establishment and that the wider public are not informed of the risks.

'If I had known how profoundly the drug would affect my life, I would never have taken it.'

Professor of psychiatry David Healy, who set up the patient pressure group RxISK, has collected reports of PSSD from more than 1,000 patients, some of whom have suffered for at least 20 years. He says it appears to affect men and women equally, of any age, and regardless of the dose or duration of SSRI use.

'While people with post-SSRI sexual dysfunction complain of lots of symptoms, including emotional numbness and brain fog, those can be caused by other things, like withdrawing from the drugs,' he says.

'The key to this is the genital numbness, which is quite distinctive  how do we explain why a few centimetres of tissue is affected?'

IT'S A FACT Since last year, the number of Britons taking antidepressants has risen by five per cent, from 7.9 million to 8.3 million. Advertisement

Theories about the cause involve serotonin, a chemical messenger in the brain that helps stabilise mood. Some people with depression are thought to have low levels of serotonin, and SSRIs work by boosting these levels. But too much could also be causing problems, some believe.

There may be interactions between serotonin and another brain chemical, dopamine, which helps us feel pleasure, or the drugs could trigger hormonal changes in the nervous system.

The MHRA is investigating whether the acne medication isotretinoin also leads to longer-term sexual dysfunction.

Luke Davidson, who set up the patient group UK PSSD Association, said officials at the regulator had told him they might look into post-SSRI sexual dysfunction, depending on the results of the isotretinoin investigation.

'Lots more people have this than we realise, because many go on and off the drugs and are told their problems are linked to their depression and they don't consider the drugs,' he says.

Luke, who is 40 and from the South of England, has personal experience of PSSD. It was, he says, 'like a switch had been flicked' after taking citalopram during his 20s.

'Something I've noticed on the forums is a lot of young adults saying they were put on SSRIs as children or teenagers and thought that they were asexual. It's almost as if they never developed sexuality.'

Rebecca Graham is in her early 40s and has had no sensation in her genitals for eight years since she came off the SSRI drug sertraline (pictured)

One such teenager is Isabelle Jenkins. The 19-year-old student in Wales began taking an SSRI in 2019, when she was 16, and stopped in January. 'I can tell if I'm being touched, but there's no pleasure to the sensation,' she says, tearfully.

'People tell me it's not important, but it is. I think about it every day. I wish I'd coped with my OCD without the drugs so I'd still have my sex life. It was a high price to pay.

'I'm young, at university, and this should be the time of my life.'

There are concerns the rising tide of SSRI prescriptions, particularly since the pandemic, means there may be more cases of PSSD. More than 1.1 million prescriptions were given to teenagers last year, compared with 823,000 five years ago. Experts have also urged people prescribed SSRIs to not stop taking the medication without consulting their doctor.

Dr Moncrieff now hopes to gauge the prevalence of the problem by studying people who have come off SSRIs. 'The terrible thing is it's so hard to get this kind of research funded,' she says. 'There is endless research on new treatments but no one will fund research on worrying and potentially harmful effects of substances.'

As sufferer Rebecca Graham says: 'If you tell your GP, "This SSRI is amazing, it's changed my life", they'll believe you. If you say "This has ruined my life", they tell you you're wrong.

'Can all of us really be wrong?'
Regulators have given the green light to the first alopecia treatment proven to regrow hair.

Trials have shown that taking the daily pill can almost entirely reverse the condition that causes hair to fall out in clumps.

Called baricitinib, the drug is already in use on the NHS for a number of conditions, including arthritis, dermatitis and even severe Covid. It works by interrupting faulty signals that make the immune system attack hair follicles.

NHS spending chiefs will now review baricitinib and decide whether the health service will fund the treatment for alopecia.

Charities and doctors celebrated the news, and called for the NHS to pay for patients with the most severe form of alopecia to receive baricitinib as soon as possible.

'This is a really important step in the right direction for a group of patients who up until now had no effective treatment options,' says Sue Schilling, chief executive of the charity Alopecia UK.

'Alopecia is an incredibly debilitating condition that leaves people depressed, anxious, and sometimes even suicidal. The NHS needs to fund this so patients can receive it for free.'

HIGH PROFILE: Actress Jada Pinkett Smith suffers with the condition alopecia

Trials have shown that taking a daily pill can almost entirely reverse alopecia which causes hair to fall out in clumps

Dr Paul Farrant, consultant dermatologist at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, says: 'Given the clear benefits, it's likely that people with the most severe form of alopecia will soon be able to access baricitinib.'

Alopecia is the term used to describe hair loss, which affects roughly 40 per cent of women, and 30 per cent of men at some point in their lives.

About 100,000 Britons have a condition called alopecia areata, where cells in the immune system attack hair follicles, for reasons not understood. Over a period of weeks, hair begins to come out in clumps, resulting in bald patches. Some people also lose eyebrows, eyelashes and hair elsewhere on the body.

The Matrix actress Jada Pinkett Smith suffers with the condition, which came to global focus in April when the Oscars host, comedian Chris Rock, made a joke about it and was slapped on stage by her husband, Will Smith.

Steroid treatments can be prescribed  either in a cream form, as an injection into the scalp or as pills  and are effective in one in five patients. But taking steroid pills long-term can dramatically increase the risk of serious conditions such as type 2 diabetes, so doctors recommend patients stop taking them after six weeks. Steroid creams can irritate the skin and cause agonising migraines.

Baricitinib, part of a family of drugs called JAK inhibitors, can be taken daily and continued indefinitely. Side effects are usually minimal because, unlike steroid drugs, this medication does not attack healthy immune cells.

Studies show that, for a third of patients, baricitinib sparks hair regrowth within three months and it continues to grow back. Patients who respond to the treatment see 80 per cent of their hair return. Some dermatology clinics are already offering patients baricitinib  at a cost of 1,000 a month  and charities are concerned the high price is forcing many to buy the drug abroad.

Baricitinib, part of a family of drugs called JAK inhibitors, can be taken daily and continued indefinitely

'We've heard of a number of people buying it from overseas and taking it without medical supervision,' says Schilling.

'Taking a drug like this in large doses can be unsafe, especially without monitoring. This could be avoided if the treatment is available on the NHS.'

Dr Farrant says he has given baricitinib to more than 30 patients. 'For those who respond, the effects can be transformative,' he says. 'They go from no hair to full hair.'

One patient to benefit from baricitinib is Tyson Braun, 37, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the US. He began to lose his hair at the age of 25, after suffering flu. 'At first, it was just patches on my beard,' he says. 'Then the hair on my head was coming out too. Within a year I didn't have any hair anywhere on my body.'

Tyson unsuccessfully tried a number of a treatments. Then two months ago, he got a prescription for baricitinib.

He says: 'There's already hair sprouting on my face, where I used to have a beard. And there's even a bit on my head.

'Every day it feels like there's more. I never expected to have hair again. My two sons have only ever known me as bald. 'It will take some explaining when it grows out even more.'
A woman who was repeatedly raped and tortured by her evil father throughout her childhood - leading her to develop more than 2,500 personalities as a coping mechanism - has found love.

Three years ago, Dr Jeni Haynes rejoiced as she watched a judge sentence her father, Richard, to at least 33 years behind bars for abusing her between the ages of four and 11.

It was the end of a case described by a Sydney sentencing judge as one of the worst to ever come before the court, with her father described as a 'depraved monster'.

In order to cope with the trauma and horrific memories, Dr Haynes developed Dissociative Identity Disorder and thousands of personalities with names such as Symphony, Muscles and Assassin.

Despite the long-lasting effects of the abuse, Dr Haynes recently celebrated a series of milestones, including moving into her own home, releasing a memoir - and a new relationship, which she made Facebook official this week.

'I'm so happy,' she captioned the post - which was flooded with dozens of messages from well-wishers.

Jeni Haynes celebrates outside court in 2019 after her father was sentenced to 45 years behind bars with a non-parole period of 33 years

Three years on, Jeni confirmed she has finally found love as she made her blossoming relationship Facebook official

'Who is the lucky person? They are so blessed to be with you, Jeni with your big heart, intelligence and beauty!' one friend said.

Another added: 'You deserve all the love in the world!'

Dr Haynes' life has changed radically - for the better - since her father, once a seemingly 'respectable' member of society, was locked up.

But it was a difficult journey getting the matter to court in the first place. Ms Haynes' separate personalities had to be permitted to give evidence against her father at trial.

They included a young boy, Little Ricky, a teen named Muscles, and a four-year-old girl named Symphony

Dr Haynes testified in the personality of Symphony for two hours before her father changed his plea to guilty and stopped the trial, admitting to 25 charges.

It was a breakthrough moment for Ms Haynes and her 'alters' - the term she uses for her different personalities.

'Every one of my alters, every person inside (reacted by saying) the war is over, we won. Stand down,' she told 60 Minutes.

'We're free! We're free, we're finally, finally free.'

Richard John Haynes is pictured with his daughter Jeni (right) whom he sexually abused from the age of four to 11. He will spend the rest of his life behind bars

House of horror: The normal suburban home in Sydney's western suburbs where her horrendous abuse occurred

As a result of her father's abuse, Dr Haynes now has a permanent colostomy bag, which she has described as a 'degrading, daily reminder' of her father's crimes.

She also has ongoing issues with her eyesight, hearing, dentistry and mental health.

Earlier this month, Dr Haynes marked the three-year anniversary of her father's sentencing.

'Since this earth shattering victory for people with MPD/DID (Multiple Personality Disorder/Dissociative Personality Disorder), the legal landscape has changed and justice isn't just possible, it's happening.

'I could not be more proud. My efforts, though hard and heartbreaking at times, have made a real difference,' she wrote.

'For the last three years I've been living, and what a life I now have. I'm so happy.'

She also recently celebrated the launch of her memoir, The Girl In The Green Dress.

Jeni Haynes (pictured as a little girl) recently released her memoir The Girl In The Green Dress - named after this picture

Ms Haynes as a little girl - with the personality known as Symphony. In her memoir, Ms Haynes said of her father (right): 'That air of respectability around our family and my father hid the depravity of a man who should have protected me. Who would look at this man and think he was a monster? I knew he was.'

Jenni went to university and earned a Ph.D in philosophy, despite her abusive childhood

Jeni Haynes was inundated with supportive messages after announcing she's in a relationship

JENI'S MANY PERSONALITIES: WHAT IS DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER? Dissociative Identity Disorder, previously called Multiple Personality Disorder, is usually a reaction to trauma as a way to help a person avoid bad memories. Dissociative identity disorder is characterised by the presence of two or more distinct personality identities. Each may have a unique name, personal history and characteristics. Creating multiple personalities was the only way Jenni could deal with her father's abuse. Her five main 'alters' are listed below, as detailed in her book, The Girl in The Green Dress. Symphony: Our core personality. The girl in the green dress. She was Dad's original victim. She created all of us to help keep Jennifer Margaret Linda safe from dad. Erik: Symphony's first alter, the architect of our inner landscape from the 1970s to 2000s and coordinator. Little Ricky: He gave us our jobs after initial emergence. The Rulebook: Constructs rules of engagement to guide us and keep us safe. The Assassin: It's all in the name, folks. Advertisement

Dr Haynes also successfully sued her father and was awarded $840,000 in damages earlier this year.

'She was an innocent child who fell victim to a depraved monster, her father, who unfortunately exploited his easy and regular access to her body, heart, mind and psyche to abuse her and humiliate her,' Justice Julia Lonergan wrote in her judgment.

'The loss of enjoyment of life and psychological distress caused to her by his vile conduct is immense.

'His bullying and manipulation of his daughter, a child at his mercy, was very damaging.'

If you or anyone you know needs support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyondblue on 1300 22 4636. Ms Haynes' book is available now

Ms Haynes celebrates getting justice, above
She became one of Australia's most powerful and in-demand models who blazed a trail for the transgender movement in the fashion industry.

But life for Andreja Pejic looks very different these days.

The Bosnian-born model, who grew up in the outer Melbourne suburb of Broadmeadows, is all but absent from the world of high fashion she once dominated and lives a life far removed from her glamorous past.

The 31-year-old, who now calls Los Angeles home, has replaced her blonde locks with a long, dark shaggy style and is rarely seen walking red carpets or runways since stepping away from the public eye in 2019.

Andreja Pejic seen here on the red carpet for her film debut The Girl In The Spiders Web in 2018 soon after stepping away from the modelling world

Sporting darker hair and dressed down in an Adidas tracksuit, Pejic posted these most recent images three weeks ago from her LA apartment

Instead the one-time fashion superstar, who underwent gender re-assignment surgery in 2013, is quietly hitting the audition scene and has appeared in a number of small, independent films including the 2022 thriller The Other Me and the 2021 comedy Habit opposite Bella Thorne.

More recently Pejic appeared briefly in the Salvador Dali biopic Daliland which premiered this month at the Toronto International Film Festical (TIFF) and stars British acting legend Sir Ben Kingsley.

The film has been received mixed reviews from critics with Variety noting Pejic's performance as '(Dali's) paramour...Amanda (Pejic) a transgender beauty with a husky knowing voice'.

Pejic plays 'Amanda' in the new Salvador Dali biopic - a character based on Dali's real-life transgender muse

Far from the bright lights of the fashion world, Pejic appears to be living a very different life and often posts photos of her dressed-down style

The role marks Pejic's biggest foray onto the big screen since making a shift to acting in 2019 with her film debut The Girl In The Spiders Web.

Off camera the history-making model, who became the first openly transgender model profiled by Vogue in 2015, has become increasingly vocal on a number of issues on her social media platforms.

Regularly updating fans with long and sometimes abstract monologues, Pejic talks about everything from the war in Ukraine and Covid-19 theories as well as frequent pledges of support for transgender whistleblower Chelsea Manning and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange

In one video, in which a dishevelled Pejic appears wide-eyed in heavy make up, the former model slams what she identifies as 'the capitalist elite' and warns of an incoming 'revolution'.

'There is a storm coming... and it's not a goddess, magical spiritual wave...it not QAnon it is the storm of revolution, it is the masses in revolt,' she says directly to the camera.

'It will bring the capitalist elite and their upper middle class servants to their knees.

'And they will stop looking at their stupid horoscopes and stupid stock prices and they will have a lot to answer for.'

In one of the many monologues posted to her Instagram account, Pejic rails against the 'capitalist elite' and warns of a 'revolution' to come

Pejic pictured here in 2019, appearing on the red carpet at a gala held at the National Gallery of Victoria

Identifying as a 'socialist-minded artist', Pejic gave her last interview of note back in 2019 when she spoke with the World Socialist Website (WSWS.org) and discussed at length about the Australian government's treatment of Assange.

In a long and sometimes animated sit-down, Pejic accused the Liberal government of deliberately failing to protect Assange and described the situation as an 'internationally organised witch-hunt'.

'I think Labor should be putting up a real opposition to the government's failure to protect Australias greatest anti-war journalist from political persecution,' she said.

Pejic made a rare return to the red carpet this month to promote Daliland at the Toronto International Film Festival

At the height of her modelling fame Pejic inked a number of major contracts including a deal with Aussie underwear giant Bonds

'It should admit its past failure and work to expose this issue to the biggest audience, so that a movement can be built to stop the extradition.'

Prior to that, Pejic's last major appearance on the world modelling stage was on the cover of GQ Magazine in 2017 - making her the first-ever transgender model to do so.

The previous year she also became one of the first trans models to secure a cosmetics contract, inking a deal with beauty line Make Up For Ever.

Pejic slays the runway in 2011 for Jean Paul Gaultier during Paris Fashion Week

At the height of her career Pejic - who was scouted in 2009 while working at McDonalds in Melbourne - appeared on the covers of international editions of Elle, Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar and L'Officel.

She also once ranked at number 98 on FHM's list of 100 Hottest Women in the world.

Pejic was often photographed partying with fellow Aussie model Jordan Barrett and was also friends with British model Stella Maxwell and her then-girlfriend actress Kristen Stewart.
Cllr Richard Clewer said homes might be needed for 360 refugee families

It comes as a council boss warned Wiltshire was on the brink of a housing crisis

Defence chiefs have today come under fire for leaving 1,350 military homes 'empty for years' amid urgent calls for them to be used by Ukrainian refugees.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has a vast stock of properties - worth tens of millions of pounds - dotted across rural communities in Wiltshire.

However, top brass have been accused of 'doing absolutely nothing' with them despite repeated calls for action from local leaders.

Now, Danny Kruger, Tory MP for Devizes, has launched a scathing attack on the MoD, branding the huge number of unoccupied homes a 'scandal'.

The MP's comments come as the leader of Wiltshire Council warned the county was on the 'edge of a housing crisis' and in urgent need of properties for hundreds of Ukrainian families.

Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Kruger said: 'The number of empty MoD houses in Wiltshire is a scandal - at a time of tight defence budgets, a chronic shortage of affordable homes for families, and a refugee crisis prompted by Putins war.

More than 1,300 homes owned by the MoD remain empty in Wiltshire, like the ones pictured above, in a move an MP has branded a 'scandal'

Civic leaders have called on the MoD to lease the empty homes to Wiltshire Council so they can be used for Ukrainian refugees. Pictured are Ukrainian families arriving in Poland on February 28

Danny Kruger, MP for Devizes, (pictured left) branded the number of empty military houses 'a scandal'. While Councillor Richard Clewer, leader of Wiltshire Council, said his region was now on the cusp of a housing 'crisis'

I recognise the Army needs some spare housing for families who have to move at short notice, but this is a failure of management - thousands of these homes should be made available for Wiltshire families or refugees.'

Councillor Richard Clewer, Conservative leader of Wiltshire Council, said it was a 'disgrace' the MoD had not freed up the 1,300 home despite repeated pleas for local leaders.

Now Cllr Clewer fears some 360 Ukrainian families - currently supported in Wiltshire by the Homes for Ukraine scheme - could soon be left without a place to live amid a looming deadline.

Launched in March, the humanitarian project saw thousands of UK families signing up to shelter refugees fleeing Russian President Vladimir Putin's murderous invasion of Ukraine for a 'minimum of six months'.

But with this cut-off soon approaching, there is uncertainty over how many families will be able to continue living with their British hosts and how many will be left homeless.

'Im on the edge of a housing crisis now,' Cllr Clewer told MailOnline. 'I have 360 Ukrainian families that are likely to need to leave host families because they have agreed to a six-month deal.'

The council chief has been trying to 'persuade' the Infrastructure Organisation - a wing of the MoD - for months.

'But they are doing absolutely nothing,' he said. 'I have properties that have been empty for at least five or seven years.

I think it's a disgrace they have stayed empty this long. I could use them to house families that desperately need housing.'

Wiltshire is home to about a fifth of the Army's soldiers. In recent years, a further 4,000 troops have arrived in the county as part of the MoD's rebasing programme.

It followed the shutdown of long-standing deployments in Germany in 2020 - although the government U-turned on this at the end of last year, amid the growing threat posed by Russia.

The MoD has previously said some of the 1,350 empty homes in Wiltshire were 'behind the wire' on bases and were needed for military families.

The ministry added it routinely retains vacant homes to facilitate maintenance between military tenants.

'We manage around 17,000 service family moves every year and therefore need to retain vacant homes across the UK,' an MoD spokesman told MailOnline.

'Should we receive a formal request from Wiltshire Council or any other local authority to assist with accommodation for Ukrainian refugees, we will consider it in line with Military Aid to the Civil Authorities principles.'

MailOnline understands Wiltshire Council has made an application to the MoD to release some of it's housing in the Devizes constituency.
British businesses face losing 6.6 billion in lost revenue and 62 million working days this winter due to parents having to shelve work or leave the office to look after poorly children who've been sent home from school.

The incredible cost to the economy is being predicted as Britain heads for a 'perfect storm' in late 2022 due to a cocktail of tumbling temperatures, annual flu surge, a potential mutation of new Covid variants and poor hygiene habits at family Christmas or social gatherings.

Three quarters of parents aged 20-25 are fearful that leaving work early to look after a sick child looks bad at a time when companies are looking to cut staff.

Dads are the biggest worriers, with 41% of male parents and carers vs 36% of women, admitting they are on tenterhooks awaiting the 'dreaded' call from schools or nurseries.

The winter months traditionally lead to a dramatic uplift in the number of children falling ill with bugs and viruses caught in class.

But, according to new data from the UK's fastest-growing hygiene provider INEOS Hygienics, that will be compounded by an increasingly lax attitude to hand hygiene.

Coinciding with the launch of INEOS Hygienics' high-performance moisturising hand wash range, containing four unique moisturisers designed to strengthen and protect the skin barrier, the study aims to raise awareness of practising good hygiene habits this winter.

Businesses face losing 6.6bn in lost revenue and 62million working days this winter due to parents having to shelve work or leave the office to look after ill kids sent home from school

The research found that while 87 per cent of parents relay the importance of children washing their hands and sanitising regularly to keep bugs at bay, when kids get to school hygiene goes out of the window. And two thirds (59%) of those who took part said they feared things would be worse this year than they were last.

The result of which means mums, dads, and carers up and down the country will face a long, hard winter and an increase in the number of 'dreaded' calls from school asking for children to be picked up and taken home.

What's more, the looming recession is set to throw a spanner in the works, with almost half (42%) of parents not wanting to leave work early or take days off at a time when their employer may be considering cutting staff numbers.

Fran Millar, CEO of INEOS Hygienics said: 'The winter of 2022 could really be the 'winter of discontent' in terms of health and sickness leading to missing work and school.

Health can really impact education. Picking up germs can lead to children getting sick and missing school. Not to mention the knock-on effect on the wider economy with parents then having to miss work.'

Researchers found that while the 'WFH' culture made it tricky to care for poorly children at home, parents' return to the office or regular place of work is even more of a challenge now when businesses are struggling to deal with Covid staff shortages.

The survey was done by INEOS Hygienics

Over a third (38%) of 1,002 parents who took part in the study said they were 'on tenterhooks' generally during the winter amid the fear of a 'dreaded' call from school. And 29% per cent said they felt 'guilty' having to tell their boss or line manager they had to leave to collect their sick kid.

This clearly impacts how they deal with their sick offspring, as it also emerged that a large percentage of mums and dads don't plan on playing entirely by the rules this winter.

Around 36 per cent said they would 'chance it' if their child woke up with a temperature, dosing them with Calpol or a different medicine in the hope they would make it through the day, despite the possibility their child could have Covid.

As well as full or part-time employees, the issue also extends to those who are self-employed or freelance. The INEOS Hygienics data shows that last year, the average self-employed person lost around 5,585 in income due to their child being sent home ill from school.

In terms of hygiene, a quarter (25%) of parents said they weren't as hot on ensuring their children wash their hands as they were at the height of the pandemic.

And half said they frequently forgot to ask their kids to wash their hands as soon as they arrived home from a day out or from a visit to a friend's house.

Fran Millar continued: 'It's not too much of a surprise that hygiene habits are starting to slip in a post-pandemic world, where we are back to leading busy lives and a high proportion of the population have had their covid vaccines.'

Over a third (38%) of 1,002 parents who took part in the study said they were 'on tenterhooks' generally during the winter amid the fear of a 'dreaded' call from school

'But flu, colds and coronavirus are only going to stay in circulation - and with winter around the corner, hand hygiene is a simple and effective measure we can all take to prevent picking up viruses and bacteria and avoid getting sick.'

'Washing our hands is key to keeping viruses and bacteria at bay, however, frequent hand washing can lead to dry, cracked skin. Especially as we enter the colder months.

'We have developed a new antibacterial and nourishing hand wash range that contains four unique moisturisers known to actively improve the condition of your skin. It is designed to combat this issue around frequent hand washing so that you can keep on top of hygiene, safe in the knowledge you're also looking after your skin'.

'Our new, nourishing hand wash range works to strengthen the skin's natural barrier, protecting hands from illness and infection. In fact, 80% of people found that their skin felt 'extremely moisturised' after using the new Hand Wash.*'

As one of the leading producers of hospital-grade hand sanitiser, INEOS Hygienics' new hand-protecting, anti-bacterial cleansing and nourishing Hand Wash range has been infused with the latest in fragrance science.

Formulated using 'INEOS DNA' fragrance technology, the new Hand Wash range contains purifying essential oils and phytoncides.

Phytoncides are dual-action molecules emitted by plants and trees which inhibit the development of bacteria, whilst releasing aromas which help combat feelings of stress and fatigue.

Fran Millar concluded: 'During the height of the pandemic the nation was advised to practice rigorous hygiene routines. Who can forget the government telling us to wash our hands for the length of the 'Happy Birthday To You'.

'We should look to remind our kids about the importance of washing our hands, for the right length of time, and set them up to keep on top of hand sanitising between washes.'
A Michigan man is facing up to four years in jail for shooting and injuring an 84-year-old woman who was going door-to-door to get residents to vote against a constitutional amendment that would guarantee the right to abortion in the state.

Richard Harvey, 74, turned himself into law enforcement authorities on Friday, after Ionia County prosecutors issued a three-count warrant against him.

He was then promptly arraigned on charges of felonious assault, careless discharge of a weapon causing injury and reckless use of a firearm.

Harvey is now being held at a county jail, where bond was set for $100,000.

He has previously claimed that Joan Jacobson had refused to leave his Odessa Township home on September 20 when he accidentally shot her.

He claimed she was violently waving her clipboard around when talking to his wife, Sharon, about abortion rights, and he was afraid the elderly woman would strike Sharon with the board.

The bullet struck the elderly woman in the right shoulder and exited through her back.

Still, prosecutors say, Jacobson was able to drive to a local police station to inform them of the shooting  and she was promptly brought to a hospital in Grand Rapids, where she was told that the bullet narrowly missed her spine.

Jacobson, a longtime volunteer for Right to Life, is now recovering, and has denied any wrongdoing in the altercation.

Richard Harvey, 74, is charged with felonious assault, careless discharge of a weapon causing injury and reckless use of a firearm in the September 20 shooting of a Right to Life volunteer

The Odessa Township man had turned himself into authorities on Friday after a warrant was issued for his arrest. He is pictured here being arraigned on the charges

He had shot and injured Joan Jacobson, 84, after she allegedly refused to leave his property and was waving a clipboard around at his wife

The shooting on September 20 occurred at around 1.30pm, at around the same time Sharon called police about a woman on her property.

'Some lady over here wouldn't leave my property, and she should be arrested,' Sharon told dispatchers, according to WOOD-TV.

Jacobson was there to push for a 'no' vote against Proposal 3, which would enshrine abortion rights in the state's constitution.

Sharon has said she supports the measure, as she had a tubal pregnancy in 1971 that required surgery and nearly killed her.

She told the dispatchers that day that Jacobson 'drove on my grass' and is 'trying to get me to sign a petition, and I won't do it.

'And I told her to get off my property, and she wouldn't go.'

At that point, Sharon reveals: 'My husband nicked her with a gun.'

The dispatcher then seeks to clarify whether or not he had shot her, to which Sharon says yes.

'And it hit her?' the dispatcher asked.

'It scraped her,' she replied.

Harvey's wife, Sharon, called 911 that day to report that a woman was refusing to leave their property and her husband had 'nicked her with a gun'

The Harveys are pictured at their Odessa Township home where the shooting occurred

But Jacobson has denied any wrongdoing, saying she was leaving when Harvey fired at her.

She claimed she did not have an argument with the homeowners during the 10 minutes or so she was outside the home, apparently refuting Harvey's claim that he heard the two woman arguing from his barn.

He said he then grabbed a .22 caliber rifle and fired a warning sot into a tree, but Jacobson still would not leave.

The woman then continued 'ranting and raving,' Harvey told WOOD-TV, and was waving around a clipboard near Sharon.

'I'm thinking she's going to smack Sharon with it,' Harvey said. 'So without thinking, I went to club it away with the rifle and my finger was still in the trigger guard. It went off and hit her.'

Jacobson, though, said she never waved her clipboard and told the news station that Harvey was about seven feet away from her when he fired.

She had told Detroit News she was walking back to her car at the time, when she 'saw a man' standing right beside Sharon.

'And the next thing I knew, I heard a shot and I felt some pain. I was just stunned,' she said, claiming: 'The pain was in my back and it was very severe.'

But even the prosecutors say evidence suggests she was closer to Harvey when the gun went off.

'The firearm discharged into the clipboard, leaving what appears to be gunshot residue on the clipboard, indicating the firearm was discharged in very close proximity to the clipboard,' a prosecutor said in court on Friday.

Still, he claimed, 'the discussion that they had... makes no matter to me whatsoever, makes no matter to law enforcement agencies.

'The bottom line is there was an argument of some type, it reached a level that a gun was introduced into the situation and someone got shot.'
Footage has captured the moment a man allegedly opened fire at officers with up to 226 bullets discharged from two rifles, a court has heard.

Police were locked in the alleged shootout with Bradley Jason Mark White, 42, at Cutler Drive in Wyong, on the NSW Central Coast, on March 17, 2020.

White has since been charged and police bodycam vision of the encounter was released by the NSW Supreme Court on Friday.

Police were locked in the alleged shootout with Bradley Jason Mark White, 42 (pictured), at Cutler Drive in Wyong, on the NSW Central Coast, on March 17, 2020

The court was told White allegedly began shooting at his neighbour's home and killed 20-year-old Byron Tonks and injured two others

The court heard White disliked a 17-year-old teenager living across the road from him and complained about his ute and loud subwoofer speakers.

He allegedly lit the ute on fire and waved a makeshift spear with a machete attached to the end of it, the court heard.

The court was told White allegedly began shooting at his neighbour's home and killed 20-year-old Byron Tonks and injured two others.

Footage played to court showed senior constable Darren Hunt crouching behind a police car and holding his pistol as police responded to the incident.

Loud cracks ring out in the footage with Hunt telling the court he saw White allegedly fire rounds towards a home across the street.

'Oh s***, he's aiming this way,' Hunt says in the footage shown to court.

More footage released by the court showed police trying to rescue three injured people from the back of a home.

Two children wearing pyjamas are seen being passed through a rear window, in the footage shown to court.

'I thought we could be shot,' an officer told the court.

'[That] the bullets could pass all the way through the house.'

Loud cracks ring out in the footage with Hunt telling the court he saw White allegedly fire rounds towards a home across the street

Police searched White's home and found two guns, ammunition, a green ammunition belt, a small amount of methylamphetamine and a bowl containing cannabis leaf

The court heard White surrendered before he was taken into police custody at Wyong Police Station.

Senior constable Hunt told the court White had said he had taken 'two points of ice' and asked if 'anyone is dead'.

Police searched his home and found two guns, ammunition, a green ammunition belt, a small amount of methylamphetamine and a bowl containing cannabis leaf.

White has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder, two counts of discharging a firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and four counts of shooting a firearm at a dwelling with reckless disregard for the safety of any person.

He does not dispute the shooting and will argue a defence of mental or cognitive impairment.
Another man in Surfers Paradise was shot in the chest in a drive-by shooting

Police allege he approached officers before he was shot in Airlie Beach, QLD

A man in his 20s allegedly armed with a knife was shot dead by police

Two separate shootings in Queensland overnight have left one man dead and another in hospital with a gun shot wound to the chest.

A man in his 20s, allegedly armed with a knife, was shot dead by police in Airlie Beach in the Queensland Whitsunday region after he allegedly threatened police.

Police say the man approached officers on Shute Harbour Road in the early hours of Saturday morning.

He then allegedly threatened them, advanced, and was then shot.

The officers at the scene provided first aid and the man was taken to Proserpine Hospital but died soon after.

A man in his 20s, allegedly armed with a knife, was shot dead by police at Shute Harbour Road, Airlie Beach in the Queensland Whitsunday region after he allegedly threatened police

A crime scene has been established and inquiries are continuing with the incident to be investigated by the Ethical Standards Command with oversight by the Crime and Corruption Commission.

Meanwhile on the Gold Coast, a man was shot in Surfers Paradise around 4.30am on Saturday morning.

Detectives say three men were walking along Ferny Avenue when shots were fired at them from a passing vehicle.

A 20-year-old Brisbane man sustained a non-life-threatening chest wound and was transported to hospital.

A 20-year-old Brisbane man was shot in the chest after a drive-by shooting on Saturday morning on Ferny Avenue, Surfers Paradise

Police say they have located the suspect vehicle with investigations ongoing.

A crime scene has been set up between Ferny Avenue and Cavill Avenue.

Police are appealing for anyone who witnessed the incident, or has CCTV or dash cam footage, to contact them.
License plate scanning cameras will be installed across Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's celebrity studded neighborhood, as their California hometown sees an uptick in crime.

In May, police were alerted to two intruders at the Duke and Duchess's $14 million Santa Barbara mansion within 12 days - the couple and their two children believed to be at home at the time.

Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department is installing six license plate recognition cameras around star studded Montecito home to stars including Adam Levine, Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, Ellen DeGeneres, Ariana Grande and Jennifer Aniston.

In an email to residents, including Harry and Meghan, the Montecito Association said the cameras were being installed 'in response to the high-value property crime we've experienced recently,' reported The Sun.

'The crimes are being committed by sophisticated out-of-the-area theft gangs,' the email continued.

Meghan and Harry will have security cameras installed in their neighborhood after crime spike - the couple have had six secutity breaches in their home prior to July over a 14 month period

The California security scares at the couple's home (pictured) came as Harry won permission to sue the Home Office, claiming he didn't feel safe in the UK after his bodyguards were removed

The couple's celebrity studded neighborhood, Montecito, has seen an uptick in crime with more 'sophisticated gang theft' in the area

Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department is installing six license plate recognition cameras around star studded Montecito home to stars including (left to right) Katy Perry, Adam Levine, Ellen DeGeneres and Jennifer Aniston

The solar powered cameras which cost $2,500 will see who is in the area when a crime is reported to have taken place

The solar powered cameras which cost $2,500 will see who is in the area when a crime is reported to have taken place.

They are intended to also assist in missing person searches, active warrants, stolen vehicles, and other investigations as the Sherriff's Department trials the devices for a year.

The cameras are said to identify vehicle's make, model, color and even recognize if vehicles have dents or damage.

However, they will not be used for traffic enforcement or facial recognition and can't identify individual people.

Law enforcement will have 30 days to look through data collected, after which time the information is deleted.

According to The Sun, Craig Bonner, undersheriff for Santa Barbara County, told an online meeting with locals that authorities were having 'some problems with professional burglars.'

We want these cameras up and running as quickly as possible to capture these folks as they come and go from the area.

'They have a proven ability to aid investigators effectively solve crimes by providing leads on vehicles that were in an area when a crime is committed,' he said.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had two separate intruder alarms triggered at their California home in less than two weeks earlier this year - while they and their children were home

While in the US, it was reported earlier this year that the pair have employed Michael Jackson's former security chief Alberto Alvarez (pictured)

Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department is installing six license plate recognition cameras around star-studded Montecito, including nearby the $14 million mansion Harry and Meghan live in

According to police records, a trespasser at Meghan and Harry's home was reported on their wedding anniversary, May 19 at 5.44pm

Harry and Meghan were flying back to California from Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee when the second break-in happened

'They help speed up investigations, and they are a force multiplier; they're out there working 24/7, rain or shine.

'It does not involve facial recognition, and the data will be deleted after 30 days unless it is part of an investigation.'

According to police records, a trespasser at Meghan and Harry's home was reported on their wedding anniversary, May 19 at 5.44pm.

Less than two weeks later, at 3.21pm on May 31 - just hours before the pair were to take a private jet to Britain for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, another intruder was reported.

The California security scares came as Harry won permission to sue the Home Office, claiming he didn't feel safe in the UK after his bodyguards were removed.

While in the US, it was reported earlier this year that the pair have employed ex-President Barack Obama's former bodyguard Christopher Sanchez and Michael Jackson's former security chief Alberto Alvarez.

Police records show that prior to July there had been six security alert calls to their US home over 14 months.
He faces charges related to the shooting and more are pending, police say

A mother and two children who were among the five people gunned down in a small Texas town on Thursday have been identified by officials.

Monica Delgado, 38, the partner of the suspect, and her two children Miguel Avila, 15, and Natallie Avila, 14, as well as Lorena Aviles, 47, and Natalie Aviles, 20, were allegedly shot and killed in a residential neighborhood.

Nicolas Hernandez-Jaimes, 35, returned fire when police responded to the home in McGregor, Texa s, and was taken into custody on Friday.

He is charged with felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon with more charges pending, state Public Safety Department Sgt. Ryan Howard said in a statement.

The shooting occurred around 8 a.m. in McGregor, a city located just outside of Waco in East Texas, where police were called to to a 'domestic disturbance.'

According to state Rep. Charles 'Doc' Anderson, the Aviles were neighbors of the murdered mother and children, and had went over to the home after hearing gunfire.

Monica Delgado, 38, Miguel Avila, 15, Natallie Avila, 14, Lorena Aviles, 47, and Natalie Aviles, 20, were allegedly shot and killed by Delgado's partner in McGregor, Texas Thursday

Nicolas Hernandez-Jaimes, 35, was taken into custody on Friday and is charged with felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon with more charges pending

Monica Delgado was the partner of Nicolas Jaimes-Hernandez, and one of five people shot to death by him on September 29. Monica Delgado's two childre, Miguel Avila, 15 right, and Natallie Avila, 14 left, were also killed. The deadly shooting began as a domestic disturbance call, according to police

According to Superintendent James Lenamon, Delgado's children were students at McGregor High School.

Natalie Aviles was a 2020 graduate of McGregor High School, Lenamon said.

A family member of the Aviles, Ashley Sanchez, wrote on Facebook that she was 'absolutely heartbroken' by the tragic event, and still in 'shock and disbelief.'

'They did not deserve to have this happen to them and I'll never understand why. Two people that loved God, their family, and friends.

'Natalie was a beautiful young girl, full of life, following her dreams of becoming a doctor, always had a smile on her face. Lori was a beautiful and amazing woman that has achieved much in her life and was great at loving and taking care of those around her, especially at the hospital where she worked.

'I miss both of them so much already. Life won't be the same.'

Lorena, 47, and Natalie, 20, were also allegedly shot and killed by Delgado's partner in McGregor

Family member Ashley Sanchez wrote about the shooting on Facebook. 'Today our family lost two beautiful souls. My cousin, Natalie Aviles, and my Aunt Lori Aviles. I am still in shock and disbelief. They did not deserve to have this happen to them and I'll never understand why'

Law enforcement officers gather at the front of a house were five bodies were removed in McGregor, Texas, Thursday

Law enforcement officers use a tarp to block the view as one of five bodies are removed from a house in McGregor, Texas

Monica Delgado Aviles with husband Nicolas Jaimes-Hernandez in a photo from his Facebook page. He returned fire when police responded to the home in McGregor, Texas, and was taken into custody on Friday. He is charged with felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon with more charges pending

#LIVE: Press conference in McGregor in response to shooting #BREAKING: A top law enforcement official confirmed to KWTX that five people are dead following a shooting this morning in McGregor and a suspect is in custody. INFO: kwtx.com/2022/09/29/authorities-investigating-reported-shooting-mcgregor/ Posted by KWTX News 10 on Thursday, September 29, 2022

Jaimes-Hernandez was reportedly shot by police on Thursday and taken to the hospital. News of his charges was released on Friday.

'This is saddening information to actually have to put out, and stand up and give you today and thoughts and prayers and hopes for successful healing for the McGregor community,' Howard with DPS said during the Thursday afternoon press conference.

The Texas Department of Public Safety and Texas Rangers are involved in the investigations at this time.

The reasoning behind the carnage is unknown.

The school district was briefly shut down following reports of the disturbance in the city. Schools were placed in 'secure setting' from just after 8 a.m. Thursday until noon.

Lenamon called the shooting a 'horrific tragedy' that 'occurred in a domestic incident.'

'McGregor is a quiet, beautiful town and something like this just doesn't happen,' said state Rep. Charles 'Doc' Anderson.

Top law enforcement officials told local news that they were called to the scene of the 900 block of Monroe Street around 8 a.m. to respond to a 'domestic disturbance'
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Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine has taken a dangerous and unpredictable turn after NATO vowed to help Volodymyr Zelensky's Government recapture the regions illegally annexed by Russia - even after Moscow's repeated threats to use nuclear weapons to defend them.

During a lavish ceremony inside the Kremlin yesterday, Putin blamed the 'satanic' West for the conflict in Ukraine and warned that his regime would use 'all means' to defend the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions stolen by Russia in the biggest military land grab in Europe since the Second World War.

The annexation brought the regions under Russia's formal control, giving Moscow licence to use nuclear weapons to defend them.

Under an amendment to the Russian constitution made in 2020, Putin and his predecessors are forbidden from ceding any territory once acquired - meaning the annexation has become irreversible unless Ukraine can successfully recapture the stolen land. Even a partial withdrawal as part of a future peace deal with Kyiv will become impossible.

In response to Russia's unceasing aggression, Ukraine dramatically applied for NATO membership - while the military alliance's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg vowed that the West would not be deterred by Putin's nuclear threats.

Vowing that NATO's support for Kyiv was 'unwavering', he added: 'We remain resolute in providing support to Ukraine as it continues to defend itself against Russia's aggression For as long as it takes.'

Ukraine becoming a member has been thought all but impossible, due to its proximity to Russia. But since the invasion began, two of its neighbours, Sweden and Finland, have sought to become members and Zelensky may hope long-held views about European stability could now be reconfigured to admit his nation.

The US and its allies hit back at Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian regions, slapping sanctions on more than 1,000 people and companies including arms supply networks as Joe Biden warned Putin he can't 'get away with' seizing Ukrainian land.

As the Ukraine war lurched into its latest terrifying phase:

Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning Moscow's annexation of parts of Ukraine. China and India chose to abstain from the vote;

Zelensky said Ukraine had achieved 'significant results' in the east and mentioned Lyman, a Russian-occupied stronghold that pro-Moscow forces are struggling to hold;

Ukraine said it had all the supply routes to the Russian stronghold of Lyman in the crosshairs of its artillery in the east;

At least 30 civilians were killed and almost 100 wounded in what Kyiv said was a cynical Russian missile strike on a convoy of civilian cars in southern Ukraine;

The cause of damage to the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines under the Baltic Sea has not yet been solved. Sweden's coastguard said it found a fourth leak;

Putin blamed the US and its allies for blowing up the undersea pipelines.

Putin is seen on a screen set at Red Square as he addresses a rally celebrating the annexation of four regions of Ukraine

In response to Russia's unceasing aggression, Ukraine dramatically applied for NATO membership - while the military alliance's NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg vowed that the West would not be deterred by Putin's nuclear threats

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Denis Pushilin and Vladimir Saldo in Moscow's Red Square

Vladimir Putin is seen on a screen set at Red Square as he addresses a rally and a concert in Moscow

Vladimir Putin speaks as Leonid Pasechnik, leader of self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, left, Denis Pushilin, leader of self-proclaimed of the Donetsk People's Republic, second left, Moscow-appointed head of Kherson Region Vladimir Saldo, second right, and Moscow-appointed head of Zaporizhzhia region Yevgeny Balitsky, right, stand near him

People holding Russian flags gather at Red Square

Vladimir Putin speaks in Moscow's Red Square while Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin stand near him

Putin greets Ukrainian separatist and poet Bogdana Neshcheryak during the concert

Russians gather to celebrate after a ceremony to sign treaties on new territories' accession to Russia

Putin boasts 'victory will be ours' seven months into his failing Ukraine invasion as he leads chants of 'Russia!' at huge Moscow Red Square rally An increasingly unhinged Vladimir Putin ludicrously boasted 'victory will be ours' seven months into his squalid invasion of Ukraine after the Russian tyrant illegally annexed four territories from Kyiv in the biggest military land grab since the Second World War. The warmonger told thousands of flag-waving Russians gathered outside the gates of the Kremlin for a celebratory concert in Moscow's Red Square that people in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions had chosen to rejoin their 'historic motherland' - after his regime staged fake referendums there and rigged the outcomes at gunpoint. Flanked by the leaders of their Russian-backed administrations as the multi-coloured spires of the 16th century St Basil's Cathedral loomed in the background, Putin vowed that Moscow would do everything to support the newly annexed regions, boost their security and rebuild their economies. He then proclaimed: 'Welcome home!', before prompting chants of 'Russia! Russia!' from the enormous crowd gathered in the vast square. Huge video screens showed Putin leading the spectators in three cheers of 'Hurrah' for the annexed territories, followed by a rendition of the national anthem. Many in the crowd of thousands waved Russian flags as entertainers from across Russia and occupied parts of Ukraine performed patriotic songs. Russian media reports said that employees of state-run companies and institutions were told to attend, and that students were allowed to skip classes, It comes after a desperate and erratic Putin snarled that the four occupied Ukrainian regions would remain part of Russia 'forever' for 40 minutes during an official ceremony where he seized the territories - before launching into a rant about Western 'Satanism' and colonialism. At his signing ceremony in the Kremlin's ornate St George's Hall, Putin accused the West of fueling the hostilities as part of what he called a plan to turn Russia into a 'colony' and a 'crowd of soulless slaves.' The hardening of his position, in the conflict that has killed and wounded tens of thousands of people, further raised tensions already at levels unseen since the Cold War. In his unhinged address, Putin insisted that Ukraine must treat the Kremlin-managed votes 'with respect' - before accusing the US and its allies of seeking to destroy Russia. His speech was littered with bizarre references ranging from Britain's Opium Wars in China in the 19th century to gender reassignment - before ominously threatening to use nuclear weapons in the event of an attack on Russia, including the four newly annexed Ukrainian territories. Advertisement

The Russian annexation, though expected, escalated an already heated conflict that's become fraught with potential nuclear implications.

Biden said his administration would support any effort by Ukraine to retake the annexed territories by force, setting the stage for further hostilities.

'America and its allies are not going to be intimidated by Putin and his reckless words and threats,' Biden told reporters. He added that Putin 'can't seize his neighbor's territory and get away with it.'

Putin's announcement that Russia is incorporating four Ukrainian cities and areas was not unexpected following referendums this week that the West had denounced as shams. And the US and Western allies had previewed what their reaction would be.

But the developments dramatically increased tensions to a point not seen since the Cuban Missile Crisis 60 years ago during the Cold War.

Biden had spoken out against the annexation plans last week at the UN General Assembly, where a vast majority of other members also voiced support for respecting the territorial integrity of all nations On Friday, he used the moment to reiterate that the US and NATO allies would not allow Russia to attack any of the nearby NATO members without facing a strong military response.

'America is fully prepared, prepared with our NATO allies to defend every single inch of NATO territory. Every single inch,' Biden said. 'And so, Mr Putin, don't misunderstand what I'm saying. Every inch.'

While the Biden administration has identified the suppliers of Russia's weapons and battlefield high-tech as a priority, many of Friday's other sanctions were in line with penalties already enacted on thousands of Russian individuals and companies, and may have comparatively little impact on the war effort. The administration hopes they will serve to further undermine support for Putin's invasion among Russia's elite.

Meanwhile, the US and its European allies are rushing to complete agreement on a measure they hope will do more to damage Russia's economy: a cap on Russia's maritime oil exports that would undermine the prices Putin can demand for his country's oil globally.

For now, Biden said the new US financial penalties, similar to those coming from like-minded countries, will impose severe costs on people and companies 'that provide political or economic support to illegal attempts to change the status of Ukrainian territory.' The sanctions will apply to countries, people or firms that support or do business with Russia-backed authorities in the newly annexed areas.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, echoing Biden, said the US 'unequivocally rejects Russia's fraudulent attempt to change Ukraine's internationally recognized borders. ... This is a clear violation of international law and the United Nations Charter.'

'No one is fooled by what Moscow has done,' Blinken told reporters at a joint news conference with Canada's visiting foreign minister. 'The entire process around these sham referenda was a complete farce. This territory is and will remain Ukraine, and Ukraine has every right to defend its land, to defend its people and to take back the territory that Russia has seized from it.'

This suggests the US will support the Ukrainians with weapons and ammunition to help them with military action to retake the annexed areas. The US has warned Ukraine in the past not to use American weapons against Russian territory.

Blinken also spoke out against Putin's nuclear threats..

'This kind of loose talk about nuclear weapons is the height of irresponsibility, and it's something that we take very seriously,' he said. 'To date' he said, the US has not seen that 'Russia is actually doing anything that suggests they are contemplating the use of nuclear weapons.'

'I can just tell you that we plan against every possible scenario, including this one.'

Biden also pushed back against Putin's comments on Friday in which he accused the West of sabotaging Russia-built natural gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea to Germany. Nordic nations said the undersea blasts that damaged the pipelines this week and have led to huge methane leaks involved several hundred pounds of explosives.

The president said the US and allies are still working to determine who was responsible for the blasts, but excoriated Putin over his accusation.

'Let me say this, it was a deliberate act of sabotage,' Biden said. 'And now the Russians are pumping out disinformation and lies.'

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that 'not many' countries have the ability to carry out such an attack on the pipelines. He stopped short of charging Russia was responsible but made clear the U.S. is suspicious that they may be complicit.

People holding Russian flags gather at Red Square

Vladimir Putin speaks during celebrations marking the incorporation of regions of Ukraine to join Russia

In the fist row: Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaks as Leonid Pasechnik, leader of self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, left, Denis Pushilin, leader of self-proclaimed of the Donetsk People's Republic, second left, Moscow-appointed head of Kherson Region Vladimir Saldo, second right, and Moscow-appointed head of Zaporizhzhia region Yevgeny Balitsky, right, stand near him during celebrations marking the annexation of regions of Ukraine to join Russia in Red Square

TV screens show live broadcast of Russian President Vladimir Putin delivering his speech to people

Russians celebrate after a ceremony to sign treaties on new territories' accession to Russia

Putin chants 'Russia' with the puppet 'leaders' of the four Ukrainian regions he now claims are part of his country, vowing to use 'all forces' to defend them - raising the fear he will resort to nukes

Vladimir Putin has announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions to Russia during a speech at the Kremlin, in which he also delivered a blistering tirade against the West

Putin officially signs a decree accepting the four occupied regions of Ukraine as new territories of Russia, paving the way for him to escalate his war against his ex-Soviet neighbour

Hiroshima, Goebbels, the Satanic West and sex changes: Putin's unhinged speech Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a speech at the Kremlin after annexing four Ukrainian regions partly occupied by his forces, in which he accused the West of 'outright Satanism'. MESSAGE TO KYIV 'I want the Kyiv authorities and their real masters in the West to hear me, so that they remember this. People living in Luhansk and Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are becoming our citizens. Forever. 'We call on the Kyiv regime to immediately end hostilities, end the war that they unleashed back in 2014 and return to the negotiating table.' DEFENDING 'OUR LAND' 'We will defend our land with all the powers and means at our disposal.' NORD STREAM 'SABOTAGE' 'Sanctions were not enough for the Anglo-Saxons: they moved on to sabotage. It is hard to believe but it is a fact that they organised the blasts on the Nord Stream international gas pipelines.' 'NUCLEAR PRECEDENT' 'The United States is the only country in the world that has twice used nuclear weapons, destroying the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and setting a precedent.' EDUCATION AND GENDER 'Do we really want, here, in our country, in Russia, instead of 'mum' and 'dad', to have 'parent No. 1', 'parent No. 2', 'No. 3'? Have they gone completely insane? Do we really want ... it drilled into children in our schools Advertisement

'Russia has done what it frequently does when it is responsible for something, which is make accusations that it was really someone else who did it,' Sullivan said. 'We've seen this repeatedly over time.'

As for a broader guarantee of protection, Ukraine has sought NATO membership for years but has not yet been admitted due to concerns about its domestic governance. As a result of Russia's invasion, Finland and Sweden have applied for fast-track admission into the alliance.

The White House said Sullivan had spoken with Stoltenberg to highlight the US and NATO's 'firm commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.'

But the Biden administration isn't embracing Zelensky's push for an accelerated path to NATO membership. Sullivan said the US was focused on supporting Ukraine through 'practical on the ground support.' He added that 'the process in Brussels should be taken up at a different time.'

Earlier, following Putin's announcement, the White House along with the State, Treasury and Commerce departments had announced the new sanctions in a series of coordinated statements. The sanctions expand on what have been escalating penalties against Russia and its proxies since the invasion began on February 24.

Treasury designated hundreds of members of Russia's parliament, leaders of the country's financial and military infrastructure and suppliers for sanctions designations that include asset freezes and bans on Americans doing business with them. The Commerce Department added 57 companies to its list of export control violators, and the State Department added more than 900 people to its visa ban list, making them ineligible for travel to the United States.

Since the start of the invasion, the US and European nations have imposed significant financial penalties on Russia, its leadership and wealthy oligarchs tied to Putin. The allies have gone after the central bank reserves that underpin the Russian economy and have severed many Russian banks from a vital global financial network called SWIFT.

The war is having a devastating impact on the global economy and has contributed to massive disruptions to supplies of energy and food throughout the world. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development this week said the global economy is set to lose $2.8trillion in output in 2023 because of the conflict.

Putin appears undeterred. He warned that Russia would never give up the absorbed regions -the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions - and would protect them as part of its sovereign territory.

Both houses of the Duma, Putin's pupper parliament, will meet next week to approve the treaties for the regions to join Russia.

It comes as Russia on Friday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution introduced by the United States and Albania condemning Moscow's proclaimed annexation of parts of Ukraine, with Russia's strategic partner China abstaining from the vote.

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield introduced the resolution that called on member states not to recognize any altered status of Ukraine and obliged Russia to withdraw its troops.

She argued in the council's chamber that the attempted annexation of a sovereign nation's territory went against the founding principles of the United Nations, and said Putin was celebrating 'this clear violation of international law' with a concert held after he proclaimed the annexations on Friday.

Ten nations voted in favor, while China, Gabon, India and Brazil abstained.

'Not a single country voted with Russia. Not one,' Thomas-Greenfield told reporters after the meeting, adding that the abstentions 'clearly were not a defense of Russia.'

Washington would turn to the 193-member UN General Assembly to condemn Russia's actions, she said.

Russia has been trying to chip away at its international isolation after nearly three-quarters of the General Assembly voted to reprimand Moscow and demand it withdraw its troops within a week of its February 24 invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

Russian ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia, who raised his hand to give the only vote against the resolution, argued the regions, where Moscow has seized territory by force and where fighting still rages, chose to be part of Russia. Kyiv and Western leaders denounced the referendums as a sham.

'There will be no turning back as today's draft resolution would try to impose,' Nebenzia said.

Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Nations Sergiy Kyslytsya said the single hand raised against the resolution 'again testified to Russia's isolation and his desperate attempts to deny reality in our common commitments, starting from the UN charter.'

Britain's envoy, Barbara Woodward, said Russia had 'abused its veto to defend its illegal actions' but said the annexations had 'no legal effect.' 'It is a fantasy,' she added.

China abstained from the resolution, but raised concerns about 'a prolonged and expanded crisis' in Ukraine.

China has been firmly on the fence over the conflict, criticizing Western sanctions against Russia but stopping short of endorsing or assisting in the military campaign, despite the two nations declaring a 'no-limits' strategic partnership in February. In a surprise acknowledgement, Russian President Vladimir Putin this month said China's leader Xi Jinping had concerns about Ukraine.

Beijing's UN ambassador Zhang Jun argued that while 'the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be safeguarded,' countries' 'legitimate security concerns' should also be taken seriously.

A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said China's abstention showed that Russia's 'sabre rattling' and moves that threatened states' territorial integrity put China in an 'uncomfortable position.'
A federal appeals court judge appointed by former President Donald Trump has said he will no longer hire clerks from Yale Law School, which he says is plagued by 'cancel culture' and students disrupting conservative speakers.

'Yale presents itself as the best, most elite institution of legal education,' US Circuit Judge James Ho said in remarks given to the Federalist Society on Thursday. 'Yet it's the worst when it comes to legal cancellation.'

Ho said Yale 'sets the tone for other law schools, and for the legal profession at large,' but it has set a poor example in recent years due to its 'closed and intolerant environment.'

The judge then added, Yale: 'not only tolerates the cancellation of views - it actively practices it.'

'I want nothing to do with it,' Ho concluded.

He has urged his fellow judges to likewise boycott the Ivy League institution which has been the scene for several controversies over an allegedly 'woke' culture among students and faculty leading to several flashpoints in this year alone.

Yale Law School is one of the most prestigious law schools in the country, having produced some of the nation's most prominent leaders, including Presidents Bill Clinton and Gerald Ford, at least five current US senators and four current Supreme Court Justices.

US Circuit Judge James Ho gave a speech at a Federalist Society conference in Kentucky, where he said Yale 'not only tolerates the cancellation of views - it actively practices it'

Among the events he cited was one in March in which Kristen Waggoner, now the president of the conservative religious rights group Alliance Defending Freedom, was disrupted by students supporting the LGBTQ community during a talk, which police attended

Among the incidents he cited was a free speech talk in March by Kristen Waggoner - who defended a Colorado baker who refused to make a cake for a gay wedding in a case before the Supreme Court - that was disrupted by nearly 120 students supporting the LGBTQ community.

Waggoner, who is now the president of the conservative religious rights group Alliance Defending Freedom, has supported Ho's remarks.

'Yale still hasn't condemned the behavior of its law students last semester, so no one should be surprised when a federal judge notices,' she said in a statement after the judge's comments.

The havoc caused by the student demonstrators appeared to violate the university's free speech policy and when they were reminded by moderator Kate Stith, she was met with chants and raised middle fingers, to which she replied: 'Grow up.'

The students hit back, arguing that their disturbance was execution of 'free speech' and continued to scream at the panelists.

Police were forced to escort the guest speakers from Yale Law School's free speech debate after the students intimidated the conservative panelist by yelling obscenities, including one person who shouted 'I will literally fight you, b***h.'

Heather Gerken, Dean Yale Law School, insisted that the students hadn't violated the college's rules.

Ho has urged his fellow judges to likewise boycott the Ivy League institution, which produced several Supreme Court Justices

Judge Ho has previously railed against the woke culture at Yale, having defended Ilya Shapiro (pictured), former director of the Cato Institute's Robert A. Levy Center, after students at Georgetown University's law school urged that he be ousted from a new faculty position

Judge Ho has previously railed against the woke culture at Yale, having defended Ilya Shapiro - former director of the Cato Institute's Robert A. Levy Center - after students at Georgetown University's law school urged that he be ousted from a new faculty position.

Shapiro caused outrage when he wrote tweets questioning President Joe Biden's pledge to nominate a Black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court.

A prominent conservative legal scholar, Shapiro was suspended but later cleared to become the executive director of Georgetown Law's Center for the Constitution.

He eventually quit, however, saying the school's handling of the matter made working there 'untenable.'

Ho said, 'At Yale, 'cancellations and disruptions seem to occur with special frequency.'

Senior US Circuit Judge Laurence Silberman had in March called on judges to think twice about bringing on Yale students who disrupted Waggoner's event

Senior US Circuit Judge Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, an appointee of former Republican President Ronald Reagan, had in March called on judges to think twice about bringing on Yale students who disrupted Waggoner's event.

He wrote in an email, 'All federal judges  and all federal judges are presumably committed to free speech  should carefully consider whether any such student so identified should be disqualified for potential clerkships.'

Silberman said students at the event had 'attempted to shout down speakers participating in a panel discussion on free speech.'

The incident 'prompts me to suggest that students who are identified as those willing to disrupt any such panel discussion should be noted,' he wrote.

Ho said that event was just one example. U.S. Circuit Judge William Pryor of the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was also 'disrupted by loud angry law students in the classroom' at Yale a few years ago.

That incident, Ho said, was because as Alabama's Republican attorney general, Pryor backed Texas' defense of the anti-sodomy law struck down in 2003 in the landmark Supreme Court gay rights case Lawrence v. Texas.

Ho, according to NPR, is an outspoken opponent of abortion rights and a staunch advocate for gun rights, causing the public broadcaster to refer to him as potentially 'President Trump's most enduring legacy.'
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued a stark warning to any opportunistic looters looking to strike as the state struggles to recover from the effects of Hurricane Ian. On Friday, the Republican said simply: 'You loot, we shoot.'

At a press conference on Friday, DeSantis also said: 'The other thing that were concerned about, particularly in those areas that were really hard hit, is you know, we wanna make sure were maintaining law and order.'

The potential 2024 Republican presidential nominee added: 'Dont even think about looting. Dont even think about taking advantage of people in this vulnerable situation. And so local law enforcement is involved in monitoring that.'

He continued: 'You can have people you know bringing boats into some of these islands and trying to ransack peoples homes and I would not wanna chance that if I were you, given that were a Second Amendment state.'

The governor concluded: 'I can tell you, in the state of Florida, you never know what may be lurking behind somebodys home.'

There have been sporadic reports of looting events across the Sunshine State following the devastation left behind by Hurricane Ian.

The storm made landfall in Florida on September 28 as a Category 4 hurricane, it was later relegated to a tropical storm as it made it's way north towards the Carolinas, briefly regaining hurricane strength over the Atlantic before being relegated again.

The devastation inflicted on Florida came into focus a day after Ian struck. It was one of the strongest storms ever to hit the U.S.

It flooded homes on both the states coasts, cut off the only road access to a barrier island, destroyed a historic waterfront pier and knocked out electricity to 2.67 million Florida homes and businesses  nearly a quarter of utility customers.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said at a press conference on Friday: 'I can tell you, in the state of Florida, you never know what may be lurking behind somebodys home'

The owner of Yerb Labs, a holistic healing center, in Plant City, posted this photo showing the shattered glass outside of his burgled building on Friday

The owners said that looters stole items such as vapes and said that he has been told that his insurance will not cover the damages

On Thursday, the Lee County Sheriff's Office posted this image showing a group of youths who were apprehended after looting

The devastation inflicted on Florida came into focus a day after Ian struck. It was one of the strongest storms ever to hit the U.S.

Following this catastrophe, the owner of Yerb Labs, a holistic healing center, in Plant City on the outskirts of Tampa, said that his store had been set upon by looters.

Owner Carlos Tramontana told WFLA: 'I get a phone call with the video and my neighbor said police are inside your place.'

According to a Facebook post on Yerb Labs' page, the thieves smashed through the front door and smashed through the glass cases, stealing vapes and other items.

Tramontana said: 'It really hurt. It was really sad to see something like this, something you put your heart into, we spent every penny we have on this place.'

While an employee, Shay Mccully, said: 'I was devastated. The first thing I thought of was who, and why, and it was just really heartbreaking.'

The owner went on to say that he has been told that insurance won't pay for the damage or the stolen items. He added: 'Its really hard when youre finally gaining momentum and you feel like your heart was just ripped out because now we have to start over again.'

In the town of Bronson, some 140 miles north of Plant City, 27-year-old Matthew Adams was charged with Looting when he was found inside of shuttered business, reports WCJB.

Adams is being held in Levy County Jail on a $135,000 bond.

A resident of Bonita Beach, Natalie Sablina, posted a photo on Facebook showing a group of looters going through boats that had been blown out of the water by the storm

A resident of Bonita Beach, Natalie Sablina, posted a photo on Facebook showing a group of looters going through boats that had been blown out of the water by the storm.

Sablina said that she also saw a group looting a townhouse in the town saying: 'One luxury townhome complex has garages open to let water out and this gang gave us the most horrible look - like it is their bounty and we better not get in their way.'

She also wrote: 'People can be such trash. I have heard of looting but to see it personally today was more depressing than property damage.'

Bottles of booze were seen surrounding a group of youths after they were arrested for looting

There have been sporadic reports of looting events across the Sunshine State following the devastation left behind by Hurricane Ian

Florida's Attorney General Ashley Moody tweeted Friday: 'Florida will not tolerate looters taking advantage of (Hurricane Ian) to prey on vulnerable Floridians.'

'They will be arrested and I have asked state attorneys to seek the longest pretrial detention possible to keep them locked up so they cannot commit new crimes,' she wrote.

On Thursday afternoon, a photo showed Lee County sheriff's deputies arresting a group of people. Reporter Gage Goulding, who posted the picture, tweeted: 'Sheriffs deputies told me Thursday afternoon these people were arrested for looting on Fort Myers Beach.'

The storm flooded homes on both the states coasts, cut off the only road access to a barrier island, destroyed a historic waterfront pier and knocked out electricity to 2.67 million Florida homes and businesses

Despite being downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, officials are still warning of dangerous conditions being created by the storm as it heads north

In Lee County, where the devastated Fort Myers is located, a 6 pm curfew was put in place in order to prevent an outbreak of looting.

County Manager Roger Desjarlais said in a press conference on Thursday: 'Earlier today, when law enforcement was unable to respond because of weather conditions, it was unsafe, there was a break-in on Cleveland Avenue and there was looting.'

He continued: 'There was a group of people, don't know a lot about it yet, who just had their way. I think it was with one of the Speedway gas stations or one of those and so the city of Fort Meyers...called to talk about a curfew.'

Desjarlais went on: 'There is going to be a zero tolerance policy for looting and violence.'

Prior to the arrival of the hurricane, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said on Wednesday that there would be zero tolerance for looters.

The sheriff said: 'A message that's very clear for any of those individuals that think they're gonna go out there and loot or prey on people during this horrific event.'

He went on: 'You better think twice. When I say zero tolerance, zero tolerance means we will hunt you down, track you down and you're going to jail if you're lucky.'

Despite being downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, officials are still warning of dangerous conditions being created by the storm.
Ex-private school girls have revealed the 'heinous s***' they had to put up with during their time in high school education.

The revelations were sparked by a TikTok video from ex-private Catholic school student Claire Champion, 22, who racked up more than half a million views as she explained the rules she had to follow as a school girl.

She explained how students at her school had to wear the same uniform and school bag which cost around $500 and could not wear makeup, nail polish, jewellery or hair dye.

Ex-private Catholic school student Claire Champion, 22, racked up more than half a million views as she explained the rules she had to follow as a school girl

She explained how students at her school had to wear the same uniform and school bag which cost around $500 and could not wear makeup, nail polish, jewellery or hair dye

In another video, she explained how the only jewellery pupils were allowed to wear was a crucifix and a signet ring

'They would literally come around with a makeup wipe and pull it out, you'd have to sit in the middle of class and rub your makeup off,' she said.

'If you were caught wearing jewellery twice a week they would put it up in an envelope and put it in the office and you can't have it back until the end of the week.

'At the end of the term, some girls would be coming back from the office with multiple envelopes of jewellery that had been confiscated.

'How f**ing f***ed is that?'

In another video, she explained how the only jewellery pupils were allowed to wear was a crucifix and a signet ring.

A third video saw her reveal how girls would be lined up to have their uniform judged by school staff.

'When we did uniform checks, teachers would come down with bags packed and it would have makeup wipes, nail polish remover, hair ties and little envelopes for jewellery and shoe polish,' she recalled.

'They would stand in front of you and watch you take it all off. They would stand there while all the girls are in a line and you're rubbing all your makeup off.

'You'd have to f**ing kneel down and polish your shoes.'

In another bizarre story, she recalled how a Vice Principal followed the school bus for more than an hour to make sure pupils wouldn't take their blazers off.

'He is standing at the bus stop watching us all get off and everyone who got off the bus without their blazer got an afternoon detention, he literally wrote them up there,' she said.

'These schools really pride themselves on their appearance and how the students look and present themselves, but is there as much care that goes into dealing with mental illnesses, eating disorders, what about bullying, do the schools care about that.

'I am just going to say that there really wasn't much in place for anything of that nature,' Ms Champion said.

Her video inspired other private school girls to come forward.

Former all-girls private school student Yasmin said: 'This was the most f***ed up thing about it (the school), they had security at every single entrance of the school monitoring uniforms.

'They would make the security walk down the road and literally spy on the girls to see if we are in the correct uniform or had our blazer on.

'The security would literally be waiting at the tram stop picking out the girls that didn't have their blazer with their jumper or didn't have their school star on.'

Former all-girls private school student Yasmin said: 'This was the most f***ed up thing about it (the school), they had security at every single entrance of the school monitoring uniforms'

Rhea Miars, from Melbourne, said she was 'so glad TikTok is finally talking about this (private school experiences)'

Another TikToker said: 'Our teachers checked our lockers to see if they were locked and if they weren't they tossed our bags into a giant rubbish bag.'

Meanwhile, Rhea Miars, from Melbourne, said she was 'so glad TikTok is finally talking about this (private school experiences)'.

'I am going to tell you the most appalling things that happened in my six to seven years at an all girls Christian school,' she said.

'Literally you have to have the one type of sock, you have to have your buttons done up to your neck to choke you and your tie has to be all the way yanked up,' she said.

'The most ridiculous thing was their obsession with what we were doing outside of school.

'We would have these assemblies where they would discuss good morals, ethics and values with what we did with our time outside of school, like don't hang out with boys, don't go to the mall after school, don't go to Hungry Jacks after school in school uniform...

'They were so obsessed with their reputation it was just ridiculous.

'And unless you could play the violin, piano or could play chess, they didn't give a sh** about you.'
When Liz Truss was crowned Tory leader just 26 days ago, the annual party conference was meant to be a victory parade.

But instead of burnishing her credentials with the party faithful and the wider public, the Prime Minister will be fighting for her political life.

Her mini-Budget bombed, triggering a week of turmoil in which the pound plunged, pensions almost imploded and mortgage costs soared.

Labour has, one poll says, opened up a 33-point lead  which would lead to electoral annihilation.

And rather than rallying round her, several Tory MPs are plotting to topple her. Rather than a celebration, the conference will feel like a wake.

Yet the Government is right not to U-turn on the controversial mini-Budget. Leave aside that to do so would be a catastrophe, leaving Miss Trusss authority in tatters.

In fact, the policies  from protecting firms and families from ruinous energy bills to one of the biggest tax giveaways in history  are commendable. And, crucially, defendable.

But instead of burnishing her credentials with the party faithful and the wider public, the Prime Minister will be fighting for her political life

So its vital Miss Truss puts the communication failures behind her. With the right messaging, she can reassure the public and markets that she will jolt our sclerotic economy back to life responsibly, and that everyone will ultimately be better off.

Of course, she and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng blundered by not having an OBR forecast on the impact of the cuts on the nations finances, or a viable plan to pay for them besides borrowing.

But an initial report will now be presented next week. With luck, that combined with more details on reforms to planning, energy and workers visas will persuade the City that UK growth will accelerate.

The economic turmoil is global. But already, Britains financial skies are brightening  sterling is back to pre-budget levels, the stock market has rallied and we have avoided dipping into a recession.

And, remember, this is a long-term plan  results were never expected instantaneously. So rebellious Tories must either hold their nerve  or prepare for five years out of power, watching Sir Keir Starmer destroy everything about Britain they cherish.

Labour has, one poll says, opened up a 33-point lead  which would lead to electoral annihilation

Before conspiring to dethrone Miss Truss, they must remember they are MPs  not turkeys voting for Christmas.

Shut these vile sites

It would be reassuring to think social media giants would locate their moral compass after being found responsible for Molly Russells death, but we wont hold our breath.

The vulnerable 14-year-old schoolgirl was bombarded with harrowing images glamorising self-harm and suicide on sites such as Pinterest and Instagram.

A coroner pointed the finger of blame at the tech companies for giving a platform to pictures a child shouldnt see. Yet five years since Molly died, the firms still arent doing enough to stop a repeat of the tragedy.

The vulnerable 14-year-old schoolgirl was bombarded with harrowing images glamorising self-harm and suicide on sites such as Pinterest and Instagram

Yesterday, a Mail reporter posing as a teenager took seconds to uncover a torrent of gory material on TikTok.

Given that tech giants are so adept at tracking every aspect of their users lives for profit, it beggars belief that they cant purge their sites of such pernicious filth.

Regulation cannot come soon enough. No more children should suffer Mollys fate.

Tagging burglars

The news that all burglars jailed for three months or more will be fitted with an electronic tag on release will be welcomed by every law-abiding citizen.

The blitz by Justice Secretary Brandon Lewis is a sensible initiative because keeping a closer eye on housebreakers will, in theory, stop them reoffending.

Burglars jailed for three months or more will be fitted with an electronic tag on release

Yet because many police forces refuse to send an officer to the scene, 97 per cent of burglars get away scot-free. Before the tagging scheme is hailed a success, perhaps it would help if officers caught a few more.
An official with the electric company said that it could take four to six months to get Pine Island fully back online

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Shaken survivors including a famed TV 'storm chaser' were finally ferried to safety today after Hurricane Ian transformed a laid-back paradise island into a rubble-strewn ghost town.

Residents stepping off rescue boats from Pine Island, Florida fought back tears as they told how the Category Four tempest ripped away their homes and businesses but spared their lives.

Others who ignored evacuation orders were not so lucky: a stack of body bags was brought to shore Friday as first responders continued the painstaking job of accounting for all 9000 inhabitants.

DailyMail.com was able to tour the 18-mile barrier island for the first time, encountering just a smattering of people surviving without power and running water.

Prior to Ian's arrival, Pine Island was a tight-knit beachfront community famed for its laid back feel, abundant fishing and lush tropical vegetation.

Today, St James City, its biggest town, is virtually uninhabited and resembles a treacherous maze of fallen palm trees, rubble and overturned boats.

The only bridge into town, the Matlacha drawbridge, was sheared in half as Ian made landfall nearby, packing 155mph winds and an 18ft storm surge.

Cars were left abandoned in the road, having stalled when the storm surge flooded their engines in Pine Island

Police CBP and rescue teams at a boat dock near Matlacha Isles take a n injured woman to an ambulance from of the Barrier Island of Matlacha and St James City

Hurricane Ian is one of the strongest storms ever to hit the U.S. It flooded homes on both of Florida's coasts

Hurricane Ian transformed a laid-back paradise island into a rubble-strewn ghost town

An area manager for a power company, Ariel estimates that it could take four to six months to bring the electricity back online on Pine Island

That left Don and Cheryl Rollings, who had traveled to Pine Island from Ohio to attend a funeral, unable to get to safety.

'We're stuck. We can't get off this island. It was scary as hell but we made it through,' said Don, who has a prosthetic leg. 'That's all I can say, it was horrible.'

Shortly afterwards Don and his wife were finally able to board one of the dozens of rescue boats laid on by fire departments, police and Good Samaritans.

Another of those seeking a ride off the ravaged island Friday was 'extreme meteorologist' Reed Timmer, 42, who found himself trapped when his SRV dominator truck was swept away.

'I was trying to broadcast some information when I got swamped in probably about a 15ft storm surge,' said Timmer, who appears in the Discovery Channel show Storm Chasers.

'We were getting waves up to the second floor, it washed out the entire first floor too. A lot of my sensors got washed away.'

'The destruction is terrible. We've already had a few medical emergencies out here,' Timmer said.

Timmer was carried to safety on an airboat piloted by volunteers from the United Cajun Navy, who have joined the search, rescue and cleanup efforts.

'We're stuck. We can't get off this island. It was scary as hell but we made it through,' said Don Rollings, who has a prosthetic leg, pictured here with his wife, Cheryl. 'That's all I can say, it was horrible

One of those seeking a ride off the ravaged island Friday was 'extreme meteorologist' Reed Timmer, 42, who found himself trapped when his SRV dominator truck was swept away

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at least 700 rescues, mostly by air, have been conducted so far and involving the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Guard and urban search-and-rescue teams

Sheriffs in southwest Florida said 911 centers were inundated by thousands of stranded callers, some with life-threatening emergencies

One resident told DailyMail.com she was shocked by lack of media attention for Pine Island compared to its wealthier neighboring islands, Captiva and Sanibel

Many in the hardest-hit areas of Florida were unable to call for help because of electrical and cellular outages

A Pine Island resident told DailyMail.com: 'Pine Island is your average working people, it's not people with a lot of influence. People have never heard of it. It upsets me a lot because I have family out there'

The group were due to rescue an elderly man whose daughter waited anxiously at a boat slip on the mainland in Cape Coral.

She told DailyMail.com she was shocked by lack of media attention for Pine Island compared to its wealthier neighboring islands, Captiva and Sanibel.

'Pine Island is your average working people, it's not people with a lot of influence. People have never heard of it,' said the woman, who declined to give her name .'It upsets me a lot because I have family out there.'

All the attention is going to places like Naples where people have their third or fourth houses. 'Her opinion was shared by Lisa Condon, 51, who told DailyMail.com: 'It's about time the news got over there.'

Condon, her daughter Hayley, 20, and her grandkids Legend, four, and Laiyla, three, left before Ian struck and stayed inland with a friend.

Her home is still standing but she has no job to go back to because the restaurant where she works was swept away.

She was trying to head back Friday to check on a missing neighbor. 'We left. We're tough but when you're talking about an 18ft storm surge, nobody is that tough. I had my grandkids to think about, Conlon added.

Resident Lisa Condon told DailyMail.com was trying to head back Friday to check on a missing neighbor. 'We left. We're tough but when you're talking about an 18ft storm surge, nobody is that tough. I had my grandkids to think about'

The U.S. death toll from Hurricane Ian has risen to 17 as Florida authorities on Friday afternoon confirmed several drowning deaths and other fatalities

Volunteer air boat rescue team search a stranded sail boat in Pine Island

Major river flooding is expected to continue across parts of central Florida into next week as post-tropical storm Ian continues making its way up the East coast

Although the intensity of the storm has decreased from hurricane strength, agency officials warned of life-threatening storm surge along the coasts of the Carolinas Friday night

Surge water destroyed the inside of many homes in the Pine Island community

There were emotional scenes as Jay Olivera, 36, was reunited with her parents Linda and Ariel who clambered off a rescue boat with a handful of suitcases.

It was the most horrific experience of my life, said Linda, 61, wiping away tears.

Ariel, 58, said the floodwater was above head height, much higher than anything he had experienced in countless other storms.

Weve been through a lot of hurricanes. We went through Andrew, that was big but this kicked its ass,' he said. 'The devastation in St James City is indescribable. It looks like a huge bomb went off. They are going door to door rescuing people, I have plenty of friends that are missing.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Ians center came ashore Friday afternoon near Georgetown with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph

Officials in Florida fear the death toll from Hurricane Ian could rise substantially, given the wide swath of the state swamped by the storm

After making landfall with some of the highest windspeeds for a hurricane over U.S. territory, the storm flooded areas on both of Floridas coasts

The hurricane tore homes from their slabs, demolished beachfront businesses and left more than 2 million people without power

Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said responders have focused so far on 'hasty' searches, aimed at emergency rescues and initial assessments

Guthrie said that rescue efforts will continue for a further two weeks

An area manager for a power company, Ariel estimates that it could take four to six months to bring the electricity back online on Pine Island.

Theres no power, no water, no AC, its unlivable. But were safe now and we have two gorgeous daughters here to take care of us so well figure it out. We are alive, thats the main thing,' resident Terry Smayda said.

Shaken Smayda, 75, stepped off a boat clutching the hand of her elderly friend Bobbi Reichle, 93, who needed treatment for a cut ankle.

The pair endured two days of stifling heat and lived off rations including cold cuts and cookies as they waited for a ride off the island, a 20-minute sail across the Gulf Coast.

We thought it would miss us. By the time we realized, it was too late  we had nowhere else to go,' Terry said.

If it wasnt a cement block house it would have gone. We would have been washed away. Its horrible out there now, the trees have gone, the docks, the boat sheds have all gone.

One elderly resident said of his home: 'If it wasnt a cement block house it would have gone. We would have been washed away. Its horrible out there now, the trees have gone, the docks, the boat sheds have all gone'

In an update Friday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center advised that considerable other flooding will also occur into the evening in both North and South Carolina, as well as southeast Virginia

Although the intensity of the storm has decreased from hurricane strength, agency officials warned of life-threatening storm surge along the coasts of the Carolinas Friday night

The two friends passed Mike Romeo, 53, who was heading in the opposite direction to sail back to the island and see what's left of his house in St. James City.

We were as prepared as prepared can be. We had the house boarded up, fuel for the generator, water and food for a month,' said Mike.

But as I watched the news it kept inching south and I knew that was it, time to go. I woke my wife, we grabbed our four dogs, a backpack each, and drove straight out of town.

Hours later surging flood water ripped a gaping hole in the bridge and rendered it impassable.

'All we know is what weve seen on Facebook and from a few brief news reports,' added Mike.

'Im a realist, I know what the storm did. Im lucky I have a stilt home and a brand new metal roof. Im hoping that saved the house.
Cannabis is just as harmful as cocaine and crack and should be classified as a Class A drug, police chiefs have warned.

A group of Tory police and crime commissioners (PCCs) will demand that the drug be put on a par with crack and cocaine.

If adopted, the change would see the maximum penalties for possession increase from five to seven years, and the maximum penalty for supplying cannabis would increase from 14 years in prison to a life jail sentence.

David Sidwick, the Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner for Dorset, said there was growing evidence linking psychosis and mental ill health, cancer and birth defects to cannabis use.

Calling it a 'gateway' drug used by county lines gangs to lure in users, he warned: 'No child ever went to a drug dealer for heroin for their first deal - they would all have started with a bit of weed.'

The proposal is also being backed by Alison Hernandez, PCC for Devon and Cornwall, and Avon and Somerset's police and crime commissioner Mark Shelford. They will present their plans at the Conservative Party Conference alongside academics.

Police and Crime Commissioner for Dorset, David Sidwick

A group of Tory police and crime commissioners (PCCs) will demand that the drug be put on a par with crack and cocaine (stock photo)

Cannabis is most widely used illegal drug in the UK - but it can cause a myriad of health problems Cannabis (also known as marijuana, weed, pot, dope or grass) is the most widely used illegal drug in the UK. The effects of cannabis can vary a lot from person to person. It can also vary depending on how much or how often it's taken and what it contains. Some examples include: Feeling chilled out, relaxed and happy; laughing more or become more talkative; feeling hunger pangs ('the munchies'; feeling drowsy, tired or lethargic; feeling faint or sick; having problems with memory or concentrating; experiencing mild hallucinations; feeling confused, anxious or paranoid. Cannabis and mental health Regular cannabis use increases the risk of developing a psychotic illness, such as schizophrenia. A psychotic illness is one where you have hallucinations (seeing things that are not really there) and delusions (believing things that are not really true). The risk of developing a psychotic illness is higher in people who: start using cannabis at a young age; smoke stronger types, such as skunk; smoke it regularly; use it for a long time; smoke cannabis and also have other risk factors for schizophrenia, such as a family history of the illness Cannabis also increases the risk of a relapse in people who already have schizophrenia, and it can make psychotic symptoms worse. Other risks of regularly using cannabis can include: feeling wheezy or out of breath; developing an uncomfortable or painful cough; making symptoms of asthma worse in people with asthma; reduced ability to drive or operate machinery safely If you drive while under the influence of cannabis, you're more likely to be involved in an accident. This is one reason why drug driving, like drink driving, is illegal. Source: NHS Advertisement

The Home Office said there were no plans to upgrade cannabis to a Class A drug but illicit substances were kept under constant review.

Mr Sidwick told The Telegraph: 'People who call this drug recreational haven't seen the harm that psychosis and other cannabis-related conditions can do, and the costs that heap on our health service and society more generally.

'We aren't just talking about 'a bit of weed' anymore, this does the same harm as crack and heroin.

'That's why we need the penalties for this illegal gateway drug to match those of class A substances.'

Cannabis is currently classed as a class B drug, with a maximum sentence of five years in prison for possession.

Though advocates say it can make people feel happier, sceptics warn that regular cannabis use increases the risk of developing a psychotic illness. Results from European neighbours offer an insight into the potential pitfalls of the policy - with Portugal seeing a huge surge in cannabis-induced psychosis after it decriminalised the drug in 2001.

In January, King's College London professor Sir Robin Murray said around a third of the psychosis patents he sees at his practice in south London are mostly young people suffering from debilitating paranoia and hallucinations caused by use of high-strength skunk.

Sir Robin suggested the high number of cases in his practice are now impacting the facility's ability to care for patients.

He told The Times newspaper: 'I think we're now 100 per cent sure that cannabis is one of the causes of a schizophrenia-like psychosis.

'If we could abolish the consumption of skunk we would have 30 per cent less patients [in south London] and we might make a better job of looking after the patients we have.'

Sir Robin works at the first NHS clinic in England to specifically treat cannabis smokers suffering from psychosis.

Running from Maudsley Hospital in Camberwell, south London, patients are typically seen for a minimum of 15 weeks, with treatment including one-on-one sessions with specialist therapists.

The aim of the clinic is to first help cannabis users wean themselves off the drug before helping them to manage without it - helped by weekly group therapy sessions with fellow patients and experts.

Sir Robin has praised the clinic, reporting it to be a success, even when services moved online due to the Covid pandemic.

Regular cannabis use increases the risk of developing a psychotic illness, such as schizophrenia.

A psychotic illness is one where you have hallucinations (seeing things that are not really there) and delusions (believing things that are not really true).

Cannabis is just as harmful as cocaine and crack and should be classified as a Class A drug, police chiefs have warned (stock image)

The risk of developing a psychotic illness is higher in people who: start using cannabis at a young age; smoke stronger types, such as skunk; smoke it regularly; use it for a long time; smoke cannabis and also have other risk factors for schizophrenia, such as a family history of the illness

Cannabis also increases the risk of a relapse in people who already have schizophrenia, and it can make psychotic symptoms worse.

Other risks of regularly using cannabis can include: feeling wheezy or out of breath; developing an uncomfortable or painful cough; making symptoms of asthma worse in people with asthma; reduced ability to drive or operate machinery safely

If you drive while under the influence of cannabis, you're more likely to be involved in an accident. This is one reason why drug driving, like drink driving, is illegal.
Inmates of Scottish jails have been treated to hundreds of games consoles at a cost of more than 100,000.

The bill for hi-tech devices such as PlayStation and Xbox, along with accessories, has soared more than nine-fold since 2017 to nearly 60,000 last year.

Figures obtained by the Daily Mail show more than 660 consoles have been bought for criminals, including almost 300 in 2021-22.

Prison bosses say the cash to pay for them 'comes directly' from prisoners  via taxpayer-funded 'wages'  or through common good funds to benefit inmates.

Inmates of Scottish jails have been treated to hundreds of games consoles at a cost of more than 100,000 (stock image)

But last night there was anger that criminals including murderers and rapists were able to play games rather than being properly punished for their crimes.

Scottish Tory community safety spokesman Russell Findlay said: 'This sort of spending is an insult to victims.

'They'll be dismayed SNP ministers appear more focused on splurging money on allowing prisoners to play video games rather than properly punishing them.

'When it comes to justice, the SNP's priorities are all wrong  and it is victims and taxpayers who are let down at every turn.'

Responding to a freedom of information request, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) disclosed that 667 consoles had been bought since 2017 at a total cost of 115,483.

The figure rose from 6,306 in 2017-18 to 59,227 in 2021-22, with 15,377 spent so far in 2022-23.

In 2017, it emerged that inmates at Polmont Young Offenders' Institution, near Falkirk, had been bought nine copies of the Grand Theft Auto V game

Prison chiefs say individual governors decide what property is allowed in jails and point out that the consoles cannot have any form of connectivity, such as wifi or Bluetooth.

In 2017, it emerged that inmates at Polmont Young Offenders' Institution, near Falkirk, had been bought nine copies of the Grand Theft Auto V game, which includes graphic depictions of torture.

In August, the Mail revealed that prison chiefs were spending 500,000 on installing TVs in cells, sparking a row over 'taxpayer-funded freebies' for inmates.

Officials claim the consoles are necessary in the absence of 'in-person contact with loved ones' and insist prisoners using them pay a weekly fee out of their 'wages'.

But there was fury that the public purse was being used to entertain inmates as law-abiding Scots face a growing cost of living crisis.

Copies of the Grand Theft Auto V game, which includes graphic depictions of torture, were bought for inmates at a Young Offenders Institution, it emerged in 2017 (file image)

Separately, it emerged last year that prisoners had been disciplined more than 2,000 times for tampering with mobile phones handed out to them under a 2.7million scheme to help them stay in touch with family members who were not allowed to visit during the pandemic.

In another example of leniency, it emerged last year that prison officers had been told to refer to inmates as 'people in our care' to avoid stigmatising them. The move was met with derision from both staff and prisoners.

An SPS spokesman said: 'Games consoles are either purchased by those in our care, or through the common good fund.'

Disputing that the fund was 'public money', he added: 'It comes directly from prisoners, such as through the profits from their canteen. It is also not used for individuals but for group areas.'
A Las Vegas OB-GYN doctor who coined himself the 'vagina whisperer' has become the subject of a sexual misconduct complaint filed by the Nevada Board of Medical Examiners.

Dr. George Peter Chambers allegedly took photos of patients' genitalia, and offered others to pay for nude photos for his 'portfolio.'

Chambers, who has been licensed in the state since 2003 faces a number of allegations from three separate patients between 2018 and 2020.

One patient said he 'humiliated and sexually demeaned' her during a purported examination, and used slang terms to describe his actions.

The doctor had an Instagram account until this past Thursday under the name the 'vagina whisperer.'

Dr. George Chambers, a Las Vegas OB-GYN, who called himself the 'vagina whisperer' has been accused of of sexual misconduct

Dr. George Peter Chambers had been licensed in the state of Nevada since 2003

The first patient, a 36-year-old female, identified in the complaint as Patient A reportedly saw Chambers for a consult in November 2020.

Chambers is alleged to have used the woman's cellphone to take photos of her vaginal area before later asking the woman to text him some of the photos that he took.

Patient A said she was uncomfortable doing so as she was not sure if the data was being exchanged securely - nevertheless she sent the photos to Chambers.

The complaint also suggests that details in her medical record do not correspond to what actually happened during her examination in which she claims to have been 'humiliated and sexually demeaned' by Chambers.

Patient A contacted the Las Vegas police weeks after her session with Chambers.

Patient B, a 35-year-old female, had also been a patient of Chambers for many years before an appointment with him in October 2018.

An ad for Dr. George Chambers, OBGYN, of Las Vegas, on the Yelp page for his business, Chambers & Associates OBGYN and Gynecological Surgery. Three patients have come forward to details their encounters with the doctor who allegedly wanted to take photographs of their vaginas with his cellphone

On that occasion, Chambers allegedly offered to pay Patient B or other patients $1,000 for nude photographs that he claimed to use in an advertisement for his practice.

Chambers said they were 'ostensibly to use in an advertisement for his services,' and 'not for purposes of medical examination or treatment.'

'Patient B' said Chambers would often appear 'very focused on sex' and ask invasive questions.

'He was different from other OBGYNs,' she said. 'He wouldn't wait for me to ask a question about my sexual health, he would just fire questions away  I'm sitting in the room feeling like I have no choice but to answer these questions.'

'He also would ask me about past trauma, things like that. I was raped when I was 16 years old. He knew things like this. He was very kind. I felt heard. I trusted him with a lot of personal information.'

But her view suddenly changed when she overheard him making 'inappropriate comments' about women and their vaginas.

He also allegedly shared private medical information with nurses including that she had been 'gang-raped'.

When the pair were alone, he asked her: 'Have you ever posed nude?'

Chambers had a strong presence on social media including Instagram and TikTok before he suddenly removed his accounts on Thursday

'I said, 'No, why do you ask?'', Patient B responded. 'And then he went on to tell me that he needs models to pose nude for his ads for his labiaplasty website.'

'It was very awkward. I didn't know what to do or what to say. I kept trying to steer the conversation away from that topic,' she explained to The Beast.

Chambers attempted to convince her to pose and promised copies of the photos to give to her husband.

'But just make sure your husband doesn't know that I was the photographer. You can't tell him I was the photographer and you can't tell him where it was taken,' he warned her.

'I want the real women, the women who have been through so much,' Chambers allegedly told her at which point he is said to have taken out his phone and showed her a photo of women squatting on camera.

'He told me that he does this with his patients. He told me his patients get very provocative and seductive in front of him, especially when he tells them to "f**k the camera.''

'I felt violated, embarrassed and angry,' Patient B said, 'and I knew I was never going to come back there.'

The complaint filed by the Board of Medical Examiners describes his requests as 'sexually suggestive and/or sexually demeaning' to the patient and says Chambers violated professional boundaries.

In some cases it is not clear if patients were aware they were on camera

In the case of Patient C, a 27-year-old female, a similar incident occurred.

The complaint describes how she went to see Chambers in October 2019 in order to receive treatment for pelvic pain and undergo routine gynecological care.

Patient C told Chambers she was struggling financially, the complaint said.

Chambers is alleged to have told her that he was seeking models for his 'portfolio' of work or for an advertisement offering her $1,000 to take part.

Chambers told her he was 'seeking models to participate in a photography session in which photos would be taken of the model's vaginal area and nude body.'

The patient said she was also promised a USB drive with 'boudoir' photos from the session, the complaint details.

Patient C says she thought it was strange that Chambers was asking for photos of her genitals because he had never performed any cosmetic procedures in that area on her.

At least one patient has alleged that Chambers' offers to photograph her were bordering on the pornographic

Chambers allegedly continued to push to photograph his patients genitals and offered up to pay up to $1,000

Two of the patients who have been identified in the complaint said that they were coming forward to prevent other women from experiencing the same treatment.

'I knew the situation was not normal, it felt wrong, and many things that were done and said by Dr. Chambers completely shocked and upset me,' said Patient A. 'But my frame of reference kept me from recognizing, in those moments, the true nature of what was happening to me,' she told The Daily Beast.

Chambers' own website says he specialized in obstetric care and gynecological surgery.

It touted how he was the 'only board certified obstetrician and gynecologist in Nevada who is also certified in sexual health medicine,' adding, 'As a gynecological surgeon who was raised and positively influenced by women, Dr. Chambers recognizes that all women want to look and feel beautiful.'

'I am living my dream every day because I was blessed to have discovered my true purpose in life,' Chambers wrote in his bio on the site which has since been taken down.

'I use four guiding principles when I approach patient care: 1. I provide the same level of care as I would want for the women in my family. 2. I obey the basic rules of surgery to ensure a safe outcome for my patients. 3. I respect the human body; thus, I create surgical incisions that will be aesthetically pleasing to my patients and to me. 4. I take pride in my work.'

Pictured, the Office of Dr. George Chambers, who ran Chambers & Associates OB-GYN and Gynecological Surgery in Las Vegas, Nevada

His TikTok and Instagram accounts also shared videos of surgeries and closeups of vaginas.

'[Chambers] has demonstrated a pattern of failing to use the reasonable care, skill, or knowledge ordinarily used by obstetrician-gynecologists in good standing by repeatedly engaging in sexual improprieties with more than one patient,' the board wrote in the complaint.

The Board of Examiners said Chambers 'repeatedly exploited his relationships with patients and violated patients' trust by engaging in sexual improprieties that constitute sexual misconduct' and that his 'repeated acts of sexual misconduct' and Medical Practice Act violations 'undermine the public's trust and respect for the medical profession.'

Chambers has been charged with disruptive behavior, disreputable conduct, engaging in conduct intended to deceive, failure to maintain accurate medical records, continual failure to practice medicine properly, and engaging in conduct that violates the trust of a patient and exploits the relationship with the patient for financial or other personal gain.

Chambers now has 20 days to respond to the allegations after which point the Nevada Board will set up a formal hearing.
Optus has taken out a full page-ad and apologised to its millions of customers whose personal information was stolen in the country's largest ever data breach.

The telecommunications giant published the apology in newspapers, and shorter versions in shopping centres, saying it was sorry to its 9.8million customers impacted by the hack.

'We're deeply sorry,' the apology read. 'We're deeply sorry that a cyberattack has happened on our watch.

'We know this is devastating and that we'll need to work hard to regain your trust. The attack was quickly shut down, and we are working closely with authorities to understand how this attack on your privacy occurred.'

The apology comes as it's revealed fewer NSW customers will need to change their licence numbers because of tougher document verification standards.

Optus has taken out a full page-ad and apologised to its millions of customers whose personal information was stolen in the country's largest ever data breach

The telecommunications giant published the grovelling apology in newspapers, and shorter versions in shopping centres, saying it was sorry to its 9.8million customers impacted by the hack

'Our priority is preventing harm to customers,' Optus wrote in its apology.

'We are here to assist and support you through any personal concern that you may be feeling.

'We know there's a lot of information and misinformation out there, and we've heard your message that we need to communicate more clearly.

'That's why we've now put together easily accessible materials for you to stay informed on the actions you can take at optus.com.au/support/cyberattack.'

Some 16,000 Optus customers in NSW will have to get their licence replaced - a figure that is staggeringly less than the 1.2million in Victoria and Queensland.

NSW had introduced tougher document verification standards with new rules for passing a national Document Verification Service check updated on September 1.

The change was in the works for the last eight years and came into effect just in time before Optus was hacked and customer's personal information stolen weeks later.

The apology comes as it's revealed fewer NSW customers will need to change their licence numbers because of tougher document verification standards (stock image)

NSW Customer Service and Digital Minister Victor Dominello said the consequences would've been far worse if the identification standards hadn't been tightened.

'The Optus breach is terrible for all those impacted,' Mr Dominello told The Sydney Morning Herald.

'But thankfully we have digitised the driver's licence in NSW, which enables us to respond faster than others.'

The ID check requires a two-step process: the licence and physical card numbers.

NSW residents only had part of their licence information stolen and will only need to change their card number and not their licence number.

Some 16,000 Optus customers in NSW will have to get their licence replaced - a figure that is staggeringly less than the 1.2million in Victoria and Queensland (stock image)

NSW is the latest state to join Western Australia, the ACT, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory in ushering in the tougher identification rules.

Victoria and Queensland do not have the tough rules with 700,000 Victorians and 500,000 Queenslanders estimated to need a new licence number.

NSW residents may have to wait weeks for a replacement card but can use an updated version on their digital licence much sooner.

Victoria and Queensland drivers do not have access to digital licences so they will have to wait much longer to obtain their new licences.
A surge of migrants into New York City tied to 'President Joe Biden's southern border crisis,' could find themselves living in a massive Norwegian Cruise Ship, as Mayor Eric Adams is tipped to finalize a deal with the cruise line.

A source speaking to The Post, told the publication that Adams would like to lease the luxury liner for six months, dock it at Staten Island's Homeport and use it to house and process migrants before they enter the city's shelter system.

Migrants living on board the ship would be allowed to move freely, with preliminary estimates showing that the plan will be 'cheaper than erecting another tent city,' as seen in the Bronx.

About 15,500 migrants have made their way to New York according to City Hall estimates, with Adams predicting a swell of 75,000 which would strain the shelter system to 'breaking point.'

New York City's huge system of homeless shelters has been straining to accommodate the unexpected new flow of migrants seeking asylum in the United States.

A tent city is among the plans to accommodate 13,000 asylum seekers who have been bused into the city as part of a campaign by governors to disrupt federal border policies.

A surge of migrants into New York City could find themselves living in a massive Norwegian Cruise Ship, as Mayor Eric Adams is tipped to finalize a deal with the cruise line

Adams would like to lease the luxury liner for six months, dock it at Staten Island's Homeport and use it to house and process migrants before they enter the city's shelter system.

About 15,500 migrants have made their way to New York, according to City Hall estimates, with Adams predicting a swell of 75,000 which would strain the shelter system to a 'breaking point'

It is believed that migrants living on board the ship would be allowed to move freely

The first few tents have been erected at Orchard Beach in a remote corner of the Bronx, where public transportation is limited. Officials are also said to be looking into other areas.

Once complete, rows and rows of cots will be set up with the tent heated, as cooler autumn nights in the city take hold.

City officials said the facilities - which they call 'humanitarian emergency response and relief centers' - would only house migrants for up to four days while the city arranged other types of shelter.

The mayor has also pleaded with the White House for $500 million in emergency funding to pay for just one year of migrant services.

It is unclear whether Adams has made a deal with Homeport, a former naval station on the northeastern shore of Staten Island, the source told The Post.

Adams has not confirmed plans as yet saying that his office will be transparent when a deal is brokered.

'When we get an announcement of any type of deal, we will make it public with a level of transparency,' he said.

Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella told The Post that City Hall had alerted him to the plan and that he'd asked the Independent Budget Office for a cost estimate of the impact of the migrant crisis on the city.

Preliminary estimates show that the cruise ship plan will be 'cheaper' than erecting another tent city' as seen in the Bronx

The tent city is hoped to accommodate 13,000 asylum seekers

The first few tents have been erected at Orchard Beach in a remote corner of the Bronx, where public transportation is limited

Once complete, rows and rows of cots will be set up with the tent heated, as cooler autumn nights in the city take hold

'This thing is still very preliminary which is good because how is this becoming a Staten Island problem? This is a federal problem,' he said.

'Also, this pier is problematic. There's no electricity there. Whatever they're doing here it's unsustainable.'

Fosella said the idea of housing migrants should not become 'Staten Island's problem.'

'I am not for this cruise. Let's avoid cruising for a bruising. What's next? RVs on the street? These problems should not become Staten Island's problem.'

U.S. representative for New York's 11th congressional district, Nicole Malliotakis, called the plan 'ludicrous.'

'Both Biden and Adams refuse to address the root of the problem and, instead, continue to incentivize illegal immigration,' she said.

'Secure our borders, reinstate 'Remain in Mexico' and add judges to hear legitimate asylum cases quickly. Democrats have abdicated their responsibility but when Republicans take the House we will put an end to this nonsense.'

Meanwhile, City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli said he 'knew this could be a possibility.'

'Until Biden shuts off the border, I am not sure how we can continue to accommodate these people without taking over every inch of parkland with tent cities,' he said.

'This arguably may be a more reasonable way to cope with the crisis than people might think.'

Locals have said the step could create a divide within the community.

One man said: 'I don't like any plan where they take a bunch of people, throw a label on them and throw them all in one place,' he said.

'I don't think it allows people to become involved in society as equal people. You've labeled them and then all of a sudden it just puts everybody three steps backward towards any kind of assimilation.'

Another said: 'I have no problem with migrants being part of the community. I do feel that the boat is a little bit isolated from being in the community.'

Many of the migrants arriving have been bused into the city as part of a campaign by governors to disrupt federal border policies

In the past 11 months border officials in the United States have arrested more than 2 million illegal immigrants at the southern border, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP)

CBP encountered 203,597 migrants at the southern border in August alone, which is a slight uptick from the crossings in July

In the past 11 months border officials in the United States have arrested more than 2 million illegal immigrants at the southern border, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

CBP encountered 203,597 migrants at the southern border in August alone, which is a slight uptick from the crossings in July.

Since October 2021, CBP has recorded encountering 2,150,639 migrants who have crossed over the border from Mexico  and since the start of Biden's time in office has had run-ins with more than 3.5 million.

These figures do not include the amount of migrants who have crossed over the border and evaded CBP agents.

Vice President Kamala Harris was put in charge of the migration crisis by Biden  and her office quickly branded the role as addressing 'root causes' of migration rather than the issues at the border.

Republicans have chastised the Biden administration for ignoring the prevailing crisis, especially as the number of deaths along the border have reached record-breaking numbers.

In September, preliminary figures show that 30 migrants have died along the border  adding to the total toll of 782 deaths in Fiscal Year 2022.

That figure surpassed the previous record reached in Fiscal Year 2021 when more than 557 deaths were reported.
Firebrand Senator Jacinta Price said her maiden parliamentary speech sent a 'squirming' Penny Wong bolting to the door rather than shake her hand.

The Indigenous politician from the Northern Territory made the comments during a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Sydney on Saturday.

Her speech included an attack against Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's push for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament and took aim at transgender and large people.

Firebrand Senator Jacinta Price said her maiden parliamentary speech sent a 'squirming' Penny Wong bolting to the door rather than shake her hand

'Nothing told me I had my message any louder and any clearer than seeing that I had effectively managed to crawl right under the skin of Penny Wong,' Senator Price said

Senator Price claimed her maiden speech, which she made on July 27, let the 'woke sycophantic spineless Labor government' know 'their statements were fashioned from fantasy and lies'.

'I relished every moment of delivering the cold hard truth and watching them squirm and grimace,' the CLP senator told the gathering.

'Nothing told me I had my message any louder and any clearer than seeing that I had effectively managed to crawl right under the skin of Penny Wong.'

Senator Price said an even clearer indication of Senator Wong's displeasure was illustrated when she did a 'bolt' out of parliament rather than shake her 'First Nations hand and congratulate me on my first speech', as is the custom.

That was not the last awkward interaction between the two women, according to Senator Price.

She mocked Senator's Wong's claim she had been 'triggered' by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson's demand that Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi 'go back to Pakistan'.

Senator Hanson had made the comment in a tweet before doubling down on her attack on Tuesday when she offered to take Senator Faruqi 'to the airport'.

Senator Wong, who was born in Malaysia, condemned Senator Hanson's comments 'without reservation' in an emotionally charged speech.

She admitted she's still triggered by bigotry as she backed a parliamentary push to condemn Senator Hanson's speech.

The Indigenous politician from the Northern Territory made the comments during a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Sydney on Saturday

Senator Price said this racial sensitivity came despite Senator Wong becoming 'an 'expert on all things First Nation'

'I think they're appalling, and they're comments that have been levelled at me countless times since I arrived in this country, and I remember getting them as a kid in the schoolyard,' Senator Wong said.

Senator Price slammed her response before accusing the foreign affairs minister of being a hypocrite and acting like 'an expert on all things First Nation'.

'Despite the fact she lectures off on the floor of the Senate about what us Aboriginal folks really mean while simultaneously deriding me and our good friend and fellow hypocrite, Senator Thorpe, for calling Wong out for attempting to paint us both with the same brush because we're Aboriginal,' she said.

She also took issue with the recent push by the federal government to introduce a Voice to Parliament and Senator Wong's support for it.

She mocked Senator's Wong's claim she had been 'triggered' by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson's demand that Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi 'go back to Pakistan'

Senator Hanson had made the comment in a tweet before doubling down on her attack on Tuesday when she offered to take Senator Faruqi 'to the airport'

'I put it to Wong, and I don't think she liked it very much, but I did put it to her that perhaps we need to co-design an Asian Voice to Parliament,' Senator Price said.

'So, that policy that effects Asian-Australians can be their responsibility and any I time I need expert advice on how to better improve Wong's life I can just consult with the Asian Voice.'

Senator Price continued her strong campaign against the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament, which she labelled as 'insane' and an attempt to create 'racial separatism and a permanent victim category for those whose skin has 'brown tint'.

'We can't sit this out because we are scared of being vilified by name-calling woke bullies,' Senator Price said.

'We cannot have fear because fear creates an insidious vacuum for the insidious woke to occupy while spreading the divisive rhetoric and propaganda.

Together we can turn this nation back onto the path of common sense and sound thinking.

The Conservative Political Action Conference continued as protestors crowded outside of the venue

Police formed a line stopping demonstrators from entering the building as the conference carried on

'Every voice is a voice.'

Senator Price veered off in her speech to slam transgender activists and large people.

She called out the Left's ideology for promoting body positivity while allowing trans activists to continue 'playing God' and 'surgically remove healthy body parts'.

The Conservative Political Action Conference continued as protestors crowded outside of the venue.

Police were forced to separate CPAC attendees and media from a noisy but small group of protesters, who said they represented a 'coalition of left groups.

Protesters also attempted to break into the event by a back door but were stopped by running police. CPAC attendees gathered at the window as the protesters chanted 'f*** off fascists'.

Later there were some scuffles as police again herded the protest group away from the entrances when they attempted to march to the front door. Eventually the protest group retreated and there no arrests appeared to be made.
The United States Air Force has grounded more than 100 cargo planes amid concerns they were built with faulty propeller barrels that could crack and leak fluid.

The Air Force Mobility Command confirmed to Defense News that a large number of its C-130 Hercules cargo planes  which numbered 128 in the beginning of the fiscal year  are now unable to fly.

As of Tuesday, it said, 116 C-130 Hercules planes and even more of its variants were grounded as they investigate just how many are affected.

The propeller barrels in question were installed on 100 C-130Hs, as well as the entire inventories of eight MC-130H Combat Talons, seven EC 130H Compass Calls and one TC-130H, according to the unofficial Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page.

Mobility Command has since confirmed that the groundings are 'widespread' and will primarily affect the operations of the Air Force Reserves and the Air National Guard.

It remains unclear how long it will take for the Air Force to replace all of the affected propeller barrels.

The United States Air Force has grounded a large swath of its C-130H cargo planes amid concerns they were built with faulty propeller barrels that could crack and leak fluid

More than 100 C-130H plans (like the one pictured here) are now unable to fly, affecting the operations of the Air Force Reserves and the Air National Guard

The announcement comes after a maintenance crew at the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex in Georgia discovered a persistent leak coming from a C-130 H propeller while test running the plane's engine after it underwent maintenance.

Authorities told Defense News that the propeller assembly as then removed and sent to a propeller shop, where a technician found a crack in its barrel assembly.

Further inspections found two more propeller assemblies had the same problem, Mobility Command said, and it ordered an immediate inspection of all C-130 Hs with the older 54H6 model propellers, and conducted metallurgical reviews and stress analyses.

Mobility Command then issued another order to immediately replace the propellers, though a timeline has not yet been laid out.

It said that newer C-130Js and C-130Hs that have already had their propeller assemblies upgraded with the eight-bladed NP 2000 system are not affected by the defect.

Air Force Mobility Command is now investigating each plane, and it remains unclear how long it will take to replace all of the propeller barrels

The propeller barrels in question were installed on 100 C-130Hs, as well as the entire inventories of eight MC-130H Combat Talons, seven EC 130H Compass Calls and one TC-130H, according to the unofficial Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page

This is the second time in more than three years that the cargo planes have had to be grounded over issues with its propeller system.

In February 2019, the Air Force grounded 60 C-130Hs  at the time nearly one-third of the fleet  for several weeks due to concerns that their pre-1971 propeller blades could crack.

Those fears arose after a KC-130T crashed that killed 15 Marines and a sailor in 2017.

An investigation found that the crash was caused by a deteriorating propeller blade, which was already corroded when the plane entered an Air Force maintenance depot in 2011.

The corrosion eventually deteriorated into a crack, which doomed the aircraft.

In the aftermath, the Air Force looked into its propeller blade overhaul process while a senior review board convened to review the investigative findings of the crash, according to the Air Force Times.

It found there were 23 cases where propeller blades had any kind of intergranular cracks, almost all of which were manufactured before 1971  the year the Air Force switched to a different manufacturing process that resulted in more uniformly made, reliable propellers.

All of those older propellers have since been replaced.
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After months of tweets and teases, Elon Musk Tesla's new humanoid Optimus robot was slammed by AI and robotics experts during its unveiling on Friday.

Despite the high-octane lights and music that surrounded it, the company's human-shaped robot did not deliver bells and whistles at its AI Day presentation in Palo Alto, California.

'None of this is cutting edge,' tweeted robotics expert Cynthia Yeung. 'Hire some PhDs and go to some robotics conferences @Tesla.'

The robot was meant to be the star for the tech giant's conference, as Musk claimed it would 'be a fundamental transformation for civilization as we know it.'

'Optimus' emerged from behind a wall with two robotic hands in a heart shape that separated to reveal the robot that had garnered so much fanfare. The bot then awkwardly moved its hands and took its first steps to rabid applause from those in the Tesla audience.

The livestream from the conference then showed the bot wave to the crowd - which by this time was in raptures - and lift up both hands to do the 'raise the roof' dance move.

The fun-loving bot did not impress AI researcher Filip Piekniewski, who tweeted it was 'next level cringeworthy' and a 'complete and utter scam.'

Musk said it was the first time the bot had walked without a tether - to which Piekniewski wrote it would be 'good to test falling, as this thing will be falling a lot.'

The billionaire Tesla CEO said they're planning to sell the robot for 'probably less than $20,000.'

After months of tweets and teases, Elon Musk unveiled Tesla's new humanoid Optimus robot using the company's technology at their AI Day presentation

The robot - teased at last year's event by a person in a spandex costume - was the star for the tech giant, as Musk claimed it would 'be a fundamental transformation for civilization as we know it'

In a video from the AI Day, 'Optimus' is unveiled before moving its hands and then taking its first steps to rabid applause from those watching. The bot then waved to the crowd - which by this time was in raptures - and then lifts up both hands to 'raise the roof'

Musk told the crowd that this was the first time it had walked without a tether, according to The Verge . The billionaire Tesla CEO said they're planning to sell it for 'probably less than $20,000'

The company also showed assorted clips of the bot picking up boxes and doing other tasks.

The company's team claimed that the initial robot seen in the video had been developed in just six months.

Optimus has WiFi and LTE connectivity and runs on the company's autopilot software. Both its hands and knees are inspired by those of humans.

Tesla claims that Optimus can carry a 20-pound bag in one hand and has optimized joints.

Tesla on Friday morning shared a short clip of a pair of robotic hands making a heart shape. 'The hands of Optimus. That is not CGI,' the mogul tweeted in the afternoon.

The robot prototype has massive implications for everything from manufacturing to domestic life, the service industry, healthcare and more.

'If you say, what is the economy? At the foundation it is labor. So what happens when there is no shortage of labor?' Musk said onstage at last years AI Day. 'Is there any actual limit to the economy? Maybe not.'

Despite the high-octane lights and music that surrounded it, the company's human-shaped robot did not deliver bells and whistles at its AI Day presentation in Palo Alto, California. 'None of this is cutting edge,' tweeted robotics expert Cynthia Yeung. 'Hire some PhDs and go to some robotics conferences @Tesla.'

The robot was meant to be the star for the tech giant's conference, as Musk claimed it would 'be a fundamental transformation for civilization as we know it.' 'Optimus' emerged from behind a wall with two robotic hands in a heart shape that separated to reveal the robot that had garnered so much fanfare. The bot then awkwardly moved its hands and took its first steps to rabid applause from those in the Tesla audience

The tech company's humanoid Optimus robot - teased at last year's artificial intelligence event by a person in a spandex costume - is expected to be the star of Tesla AI Day. Tesla on Friday morning shared a short clip of a pair of robotic hands making a heart shape

Musk has been teasing Optimus in a wide range of ways over the last few months, on Twitter, in public statements and in an essay he penned for a publication in China

Musk tweeted this week: Note, this event is meant for recruiting AI & robotics engineers, so will be highly technical. As well as advanced chip & supercomputer engineers for next-gen training & inference.

The world's wealthiest person also replied to a tweet from someone who listed the following predicted reactions to Tesla AI Day:

'Media and analysts: Disappointing, a distraction. The masses: Can I fk it?. TSLAQ: Stock pump, Elons a fraud, also Im a virgin and I hate myself. AI/Robotics experts: (the sweat droplet emoji). $TSLA retail investors: (multiple sweat droplet emojis)'

Musk responded: Pretty much. AI/robotics engineers who understand what problems need to be solved will like what they see.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk (above) tweeted this week: Note, this event is meant for recruiting AI & robotics engineers, so will be highly technical. As well as advanced chip & supercomputer engineers for next-gen training & inference'

Whatever state the robot prototype is in, it has massive implications for everything from manufacturing to domestic life, the service industry, healthcare and more

'If you say, what is the economy? At the foundation it is labor. So what happens when there is no shortage of labor?' Musk said onstage at last years AI Day. 'Is there any actual limit to the economy? Maybe not'

Beyond the key topics below, and the ongoing legal saga over Musks desire to pull out of his planned $44 billion Twitter buyout, Wall Street and tech-watchers will be looking for any clues about Teslas financial health.

We think it will take a lot to divert attention away from the impending trial over Musk's proposed acquisition of Twitter, Garrett Nelson, vice president of equity research at CFRA Research, told IBD.

We expect the updates to be longer-term in focus, but investors will listen for any clues regarding its Q3 results, such as whether it has been adversely affected by operational and cost issues similar to those disclosed by Ford last week.

What do we know about Tesla Optimus? Originally called Tesla Bot, Elon Musk announced the humanoid robot at AI Day in August 2021 The robot would stand 5'8 and weigh 125 pounds It will move at 5 mph, deadlift 125 pounds and carry 45 pounds Tesla Optimus will have human-like hands and feet and sensors for eyes The bot will be 'friendly' to humans Humans will also be able to outrun and overpower the robots if needed The robot will be able to perform tasks that are repetitive or boring, but could also serve as a companion Tesla is set to unveil a prototype of the robot September 30 at AI Day Advertisement

Optimus, also known as Tesla Bot

The humanoid robot, which is intended for industrial and domestic uses, was first announced at AI Day in August 2021. More recently, Musk said people will be 'blown away' by it.

'Tesla Bots are initially positioned to replace people in repetitive, boring, and dangerous tasks. But the vision is for them to serve millions of households, such as cooking, mowing lawns, and caring for the elderly,' Musk wrote in the essay published in China Cyberspace magazine.

'The Tesla Bot is close to the height and weight of an adult, can carry or pick up heavy objects, walk fast in small steps, and the screen on its face is an interactive interface for communication with people.

The CEO confirmed that he's planning to focus on improving the bot's intelligence and solving the problem of large-scale production after revealing a prototype. The company's been on a hiring spree for robotics experts and today's event will serve as a recruitment tool.

'Thereafter, humanoid robots usefulness will increase yearly as production scales up and costs fall. In the future, a home robot may be cheaper than a car. Perhaps in less than a decade, people will be able to buy a robot for their parents as a birthday gift,' he said.

The Tesla bot, which would be 5'8 and weigh 125 pounds, is set to include the Autopilot computer used in the company's electric cars, which will allow the humanoid to recognize real-world objects, although the robot will have its own customized sensors and actuators.

It will also be able to 'deadlift' up to 150 pounds, carry 45 pounds, walk 5 miles per hour and have human-like hands plus visual sensors giving it the ability to 'see.'

However, building a functional humanoid robot that integrates AI capabilities is exceedingly difficult, and it remains to be seen how much Tesla has progressed.

We still have fundamental robotics technology gaps that need to be solved before we will see human level anything,' Will Jackson, CEO of robotics company Engineered Arts, told The Verge. Maybe Tesla [has] solved it  if they have, it will be an absolute game changer  however, it feels unlikely as it would be a great leap forward out of nowhere.

We expect the updates to be longer-term in focus, but investors will listen for any clues regarding its Q3 results, such as whether it has been adversely affected by operational and cost issues similar to those disclosed by Ford last week,' Garrett Nelson, vice president of equity research at CFRA Research, told IBD

Musk shared that Teslas AI team has a deadline of the end of this month for actually smart summon and auto park, which are both part of the tech firms Enhanced Autopilot. ABOVE: An employee drives a Tesla Motors Model S, equipped with Autopilot hardware and software, hands-free on a highway in Amsterdam, Netherlands

Full Self-Driving Beta

Musk recently shared that Teslas AI team has a deadline of the end of this month for actually smart summon and auto park, which are both part of the tech firms Enhanced Autopilot.

Summon is just what you think, the ability to have your Tesla come and find you from wherever its parked in a busy lot. While Autopark helps automatically parallel or perpendicular park your car, with a single touch, per the firms website.

The company will provide an update on the North American rollout of FSD Beta - which is available at an extra cost after owners have achieved a high safety score - the overall development of the autonomous driving technology and what to expect in the next version.

'FSD is a key part of the Tesla growth story over the next decade and this is a pivotal event ... to lay out technology enhancements and improvements over the next year,' Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said in a note previewing the event.

At last years AI event, Musk unveiled the Dojo supercomputer chip, which delivers what the company has called breakthrough computational performance to power Teslas cars

On Thursday, Musk claimed the companys Cybertruck will have capabilities on water as well as land. Cybertruck will be waterproof enough to serve briefly as a boat, so it can cross rives, lakes and even seas that arent too choppy, the billionaire wrote on Twitter. ABOVE: The Tesla Cybertruck is seen at the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles

Dojo Supercomputer

At last years AI event, Musk unveiled the Dojo supercomputer chip, which delivers what the company has called breakthrough computational performance to power Teslas cars.

This was entirely designed by Tesla team internally. All the way from the architecture to the package. This chip is like GPU-level compute with a CPU level flexibility and twice the network chip level IO bandwidth. A Tesla engineer said at the time.

Tesla announced at the 2021 AI Day that its Dojo supercomputer will be powered by its in-house D1 chips

Now, Tesla is expected to use the Dojo system to train its own neural networks to perfect self-driving and potentially even make the technology available to other developers in the future.

Cybertruck

On Thursday, Musk claimed the companys much-delayed Cybertruck will have capabilities on water as well as land.

Cybertruck will be waterproof enough to serve briefly as a boat, so it can cross rives, lakes and even seas that arent too choppy, the billionaire wrote on Twitter.

Needs be able to get from Starbase to South Padre Island, which requires crossing the channel, Musk explained.

He made a similar claim about the vehicle in 2020.

Early this year, it was revealed that Tesla had quietly removed the promise of 2022 production from its website, having originally pushed back the vehicle debut from 2021.

Still, Musk seems committed to the futuristic, CGI-in-real-life vehicle.
Vice President Kamala Harris was slammed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' rapid response director Christina Pushaw after the former senator made racially charged comments regarding the release of federal relief funds following Hurricane Ian.

Speaking at the Democratic National Committee's Women's Leadership Forum on Friday, Harris said that it was people of color and lower-income communities who are 'most impacted by these extreme [weather] conditions.'

The devastation inflicted on Florida came into focus a day after Ian struck as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane, one of the strongest storms ever to hit the U.S.

It flooded homes on both the states coasts, cut off the only road access to a barrier island, destroyed a historic waterfront pier and knocked out electricity to 2.67 million Florida homes and businesses  nearly a quarter of utility customers.

Harris, 57, was discussing climate change with actress Priyanka Chopra in Washington, DC when she made her comments.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the Democratic National Committee's Women's Leadership Forum in Washington, DC

Harris, 57, was discussing climate change with actress Priyanka Chopra when she made her controversial comments

Harris said of the relief: 'We have to address this in a way that is about giving resources based on equity, understanding that we fight for equality, but we also need to fight for equity'

The vice president continued: 'I know we are all thinking about the families in Florida and Puerto Rico with [Hurricane] Fiona and what we need to do to help them in terms of an immediate response and aid.'

She went on: 'We have to address this in a way that is about giving resources based on equity, understanding that we fight for equality, but we also need to fight for equity.'

Harris added: 'Understanding not everyone starts out at the same place, and if we want people to be in an equal place, sometimes we have to take into account those disparities.'

Just a few hours later, Pushaw took Harris to task over her comments. She tweeted: 'This is false. @VP's rhetoric is causing undue panic and must be clarified. FEMA Individual Assistance is already available to all Floridians impacted by Hurricane Ian, regardless of race or background.'

Pushaw went on to encourage her followers who need assistance in the wake of the hurricane to call 1-800-621-3362 or log on to Disasterassistance.gov.

Pushaw, who formerly worked as DeSantis' press secretary, followed up her original message saying: 'The @VP needs to correct what she said as well. A real journalist would simply ask her to clarify what she meant by those comments and why she misrepresented the relief effort.'

The world's wealthiest man, Elon Musk, joined in on calling out Harris.

The world's wealthiest man, Elon Musk weighed in on Harris' comments

He commented on Ryan Fournier, the founder of Students for Trump's, tweet about Harris. Musk said that relief should be dispensed 'according to greatest need, not race or anything else.'

Fournier had tweeted: 'You can't make this up. Kamala Harris said the administration will be giving hurricane resources 'based on equity' by directing funds to 'communities of color.' I guess everyone else is just screwed.'

Later on her Twitter feed, Pushaw announced that Florida's First Lady, Casey DeSantis, had awarded $1 million from Florida's Disaster Fund to qualifying organizations, who are helping victims.

You can donate to the fund here.

Earlier this week, Harris was in South Korea visiting the DMZ border that separates the south from the north on the peninsula

Vice President Harris met South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol - the pair issued a joint statement condemning the missile launches from North Korea that took place during the visit

Already this week Harris made headlines while on a visit to South Korea for the wrong reasons when she mistakenly touted the 'strong alliance' that the US has with the 'Republic of North Korea.'

North Korea fired missiles before and after Harris' visit to the peninsula, extending a record pace in weapons testing this year as it increases the threat of a credible nuclear power that can strike the United States and its allies.

Pyongyang also conducted the first intercontinental ballistic missile test for the first time since 2017.

Nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches by North Korea have long been banned by the United Nations Security Council.

Despite these gaffes, President Joe Biden said at an event in the White House on Friday that: 'Kamala won't be the last woman to be vice president - or president.'

While on his popular HBO show on Friday, Bill Maher said that he could see Biden replacing Harris on the ticket.

The liberal comic and political commentator said: 'What I could see is replacing the vice president She's just not very popular, anywhere. And it didn't seem to work out. I don't know, that's been done before on a ticket.'

Later in the show, Maher said: 'I just think she's a bad politician.'

He went on: 'But I could see them doing that, because a lot of the problem with Biden being old is, oh, if he dies, then you know, you're going to get this person.'

At the Democratic National Committee's Women's Leadership Forum, Priyanka Chopra joked: 'Do you hear that sound? That is the sound of no mansplaining, ladies'

Harris also said at the Democratic National Committee's Women's Leadership Forum: 'If there were ever any reason for this group to exist in recent memory, the moment is now.'

'We have got to do everything we can in the next 39 days to remind people what is at stake in these elections,' she said during a panel moderated by Chopra.

Chopra started the session with a jab at men patronizing women. Pointing to the silence in the room, she joked 'Do you hear that sound? That is the sound of no mansplaining, ladies.'

Earlier this month, President Joe Biden vowed that Democrats would codify the right to an abortion into law if two more Democratic senators are elected to the U.S. Senate in the Nov. 8 mid-terms, saying it would open the possibility of removing the filibuster, a legislative roadblock which requires a 60-vote majority to overcome.

The Senate is now evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, with Harris' tie-breaking vote as vice president giving Democrats thin control.

But two Democratic senators have opposed ending the filibuster.

Abortion has become a major issue for voters across the country after the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision in June overturned the right to have an abortion enshrined nearly 50 years earlier in Roe v. Wade.

Nearly half of states have banned, placed limits on, or attempted to ban abortion. Some Republicans, such as Senator Lindsey Graham earlier this month, have proposed a national ban on abortions after 15 weeks, or within the second trimester of a pregnancy.
A retired police inspector, who is a close confidant of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, is being paid more than $242,000 by the city - making him one of its highest paid employees.

Timothy Pearson was put on the payroll of the city's economic development corporation by Adams on May 31, while retaining his prior job as head of security at the city's only casino.

In addition to holding the simultaneous positions, he is also vying for one of three newly available, full-scale casino licenses, which would allow it to expand from electronic games to become a full-service casino.

Adams has previously refused to disclose Pearson's city salary - which is typically public information - but figures obtained by the New York Times revealed he earns just a few hundred dollars under the chief executive of the corporation.

The president and chief executive officer of the economic development corporation, Andrew Kimball, who has previously declined to answer questions about Pearson's salary, earns $243,170, while Pearson earns $242,600.

The organization's chief operating officer, Melissa Burch, who has close to 20 years experience, earns $212,000, according to the records.

Adams earns about $258,000 a year as mayor, while Deputy mayors in his administration earn $252,000.

Records reveal that Timothy Pearson is earning $242,600, a figure which makes him one of the highest paid employees in the city government

Adams (center) has previously refused to disclose Pearson's city salary (second to left of Adams), which is typically public information

Pearson (second from left) retired from the New York Police Department in 2011 and was a close confidant of Adams when they worked there together

In August it was revealed that Pearson, who had retired from the New York Police Department in 2011, was simultaneously working for the city, a private casino company and collecting his police pension.

It is illegal for city officials to receive a city salary and city pension at the same time, according to state law.

Pearson, however, was able to collect both his salary and his $124,000 annual Police Department pension because he is on the payroll of the development corporation, which is a nonprofit controlled by the mayor.

A spokesman for the mayor, Fabien Levy, told the New York Times that Pearson's decades of public safety experience 'make him uniquely qualified' for his city job.

City officials say his title is 'senior adviser to the mayor for public safety and Covid recovery,' and that his responsibilities include working with law enforcement, advising the mayor on Covid recovery, interfacing with the business community, and working on a plan to keep city schools open.

Adams' hiring practices have come under fire from Government watchdog groups with John Kaehny, the executive director of Reinvent Albany, a good-government group saying his behavior is a 'mockery.'

'What the mayor is doing is making a mockery out of hiring based on professional qualification and expertise,' he said.

'This is patronage and cronyism, and it undermines the professionalism of city government.'

Adams hiring practices have come under fire from Government watchdog groups with some calling it a 'mockery'

In August, it was revealed that Pearson had been simultaneously working for the city, a private casino company and collecting his police pension

The now-former Resorts World Casino employer is vying for one of three newly available, full-scale casino licenses

Pearson served on the police force with the mayor and is one of Adams's closest confidants.

Among the records obtained by the New York Times was a handwritten request submitted by Pearson to hold a second job. The request was dated June 1, the day after he began his city job.

The Economic Development Corporation approved Pearson's request on July 28 on the conditions that he would not use city time or resources for his casino job or disclose any confidential information.

In the request to keep the casino job Pearson estimated that he was earning $100 an hour and said he would work there primarily nights and weekends.

He did not indicate whether he was paid an annual salary or on an hourly basis.
President Joe Biden banned cameras from his bill signing on Friday to name a Veterans Affairs clinic in memory of late Rep. Jackie Walorski who died last month.

The move comes just two days after the president, 79, erroneously called out for Walorski at a speech in Washington on Wednesday.

White House officials stumbled to spin the latest of the president's gaffes in the immediate aftermath, with Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying that the Indiana congresswoman was just on the 'top' of Biden's mind because of the bill signing.

She said at the time that Biden 'very much looks forward to discussing her remarkable legacy of public service with them when he sees her family this coming Friday.'

The White House was also scheduled to play a video tribute to Walorski during the event.

But on Friday, Jean-Pierre seemed to take a different approach, saying it was a private moment between the president, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Walorski's friends and family.

'As you all know, we don't put every bill signing on the schedule,' she told reporters, adding: 'As you could imagine, this is a personal moment that the president was doing.

'Like I mentioned in the briefing a couple of days ago, the president has been looking forward to hosting the late representatives' family and other lawmakers to honor her legacy.'

President Joe Biden banned camera from a bill signing to rename a Veterans Affairs clinic in memory of a late congresswoman on Friday, just days after he erroneously called out for her

Walorski, who was 58 at the time of her death, was among four people killed in a head-on collision on August 3, 2022 when returning from a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Claypool, Indiana. She is pictured here with her husband

Walorski, who was 58 at the time of her death, was among four people killed in a head-on collision on August 3, 2022 when returning from a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Claypool, Indiana.

The driver of the other vehicle, as well as two staffers in the lawmaker's office, also died. Communications director, Emma Thomson, 28, and her district director, Zachery Potts, 27, both lost their lives.

Biden released a statement on Walorski's passing at the time and announced that White House flags would fly at half-staff in her honor.

But he seemed to have forgotten all about that when addressing the crowd gathered for the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.

The president thanked lawmakers for their work on a plan to end hunger in the U.S. by 2030, when he suddenly asked where Walorski was located.

'Jackie, are you here?' Biden said, interrupting his own remarks.

'Where's Jackie? She must not be here,' Biden concluded.

Biden, 79, named the late congresswoman while thanking lawmakers from both parties for their efforts in helping his plan to end hunger in the United States

The White House soon launched a confusing and nonsensical explanation for why the president was looking for the late representative, as Jean-Pierre repeatedly claimed that the president did not forget that Walorski was dead.

She insisted that it's 'not unusual' for people to say the names of deceased individuals when they are 'at top of mind,' a phrase she continued to repeat throughout her briefing Wednesday during questions from multiple outlets including CNN, CBS and The Washington Post.

'I don't find that confusing,' she said when asked if having her at 'top of mind' also means that the president thinks Walorski is living and in the room.

'I mean I think many people can speak to sometimes when you have people top of mind, they are top of mind,' she said.

The reporter then got snarky with Jean-Pierre, looking for an answer by saying: 'I have John Lennon top of mind just about every day but I'm not looking around for him.'

'When you sign a bill for John Lennon as president then we can have this conversation,' she said, launching the briefing room into confusion and shouting over each other.

Jean-Pierre repeatedly said that Joe Biden was only calling out for late Representative Jackie Walorski on Wednesday because she was 'at top of mind' due to the upcoming bill signing

The botched excuse ended up garnering even more negative attention than the initial remarks from Biden.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's Press Secretary Doug Adres seemed exacerbated with the way Jean-Pierre handled the gaffe, tweeting: 'just admit he misspoke!! good grief'.

A spokesperson for Texas Senator Ted Cruz said the day will go down in history as the first time members of the press recognized Biden is mentally unfit.

'Remember where you where on September 28,2022,' Steve Guest tweeted. 'It's the day it finally became ok for the White House Press pool to acknowledge that Joe Biden is senile.'

'I think the American people out there who, you know, watch the briefing from time to time, maybe at this moment, will understand when someone is at top of mind,' Jean-Pierre said.

'I don't think it's all that unusual to have someone top of mind, especially as there's a big event  two big events  today and also Friday that is going to occur,' she said. 'And so he is going to see her family, they're going to honor her, they're going to celebrate her.'

Following her death last month, the president ordered flag to half mass. The 56-year-old congresswoman is seen here with family members

Biden and first lady Jill released a statement in August following the death of Walorski and her two staff members

Meanwhile, Keith Walorski, Jackie's brother, said that he was not angry at the president for the gaffe and added that he spoke with Biden following the deadly crash last month.

Instead, Keith said he pitied the president - claiming that Biden is 'doing the best he can do with what he's got right now.

He added that it's 'par for the course' for the 79-year-old.

Keith did acknowledge, however, that 'a nice way of putting it' is that Biden is forgetful, due to his age.

Walorski told the New York Post: 'I don't think anybody would look at the things that he's done and said and say that his mind is as sharp as it used to be.'

The late Representative's brother noted that Biden was 'very sincere' when he called the family after his sister was killed, noting that Biden himself has been through that process.

'All I'm saying right now about the president is bless his heart for trying. Yeah, it was a big mess-up today. Inexcusable? No. Unforgivable? No. I'm not gonna hold it against him. I just feel sorry for him.'
Families have lashed out at cruise liners for cancelling their holidays last minute because of strict Covid vaccination rules.

Nestor Timoteo and his family had booked a holiday seven months in advance with Carnival Splendor - which is operated by Carnival Cruise Line.

They were informed they would have to be vaccinated prompting Mr Timoteo, his wife Karina, mother-in-law Gloria and sons Lucas and Gabrielle to get their shots.

Nestor Timoteo and his family had booked a holiday seven months in advance with Carnival Splendor - which is operated by Carnival Cruise Line

Mr Timoteo said he received a message days before departure saying their booking had been cancelled because their 18-month-old daughter Lucy wasn't vaccinated.

'They said, 'Your booking is cancelled because you have an unvaccinated person in your group',' Nestor told A Current Affair.

'I said, 'Who's that?' They said, 'Your 18-month-old baby'.'

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation advises children between six months and five years of age who are at risk of severe disease get the jab.

ATAGI does not recommend children who are otherwise healthy to receive the vaccine.

Another family said their holiday was also cancelled because their seven-year-old autistic son was not vaccinated.

Anthony and his wife Diane have both received two doses of the vaccine but decided to not get their son Leo vaccinated for several reasons.

He is under the age of 12, has already been infected with Covid and his parents didn't feel comfortable with him receiving the vaccine.

'We didn't think Leo needed a vaccination based on the rules they had set on their site, at the time, otherwise we wouldn't have booked it,' Anthony said.

Carnival CEO Marguerite Fitzgerald said 95 per cent of passengers must be vaccinated and that the conditions are clearly stated on the website.

'Vaccine exemptions are limited to a small number of guests under the age of 12 and teens/adults with medical conditions preventing vaccination,' the website reads.

Carnival CEO Marguerite Fitzgerald said 95 per cent of passengers must be vaccinated and that the conditions are clearly stated on the website

'Guests requesting a medical exemption will need to present evidence of a medical need at time of check-in.'

Ms Fitzgerald said the policy had been agreed on by states such as New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia.

She noted the school holiday season meant the five per cent cap for unvaccinated travellers filled up quickly meaning some families would miss out.

Carnival Australia spokesman David Jones told Daily Mail Australia the policies were developed between state and federal governments and in conjunction with the cruise industry.

'We are naturally disappointed for guests whose cruise holiday plans have been affected and apologise to them most sincerely for the disruption,' he said.

'Under the protocols, 95 per cent of guests must be vaccinated with the remaining five per cent accounting for guests with a medical exemption from vaccination and unvaccinated children under the age of 12.

'Cruise lines cannot exceed the five per cent threshold. The combination of strong demand for cruising following restart and the school holidays has led to a situation where some bookings could not be satisfied.'
The 19-year-old will face Midland Magistrates Court on Friday

WA police they were approached on their way home by a man in a grey Toyota

The children all under 13 were approached on separate occasions in Ellenbrook

19-year-old man alleged to entice three school children into a car is arrested

A man who allegedly tried to entice three children into a car as they came home from school has been arrested and charged in Perth's north-eastern suburbs.

The children, who are all under the age of 13, were approached in separate incidents between 2.40pm and 3pm on September 22 in Ellenbrook.

WA Police allege the children were making their way home when they were allegedly approached by a man who tried to entice them into a grey Toyota.

Police are also investigating a fourth incident that occurred at 11am the same day.

In that incident a man got out of his car and approached a two-year-old child at Stanbury Park playground, Ellenbrook.

A 19-year-old man was later located by police at a home in Ellenbrook and charged with three counts of breach of protective bail conditions.

Police are investigating a fourth incident that occurred at 11am the same day where a man got out of his car and approached a two-year-old child at Stanbury Park playground, Ellenbrook (pictured)

He will face Midland Magistrates Court on Friday.

Child Abuse Squad detective sergeant Andrew Broadley urged locals in the area to talk to their children as police believe there may be more unreported incidents.

'We are cognisant of the fact that other children may have been approached who haven't told their parents,' he said.

'We urge the local community to have conversations with their children, because there may be other unreported incidents.'

He also urged parents to have conversations with their children on what to do if they were approached by a stranger.

The series of incidents remain under investigation by detectives from the Child Abuse Squad.

Police have urged anyone who spotted a man driving a grey Toyota Corolla in the areas around Ellenbrook or The Vines, specifically around Stanbury Crescent and Delapre Rd, to contact police.
A knife-wielding man was heard shouting 'shoot me' to police before he was gunned down after allegedly threatening officers on a street in a popular Queensland tourist town.

A 24-year-old Western Australian, who was working in Townsville, died after he was shot in Airlie Beach, in the Whitsundays, just after midnight on Saturday.

Police allege he was armed with a knife and had threatened them before the shots were fired.

Two mates Budd Norris and Kade Luck were on a night out in the popular town when they heard the fatal shots ring out.

A 24-year-old Western Australian, who was working in Townsville, died after he was shot in Airlie Beach, in the Whitsundays, just after midnight on Saturday (police are seen at the scene)

They said they saw the man run across the road with 'a knife in his hand'.

'He's like ''shoot me, shoot me'' and he's just decided to run at them (the officers),' Mr Norris told the Courier Mail.

'How many times in Australia do you see that?' Mr Luck said.

The witnesses said they heard police tell the man to put the knife down and fire a warning shot as he ran towards the officers.

'And then ''bang bang'' after he kept coming at them,' Mr Luck said.

The pair thought fireworks had gone off in the street.

Kade Luck (pictured) witnessed the incident unfold and said the man had said 'shoot me' to police

Bystanders are seen on the street after gunshots rang out through the popular nightclub district

Police alleged the man threatened officers, advancing on them on Shute Harbour Road at 12.20am, before he was shot up to five times.

The officers at the scene provided first aid and the man was taken to Proserpine Hospital - but died soon after.

A crime scene has been established and inquiries are continuing with the incident to be investigated by the Ethical Standards Command with oversight by the Crime and Corruption Commission.

A man who was filming himself eating a kebab nearby managed to catch the gunshots on video.

A man who was filming himself eating a kebab nearby managed to catch the gunshots on video

Several shots can be heard fired, with the man repeatedly exclaiming 'they just f**king shot him'.

It is understood the knife allegedly used had a 4-5cm blade and a black handle.

Queensland Police Superintendent Graeme Paine said the man had 'advanced' towards the officers who withdrew their firearms.

He warned against carrying a knife in a public space, where people are consuming alcohol.

'I do want to highlight the dangers of carrying a knife at any time in a public place - it is a defence in certain circumstances,' Supt Paine said.

'But to carry a knife in a precinct that is a dynamic place, where there are people consuming alcohol, it really does pose significant threat to the public - including the police who are there trying to maintain the safety of everyone.'

Supt Paine said police had spoken to the man's family in WA, adding it was 'tragic' for his loved ones and for the officers involved.

Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers said the use of a taser was 'not possible' during the incident.

The incident was captured on CCTV and police are investigating.

It's unclear the man was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
A gun-obsessed young man has been charged with multiple child abuse offences after he allegedly bought child exploitation material from a teenager.

Harrison Anthoney William Wride, 22, was arrested at his home in Forrestfield in Perth's southeast in August, following a tip-off to the AFP from the United States' National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

Police raided his home and allegedly found child abuse material on electronic devices.

Wride had allegedly bought self-produced child exploitation material from a teenager in Perth, the AFP said.

Harrison Anthoney William Wride, 22, was arrested at his home in Forrestfield in Perth's southeast in August and has been charged with child abuse offences

Wride had allegedly bought self-produced child exploitation material from a teenager in Perth, the AFP said

His charges included one count of possessing child abuse material, one count of using a carriage service to access child abuse material, and engaging in sexual activity using a carriage service with a child under 16.

Wride faced court on Friday and will next appear in November.

His Instagram is filled with photos of him shooting various guns.

He describes himself as a 'gun enthusiast' a 'professional f**khead' and a 'film buff' in his bio.

The 22-year-old describes himself as a 'gun enthusiast' a 'professional f**khead' and a 'film buff' in his Instagram bio

In one photo he's seen in a clown mask with a gun in his hands.

AFP Detective Superintendent Graeme Marshall said the AFP worked closely with its counterparts both domestically and internationally to combat the exploitation and abuse of children.

'Our common goal is to protect children, wherever they live, and ensure anyone who tries to harm them is identified and brought before the courts.

'The AFP works tirelessly with the WA Police Force, domestic and international partners to keep children safe and will prosecute anyone who is preying on them.'
It came after Putin signed treaties to absorb Ukrainian territory into Russia

Zaporizhzhia plant has been repeatedly caught in crossfire of the war in Ukraine

Ukraine has accused Russian troops of kidnapping the head of Europe's largest nuclear power plant.

Russian forces allegedly seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov, at around 4pm on Friday, Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom said.

That was just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a sharp escalation of his war, signed treaties to absorb Moscow-controlled Ukrainian territory into Russia.

Energoatom said Russian troops stopped Murashov's car, blindfolded him and then took him to an undisclosed location.

'His detention by (Russia) jeopardizes the safety of Ukraine and Europe's largest nuclear power plant,' said Energoatom President Petro Kotin.

Kotin demanded that Russia immediately release Murashov. Russia did not immediately acknowledge seizing the plant director.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, which has staff at the plant, did not immediately acknowledge Energoatom's claim of Murashov's capture.

Russian forces allegedly seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov (pictured), at around 4pm on Friday, Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom said

Energoatom said Russian troops stopped Murashov's car, blindfolded him and then took him to an undisclosed location

The Zaporizhzhia plant (above) repeatedly has been caught in the crossfire of the war in Ukraine

The Zaporizhzhia plant repeatedly has been caught in the crossfire of the war in Ukraine.

Ukrainian technicians continued running it after Russian troops seized the power station.

The plant's last reactor was shut down in September amid ongoing shelling near the facility.

On Friday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the war in Ukraine was at 'a pivotal moment.'

He called Putin's decision to take over more territory - Russia now claims sovereignty over 15 per cent of Ukraine - 'the largest attempted annexation of European territory by force since the Second World War.'

Elsewhere in Ukraine, however, a Ukrainian counteroffensive that last month embarrassed the Kremlin by liberating a region bordering Russia was on the verge of retaking more ground, according to military analysts.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Ukraine likely will retake another key Russian-occupied city in the country's east in the next few days.

Ukrainian forces already have encircled the city of Lyman, some 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.

Vladimir Putin speaks as Leonid Pasechnik, leader of self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, left, Denis Pushilin, leader of self-proclaimed of the Donetsk People's Republic, second left, Moscow-appointed head of Kherson Region Vladimir Saldo, second right, and Moscow-appointed head of Zaporizhzhia region Yevgeny Balitsky, right, stand near him

The four Ukrainian regions Putin seeks to steal are Luhansk and Donetsk, in the east, and Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, in the south, but his armed forces are not in full control and fighting is continuing across all of them

Citing Russian reports, the institute said it appeared Russian forces were retreating from Lyman.

That corresponds to online videos purportedly showing some Russian forces falling back as a Ukrainian soldier said they had reached Lyman's outskirts.

The Ukrainian military has yet to claim taking Lyman and Russia-backed forces claimed they were sending more troops to the area.

Ukraine also is making 'incremental' gains around Kupiansk and the eastern bank of the Oskil River, which became a key front line since the Ukrainian counteroffensive regained control of the Kharkiv region in September.

Ukraine's military claimed on Saturday that Russia would need to deploy cadets before they complete their training because of a lack of manpower in the war.

Putin ordered a mass mobilization of Russian army reservists last week to supplement his troops in Ukraine, and thousands of men have fled the country to avoid the call-up.

The Ukrainian military's general staff said cadets at the Tyumen Military School and at the Ryazan Airborne School would be sent to participate in Russia's mobilization.

Thousands of Russian troops are either partially or full encircled in Lyman, a city in the Donetsk region that Putin now claims is part of Russia - meaning they could be killed or captured in the coming hours

It offered no details on how it gathered the information, though Kyiv has electronically intercepted mobile phone calls from Russian soldiers amid the conflict.

In a daily intelligence briefing, the British Defense Ministry highlighted an attack Friday in the city of Zaporizhzhia that killed 30 people and wounded 88 others.

The British military said the Russians 'almost certainly' struck a humanitarian convoy there with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles.

Russia is increasingly using anti-aircraft missiles to conduct attacks on the ground likely due to a lack of munitions, the British said Saturday.

'Russia's stock of such missiles is highly likely limited and is a high-value resource designed to shoot down modern aircraft and incoming missiles, rather than for use against ground targets,' the British said.

'Its use in ground attack role has almost certainly been driven by overall munitions shortages, particularly longer-range precision missiles.'

The British briefing noted the attack came while Putin was preparing to sign the annexation treaties.

'Russia is expending strategically valuable military assets in attempts to achieve tactical advantage and in the process is killing civilians it now claims are its own citizens,' it said.
British political commentator Nigel Farage has been labelled 'far-right scum' in an explosive confrontation with a left-wing protester after speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Sydney.

Mr Farage, who is best known for being the leader of the pro-Brexit UKIP party in Britain, was confronted by a furious young man after the conference on Saturday afternoon.

The man, donning a black face mask, accused Mr Farage of being 'racist, Islamophobic and anti-queer' while telling him 'fascists aren't welcome here'.

The commentator asked the man to define fascism before the man replied 'far-right scum like yourself'.

The pair argued for a few minutes, with both struggling to get their point across as they spoke over the top of each other.

British political commentator Nigel Farage has been labelled 'far-right scum' in an explosive confrontation with a left-wing protester after speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Sydney.

'People like you who talk about discrimination, who talk about prejudice, actually you are the ones with the prejudice,' Mr Farage told the young man.

'You can't have a debate with me without swearing and being abusive.'

He then accused the young man of not having an argument, and bluntly asked him 'are you morally superior?'.

'I respect your right to have a different opinion but you can't have a debate,' Mr Farage said.

The young man then responded saying he wasn't there to have a debate but was there to protest.

Mr Farage, who is best known for being the leader of the pro-Brexit UKIP party in Britain, was confronted by a furious young man after the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Sydney on Saturday afternoon

'I think you should get out of Sydney!' he shouted as the commentator walked off, before chanting 'racist bigots, anti-queer, fascists are not welcome here'.

Mr Farage laughed as he walked off, telling the man he needed 'genuine mental help', and shared footage of the bizarre clash to his Twitter account.

'Just had a heated verbal altercation with this left wing protester. He was talking nonsense!' he tweeted.

Mr Farage had earlier taken aim at former prime minister Scott Morrison, calling him a 'gutless coward' and saying Aussie conservative politicians had shown 'a total lack of courage' in the past few years.

Former Liberal prime minister Mr Morrison was 'bullied' into signing up to the UN COP 26 goals of cutting greenhouse gas emissions at the globals leaders meeting held in Glasgow in late 2021, Mr Farage said.

'C'mon COP 26 what was that about?' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'You turn up and you get bullied with other world leaders into committing your country into something with other world leaders without a proper debate, if that's not gutless, what is?'

Mr Farage said to be the 'odd man out on the global stage took courage'.

Mr Farage had earlier taken aim at former prime minister Scott Morrison, calling him a 'gutless coward' and saying Aussie conservative politicians had shown 'a total lack of courage' in the past few years

'It's amazing on the world stage time and time again how individual leaders get bullied into positions that they didn't really want.'

He said COP 26 was 'evidence', Mr Morrison was a 'coward'.

Mr Farage said he did not think Mr Morrison was alone and cited a lack of courage from the party he led, the Liberals, and their coalition partners the Nationals.

'They think "what we'll do is play the Labor-lite game, what we'll do is get those Teal votes back" - but they aren't coming back,' Mr Farage said.

The Teals are the climate activist MPs that claimed a number of previously blue ribbon Liberal seats in affluent areas at the last federal election.

Mr Farage said it's been common among conservative politicians around the world, including in his own country under former Conservative Party Prime Minister Boris Johnson, to move towards 'Social Democrat centralism'.

'It is a very comfortable place to be because you will get invited to all the nice dinner parties and life won't be difficult,' Mr Farage said.

'What they need to do is say ''actually what we are going to do is take a moral stance, a strong moral stance and on many, many of these cultural issues".'

Protesters are seen outside the CPAC forum on Saturday afternoon

'Yes, we'll get abused, there'll be protesters and yes people will say horrible things on Twitter but that's the courage I am talking about.'

He admitted many did not have the 'qualities' to show such bravery but there would be an electoral reward if they did.

'I believe and what I have seen around the western world is when conservative leaders do that (show courage)  guess what they win elections,' he said.

Mr Farage spoke to a friendly audience on Saturday afternoon, who were gathered to attend the two-day conservative CPAC forum held in Sydney's Darling Harbour International Convention Centre.

Police at one stage had to separate CPAC attendees and media representatives who had wandered into the rally and received a hostile reception.

Protesters also ran to get through a back entrance of the centre but were blocked by police who again shepherded them away when they tried to march on the building's main entrance changing 'F**k off fascists'.
United States President Joe Biden on Friday calls out Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Nord Stream pipeline leak, calling it a "deliberate act of sabotage."

On Friday, the Democratic leader accused Russia and Putin of spreading misinformation and lies regarding the issue but did not directly accuse Moscow of being responsible for the leaks. Biden's remarks are the first time that he has directly asserted that the pipeline's leaks are a result of sabotage and not merely an accident.

Nord Stream Pipeline Leaks

The remarks also push back against Russia's narrative about the incident in the middle of Moscow's alleged efforts to claim more of Ukraine's territory. The leaks were discovered on Monday, prompting investigations by European authorities that determined powerful underwater explosions occurred just before the pipelines burst in multiple places.

The Democratic president said that the United States is working with its allies to determine precisely what happened with the pipelines. Biden said he has already directed resources to assist allies and enhance the protection of the pipelines, which are responsible for funneling gas from Russia into the European Union, as per CNN.

Biden also said that the time is right and when things calm down, they would be sending the divers down to figure out exactly what happened with the pipelines. Western nations continue to claim that the leaks in Nord Stream 1 and 2 are most likely the result of sabotage.

However, up to this moment, US officials have been mostly circumspect compared to their European counterparts in drawing conclusions about the incident. On Friday, Putin claimed, "Anglo-Saxons" were responsible for the explosions, saying that sanctions were not enough and the Anglo-Saxons switched to sabotage.

According to Yahoo News, the situation comes as Tucker Carlson, the host of Fox News, citing the allegations of Russia damaging its own pipelines, criticized Putin if he actually did order the explosions.

Read Also: Russia Hits Ukraine with Multiple Missile Attacks: 23 Dead in Zaporizhzhia, 1 Fatality and 53 Burned Buses Recorded in Dnipro

Vladimir Putin's Threats

Carlson pointed to Biden's remarks from February, where the Democratic leader opposed the activation of the pipeline. At the time, the US president said that if Putin invades, there will no longer be a Nord Stream 2, and the American government will put an end to it.

The remarks were made as the US sought to tighten its economic pressure on Russia before the war on Ukraine started. Carlson then misconstrued the remarks and twisted them into Biden saying, "We will blow it up."

Soon after Carlson's remarks, the claim was then promoted by far-right influencers in the United States and pushed by the network of Russian state media networks, despite the lack of credible evidence that US warships or operatives had taken part in the incident.

The pipeline situation comes as Biden also warned Putin against making any threat to NATO territory as the Russian president escalates his war against Ukraine. The US president said that America is fully prepared, along with its NATO allies, to defend every single inch of NATO territory.

Biden's remarks were made hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his country is submitting an "accelerated" application to join the military alliance. The US president added that NATO will not be intimidated by Putin and his "reckless words and threats," CNBC reported.

Related Article: Vladimir Putin To Proclaim Annexation of Russian-Controlled Areas in Ukraine; How Will It Impact The War?

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The landlady likened the violent attack to the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Psycho

A knife-wielding lodger who attacked her terrified landlady in a Psycho-style attack has been jailed for more than four years.

Raquel Villa-Rodriguez, 49, grabbed the sharpest knife she could find from the kitchen and cut her landlady's face and neck while pinning her down on the sofa.

The woman, who was lodging in an Oxford home, was jailed for four-and-a-half years following the attack that the victim likened to the Alfred Hitchcock thriller.

Appearing at court via videolink from prison, she pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent and causing actual bodily harm.

Villa-Rodriguez had been told that she was no longer welcome in the older landlady's house due to concerns about her wild behaviour and excessive drinking problem.

Raquel Villa-Rodriguez (pictured), 49, was jailed for four-and-a-half years after attacking her terrified landlady in Psycho-style knife frenzy

But on May 21, after coming back to the house following an overseas trip to see her unwell parents in Spain, she showed the landlady 'horror film' photos while shouting in Spanish, the Oxford Mail reports.

Prosecutor Matthew Walsh said: 'In her statement she describes [it] being like the image from the film Psycho in the way she was holding the knife and moving it.'

The landlady, appearing as a witness at Oxford Crown Court on Friday, said that the 'worst scars are in my mind'.

'It is extremely distressing that Raquel cut my face and neck with the knife.

'She also hovered the knife over my heart and I thought I was going to be stabbed to death.'

The shaken landlady, who branded her former lodger a 'threat to the public', suffered a number of injuries to her head, arms thumb and foot.

The former lodger grabbed the sharpest knife (pictured) she could find from the kitchen and cut her landlady's face and neck while pinning her down on the sofa

Villa Rodriguez, who had planned to return to Spain for her very unwell parents, confessed in a remorseful letter statement that the alcohol 'seems to have had a horrible effect on me'.

She had told police officers that she 'will never come out because I want to kill this b****' when she was arrested.

The Oxford landlady, who was 'terrified' her former lodger would come back to kill her, paid tribute to her two neighbours that 'saved my life'.

One had been in the room during the attack and was injured as she attempted to pull the crazed attacker off of her friend, while the other witnessed it through the window.

Judge Michael Roques told the court that his client was 'no doubt absolutely terrified' and 'thought she was about to die at your hands'.

Sentencing Villa-Rodriguez to more than four years, he told her of the 'devastating and ongoing impact' that the landlady and her neighbour face - not just physically, but psychologically too.

Meanwhile Peter du Feu, mitigating, said that Villa-Rodriguez had struggled with mental health and drinking problems in the past.

Villa-Rodriguez was handed a restraining order to which bans her from contacting her former landlady and the neighbour for life.
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Human remains have yet to be found in the fresh search for Moors Murders victim Keith Bennett, police said today, extending the agony of his family - who have been searching for the schoolboy since he was snatched and slain by warped serial killers Myra Hindley and Ian Brady some 58 years ago.

Police have been digging on the Moors in the South Pennines in Oldham, near Manchester this week in search of the 12-year-old for the first time in 35 years, after being alerted to suspected human bones by an amateur sleuth.

In a statement today, Greater Manchester Police said they have not found anything concrete but insisted the excavation would continue.

There were hopes of a breakthrough after bones that appeared similar to those of a 12-year-old child were reported to have been found on Saddleworth Moor on Thursday - just a few hundred yards from where the remains of Hindley and Brady's other young victims were discovered.

Between July 1963 and October 1965, the twisted couple killed five children aged between 10 and 17 in a two-year killing spree which shocked the nation.

While two of the victims were discovered on the Moors in 1965, and a third in 1987, Keith was never found, with the location of his burial site taken to the grave following Hindley and Brady's deaths in 2002 and 2017 respectively.

Nazi-obsessed Brady, who was officially diagnosed as a psychopath in 1985, taunted Keith's brother Alan Bennett in a sickening letter in 1991, saying he would leave 'special instructions' of how to find the child's remains in his will - but the clues never materialised.

Following this week's findings of new remains, Alan took to social media last night to say that 'all should be clear and final by some time tomorrow.'

However he expressed his scepticism, writing on Facebook: 'Apart from believing this is the location for Keith and all the previous graves have been shallow why, if the police were taken to the location, has nothing been discovered as of yet?

'I cannot escape the feeling that we have been here before.'

Forensics were pictured erecting two blue tents on Saturday as they resumed digging in a bid to end the six-decade mystery of little Keith's final resting place.

Police were this week digging on the Moors in search of slain 12-year-old Keith Bennett (pictured) for the first time in 35 years to investigate suspected human remains.

Between July 1963 and October 1965 Myra Hindley, left, and Ian Brady, right murdered five children. Hindley died in 2002 and Brady in 2017 without revealing the location of Bennett's body

The family of Moors murder victim Keith Bennett last night said they hoped his body would finally be found Pictured: Brother Alan Bennett

Keith's brother Alan Bennett took to social media last night to say that 'all should be clear and final by some time tomorrow.' However he expressed his scepticism

Haunted: Keith's mum Winnie, who died in 2012 without ever knowing where her son was buried. Pictured with the famous 'missing' poster of her son

Police guard the area around the dig site on Saddleworth Moor on Saturday morning

Police officers patrol the Moors early on Saturday morning as investigations into remains found at the site continue

Police and forensic teams erect blue tents as they continue their dig on Saddleworth Moor on Saturday

Forensic investigators in white overalls were pictured working under two blue tents on Saturday

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue personnel arrive to pump out a water logged dig site on Saturday as police forensic teams dig on Saddleworth Moor for murder victim Keith Bennett

A fresh search team arriving on Saddleworth Moor, Oldham, Greater Manchester, on Saturday

Police specialists continue the search for Moors murder victim Keith Bennett on Saturday following the discovery of a child's skull

Police forensic specialist (left) arrives to dig on Saddleworth Moor for murder victim Keith Bennett on Saturday, while right, a firefighter arrives to the scene to help pump the waterlogged digging site

Police specialists and firefighters continue the search for Moors murder victim Keith Bennett on Saturday

Firefighters arrive with water pumps as police continue the search for Moors murder victim Keith Bennett following the discovery of a child's skull in Oldham

Police specialists and firefighters continue the search for Moors murder victim Keith Bennett on Saturday

How psychopath Ian Brady taunted victim Keith Bennett's brother over the location of the 12-year-old's remains Ian Brady sent a letter to the brother of Moors murder victim Keith Bennett saying he would leave 'special instructions' of how to find the child's remains in his will. The taunt from the killer filled Keith's family with hope, but they never received further clues from him. In the letter sent to Keith's brother, Alan Bennett, in 1991, Brady writes: 'I again advise you to stop searching until matters are resolved. My will contains special instructions for you alone. My time is almost over. 'Sincerely, Ian Brady.' When the contents of the letter were revealed for the first time in 2019, Alan said: 'It would be another 26 years after he sent that letter before he died. At the time we were hopeful that it might lead to Keith. 'I wrote to him several times and at one point asked if he would correspond with John Stalker (former assistant chief constable) after he left GMP, so that information could be passed that way. But Brady would change the subject, and nothing came of it.' Alan feared it could have been a twisted game Brady was playing, but he also wondered if the 'special instructions' might be in two locked briefcases held by Brady's solicitor. Alan believes they could contain clues as to the exact spot that Brady and Myra Hindley buried Keith, after abducting and killing him in 1964. But Brady's solicitor Robin Makin refused to give the cases to Cold Case Unit officers from GMP. Just before his death in May 2017, Brady requested the two combination-locked cases be put in secure storage. It has since emerged officers went to court for a search warrant to open the cases to check them for clues. But a district judge refused the application, stating there was no prospect of an investigation leading to a prosecution as both killers were dead. Keith's brother, Alan, 62, said in 2019: 'There is a desperate need to look for anything that may help in the recovery of Keith's body and there may be something in those cases. We cannot be sure be we need to know for sure - one way or another. 'During my correspondence with Brady many years ago he stated that he had left instructions in his will for me alone. He did not give any further detail but it was at a time when I was searching on the moor and asking him about routes taken, areas of the moor, landmarks etc. 'The refusal by Mr Makin to help any further is a great cause of distress considering that my brother's body still remains on the moor while all the other victims have been returned to their loved ones for a proper burial.' Alan spent the best part of decade searching Saddleworth Moor himself around Shiny Brook stream with a team of helpers digging through peat for Keith's remains. His and Keith's mother, Winnie Johnson, who died in 2012, also visited the moors in a vain search. Reports in early 2022 suggested that Brady's briefcases could be unsealed to detectives if the then-Home Secretary Priti Patel was able to pass a new bill through Parliament. It was hoped the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill would introduce measures allowing detectives to obtain a warrant for material that could reveal the location of a murder victim's remains. Advertisement

GMP Force Review Officer Cheryl Hughes said on Saturday: 'Following information received which indicated that potential human remains had been found on the Moors, specialist officers have today (October 1 2022) resumed excavation of a site identified to us.

'This information included photographs of the site and show what experts working with the informant have interpreted as a human jaw bone. No physical evidence of a jaw bone or skull has been examined.

'However, based on the photographs and information provided, and in line with GMP's usual practice to follow-up any suggestion of human burial, we began our search of the site of interest.

'We have not found any identifiable human remains but our work to excavate the site is continuing.

'Conditions are difficult and it may take us some time to fully complete the excavation but we are committed to ensuring this is undertaken in the most thorough way possible.'

Firefighters were also called to the scene to pump the digging site, which has become waterlogged due to the rainy weather.

It comes after the Daily Mail exclusively revealed this week that detectives were preparing to exhume a particular area where suspected skeletal remains had been found including what experts believed to be a child's upper jaw with a full set of teeth.

Forensic anthropologists from Greater Manchester Police were examining potential samples of body tissue taken from the area in the hope of extracting DNA which could finally crack the infamous murder case.

Detectives were also looking at a small sample of material thought to be clothing found buried 3ft underground beside the skull.

Keith's brother Alan, 66, was said to be 'stoic' when news about the unexpected twist in the case broke on Thursday.

His solicitor John Ainley said on Friday: 'I have spoken to my client, Alan Bennett, concerning the reported development in the search for his brother Keith Bennett.

'My client is keeping an open mind on the latest report having regard to earlier such reports that have raised expectations but not resulted in finding Keith's body.

'Naturally, the family are hoping that Keith has been found after all these years and their tireless efforts to find closure.

'I understand Greater Manchester Police are investigating a site of interest but that it will take some weeks to establish whether there is a connection with Keith.'

The development came after author Russell Edwards assembled a team of experts in a bid to solve one of the greatest murder mysteries of all time.

Keith Bennett is the only victim of the Moors Murders never to be found after his wicked killers refused to say where he was buried, in a final act of cruelty to his despairing family.

The 12-year-old was last seen on June 16, 1964, when he left his family home to stay with his grandmother.

Hindley lured the teenager into a van by asking him to help with some boxes, while her sadistic lover Brady sat watching his prey from the back seat.

Between July 1963 and October 1965, the infamous serial killers murdered five children before Brady was caught red-handed with the body of their final victim Edward Evans, 17.

Extensive searches of the Moors led to the discovery of the bodies of Pauline Reade, 16, John Kilbride, 12 and Lesley Ann Downey, 10, but Keith's body was never found.

Following the death of Hindley in 2002 and Brady in 2017, the search stalled and tragically Keith's mother Winnie went to her grave without knowing the truth.

But now an author who famously unmasked Jack the Ripper claims to have solved a puzzle that has perplexed police for 58 years.

After seven years of painstaking work, Mr Edwards believes that he has located Keith's grave, which astonishingly is just a few hundred yards from the site where the couple buried their other victims.

After extensive soil analysis which indicated the presence of human remains, Mr Edwards commenced a dig under the supervision of a geologist and expert archaeologist.

He discovered a skull which experts believe is that of a child aged around 11- 12 based on the teeth present.

Three independent experts have now identified remains at the site as being human.

In a sickening twist, Mr Edwards believes Nazi-obsessed Brady may have been attempting to create the shape of a Swastika with the burial sites of his victims.

Police forensics officers work in an area of Saddleworth Moor, near Manchester, north-west England on Saturday morning

A fresh search team arriving on Saddleworth Moor, Oldham, Greater Manchester, on Saturday morning as the search for Keith Bennett continues

A wide view shows the digging site on Saddleworth Moor early on Saturday morning

Extensive searches of the Moors following the notorious murders led to the discovery of the bodies of Pauline Reade, 16, John Kilbride, 12 and Lesley Ann Downey, 10, but Keith's body was never found. (Pictured: Police guard the latest digging site on Saturday morning)

The 12-year-old was last seen on June 16, 1964, when he left his family home to stay with his grandmother (Pictured: Police on the Moors early on Saturday morning)

Forensic teams pictured working the scene on Saddleworth Moor on Friday in a renewed search for Keith Bennett

Ian Brady with police as he attempts to pinpoint the graves of victims in 1987

Keith Bennett was snatched by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley in 1964. He is their only victim who has never been found

Greater Manchester Police rushed to send a team of officers and forensic experts to Saddleworth Moor on Thursday night just hours after receiving information from Mr Edwards about his compelling findings.

Archaeologist Dawn Keen, who specialises in the study of human remains, remotely supervised the 'grave cut'.

She said this week: 'I do believe there are human remains there. They [police] have got to look.

'From the photographs, I saw the teeth, I could see the canines, I could see the incisors, I could see the first molar. It is the left side of an upper jaw. There is no way that it is an animal.'

The renowned expert who has managed high profile projects including the exhumation of Cardinal Vaughan for Westminster Cathedral, assessed the age of the skull based on the presence of a first molar which usually appears from the age of 11 and there was no secondary molar which usually appears after 12.

Victims : 17-year-old Edward Evans, left, and 12-year-old John Kilbride, right

Murdered: Leslie Anne Downey, 10, left, and Pauline Reid, 16, right

She also analysed samples from the scene which she said was 'very likely to be adipose tissue' and clothing.

Her conclusions were backed by a second archaeologist the Mail is not naming because of her sensitive work, who said: 'It is a human skull. It cannot be anything else.'

Geologist Lesley Dunlop also carried out soil analysis at the scene which indicated human remains were present.

Chemical analysis revealed high levels of calcium and phosphorus which indicates bones were in the soil.

There was also nickel present which is usually found in zips and fastenings as well as the clothing dye cobalt, which would suggest that it is not animal remains.

The university lecturer said: 'From my analysis and from my visual impression, I would say that this area has had human remains in it.

The new discovery is just a few hundred yards from the site where the couple buried their other victims. Police are pictured giving a press conference in 1987 after the discovery of graves

'I cannot think of another other explanation other than it being human remains.'

Mr Edwards described the moment he made the discovery: 'The smell hit me about 2ft down. Like a sewer, like ammonia.

'It was on my clothes I stank of it. The soil reeked. I worked as a gravedigger when I was 19 that hits you, that smell of death. It is distinctive

'I was overjoyed. Then we found blue and white stripped material. Then I stopped. I put everything back as I found it.'

Mr Edwards believes it 'can only be Keith'  although DNA tests will have to be carried out before this can be confirmed.

He added: 'This is about peace for Keith and closure for the family.'

On Thursday Keith's brother Alan, 66, who has devoted his life to trying to find his sibling, was informed about the extraordinary discovery. Sources described him as 'stoic' when he was told.

GMP Force Review Officer Martin Bottomley said: 'At around 11.25am on Thursday 29 September 2022, Greater Manchester Police was contacted by the representative of an author who has been researching the murder of Keith Bennett, a victim of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. Following direct contact with the author, we were informed that he had discovered what he believes are potential human remains in a remote location on the Moors and he agreed to meet with officers yesterday afternoon to elaborate on his find and direct us to a site of interest.

'The site was assessed late last night and, this morning, specialist officers have begun initial exploration activity. We are in the very early stages of assessing the information which has been brought to our attention but have made the decision to act on it in line with a normal response to a report of this kind.

'It is far too early to be certain whether human remains have been discovered and this is expected to take some time.

'We have always said that GMP would act on any significant information which may lead to the recovery of Keith and reunite him with his family. As such, we have informed his brother of the potential development - he does not wish to be contacted at this time and asks that his privacy is respected.'

How amateur sleuth found bombshell evidence... and spurred police into action

By Rebecca Camber for the Daily Mail

As police today dig at the site of Britain's most notorious murders for the first time in 35 years, hopes have been raised that it could finally reveal Keith Bennett's grave. Rebecca Camber looks at how an amateur sleuth made the bombshell discovery and the compelling evidence that has spurred police into action

THE AUTHOR

Russell Edwards, pictured, assembled a team of experts in a bid to solve one of the greatest murder mysteries of all time

Russell Edwards was just 21 when he first went up to Saddleworth Moor looking for the Moors murder victims.

It was 1987 and he had been moved by a newspaper article appealing for volunteers to help find Brady and Hindley's first victim, Pauline Reade.

It was to be the start of a life-long fascination with the infamous case and other unsolved crimes.

The amateur sleuth, now 56, has hitherto been best known for his work on another serial killer.

In 2015 he published a book identifying Polish-born Aaron Kosminski as Jack the Ripper based on DNA extracted from a shawl said to be found on one of the victims.

Later that year he set his sights on finding Keith Bennett.

'It has been a lifelong obsession for me with big unsolved cases. I started delving into the story, what Brady's fascinations were,' he said.

'You have got to live the story, sort of walk in their shoes to consider why the fascination with this area? What is so special about this area? It gave me the first clue.'

THE SWASTIKA

Mr Edwards believes that Brady meticulously planned where to bury his victims because he wanted to create the shape of a swastika.

Obsessed with Nazism, Brady collected German WWII memorabilia and read Hitler's book Mein Kampf repeatedly.

The author believes that Brady deliberately arranged the graves so that he could create a swastika shape by positioning his female victims on side of the A635 and the boys on the other.

'The significance of the road is it looks like part of the swastika, when you look at the locations of the graves, it is his version of a swastika although he never got to finish it.

'There is half a zig zag in the road and I thought it is significant to him.

'It pinpointed the area to search for Keith because of that shape.'

COMPULSION

Detectives remove a body of a victim from Saddleworth Moor

Hours before abducting their first victim on July 12, 1963, Brady told Hindley he wanted to 'commit his perfect murder'.

He appears to have been inspired by a book called Compulsion about the murder of a 12-year-old boy which he gave Hindley to read.

One of the bestselling novels of 1957, it was based on Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, two young men from wealthy families who resolved to commit a kidnap and 'perfect murder' in 1924, but they were caught after leaving behind a pair of distinctive glasses.

Mr Edwards believes that certain scenes in the 1959 film starring Orson Welles inspired Brady and may explain why he targeted Keith who was the same age and wore identical glasses.

'At the beginning of the film is a significant bend in the road which I identified immediately as exactly the same type of bend in the road where the children were buried.

'This is all part of their plan. He was obsessive.'

Mr Edwards believes that it was this fixation with creating the 'perfect murder' that resulted in Brady later moving Keith Bennett's body so that Hindley would not know its final location.

EAGLE ROCK

After his imprisonment, Brady toyed with officers claiming: 'I am going to give you Keith Bennett'.

He told Chief Superintendent Peter Topping he wanted to see a local landmark known as Eagle Rock, but claimed this was of no significance.

After his imprisonment, Brady toyed with officers claiming: 'I am going to give you Keith Bennett'.

Mr Edwards recalled: 'I looked at the significance of Eagle Rock as that is where Brady wanted to revisit at the time Peter Topping is interviewing him.

'They never looked any further there but my biggest question was why not?'

Mr Edwards believes Brady used the landmark as a marker from which he could see all but one of his victims.

DRONES

In 2016 Mr Edwards paid a drone expert from Liverpool John Moores University to complete a survey of the area he wanted to search.

He also paid for a ground penetrating radar search.

Three potential sites of interest were identified due to changes of vegetation and depressions in the ground, but soil analysis samples revealed no anomalies.

'At that point I was drained, I thought about quitting', he recalled.

'There are times I have come away so dejected, I never wanted to talk about it again, but it kept on pulling me back.

'When we did ground penetrating radar and he wasn't there and I thought if I feel like this, what would Winnie [Keith's mother] have felt every time she was up there?

'She had a whole life of torment. She begged the two of them in letters to give them information.

'I thought I am not going to let her down.

'Her memory has kept me going- let's get justice for Keith, let's put him with Winnie.

'But my other objective was to beat Ian Brady because he wanted to commit the perfect murder and until I came along he had, that was significant for me.

'I wanted to beat him.

'When you talk about the Moors Murders these days, kids look at you blank.

'There was a little boy raped and murdered and his life was taken away from him when he was 12 years of age and he is getting forgotten about.

'His mother is dead and his is becoming a forgotten story and that is not fair.'

THE BREAKTHROUGH

In July Mr Edwards decided to try one last time.

'I walked down from Eagle Rock. If I saw anything as I walked down there I thought I will take a sample.

'At the end of the day I looked at the hill and I thought I'm not going back that way it is very treacherous ground.

'As I walked the long way back, I saw something I thought shouldn't be there in the vegetation.

'I walked down from Eagle Rock. If I saw anything as I walked down there I thought I will take a sample.

'In the middle of long grass was a white patch. It was a completely different colour, it had no growth on it.

'I thought that was odd.

'I thought I might as well take a sample of this.. It was a grave size about 5ft by about 3ft.

'Most of the time when you are taking soil samples, you always hit granite or stone.

'That time the sample went in really easily suggesting it may have been previously dug.'

THE SOIL ANALYSIS

He sent the samples to Lesley Dunlop, a geologist at Northumbria University who specialises in soil analysis.

'Lesley Dunlop came back and said there is a serious anomaly here,' he said.

'She said all of these chemical components strike gold. The calcium reading was a real peak which indicated the presence of bones.

'Lesley told me this is not animals, it is human bones, we are onto something here. I felt elated and quite nervous.

'I checked with the landowner to ask if anything been buried there, he said nothing has ever even buried there. No sheep, no dogs, nothing.

'I thought there was a good chance we have found him.'

X ray fluorescence (XRF) which is used for chemical analysis of soil showed a spike in calcium, potassium and phosphorus which indicated bones are present.

There were also significant readings for Strontium 90, a radioactive isotope found in bones.

Children born in the 1950s were found to have higher levels in their teeth and bones which has been attributed to nuclear weapons testing at the time.

There were also traces of clothing dye cobalt, titanium and nickel which is often found in metallic zips and fastenings in clothing.

Miss Dunlop said: 'I would not expect that from an animal.

'To me it was evidence of a human body. There could be no other explanation.'

She also recalled the soil profile was disturbed: 'There are lots of quartz pebbles in the bedrock but you do not usually found them this high up in the soil profile so it did look like there had been a bit of disturbance there.'

THE DIG

In September, Mr Edwards returned with Miss Dunlop to dig up the area.

He recalls an overpowering stench of death: 'The smell hit me about 2ft down. Like a sewer, like ammonia.

'It was on my clothes I stank of it. The soil reeked.

'I worked as a gravedigger when I was 19 that hits you, that smell of death. It is distinctive

'I worked as a gravedigger when I was 19 that hits you, that smell of death. It is distinctive

'I asked Dawn Keen and she said: 'That is adipose (body fat) tissue, you have found him'.

'I was overjoyed. Then we found blue and white stripped material. Then I stopped. I put everything back as I found it.'

THE SKULL

When archaeologist Dawn Keen later analysed photographs of the dig, she identified a child's skull hidden in the peat which had not been spotted at the time.

She said: 'I do believe there is human remains there. I saw the teeth, I could see the canines, I could see the incisors, I could see the first molar.

'The left side of the face is upside down and I was looking at an upper jaw.

'Two molars that have not erupted, they usually erupt after the age of 12.

'But the first molar was present that tells us that they have reached dental development of 11-12 years.'

Mr Edwards was elated. He said: 'Police have to go and do a full scale dig now.

'No other 12-year-old was reported missing in the 1960s there can only be one, it can only be Keith.

'This is about peace for Keith, closure for his family. Brady has not won.'
The move follows protests by women against their men being sent to war

Families are also being gifted potatoes, flour, cabbage, coal and firewood

Families of Russian men being called up to fight Putin's Ukraine war are being bribed with a sheep each.

So far 91 live rams have been handed over to wives and mothers in mountainous Tuva republic, home region of Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu.

More are due to be handed out as men are mobilised to fight in Ukraine some 3,200 miles away.

The move follows protests by women in Siberian region Tuva against their men being sent to war.

Families of Russian men being called up to fight Putin's Ukraine war are being bribed with a sheep each

So far 91 live rams have been handed over to wives and mothers in mountainous Tuva republic, home region of Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu

Pictures show large numbers of sheep in pick-up trucks as well as being take in or in, presumably to be gifted.

The animals were distributed among residents of the districts Sut-Kholsky, Mongun-Tayginsky, Barun-Khemchiksky, Ulug-Khemsky, Chedi-Kholsky, Tes-Khemsky, Chaa-Kholsky and Dzun-Khemchiksky.

Families are now each gifted a sheep by the regional government, along with other items depending on where they live.

Different districts are receiving sacks of potatoes, flour, cabbage, firewood and coal, alongside their sheep.

Pictures show large numbers of sheep in pick-up trucks as well as being take in or in, presumably to be gifted

Different districts are receiving sacks of potatoes, flour, cabbage, firewood and coal, alongside their sheep

In addition, each family with children younger than 17 can receive 5,000 rouples (roughly 75).

This follows Vladimir Putin's brutal police in Tuva seen manhandling women protesters into cells-on-wheels after they protested about mobilisation of the region's men.

A total of 27 women were detained, with violence used against the mother of a new-born baby girl.

One video showed two police officers holding a pram with a baby girl.

This follows Vladimir Putin's brutal police in Tuva seen manhandling women protesters into cells-on-wheels after they protested about mobilisation of the region's men

A total of 27 women were detained, with violence used against the mother of a newborn baby girl with one video showing two police officers holding a pram with a baby girl

Women were heard yelling: 'Let her go! Are you humans? Let her go!'

The protest here is significant.

Tuva is the home region of the Russian defence minister.
A 'caring' student died from a pills overdose in her room after her friends took her home from a night out because she was too drunk, an inquest heard.

After going to bars with Angel Kendrick, 19, on March 12, concerned friends called a halls security guard to unlock her room as they had no response when they knocked on her door the next day.

The security guard found her unresponsive in bed at 11.30pm and she was pronounced dead at the scene at 11.45pm.

Angel died from an overdose of painkillers prescribed by her GP in November 2021.

The inquest heard that the 19-year-old from Oswestry had been diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression and was on the waiting list for therapy after self-referring to mental health services.

After going to bars with Angel Kendrick, 19, pictured, on March 12, concerned friends called a security guard to unlock her room as they had no response when they knocked on her door the next day

Speaking to the Echo, her aunt Claire Kendrick paid tribute to her: 'She was one of the most caring, considerate, beautiful people I knew.

'She put a lot of pressure on herself, but she was very intelligent. Even though she didn't think she did well, she got firsts in all her exams in her first semester. She had so much to give. She had so much ahead of her.'

Claire added that she wished her niece could have seen how beautiful she was, inside and out.

She said that the family will greatly miss her and never get over her death but that they will learn to live with the loss, living their lives to the full in her memory.

The inquest heard that Angel, a Liverpool John Moores University student, from Owestry, was drinking at the Tempest on Tithebarn bar with her friends on March 12.

She had a lot of alcohol and after they moved to another bar, Sketch, at 4.10pm, she became upset about some family issues.

Her friend Billy said that she was laughing and giggling one second and then upset the next, drinking Guinness.

The inquest heard that as Angel was very drunk, her friends took her home from Sketch at around 8pm and her flatmate Genia Bailey put her to bed.

Genia said that she was unsteady on her feet and had to help her into her room and that she was struggling to take off her coat and shoes as she was so drunk.

The security guard found her unresponsive in bed at 11.30pm and she was pronounced dead at the scene at 11.45pm. Angel, pictured, died from an overdose of painkillers prescribed by her GP in November 2021

On March 13, her flatmates heard music at around 4am in her room.

She sent a message on Snapchat to a friend later to ask if they were up but did not receive a response.

Later, concerned flatmates knocked on her door but heard nothing and she was found dead by a halls security guard.

Angel's funeral, which was attended by 400 mourners, took place in May.

Claire said: 'It was quite overwhelming. Everyone lit a candle in memory of her, and it was beautiful how everyone was able to come together to celebrate her life.'

Speaking to the Echo,her aunt Claire Kendrick, pictured together, paid tribute to her: 'She was one of the most caring, considerate, beautiful people I knew'

Coroner Kate Wilson said that Angel seemed to have settled well into university life and was enjoying life, drinking socially.

She said the 19-year-old was a party animal but that it appeared to be a coping mechanism to deal with family relationships and social events which she appeared to struggle with despite her popularity.

In a narrative conclusion, she said that Angel died of an overdose and said: '(Angel) had a history of anxiety, depression and self harm, however, she did not express any suicidal ideation at the time... She had consumed a large amount of alcohol and it was unlikely that she was aware of the consequences of her actions.'

If you are affected by the issues raised by this article, you can contact the Samaritans for free on 116 123, or go to samaritans.org.
A segment on The Project in which Indigenous Australians criticised the wide-spread reaction to the Queen's death has sparked fierce debate.

The ten-minute segment, which aired on Friday night, was led by Indigenous advocate Ben Abbatangelo, who opened with: 'There's a lot of things about the Queen's death that doesn't sit well with Blackfellas'.

Queen Elizabeth II's death at the age of 96 on September 9 made headlines around the world.

The large amount of 'positive' media coverage and footage of people 'swooning' over 'old mate Queen Lizzie' was 'no surprise' according to Mr Abbatangelo.

'It is history once again being written to the hymn of whiteness,' he said.

The ten-minute segment, that aired on The Project on Friday night, was led by Indigenous advocate Ben Abbatangelo, who opened with: 'There's a lot of things about the Queen's death that doesn't sit well with Blackfellas'

Mr Abbatangelo, a Gunaikurnai and Wotjobaluk writer, said the 'fact missing from the fiction' is that the Queen and the monarchy 'represent a system of colonialism, a practice that has crippled generations of First Nations peoples'.

The segment then turned to the reporter sitting down with Indigenous leaders Meriki Onus and Celeste Liddle to get their insight into how the Queen's death impacted them and the broader Indigenous community.

'As an Aboriginal person living in the colony, it was more obvious that we're living in a completely different reality to everybody else here,' Ms Onus said.

'This fanfare that they have for this person who's so far removed from our reality - it's weird and it's really strange to watch.

'I do find it a bit insulting that people who I thought were more understanding turn into monarchists out of nowhere.'

The segment then turned to the reporter sitting down with Indigenous leaders Meriki Onus (left) and Celeste Liddle (centre) to get their insight into how the Queen's death impacted them and the broader Indigenous community.

Ms Liddle suggested the public backlash for anyone speaking out about the Queen or the monarchy had ramped up since Her Majesty's death.

'The minute that you say anything, you're drowned out will calls of ''she did so much'',' Ms Liddle said.

The Channel Ten segment included clips of monarchists emotionally praising the Queen and her life after the news broke of her death.

But Ms Liddle argued the Queen should not be celebrated, saying she was 'a direct descendant of people who signed off on our dispossession'.

'She benefits from that. This absurd idea that this one family has been bestowed the gift from God to rule over us all,' she said.

'The slavery, the dispossession, the resources that they've gotten wealthy off - she's the direct representative of that system.

Indigenous leaders suggested the public backlash for anyone speaking out about the Queen or the monarchy had ramped up since Her Majesty's death

'It seems almost bonkers to me that a system like that can still exist, and that people are so quick to reinforce it.'

The Queen's death came with another layer of tension for Ms Onus, who revealed the funeral for her cousin who died while in custody was held on the same day.

She said it 'was not lost on her' that the Queen was able to have a funeral where millions of dollars had been spent, while many First Nations families struggle to pay for their own loved ones' services.

'It's very visceral to me that that person can have a funeral and that wealth was gained by the dispossession of my family and people,' she said.

'And we have to find money to bury someone who was killed at the hands of that system.'

After the segment wrapped up, Mr Abbatangelo admitted he still felt 'revved up' when asked by fellow panellists how he felt hearing the leaders share their stories.

'It's been a very clarifying couple of weeks,' he told the panel.

'To see the media and so many people default to uphold the whiteness of it all has been really extravagant.'

Co-host Hamish Macdonald asked how Mr Abbatangelo felt while watching Australian leaders now proclaiming 'God save the King'.

'It's absurd, how do you feel?' Mr Abbatangelo replied.

After the segment wrapped up, Mr Abbatangelo admitted he still felt 'revved up' about the impact the Queen's death has had on the Indigenous community

'We're saying from our vantage point, ''Hey, everyone's getting screwed''. At the bottom of this, we certainly are - but all of you, how does this sit with you?'

His fellow panellist pointed to the fact the change in monarch was 'surprising' for many Australians after 70 years.

The full segment has been shared across The Project's social media accounts, but the comments have been noticeably turned off.

Instead many shared their thoughts on their own Twitter accounts, with many supporting both the segment and the monarchy.

'Thank you for speaking truths,' one said.

'Important viewing,' another wrote.

'Australian TV gets it,' a third tweeted.

Meanwhile one Twitter user said it had 'missed the mark by kilometres' and was 'offensive' to the Queen.

'I wonder why they have blocked people from commenting. Never seen so much fake dribble in my life,' another wrote.
Sofiia is planning to return to Ukraine after he rejected her request to reunite

Garnett and his wife, Lorna, took in 22-year-old after she fled war-torn Ukraine

The refugee dumped by her British lover after he left his partner and two children for her is packing her bags and returning to Ukraine after he rejected her last bid re-reunion pleas in a one-hour phone call late last night.

British father-of-two Tony Garnett, from Bradford, told Sofiia Karkadym, 22, there was no chance they would ever be a couple again and he was keen to 'move on in with my life'.

The former couple spoke for the first time since police arrested her after a drunken row during which she rammed a kitchen knife into a wall last weekend and Tony declared he was ending the relationship.

Tony, who embarked on a four-month affair with the refugee 10 days after she had moved into the family home he shared with his partner Lorna and two young daughters, told an anguished Sofiia that her mother was also demanding she return to Ukraine.

Her mother Katerina told Tony: 'In love, everyone has their own destiny. At first we were not happy, but she said she loved you and that this was a serious relationship. But it is over. We would like her to come home.'

British father-of-two Tony Garnett told Sofiia Karkadym, 22, there was no chance they would ever be a couple again and he was keen to 'move on in with my life'

Tony (left) has since taken in two Ukrainian refugee students, Illia Tronevyeh (centre), 18, and his girlfriend Sofiia Rastorhuieva (right), 19, who claim they witnessed Sofiia being aggressive after 'drinking heavily'

Sofiia has been arrested three times despite police instructions not to approach or get in contact with her former lover

Sofiia was tearful as she discussed returning to Ukraine and her family, despite still loving Tony

The 22-year-old has risked being arrested for a third time after she turned up again at her the home of her former lover, ignoring police instructions.

But Tony agreed to call her after hearing that she was in floods of tears in her temporary accommodation while the Home Office and Ukrainian officials decide what her next move should be.

Tony said: 'I'm not heartless. I do feel sorry for her. But relationships do come to an end and this one is over. I hope we can be friends when all this hysteria has died down.

Sofiia Karkadym (pictured) arrived in the UK at the start of May after fleeing the war in Ukraine

'I talked to her last night and told her that there was absolutely no chance of us getting back together.

'Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. She'll be much better off in Ukraine or if she gets a new relationship, good luck to her.'

Sofiia made a late night visit to father-of-two Tony Garnett at his home in Bradford where she has twice been hauled away from by cops.

Tony, who left his partner and two daughters with the Ukrainian only 10 days after she arrived as a refugee at their home, invited her in for a chat instead of dialling 999 as advised.

The 30-year-old security guard told MailOnline: I allowed her in about 30 minutes. I didnt want to get her arrested and I didnt want the hassle of having to fill out all the police statements once more which take a long time. Im really tired of the whole thing.

The police warned her before to stay away from me and my home. She needs to listen to them.

I told Sofiia again that we are finished. She said she was returning to her family in Ukraine and was actually more calmer which surprised me.

But she mustnt come back to my home. I dont need any more dramas. I have offered to take her to the airport. I checked the flights and they are really cheap to Ukraine.

Sofiia said she would not give up on Tony despite his rejection of her.

The security guard left the mother of his two children, 28-year-old Lorna Garnett (pictured), for the refugee

Tears streaming down her cheeks, she told MailOnline: 'I am glad that he is speaking to me again. I didn't want to break up with just a message that he sent me.

'It is a very difficult time for me as I love him very much. I can't let go so easily and I am lost here without any friends or family.

'I have told him that I will never drink again and that we could live happily together if he just gives me one more chance.

'But he is refusing and I don't know what to do next.

'I may have to go back to Ukraine because I can't live like this much longer. My family want me back.

'Tony told me that last night. But I don't know what my future will be because my country is at war and things could get worse there.

'I have found England to be such a lovely place with nice people. I feel safe here. But I feel better when I'm with Tony. '

Tony Garnett, 29, who left his partner of ten years for Sofiia after 10 days of her living with them, broke up with her over allegations of her excessive drinking. She promised to cut out alcohol altogether if they rekindled, but he refused

She revealed that a millionaire with a house in London had found her through social media and offered her a place to live and told her he has a gym she could use.

But she added: 'I don't know this man. It sounds too weird. He says he's a millionaire. But that doesn't mean anything to me. Tony is worth many, many millions.'

Tony also revealed that he had been receiving dozens of internet offers of new love from women who have taken a fancy to him, including two models in Dublin and a tattooist in Yorkshire.

But he said 'I just need some me time. I thought I was going to marry Sofiia, but now that has gone as well.

'I am pretty skint as I haven't been able to work and now that I've got a public profile doing security work is far more difficult.

'I've been on television, in newspapers and on magazine covers. People who work in security have to keep their heads down. I can't do that now.

IT manager Sofiia (pictured) was renting a property in Bradford with Tony after he left his partner and children four months ago

'I need some peace and to see my daughters if the courts take away the non-molestation order against me which Lorna was given.'

Lorna told Mailonline she had asked her lawyers to request a judge in the family court next week to lift the order so that he could see his children as well as take them out.

Lorna said: 'He is a very good father. He loves his kids. And although I don't want to be back with him, he doesn't want to be back with Sofiia and that makes it a lot more easier for all of us.

'She'd be better off going back to her own family. She has wrecked mine.'

Tony Garnett at his Bradford home on September 26 with his ex-girlfriend's luggage and belongings in bin liners waiting to be collected

Tony said: 'I have made a mistake going into a relationship with Sofiia'
The family of a former RAF pilot who died after he ejected from a military jet just before it crashed in the Italian Alps have launched a 1million compensation claim.

Father-of-two David Ashley, 49, was killed shortly after taking off in an M-346 fighter, as part of a familiarisation flight, while the test pilot he was with Giampaolo Goattin, 53, survived.

Mr Ashley, a former Harrier and F18 pilot, suffered fatal head injuries and as part of the family's claim, they are suing the makers of the jet Leonardo, as well as Goattin.

MailOnline revealed the crash in March this year and dramatic pictures released by mountain rescue teams showed his body being recovered from a mountainside at Colico near Como, Italy.

The Italian pilot  who was sat at the rear - gave the order to eject after the plane stalled and went into a spin and he is thought to have been seriously injured during the ejection process.

Although the cause of the crash is unknown, the black box data recorder was recovered and transcripts and flight details have been downloaded and are being examined.

The family of former RAF pilot David Ashley (pictured with his wife Heather) who died after he ejected from a military jet just before it crashed in the Italian Alps have launched a 1million compensation claim

MailOnline revealed the crash in March this year and dramatic pictures released by mountain rescue teams showed his body being recovered

A leaked report has suggested the electronics of the fly-by-wire system were shorted by a powerful solar storm that was ongoing in the area at the time of the accident.

Italian authorities have also launched a criminal investigation into the circumstances of the crash but no details have yet been released with growing fears it will be hushed up as it involved a military jet.

Local prosecutor Ezio Domenico Basso said: 'At the moment no-one has been placed under investigation and no-one has been advised of any potential charges, the case is still ongoing against persons unknown with an expert appointed from the Italian Air Force to examine the facts.'

Mr Ashley's wife, Heather, and her legal team have expressed concerns over the air safety record of the M-346 which has been involved in three crashes in the last ten years.

The jet also performed in airshows at Farnborough and Fairford during the simmer in front of huge crowds and which is in use with the Italian, Israeli and Polish Airforce.

The claim which was filed at London's High Court in August, states: 'Mr Ashley, an experienced pilot, was receiving familiarisation training in a Leonardo M346 military jet, when it stalled and entered a spin.

Mr Ashley, a former Harrier and F18 pilot, suffered fatal head injuries after he ejected from the military jet

'The first defendant (Leonardo) was at all times the owner, custodian, manufacturer, operator of the aircraft. The second defendant, Mr Goattin, was the flight commander and trainer.

'Mr Goattin negligently failed to regain control of the aircraft and ejected Mr Ashley and himself from the aircraft at low altitude over mountains.

'Mr Ashley suffered fatal head injuries. Mr Ashley's death was caused by the fault or negligence of Leonardo in respect pf the design/construction of the aircraft and its flight systems and or by the negligence of Mr Goattin.'

It adds:' The claimant expect to recover more than 1,000,000.'

A pre inquest review is due to take place on Tuesday in Bournemouth which will be attended by Mrs Ashley and the lawyer representing them, James Healy-Pratt, as well as video evidence from Mr Goattin and Leonardo officials.

The manufacturers of the ejector seat system, Martin Baker, are also expected to attend.

Mr Healy-Pratt, who also represented families in the 2015 Shoreham Air Crash, which left eleven people dead, told MailOnline:' This is an exceptional case as there is no independent accident investigation report because the jet crashed in Italy and it was a military aircraft.

'Within just a few months of this crash the M-346 was performing at air shows in Farnborough and Fairford and we have very real safety concerns over its air worthiness, this is the third accident the plane has been involved in.

'The family want answers as to how David died and the inquest maty be the only time they can realise their concerns and have their voices heard. They want to know why the decision to eject was made by the flight commander, and the true cause of David's death and the crash is still unknown.

Mr Ashley's wife, Heather (pictured together), and her legal team have expressed concerns over the air safety record of the M-346 which has been involved in three crashes in the last ten years

'They want to know what caused the plane to lose control and the inquest will be an opportunity for David's widow and children to get the answers they deserve.'

In July 2019 Mr Ashley sustained a broken back, hip, ankle and fractured eye socket after ejecting during air combat manoeuvres while training in Qatar.

His mask and visors were torn off during the ejection and hit an object which shattered his eye socket.

Initially, it was feared he had lost his right eye after what he described later, as a 'particularly savage' parachute landing while his back was already broken.

Mr Ashley joined the RAF on a scholarship when he was 17 and spent 18 years in the military before moving to BAE Systems as a fighter pilot instructor and was off for almost a year.

As well as pilot training work, he also ran a property development business with his wife, from their home in Poole, and his wife told a local newspaper they had moved to Dorset, from the Middle East because of the 'fabulous scenery'.

Toby Everitt, a former Royal Navy and Army Pilot and Founder and Director of TwinStar Consulting Limited, knew and worked with Dave for many years across a wide range of diverse roles and locations.

Although the cause of the crash is unkown, a leaked report has suggested the electronics of the fly-by-wire system were shorted by a powerful solar storm that was ongoing in the area at the time of the accident. Pictured: M-46 fighter jet

The M-346 trainer aircraft went down near the town of Colico, near Lake Como (Pictured) in Italy at approximately 12:00pm on March 16 after it was conducting tests for the Italian Armed Forces

He said: 'Dave was someone who epitomised the mantra of live your life to the maximum.

'He packed two lifetimes into his shortened one, and brought everyone he met along with him on the most fantastic rollercoaster of fun.

'Dave was just the best at creating unforgettable experiences.

'He had been through so much with his previous accident and managed to regain his legendary fitness, and seemed to have created a successful business and home life in the south west with his lovely family, who he adored.

'He was a legend before he left us.'

RAF Officer Mike Wilkinson, who worked with Dave for more than two decades, said: 'He was an outstanding family man, a great pilot and a very good friend who I always enjoyed being around.

'I'm shocked and deeply saddened by the news.'

Scott Williams, a senior military officer and squadron commander with 23 years' service in the RAF, said: 'Dave and I spent our formative years flying Harrier jets together in the RAF in the early 2000s.

'Those adventurous years remain amongst my most cherished memories and he was my Best Man when I married my wife.

'There was never a dull moment if Dave was around.

'An enormously talented pilot and instructor, he always brought his wicked sense of humour and boundless energy come rain or shine.

'I know that the huge community of people around the world who knew Dave are in shock from the tragic news and our hearts are broken for his beautiful family.

'His loss is devastating.'

Neither Mr Goattin, who is now back at work or Leonardo, were available for comment.
Christine Weil Schirmer, 42, has worked for Meghan and Harry since 2020

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have turned to a top Silicon Valley PR to boost their image after ditching New York-based Sunshine Sachs.

The Duke and Duchess's ventures will now be handled 'in-house' at their charitable foundation Archewell, with Christine Weil Schirmer at the helm.

Ms Schirmer, 42, was Harry and Meghan's head of communications from October 2020 until July 2021, when she became a Senior Advisor.

She has lead the Sussexes' global PR team since 2020 and helped to launch the Archewell foundation.

The married mother-of-one has previously worked for tech giants Pinterest and Apple.

The Duke and Duchess's ventures will now be handled 'in-house' at their charitable foundation Archewell, with Christine Weil Schirmer (pictured) at the helm

Ms Schirmer was raised in Long Island, New York, to parents Christine and Ken, both librarians.

She actually graduated from the same university as Meghan, Northwestern in Illinois.

The top PR attended the university between 1996 and 2000, graduating with a degree in journalism.

The Duchess of Sussex has previously spoken about her time at the university they both attended, where she majored in theatre and international studies.

The Silicon Valley PR guru had moved to San Francisco following her Long Island upbringing where her career blossomed.

Ms Schirmer, 42, was Harry and Meghan's head of communications from October 2020 until July 2021, when she became a Senior Advisor

Previously, a publicist who knows Ms Schirmer had called her the 'real deal' and said she was widely respected in the industry as 'one of the best and smartest there is,' according to The Mail on Sunday.

Toya Holness, who had been appointed 'global press secretary' for the Sussexes in March 2021, was reported to have left in March this year.

Ms Schirmer's diary will be kept full as the couple have big projects coming up such as Harry's autobiography, Meghan's Spotify podcasts which resume next week, and a Netflix reality show.

Meghan had been advised by Sunshine Sachs, the New-York based PR company she has dumped, since her days as an actress in the legal drama Suits.

This is a really big deal for Meghan, a source told Richard Eden of The Daily Mail. She takes the view that she doesnt need to pay an outside firm a lot of money to do PR for her and Harry any more.

Partner at Sunshine Sachs Keleigh Thomas Morgan (pictured) had helped establish the Sussexes in California, by sharing contacts and her powerful network of famous friends and advisers

Partner at Sunshine Sachs Keleigh Thomas Morgan had helped establish the Sussexes in California, by sharing contacts and her powerful network of famous friends and advisers.

A source with knowledge of the PR company's relationship with Harry and Meghan, said that when Sunshine Sachs began working with them it had always been planned for it to be temporary until a full-time in-house team was established.

The source also insisted Sunshine Sachs had worked alongside the couple to ensure a smooth transition into having a purely internal team and all parties were on good terms and still collaborate occasionally.
'Real Time' host Bill Maher said Democrats needed to drop Kamala Harris, not Joe Biden, to save their chances in the 2024 elections.

On the latest episode Friday, Maher said Democrats didn't have to fear criticisms that Biden is 'too old' to lead, saying the president has always been a 'gaffe machine.'

Instead, Maher said the key to winning would be dropping Harris as vice president, especially after her latest gaffe of calling North Korea an 'ally.'

'What I could see is replacing the vice president because she, yeah, she's not very popular anywhere,' he said before quipping that because the party has become so woke, they'd be hard pressed to replace a woman of color on the ticket. '

Maher's remark was met with a round of applause from his liberal-leaning audience.

'Here's the problem with the Democratic party, they're so boxed in by identity politics that you cannot conceive of a Democratic ticket that doesn't have a woman, a person of color on it.

'And pretty soon you're going to line up behind that gay, Latino, and you're going to have to have, you know, a deaf Eskimo.'

'Real Time' host Bill Maher said Democrats needed to drop Kamala Harris, not Joe Biden, if they want to successfully run in 2024

Maher said Biden is already known as a 'gaffe machine,' but Harris was just a 'bad politician' who has been heavily scrutinized since taking office

Maher's guest, Atlantic staff writer Caitlin Flanagan, agreed the optics around Harris were poor from the beginning.

Harris, a former California attorney general saw her own presidential aspirations dashed after a series of debates where opponents pointed to her office's incarceration rates for marijuana possession charges.

'In addition, for some reason, an off-putting person, she also has, I think, a lot of baggage that wouldn't do well under a lot of scrutiny,' Flanagan said.

While Flanagan called Harris a 'heat-seeking missile' for bad publicity, Maher simply called the vice president 'a bad politician.'

'I think she's a very bright person, but I don't know,' he said. 'I can see them doing that because a lot of the problem with Biden being old is: "Oh, if he dies, then you're going to get this person." '

CNN contributor Van Jones agreed Biden remains a fairly popular candidate who would be Democrat's best shot against a Donald Trump campaign, adding that Harris 'wouldn't be weight on the ticket.'

Maher said that while Biden has long been known to suffer from gaffes throughout his political career, Harris doesn't have that reputation, so her mistakes cause larger problems for the party.

During remarks at the conclusion of her visit to the DMZ, Harris touted the alliance the US has with 'the Republican North Korea'  an embarrassing gaffe on the heels of President Joe Biden asking the crowd to identify a decease congresswoman the day prior

The stenographer's transcript for the vice president showed the word 'North' crossed out for her remarks despite Harris not correcting her mistake in real-time during the speech. This is common practice for the White House stenographers when fact-checking transcripts

One of the recent Harris gaffes Maher took issue with was during her speech at the demilitarized zone in South Korean, where she mistakenly touted a US alliance with 'North Korea.'

'The United States shares a very important relationship, which is an alliance with the Republic of North Korea,' Harris said during a speech at the DMZ Thursday, intending to refer to the Republic of Korea, the official name of South Korea.

'It is an alliance that is strong and enduring,' she continued, not appearing to recognize her mistake.

Her remarks professing United States support for South Korea's defense came as North Korea launched yet another missile on Thursday in the face of the vice president's trip to Asia.

A communications advisor for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called Harris a 'flat-out moron' for her remarks.

That same day, Harris was further scrutinized for bumbling behavior at the DMZ.

Video of Harris' trip shows the vice president, accompanied by US soldiers, marveling as she looked into North Korea.

'There's something about seeing it... with your own eyes,' Harris comments. 'And it's so close.'

The service member then corrects her, saying: 'It's 50 meters away, mam.'

'Oh, right,' she replied.

Kamala Harris at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas (Leah Millis/AP)

The vice president then suddenly begins talking to the US and South Korean soldiers at the DMZ about NASA's Webb telescope, which has been taking pictures of distant galaxies.

'Have you seen the photographs from the Webb telescope,' Harris tells the officers, who appeared confused about the unrelated topic.

'It's the most humbling thing,' Harris adds as the service members politely nod. 'You've got to see it.'

Following the trip to Asia, the vice president was slammed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' rapid response director, Christina Pushaw, after Harris made comments regarding the release of federal relief funds following Hurricane Ian.

Speaking at the Democratic National Committee's Women's Leadership Forum on Friday, Harris said it was people of color and lower-income communities who are 'most impacted by these extreme [weather] conditions.'

The devastation inflicted on Florida came into focus a day after Ian struck as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane, one of the strongest storms ever to hit the US.

It flooded homes on both the states coasts, cut off the only road access to a barrier island, destroyed a historic waterfront pier and knocked out electricity to 2.67 million Florida homes and businesses  nearly a quarter of utility customers.

Harris, 57, was discussing climate change with actress Priyanka Chopra in Washington, DC when she made her comments.

Harris, 57, was discussing climate change with actress Priyanka Chopra when she made her controversial comments

Harris said of the relief: 'We have to address this in a way that is about giving resources based on equity, understanding that we fight for equality, but we also need to fight for equity'

The vice president continued: 'I know we are all thinking about the families in Florida and Puerto Rico with [Hurricane] Fiona and what we need to do to help them in terms of an immediate response and aid.'

She went on: 'We have to address this in a way that is about giving resources based on equity, understanding that we fight for equality, but we also need to fight for equity.'

Harris added: 'Understanding not everyone starts out at the same place, and if we want people to be in an equal place, sometimes we have to take into account those disparities.'

Just a few hours later, Pushaw took Harris to task over her comments.

'This is false. @VP's rhetoric is causing undue panic and must be clarified. FEMA Individual Assistance is already available to all Floridians impacted by Hurricane Ian, regardless of race or background,' she tweeted.

Pushaw went on to encourage her followers who need assistance in the wake of the hurricane to call 1-800-621-3362 or log on to Disasterassistance.gov.

The world's wealthiest man, Elon Musk weighed in on Harris' comments

Pushaw, who formerly worked as DeSantis' press secretary, followed up her original message saying: 'The @VP needs to correct what she said as well. A real journalist would simply ask her to clarify what she meant by those comments and why she misrepresented the relief effort.'

The world's wealthiest man, Elon Musk, joined in on calling out Harris.

He commented on Ryan Fournier, the founder of Students for Trump's, tweet about Harris. Musk said that relief should be dispensed 'according to greatest need, not race or anything else.'

Fournier had tweeted: 'You can't make this up. Kamala Harris said the administration will be giving hurricane resources 'based on equity' by directing funds to 'communities of color.' I guess everyone else is just screwed.'
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The confirmed death toll of Hurricane Ian has risen to 77, with the majority concentrated in a Florida county that is facing criticism for delaying its evacuation warning.

In Lee County, home to Fort Myers and epicenter of the hurricane's devastation on Florida's Gulf Coast, there were 35 deaths after county officials waited a day longer than other nearby areas to issue evacuation orders.

All 77 deaths so-far recorded have been in Florida, NBC News reported.

Lee County did not issue a mandatory evacuation until Tuesday morning, just over 24 hours before the storm made landfall, with officials there telling the New York Times that they postponed the order due to earlier forecasts that showed the storm heading further north.

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno confirmed the latest casualty report on Saturday, saying that search and rescue operations are still taking place throughout the county and the rest of the Sunshine state following Ian's devastation.

'Today, we've had over 600 to 700 rescues of people that are in need,' Marceno said. During this difficult time, were at about 35 deaths, unfortunately. Its with a heavy heart that I say that number.

The sheriff added: 'Last night I just sat there by myself thinking about the devastation, looking through pictures, and Ill tell you it brought tears to my eyes. We are going to work harder and we are going to be stronger than ever.'

As the death toll from Hurricane Ian jumped to 52, at least 35 of the deaths took place in Lee County, home to Fort Myers and epicenter of the hurricane's devastation on Florida's Gulf Coast

The county faces intense scrutiny over its failure to send out evacuation orders in time, as the call was delayed by 24 hours

Pictured: Lee County resident Jonathan Strong dives into flood waters with his girlfriend to help check on residents in a flooded mobile home community on Thursday during the storm's rampage

Officials said that on Saturday alone, the county had seen between 600 to 700 rescue operations

The hurricane decimated the area, destroying homes and flooding entire communities in the county

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno (above) confirmed the death toll in his county from Hurricane Ian's rampage

The Sheriff's Office has been traveling throughout the county to check on residents and assist rescue efforts

Pictured: Neighborhoods in Lee County completely submerged by storm surges as a fire breaks out in one of them

On Saturday the remnants of Ian were pushing north toward Virginia and are expected to bring widespread rain, with isolated risks of flash flooding in parts of the Appalachians and the Mid-Atlantic coast

Other deaths were reported in Charlotte, Volusia, Sarasota, Lake, Collier and Manatee counties.

The fatalities reported in Florida were mostly from drowning, but others suffered different fates from the storm's tragic aftereffects.

An elderly couple died after their oxygen machines shut off when they lost power, authorities said.

The dead also included a 68-year-old woman swept into the ocean by a wave and a 67-year-old man who fell into rising water inside his home while awaiting rescue.

Authorities also said a 22-year-old woman died after an ATV rollover from a road washout and a 71-year-old man suffered a fatal fall from a rooftop while putting up rain shutters. Another three people died in Cuba earlier in the week.

Still, there were scenes of hope in the midst of devastation in Florida, as more than 1,000 people joined search-and-rescue operations across the state. Video from Fort Myers Beach showed a man being pulled alive from the splintered fragments of a destroyed home.

Early on Saturday, rescuers continued to search for survivors among the ruins of Florida's flooded homes, while authorities in South Carolina assessed the damage from the hurricane's second strike there.

Of the 52 casualties reported so far from Hurricane Ian in the US, 35 of them were in Lee County, Florida (above)

Lee County residents were left to access the damage on their homes after evacuation orders for them came a day after they were sent out to their neighbors as Hurricane Ian approached

FORT MYERS, FLORIDA: Jordan Reidy carries his dog, Ivory, back to their second-floor apartment on Friday in Fort Myers, Florida. Reidy and his mother plan to stay at the home because they feel like they have no where else to go

NORTH PORT, FLORIDA: People trapped in hurricane-hit areas in North Port are evacuated by rescue teams on Friday. The storm has caused widespread power outages and flash flooding in Central Florida as it crossed through the state

NORTH PORT, FLORIDA: People waiting for rescue teams in North Port feed an infant on Friday after Ian passed through

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA: A car drives through high water from the effects from Hurricane Ian in South Carolina

Meanwhile, the remnants of one of the strongest and costliest hurricanes to ever hit the US continued to push north toward Virginia, bringing heavy rains and leaving thousands without power in the Carolinas.

The storm struck Florida's Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a monster Category 4, turning beach towns into disaster areas.

On Friday, it pummeled waterfront Georgetown, north of the historic city of Charleston in South Carolina, with wind speeds of 85 mph.

The powerful storm terrorized millions of people for most of the week, battering western Cuba before raking across Florida from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, where it mustered enough strength for its final assault on South Carolina.

Now weakened to a post-tropical cyclone, Ian was expected to move across central North Carolina on Saturday morning and reach south-central Virginia by the afternoon.

'Widespread showers and some thunderstorms are forecast to continue through the weekend from the central Appalachians into the Mid-Atlantic and southern New England,' the National Weather Service said in a flash bulletin.

Rain totals are generally forecast in the range of one to two inches, though there was a risk of flash flooding in parts of West Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic coastline.

MYRTLE BEACH: Images from South Carolina show the flooding there on Friday as Ian made its second strike on the US

MYRTLE BEACH: A shrimping vessel is damaged by Hurricane Ian in South Carolina on Friday

NORTH CHARLESTON: Waters from a rain-swollen pond cover grass and a foot path around Quarterman Park in North Charleston, South Carolina, after Hurricane Ian brought sheets of rain to the area

The National Hurricane Center warned that the effects of the storm will continue to be felt for days to come.

'Major to record river flooding will continue across central Florida through next week. Limited flash, urban and small stream flooding is possible across the central Appalachians and the southern Mid-Atlantic this weekend, with minor river flooding expected over the coastal Carolinas,' it said.

Meanwhile, distraught Florida residents waded through knee-high water Friday, salvaging what possessions they could from their flooded homes and loading them onto rafts and canoes.

'I want to sit in the corner and cry. I don't know what else to do,' Stevie Scuderi said after shuffling through her mostly destroyed Fort Myers apartment, the mud in her kitchen clinging to her purple sandals.

In South Carolina, Ian's center came ashore near Georgetown, a small community along the Winyah Bay about 60 miles north of historic Charleston.

The storm washed away parts of four piers along the coast, including two connected to the popular tourist town of Myrtle Beach.

The storm's winds were much weaker Friday than during Ian's landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast earlier in the week. Authorities and volunteers there were still assessing the damage as shocked residents tried to make sense of what they just lived through.

FORT MYERS BEACH: Part of a destroyed mobile home park is pictured in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers Beach, Florida on Friday

SANIBEL ISLAND: The collapsed Sanibel Causeway is seen Friday in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Sanibel, Florida

FORT MYERS BEACH: An aerial picture taken on Friday shows destroyed houses and businesses in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers Beach, Florida

FORT MYERS: Frank Bruno speaks with members of the Texas A&M Task Force 1 Search and Rescue team as they look for anyone needing help after Hurricane Ian passed through the area on Friday in Fort Myers, Florida. Bruno said he rode the storm out in his home and told the search team members that he was okay

Anthony Rivera, 25, said he had to climb through the window of his first floor apartment during the storm to carry his grandmother and girlfriend to the second floor. As they hurried to escape the rising water, the storm surge had washed a boat right up next to his apartment.

'That's the scariest thing in the world because I can't stop no boat,' he said. 'I'm not Superman.'

Even though Ian has long passed over Florida, new problems continued to arise. A 14-mile stretch of Interstate 75 was closed late Friday in both directions in the Port Charlotte area because of the massive mount of water swelling the Myakka River.

Ross Giarratana, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Tampa, said the Myakka was cresting at a record 12.73 feet Saturday morning.

Further southeast, the Peace River was also at a major flood stage early Saturday in Polk, Hardee and DeSoto counties. The majority of those points have not yet crested, Giarratana said.

'It was crazy to look at just how quickly the rivers were rising,' he said. 'We knew that we were in for some record stuff.'

Power outages persisted on Saturday morning in Floridan and new outages occurred in the Carolinas and Virginia

Post-tropical storm Ian will move across Virginia into the Appalachians on Saturday into Sunday

On Sunday system is expected to continue to bring rainfall in West Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic

The official death toll climbed throughout the day Friday, with authorities warning it would likely rise much higher once crews made a more comprehensive sweep of the damage.

Searches were aimed at emergency rescues and initial assessments, Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said. He described one submerged home as an example.

'The water was up over the rooftop, right, but we had a Coast Guard rescue swimmer swim down into it and he could identify that it appeared to be human remains. We do not know exactly how many,' Guthrie said.

Some 10,000 people were unaccounted for, he said, but many of them were likely in shelters or without power.

'Those older homes that just aren't as strong built, they got washed into the sea,' said Governor Ron DeSantis.

'If you are hunkering down in that, that is something that I think would be very difficult to be survivable.'

Hurricane Ian has likely caused 'well over $100 billion' in damage, including $63 billion in privately insured losses, according to the disaster modeling firm Karen Clark & Co., which regularly issues flash catastrophe estimates.

If those numbers are borne out, that would make Ian at least the fourth costliest hurricane in U.S. history.

In the Sarasota suburb of North Point, Florida, residents of the Country Club Ridge subdivision waded through waterlogged streets Friday. John Chihil solemnly towed a canoe and another small boat through the ankle-deep water.

'There's really not much to feel. It's an act of God, you know?' he said. 'I mean, thats all you can do is pray and hope for a better day tomorrow.'
An American sailor was acquitted of intentionally setting fire to a $1.2 billion navy ship, the U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard.

The suspect, Seaman Recruit Ryan Mays, was found not guilty of arson and the willful hazarding of a ship, said a spokesman for the U.S. 3rd Fleet, Commander Sean Robertson. The verdict followed a two-week court-martial where Navy prosecutors argued that Mays started the blaze due to disgruntlement with his work.

US Navy Ship Fire

On the other hand, defense lawyers said that lithium-ion batteries or a spark from a short on a forklift could have been responsible for the fire. Robertson said that the Navy is committed to upholding the principles of due process and a fair trial.

If the defendant had been found guilty, he would have faced life in prison. More than 60 people, including roughly 40 sailors, were treated for minor injuries during the fire that authorities fought for four days on the navy ship, which was docked for maintenance at its homeport at U.S. Naval Base San Diego, as per Reuters.

The now 21-year-old defendant deeply exhaled when the verdict was read, put both of his hands on the defense table, broke into tears, and hugged his supporters in the audience. Mays read a brief statement outside the courtroom building and declined to answer questions.

Mays said that the past two years have been the hardest he had to face in his entire life as a young man. He argued he lost time with friends, lost friends, lost time with his family, and lost his entire Navy career.

According to NPR, during the nine-day trial, prosecutors presented no physical evidence, while the defense chipped away at the credibility of a key witness, Seaman Kenji Velasco, who changed his account over time.

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A former Marine judge advocate, Gary Barthel, who represented Mays at a preliminary hearing, said undercutting Velasco's credibility was key. Barthel noted that the judge in the preliminary hearing recommended against a court-martial, but Vice Adm. Steve Koehler, former commander of the San Diego-based U.S. 3rd Fleet, had the final decision on the matter.

Barthel said that the ship's lower vehicle storage area became a junkyard due to the fire. He believes that throughout the entire process the Navy was attempting to clean up their mess by laying the blame on Mays.

Prosecutors argued during the trial that Mays was angry and vengeful about failing to become a Navy SEAL and being assigned to deck duty. They argued that this was what prompted him to ignite cardboard boxes on July 12, 2020, in the lower vehicle storage area on the Navy ship.

Capt. Jason Jones, the prosecutor, acknowledged in court a Navy report last year that concluded that the blaze was preventable and unacceptable. He added that there were lapses in training, coordination, communications, fire preparedness, equipment maintenance, and overall command and control.

Furthermore, being not fully functional, the crew failed to put out the flames as nearly all of the 807 fire extinguishers onboard were out of order and the sprinkler system was not working. Two hours passed before civilian firefighters were able to douse the blaze with water, which was by then, too late, because the fire had already burned the ship to a blackened hulk of scrap, the New York Times reported.

Related Article: FBI Arrests NSA Staff After Attempting To Sell US Secrets to Russian Foreign Service

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A driver who smashed into a parked car and left a not apologising while refusing to pay for the damages has been slammed online for their 'dog act'.

The woman whose car was damaged had ducked into the Blackwork Cafe in Croydon, in Melbourne's east on Friday morning.

While grabbing a coffee, a driver crashed into her car which was parked directly outside the cafe.

The woman returned to find a note saying sorry but without any contact or insurance details.

'Sorry hit your car, can't afford to pay for repairs,' the note read.

A woman had ducked into grab a coffee at the Blackwork Cafe in Croydon, Melbourne on Friday - only for a driver to hit her car which was parked directly outside the shop

Desperate to discover the identify of the driver, the woman reached out to locals in a community Facebook page.

'I noticed this lovely note they left on my windscreen while I was driving home,' she said in a post.

'Unfortunately the cafe/shops along there don't have any cameras, but there were a few sitting outside having breakfast that might have seen the person put a note on my car.

'If anyone saw this happen and was able to get any details of the persons car etc. I would really appreciate you messaging me!'

Many including the driver herself speculated the other motorist only left a note because people were watching.

Many online users slammed the driver for failing to leave their details after smashing into the woman's car

'Disgraceful. Can't afford this? Shouldn't be driving. Best of luck getting your cash from this human paraquat,' one person wrote on the post.

'People fall on hard times, but should still be able to be accountable for their mistakes. How disappointing,' another commented.

A third user said: 'Left note to cover themselves in case anyone was watching.'

One user even called the decision to only leave an apology note on the windscreen 'a real dog act'

'That's a real dog act,' another man said.

The woman said it was likely they only wrote the note 'because people were around and probably assumed they were leaving their details'.

'I've had a couple of people tell me there are CCTV cameras in the street, so again I'll see what I can get,' she said.
A young woman who is fighting for life after being thrown nine metres into the air when she was struck by a rollercoaster has been involved in three other freak accidents.

The family of Shylah Rodden on Friday launched legal action at the Victorian County Court for injuries the 26-year-old sustained from a traffic accident in January, 2018.

That was the first of three similar incidents she would experience, after it earlier emerged she was involved in a serious car crash in February, 2019, and flipped her car after hitting a truck in January, 2021.

Ms Rodden remains in a critical condition after she was struck by the Rebel Coaster ride at the Melbourne Royal Show last Sunday - the fourth freak accident the young woman has suffered.

Her family filed a writ to protect her rights from the 2018 incident on Friday.

Shylah Rodden is fighting for life after being thrown nine metres into the air when she was struck by a rollercoaster last Sunday at the Royal Melbourne Show

Arnold Thomas and Becker practice manager Aki Munir said she is seeking damages over injuries suffered from a 'transport accident as a result of the negligence of the defendant'.

'It (the action) involves a transport accident and she sustained some significant injuries in that accident,' Ms Munir told the Herald Sun.

'The purpose of filing the writ is to preserve her entitlements, should anything happen to her.'

Ms Munir also said Ms Rodden's family may pursue legal action against the Melbourne Royal Show and the operators of the Rebel Coaster for negligence.

On the day she was struck by the rollercoaster, Ms Rodden had been working at a friend's stall at the show.

They had been on a break when the pair decided to go on a few rides to kill time.

It is understood she dropped her phone while on the rollercoaster and police believe Ms Rodden walked onto the tracks of the high-speed ride to retrieve the device.

Ms Rodden was involved in three other accidents, including a serious car crash in February, 2019, and another where she flipped her car after hitting a truck in January, 2021

Horrifying footage shows Shylah Rodden (pictured in black) moments from being hit by the Rebel Coaster at the Melbourne Royal show on Sunday

Her father Alan Rodden told Daily Mail Australia this week his daughter had suffered life-changing injuries.

'Obviously I can't talk to my daughter. She's going to be in a coma for quite a while,' he said.

'The injuries are horrific. Horrific. She's brain damaged. It's pelvic, her arms, legs, back, neck - there's hardly a thing that's not broken. I just can't work out how the hell so much damage has been done.

'Even the doctors have said they haven't seen anything as bad as this for a long time.'

Police revealed on Monday the rollercoaster was travelling at 70km/h when she was hit.

Ms Rodden had to re-learn how to walk after she was involved in a horror crash in January 2021 when she flipped a car on the Western Ring Road in Melbourne after ploughing into a truck and a car.

She was not wearing a seatbelt and was flung from the car onto the road.

The young woman survived the crash but needed significant rehabilitation to get back on her feet and backed by her supportive parents, she managed to walk again.

Her gruelling path to recovery came after yet another serious car crash in 2019.

Mr Rodden (pictured) has been involved in three separate traffic accidents, in 2018, 2019 and 2021

Two months before she would be struck by the rollercoaster, she was dealt another blow with the death of her beloved brother, Jason.

'Dad sat me down and told me that my brother had passed away,' she wrote in the weeks before her accident.

'He wasn't just my big brother, he was my best friend, my everything, the person I looked up to and inspired to be like.'

A Melbourne Royal Show spokeswoman claimed 'the safety and well-being of our visitors to the show continues to be our number one priority'.

The safety watchdog WorkSafe is in the process of determining if that statement is true.

The rollercoaster that struck her reopened just days after the sickening incident.

Show management declined to comment on whether new safety procedures had been adopted in the wake of it.
Prince Andrew has been spotted horseriding in Windsor today for the second time since the Queen's funeral amid rumours he faces a grim future for a royal under Charles' rule.

The prince, 62, was seen in riding gear and a blue fleece with a royal crest as he rode near where the Queen was laid to rest following her state funeral earlier this month.

But his enjoyment of the outdoors could be all he has to look forward to after royal experts claim he faces being frozen out of the royal family under his brother's rule, and will be no more than the royal's 'dog walker-in-chief'.

The Queen's second son returned to public life after the death of Elizabeth II earlier this month, after previously stepping back from royal duties after details of his ties to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein emerged.

He was briefly allowed to wear his military uniform as he and his siblings stood vigil next to their mother's coffin as she lay in state in Westminster Hall.

Prince Andrew also greeted mourners at Balmoral shortly after the death of Her Majesty as they gathered outside the castle where the Queen passed away to lay flowers and pay tribute.

But his attempt to rescue his reputation stands little chance of succeeding, according to royal observers.

It comes after King Charles was said to be instrumental in the decision to strip the Prince of all his royal titles in January of this year.

The prince, 62, was seen in riding gear and a blue fleece with a royal crest as he rode near where the Queen was laid to rest following her state funeral earlier this month

Andrew was seen to be enjoying himself on his ride in Windsor, where he is often seen exercising the royal horses

His enjoyment of the outdoors could be all he has to look forward to after royal experts claim he faces being frozen out of the royal family under his brother's rule

Prince Andrew could even be kicked out of the lavish Windsor mansion where he currently lives with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson

King Charles is widely reported to be planning a slimmed-down monarchy during his reign, which could include a review into the Crown's vast property portfolio covering 500,000-plus acres of land.

This would see little room for Andrew, who could be left simply looking after his late mother's dogs, Candy, Muick and Sandy, the Sun reports.

Andrew and ex-wife Sarah Ferguson will remain at their lavish Windsor mansion in the near future, but fear they could be 'kicked out' amid a shake-up within the Royal Family.

Royal author Phil Dampier previously told MailOnline: 'Prince Andrew will be devastated by the Queen's death because he was always her favourite child.

'Although he was in disgrace because of his involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, he still saw more of her in private than his siblings.

'Living at Royal Lodge just a short distance from Windsor Castle, he would see her on an almost daily basis. He supported her when she was more frail, and was always there for her in person or on the phone whenever she needed him.

'There was an unbreakable bond between them and she must have been devastated when his name was dragged through the mud.

'He only had himself to blame of course and it's difficult to feel sympathy for him, but as a mother she always supported him.'

Following the revelations of Prince Andrew's connections to Epstein and his disastrous Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis, he faced a US lawsuit by Virgina Roberts - who now goes by her married name of Giuffre.

As pressure and bad publicity continued to pile on Duke of York over the New York civil sex assault case, it was announced in January 2021 that the Prince would lose his royal patronages so he could fight the allegations as a 'private citizen'.

Despite vowing to fight Ms Roberts' allegations directed against him in the civil case filed in New York - and repeatedly protesting his innocence - Andrew agreed to pay 12million to settle the case before it reached a jury.

Andrew said he would make a 'substantial donation' to her charity supporting victims' rights and also praised her 'bravery', saying he had 'never intended' to malign her character.

He last appeared in an official capacity in March during a memorial service to Philip, Duke of Edinburgh who died last year.

This was not without controversy after he arrived with the Queen from Windsor and supported her as she used a walking stick to get to her seat.

He then helped her back out of the church and into the Royal limousine at the end of the service.

Prince Andrew and his siblings walk behind the Queen's coffin on September 14 ahead of the lying in state

Prince Andrew placed himself at the front of the family when greeting wellwishers at Balmoral

But despite his efforts it has been reported he faces a grim future with his brother as monarch

International media were quick to notice the significant role he was allowed to play in the service, given he had only reached the costly settlement with Ms Giuffre weeks earlier.

Ms Giuffre claimed that Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell had trafficked her from the US specifically to have sex with the Prince when she was 17.

Epstein killed himself in his jail cell after he was arrested for sex trafficking girls as young as 14 in 2019.

Maxwell was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison for various sex trafficking offences, including against children, in June of this year.

It was later reported that Prince William and King Charles had raised concerns 'on more than once occasion' about the optics of allowing the duke to escort the 96-year-old monarch down to her seat at such a well-publicised event.

According to reports the King and his son had also been pivotal in arguing for Andrew to be stripped of all his royal titles and patronages earlier in the year.

Andrew was then banned from the Buckingham Palace balcony for Her Majesty's Platinum Jubilee celebrations, an act which royal experts said proved there was 'no way back' for the disgraced duke.

But in the aftermath of the Queen's death, Prince Andrew played a prominent role in official and ceremonial proceedings.

This included walking behind the Queen's coffin on various occasions and standing guard over her coffin with his other siblings.

When he greeted royal fans at Balmoral alongside his daughters and various other members of the family, including Edward the Earl of Wessex and his children, royal commentators were quick to point out it might have been an attempt for him to rescue his public image.

Mr Dampier added of Andrew: 'When he was a baby he wasn't seen in public for months and rumours even circulated that there was something wrong with him. But it was just her protecting him and enjoying time with him, which she didn't have with Charles and Anne who were a decade older.

'Andrew was known as the 'love child' because his birth marked a new era for the Queen having two children after a gap. There had also been rumours in the mid 1950s that all was not well with her marriage to Prince Philip and so a new child scotched those.

'He was probably a bit spoilt as a child and allowed a free rein, which might explain his arrogance as an adult. Maybe she indulged him too much and certainly she should have asked more questions about his lifestyle long before he was served with legal notices.'
King Charles III has invited the Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines to Balmoral for an audience as the Caribbean island nation considers dumping him as head of state.

The monarch was pictured smiling and shaking hands with Ralph Gonsalves and his wife Eloise at the Aberdeenshire castle.

This comes after the island nation's PM proposed a referendum asking if the monarch should be replaced with an appointed 'executive president' and the Earl and Countess of Wessex faced protests when they visited in April.

In July, Mr Gonsalves told his country's parliament that the vote would be an opportunity to 'complete the national democratic task' - after they gained their independence from the UK in 1979.

King Charles III invited the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to Balmoral for an audience as the Caribbean island nation considers dumping him as head of state

The monarch was pictured smiling and shaking hands with Ralph Gonsalves and his wife Eloise at the Highlands castle

It is the PM's second attempt to become a republic in his 21 years in power.

In 2009, he backed a reform that would have seen a president installed but a referendum on the issue received only 43 percent of support.

This was well below the two-thirds majority needed to pass, according to the country's constitution.

But a repeat of the measure is reportedly more likely to succeed now because of the recent similar moves in the region.

In July, Mr Gonsalves told his country's parliament that the vote would be an opportunity to 'complete the national democratic task' - after they gained their independence from the UK in 1979

When Prince Edward and Sophie Wessex visited St Vincent and the Grenadines in April, they were met with protests calling for reparations for British colonialism.

The demonstrators held up banners and signs reading 'End to Colonialism', Reparation Now', 'Down with Neo-colonialism' and 'Compensation Now'.

The potential move comes after the Bahamas removed the Queen as head of state last November, prior to her death.

When Prince Edward and Sophie Wessex visited the island nation in April, they were met with protests calling for reparations for British colonialism

The demonstrators held up banners and signs reading 'end to colonialism' and 'reparation now'

In Jamaica, growing anti-monarchy sentiment has seen the country's government indicate its wish to become a republic by 2025.

In Belize, prime minister John Briceno hinted that his country might follow Barbados in becoming a republic. The Belize Progressive Party (BPP) has also openly talked of a 'Republic of Belize'.

And in the Bahamas, the country's former attorney general Sean McWeeney previously said a shift to a republic is 'inevitable'.
An eight-year-old California boy was severely mauled by a vicious labrador at an unlicensed home daycare on Tuesday, leaving the youngster with gruesome injuries to his face and body.

The distraught mother, Michelle Aranda, described the horrific injuries her son, Connor, sustained to 'his face, chest, back and arm.'

'There are stitches inside of his mouth, on the top, on the top lip,' she told Newstar's KTLA News. 'His chest had a five-inch laceration that was about a quarter-inch deep.'

After the near-deadly attack, the child was rushed to Loma Linda University Hospital's trauma center by a medevac helicopter - approximately a 32 mile distance - from where the attack took place in Apple Valley, Calif.

Connor Aranda, 8, was severely mauled by a vicious labrador at an unlicensed home daycare on Tuesday while he was being cared for at an unlicensed home daycare center in Apple, Calif.

Michelle Aranda, the boy's mother, spoke of the horrific injuries her son to 'his face, chest, back and arm.' She said her son is in pain and shared the emotional scars he may now face

The child was rushed to Loma Linda University Medical trauma center by a medevac helicopter - approximately a 32 mile distance - from Apple Valley, Calif., where the attack took place

The home daycare where Connor was being cared for before the near-deadly attack

The daycare owner, whose name has not been released, told the news outlet the dog did attack the child and that San Bernardino Animal Care and Control removed the animal from her home where they will be euthanized.

There are no charges pending against the daycare owner at this time but Aranda said she is considering legal action.

The San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department may be the lead agency on the attack. While Animal Care and Control also investigates, the news outlet reported.

'I trusted her, trusted that he was safe there, that all my kids were safe there,' said the devastated mother.

According to the states Department of Social Services, the license application for the home daycare was pending, KTLA News reported.

Since the ordeal, Aranda said her son has already had multiple surgeries, with many more ahead of him.

She said seeing him lying in the hospital uninterested in talking, eating or drinking has been traumatic for her, and shared her concern about how the emotional scars her boy endured from the attack.

'He's just so sad. He doesn't want to do anything or even get out of bed,' Aranda said, according to KTLA.

A picture of little Connor smiling at what appears to be a pumpkin farm

The graphic images is a close-up of the bites Connor got during dog attack on his body

A family friend set up a GoFundMe to help pay for the medical care and help Aranda, a single mother who works full-time and has two younger children, with travel expenses.

As of Saturday morning, nearly $1,900 has been raised toward their goal of $10,000.

'We would like to raise money so Connors mom does not have to worry about lost wages and mounting bills,' the post read.

This child is very special to a lot of people, most importantly his mother. She needs to be there for him and we need to be there for this family.'
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Brutal Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov said that Russia should consider using low-yield nuclear weapons after Vladimir Putin came under stinging criticism from his own side after Russia was forced to withdraw troops from a key Ukrainian city.

Ukrainian forces encircled the strategic eastern city of Lyman on Saturday in a counteroffensive that has humiliated the Kremlin, while Russian bombardments intensified after Moscow illegally annexed a swath of Ukrainian territory in a sharp escalation of the war.

Russia's own Tass and RIA news agencies announced that troops have fled Lyman, citing the Russian defence ministry.

'In my personal opinion, more drastic measures should be taken, up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and use of low-yield nuclear weapons,' Kadyrov said on his Telegram channel.

Other top Putin allies, including former president Dmitry Medvedev, have suggested Russia may need to resort to nuclear weapons, but Kadyrov's call was the most urgent and explicit.

Putin said last week he was not bluffing when he said he was prepared to defend Russia's 'territorial integrity' with all available means, and on Friday made clear this extended to the new regions that Moscow has claimed.

Washington says it would respond decisively to any use of nuclear weapons and has spelled out to Moscow the 'catastrophic consequences' it would face.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said Russia should consider using low-yield nuclear weapons after Ukrainian troops have been successfully pushing back Russian forces

A volunteer places the body of killed people at a site of a civilian convoy, which Ukrainian State Security Service say was hit by a shelling of Russian troops amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the village of Kurylivka in Kharkiv region

A local resident rides a bicycle past abandoned Russian tanks in the village of Kurylivka, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said Russia should consider using low-yield nuclear weapons and declare martial law in the border areas of the annexed areas of Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin came under stinging criticism from his own side after losing the strategic eastern city of Lyman on Saturday

The retreat from Lyman came less than two weeks after Putin ordered a partial mobilization of reservists to beef up his forces in Ukraine.

The bitter blame game revealed a deep split among the most vocal backers of Putin's military conflict and his top brass, notably defence minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

Military commander and normally loyalist MP Andrey Gurulev claimed the Russian forces were heroes led by self-serving donkeys, he said: 'I cannot explain this surrender in military terms.

'The problem is a system of lies, reports of a good situation [when the reality is bad].

'This rot comes from the top down.'

Kadyrov said that there is 'no place for nepotism in the army' and called Colonel-General Alexander Lapin, who is in charge of Russia's forces fighting in the region, 'mediocre'.

He said Lapin did not provide the 'necessary communication, interaction and supply of ammunition' to pro-Russian troops in Lyman, a town in the eastern Donetsk region that Moscow annexed a day earlier.

'I would have demoted Lapin to the rank of private, deprived him of his awards and, with a machine gun in his hands, sent him to the front lines to wash away his shame in blood,' Kadyrov told his 2.8 million followers on Telegram.

The embarrassing retreat occurred after Russia ordered a partial mobilization of reservists to try and bolster its forces in Ukraine

Military commander and normally loyalist MP Andrey Gurulev claimed the Russian forces were heroes led by self-serving donkeys

Ukrainian forces are advancing on the Russians after encircling the Lyman area (Ukrainian troop lines marked in red)

Putin chants 'Russia' with the puppet 'leaders' of the four Ukrainian regions he now claims are part of his country

Video footage shared on Telegram on Saturday showed Ukrainian troops re-entering Lyman

Soldiers were pictured standing on top of an army vehicle and erecting the Ukrainian flag

Ukrainian soldiers gather for a group photo proudly displaying the Ukrainian flag after reportedly liberating the village of Drobyshevo on their way to freeing Lyman

Video taken by Ukrainian spearhead units purports to show destroyed tanks and military equipment on the road to Lyman as Russian troops flee

The four Ukrainian regions Putin seeks to steal are Luhansk and Donetsk, in the east, and Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, in the south, but his armed forces are not in full control and fighting is continuing across all of them

Ukrainian soldiers walk in Bakhmut, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk

A local resident looks around as she stands beside a crater left by a Russian missile strike n Bakhmut amid Russia's attack on Ukraine

The flag raised in Lyman appears to be covered in messages of hope from Ukrainians

Lyman is 160 kilometres (100 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city. Ukrainian forces had pushed across the Oskil River as part of a counteroffensive that saw Kyiv retake vast swathes of territory beginning in September.

The city is a key transportation hub and has been an important site in the Russian front line for both ground communications and logistics.

The city is symbolically important too as it is in an area Russia claims to have annexed under its control.

In a bizarre rant, Putin talked for 40 minutes about how the area would remain part of Russia 'forever', in a speech which included references to Satanism and colonialism.

Now with it gone, Ukraine can push further potentially into the occupied Luhansk region, which is one of four regions that Russia annexed Friday after an internationally criticised referendum vote at gunpoint.

'Lyman is important because it is the next step towards the liberation of the Ukrainian Donbas. It is an opportunity to go further to Kreminna and Severodonetsk, and it is psychologically very important,' said Serhii Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine's eastern forces.

It comes as Ukraine announced its determination to join NATO by applying via an accelerated route this week.

In a speech on Friday, Putin spoke to hundreds of ashen-faced officials, and the despot lashed out at the West's 'neo-colonial' foreign policy.

'I want the Ukrainian authorities and their real masters in the West to hear me, so that they remember this,' Putin said.

'People living in Luhansk and Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are now becoming our citizens for ever.'

He claimed the occupied regions wanted to join Russia because they were upset about the 'tragedy' of the collapse of the Soviet Union. 'We call on the Kyiv regime to immediately end hostilities, end the war that they unleashed back in 2014 and return to the negotiating table,' he added.

But the 69-year-old Russian president ruled out discussing the return of the four eastern regions. 'There is nothing stronger than their willingness to go back to their true historic homeland,' he said in yet another denial of Ukraine's right to exist.

The reference to 2014 appears to be in reference to Putin's annexation of Crimea, another hostile act his Russia took against Ukraine.

The Russian army also struck the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv twice overnight, once with drones and the second time with missiles, according to regional Gov. Vitaliy Kim. Pictured: Ukrainian soldiers walk in Bakhmut

This photograph taken on October 1, 2022 shows a burnt car on a road near Izyum, eastern Ukraine, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Red Cross rescuers carry the body of woman killed in a residential building which was shelled in the city of Mykolaiv

An elderly man looks at a damaged residential building after shelling in the city of Mykolaiv

Even so, when facing Ukrainian gains on the battlefield - which he frames as a U.S.-orchestrated effort to destroy Russia - Putin this week heightened his threats of nuclear force and used his most aggressive, anti-Western rhetoric to date.

Despite Putin's annexation of four regions in Ukraine yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his military have vowed to keep on fighting to liberate the annexed regions and other Russian-occupied areas.

Ukrainian officials said Saturday their forces had surrounded some 5,000 Russian forces who were trying to hold the eastern city of Lyman, which is located in Luhansk, one of the four annexed areas. The number of encircled troops could be lower because of casualties.

'The Russian grouping in the area of Lyman is surrounded,' Serhii Cherevatyi said hours earlier. He confirmed Ukraine was inside the town later that afternoon.

'We're already in Lyman, but there are battles,' he said.

The Russian defence ministry's statement made no mention of its troops being encircled at Lyman, diverging starkly from Ukraine's version of events.

Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy's chief of staff, posted video online Saturday purporting to show grinning Ukrainian soldiers at a monument on the outskirts of Lyman, waving a signed Ukrainian flag.

'October 1. We're unfurling our state flag and establishing it on our land. Lyman will be Ukraine,' one of the soldiers said, standing atop a military vehicle.

Neither side's battlefield assertions could be independently verified.

It remained unclear whether Ukrainian forces have entered the city itself. Kyiv-appointed Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai claimed that all routes to resupply Russian forces in Lyman were blocked.

Russia has not confirmed that its forces were cut off, but said its troops had withdrawn from the area 'due to the risk of encirclement'.

Haidai said the besieged troops had begged on Friday to be allowed to leave Lyman. Their commanders refused, he claimed.

Kadyrov launched a blistering attack on Colonel-General Alexander Lapin, the commander overseeing Lyman, for the calamity, who he derided as a 'mediocrity'.

A mere day before the liberation of Lyman, Vladimir Putin gave a Kremlin speech to hundreds of ashen-faced officials declaring four Ukrainian territories to forever be part of Russia

Putin's grinning visage of appeared on a screen set at Red Square as he addresses a rally and a concert marking the annexation of four regions of Ukraine Russian troops occupy - Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, in central Moscow

Brutal warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, (pictured) the leader of the southern Chechnya region who describes himself as a footsoldier of Putin, said called for the use of nuclear weapons after the announcement of the retreat from Lyman

Thousands of Russian troops are either partially or full encircled in Lyman, a city in the Donetsk region that Putin now claims is part of Russia - meaning they could be killed or captured in the coming hours

The Chechen strongman also said he personally had warned Russia's army chief, General Valery Gerasimov, of a looming disaster.

'The general assured me he had no doubts about Lapin's talent for leadership and did not think a retreat was possible in ... Lyman and its surroundings,' he said.

Kadyrov demanded that the commander in charge at Lyman - Colonel-General Alexander Lapin - should be stripped of his high rank and Hero of Russia honour.

'He is being covered up by his superiors in the General Staff,' said Kadyrov.

'If I had my way I would have demoted Lapin to private, deprived him of his awards, and sent him to the front line to wash off his shame with the rifle in his hands.'

He next accused Defence Minister Shoigu of failing to tell Putin the truth about the battlefield.

'I do not know what the Defence Ministry reports to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief [Putin], but in my personal opinion, we need to take more drastic measures.'

He ranted that the armed forces had failed to rout Ukraine's supposed 'Satanists and fascists'.

Even Putin himself came under stinging criticism from his own side over his latest impending 'surrender' in occupied Ukraine.

The bitter blame game revealed a deep split among the most vocal backers of Putin's military conflict and his top brass, notably Shoigu and Gerasimov.

It showed key players in the Putin camp turning on each other, implicitly criticising Putin for sticking by failed commanders.

Military commander and normally loyalist MP Andrey Gurulev hit out: 'I cannot explain this surrender in military terms. It is probably a milestone not only militarily, but also politically, especially now.

'The problem is a system of lies, reports of a good situation [when the reality is bad]. This rot comes from the top down.'

He claimed the Russian forces were heroes led by self-serving donkeys.

He stormed on state TV: 'Did we not know the number of forces that were advancing on Lyman? If not, where was the intelligence?

'The 144th Division worked perfectly on the ground, as did army aviation. The artillery did not stop working at all.

'The whole problem is not on the ground, but in the [army general staff] where they still do not understand, and fail to own the situation.'

Telegram channel Rybar warned: 'A media coup has startedagainst the Russian Ministry of Defence - or rather its leadership and commanders on the ground.'

Senior figures within the Russian establishment have started to turn on Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (pictured right with Putin), accusing him of feeing the Russian President untruthful reports that fail to communicate how dire things really are

General Valery Gerasimov, General of the Army, the current Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, is also in the firing line after the humiliation surrounding the liberation of Lyman by Ukrainian forces

Putin, chief of Russia's general staff Valery Gerasimov (first from the right) and Russian Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu at Vostok-2022 drills in the Far East of Russia in happier times, before the Russian army started collapsing in the east of Ukraine

There are claims Kadyrov could be in line to take over as defence minister, or Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner private army which has recruited tens of thousands of serving prisoners to act as 'cannon fodder' in Putin's forces.

Both are close Putin allies and frighten many more mainstream Russian politicians.

Putin has so far been reluctant to dispense with Shoigu, a long time political ally.

'Everyone is unhappy with one thing - the cumulative effect of years of 'successful' reports from the command in the field,' said Rybar.

'Now this has turned into yet another failure on the frontline.'

Meanwhile Ukrainian authorities accuse Russian forces of targeting two humanitarian convoys in recent days, killing dozens of civilians.

On Saturday the governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said 20 civilians were killed in an attack on a convoy of people trying to flee the Kupiansky district, calling it 'cruelty that can't be justified.'

The Security Service of Ukraine, the secret police force known by the acronym SBU, posted photographs of the attacked convoy.

At least one truck appeared to have been blown up, with burned corpses in what remained of its truck bed.

Another vehicle at the front of the convoy also had been ablaze. Bodies lay on the side of the road or still inside their vehicles, which appeared pockmarked with bullet holes.

The SBU said the convoy was attacked with 'small arms fire,' while the governor said it was shelled. The discrepancy could not be immediately resolved. The exact date of the attack was not announced.

Russian forces have not acknowledged or commented on the attack. Russian troops have retreated from much of the Kharkiv region after a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive last month but have continued to shell the area.

In an apparent attempt to secure Moscow's hold on the newly annexed territory, Russian forces seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov, around 4 pm Friday, according to the Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom.

That was just hours after Putin signed treaties to absorb Moscow-controlled Ukrainian territory into Russia, including the area around the nuclear plant.

Energoatom said Russian troops stopped Murashov's car, blindfolded him and then took him to an undisclosed location.

A Ukrainian soldier looks out from a tank, near the town Lyman, Donetsk region, back in April before it fell into Russian hands

A Ukrainian national flag is displayed in front of a destroyed house near Izyum, eastern Ukraine today, after it was liberated last month

Abandoned Russian tanks stand on the road in recently liberated town Kupiansk, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 1. It will likley be repurposed by the Ukrainian army and be turned against its creators

Ukrainian servicemen sit on a destroyed bridge across Oskil river in recently liberated town Kupiansk, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct.

Russia did not publicly comment on the report. The International Atomic Energy Agency said Saturday that Russia told it that 'the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was temporarily detained to answer questions.'

The Vienna-based agency did not immediately elaborate.

'His detention by (Russia) jeopardizes the safety of Ukraine and Europe's largest nuclear power plant,' said Energoatom President Petro Kotin, demanding the director's immediate release.

The power plant repeatedly has been caught in the crossfire of the war. Ukrainian technicians continued running it after Russian troops seized the power station, and its last reactor was shut down in September as a precautionary measure amid ongoing shelling nearby.

In its heaviest barrage in weeks, Russia's military on Friday pounded Ukrainian cities with missiles, rockets and suicide drones, with one strike in the Zaporizhzhia region's capital killing 30 people and wounding 88.

In a daily briefing on Saturday the British Defense Ministry said the Russians 'almost certainly' struck a humanitarian convoy there with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles.

Russia is increasingly using anti-aircraft missiles to conduct attacks on the ground likely due to a lack of munitions, the British military said.

The attack came while Putin was preparing to sign the annexation treaties, which included the Zaporizhzhia region. Russian-installed officials in Zaporizhzhia blamed Ukrainian forces, but gave no evidence.

In other fighting reported Saturday, four people were killed and six injured by Russian shelling in the Donetsk region on Friday, governor Pavlo Kyrylenko reported.

The Russian army also struck the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv twice overnight, once with drones and the second time with missiles, according to regional Gov. Vitaliy Kim. Five people were injured, including a 3-month-old baby, he said.

After Friday's land grab, Russia now claims sovereignty over 15 per cent of Ukraine, in what NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called 'the largest attempted annexation of European territory by force since the Second World War.'

He added that the war is at 'a pivotal moment.'

Zelenskyy on Friday formally applied for NATO membership, upping the pressure on Western allies to defend Ukraine.

In Washington, President Joe Biden signed a bill Friday that provides another infusion of military and economic aid to Ukraine.

Ukraine says Russian troops have KIDNAPPED head of Europe's largest nuclear power plant by bundling him out of his car, blindfolding him and spiriting him away

ByJonathan Rose For MailOnline

Ukraine has accused Russian troops of kidnapping the head of Europe's largest nuclear power plant.

Russian forces allegedly seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov, at around 4pm on Friday, Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom said.

That was just hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a sharp escalation of his war, signed treaties to absorb Moscow-controlled Ukrainian territory into Russia.

Energoatom said Russian troops stopped Murashov's car, blindfolded him and then took him to an undisclosed location.

'His detention by (Russia) jeopardizes the safety of Ukraine and Europe's largest nuclear power plant,' said Energoatom President Petro Kotin.

Kotin demanded that Russia immediately release Murashov. Russia did not immediately acknowledge seizing the plant director.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, which has staff at the plant, did not immediately acknowledge Energoatom's claim of Murashov's capture.

Russian forces allegedly seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov (pictured), at around 4pm on Friday, Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom said

Energoatom said Russian troops stopped Murashov's car, blindfolded him and then took him to an undisclosed location

The Zaporizhzhia plant (above) repeatedly has been caught in the crossfire of the war in Ukraine

The Zaporizhzhia plant repeatedly has been caught in the crossfire of the war in Ukraine.

Ukrainian technicians continued running it after Russian troops seized the power station.

The plant's last reactor was shut down in September amid ongoing shelling near the facility.

On Friday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the war in Ukraine was at 'a pivotal moment.'

He called Putin's decision to take over more territory - Russia now claims sovereignty over 15 per cent of Ukraine - 'the largest attempted annexation of European territory by force since the Second World War.'

Elsewhere in Ukraine, however, a Ukrainian counteroffensive that last month embarrassed the Kremlin by liberating a region bordering Russia was on the verge of retaking more ground, according to military analysts.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Ukraine likely will retake another key Russian-occupied city in the country's east in the next few days.

Ukrainian forces already have encircled the city of Lyman, some 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.

Vladimir Putin speaks as Leonid Pasechnik, leader of self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, left, Denis Pushilin, leader of self-proclaimed of the Donetsk People's Republic, second left, Moscow-appointed head of Kherson Region Vladimir Saldo, second right, and Moscow-appointed head of Zaporizhzhia region Yevgeny Balitsky, right, stand near him

Citing Russian reports, the institute said it appeared Russian forces were retreating from Lyman.

That corresponds to online videos purportedly showing some Russian forces falling back as a Ukrainian soldier said they had reached Lyman's outskirts.

The Ukrainian military has yet to claim taking Lyman and Russia-backed forces claimed they were sending more troops to the area.

Ukraine also is making 'incremental' gains around Kupiansk and the eastern bank of the Oskil River, which became a key front line since the Ukrainian counteroffensive regained control of the Kharkiv region in September.

Ukraine's military claimed on Saturday that Russia would need to deploy cadets before they complete their training because of a lack of manpower in the war.

Putin ordered a mass mobilization of Russian army reservists last week to supplement his troops in Ukraine, and thousands of men have fled the country to avoid the call-up.

The Ukrainian military's general staff said cadets at the Tyumen Military School and at the Ryazan Airborne School would be sent to participate in Russia's mobilization.

It offered no details on how it gathered the information, though Kyiv has electronically intercepted mobile phone calls from Russian soldiers amid the conflict.

In a daily intelligence briefing, the British Defense Ministry highlighted an attack Friday in the city of Zaporizhzhia that killed 30 people and wounded 88 others.

The British military said the Russians 'almost certainly' struck a humanitarian convoy there with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles.

Russia is increasingly using anti-aircraft missiles to conduct attacks on the ground likely due to a lack of munitions, the British said Saturday.

'Russia's stock of such missiles is highly likely limited and is a high-value resource designed to shoot down modern aircraft and incoming missiles, rather than for use against ground targets,' the British said.

'Its use in ground attack role has almost certainly been driven by overall munitions shortages, particularly longer-range precision missiles.'

The British briefing noted the attack came while Putin was preparing to sign the annexation treaties.

'Russia is expending strategically valuable military assets in attempts to achieve tactical advantage and in the process is killing civilians it now claims are its own citizens,' it said.

Lambs to the slaughter: Families of Russian men being called up to fight Putin's Ukraine war are being bribed with a SHEEP each

ByHannah Mcdonaldand Will Stewart for MailOnline

Families of Russian men being called up to fight Putin's Ukraine war are being bribed with a sheep each.

So far 91 live rams have been handed over to wives and mothers in mountainous Tuva republic, home region of Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu.

More are due to be handed out as men are mobilised to fight in Ukraine some 3,200 miles away.

The move follows protests by women in Siberian region Tuva against their men being sent to war.

Families of Russian men being called up to fight Putin's Ukraine war are being bribed with a sheep each

So far 91 live rams have been handed over to wives and mothers in mountainous Tuva republic, home region of Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu

Pictures show large numbers of sheep in pick-up trucks as well as being take in or in, presumably to be gifted.

The animals were distributed among residents of the districts Sut-Kholsky, Mongun-Tayginsky, Barun-Khemchiksky, Ulug-Khemsky, Chedi-Kholsky, Tes-Khemsky, Chaa-Kholsky and Dzun-Khemchiksky.

Families are now each gifted a sheep by the regional government, along with other items depending on where they live.

Different districts are receiving sacks of potatoes, flour, cabbage, firewood and coal, alongside their sheep.

Pictures show large numbers of sheep in pick-up trucks as well as being take in or in, presumably to be gifted

Different districts are receiving sacks of potatoes, flour, cabbage, firewood and coal, alongside their sheep

In addition, each family with children younger than 17 can receive 5,000 rouples (roughly 75).

This follows Vladimir Putin's brutal police in Tuva seen manhandling women protesters into cells-on-wheels after they protested about mobilisation of the region's men.

A total of 27 women were detained, with violence used against the mother of a new-born baby girl.

One video showed two police officers holding a pram with a baby girl.

This follows Vladimir Putin's brutal police in Tuva seen manhandling women protesters into cells-on-wheels after they protested about mobilisation of the region's men

A total of 27 women were detained, with violence used against the mother of a newborn baby girl with one video showing two police officers holding a pram with a baby girl

Women were heard yelling: 'Let her go! Are you humans? Let her go!'

The protest here is significant.

Tuva is the home region of the Russian defence minister.
She also explicitly said that she backs the bussing of migrants, which some of her fellow Democrats have claimed is human trafficking

Ramon claimed the migrants are 'not being lied to' and says illegal immigration is the biggest issue her border town faces

A Democratic mayor in Texas says she backs Republican governor's decision to bus illegal migrants to liberal sanctuary cities - and insisted those moved were never lied-to about their final destination.

Yolanda Ramon, mayor pro-tem of Eagle Pass, Texas, said migrants she's met who have crossed into the US are often just looking for get further away from the border and would appreciate the help getting there.

She told Fox News she agrees with moves by Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to move migrants to so-called sanctuary cities including New York and Chicago, as well as ritzy and woke Martha's Vineyard.

She also said they often are unaware of how far other cities are once they arrive in the country, which is why they're often ready to take up offers of free transportation to northern cities.

'I can tell you one thing, theyre not being lied to. You run into them at the gas station, theyll tell you I just want to go somewhere. I just want to go further up north,' Ramon said.

Yolanda Ramon, mayor of Eagle Pass, Texas, says illegal immigrants are thankful for the rides to sanctuary cities that Republican politicians are providing them

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has bussed approximately 10,000 migrants to Democratic sanctuary cities, and New York has had 15,500 migrants show up in the city recently

A group of nearly 50 migrants from Venezuela who were flown to the island of Martha's Vineyard by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

'They dont even know where theyre at sometimes,' she continued. 'Theyll ask how far is San Antonio? How far is Houston? How far is New York?'

She told Fox News that illegal immigration is the most 'pressing issue' in the city of Eagle Pass, which lies directly on the US-Mexico border.

Ramon's remarks are in marked contrast to those made by many of her fellow Democrats, who have accused Abbott and DeSantis of human trafficking and extreme cruelty.

GOP lawmakers say they're keen to give liberal cities which back uncontrolled immigration a taste of what life is like along the southern border, where hundreds of thousands of people are caught crossing each month.

Ramon's comments come as the border between US and Mexico sees increased strain from an influx of immigrants, and many Republican politicians have taken to bussing or flying illegal immigrants into Democratic sanctuary cities.

Ramon called the situation 'comical,' adding there is no doubt that illegal immigrants 'know where they're going' when they're offered rides to those cities.

'Of course they know where they're going otherwise they wouldn't be going,' Ramon said.

She said immigrants are likely thinking, 'You know what, if I don't have to walk 200 miles to San Antonio, and I can get on a bus and that bus will take me closer to where I want to go to, let me get on that bus.'

Democratic leadership has struggled to deal with the immigrants appearing in their cities; New York City Mayor Eric Adams was recently forced to use a cruise ship as a processing center for immigrants.

Texas has bussed more than 10,000 migrants to blue cities, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey have followed suit.

In a particularly brazen act, DeSantis flew about 50 Venezuelan migrants to the Democratic vacation hideaway of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.

About 15,500 migrants have made their way to New York according to City Hall estimates, with Adams predicting a swell of 75,000 which would strain the shelter system to 'breaking point.'

In the past 11 months, border officials in the United States have arrested more than two million illegal immigrants at the southern border

'Of course they know where they're going otherwise they wouldn't be going,' Ramon said of migrants who are bussed or flown to other cities

In the past 11 months, border officials in the United States have arrested more than 2 million illegal immigrants at the southern border, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

CBP encountered 203,597 migrants at the southern border in August alone, which is a slight uptick from the crossings in July.

Since October 2021, CBP has recorded encountering 2,150,639 migrants who have crossed over the border from Mexico  and since the start of Biden's time in office has had run-ins with more than 3.5 million.

Republicans have chastised the Biden administration for ignoring the prevailing crisis, especially as the number of deaths along the border have reached record-breaking numbers.

In September, preliminary figures show that 30 migrants have died along the border  adding to the total toll of 782 deaths in 2022.
The investigator who revealed Jimmy Savile's prolific paedophilia has said that he is working - and has been for some time - on exposing one other well-known living child sex offender.

Mark Williams-Thomas, the former police detective-turned-TV journalist who exposed Savile, claimed that the other individual has so far evaded justice because he is 'untouchable'.

Williams-Thomas was the leading investigator on the ITV Exposure documentary, The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, which revealed how one of Britain's most loved entertainers systematically and disturbingly preyed upon young and vulnerable girls.

The award-winning film, broadcast just over a decade ago on 3 October 2012 - a year after Savile's death - prompted hundreds of other unheard victims to come forward with their experiences.

In the documentary, five women stated that they had been sexually abused by Savile as teenagers. This exposure of Savile as a paedophile led to extensive media coverage, including 41 days on the front pages.

Mark Williams-Thomas - who exposed Savile - has said that he is working on exposing one other well-known living child sex offender

The film led to the Met Police's Operation Yewtree investigation, which ultimately resulted in sexual abuse convictions for multiple celebrity personalities.

By October 2015, 19 people had been arrested by Operation Yewtree; seven of those arrests led to convictions.

However Williams-Thomas, a child protection expert has expressed his frustration that his pursuit of one high-profile target has so far been thwarted.

'There are still people out there who are untouchable,' the former Surrey Police and family liaison officer told i.

'There is one very significant person who I've done everything to try and get prosecuted because he is clearly a child sex offender.'

Williams-Thomas was the leading investigator on the ITV Exposure documentary, The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, which revealed how one of Britain's most loved entertainers systematically and disturbingly preyed upon young and vulnerable girls

'To date the CPS won't prosecute. The police and I have tried really hard to get there. He will die in due course and then the floodgates will open in the same way they did with Savile. That's not right. But justice takes many different forms.'

He added: 'The truth is no broadcaster would have done a programme about Savile when he was alive. We live in a society where there are some people you can't take on and that's really sad.'

Williams-Thomas, who left the police 20 years ago to set up a specialist child protection consultancy, has become a favourite with broadcasters and contributed to a recent Channel 4 film in which Sir Cliff Richard, Paul Gambaccini and DJ Neil Fox told how their lives were ruined by sex abuse allegations made against them.

The cases against Richard and Gambaccini never went to trial while Fox was found not guilty in a magistrates' court.

'There is always collateral damage,' Williams-Thomas told i, 'There will always be innocent casualties of war and that's what happened here.'

Although he believes that the allegations against Sir Cliff were right to be put forward, he also said the police led a 'shambolic investigation'.

'What was wrong was the manner in which they did it', he added.

His experience breaking the Savile story means Williams-Thomas doesn't accept Sir Cliff's plea for sex offence suspects to be granted anonymity before any charges are brought, according to i.

This led to the Met Police's Operation Yewtree investigation, which ultimately resulted in sexual abuse convictions for multiple celebrity personalities. By October 2015, 19 people had been arrested by Operation Yewtree; seven of those arrests led to convictions

'I've seen the value of lifting anonymity for victims to come forward. It's one of the reasons the CPS didn't have evidence to prosecute Savile when he was alive.'

'The media plays a vital role in getting victims to come forward by publicising names. But they have to consider the impact on the accused because there is no more abhorrent crime than child sex abuse.'

From police detective to TV journalist: The career of Mark Williams-Thomas In 1989, Williams-Thomas joined Surrey Police - becoming a specialist in major crime and child abuse. He was a family liaison officer and left the force in 2000

From 2003, he began script advising for various television crime dramas which included BBC series Waking The Dead (2007-2011), BBC series Inspector Lynley Mysteries (2007), Channel 5 series Murder Prevention (2004), ITV series Identity and BBC series The Silence.

In 2005, Williams-Thomas set up WT Associates, an independent child protection consultancy firm.

In 2011 he created and presented a new series on ITV called On the Run. The premise of the series was to track down and confront offenders on the run from the police. The series ran over three seasons.

On 3 October 2012, Williams-Thomas presented the documentary The Other Side of Jimmy Savile on ITV, in which five women stated that they had been sexually abused by Savile as teenagers. The exposure of Savile as a paedophile led to extensive media coverage, including 41 days on the front pages.

In 2014, he covered the verdict of Oscar Pistorius and was the only British journalist to meet with Pistorius during his trial, writing an exclusive report for the Daily Mirror.

Williams-Thomas was the reporter for ITV's crime series The Investigator: A British Crime Story, produced by Simon Cowell's Syco in 2016.

2022: He is a regular reporter on This Morning, Channel 4 News, as well as the ITV series Exposure. Advertisement

When the Savile film was produced, ITV were cautious of releasing it, Williams-Thomas said.

The BBC's Newsnight had also started an investigation - which Williams-Thomas also worked on - that would have aired the sick claims about Savile at the same time the broadcaster was preparing Savile tribute programme's following his death.

'The ITV lawyers lost their nerve in the last days before transmission. You could see the temperature reaching boiling point,' Williams-Thomas told i. 'This was a guy who had huge power during his TV reign and even after his death people were scared of taking him on.'

'I knew we had to take the story away from the children's home abuse. Rightly or wrongly, people would say these were the stories of damaged children, can we believe them?'

'We conducted a properly-evidenced, forensic, police-style investigation over months. Also TV is visual medium so we had to get the victims willing to talk on camera, we couldn't have everyone anonymised. The programme was down to the bravery of those women telling their story.'

Despite being broadcast at 11.10pm at night, the effect of the programme was immediate. 'The NSPCC sent us a letter a week after it aired saying that as a result they were able to follow up on 1,000 cases of child abuse.'

'When the Operation Yewtree lead detectives sat down with us to see what we had, they said they thought there were 30 Savile victims. There was silence in the room when I said the number was nearer 500. That's about the number the subsequent investigation came up with.'

'What our small team achieved gave victims a voice up and down the country. If we hadn't done Savile I genuinely don't think this movement would have gone across the globe,' Williams-Thomas said.

'It created Harvey Weinstein and Epstein (their exposure). I'm honoured to have been a catalyst for something that has changed peoples' lives.'

Reflecting on Savile, Williams-Thomas told i that he understands how even King Charles was taken in by such a manipulative figure.

'I've seen communications between Savile and Prince Charles where there was a conversation about using Savile as a sounding board for his relationship with Diana. Quite mad because Savile never had a real relationship in his life.'

'I don't blame Charles, Savile was looking to ingratiate himself into the royal family. If he saw any benefit in being somewhere he would exploit it for personal gain. He managed to get his foot in the door. He also did a lot for charity and that helped create a profile that he built on through contact with the royal family.'
An Essex woman made 10 false rape claims against two men leading to 60 police investigations - which eventually found that the men were not in the area at the time.

Cathy Richardson, 35, from Westcliff, made a series of allegations against two men between January and May 2021, and has now been sentenced to more than five years in prison.

Essex Police bosses have slammed her actions, which they say had a 'huge impact' on the lives of the men she accused and resulted in wasted police time and resources.

Police added that her false allegations have also done a 'great disservice' to real victims of sexual crimes.

Cathy Richardson, 35, from Westcliff, made a series of allegations against two men between January and May 2021, and has now been sentenced to over five years in prison

Richardson's allegations led to officers carrying out 60 investigations, with one of the men she accused being arrested and made to undergo forensic examination.

As officers progressed their enquiries into Richardson's claims, they found that CCTV, phone data, and information from automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras showed the alleged attacker was not in the area at the time Richardson alleged the assaults to have taken place.

One of the men even agreed to have a GPS tracking tag fitted to his ankle which would send an alarm to police if it was destroyed or taken off.

On a number of occasions, data from the tag was analysed and showed he was not in the area when Richardson said the attack had taken place.

Richardson was arrested on May 28 last year and later charged with perverting the course of justice.

She admitted 10 counts at Salisbury Crown Court and, on Friday, she was sentenced to five years and one month in prison.

Detective Inspector James Holmes, who led the investigation, said: 'Whenever an allegation of rape or sexual assault comes to us, our starting point is to believe the person making that claim.

'They are awful offences and have a massive impact on those who've experienced them, and we have specialist officers and staff who support them and investigate.

'To begin with, Cathy Richardson's claims were no different and we carried out our enquiries with compassion and empathy.

'However, it quickly became clear the allegations Richardson had made were not what they seemed.

'Her claims do a great disservice to victims of rape and sexual assault who need our help and support.

'And they have had a huge impact on the lives of the two men she had accused.

Richardson admitted 10 counts of perverting the course of justice at Salisbury Crown Court and, on Friday, she was sentenced to five years and one month in prison

'Her allegations led to a significant number of investigations which for our officers, taking up a huge number of time and resources which we would have preferred to have directed towards helping genuine victims who really do need us.

'I sincerely hope this case does not put off victims of rape and sexual assault, who really need our help, from reporting offences to us.

'I want to reassure you that you will be believed, we will support you, and we will investigate what has happened.'

A spokesman for Essex Police added that the force was 'dedicated to tackling violence against women and girls in Essex'.

They said: 'We have dedicated officers across the county - whether they specialise in investigating sexual or domestic abuse, offer a uniformed respond to immediate reports of violence, or officers and staff members who are on the other end of our 999 calls.

'They work together to reassure and protect victims and bring violent perpetrators to justice.

'We know that there are some people who do not feel comfortable reporting crimes to the police, and it's on us to gain and maintain trust.'
The Chairman of the Young Conservatives Network has been slammed by Tory Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street for calling Birmingham a 'dump' as he travelled there for the party's conference.

Daniel Grainger was told to leave and 'take anyone with the same views with you' by Mayor Street after sharing the remark on Twitter before the conference begins in Birmingham tomorrow.

Mr Grainger later apologised and deleted the post - which had read: 'Birmingham is a dump.' - claiming it 'was not about the city' and that he had been the victim of a mugging attempt earlier on Saturday.

The city is hosting the Conservative Party's annual conference this week.

In a later tweet, Mr Grainger wrote: 'My tweet in relation to Birmingham was not about the city or its people. I've always enjoyed my visits to your city, but this morning I was greeted by an individual who threatened me with a mugging.

'I was angry and tweeted without thinking, I apologise for any offence caused.

The Conservative Party's annual conference is being held in Birmingham this week

The conference comes against a backdrop of divisions within the Tory party, after the Chancellor's mini-budget prompted market turmoil

Chairman of the Young Conservatives Association Daniel Grainger apologised for calling Birmingham a 'dump'

'I'd also like to directly apologise to (Andy Street), the (Conservatives) and other representatives of Birmingham for my ill conceived comments. I have now deleted the tweet.'

Mr Street and Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley Jess Phillips were among those to pour scorn on the comment.

The Mayor said: 'Off you pop then, and take anyone with the same views with you. Try and take some time to grow up and understand just why this city is so special whilst you're gone.'

Ms Phillips tweeted: 'I see the Tories doing their best to endear themselves.'

Mr Street added: 'I may be a Conservative, but I'm also a bloody proud Brummie.

'I won't have anyone who's never lived or breathed this place trying to put us down.'

The exchange comes against a backdrop of wider divisions emerging within the Tory party, after the Chancellor's mini-budget prompted market turmoil.

Mayor Andy Street condemned the comment, saying: 'I may be a Conservative, but I'm also a bloody proud Brummie'

In an article for The Daily Telegraph, Kwasi Kwarteng claimed he will be setting out a 'credible plan' to get the public finances back on track with a 'commitment to spending discipline'.

Writing in The Sun, Prime Minister Liz Truss insisted the Government was right to act and will keep 'an iron grip' on the national finances.

But the move has come under attack from prominent backbenchers who are concerned about the pound hitting a record low and the impact the financial fallout could have on them at the ballot box.

Tory MP Robert Largan labelled as a 'mistake' the decision to cut the top income tax rate while colleague Simon Hoare, chairman of the Northern Ireland Select Committee, branded the financial plans 'inept madness'.
Burkina Faso armed soldiers wearing fatigues and masks announced on television on Friday the dissolution of the government and the removal of the region's leader, President Paul-Henri Damiba, in the second coup in the troubled West African country this year.

The announcement capped the day that started with gunfire near a military camp in the capital of Ouagadougou, an explosion near the presidential palace, and disruptions to state television programming.

Burkina Faso Coup

The incident is the latest in a pattern that has become increasingly familiar in West and Central Africa in the last two years. It comes as Islamist insurgents continue to wreak havoc across the arid expanses of the Sahel region, killing thousands of people and eroding faith in weak governments that have not found a way to address the issue.

In 2020, Chad, Guinea, and Mali have all seen coups, raising fears of a backslide towards military rule in a region that has made significant democratic progress in the last decade. Army Captain Ibrahim Traore has become Burkina Faso's new leader, as per Reuters.

Traore appeared on television while surrounded by soldiers and announced the dissolution of the government, the suspension of the constitution, and the closure of the borders. The army captain also declared a nightly curfew over the region.

The captain said that a group of officers who assisted Damiba to seize power in a Jan. 24 coup had decided to remove their leader due to his inability to deal with the Islamists. The former president ousted his predecessor, Rock Kabore, for the same reason.

According to CNN, military official Kiswendsida Farouk Azaria Sorgho said that the people of Burkina Faso, who were faced with the degradation of the security situation, have attempted several times to refocus the transition on the issue of security. He added that the risky choices of Damiba resulted in the weakening of the region's security apparatus.

Read Also: Russia Hits Ukraine with Multiple Missile Attacks: 23 Dead in Zaporizhzhia, 1 Fatality and 53 Burned Buses Recorded in Dnipro

Security Concerns

On Friday prior to the coup, the junta's then-leaders explained that the situation of gunfire was a result of a "mood swing" among some military members. In a Facebook post at the time, Damiba said that the enemy that was attacking the country simply wanted to divide Burkinabes in their attempts of destabilization.

Eleven soldiers were killed during an attack on a 150-vehicle convoy by unknown assailants this week. The convoy was taking supplies to a town located in northern Burkina Faso and the attack left 50 civilians missing.

After the recent coup, Damiba's whereabouts are still unknown, with the United States chiming in and saying it was "deeply concerned" by events in the region. American officials urged U.S. citizens to limit movements in the country.

A State Department spokesperson said that the American government was calling for a return to calm and restraint by all actors in Burkina Faso. In a statement, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) condemned the move of the soldiers, stating that it "reaffirms its unreserved opposition to any taking or maintaining of the power by unconstitutional means, BBC reported.

Related Article: Macron Faces First Nationwide Strike Since Re-Election as Unions Oppose Pension Reform

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Vladimir Putin could launch attacks on the West in space, says head of armed forces Admiral Sir Tony Radakin.

The senior Royal Navy officer said Russia could attack America and European nations from the skies and just below the earth surface.

Sir Tony told the Telegraph: 'It has capabilities in space... We saw an example of that at the tail end of last year, when Russia exploded an object in space which created immense debris. Russia has nuclear capabilities, Russia has underwater capabilities.'

The news comes after Moscow was accused of vandalising Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines which supplies natural gas directly to Germany.

Britain's armed forces Admiral Sir Tony Radakin (pictured) said Russia could attack America and European nations from the skies and just below the earth surface

European leaders believe both explosions were an intentional act carried out on the Kremlin's orders, with the Chief of the Defence staff calling the blasts 'unprecedented'.

Sir Tony declined to blame Russia but said they had the capabilities to damage the Continent and Ukraine on information battles.

It has anti-satellite powers and demonstrated this in November by blowing on of its own satellites using a missile - marking the country's first complete test of the technology.

NATO, having been briefed on the test by Washington, condemned what it called a 'reckless act' by Moscow that 'demonstrates Russia is developing new weapons.'

US Space Command had earlier accused Russia of showing a 'deliberate disregard for the security, safety, stability, and long-term sustainability of space' while warning that debris from the destroyed satellite could remain in orbit for 'decades'.

File image: Russia has confirmed that it blew up one of its own satellites in November in a weapons test, but denied the test had threatened the International Space Station

File image: Russia did not immediately say what weapon it tested but it was believed to be an A-235 PL-19 Nudol 'satellite killer' missile

Astronauts aboard the ISS were told to shelter in their escape pods (pictured) for two hours on Monday amid fears that debris from the blast could hit the station

After confirming the test, the Russian MoD said: 'On November 15, the Russian Defense Ministry successfully conducted a test, as a result of which the inoperative Russian Tselina-D spacecraft, which had been in orbit since 1982, was struck.

'The United States knows for certain that the resulting fragments did not represent and will not pose a threat to orbital stations, spacecraft and space activities.'

The MoD did not say what kind of weapon had been used in the test, or where exactly the test took place - though US analysts believe it was an A-235 PL-19 Nudol 'satellite killer' missile fired from the Plesetsk cosmodrome.

The undated handout image from the Russian Ministry of Defense shows a Nudol surface-to-space missile. The missile was used to shoot down the satellite

The ISS appeared to function normally after the 'test' and all seven astronauts onboard the floating space laboratory were safe. The image above shows the route of the ISS as it orbits the planet in November

Sir Tony said Russia would be heavily targeted by Western allies it would garner a strong response and be hurt significantly.

He argued the UK had the resolve to see the crisis through and overcome the impending threats of Russian aggression.

The 56-year-old went on to argue that Putin did not want war with NATO.

At the same time the united front shown by the Western powers has been a huge incentive for the people of Ukraine.

LeoLabs, Inc. tweeted a graph which showed '30 unique objects' detected near the expected location of Cosmos 1408. 'The objects currently span a distance range of ~40km as viewed from our radar sites,' according to the site

The tests were criticised by the Biden Administration and the space community because of the risk they create for crews in low Earth orbit. It came amid unconfirmed reports President Vladimir Putin and Russia performed an anti-satellite weapon test

He has observed the 'calamitous' way in which Russia have pursued the war while seeing the way Ukraine shifted its tactics during the fight.

Although he described the war as a 'despicable, horrible war' to the Telegraph, he said he was pleasantly surprised that the belligerent country was not achieving its war objectives.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has regularly praised Britain's involvement in the war, calling the country 'brave' and heaping praise on former prime minister Boris Johnson.
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A man has been charged with the murder of nine-year old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, who was shot in the chest in her home in Liverpool, police have said.

Thomas Cashman, 34, has been charged with the child's murder and the attempted murder of Olivia's mother.

Olivia died after convicted burglar Joseph Nee was chased into her family home in Dovecot on August 22.

Her mother, Cheryl Korbel, 46, was injured during the incident but survived, and Cashman, of Grenadier Drive, West Derby, has also been charged with the attempted murder of Ms Korbel and Nee.

Cashman faces two further counts of possessing a firearm to endanger life. Paul Russell, 40, also from West Derby, was charged with assisting an offender.

The news was announced by Merseyside Police at a press conference on Saturday evening - Chief Crown Prosecutor Maria Corr said both men would appear in court on Monday.

Olivia died in Liverpool's Alder Hey Children's Hospital after being shot in her home in Knotty Ash when a gunman who was chasing convicted burglar and drug dealer Joseph Nee burst into the property about 10pm on August 22.

Olivia's mother Cheryl Korbel was hit in the wrist as she desperately tried to shut her front door, but the bullet also struck her daughter who was standing behind her.

The youngster was rushed to hospital but could not be saved.

Police have made their 11th arrest so far as they look to hunt for the person who killed Olivia Pratt-Korbel (pictured)

Olivia, the nine-year-old Liverpool girl who was shot dead in her home in Liverpool last month

Police and forensic officers at the property in Kingsheath Avenue, Knotty Ash, Liverpool, where nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel was fatally shot

Merseyside Police have made repeated appeals for information following Olivia's death

Earlier this month, Olivia's funeral was held at St Margaret Mary's Church in Knotty Ash.

Pink ties, jackets, scarves and bows were worn by those attending the service after her family asked people to wear a 'splash of pink'.

Ms Korbel carried a pink teddy bear into the service, during which she said: 'Liv touched so many people's hearts and was loved and adored by everyone. She will never be forgotten.

'I will never say goodbye but what I will say is goodnight, love you, see you in the morning.'

Last week Crimestoppers announced the biggest single reward offer as they increased it to 200,000 in a bid to hunt for the killer.

The charity's founder and chairman Lord Ashcroft said: 'This case has been incredibly shocking, not just for those who are directly affected but also for Liverpool and the nation as a whole.

'I am delighted that with the support of a private donor, Crimestoppers can now offer a record 200,000 for information to catch Olivia's killer.

'A precious young life has been lost so we need every effort to find those involved in this appalling killing.'

Police have also revealed the two weapons used were a .38 revolver - the gun responsible for killing Olivia - and a Glock-type self-loading 9mm pistol which was fired in the initial stages of the incident.

Merseyside Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Kameen said: 'This occurred in the middle of summer in an area where innocent local people would have been enjoying the park. Once again, as with the first time this weapon was used in our communities, we find that those in possession of it have no care, thought or loyalty for anyone else or their safety.

'Once again, they do not deserve anyone's loyalty.'

CHARGED | Two men have been charged in connection with the murder of Olivia Pratt-Korbel in #Dovecot. Thomas Cashman, 34, and Paul Russell, 40, will appear at court on Mon. More here. Please continue to pass on any information via https://t.co/ISGOs7uUx7https://t.co/hgtJFGntFm pic.twitter.com/jRgRsopurp  Merseyside Police (@MerseyPolice) October 1, 2022

Police search the area outside of Olivia's home where she was killed in August

Olivia Pratt-Korbel's coffin is carried out of St Margaret Mary's Church on September 15, 2022

In a eulogy, Olivia's mother Cheryl Korbel (pictured holding a pink teddy) said: 'Liv touched so many people's hearts and was loved and adored by everyone. She will never be forgotten'
Donald Trump has lashed out once again over the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, as the Justice Department seeks to expedite its appeal challenging the special master appointed to review records seized in the search.

In a post on his Truth Social network on Friday, Trump called the investigation into his handling of government records a 'hoax' and a 'scam' motivated by the desire to 'hurt a political opponent.'

Trump said that the Biden administration is scared that he is 'leading in all the polls' and called Vice President Kamala Harris a 'North Korea sympathizer' in reference to her gaffe on Thursday calling the rogue regime a 'close ally' in remarks intended to refer to South Korea.

While president, Trump himself met twice with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and his self-described 'love letters' to and from the dictator were among the thousands of documents seized in the FBI's August 8 raid on Mar-a-Lago.

The so-called love letters were believed to be one key target in the search, after the National Archives reportedly demanded in vain that Trump's team hand them over.

Donald Trump has lashed out once again over the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, as the Justice Department seeks to expedite its appeal challenging the special master

Trump called Vice President Kamala Harris a 'North Korea sympathizer' in reference to her gaffe calling the rogue regime a 'close ally' in remarks intended to refer to South Korea

In a post on his Truth Social network on Friday, Trump called the investigation into his handling of government records a 'hoax' and a 'scam'

The FBI seized about 100 classified documents in the search, and is investigating potential violations of laws regarding the handling of presidential records and classified material.

In a court filing late on Friday, the Justice Department called for a speedier resolution to its appeal of the special master, who is reviewing roughly 11,000 unclassified documents for potential attorney-client or executive privilege.

The DOJ said its inability to access the non-classified documents while the review is underway is still hampering significant aspects of its investigation.

The Justice Department is asking the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to order all motions be filed in the case by November 11, and hold any necessary hearing in the case as soon as that briefing is completed.

Trump's lawyers oppose the request, the government said.

Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich said in an email: 'After having weeks to prepare their arguments, the DOJ is now picking an unnecessary fight over a nine day difference in filing timelines.'

Trump himself met twice with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and his 'love letters' to and from the dictator were among the documents seized in the FBI's raid on Mar-a-Lago

The Justice Department said that because it is currently barred from accessing the roughly 11,000 non-classified documents seized in the search, it cannot examine documents that were stored alongside the classified materials.

The government said those non-classified records 'may shed light' on how the documents were transferred to or stored at the Mar-a-Lago estate, and who might have accessed them.

The records might also serve as evidence of violations of federal statutes on obstruction and the concealment or removal of government records, according to Friday's filing.

The Justice Department said an expedited schedule may allow the government, if it wins the appeal, 'to more quickly resume its full investigation without restraints on its review and use of evidence seized pursuant to a lawful search warrant.'

The government attorneys added that, if the Atlanta-based appeals court rules in the Justice Department's favor, it would end the litigation over materials seized in the search as well as the outside review of those documents.

That review, being conducted by special master Senior U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie, is currently set to end by Dec. 16.

Documents seized during the search of Trump's estate on August 8 are pictured on August 30. Trump's lawyers have declined to say in legal filings whether Trump had ordered them declassified while he was in office and had the authority

FBI agents searched Mar-a-Lago on August 8 in search of government material

The appeals court this month sided with the Justice Department in lifting parts of the ruling from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon that had prevented the department from relying on classified materials taken in the search as part of its investigation, such as bringing up the sensitive records' contents in witness interviews or presenting charges to a grand jury.

The 11th Circuit also blocked Dearie from accessing the classified records as part of his proceedings.

Cannon on Sept. 5 granted Trumps request for that third-party review of the seized documents, over the objections of the Justice Department.

That process has already been delayed, as Trump and the government have not yet been able to secure a contract with an outside vendor to host the documents as part of the review.

Cannon on Thursday also rejected Dearies instruction that Trump verify the list of documents taken from the property, after the former president's lawyers argued that requirement was outside the scope of the special masters authority.

Trump has claimed without evidence that FBI agents planted evidence as they searched his resort on August 8, but his attorneys have not repeated the same allegations in court.
Vladimir Putin is set to make hundreds of millions of pounds from a luxury development in an exclusive area of London, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Russia is building 255 flats on a site in Kensington it bought in 2006 for 8 million using an offshore company.

It is planning to use the vast profits from the scheme to refurbish its embassy properties in the capital.

Vladimir Putin is set to make hundreds of millions of pounds from a luxury development in an exclusive area of London, The Mail on Sunday can reveal

Moscow-based banker Elena Kotova, who was convicted of corruption, is named in the planning applications to Kensington and Chelsea Council

But documents seen by this newspaper show that any surplus remaining will go to the Kremlin.

The MoS can also reveal a Moscow-based banker convicted of corruption appears to have been closely involved in the development.

Elena Kotova is named in the planning applications to Kensington and Chelsea Council.

She lost her job at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) because she was convicted of corruption for seeking a 1 million bribe in Moscow in 2014.

Russia is building 255 flats on a site in Kensington it bought in 2006 for 8 million using an offshore company (stock image)

The UK National Crime Agency also concluded that Kotova had solicited bribes to greenlight projects at EBRD from 2005 to 2011 and seized her 1.5 million London apartment as well as 230,000 in cash. She maintains her innocence.

Land Registry documents show the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a state-owned bank bought the land to be developed at 245 Warwick Road, Kensington.

It is controlled through a complicated structure. Since 2008 there have been numerous planning applications submitted for the site, which Kensington and Chelsea Council approved in 2012.

Russia is planning to use the vast profits from the scheme to refurbish its embassy properties in the capital

Based on similar developments, the Kremlin stands to turn its 8 million investment into hundreds of millions of pounds.

The news that Moscow is profiting from property speculation in the UK while fighting an expensive war in Ukraine will inevitably cause dismay.

This year, oligarchs with close ties to President Putin have been hit by sanctions.

Elsewhere in London, the Kremlins properties include at least 12 flats and houses in central London. Its portfolio is estimated at 100 million.

The Russian Embassy did not respond to a request to comment.
King Charles has ditched plans to attend a major climate change summit next month after Liz Truss advised him to stay away, it was claimed last night.

The new King, a veteran environmental campaigner, reportedly scrapped plans to speak at the COP27 meeting in Egypt after the Prime Minister objected.

Last night, Buckingham Palace sources confirmed that Charles was no longer attending the event which he had planned to when he was Prince of Wales.

But the sources insisted he had not been ordered to stay away by the PM and stressed instead that he had sought the advice of No 10. They said the decision for the King not to attend had been unanimous.

They also suggested that this was the first sign of Charles embracing his new role as King, after he indicated that he would step back from much of his campaigning work now that he was the sovereign.

A source said: There is no suggestion of any row. Whether members of the Royal Family attend or not is up to the Foreign Office. Last night, Downing Street said: We do not comment on private meetings between HM The King and the PM.

Liz Truss arriving at her hotel ahead of the annual Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham. The new Prime Minister

It was speculated that the King had plans to make a speech at the upcoming Cop27 conference that would clash with the new government's watered down climate change policies

Sources dismissed suggestions that Ms Truss had told the King not to attend, saying the Palace and the Government agreed jointly there might be more suitable options for Charless first State visit, adding: The idea that the PM can order the King what to do is ridiculous.

However, The Sunday Times reported that Ms Truss had objected to him taking part in the Sharm- el-Sheik gathering during a personal audience last month.

The report said there had not been a row but quoted a senior Royal source that the decision was made on the Governments advice and was entirely in the spirit of being ever-mindful as King that he acts on Government advice.

The source said: He had to think very carefully about what steps to take for his first overseas tour and he is not going to be attending COP.

Charles was reportedly still determined to make his influence felt at the summit. A senior Royal insider said: Just because he is not in physical attendance, that doesnt mean His Majesty wont find other ways to support it.

Another source said: The Queen gave an entirely non-political address at COP last year it sounds like he is not being given the choice. That is an error of judgment on the part of the Government.

It was not clear last night if Prince William would attend instead.
Princess Diana's brother warned BBC bosses 17 years ago that disgraced reporter Martin Bashir used underhand tactics to land his bombshell Panorama interview  but was ignored, a newly unearthed document reveals.

An explosive letter released under Freedom of Information laws reveals that in 2005  ten years after the notorious interview  Earl Spencer warned the BBC that he had a dossier detailing Bashir's deceit.

The letter was addressed to a BBC producer but, crucially, a copy was also sent to Mark Thompson, the Corporation's then director-general.

Princess Diana's brother warned BBC bosses 17 years ago that disgraced reporter Martin Bashir used underhand tactics to land his bombshell Panorama interview  but was ignored

Astonishingly, no one from the BBC acted on the warning and the true extent of Bashir's wrongdoing remained hidden for a further 15 years until the Daily Mail revealed the full details of the dossier.

Indeed, just four months after receiving Earl Spencer's letter, the BBC broadcast a self-congratulatory documentary about Bashir's scoop in which it was lauded as 'a stunning piece of television'.

The Mail on Sunday understands the letter was not disclosed to Lord Dyson, the former Supreme Court Judge who published a damning report into the scandal in May last year.

Earl Spencer (pictured) warned the BBC that he had a dossier detailing Bashir's deceit

A source at the Corporation said it had not been found at the time of his independent inquiry.

'It's astonishing to learn that  15 years before the scandal broke  the BBC were fully aware that Earl Spencer had a dossier of highly compromising evidence and was more than willing to share it,' said Andy Webb, an investigative filmmaker who helped lift the lid on the Bashir scandal.

'What's deeply disturbing is that this letter from Earl Spencer has lain in the BBC files all this time. If they did not reveal it to Lord Dyson what else may they still be hiding?'

The revelation is the latest extraordinary twist in one of the biggest scandals to hit the BBC.

The letter was addressed to a BBC producer but, crucially, a copy was also sent to Mark Thompson, the Corporation's then director-general

Bashir showed Earl Spencer forged bank statements to gain access to the Princess and then tricked her by peddling a string of lies, including lurid claims about Queen Elizabeth, King Charles, Prince Edward and senior courtiers.

BBC bosses knew soon after the Panorama interview aired in 1995 that there were questions over Bashir's tactics but he was cleared after what Lord Dyson later called a 'woefully ineffective' internal investigation.

Lord Dyson said Lord Hall, who was then head of news and current affairs, and fellow BBC boss Anne Sloman made a 'big mistake' by failing to interview Earl Spencer about Bashir's approaches.

Bashir left the BBC in 1999 but he was rehired as religion correspondent in 2016, despite allegations about the methods he used to obtain the Diana interview and concerns over his conduct at ITV and in America, where he had worked for ABC and NBC. He was later promoted to religion editor.

In July 2005, Arena, a BBC documentary series, was preparing an hour-long episode to mark the ten-year anniversary of Bashir's interview with Diana

In July 2005, Arena, a BBC documentary series, was preparing an hour-long episode to mark the ten-year anniversary of Bashir's interview with Diana.

Samantha Peters, a producer at Arena, wrote to Earl Spencer to ask whether he would agree to an interview.

He declined, saying: 'Based on the documents I have at Althorp [his ancestral home]  including notes I took at the time in my own hand  which prove Panorama's role in this matter to have been less than honest, I must register my astonishment that the BBC wishes to revisit this moment in its fine journalist history.'

Making clear that he was also alerting Mr Thompson to his concerns, he added: 'I am copying this letter to your director-general, so he can learn the truth about Panorama's methods a decade ago, if they are of interest to him now.'

Bashir left the BBC in 1999 but he was rehired as religion correspondent in 2016, despite allegations about the methods he used to obtain the Diana interview and concerns over his conduct at ITV and in America, where he had worked for ABC and NBC

His warning was a clear reference to the bombshell dossier that he had retained, which showed how Bashir had peddled 32 jaw-dropping smears to clinch his interview, including fabricated claims that Royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke was having an affair with Charles.

The Mail on Sunday understands that no attempt was made to contact Earl Spencer.

Instead, in November 2005, the BBC broadcast its Arena documentary and showed the Panorama interview again.

The programme included footage of Bashir winning a Bafta for the interview, and Steve Hewlett, the former editor of Panorama, calling the interview 'a career moment'.

Earl Spencer's warning was a clear reference to the bombshell dossier that he had retained, which showed how Bashir had peddled 32 jaw-dropping smears to clinch his interview, including fabricated claims that Royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke (centre) was having an affair with Charles

In 2021, BBC reporter John Ware claimed Mr Hewlett only agreed to be interviewed by Arena if they did not ask him about the bank statements.

Ware claimed Mr Hewlett, who died in 2017, was asked about how Bashir met Diana but his faltering response was not broadcast.

Ms Peters and Mr Thompson declined to comment last night.

The BBC said: 'We commissioned an independent, judge-led investigation into the circumstances under which the interview was procured after Earl Spencer came forward to the BBC with new evidence in November 2020. We accepted Lord Dyson's findings in full and made an unreserved apology the day his report was published.'
MPs are urging major high street stores to scrap unisex changing rooms following a surge in women suffering traumatic encounters with men.

Last week Charlotte Kirby, 25, posted a video tearfully revealing how two men had walked in on her while she tried on outfits at a unisex changing room at Primark in Cambridge.

Now a Mail on Sunday investigation has found that her ordeal is common, unearthing repeated distress at M&S and rival chains with no sex-segregated spaces.

MPs are urging major high street stores to scrap unisex changing rooms following a surge in women suffering traumatic encounters with men, including Charlotte Kirby, 25, who was left in tears after two men walked into her unisex changing room at Primark in Cambridge

One mother said that while taking her teenage girl to M&S for her first bras, they encountered a man emerging from a cubicle with his testicles exposed.

Another mother tweeted how at another M&S store, in Exeter, a man left open the door of his cubicle in the gender-neutral changing rooms, exposing himself as he tried on trousers without any underwear.

A woman complained and the man was then escorted out, while protesting.

Another mother said she had banned her 13-year-old daughter from going clothes shopping alone after discovering her local H&M provides only unisex changing rooms.

On Mumsnet, a woman recounted how she had been secretly filmed in a unisex changing room.

Our investigation has uncovered many criminal cases involving sexual assaults, voyeurism and harassment in unisex changing rooms.

This year a Met Police officer was given a suspended prison sentence for covertly filming a woman in a Primark dressing room.

H&M, John Lewis, M&S, Monsoon and Primark no longer offer female only spaces after transgender activists called for unisex changing rooms  despite a survey showing that 98 per cent of the public wanted single-sex spaces.

A PERVERT FILMED MY DAUGHTER OVER THE TOP OF THE CUBICLE A mother has told how her 18-year-old daughter was filmed by a pervert in unisex changing rooms at H&M. Nicky Dobson told our investigation that the man performed a sex act while he filmed from an adjacent cubicle at the South of England store. She said: My daughter was in a changing room which was not labelled as male or female. The cubicles had lockable doors but there were spaces over and under the partitions. I was standing a few feet away. The man was filming over the top of the cubicle  hed stood on a stool to hold his phone over the top. Im amazed I couldnt see it as I was just outside the cubicle. We were unaware at the time but were later informed by the security guard and police that he had been performing a sex act in the cubicle, while he watched the footage on his phone. Ms Dobson urged stores wishing to support people who feel uncomfortable in single sex changing rooms to offer customers a third, safer space. She said the current situation allows predatory men access to women and girls safe spaces, adding of the stores: In the face of sex offences on their premises, they continue to ignore a huge number of complaints from women. Advertisement

Tory MP Miriam Cates said: Nobody is saying all men are a risk but if you are a predatory man you now have an open door  literally  to vulnerable women in a state of undress.

'I really hope these big companies wake up to what they are doing because it is not safe.

Labour MP Rosie Duffield said: Its completely unacceptable for major retailers to deny women and girls a right to change in private.

And womens rights campaigner Maya Forstater said: There are men who will take advantage of opportunities for voyeurism, exposure and spying with mobile phones.

'Retailers should not be afraid of having clear signs and saying No to men who want to undress with women and girls.

Emma Wilkes', of Womans Place UK, added: Retailers must not override or minimise womens need to feel safe in public.

'Policies that assert the right of women to privacy and dignity in public spaces must be reinstated immediately.

Following huge criticism after Charlotte Kirbys video of her ordeal in Cambridge, Primark said last night that it plans to reinstate a dedicated fitting room area for women as well as continuing to provide unisex changing areas.

It said larger stores would have separate women and mens changing areas.

In smaller shops, men and women would use the same entrance but be directed to different corridors of cubicles.

In addition, cubicle curtains will be made longer with mechanisms to hold them firmly in place.

Nicola Williams, of the group Fair Play For Women, said: If Primark still thinks women-only can include men who say they are women, their solution is a sham.

H&M said its changing rooms would stay unisex.

A spokeswoman said: We strive to be inclusive and we allow customers a choice of which fitting room to use.

M&S said: We have fitting rooms in our womenswear and menswear departments and each is made up of individual, lockable cubicles to ensure everyone feels comfortable and has the privacy they need.

While they are mainly used by customers of that gender, as an inclusive retailer and in line with most other retailers, we allow customers the choice of fitting room.
A woman who says she moved to Portland, Oregon for its progressive values has accused the mayor of scoffing at her after she confronted him over the city's homelessness crisis.

At a virtual city council meeting on Wednesday, Gillian Rose slammed Portland's handling of its homeless population, saying the squalid encampments that are pervasive around the city make life miserable for residents.

'You have to stop enabling this,' said a visibly emotional Rose. 'I'm angry and I'm sad and I'm fed up, and I'm so sick of having politicians pander to a woke agenda that's been nothing short of an epic failure.'

Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, chuckled audibly as he responded, saying, 'thank you, you've made your point emphatically clear. Thank you for being here and sharing your perspective, we do appreciate it.'

Portland resident Gillian Rose accused Mayor Ted Wheeler of scoffing at her after she slammed the city's handling of its homeless population

A homeless encampment is seen on a residential street in Portland earlier this year

After the meeting, Rose said that Wheeler had scoffed at her concerns, telling KOIN-TV: 'when he laughed, it kind of just proved my point.'

She added 'it was really insulting actually and painful to hear.'

A spokesperson for Wheeler did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com on Saturday.

In her remarks at Wednesday's council meeting, Rose spoke passionately about the stark impact that Portland's prolific homeless population has on quality of life.

She said that she had moved to the city from the East Coast four years ago because she embraced its left-leaning values.

'I moved here in hopes of becoming part of a progressive city where it seemed like its leaders cared about social issues -- what's transpired here is not progressivism,' she said.

'A lot of people who live on the streets fill them with trash and their own feces while openly using drugs -- it's not progressive, it's insane and unacceptable,' added Rose.

'Portland has become the laughing stock of the country, it really has,' she told the city's leaders.

'Portland has become the laughing stock of the country, it really has,' Rose told the city's leaders during public comments at a council meeting on Wednesday

Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, chuckled audibly as he responded, saying, 'thank you, you've made your point emphatically clear'

Rose told how Powell Boulevard had become clogged with tents and trash, describing the area as an 'open drug market'.

She said that a homeless man had swung wildly at her partner on Spring Water Trail while they were out on a bike ride.

'When you consider carrying a gun or bear mace while riding your bike, I think something is severely, severely wrong,' she said.

Rose told how her friend, a realtor, lost a deal because a homeless encampment sprung up in front of a house that his clients were about to buy, scuttling the deal.

She said that a neighbor, an occupational therapist at Legacy Emmanuel Medical Center, primarily treated homeless people who had infections from drug use, or burn injuries from accidently setting themselves on fire.

'Please stop wasting our money and destroying our beautiful city and please start being leaders,' the frustrated resident concluded.

A photo shows encampments blocking sidewalks adjacent to the Pacific Northwest College of Arts on SW Broadway and Hoyt Street

Tents crowd the sidewalk that is littered with trash from homeless communities setting up camp in areas spread from downtown Portland now out through the suburbs

Rose told KOIN that she believes the crux of the homeless issue is obviously untreated drug addiction, and that until city leaders acknowledge and tackle the root of the problem, it will continue.

'They blame it on unaffordable housing,' Rose said. 'That's part of it, but it's also enabling, and they don't want to give up that narrative.'

Portland has experienced an explosion in its unsheltered population in recent years, beginning with the economic downturn during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In January, a survey found that 5,228 people in Multnomah County were homeless, including 3,057 who were sleeping on the street.

Wheeler has faced growing backlash over the issue, and has attempted to crack down on areas where street camping is allowed.

Under an emergency order, Wheeler banned encampments near dangerous roadways or the city-sanctioned tiny home villages that have been erected in a bid to solve the issue.

Tents are lined up along a residential street in Portland, with belongings strewn about

In August, the order expanded to ban sidewalk tents on key walking routes to the city's schools.

But many Portland residents say they have seen little change, and that after every sweep to clear encampments, they quickly spring back up.

Portland residents have also grown fed up with the increase of violent crime in the city, which recorded a record 90 homicides, shattering the previous record of 66 set three decades ago.

So far this year, Portland is roughly on pace to match last year's murder record.

As of this week, the city has recorded 68 murders in 2022, nearly matching the 69 homicides recorded at the same point last year, according to police data.
Russia's Gazprom suspended gas deliveries to Italy just days after new right-wing leader Giorgia Meloni publicly backed Ukraine.

The Italian energy giant Eni said they were informed that a transport problem in Austria meant the Russian gas supplier would not able to delivery any gas until at least Monday.

Giorgia Meloni, who will become Italy's new prime minister, previously said Putin 'threatens the security of the entire European continent' and that his annexation of four Ukrainian regions has 'no legal and political value'.

Putin has been at loggerheads with European countries over the supply of natural gas and has been accused of using the flow of gas needed for energy in the region as an economic weapon.

Most of Russian gas delivered to Italy passes via Ukraine through the Trans Austria Gas Pipeline (TAG), to Tarvisio in northern Italy on the border with Austria.

Gazprom later in the day said in a statement that the transportation of Russian gas through Austria had been suspended 'due to the refusal of the Austrian operator to confirm the transport nominations'.

'The reason is related to the regulatory changes that took place in Austria at the end of September,' it added.

Tensions reached new highs this week after leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines linking Russia and Germany spewed tonnes of methane into the Baltic Sea.

The Danish Energy Agency now says one of two ruptured natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea appears to have stopped leaking natural gas.

Gazprom has halted gas supplies to Italy just days after new right-wing leader Giorgia Meloni backed Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been accused of using the flow of gas into Europe as an economic weapon

The Italian energy giant Eni said they were informed by Gazprom that a transport problem in Austria meant they would not able to delivery any gas until at least Monday

Blasts along the Nord Stream pipelines have resulted in thousands of tons of natural gas leaking into the Baltic Sea

In Austria, regulatory authority E-Control said the new rules, which entered into force on Saturday, had been 'known to all market actors for months'.

It said it expected 'all to conform and take the necessary measures to fulfil their obligations'.

The problems were linked to 'contractual details' linked to the transit of gas towards Italy, it said on Twitter.

Before the war in Ukraine, Italy imported 95 per cent of the gas it consumes - about 45 per cent of which came from Russia.

Outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi has signed new deals with other gas producers to reduce Italy's reliance on Russia, lowered to 25 percent as of June, while accelerating a shift towards renewable energies.

Denmark and Sweden said of the leak (pictured) that 'the possible impact on maritime life in the Baltic Sea is of concern, and the climate effect would likely be very substantial'

The Nord 2 gas pipeline now appears to have stopped leaking into the sea, the Danish Energy Agency said on Twitter that it had been informed by the company operating the pipeline that pressure appears to have stabilized.

'This indicates that the leaking of gas in this pipeline has ceased,' the Danish Energy Agency said.

Undersea blasts that damaged the Nord Stream I and 2 pipelines this week have led to huge methane leaks. Nordic investigators said the blasts have involved several hundred pounds of explosives.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused the West of sabotaging the Russia-built pipelines, a charge vehemently denied by the United States and its allies.

Speaking Friday in Moscow, Putin claimed that 'Anglo-Saxons' in the West have turned from imposing sanctions on Russia to 'terror attacks,' sabotaging the pipelines in what he described as an attempt to 'destroy the European energy infrastructure.'

In Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden dismissed Putin's pipeline claims as outlandish.

'It was a deliberate act of sabotage. And now the Russians are pumping out disinformation and lies. We will work with our allies to get to the bottom (of) precisely what happened,' Biden promised. 'Just don't listen to what Putin's saying. What he's saying we know is not true.'

The attacks on the pipelines have prompted energy companies and European governments to beef up security around energy infrastructure.
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With their hands comfortingly looped behind each others backs, it is a Royal portrait quite unlike any other.

Late last night, Buckingham Palace released the first official picture of King Charles III with his Queen Consort, Camilla.

By their side stands the Prince of Wales, his eldest son and heir  clearly a good deal taller than Charles  and the newly appointed Princess of Wales, his wife.

Taken on the eve of the Queens funeral, the new King, with his hand in his pocket, manages to look almost relaxed despite the sad circumstances. But moments after it was taken, the four most senior members of the Royal Family hosted a huge reception for Heads of State at Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace released a new portrait of the King last night to mark the start of his reign, after the Royal Familys period of mourning for the Queen ended

Not so long ago, it was Princes William and Harry together with their wives who had been dubbed the Fab Four  carrying great hopes for the future of the Royal Family

History was before them and also behind. They stand on the Ministers Stairs at Buckingham Palace, where portraits of past monarchs adorn the walls. Behind them is a portrait of King George III, the longest-reigning King in British history. It was he who bought Buckingham House, now the site of Buckingham Palace, as a retreat.

The picture suggests that perhaps there are still some moments in which the Royal Family can retreat from duties.

Camilla displays a dazzling smile  an expression which, at first glance, may seem strange given the circumstances. Perhaps, amid the days of official meetings, she was pleased to see a friendly face  Chris Jackson, the Getty photographer who captured the moment for posterity. The veteran of Royal tours and a favourite with the family is married to Kates dresser Natasha Archer. It was Jackson who Kate and William trusted to photograph Prince George for his official fourth birthday picture.

A palace source said last night that the picture had been taken to record the historic moment privately for the family.

The last photo taken of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II - two days before she died - when she met Liz Truss and asked her to form a government

So, the very fact that this private moment is now being released publicly speaks volumes. For here we see the reign envisaged by King Charles III  one in which history and dynasty must, of course, be preserved. But with a new style of informal grace based on real family values. It is a blended family, in keeping with the times. But Charles, on his happier, second marriage, must know  or at least hope  that it is a version of family to which many in Britain can relate.

It also offers a clear sign of Charless slimmed-down monarchy in action. As the Prince of Wales, there have been hints for years that when his time came to ascend the throne the public would not tolerate a vast army of working Royals all taking their cut from the public purse.

Here it is made clear. There are two members of the family who may be less comfortable with the release of photograph, however. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who stepped away from their Royal duties when they quit The Firm, were not invited to the event. It would have been an opportunity to meet all the major world leaders but they were not on the list.

Would they have liked to have been included? It is hard to imagine not. There had even been some  rather curious  suggestions that they were due to attend, leaving Buckingham Palace to reiterate that the event would only be for working members of the Royal Family.

The portrait was taken by Getty photographer Chris Jackson, who was chosen by Kate and William to photograph their son Prince George on his fourth birthday

Whatever discussions were playing out behind the scenes, the release of this picture will only emphasise the point that there are four major players now.

It is thought that the picture the Queen released at Christmas two years ago showing the direct line of succession  Charles, William and little Prince George  was something that had contributed to Harry and Meghans departure from Royal life  and Britain.

It wasnt so long ago that William, Kate, Harry and Meghan were dubbed the Fab Four. The quartet had been photographed in happier times as they walked on Christmas Day together in 2017, going to and from St Mary Magdalene church for the service.

Later, the foursome launched their joint charitable foundation together while sitting on a stage and chatting happily about their hopes for the future.

It was February 2018 and, side by side at the Royal Foundation Forum, they spoke about their Heads Together mental health initiative. When they joked about the fact that they didnt always agree, it seemed like friendly banter. Now, with hindsight, the signs of a rift were already there for all to see.

Today, a new Fab Four is forming. This time we have Charles and his greatest supporter, Camilla. To back them up will be Kate and William. The message is clear: the show will go on.

Despite the sadness of the occasion, a photographer had been invited to capture an important moment in history

Last week the King received visiting heads of realms at Balmoral, including Ralph Gonsalves (right), the prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, who has proposed a referendum to remove the British monarch as head of state in his country

Of course, King Charles faces some of the greatest challenges to the monarchy. Yesterday at Balmoral, for example, he received Ralph Gonsalves, the prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, who has proposed a referendum to remove the British monarch as head of state in his country, but yesterday they shared a joke together.

King Charles III will never be able to replicate the reign of his mother. More realms will decide to stop having the British monarch as their Head of State. But Charles, relaxed, informal and in listening mode, shows that with his A-team around him, he will forge ahead.

By releasing this picture, he shows he will be his own King, on his own terms and in his own way.

Liz Truss 'orders King Charles to stay away from the Cop27 climate change summit after objecting to his plans' despite the new monarch's plans to give a major speech to world leaders

By Walter Finch For Mailonline

The new Prime Minister has flexed her muscles by telling the new King to stay away from next month's Cop27 climate change summit in Egypt, according to a new report.

King Charles, a renowned environmentalist, had intended to give a speech at the meeting of world leaders, but now he has been forced to abandon those plans, The Sunday Times report.

Liz Truss, herself thought unlikely to attend the Sharm al-Sheikh gathering, made her feelings clear during a personal audience with the monarch at Buckingham Palace last month.

The decision is likely to mark a rocky start to relations between the new head of government and the new head of the Commonwealth, although a Downing Street source played down the exchange, claiming the audience was 'cordial' and 'there had not been a row.'

Buckingham Palace confirmed that the King will not attend the summit and said that the decision was reached in consultation without any disagreement, while a No 10 source said it was 'ridiculous' to suggest that the Prime Minister 'gives orders' to the monarch.

A source said: There is no suggestion of any row. Whether members of the Royal Family attend or not is up to the Foreign Office.

The news comes amid fears that the government is planning to water down - or abandon entirely - its environmental commitments to achieve 'net zero' by 2050, in light of the challenging economic situation the nation is facing.

Liz Truss arriving at her hotel ahead of the annual Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham. The new Prime Minister

It is speculated that the King had plans to make a speech at the upcoming Cop27 conference that would clash with the new government's watered down climate change policies

Before he ascended the throne, there had been speculation, that, as Prince of Wales, he would go to Egypt having attended the Cop26 summit in Glasgow the previous year.

A senior royal source confirmed that the King had been invited to go. Nevertheless, by convention all overseas official visits by members of the royal family are undertaken in accordance with advice from the Government.

It is understood however that after he consulted with the government, it was agreed that this would not be the right occasion for Charles to make his first overseas visit as sovereign.

'He had to think very carefully about what steps to take for his first overseas tour, and he is not going to be attending Cop,' the source said.

This source added that the decision was made on the government's advice and was 'entirely in the spirit of being ever-mindful as King that he acts on government advice'.

A No 10 spokeswoman said: 'We do not comment on meetings between the Prime Minister and the King.'

Despite his acquiescence to Truss, the King is still keen to make his mark on the summit, which is due to run from November 6 to 18.

A senior royal source said: 'Just because he is not in physical attendance, that doesn't mean His Majesty won't find other ways to support it,' and that how he will do it is 'under active discussion.'

The Sunday Times quote a source who 'knows Charles' and said that the King would be 'personally disappointed not to go.'

Charles had engagements planned around his Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI), which aims to persuade businesses to invest in environmentally friendly initiatives.

The source was critical of the government's decision to bar the new King from attending the meeting after the Queen gave an 'entirely non-political address' at Cop last year.

King Charles - then Prince - shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahou before the family photo at COP 21 on November 30, 2015, where the King delivered a speech on climate change calling on world leaders to adopt a war footing to tackle with problem

Can Prince Harry's memoirs be stopped? Palace aides discuss whether they can block the Duke's book Palace aides have been discussing ways to stop Prince Harry publishing his memoirs. There is said to be deep concern that the book will contain damaging revelations despite suggestions that he is seeking to tone it down. It is part of a presidential- style strategy launched by aides that will focus on the crucial first 100 days of the reign. A friend of the King said: The question inside the Palace is: Can the book be stopped? It may be that even Harry cant stop it at this stage but the feeling at the very top is that theres no good that can come of airing grievances in public. Lawyers to the Royal Family at the firm Harbottle and Lewis are expected to be on standby to read the book when it comes out. But it is highly unlikely the King would wage a legal battle against Harry, whose 36 million deal with Penguin Random House may mean he is unable to stop it. It comes at an important time in the Kings reign. A Palace source said: His Majesty will build on the points he has expressed to the nation: now that the period of mourning is over, he will support diversity, promote community spirit and protect the space for those with faith and those without. He is mindful that, as King, his interests and passions will continue but that some of his previous commitments will now continue in the trusted hands of others. Advertisement

'The King could absolutely go and deliver the government's message and give it credibility, given all the kudos he has in that space,' the source said.

'It's disappointing if people don't believe he'd be able to do that, of course he could. He delivered the Queen's speech at the state opening of parliament, rattling off lots of policies that went against his personal beliefs.'

Charles delivered a speech at the Paris Cop21 in 2015 which called for a 'vast military-style campaign' to fight climate change and urging world leaders to commit 'trillions, not billions, of dollars'.

He then gave a similar speech at the opening ceremony of Cop26 in Glasgow, again likening the threat of climate change to a world war.

In a video address to the conference last year, the late Queen hailed his work. 'It is a source of great pride to me that the leading role my husband played in encouraging people to protect our fragile planet lives on through the work of our eldest son Charles and his eldest son William,' she said. 'I could not be more proud of them.'

In his first address to the nation and the Commonwealth as King, Charles promised to 'uphold the Constitutional principles at the heart of our nation' and to 'hold in the greatest respect the precious traditions  and responsibilities of our ... system of parliamentary government'.

Part of this, he conceded, would mean that he would no longer be able to campaign on issues that he holds dear - thought to be environmental concerns.

Before his elevation to King, Charles had a reputation for interfering in political matters in aid of these concerns, which many considered overstepping his prerogative to stay out of government business.

It is thought that he - privately - would be very concerned about the new governments's intentions with regard to climate policy.

Last month Truss appointed the Conservative MP Chris Skidmore to lead a review of the government's net-zero policy, suggesting that she is not satisfied with it in its current form.

She also appointed Jacob Rees-Mogg, a renowned climate change sceptic, to business secretary.

It is thought the government is eyeing the controversial and politically sensitive energy extraction form of fracking as a means to east the energy crisis facing the country.

The government also set out plans to ease planning laws, reduce regulations for oil and gas exploration and throw out environmental rules on water and chemical pollution.

The government has, however, pushed back on fears that it could throw out the 2050 net zero goal.

Skidmore said he could '100 per cent' rule out the prospect of his report making that recommendation.
President Joe Biden has branded Russia's seizure of Ukrainian territory a show of "contempt for peaceful nations," prompting the United States to impose additional sanctions on hundreds of Russian-linked corporations and officials.

On Friday, the Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on over 300 Russian legislators, along with organizations and persons it alleged of ties to Russia's "military-industrial complex," including the country's central bank head, Al Jazeera reported.

Biden Urges The World to Reject Russia's Annexation

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen described the penalties as "swift and severe" since they prohibit Americans from doing business with the specified organizations and people and freeze their funds in the United States.

In a statement, Yellen remarked, "The Treasury Department and US government are taking sweeping action" to further strain Russia's already impaired military-industrial complex and disabling its capacity to carry out its illegal attack on Ukraine.

The Department of Commerce announced that it will expand its list of firms subject to export controls by 57 additional targets in Russia and the Crimea area of Ukraine. Officials also stressed Friday that export control procedures can also apply to enterprises in other countries that give support to Russia and Belarus, CNBC reported.

On Friday, the Bureau of Industry and Security in the Department of Commerce announced new export control actions that will affect domestic and international organizations and persons who "give political or economic assistance to Russia for its putative annexation."

In a statement, Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Alan Estevez noted that the number of organizations requring export licenses are currently 392 and counting. He added that the US government, in collaboration with allies and partners, is "clamiping down" organizations and individuals that support Russia's military campaign to cut it off from supplies and technologies it requires to carry out its military endeavors.

Yahoo! Finance reported that the US is targeting other Russian government individuals and leaders, their families, Russian and Belarusian military personnel, and military acquisition organizations, including overseas suppliers backing Russia's military-industrial complex, a White House official stated.

The US State Department included over 900 persons on its visa ban list for alleged links to Russia's military operation.

Several of the new targets are the result of the United States and its allies closely monitoring Russian attempts to evade penalties designed to limit access to crucial elements for the weapons sector in real-time.

Read Also: North Korea Fires Two Missiles After Kamala Harris Blasted Kim Jong Un Regime's Threats To Peace and Stability

Economic Sanctions Not Enough to Stop Russia

US President Biden underscored that the United States rejects Russia's "fraudulent attempt" to grab legitimate Ukrainian territories. Biden said, "Russia is violating international law, trampling on the United Nations Charter, and showing its contempt for peaceful nations everywhere."

The US chief executive also urged the international community to condemn "Russia's illegal attemts at annexation" and continue supporting Ukraine "for as long as it takes," as per a CNN report. On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that Russia would fully absorb the seized Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia.

In his address at St. George's Hall at the Kremlin, Pres. Putin claimed that Russia's annexation of the Ukraine territories was "the will" of the people. According to Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Vladimir Putin "is losing" on the war grounds.

Hence Moscow is attempting to take the Ukrainian territories under its control as Russian troops are getting ousted by Ukraine's forces. The expert acknowledged that sanctions had hurt Putin's military capabilities but argued that they wouldn't be enough to bring down Russia's economy.

Despite doubts about the move's efficacy given Russia's relationship with nations like China, Biden administration officials have long advocated export limits as a tool to shut off Russia from resources like high-tech semiconductors and the wider "21st-century economy."

Related Article: Joe Biden Calls Out Vladimir Putin, Russia's 'Lies' on Nord Stream Pipeline Leak: 'It Was a Deliberate Act of Sabotage'

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A high school in Nevada is being sued by current and former members of an anti-abortion club at the school over claims their cause was deliberately censored.

A lawsuit filed Thursday alleges staff at East Career and Technical Academy in Las Vegas violated the First Amendment rights of Felipe Avila and Janelle Rivera when they attempted to hang banners and hand out flyers for their Students For Life club.

Now Avila and Rivera, who served as president and vice president respectively, are seeking compensatory and punitive damages and an injunction blocking the district from enforcing its current club policies.

Avila no longer attends the school, and it is unclear if Rivera remains a student there.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the students by attorneys from a legal conservative group, the Thomas More Society.

Felipe Avila, founder of the Students For Life Club at East Career and Technical Academy in Las Vegas, is suing the school for allegedly censoring the clubs messages

The lawsuit accuses the school's superintendent, principal and assistant principal of 'pervasive discrimination and censorship' that 'took numerous forms' to 'suppress' the anti-abortion message of Students For Life.

According to the lawsuit, Students For Life is a club that 'seeks to educate and inspire ECTA students to advocate for life and to oppose abortion.'

Though Avila has now graduated, the lawsuit claims he was subjected to 'years of censorship and other misconduct' from school administrators.

School administrators allegedly made no attempt to hide their 'antipathy' for the club, and stopped the club from distributing flyers with information on a pregnancy resource center because they involved an 'outside organization.'

The Nevada high school allowed other clubs to engage in activities they did not allow Students For Life to participate in according to the lawsuit, which also says they turned a blind eye to the cyberbullying Avila faced

But the lawsuit alleges other clubs were not met with the same rules and frequently advertised for outside organizations including homeless shelters and Popeyes restaurants.

They also say the club was barred from handing out flyers with anti-abortion messaging because they were 'too controversial.'

Avila and Rivera also allege they weren't able to post ads in the school newspaper when other clubs were and that they were stopped from hanging a banner in the cafeteria that read 'The Future is Anti-Abortion.'

The complaint also indicates the defendants, which includes the principal, did not do enough to stop cyberbullying that club founder Avila faced for his anti-abortion beliefs from other students.

Comments directed toward Avila included 'Im gonna get an abortion just for you felipe,' and 'I hope you rot in hell.'

Avila now attends the Catholic University of America, and is Chief Operating Officer of Blue Bird Cured, an organization devoted to helping the wellbeing of the elderly.

Nevada has liberal abortion laws, which permit terminations up until 24 weeks gestation.
The rare smile that flashed across the face of legendary American Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour at Victoria Beckhams Paris fashion show on Friday was too remarkable to go unnoticed. That it was directed at the man who sat just a few seats away, British Vogues Editor-in-Chief Edward Enninful, was even more intriguing.

For while Ms Wintour must have hoped that the gesture would convey a sense of unity, behind the glossy pages of the fashion bible is a growing froideur between the magazines grand dame and her former protege, the first black and openly gay man to get the top job.

Indeed, playing out in the shadows is what one magazine insider has described as a fight not only for the crown of Vogue but for the very heart and soul of the magazine itself.

Enninful is driving the most radical and controversial changes in the magazines 130-year-old history: an audacious bid to make Vogue more diverse and even genderless  a departure from its traditional female base

At the centre of it all is Enninful himself, who is driving the most radical and controversial changes in the magazines 130-year-old history: an audacious bid to make Vogue more diverse and even genderless  a departure from its traditional female base.

The latest decision to raise stylishly bushy eyebrows was the inclusion of Oscar-nominated actor Timothee Chalamet on the latest cover, making him British Vogues first male cover star. Enninful is said to be keen to land Ncuti Gatwa, the first black Doctor in Doctor Who and star of Netflixs Sex Education, as his next cover star.

He wants to appeal to everyone, not just women, a source confided to The Mail on Sunday. To him, the future is a genderless, multicultural Vogue that appeals to everyone and excludes no one. Gay men have always bought the magazine but he wants to attract everyone and reach out to an audience who would not traditionally buy a womens fashion magazine.

What that means for those faithful to Vogues female-led brand of high fashion remains to be seen. As one observer put it: At its heart, Vogue represents glamour and aspiration for women. If you stop it being a womens magazine, you destroy its soul.

But at the moment, it seems there is little that can slow Enninful. Since the 50-year-old, who arrived in the UK from Ghana aged 13, took over the helm of British Vogue five years ago, there has been constant speculation that he is being lined up to take over Wintours job as Editor-in-chief of American Vogue and Global Chief Content Officer of the magazines Chairman, Conde Nast.

Since the 50-year-old, who arrived in the UK from Ghana aged 13, took over the helm of British Vogue five years ago, there has been constant speculation that he is being lined up to take over Wintours job as Editor-in-chief of American Vogue and Global Chief Content Officer of the magazines publisher, Conde Nast

A source said: There have been plenty of pretenders to the throne but Edward considers himself her natural successor and he is the only person who appears to be a real threat.

Yet even in the famously waspish world of fashion he has been branded a diva, and has earned himself the deliciously catty soubriquet Edward Enninfulofhimself.

Also bitchily referred to as the Queen Mother, he is said to have much in common with his mentor. One US outlet has alleged he has assistants [who] lead him around through meetings and carry his glasses and eye drops and help apply them.

His admirers say that no one ever calls him the Queen Mother and that he needs eyedrops because his eyesight is so bad it borders on being a disability.

Reports also suggest he waves off colleagues with simple requests by asking them to call Darnell [his powerful agent, Darnell Strom].

And his differences with the formidable Wintour  whose famously demanding personality has earned her the nickname Nuclear Wintour  suggest he is made of stern stuff.

In the US, reports of the growing rift between the magazine empires two most influential editors burst into the open this week with several outlets seemingly briefed about the simmering tensions.

Anna Wintours Feud With Her Protege Is Turning Conde Nasty read one headline in an article which alleged that Enninful is apparently gunning for the Iron Lady of Glosss plum job and has told associates he believes he can do a better job than Wintour atop the Vogue brand.

The publication speculated Wintour may try to appease Enninful, who has spent recent weeks on a book tour promoting his memoir, A Visible Man, by manoeuvering him into another coveted position, perhaps the editorship of an alternative magazine in the Conde Nast stable, to protect her own job. Anna is no fool, so people expect there to be musical chairs soon, said one source.

The latest decision to raise stylishly bushy eyebrows was the inclusion of Oscar-nominated actor Timothee Chalamet on the latest cover, making him British Vogues first male cover star

Tongues were wagging last month when Enninful was absent from a glamorous Vogue World event in New York hosted by Wintour to showcase her vision for the magazines future.

A source said: Hed been all over New York promoting his memoir so the expectation was hed be there. The fact he was on annual leave and flying to California at the time has been a source of constant chatter.

The pair also kept their distance in Paris this week despite the choreographed smiles at Poshs fashion show. Enninful holed up at the Crillon hotel with his friend, Tatler Editor Richard Dennen, while Wintour took her favourite suite at the Ritz.

Meanwhile, just as intriguing, are signs that Wintour appears to have been taking a leaf out of Enninfuls book in a bid to stay with the times.

When he took over as British Vogues editor in 2017, it marked a radical departure from the magazines previous editor, the highly respected Alexandra Shulman, whod held the post for 25 years.

Enninful was heard describing the office as having too many old white posh women. Several senior female executives were immediately replaced by men and women of colour, and with them a number of young, cool and gay hipsters. One of them is his protege Alex Kessler, a fashion editor who lists his pronouns as he/him.

Not to be outdone, Wintour was prompted to look at her own empire which had been criticised for being white-centric. Certainly since then she has sought to promote diversity and once famously looked around an editorial meeting and declared: Why are there so many white people in the room?

But if Wintour views Enninful as a threat, her supporters are not admitting it. Last night one said: Everyone is making a big deal about Edward putting Timothee on the cover, but Anna put Harry Styles on the cover of American Vogue two years ago.

Anna is tough. Shes survived three decades at the very top of her game. Shes like the Queen, she will die in that job. Shell never willingly hand it over.

Anna has been always very firm in her view of what Vogue should be; a fashion bible for women.

But, it seems, Enninful is a man with a mission. He has also been on a major charm offensive in the States as he promotes his book.

In a profile in the New York Times, he spoke about his lifelong battle against racism, telling the now infamous story about how a white security guard at Vogues London HQ turned him away from the front door and told him to use the tradesmans entrance.

Although the guard was fired, Enninful used the anecdote to illustrate the daily racism that he encounters, including having to ask a white staff member to hail cabs for him.

The piece gushingly described Enninful as at the vanguard of a new cohort who yanked open the fusty chintz curtains and displayed an aurora borealis of different races, sizes, ages and sexualities.

He also quietly showed off his star power by handing the author of the New York Times piece a list of friends to contact which started with: Beyonce. Rihanna. Naomi. Iman. Oprah.

A well-placed source predicts Enninful will remain undeterred in pursuit of his goals. In public, he and Anna show nothing but respect for each other but there seems no doubt that he is gunning for her crown, the source said.

She may have tried to move with the times, and kudos to her for trying, but she cannot change the fact she is an old white woman.

His value has been recognised within the company. Enninful now holds the title of European Editorial Director of Vogue as well as Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue, giving him control of influential Vogue editions in Italy, France and Spain. And, whatever he is doing, its working.

While British Vogues readership is small (around eight million between print and digital compared with American Vogues 25million, according to Conde Nast), British Vogues subscriptions rose more than 14 per cent in 2021 compared with the previous year.

As Enninful told the New York Times: You can still have diversity and keep the quality up, pointing to covers featuring Rihanna and Beyonce and a special issue guest-edited by the Duchess of Sussex.

He has also gained powerful allies including Conde Nast publisher Jonathan Newhouses wife Ronnie, who has known him since the 1990s when she was the creative director for Calvin Klein and he was the stylist for Kate Mosss jeans campaign. Richard Dennen, clearly influenced by his colleague, now ensures every other Tatler cover features a person of colour.

As for Enninful, in public at least, he remains diplomatic. When asked by the New York Times if he had ambitions to run the Vogue mothership, he responded: Im happy working in Europe.

But you never know what the future holds.
Labour frontbencher Emily Thornberry has been caught speeding at 81mph on the motorway  in a picture she posted on her Instagram account.

The Shadow Attorney General, whose husband is a High Court judge, uploaded the incriminating photo of driving to party conference in Liverpool last Saturday.

Ms Thornberry, 62, wrote next to the snap On my way to Labour Conference, adding that she was choosing a Labour Students disco playlist.

The picture was taken by a back seat passenger and shows the rear-view mirror, revealing that Ms Thornberry, in sunglasses and a brown coat, is driving the Toyota Prius in the middle lane.

Labour frontbencher Emily Thornberry has been caught speeding at 81mph on the motorway  in a picture she posted on her Instagram account

She shared the snap with her 24,000 followers but failed to spot that the digital speedometer on the cars dashboard displayed the figure 81. The speed limit on Britains motorways is 70mph.

Last night her spokesman said: She is well aware that the speed limits are set where they are for a reason, and she apologises unreservedly for this fleeting and totally unwitting moment when she exceeded them on the drive to Liverpool.

The gaffe comes eight years after another social-media blunder, when she sparked outrage over a sneering tweet about three St Georges flags hanging from a house during the Rochester by-election in Kent.

She posted a picture of the house, which had a white Ford Transit van outside, with the words: Image from Rochester.

The mother-of-three was sacked from the front bench by then leader Ed Miliband after the Twitter post was labelled unpatriotic.

She shared the snap with her 24,000 followers but failed to spot that the digital speedometer on the cars dashboard displayed the figure 81. The speed limit on Britains motorways is 70mph

Islington South and Finsbury, North London MP Ms Thornberry was then forced to apologise in 2019 after comparing the Liberal Democrats to the Taliban over their threat to cancel Brexit if they won power.

Drivers who speed at between 71mph and 90mph in a 70mph zone face having three penalty points slapped on their licence, according to Government guidelines.

Most police forces also impose a 100 fine. Drivers can be offered the option to go on a driving awareness course rather than accept the penalty points. Motorists who tot up 12 penalty points face a six-month driving ban.

Errol Taylor, chief executive of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: The speed limit on motorways is 70mph for a good reason.

At 80mph, the consequences will be a lot more serious if you crash. The 80mph stopping distance is 400ft, which is 85ft further than if you are going at 70mph. It is much harder to stop your car and avoid a crash if you are going at 80mph.

The faster you go, the less time you have to react and the force of the impact will be much more severe. You are at a vastly higher risk of death or serious injury. Also, fuel consumption is 25 per cent higher at 80mph compared to 70.

The gaffe comes eight years after another social-media blunder, when she sparked outrage over a sneering tweet about three St Georges flags hanging from a house during the Rochester by-election in Kent

The motorway speed limit has been 70mph since 1965 but has long been argued over by motoring groups and safety campaigners. In recent years, Ministers have mooted raising it to 80mph.

Prime Minister Liz Truss said last month that she was open to the idea. Replying to a question during the final leadership hustings debate, she said: On speed limits, we need to be prepared to look at that I cant give you a precise answer.

Raising the limit would bring Britain in line with countries such as Germany.

Two-thirds of AA members support an increase to 80mph. But a report by the Road Safety Foundation said this would be dangerous and lead to more high-speed shunts on motorways.

Stopping distances at 80mph are the equivalent of 30 car lengths
A serving police officer has been charged after allegedly having sex with a teenager.

The 28-year-old man was arrested at a Sydney home at about 8pm on Saturday, after a report was made to police on Friday, September 30.

The policeman was charged with two counts of sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old and misconduct while holding a public office.

The probationary constable, 28, was arrested at about 8pm on Saturday after a report was made to police on Friday, September 30 (stock image of a NSW police officer)

It is understood the man is a probationary constable attached to a South West Metropolitan Region Command.

NSW Police said the police officer had been stood down while his employment status is reviewed.

He was refused bail to appear at Parramatta Bail Court on Sunday, October 2.
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On their tour of the South Pacific, Harry and Meghan were going down a storm. Massive crowds turned out to see them, and the Duchesss refreshingly informal approach was proving a hit.

Behind the scenes, however, it was a different story. Although she enjoyed the attention, Meghan failed to understand the point of all those Royal walkabouts, shaking hands with countless strangers.

According to several members of staff, she was heard to say on at least one occasion during the 2018 tour: I cant believe Im not getting paid for this.

Palace officials knew that a lot was riding on Meghan Markle. Her racial background  she has a black mother and a white father  and the fact that she had a successful career as an actress also meant they couldnt afford to repeat the mistakes made with Princess Diana.

Back then, the Palace hadnt done enough to make Diana feel welcome or to understand her needs. But lessons had been learned, and perhaps people tried harder to help the latest addition to the Royal Family than Meghan has acknowledged.

Meghan wears earrings given to her by Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman - just days after his regime admitted killing journalist Jamal Khashoggi

The chandelier earrings had been a wedding gift from the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman

The Duchess of Sussex attends Prince Charles, Prince of Wales' 70th Birthday Party wearing the earrings in 2018

A new book by Valentine Low claims that during the royal tour of Australia in October 2018, Meghan did not understand why she had to shake people's hands or do walkabouts

While touring Australia, Meghan Markle's staff reportedly heard her say: 'I can't believe I'm not getting paid for this'

Before her wedding to Harry, she had a meeting with Miguel Head, Williams private secretary, who told her that the Palace would do everything it could to help her.

There was no need to think she had to take on her new role in a particular way, he said. She didnt have to be straitjacketed.

As Meghan had already made it clear she had no wish to carry on her acting career, they spoke about related work she might do  as a producer or director, for instance, or a writer  and whether she might work in the charitable sector.

What Head was telling Meghan was: none of this is closed off. We can talk about it.

Meghan thanked him, and said she wanted to concentrate on her humanitarian and philanthropic work, and to support Harry as a member of the Royal Family.

As one source said: The entire place, because of everything about her, and because of what Harrys previous girlfriends had been through, was bending over backwards to make sure every option was open.

Since then, its been suggested that it was only when things started going wrong for Meghan and Harry that their advisers scrambled to find a solution. Not so: long before any kind of crisis, senior courtiers were making considered and imaginative attempts to help them navigate the next few years.

Sir David Manning, the former Ambassador to the US who was William and Harrys foreign affairs adviser, had actually been drawing up proposals before Harry and Meghan got married  indeed, before Manning had even met her.

Aside from Royal duties, he felt, there should be time for them to pursue their own philanthropic and other interests. Harrys love of Africa and deep-seated interest in conservation should be built into the programme. And Meghan should have private time to keep in touch with her roots in the US.

So far, so obvious, perhaps. But Manning had another thought.

Soon after the Queen and Prince Philip married, theyd lived in Malta, while William and Kate had started married life in Anglesey. Harry and Meghan could also go away for a while, said Manning. A year in South Africa seemed the obvious choice.

A paper was written outlining the options, and the couple were said to like the idea of a year in Africa.

In the end, however, the idea never took off. Money and security were probably the two big problems that scuppered it.

It ran into the sand, said Manning. The problems were real, and there was not a willingness to find the resources.

The Queen had also been keen to help. At her request, the Lord Chamberlain, Earl Peel, the most senior figure in the household, met Meghan to explain how the Palace worked. While this Royal tutorial was probably of limited use, Manning, Head and others were doing their best to help her.

What they hadnt bargained for, however, was Meghan and Harrys growing sense of frustration  coupled with their suspicion of the Palace establishment.

In the Sussexes view, the efforts of well-meaning courtiers  even back in 2017  just werent good enough. This was a pattern that would be repeated time and again.

What royal staff hadnt bargained for was Meghan and Harrys growing sense of frustration  coupled with their suspicion of the Palace establishment

Samantha Cohen (right) warned staff members to stay away from Harry and Meghan after she was 'screamed at' during their Australia tour in 2018, a source claimed

A few days after Meghan and Harry got married, Buckingham Palace announced that Samantha Cohen, the Queens former assistant private secretary, would be stepping in as their interim private secretary.

At the time, Cohen had been planning to leave after 17 years at the Palace, but the Queen, who had a high regard for her, had asked her to stay on to help the newlyweds.

This was not the Queen imposing her own stooge on them. Instead, she was coming to the rescue by persuading one of her most valued members of staff to guide them through their first six months of married life.

Harry knew Sam Cohen well, as did William, and was very fond of her. The feeling was reciprocated, and she was determined to make her new job work.

She was soon to discover, however, that making Harry and Meghan happy was a bigger challenge than she had anticipated. One source said that Cohen was bullied.

Another said: They treated her terribly. Nothing was ever good enough. It was, She doesnt understand, shes failing. 

In fact, the source said Cohen was a saint and the best organiser of Royal tours they had ever known.

In autumn 2018, she accompanied the Duke and Duchess on an official trip to Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand. On the journey from Tonga to Sydney, Cohen was said to have had a particularly torrid time, according to one source. Sam had been screamed at before the flight, and during.

After that, Cohen warned other staff to stay away from Harry and Meghan for the rest of the day. And that evening, her colleagues tried to arrange matters so she didnt have to see the couple any more than was necessary.

According to one source, Sir David Manning  always a reassuring presence on tours  would say: You are dealing with a very difficult lady. He wasnt referring to Cohen.

In February 2021, the Duchesss lawyers denied that Cohen had been bullied, saying the couple were always grateful for her support and dedication and that she remains very close to them.

Harry and Meghan embarked on a 15-day tour of Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand in October 2018. Pictured: Meghan meets the Prime Minister of Tonga

During their tour, Harry and Meghan spent 48 hours in Fiji. On the first night, they attended a state dinner hosted by the president, at which the Duchess wore an eye-catching pair of diamond earrings. Kensington Palace said they were loaned, but refused to say from whom. Even by Palace standards, this struck reporters covering the tour as unnecessarily unhelpful.

The reason for this reticence would not become apparent until more than two years later, when I revealed that the chandelier earrings had been a wedding gift from the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman. At the time of the wedding, there was nothing controversial about the gift. However, on October 2, 2018, the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a leading dissident, was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he was murdered and dismembered before his body was disposed of. In the run-up to the Sussexes tour, the murder was a major international news story.

As early as October 12  four days before the start of the tour  suspicions were growing that the Crown Prince had personally ordered the killing. Then, on October 20, three days before the dinner in Fiji, Saudi Arabia admitted its officials were responsible for his death.

The idea that Meghan would, at a state occasion, knowingly wear earrings given to her by a man accused of having blood on his hands was surprising  to say the least. Meghans staff, in particular, were bemused that she should wear them, given her previous public advocacy for womens rights in Saudi Arabia. So the Kensington Palace briefing that the earrings were loaned had been misleading. But who was responsible?

Sam Cohen told colleagues at the time that the earrings had been borrowed from the jeweller Chopard. This, one presumes, is because its what she had been told. It was not true, however.

A couple of months after the dinner, a sharp-eyed reader of a blog called Meghans Mirror spotted that they were from a collection by the Hong Kong jeweller Butani. So, not Chopard, and not borrowed from the jeweller. Was it an honest, if surprising, mistake? Or was someone lying? And if so, why?

The earrings were given another outing three weeks after Fiji, when Meghan wore them to the Prince of Waless 70th birthday party at Buckingham Palace on November 14. At that time, Cohen still appeared to be under the impression that theyd been loaned by Chopard. However, others knew the truth.

When the earrings had first appeared in photos, London-based staff responsible for registering details of all Royal gifts had recognised them and alerted Kensington Palace. A source said: We made a decision not to confront Meghan and Harry on it, out of fear for what their reaction would be.

After the Duchess wore the earrings for a second time, an aide took up the matter with Harry. He is said to have looked shocked that people knew where the earrings came from, although the Sussexes lawyers deny that he was ever questioned about their provenance.

Later, Meghans lawyers, Schillings, said: At no stage did the Duchess tell staff that the earrings were borrowed from a jeweller, as this would have been untrue and therefore any suggestion that she encouraged them to lie to the media is baseless.

Two days later, Schillings added: It is possible she said the earrings were borrowed, which is correct, as presents from heads of state to the Royal Family are gifts to Her Majesty the Queen, who can then choose to lend them out to members of the family.

But that is not convincing: if the earrings were loaned by the Queen, staff would have said so. And no one in normal conversation would ever have referred to them as being loaned; they were a wedding gift for Meghan, to use as she liked.

Meghans lawyers also argued that she had no idea about Prince Mohammeds suspected involvement in Khashoggis murder. But by the time she wore the earrings for a second time, this claim was even harder to sustain.

Meghan was no airhead princess: she kept up with current affairs. She once told a gathering for International Womens Day that she read The Economist because she sought out journalism thats really covering things that are going to make an impact.

Between mid-October and early November 2018, The Economist ran at least two articles examining the role of Mohammed bin Salman in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

The new book details incidents of Meghan and Harry's fractious relationship with staff. Pictured: The couple during their tour of Australia in 2018

On the day that Harry and Meghan flew from Tonga to Sydney, their communications chief Jason Knauf reportedly wrote an email saying the tour was very challenging and made worse by the behaviour of the Duchess

That wasnt the end of the Duchesss problems in Fiji. The day after the state dinner, she paid an official visit to a market to see the work of Markets For Change, a project run by UN Women.

According to her timetable, Meghan was due to spend 15 minutes there talking to female vendors. However, after just eight minutes, she was rushed out.

The Kensington Palace press office was immediately sent into a panic, with sources initially claiming that the decision to leave early was because of security fears. That was later changed to concerns about crowd management issues.

The real reason for her premature departure only emerged two years later, when I was told it was because Meghan was concerned about the presence of UN Women, an organisation promoting the empowerment of women, which shed previously worked with as an actress on the TV series Suits.

Before her visit, the Duchess had told her staff she would only go to the market if there was no UN Women branding, a source said. So before Meghan arrived there, staff did their best to reduce the visibility of the organisation.

However, footage of the visit shows her surrounded by women in blue tops bearing the UN Women logo. At one point, the Duchess, with a fixed smile, can be seen whispering to a member of staff, who grimaces.

Meghan reportedly told an aide: I cant believe Ive been put in this situation. Moments later, she was ushered out.

In the resulting chaos, Meghan ended up travelling to the next engagement by herself, while Sam Cohen had to go in the back-up car. A staffer remarked at the time: Thats insane. She is nuts.

One stallholder said: It is such a shame, as we were all very excited to meet her. We started preparing for the visit three weeks ago but she left without even saying hello.

Afterwards, the member of staff whom Meghan spoke to at the market was seen sitting in an official car, tears streaming down her face.

Its not clear why the Duchess had such strong feelings about UN Women. In 2015, she had accepted an invitation to be a UN Women Advocate for Womens Political Participation and Leadership. But by 2018, she appeared to be less happy to be associated with them.

Meghans lawyers said in 2021: This is completely false. The Duchess is a keen supporter of UN Women and has never objected to their branding. The only reason the Duchess was evacuated from the [Fiji] event was due to safety concerns.

Meanwhile, Sam Cohen was continuing to have a tough time.

On the day that Harry and Meghan flew from Tonga to Sydney, their communications chief Jason Knauf  who had been in daily contact with the couples staff from London  wrote an email to his immediate boss.

The tour, he said, was very challenging and made worse by the behaviour of the Duchess. He also expressed concern about Sam Cohen: I raised the very real possibility that she could be struggling with severe stress and could have to walk away from her position.

Insiders have alleged staff were bullied while working for the Sussexes. One source said: 'We bent over backwards to try to accommodate them'

The growing rift between William and Harry, coupled with allegations that Meghan had bullied staff, accelerated a major shake-up at Kensington Palace to split their joint household.

First, a decision had to be made about what the Sussexes household would look like, and where it would be based. It was a battle, and one that would come to typify the couples relationship with Buckingham Palace. The Palace wanted to set them up with an office within Buckingham Palace itself. They felt they were being pretty generous. We bent over backwards to try to accommodate them, said one senior Palace official. We gave over half of what was known as the Masters Corridor to allow them to have a very effective office.

But it wasnt what Harry and Meghan wanted. They preferred to have their own set-up, probably at Windsor Castle, near their new home of Frogmore Cottage.

They wanted complete independence. If they were stuck in Buckingham Palace, subservient to the whole Palace machine, theyd be no better than other lesser Royals such as the Duke of York or the Earl and Countess of Wessex.

There was no way, however, that the Palace would fund the establishment of a completely separate satellite operation. And this was a decision taken not by the men in grey suits but by the Queen and the Prince of Wales, both keenly aware of the need to avoid unnecessary extravagance.

While unhappy about this, the Sussexes did, at least, get a big team, which included a new communications secretary, hired in early 2019. Sara Latham, a sharp, fearless redhead, was a dual US-British citizen, and completely in tune with the values espoused by Harry and Meghan.

It didnt take long for the shine to wear off.

The spring and summer of 2019 saw a series of battles with the media, and some spectacular own goals by Meghan and Harry.

First, the Palace put out a statement saying that the Duchess had gone into labour, only for it to emerge that she had, in fact, given birth eight hours before the statement went out. Later, when Archie was christened, the couple refused to let the godparents be publicly named, a decision that lost them even more sympathy.

Sam Cohen was at her wits end, said a friend. She was constantly having to battle on Harry and Meghans behalf, while taking all this abuse from them.

Cohen also found herself getting far more involved in arranging their private lives than would normally be appropriate for a private secretary, who  despite the job title  is just there to look after their official lives.

Having stayed on longer than the six months shed promised, she was clearly delighted when she finally left her job. A source said: Sam always made clear it was like working for a couple of teenagers. They were impossible and pushed her to the limit. She was miserable.

That summer, after Harry had given a barefoot address about the need to save the environment, he and Meghan took four flights on private jets in less than a week to visit Ibiza and the South of France.

This prompted accusations of hypocrisy, and rows with Sara Latham, who had advised Harry against taking private jets. Relations between the couple and their media adviser became increasingly tense. Close colleagues began to wonder if Latham would even make it to the end of the year.

By August 2019, things were awful and tense within the Sussex household. Staff were increasingly aware of the background presence of Meghans business manager, her lawyer, her agent and her US publicist.

The American team had been busy on Meghans behalf, working on deals not only with Netflix  for an animated series about inspirational women  but also with the now-defunct streaming service Quibi.

Her Los Angeles team also handled Harrys deal for his mental health series for Apple+ with Oprah Winfrey, and Meghans voiceover for a Disney film about elephants.

One insider revealed: The team in America did pose problems for staff at KP [Kensington Palace]. There was always quite a lot of secrecy surrounding the couples conversations with the US.

Certain people would be in the know about what was going on with things like Quibi, while others wouldnt have a clue.

Discussions that had been quite public would then suddenly go underground, into the private space. It was all quite difficult to manage at times.

Relations between Meghan and her senior advisers were now unravelling fast. They felt their advice wasnt being listened to, and that they were there just to execute strategies theyd had no part in drawing up. Instead of trust and openness, there was suspicion.

By the time the relationship had deteriorated completely, Harry and Meghans team would refer to themselves as the Sussex Survivors Club. The core members  Sam Cohen, Sara Latham and assistant press secretary Marnie Gaffney  came up with a damning epithet for Meghan: that she was a narcissistic sociopath.

On repeated occasions, they would say: We were played.

 Valentine Low 2022

Adapted from Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind The Crown, by Valentine Low, to be published by Headline on Thursday at 20. To order a copy for 18, go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937 before October 15. Free UK p&p on orders over 20.
A suspected 90million haul of cocaine was found on a beach in West Wales yesterday.

Around 30 black bags, each containing 30 packages of what appeared to be 1kg bricks of the Class A drug, were discovered by a member of the public on an early-morning walk.

The project manager, who is in his 30s, was taking a stroll along Tan-y-Bwlch beach near Aberystwyth when he stumbled across the bags.

The black sacks, which were tied together with rope and empty gallon jerry cans for buoyancy, had washed up on the shore.

Inside, the suspected 1kg blocks were labelled with the name of fashion brand Dior.

A suspected 90million haul of cocaine was found on a beach in West Wales yesterday

Earlier this year, cocaine which washed up on the US's Gulf of Mexico was branded with 'Dior' and last year cocaine packages in Australia also displayed the designer name.

The walker, who did not wish to be named, told The Mail on Sunday: 'I was out for my early morning walk when I saw something on the beach.

'I was intrigued and walked up to it and knew what it was almost straight away.

The project manager, who is in his 30s, was taking a stroll along Tan-y-Bwlch beach (file image) near Aberystwyth when he stumbled across the bags

'An old lady called the police and they came around half an hour later. They cut open a bag and it looked like pure cocaine. They dragged it off the beach and took it away.'

The UK's cocaine market is estimated to be worth more than 25.7 million daily, according to the National Crime Agency's latest strategic threat assessment.

Figures released by the agency earlier this year revealed how cocaine seizures nationwide have soared by 161 per cent between early 2020 and early last year.

Dyfed-Powys Police did not respond to requests for comment.
Trent Alexander-Arnold's performance in Liverpool's eventful Premier League clash with Brighton has come under criticism from some fans on Twitter.

It follows on from Jurgen Klopp saying the 23-year-old is 'doesn't always defend good', in the build-up to the 3-3 draw, and after his omission from recent England matches in favour of Chelsea's Reece James.

Alexander-Arnold was in Liverpool's starting 11 for the Brighton match, and they went two-nil down in the first half. Whilst the Reds did turn it around to lead at one point, they were pegged back when Brighton's Leandro Trossard scored his hattrick goal with seven minutes to play.

Trent Alexander-Arnold played all 90 minutes of Liverpool's 3-3 draw at home to Brighton

One Twitter user wrote: 'Never, please never play Trent Alexander-Arnold at RB. He's our [Jude] Bellingham. He's the midfielder we need so bad. TAA is one of LFC's best player but he's far, far away from a defender. Awful.

'It's expected, who'd like to see Thiago play RB? [Mo] Salah play LB?'

Another person wrote: 'Alexander-Arnold was brutal all day! His heads gone, confidence at an all time low. How many times does he let players run off his shoulder without him seeing it?' wrote another Liverpool fan.

There was widespread criticism of Alexander-Arnold's performance across Twitter users

Alexander-Arnold's misplaced header, and then an unfortunate slip, opened the door for Trossard to get the opener for the Seagulls within just four minutes.

In response to that goal, someone wrote: 'Klopp defended Trent just for him to come and do this next game', and another responded, 'Just awful from 3 red shirts here. Trent not getting ball side of his man, the other 2 liverpool defenders letting Brighton re-possess. Pitiful.'

He was not the only player to come under scrutiny in the eventful draw, with Jordan Henderson also drawing ire. 'The decision making of Trent is awful lately and Henderson man,' one fan wrote.

Twitter was not kind on Alexander-Arnold, particularly his involvement in Brighton's opener

One Twitter user added: 'Trent's defending is just awful to watch', while someone else commented to say 'i spent 4 weeks defending trent just for him to drop this performance', alongside a gif of a laughing Jose Mourinho.

Another also took their cue from the self-proclaimed 'Special One' when they wrote: 'Im not defending Trent anymore, refuse to do it. If I speak Im in big big trouble'.

Fans were quick to use Jose Mourinho pictures and references to sum up their feelings

Chelsea's Reece James was preferred to Alexander-Arnold when England took on Germany

Fans of other clubs were also quick to pick up on the Liverpool full-back's performance, especially following the debate about him being left out of England in favour of James.

One tweet read: 'Im glad the whole world can now see Trent Alexander Arnold awful defending, Reece James is clear.' Another said: 'daily reminder : Reece James a miles better than Trent'.

The situation was summed up rather concisely in one tweet which said: 'The Reece James vs Trent Alexander-Arnold comparisons are over. Reece James is better'.

The Brighton game followed on a patch of rocky domestic form, which saw Alexander-Arnold overlooked by Gareth Southgate for England's Nations League fixtures last week.

The comparisons between Alexander-Arnold and Chelsea's Reece James were also mentioned

Jurgen Klopp had previously insisted Alexander-Arnold is 'world class' despite his recent form

Speaking to reporters before the match, as reported previously by Mailsport, Klopp said: 'Yes, there are other situations where he was not aware (enough) or there was a challenge he should have won  true.

'He is a good defender, he doesn't always defend good, that is true as well, but that is what we're working on, he is a young player, he is 23.

But every player in the league has these challenges. But with him? Every time it is picked up and analysed, all the experts are saying this is a weakness.

Honestly, I just dont get it. I just dont get that part of it. A world-class talent gets judged by the one thing he is not as world class at as the other things. If he was not a good defender, he would not play. I cannot just tell him, If we get the ball, you wait there!'

Liverpool's turnaround is a quick one, with Rangers travelling to Anfield in the Champions League on Tuesday, before a Premier League trip to Arsenal next Sunday.
Lewis Hamilton landed himself in hot water after he was summoned to the stewards for reinstating a nose stud in contravention of FIA rules - despite bringing a doctor's note.

The Mercedes man wore the jewellery in third practice at the Singapore Grand Prix, and it is unclear whether he removed it for qualifying.

Hamilton was hauled in front of the stewards to explain why he was wearing his nose stud, with the seven-time world champion telling the media that he had a doctor's note.

The 37-year-old, who qualified third for Sunday's race, said that his nose became infected after putting his stud in and out.

While Hamilton was let off, his Mercedes team picked up a 25,000 (22,400) for not telling the FIA he was wearing his piercing.

This follows a protracted row with the FIA over jewellery in the cockpit. Hamilton finally relented prior to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in July and had since steered clear of piercings.

Lewis Hamilton faces a fine after wearing a nose stud during third practice in Singapore

After qualifying, when asked by reporters about the FIA's focus on the matter, Hamilton said: 'I really don't know, man.

'I've got a letter from a doctor. I've tried my best. One of the best excuses I was given a long time ago was about heat and if you are in a fire metal conducts heat.

'But our suits are covered, our zip is metal, our buckle around our helmet is metal, we've got the wires with aluminium metal in them.

'So I don't know, it's all a bit silly. Hopefully they'll be sensible. The stewards should be there to keep us safe most importantly but this is not a safety issue.'

Hamilton also insisted to the media that he was not trying to make a statement by wearing the stud.

He said: 'Basically I've had my jewellery and my nose stud for years and obviously we had that whole commotion at the beginning of the year.

Hamilton (r) poses with the front row Sergio Perez (l) and Charles Leclerc after qualifying

'At the time it was like soldered in, so it didn't come loose. They gave me an exemption so I could find a solution.

'Then I went to get it taken out and tried to find a solution, putting it in and out. It got infected because of that.

'I got a blood blister and had quite a sore on my nose because there was puss and blood. I put this back in and in the last two weeks it's started to heal and they've asked that I keep it in.'

The original summons read: 'The driver and team representative are required to report to the Stewards at 19:45 in relation to the incident below.

'Driver 44  Lewis Hamilton Reason Alleged breach of Appendix L, Chapter III of the FIA International Sporting Code.'

Hamilton's decision to wear a nose stud during the British Grand Prix in July attracted the attention of F1's authorities too, as previously reported by Sportsmail - although he later removed it before qualifying.

At that time, the governing body's president Mohammed Ben Sulayem felt strongly about enforcing the regulation which bans drivers from wearing jewellery in their cars - and it is clear that this is still the case three months later.

Whilst bans are sometimes enforced for rule infringements like this, the more common option would be a fine, which is more a case of precedent rather than a financial issue for Britain's richest active sportsperson.

After the conclusion of Saturday's qualifying, Hamilton starts third on the grid, behind a front row of Charles Leclerc on pole and Sergio Perez in second. Max Verstappen begins in eighth place.
She's been soaking up the sun in the city where she spent her childhood.

And Emily Ratajkowski showed off her model figure in strappy crop top as she holidayed in Mallorca with her baby son Sly, 22 months.

The model, 31, looked incredible in the ab-baring vest that she teamed with a pair of wide leg black trousers.

Stunning: Emily Ratajkowski, 31, showed off her model figure in strappy crop top as she holidayed in Mallorca with her baby son Sly, one

Emily wore her brunette locks pulled back into an updo with a claw clip and whilded her eyes with a pair of sunglasses.

She accessorised with a chunky gold belt and a pair of hoop earring, whilst carrying a black jacket.

Little Sly was dressed in a printed red top with patterned trousers as the mother and son were joined by a friend.

Holiday: The model looked incredible in the ab-baring vest that she teamed with a pair of wide leg black trousers

Chic: She accessorised with a chunky gold belt and a pair of hoop earring, whilst carrying a black jacket

Emily shares her son Sylvester Apollo Bear, with film producer Sebastian Bear-McClard, who she is currently divorcing.

It comes as Emily looked stunning in a carousel of images shared on Instagram Wednesday of herself and Sly in Sant Juan.

The brunette bombshell looked incredible in baggy green pants and a short black T-shirt as she posed next to a green door. In the second image, the model is in front of the same door while on her father's shoulders as a baby.

Relaxing: Little Sly was dressed in a printed red top with patterned trousers as the mother and son were joined by a friend

Sun-soaked: Emily shares her son Sylvester Apollo Bear, with film producer Sebastian Bear-McClard, who she is currently divorcing

These images were shared just after the siren was romantically linked to 58-year-old movie star Brad Pitt.

The My Body author wrote on her Instagram caption, 'As I walked Sly around, this lovely man (third slide!) pulled over in his car and came up to me holding Mi Cuerpo (my book in Spanish!) He told me that him and his daughter have read it. Talk about a full circle, universe coming together, magical moment.'

The Blurred Lines music video muse added an image of the man holding her book as well as childhood photos of herself in that area feeding a goat, listening to music and playing outside in a shower.

Childhood spot: It comes as Emily looked stunning in a carousel of images shared on Instagram Wednesday of herself and Sly in Sant Juan

As a child: Young Emily is pictured on a man's shoulders, probably her father, as she touches the same green door she posed in front of with her son, Sly

The mini vacation with her son was likely a much-needed timeout for the i-Carly alum who has paved her way in recent years as a style icon on and off the runway.

The Vogue model seems to be enjoying her new life and personal time as a single mother-of-one after ending a four-year marriage to Sebastian Bear-McClard amid rumours that he had cheated on the supermodel.

And now it looks as if the star has a new love interest as Emily and Pitt have reportedly been spending time together.

Beautiful girl: The Blurred Lines music video muse added an image of her younger self holding a fan

On Monday morning PageSix claimed that the 58-year-old Bullet Train actor and the supermodel have been seeing each other but are not 'officially dating.'

According to People, the Oscar-winning actor and the model can't seem to get enough of each other.

'They are spending a lot of time together,' the insider told the site.

Last week there was chatter on social media that the brunette bombshell and the veteran actor were seeing each other, but there was no proof.

The PageSix source shared, 'People have been speculating about this for a while. Brad is not dating anybody. They [Pitt and Ratajkowski] have been seen a couple times together.'

New love?: According to People , the 58-year-old Oscar-winning actor and the 31-year-old My Body author can't seem to get enough of each other. 'They are spending a lot of time together,' the insider told the site

Happy kid: The mother-of-one brought her son to the same town where she grew up and shared memories of her time there as a kid, in one image feeding a baby goat with a baby-bottle

PageSix did not say what city the two have been spending time in, but she has been in New York lately and then last week went to Italy for the Versace show. On Sunday Pitt was in Paris.

But it looks like Emily is not the only one, as the insider said that he has also 'been seen with other people' in recent months.

And then it was added that he is not really dating 'anyone in particular.'

In August OK magazine also claimed Pitt was getting close to Ratajkowski: 'He asked her out, and she said yes. Shes always thought Brad was cute, and the way she saw it, what did she have to lose?'
Jodie Turner-Smith turned heads in a stunning busty gown as she attended the premiere of White Noise on the opening night the New York Film Festival on Friday.

The actress, 36, dazzled in the dramatic number which had an extreme daring plunging neckline and cut-out detail across her midriff.

The British born star flashed much skin in the head-turning number as she arrived in style to the Lincoln Center.

Gorgeous: Jodie Turner-Smith turned heads in a stunning busty gown as she attended the premiere of White Noise at the opening night the New York Film Festival on Friday

Jodie further added to her glamorous look by wearing a dramatic bow around her neck.

The Queen & Slim actress accessorised with a pair of diamond encrusted earrings and several statement piece rings.

She showed off a new hair colour to her buzzed locks as they were dyed dark purple.

Jodie accentuated her natural looks with complementary make-up contrasted by a dramatic swipe of plum lipstick.

Stepping out: The British born star flashed much skin in a head-turning number as she arrived in style to the Lincoln Center

Shining bright: The 36-year-old actress dazzled in the dramatic number which had an extreme daring plunging neckline and cut-out detail

Stylish: Jodie further added to her glamorous look by wearing a dramatic bow around her neck

Not seen on the outing was her husband of nearly three years, actor Joshua Jackson, as they have a daughter together who was born in April 2020.

No doubt it is an exciting time as it was announced earlier this month that she would be joining the new Star Wars TV series The Acolyt.

According to Deadline , the actress is currently finalising a deal to join Amandla Stenberg in the series - with no details yet released on either of the characters.

Smart! Jodie's co-star Adam Driver looked smart in a black suit and tie

Glam: Director Greta Gerwig opted for a chic black maxi dress

Cast: May Nivola, Sam Nivola and Raffey Cassidy posed for pictures together

Line-up: (L-R) David Heyman, Danny Elfman, Lars Eidinger, Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach, May Nivola, Jodie Turner-Smith, Sam Nivola, Raffey Cassidy, Don Cheadle and Adam Driver

The show was first announced back in April 2020, when director Leslye Headland came on board to spearhead the series.

It was described as, 'a female-centric series that takes place in a different part of the Star Wars timeline than other projects.'

The project is set to film in London later this year. with Amandla the only confirmed star as of yet.

Loved-up: Not seen on the outing was her husband of nearly three years, actor Joshua Jackson, as they have a daughter together who was born in April 2020
NFTs have been gaining buzz since news of it being sold for absurd amounts of up to $69 million. Non-Fungible Tokens are records on a blockchain that can be physical or digital assets-it ranges from artworks, music, in-game goods, and videos.

Warner Music Group announced that they will be partnering up with OpenSea, a Web3 marketplace for NFTs and crypto collectibles. This partnership will allow select artists to launch their own NFT collection and limited edition projects, according to CoinTelegraph.

Read Also: Top 5 Most Expensive NFT Art Sold - Pak, Beeple, CryptoPunk, Who Got the Top Spot?

What Does This Partnership Entail?

The collaboration will provide a platform for several artists to reach the Web3 community as well, and expand their fanbase. The artists will have early access to OpenSea's new feature, which means that they can create their own drop pages, where they can launch their NFT collection and limited edition projects.

The partnership may also bring people into the Web3 community by advertising the NFTs to select artists' fans. Warner Music Group still has not announced who those certain artists are but they have many well-known names under their belt. Paramore, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, and David Guetta are among those names.

The first collection of music NFTs is already being developed in Warner Records UK, which is already collaborating with Probably Nothing, a Web3 company, as mentioned in musicbusinessworldwide.com

Shiva Rajaraman, the Vice President of Product at OpenSea, said that "For artists and musicians, NFTs represent a new creative medium and a mechanism to build community" and with that, fans can engage directly with the artist.

Warner Music Group Expanding Its Reach To The Web3 Community

This was not the first time that the Warner Music Group delved into the world of Web3. Back in February, they also announced their partnership with Splinterlands, a blockchain gaming developer.

The partnership is done so that artists can create play-to-earn arcade-style blockchain games. Oana Ruxandra stated that partnering with Splinterlands to build tokenized games will unlock new revenue streams for their artists.

Before that, Warner Music Group also collaborated with The Sandbox. The partnership is to pave the way toward creating a musical theme park within the gaming metaverse, based on an article from CoinTelegraph.

The Sandbox, where Warner MusicGroup LAND is, could host concerts and live experiences that feature the artists represented by WMG.

Are NFTs Worth It?

The emergence of cryptocurrency and other types of digital assets in the online community has been accepted with a very warm welcome. More and more people have been working on things like blockchains and cryptocurrencies more than ever before.

If the trajectory of this development continues, NFTs will be a very common thing in no time. Though, it is a very tricky industry. Like all investments, you can never truly know for sure if the value of an asset will skyrocket or plummet. Even experts can't determine how it will unfold since the market is fairly unpredictable.

In other words, do your research first. Find out which NFTs are worth investing in and if their value will be steady or increase over time.

Related Article: OpenSea NFT Scam: Company Admits to Fake NFTs in Marketplace; NFT Insurance Becomes a Thing
Damian Lewis and girlfriend Alison Mosshart looked cosy as they attended a a special dinner to celebrate the film Elvis at The River Cafe in London on Friday.

The actor, 51, wore a a grey jacket which he teamed with a pair of denim jeans in a darker shade of the same colour.

He wore a black T-shirt and a pair of brown leather boots as he stood with his arm around Alison.

Arm-in-arm: Damian Lewis and girlfriend Alison Mosshart looked cosy as they attended a special dinner to celebrate the film Elvis at The River Cafe in London on Friday

Alison showed off her chic but casual sense of style in a black blouse with a pattern of white stars which she teamed with a pair of black leggings and low-rise platform boots.

She completed her look by opting for a green and red plaid shirt which she wore over her blouse.

Alison was in good spirits as she posed alongside Damian, going for a subtle look with her make-up to highlight her pretty features.

Famous friends: The pair were seen posing alongside actor David Harewood, 56 (left), who looked dapper in a black suit and actress Michelle Dockery, 40 (right)

Dining out: The dinner was to celebrate Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann's 2022 film Elvis (Baz pictured)

The pair were seen posing alongside actor David Harewood, 56, who looked dapper in a black suit and matching shirt.

Elsewhere, actress Michelle Dockery, 40, looked stylish in an ivory-hued trouser suit, with the jacket cinched in at the waist.

The dinner was to celebrate Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann's 2022 film Elvis.

Loved-up: Damian Lewis and Alison have made a number of public appearances lately, attendeding The Big Pink's album launch in London on Wednesday

The movie chronicles the life and career of Elvis Presley, played by Austin Butler, from his early days as a child to becoming one of the first rock and roll stars, as well as his complex relationship with his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, played by Tom Hanks.

Damian and Alison have made a number of public appearances together in recent days as they were last seen out in London this week after exploring New York City.

The couple are thought to have met through mutual friends while in London.

Sweet: Damian looked smart in a dogtooth blazer and matching trousers that he paired with a grey T-shirt

They have grown increasingly fond of one another, Mosshart's mother Vivian, 76, told MailOnline.

Speaking exclusively from her home in Florida, she said: 'I don't know how much flak I'm going to get for all of this but of course we are excited for her.

'They have mutual friends. I don't know exactly how they met but I'm fine with it. If she's happy, we are happy. I'm yet to meet him but certainly I'd like to.'

Adorable: He topped his look off with a coordinating baker boy hat and brown brogues as he pulled Alison in close for a photo

The pair were first photographed together in July at a swanky fundraising party for London's National Gallery.

A fellow passenger, who spotted the pair travelling to the event by train, told The Mail on Sunday that the two looked '100 per cent romantically involved  like they were on a hot date'.

They were seen again at the Serpentine Gallery's annual summer party - one of the highlights of the British capital's social season.

The pair were once more snapped at the British Formula One Grand Prix at Silverstone, with Alison taking to Instagram afterwards to write: 'The absolute thrill. I'm still floating at 200 miles per hour.'

They then confirmed their relationship during an appearance at private members' club The House of KOKO's summer party in July, during which Damian wore his wedding ring.

Damian's late wife, Peaky Blinders actress Helen, tragically died after a secret battle with breast cancer last year.

Following her death, he revealed how his late wife had urged him to find love again, telling him and their children that she wanted 'Daddy to have lots of girlfriends'.

Damian said in a social media post: 'She died as she lived. Fearlessly. God we love her and know how lucky we are to have had her in our lives. She blazed so brightly. Go now, Little One, into the air.'
The Kid LAROI wowed on stage in Vegas on Wednesday after finishing his first international tour.

The 18-year-old Australian superstar looked delighted as he performed at JBL Fest in Nevada while clad in black shorts, a white T-shirt and gym socks.

Clutching his microphone as fans screamed in the ground, the performer accessorised with a pair of black sunglasses and a chunky silver watch.

The Kid Loroi wowed in stage in Vegas on Wednesday after finishing his first international tour

He later changed into a white button up shirt and added a black bag as he posed outside a Vegas hotel for fans.

LAROI, whose real name is Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard appeared in great spirits as performed stateside.

It comes after LAROI shared an emotional message to his fans after the end of his first major international tour.

The 18-year-old rapper from Sydney told followers he is 'nothing' without them.

The 18-year-old Australian superstar looked delighted as he performed at JBL Fest in Nevada clad in black shorts, a white T-shirt and gym socks

He later changed into a white shirt and and added a black bag as he posed outside a Vegas hotel for fans

Posting to his Instagram stories last month, LAROI said he would miss seeing his fans every night.

'I cannot begin to describe the impact you've all had on my life,' the US-based pop star gushed in the lengthy post.

'This tour reminded my why I do what I do and why I love doing it so much.'

Clutching his microphone as fans screamed in the ground, the performer added a pair of black sunglasses and accessorised with a chunky silver watch

Thanking his crew, LAROI added that he will now return to the studio to complete his next album.

'I'm more inspired than ever...thank you you for being so patient. I love you endlessly.

He signed off the message with a love-heart emoji.

It has been three years since LAROI left Australia and moved to LA to follow his dreams of becoming a chart-topping rapper.

It comes after Laroi shared an emotional message to his fans after the end of his first major international tour

The provocative star began his End of the World tour in the US before playing a series of sell-out shows in Australia and in the UK.

The Down Under leg of the tour saw the star play his first home town shows since he opened for his late mentor Juice WRLD in 2019.

LAROI has enjoyed huge success and has already hit several major career milestones.

Stay and LAROI's F**k Love mixtape reached No. 1 on the global Billboard charts in early August, making him the youngest Australian artist to achieve this accolade.

He is also the youngest artist to top the Australian ARIA album charts in February 2020 with his mixtape.
Sarah Murdoch was spotted touching down in Australia on Saturday morning after travelling on a commercial flight.

The 50-year-old British-Australian model was wearing her huge, rarely seen wedding ring while carrying her own luggage through the airport and sporting a $3400 Bottega Veneta handbag.

Known for her chic street style, Sarah donned a comfortable ensemble with a black long sleeve jumper over a white undershirt paired with a pair of loose fitting black trousers.

Sarah Murdoch was spotted touching down in Australia on Saturday morning after travelling on a commercial flight

The actress accessorised her ensemble with a black watch and sliders.

Keeping it practical for travel Sarah had her make up and hairstyle natural.

Sarah is married to media mogul Lachlan Murdoch, 51, who is currently in the midst of a legal battle with left-wing news website Crikey.

The 50-year-old was carrying her own luggage and sporting a $3400 Bottega Veneta handbag

The model accessorised her ensemble with a black watch and sliders. Keeping it practical Sarah kept her make up and hair style natural

Murdoch claims an article published by the website Crikey made baseless, defamatory suggestions that he conspired with Donald Trump to overthrow the U.S. government.

In a defamation lawsuit filed in the Federal Court, Mr Murdoch is suing over a June 29 opinion piece by politics editor Bernard Keane regarding then hearings into Trump and the January 6 Capitol riots.

In the piece, which was widely shared on social media, Keane called the former U.S. president 'treacherous' and an 'unhinged traitor' and suggested the Murdoch family, which owns and controls Fox News, was an 'unindicted co-conspirator'.

Known for her chic street style, Sarah donned a comfortable ensemble with a black long sleeve jumper over a white undershirt paired with a pair of loose fitting black trousers

While the article did not mention Lachlan Murdoch by name, instead referring to the Murdoch family, the Fox executive chairman claims he was defamed and suffered serious damage to his reputation.

'Murdoch has been gravely injured in his character, his personal reputation and his professional reputation as a business person and company director and has suffered and will continue to suffer substantial hurt, distress and embarrassment,' documents he filed with the court say.

The lawsuit targets the publisher behind the Crikey masthead, Private Media, as well as Keane and editor-in-chief Peter Fray.

Sarah is married to media mogul Lachlan Murdoch who is currently in the midst of a legal battle with left-wing news website Crikey.

Mr Murdoch said he had not been approached for comment prior to the June 29 article and subsequent related pieces published on the Crikey website, and had only complained to Private Media four times in a five-year period.

He is also seeking injunctions barring the publication and promotions of the allegedly defamatory articles.
Blac Chyna was spotted out and about in Calabasas earlier on Friday after as she ran a few errands before the start of the weekend.

The reality star, 34, kept her daytime ensemble simple and casual, while showcasing her newly shaved head that appeared to have a scar on the back.

The mother of two rose to prominence when she starred in Nicki Minaj's Monster music video in 2010. She also previously dated rapper, Tyga, and Rob Kardashian, and shares a child with each.

Running errands: Blac Chyna, 34, was pictured running errands and stopping by the bank in Calabasas earlier on Friday

The socialite opted for comfort as she made a stop at a bank, wearing a pair of black sweatpants.

She added a black, short-sleeved cropped top which showed off her toned midriff. Blac Chyna slipped into a pair of Nike sneakers to easily move about the city.

A patterned sweater was wrapped around the star's waist in case she grew a little chilly later on in the day.

Earlier on Monday, the businesswoman showed off her newly shaved head to her 16.5 million fans and followers on Instagram.

Potential scar: The reality star and socialite was seen with what appeared to be a scar on the back of her head during her outing

As she stepped out from stopping by a local bank, it appeared that there was a long scar on the back of her head.

A pair of black sunglasses were placed on top of her head in case she needed them as she strolled under the bright California sunshine.

Instead of carrying a large purse or bag, Blac Chyna was pictured holding a few necessary items such as her wallet, keys, and a cold water bottle to stay hydrated in the warm weather.

In a recent episode of Hulu's The Kardashians, Kris Jenner discussed the defamation lawsuit that Blac Chyna had filed against the Kardashians on the claims that her spin-off reality show, Rob & Chyna, was cancelled due to Kris reportedly stating that Chyna had 'assaulted' Rob.

'Blac Chyna is suing myself, Khloe, Kylie and Kim for defamation of character and interference of contract,' Kris explained during episode two of the second season. The episode was filmed before the verdict had been reached.

'Confident': The actress exuded confidence as she showcased her newly shaved head, writing that, 'a confident bald woman - theres your diamond in the rough' on Instagram on Monday

Lawsuit: In 2017, Blac Chyna filed a lawsuit against the Kardashians for defamation, but in May of this year, the jury ruled that the Kardashians were not guilty of defaming the star; seen in July in Atlanta

The star added that, 'as a mom, I'm very protective of my kids, and on top of that, it's really draining, it's emotionally, spiritually, and physically exhausting to be going through this.'

Although the lawsuit was filed in 2017, it was finally taken to court earlier this year in April. In May, the jury concluded that the Kardashians were not guilty of defamation, and Blac Chyna did not receive any damages.

She had also filed a revenge porn lawsuit in 2017 against her ex-boyfriend, Rob Kardashian, after he had shared explicit snaps of her onto social media following their split. A settlement was reached earlier this year in June.

Blac Chyna and Rob previously dating off and on from 2016 to 2017, and share five-year-old daughter, Dream. The socialite also shares nine-year-old son, King, with Tyga.

Family time: Blac Chyna shared an adorable snap of her daughter Dream, 5, whom she shares with Rob Kardashian, starting her first day of kindergarten last month in August

New look: Earlier on Monday, the socialite shared a short reel of herself with a newly shaved head to her 16.5 million fans and followers

On Monday, the mother of two uploaded a new reel that showcased her newly shaved head.

In the caption to the post, the star wrote, 'Anyone can be confident with a full head of hair. But a confident bald woman - theres your diamond in the rough.'

While she focuses on raising her two children, Blac Chyna also works behind the scenes for her own beauty brand, Lashed Cosmetics, which was launched in 2014.

She has also been starring in BET's new miniseries called, The Black Hamptons, which aired its first episode earlier this month in September.
The drama series The Morning Show, starring A-listers Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, has wowed viewers with its fictional take on the cutthroat business of daytime television since it premiered in November 2019.

Nearly three years on, and the cast and crew are back on set shooting season three in New York City on Friday.

Actress Julianna Margulies, 56, who joined the show for season two, was spotted sharing some laughs with Witherspoon, 46, while prepping behind-the-scenes.

Ready to role: Reese Witherspoon, 46, and Julianna Margulies, 56, looked business chic when they shot their scene for Apple TV+ series The Morning Show in New York City on Friday

Stylists for the costume department were spot-on when they dressed Witherspoon in a black suit with a burgundy top and black leather heeled boots.

The actress, who plays Bradley Jackson, co-host of UBA's TMS alongside Aniston's Alexandra 'Alex' Levy, also carried a stylish Balenciaga Neo classic leather bag, while wearing a couple of necklaces and earrings.

The hair and makeup department had her blonde tresses long and flowing over her chest region and down to the middle of her back with a part in the middle.

Business chic: Stylists for the costume department were spot-on when they dressed Witherspoon in a black suit with a burgundy top and black leather heeled boots

Hilarious: The two actresses shared a number of laughs while prepping to shoot their scene

The actresses were prepping for their scene that called for Bradley to confront Margulies' character Laura Petesron, a news anchor at UBA, near a stoop of an apartment building.

Equally business chic, Margulies was decked out in black flared slacks and a rustic blazer over a white button-down shirt.

She also had a large gray purse over her shoulder, and had her raven locks styled long and pushed back over one ear with a center part.

After grabbing her colleague's attention, Laura walks down the five steps and goes face-to-face with Bradley, with about two to three feet between them.

Witherspoon's Bradley was also seen running from the street to the sidewalk in another scene that was filmed on Friday.

Real pros: By the time the director was ready to shoot the two ladies were all business

Ready steady go: After the director yelled 'action', the scene began with Witherspoon, who plays TMS co-host Bradley Jackson, walking up to the stop of an apartment building to confront Margulies, who portrays Laura Peterson, a news anchor at UBA

The hit Apple TV+ drama series, inspired by Brian Stelter's book Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV (2013), has earned an impressive 11 Emmy nominations over the course of the first two seasons.

According to TV analytics provider TVision, TMS has been viewed by panel members five times more than the average original series or show on the streaming platform that TVision has measured since it launched in November 2019.

It has since gone on to become the second most watched Apple TV+ series after Ted Lasso.

Season two wrapped last November and would eventually get renewed a couple of months later.

Confrontation: Equally business chic, Margulies was decked out in black flared slacks and a rustic blazer over a white button-down shirt

Lat for a date: Witherspoon's Bradley was also seen running from the street to the sidewalk in another scene that was filmed on Friday

Along with Witherspoon and Aniston, the main cast also includes the likes of Billy Crudup, Mark Duplass, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Nestor Carbonell, Karen Pittman, Steve Carell, Bel Powley, Desean Terry, Jack Davenport, Greta Lee and Ruairi O'Connor.

Some of the more high-profile actors to make an appearance with recurring roles over the course of the first two seasons include Mindy Kaling, Martin Short, Will Arnett and Marcia Gay Harden.

Actors Jon Hamm and Nicole Beharie are set to join the series, which is inspired by Brian Stelter's book Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV (2013), for season three.

Production on the third season began in the middle of August, so it's not likely to premiere until the fall of 2023, although an official date has not ben released.
The Bachelor alum Vanessa Grimaldi announced a new addition to her family on Friday.

Grimaldi, 35, took to Instagram to share happy news that she welcomed her first baby - a son - with husband Josh Wolfe, just one day before her own 35th birthday.

'Nothing will beat my 35th birthday!,' she wrote in the caption, adding: 'Our little miracle decided to be born one day before mommys birthday, so we celebrated his BIRTH date and my 35th at the hospital as a new family!'

New parents! The Bachelor alum Vanessa Grimaldi, 35, shared that she welcomed her first baby - a son - with husband Josh Wolfe, just one day before her own 35th birthday

'Mommy & Daddy LOVE you SO SO much!!! Thank you for choosing us and for giving us the BEST gift of all - being YOUR parents!'

The star shared a lovely family snap that featured the trio at the hospital wearing colorful birthday hats, with Josh giving her a kiss on the forehead as she held their little one in her arms.

She also shared another snap of the proud new dad holding flowers and a gift as well as a maternity pillow.

Proud dad: She also shared another snap of the proud new dad holding flowers and a gift as well as a maternity pillow

The reality TV star announced her pregnancy on Instagram in April, with a collection of black-and-white maternity photos.

The couple wed in August of last year in an intimate ceremony at the Le Mount Stephen Hotel in Canada.

They got engaged in 2020. Grimaldi took to her Instagram to share the happy news in a spread of photos from the night engagement that she told People Magazine was 'an intimate, beautiful moment that was candle-lit.'

'It was absolutely beautiful!' Vanessa gushed of the moment Josh popped the question atop the Saint-Louis Gate in Quebec City, Canada.

Happily married: The couple wed in August of last year in an intimate ceremony at the Le Mount Stephen Hotel in Canada

'I knew we were going to get engaged eventually, but I had no idea it was going to happen when it did," she continued.

'Josh is the first person I am with where I am at complete ease and where I never second-guessed his love for me. Ive been ready to say YES! I am the luckiest woman!'

Her enthusiasm extended to her Instagram post, where she captioned a gallery of pictures showing Wolfe on one knee and the couple embracing with, 'August 9th, 2020 will forever be my favourite DAY OF MY LIFE!

'@jbrwolfe YOU ARE MY EVERYTHING AND I CANNOT WAIT TO BE FOREVER AND EVER WITH YOU!!!!!! #engaged' she concluded happily.

Love by candlelight: The Bachelor season 21 winner got engaged to her Canadian beau in August of 2020; seen on Instagram

In 2017, Vanessa was the recipient of Nick Viall's final rose on The Bachelor, and the pair got engaged on the finale.

However, they parted ways only five months later. 'We just realized we were different people fighting to keep a relationship when ultimately we just werent the best fit for each other,' she told People at the time.

Happily, though, it seems Nick has nothing but well wishes for his ex and her new fiance.

'Well thank god I followed you back a week ago to hear this news,' Viall, 39, wrote in response to Grimaldis Instagram post about her engagement. 'Congrats to you two! Lucky guy. '

Romantic: 'It was absolutely beautiful!' Vanessa gushed of the moment Josh popped the question atop the Saint-Louis Gate in Quebec City, Canada

The exes recently followed each other again on Instagram soon after Nick announced an upcoming episode of his podcast, which sees the pair reuniting for a conversation.

'Who knew my person was living in the same city as me all these years!' she added.

Ever the gentleman, Wolfe actually helped design Grimaldi's beautiful 1-carat diamond and 18K yellow gold engagement ring, with the help of local Montreal jeweler Teresa and Sons.

In 2017: Vanessa was the recipient of Nick Viall's final rose on The Bachelor, and the pair got engaged on the finale

'I knew Vanessa was the one after the first Sunday lunch I had with her family in Saint Leonard,' he exclaimed. 'It was then that I realized just how important family was to her, as it is to me. I felt so welcomed, and just grateful at the idea that they may one day become my extended family. I felt like I was at home.

'Also, the first time she made me her pasta sauce. Its something else!' he added giddily.

The couple, who enjoyed their first date in New York City, have been dating for a year and a half.

By way of an engagement party, the fiances will celebrate with a small group at their favorite Lebanese restaurant, Garage Beirut, in Montreal.
Married at First Sight star Kate Laidlaw has reflected on her appearance on the hit reality show, a year after she was cast.

The 39-year-old, who was paired with law clerk Matt Ridley on this year's season of the show, said she 'hoped every day' she was going to be cast, but was disappointed as she hadn't heard from producers immediately.

In a heartfelt Instagram post, the star said she'd 'moved on' after believing she hadn't been cast, before getting a call from producers that she was going to be on the show.

Married at First Sight star Kate Laidlaw has reflected on her appearance on the hit reality show, a year after she was cast

Kate Laidlaw , who was paired with law clerk Matt Ridley on this year's season of the show, said she 'hoped every day' she was going to be cast, but was disappointed as she hadn't heard from producers immediately

'Some days are just days but some days are life changing. On this day last year I received the phone call to say I was getting married. I was going to be on MAFS,' she wrote.

'After six months of auditioning, what I had hoped for everyday had finally come true. I never thought I'd be chosen.

'I was told at the start of this week that if I was getting married I would receive a phone call by Friday.

'All day that day I stared at my phone just waiting for it to ring. I said to myself if it doesn't ring by 5pm then I'll give up.

Kate, 39, said she was excited to 'express all the different sides of her' on the adult website after her portrayal on MAFS didn't reflect her true personality

For a special price of $5 a month, fans will be able to access daily 'cheeky, sexy content' and 'a little bit of insight' into her life as a nutritionist

'When 5pm hit I felt so disappointed the phone did not ring.

'I put my phone down and went for a walk. I let go of the dream, I was like Kate move on they are not calling you.

'Then at around 8:30pm that night my phone rang. I expected to hear a voice rejecting me but instead the voice said we found you a match, you're getting married!! (a reminder to never give up).

'I honestly was in shock! iIt really wasn't until I went to bed that night that it sunk in and I cried with joy.

Married At First Sight star Kate Laidlaw (left) has made a surprise career move by launching an OnlyFans account with her twin sister Bec (right)

'I truly hoped for love. A journey of a lifetime had just begun.

'I may do a few little look backs over the next couple of weeks just stand out memories.'

Kate was paired with Matt, 40, on Season 9 of the series, but the couple failed to hit it off and decided to call it quits before the final vows.

'I'm doing the OnlyFans to show people other sides of me and what I'm really about, as it wasn't shown on MAFS because of my bad edit,' Kate told Daily Mail Australia

In August, the nutritionist revealed she had joined OnlyFans with her twin sister Bec.

The 39-year-old said she was excited to 'express all the different sides of her' on the adult website after her portrayal on MAFS didn't reflect her true personality.

'After my MAFS experience I found myself lacking in confidence and afraid to show the real me due to fear of judgement,' she wrote on Instagram.

'The show portrayed a character that I felt did not reflect who I truly am as a person.

'This is why I'm so excited to be launching my OnlyFans. It will be my opportunity to express all the different sides of me, the unedited version of me.

'It's time to show you guys what I'm really about.'

For a special price of $5 a month, fans will be able to access daily 'cheeky, sexy content' and 'a little bit of insight' into her life as a nutritionist.

'I'm doing the OnlyFans to show people other sides of me and what I'm really about, as it wasn't shown on MAFS because of my bad edit,' Kate told Daily Mail Australia.

Kate was paired with Brisbane law clerk Matt Ridley, 40, (right) on MAFS, but the couple failed to hit it off and decided to call it quits before the final vows

'My OnlyFans will be different because I'm doing it with Bec, so double the content and double the fun.'

Kate follows the footsteps of fellow MAFS brides Olivia Frazer, Jessica Seracino and Domenica Calarco, who are all making money on OnlyFans.

Season nine grooms Jackson Lonie, Daniel Holmes and Mitchell Eynaud are also on the platform.
Machine Gun Kelly has brought his daughter Casie, 13, on her 'first Europe tour' - and documented the results on Instagram.

The singing sensation, 32, brought his teenager to Paris and swept her around the city to see its iconic sights, including the Louvre Pyramid designed by IM Pei.

After playing tourist by day, by night he partied in the City Of Light with his bombshell fiancee Megan Fox, 36, of Transformers fame.

Family time: Machine Gun Kelly has brought his daughter Casie, 13, on her 'first Europe tour' - and documented the results on Instagram

Kelly, who is known for his eye-catching fashion choices, also indulged in his own idiosyncratic clotheshorse tendencies.

He could be seen in his new Instagram album bringing Casie to visit the Paris studio of American fashion designer Rick Owens.

At one point Kelly even posed on a zany chair that was designed to resemble Rick lying on his back and folding his legs up in the air.

Making it happen: Kelly, who is known for his eye-catching fashion choices, also indulged in his own idiosyncratic clotheshorse tendencies

What a night: His over nine million followers were also treated to a couple of pictures of Kelly enjoying an evening on the town with fiancee Megan Fox, Casie and a few friends

Kelly swanned about the studio in a sleeveless outfit with shorts, allowing him to show off his sensationally extensive sprawl of tattoos.

In fact he appears to have even added to his body art collection, as one of his pictures showed what looked like a fresh tattoo of a helicopter on one of his arms.

The Emo Girl rapper, who shares his daughter with his ex Emma Cannon, threw on a long vest covered in hot pink faux fur.

His over nine million followers were also treated to a couple of pictures of Kelly enjoying an evening on the town with Megan, Casie and a few friends.

Place to be: The singing sensation brought his teenager to Paris and swept her around the city to see its iconic sights, including the Louvre Pyramid designed by IM Pei

There she is: After playing tourist with his daughter by day, by night he partied in the City Of Light with bombshell Megan of Transformers fame

Chitchat: He could be seen in his new Instagram album bringing Casie to visit the Paris studio of American fashion designer Rick Owens

Megan was decked out in a skintight jumpsuit that showcased her enviable hourglass figure, including her impressively taut midriff, to full advantage.

Kelly's latest Paris trip comes amid news that his infamous '$30,000 Manicure' from this year's Billboard Music Awards is now being turned to charitable purposes.

The Good Mourning star made a splash at the awards show this May when he showed off his reportedly massively expensive bejeweled fingernails.

Goofing: At one point Kelly even posed on a zany chair that was designed to resemble Rick lying on his back and folding his legs up in the air

The look: Kelly swanned about the studio in a sleeveless outfit with shorts, allowing him to show off his sensationally extensive sprawl of tattoos

Details: In fact he appears to have even added to his body art collection, as one of his pictures showed what looked like a fresh tattoo of a helicopter on one of his arms

Now Nails Of LA founder Brittney Boyce has apparently teamed up with the jewelry brand Marrow Fine to repurpose the diamonds from Kelly's manicure.

A new report in Women's Wear Daily holds that 880 diamonds from Kelly's awards show nails will now go into an 18-piece capsule collection.

All the profits from the pieces, which sell at prices ranging from $1,950 to $5,000, are said to be going to Kelly's alma mater Shaker Heights High School in Ohio.

Glitz: Kelly's latest Paris trip comes amid news that his infamous '$30,000 Manicure' from this year's Billboard Music Awards is now being turned to charitable purposes
The Bachelor's newest leading man Jed McIntosh appeared 'very single' at a recent party.

The Melbourne-based musician, 25, partied solo at Ms Collins nightclub while celebrating his friend George Christoudias's birthday last week.

Jed 'was looking very single and ready to mingle' according to a source, and did 'not appear to be putting his life on hold'.

The Bachelor's newest leading man Jed McIntosh (pictured) appeared 'single' at a recent party, according to a new report

It comes after news that Jed has secured a deal with international record label ACTS ahead of the release of his new single Drown.

Jed will relocate to Los Angeles in April, where he will launch the label's new Rock/Alternative division and take on the role of head of global A&R.

'With the rise in music from genres in the punk, punk pop, rock and alt scene, ACTS have focused heavily on uplifting artists that are not typically mainstream,' Jed told The Herald Sun of his new gig.

The Melbourne-based musician, 25, partied solo at Ms Collins nightclub while celebrating his friend George Christoudias's birthday last week. Pictured together

'I am excited to help grow the confidence of up-and-coming artists that don't fit into the mainstream music scene.

'Most don't feel like they have a place, so with this new joint venture, artists like myself who are left of centre can find a family and a home to create beautiful expressive art with no boundaries; just full support.'

This won't be the tattooed rocker's first trip to LA.

It comes after news that Jed has secured a deal with international record label ACTS ahead of the release of his new single Drown

McIntosh told The Gazette he had just returned home following a trip to the U.S. where he jammed with Lenny Kravitz and Sting at a private house party in LA.

He had been invited to the party by Brisbane rocker Ash Minor. The pair struck up a friendship at a concert and Jed is now working on his new album.

'It's what you know and who you know,' said Jed, who counts Pharrell Williams as 'one of my biggest connections' in the industry.

Jed will relocate to Los Angeles in April, where he will launch the label's new Rock/Alternative division and take on the role of head of global A&R

His big break came when he was a fill-in drummer for Kylie Minogue at age 15.

Daily Mail Australia recently revealed the upcoming season of The Bachelor featuring three leads will not air until 2023.

'Ten have made the call to delay the show until early 2023 so they can focus on promoting The Real Love Boat,' a source revealed earlier this month.

The upcoming season of The Bachelor featuring three leading men won't air until 2023. Jed is pictured alongside Felix Von Hofe (left) and Thomas Malucelli (right)

'I don't see them airing reality dating shows back-to-back and there's only 10 ratings weeks left... they would rather hold it and give it the publicity it needs.'

Both the suitors and contestants will be now able to access their social media accounts after they were taken off them by the network ahead of the show going to air.

Jed and fellow leads Thomas Malucelli and Felix Von Hofe have also been given permission to return to social media posting with new guidelines.

'Ten have made the call to delay the show until early 2023 so they can focus on promoting The Real Love Boat,' revealed a well-placed source

The source added that several of the contestants vying for the trio's hearts aren't happy with the show being held over until the New Year.

'The show was filmed four months ago and the cast weren't able to return to social media until three months after the final air date,' they said.

'Some of them were hoping to be bona fide influencers by now.'

Channel 10 is expected to make an announcement about the show at the network's upfronts presentation.
Chris Hemsworth has paid tribute to legendary Home and Away actor Ray Meagher.

Ray, 77, appears as guest of honour in Channel Seven's reboot of This is Your Life, which returned to screens in July.

And Chris, 39, has joined a long list of former Home and Away stars, friends and guests to help celebrate Ray's life and career.

Chris Hemsworth has paid tribute to legendary Home and Away actor Ray Meagher in an upcoming episode of Channel Seven's This Is Your Life

In a new preview for the episode, which airs on October 11, the Hollywood star calls Ray, 'the godfather of Australian television, my hero.'

Rising to fame playing the beloved Alf Stewart on the long-running soap, Ray has been on the series since its debut in 1988.

Hemsworth also starred on Home and Away from 2004-2007, where he worked alongside Ray before heading off to Hollywood.

In a new preview for the episode, which airs on October 11, the Hollywood star calls Ray, 'the godfather of Australian television, my hero.' Ray is pictured

Fans can also look forward to seeing Dannii Minogue, Bec Hewitt, and Ada Nicodemou share their touching stories about Ray on the series.

The teaser promises that there will be a few tears on the famously emotional tribute show.

In one scene, a tearful Ray listens as former Home and Away star Kate Ritchie, 43, tells him: 'You mean a lot to me Ray, you know that.'

Meahger learned that he'd been picked for the tribute when host Melissa Doyle surprised him with the show's signature red book while he was filming an episode of Home and Away

Meahger learned that he'd been picked for the tribute when host Melissa Doyle surprised him with the show's signature red book while he was filming an episode of Home and Away.

Known for his down-to-earth style, the beloved actor kept his composure and sense of humour telling Mel: 'You are kidding!'

Looking at the big red book Ray added: 'Hate to think what you've got in there, but I guess we'll find out.'
Chinese-invested expressway in Cambodia opens to public for one-month free trial

Xinhua) 14:44, October 01, 2022

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese-invested Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway in Cambodia was opened to the public on Saturday for a month's trial use for free to attract motorists driving on the first-ever expressway in the Southeast Asian nation.

Invested by the China Road and Bridge Corporation, the 2-billion-U.S. dollar expressway with a total length of 187 km connects the capital Phnom Penh and the deep sea port province of Preah Sihanouk.

Cambodia's Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT) Secretary of State Yit Bunna said the expressway project had been fully completed recently after more than three years of construction and put on a trial operation for free-of-charge on Oct. 1-31.

"We urge all drivers to comply with the speed limits for your own safety and the safety of the others," he said at an event marking the inauguration of the highway for trial use. "We wish all passengers a safe travel on this expressway."

Sun Yaoguo, representative of the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway project, said the freeway is the fruit of cooperation between China and Cambodia under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

"The trial operation of this expressway shows that Cambodia has now entered the age of the expressway," he said. "We hope that all drivers will strictly abide by the rules and regulations set out by the MPWT to maintain order and safety."

According to the MPWT, the expressway can only be used by motorcycles that have a power of 500cc or more, and cars that can drive at a speed of 70 km or more.

The minimum speed to use this toll road is 60 km per hour and the maximum speed limit is 120 km per hour for regular family cars, 100 km per hour for heavy vehicles without trailers and motorcycles, and 80 km per hour for trucks and cars with trailers.

With two lanes for traffic in each direction plus an emergency lane on each side and paved with asphalt concrete, vehicles will be able to reach their destination in about two hours on the expressway, instead of five hours on National Road 4.

Cambodian Ministry of Commerce's Undersecretary of State Penn Sovicheat said the expressway is crucial to helping boost economic growth, saving travel time and reducing logistics costs.

"It facilitates travel, enabling vehicles to drive faster and reducing congestion that we are having now," he told Xinhua. "It will improve a lot for trade and tourists because the toll is not so expensive for using this route."

Chea Chandara, president of the Logistics and Supply Chain Business Association in Cambodia, said the expressway will inject a new impetus into the country's economic development as it links Phnom Penh and the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port.

"There's no doubt that the expressway will provide great benefit to our economic development as it will facilitate goods transportation between Phnom Penh and the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, a major gateway for Cambodia's trade exchange with other countries," he told Xinhua.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Bianji)
Disney's animated film WALL-E gave its audiences a rather bleak view of Earth's future if humanity left it full of garbage.

During one of WALL-E's adventures, a rocket took him off the planet, showing a large number of non-operational artificial satellites orbiting the planet even after humanity left.

This kind of future is what the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is trying to avoid with its newest ruling.

The FCC recently updated their ruling regarding the deorbiting of satellites from Earth's low orbit to give the space industry a better chance to grow.

As of 2021, 6,4542 satellites are orbiting Earth, of which 3,372 are operational, while the remaining 3,170 are inactive, per Geo Spatial World.

FCC New Artificial Satellite Ruling Details

The FCC mentioned in its announcement that the new ruling it adopted would require low-Earth orbit satellite operators to deorbit them within five years of completing their mission or as soon as it's practicable.

Although the FCC's new ruling is significantly shorter than its previous ruling of 25 years, this new 5year-rule is expected to help reduce the growing risk of "space junk" in Eath's low orbit, according to an Engadget report.

For those unaware, the Cambridge dictionary defined space junk as objects and/or materials left in space by human activity as they are no longer wanted. These include abandoned satellites, rockets, and other debris.

The FCC explained in its announcement that the presence of these space junk on Earth's low orbit could cause short- and long-term problems for upcoming and future space missions.

Read More: Get the Best Projector at Home With VANKYO Performance V700W Livehouse Projector

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement that the previous one that required satellites to be deorbited by 25 years is "a long time."

"There is no reason to wait that long anymore, especially in low-Earth orbit," Rosenworsel added. "The second space age is here. For it to continue to grow, we need to do more to clean up after ourselves so space innovation can continue to respond."

FCC's chairwoman also said that the new 5-year-rule would also mean more accountability for satellite operators and fewer risks of collisions that increase orbital debris and the possibility of communication failures in space.

Commissioner Geoffrey Starks is also of the same mind as Rosenworcel, saying that the new rule will have humanity take the practical step of reducing satellite demise times in low-Earth orbit to a more readily achievable timeframe, per Tech Crunch.

Disagreement Within The Government

However, not everyone agrees with Rosenworcel's plan. Members of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology said in a letter to Rosenworcel that NASA should be the one to decide how long satellite operators have to deorbit their satellites.

They argued that the FCC's ruling could create confusion and uncertainty for the space industry nationally and internationally.

As such, should the FCC's ruling gets approved by its commissioners, which they did, the Committee could try to overturn it. However, it is inviting the FCC to work with it through availing its Science Committee and its staff to ensure that procedural measures are unnecessary.

Related Article: FCC Says Small Telecoms Must Implement a Special Caller ID Authentication Tool To Help Identify Spam Calls
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Victoria Beckham was seen chatting to her son Brooklyn outside her Paris Fashion Week show while Nicola Peltz socialised with Cruz's girlfriend Tana Holding as the family reunited following feud rumours.

The Spice Girl, 48, had extended an invitation to her eldest son Brooklyn, 23, and his socialite wife Nicola, 27, for her French fashion debut on Friday following rumours of a family feud.

The couple attended and arrived half an hour early to show their support, with 'lots of hugs' going on when they were all reunited for the first time since this summer, said a source in the room.

Reunited: Victoria Beckham was seen chatting to her son Brooklyn outside her PFW show while Nicola Peltz socialised with Cruz's girlfriend Tana Holding as the family reunited

And video footage taken outside the event shows Victoria laughing with her son Brooklyn, while Nicola socialised with Cruz's girlfriend Tana Holding and Harper Seven.

In the 30-second clip, Victoria looks glamorous in a figure-hugging black dress as she chats with Brooklyn, who is seen flashing a huge smile as he enjoys a drink.

During their avid chat, a woman approaches Victoria but she points at her son and instead continues their conversation, with the woman then walking away.

Chatting: During their chat, a woman approaches Victoria but she points at her son and instead continues their conversation, with the woman then walking away

The mother and son then edge towards Nicola, who is facing the other way as she chats to Brooklyn's sister Harper, 11, and Cruz's model girlfriend Tana.

Brooklyn is seen placing his hand on his wife's back and holding the waistband of her jeans as he continues speaking to his mother, while Nicola carries on her chat with Tana.

The footage ends with Victoria standing next to Nicola as Brooklyn stands behind his wife with his arm around her waist.

Brooklyn and Nicola - who arrived separate to the Beckhams - walked hand-in-hand as they stepped out at the event, with the heiress gazing lovingly into her husband's eyes.

Reunited: In the clip, Victoria avidly chatted to her son Brooklyn and the pair were seen laughing, while Nicola socialised with Cruz's girlfriend Tana Holding and Harper Seven

Rift: Reports of a feud between have been rife, with Nicola adding fuel to the fire by claiming her mother-in-law 'blanked' her 'for days' during the design process of her wedding dress

After entering Victoria's much-anticipated fashion show, the couple sat on the front row with Brooklyn's father David, 47, and his siblings - Harper, Romeo, 20, and Cruz, 17.

Victoria couldn't hold back her tears on Friday as she broke down while taking to the runway of her Paris Fashion Week debut show - reaching out to hug her husband David during the appearance.

Afterwards, the family got together to celebrate with cocktails, as a source said: 'There were a lot of smiles and a lot of love in the room, it was a lovely family atmosphere.'

Posing for a snap, Brooklyn and Nicola appeared in high spirits as they beamed while sitting alongside siblings Romeo and Harper, dad David and Vogue's Anna Wintour and Edward Enninful.

Emerging: Victoria was pictured departing her Paris hotel on Saturday after putting on a defiant family display during her fashion show the previous day

Trendy: The designer looked ever-chic in a sheer white pussy bow blouse which she teamed up with a contrasting black miniskirt and matching tights

Victoria posted the snap to her Instagram as she gushed over the support, penning: 'It's Paris baby!! I'm so grateful for my family, @BritishVogue and @VogueMagazine for always supporting me on this journey xx VB'.

Reposting the picture, Nicola penned: 'Congratulations @victoriabeckham on a beautiful show'.

Appearing delighted to be reunited with his family, Brooklyn embraced them on the catwalk as he reached down to cuddle youngest sibling Harper - before bringing it in with David too.

Standing beside her husband, Nicola also gave her father-in-law David a hug as they appeared united at the show.

Proud: David shared a gushing tribute to his wife after her Paris Fashion Week debut on Friday

'My little fashion muse!': Victoria took to Instagram after the event to share a snap of her daughter Harper Seven, 11, at the show

Adorable: She also shared a selfie of David and Harper as she commemorated the day

'There was a lot of love in the room': But Victoria was reunited with Brooklyn and his wife Nicola at her show and the couple attended and even came EARLY to wish her luck

The family appeared overjoyed to welcome Brooklyn and Nicola to the show, despite a media storm surrounding the feud between Nicola and her mother-in-law Victoria.

Reports of a feud between Victoria and Nicola have been rife for weeks, with Brooklyn's wife adding fuel to the fire in a Grazia interview.

Claiming that she was 'blanked for days' by her mother-in-law during the design process of her wedding dress in the interview, the actress has reportedly enraged her in-laws by 'washing the family dirty linen in public'.

Emotional: Fashion designer Victoria was overcome with emotion as she took to the catwalk, holding her head in her hands

Initially, rumours of a rift began as Nicola did not wear a Victoria Beckham wedding dress - which she claimed during the interview was her original plan, before being told the designer's atelier could not make her a dress.

In the bombshell Grazia interview, she revealed: 'We connected to start designing the dress, and then a few days went by and I didn't hear anything. Victoria called my mom and said her atelier couldn't make it.'

Doting husband Brooklyn made his position clear amid the family feud, telling the publication that Nicola is his 'number one priority' and that they 'have each other's back 100 per cent'.

But insiders have said Nicola is pushing a 'false narrative', leaving Victoria 'bemused' as to why she keeps 'stoking the rumours of a feud' rather than shutting them down.

Too much: Victoria took to the runway at the end of the show, and appeared overcome with emotion during the appearance as she stopped at the front row to embrace family and friends

Support system: Reaching into the audience as she stopped halfway down the catwalk, a teary Victoria clung on to David - as best pal Eva Longoria also reached out for a supportive cuddle

And Nicola telling her side of the story has led to even more family drama, with David defending his wife Victoria as he had a rare confrontation with son Brooklyn.

According to MailPlus writer Alison Boshoff, David told Brooklyn 'we don't do this in our family' as he 'lost his temper' with the budding chef.

A source said: 'I don't think David has ever lost his temper with Brooklyn or had cause to talk to him harshly, but that has now finally happened.

'He had it out with him and told him: 'We don't do this in our family  and you know that we don't do this in our family.'

Together again: And appearing delighted to be reunited with his family, Brooklyn embraced them on the catwalk as he reached down to cuddle youngest sibling Harper - before bringing it in with David too

At the show, Victoria's parents, Jackie and Tony, also took to the show to support their daughter and be reunited with their eldest grandson and his wife.

Victoria was also delighted to have Gigi and Bella Hadid walking the catwalk  regarding it as a 'real coup' - despite a potential awkwardness for Nicola, who used to date their brother Anwar Hadid.

The model sisters looked flawless as they took to the runway of the show in VB designs, taking the catwalk by storm in the French capital.

And Victoria herself took to the runway at the end of the show, appearing overcome with emotion during the appearance as she stopped at the front row to embrace family and friends.

Family time: Appearing in high spirits, David, Brooklyn and Romeo laughed and joked amongst one another

Long time coming: Brooklyn's wife Nicola joined in on the action as she and David shared a hug too

The designer held both hands to cover her face, bowing her head down as she struggled to hold it together.

Reaching into the audience as she stopped halfway down the catwalk, a teary Victoria clung on to David - as best pal Eva Longoria also reached out for a supportive cuddle.

She donned a chic black midi dress from her collection for the appearance, adding a pair of black tights and stiletto heels.

Beaming: Nicola also smiled for some snaps inside the event as the family chatted on behind

Catwalk: Gigi Hadid nailed the runway as her blonde locks were slicked back in a wet look, donning an oversized blazer for the appearance

Top models: The designer was absolutely delighted to have sisters Gigi and Bella Hadid walking the catwalk  regarding it as a 'real coup'

Former England captain David, 47, cut a dapper figure in a black coat and white trousers for the show, teamed with a turquoise turtleneck top as he walked hand-in-hand with their daughter Harper Seven on arrival.

The youngest of the Beckham brood donned a black maxi dress from Victoria's collection but dressed the look down with a pair of Nike dunk trainers as she walked alongside her famous dad.

And making their way inside, Cruz followed closely behind as he put on a loved-up display with his new girlfriend Tana Holding while Romeo strolled along beside them.

Cruz showed that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree as he put on an ultra stylish display - donning PVC trousers and an oversized red jacket while walking hand-in-hand with girlfriend Tana, who was clad in Prada.

Monochrome: Gigi's look also featured a pair of straight left black trousers, as she was styled braless for the appearance

Fashion: The show, which Victoria described as 'always a dream of mine' featured a range of bold yet wearable chic looks on the runway

And a stylish Romeo followed on at the back of the Beckham pack - sporting a pair of mocha skinny trousers and an oversized T-shirt, as he added a black crossbody bag to the look.

David and Victoria's three youngest children not only showed their support by attending, but also filmed a sweet video for their mum - as Harper stood between Cruz and Romeo, who wrapped an arm around her.

'Hi mummy, congratulations. I hope you have the best day,' said Harper to the camera as her brothers smiled.

Victoria also took to Instagram on Friday to post a behind-the-scenes snap just hours before her first ever runway show at Paris Fashion Week.

Rift: Rumours of a rift began as Nicola did not wear a Victoria Beckham wedding dress - which she claimed was her plan, before being told the designer's atelier could not make her one

Drama: According to MailPlus writer Alison Boshoff, David told Brooklyn 'we don't do this in our family' as he 'lost his temper' with the budding chef amid all the drama

Before revealing that she was putting the 'finishing touches' on her much-anticipated collection after being away from the catwalk for two years.

Taking to Instagram mere hours before her French fashion debut, Victoria took to Instagram to share a behind-the-scenes glimpse at her brand new collection.

She posted a snap of herself crouching down in front of a blurred out board of models as she put the final touches on her highly-anticipated show at 5.30pm.

Alongside the snap, she penned: 'Putting the finishing touches to my #VBSS23 collection!

'We are so proud': Ahead of Victoria's show, David Beckham shared a heartfelt post for his wife

Sweet: Their three youngest children not only showed their support by attending, but also filmed a sweet video for their mum - as Harper stood between Cruz and Romeo

'I'm so excited to invite you to watch my #PFW debut show live from 5:30PM CET on my Stories, TikTok, Youtube and on VictoriaBeckham.com. Woohoo!! We are in Paris!!! x VB.'

She also took to her Instagram Stories to share a picture of a bouquet of white roses that her supportive husband David, 47, gifted her ahead of the show.

He wrote a supportive message on a card, which read: 'Dear Victoria, can't wait to see all your hard work pay off, I know the show will be amazing! So proud of you, lots of love, David x.'

Her son Cruz, 17, also took to his Instagram Stories to gush over his mother's achievements, as he posted a picture of the invitation to Victoria's show.

He confirmed his attendance at the show in a caption, writing: 'We readyyyy.'

Supportive: Victoria took to her Instagram Stories to share a picture of a bouquet of white roses that her husband David, 47, gifted to her ahead of the show

Holiday: Romeo, 20, was also seen out-and-about in Paris ahead of the fashion show, taking to Instagram to show off his freshly cut hairstyle

Chic evening wear was always going to struggle during the pandemic, and reports this summer showed the label had 54million in debt, and had to cut prices and staff to stay afloat.

But a successful cosmetics line, launched in 2019, has helped trim losses, and the team hopes to break even in the coming months.

Victoria has called her personal fame a 'double-edged sword' for the business.

'Are other brands under the scrutiny that mine is under every time we file (results)? Absolutely not,' she told Vogue.

'But how many other brands have the luxury of getting the attention when they want it?'
Lady Victoria Hervey looked incredible as she enjoyed a night out at Loulou's private members club in Mayfair on Friday.

The socialite, 45, turned heads as she arrived to the venue in a skintight black mini dress with an off the shoulder detail.

The media personality added height to her frame with a pair of black boots while she also carried a matchinf coat.

Stunning: Lady Victoria Hervey looked incredible as she enjoyed a night out at Loulou's private members club in Mayfair on Friday

Letting her blonde locks fall loose down her shoulders, Victoria added to her outfit with a black clutch bag.

The star, who has recently been based in Los Angeles, completed her look for the evening with a light a pallette of makeup.

Victoria previously told how she was considering starting a family before the Covid-19 pandemic happened.

She admitted that pregnancy magazine Project Baby had also influenced her thinking  as she has a prospective sperm donor/father lined up, should she decide to start a family.

Style: The socialite, 45, turned heads as she arrived to the venue in a skintight black mini dress with an off the shoulder detail

Six of her eggs were frozen and stored three years ago, at a cost of 11,000, and she spent the time afterwards looking for a donor.

'I had a friend who was going to be my sperm donor. He was going to be involved in my child's life, but as a friend, not a partner,' she explained.

'And I was supposed to be pregnant now. But then Covid happened, which was a big blow, but looking back I'm really grateful I didn't do it with that person. He just wasn't right.'

Lady Victoria is the daughter of the 6th Marquess of Bristol, half-sister of the 7th Marquess, and sister of the 8th Marquess and Lady Isabella Hervey.

The model spent the summer at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Cap d'Antibes, France.
Hollyoaks' Callum Kerr has allegedly split from his fiancee Olivia Anderson, just a year after they got engaged.

The actor, 28, has removed all photos of his ex from his Instagram profile, with a source claiming the breakup has been 'painful for them both'.

He met Olivia in her hometown of Austin, Texas in 2016, before she relocated to his native London. The pair then moved back to the US in support of his acting career.

Over! Hollyoaks ' Callum Kerr has allegedly split from his fiancee Olivia Anderson, just a year after they got engaged

An insider told The Sun: 'Sadly things haven't worked out between Callum and Olivia and they have called it quits. It's been painful for both of them.'

He portrayed PC George Kiss on Hollyoaks between January 2020 and Mary 2021, but has since bagged himself a role in Fox's Monarch alongside Susan Sarandon and Anna Friel.

Callum's representatives have been contacted for comment by MailOnline.

Oh dear: The actor, 28, has removed all photos of his ex from his Instagram profile, with a source claiming the breakup has been 'painful for them both'

The former soap star announced his engagement to Olivia in a November 2021 Instagram post.

Callum posted a sweet picture with his bride-to-be, with her hand over his face playfully to show off the huge diamond ring on her finger.

He captioned the image: 'Bout last night' with a zip mouth and ring emoji.

Happier times: He met Olivia in her hometown of Austin, Texas in 2016, before she relocated to his native London. The pair then moved back to the US in support of his acting career

The pair, who had been together for seven years, looked as happy as ever in the snap with Olivia beaming with tears in her eyes.

Callum's character on the Channel 4 show George came to a messy end when he was killed after a year-long abuse storyline.

The Edinburgh-native has previously said that he would like to continue his acting career in the US.
Evan Peters has admitted portraying serial killer Jefferey Dahmer in his new Netflix series was 'one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life'.

Dahmer  Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story chronicles the shocking murders of 17 young men and boys at the hands of the Milwaukee killer between 1978 and 1991.

And in an interview with Netflix, the actor, 35, told that he was 'scared' to take on the role due to Dahmer's horrific past, adding that he had to go to 'dark places' during filming to get into the mindset of the killer.

Tough: Evan Peters has admitted portraying serial killer Jefferey Dahmer in his new Netflix series was 'one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life'

The Netflix retells the story of Dahmer from the perspective of his victims - who were predominantly black - and explores major mistakes Wisconsin police made in handling the probe of the notorious mass murderer, who made national headlines for acts of cannibalism and necrophilia.

In preparation of his portrayal of the infamous murderer, Evan watched the Stone Phillips interview with the real killer, while he read a number biographies and the 1992 police report of Dahmer's confession.

In addition, the star listened to audio of the killer speaking to a psychologist or detective interviewing him, with Evan stating he was nervous about taking on the role as he noted how important it was to give an 'authentic' account to respect the victims' loved ones.

Monster: Dahmer  Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story chronicles the shocking murders of 17 young men and boys at the hands of the Milwaukee killer between 1978 and 1991 (Dahmer pictured in 1991)

He explained: 'It was so jaw-dropping that it all really happened that it felt important to be respectful to the victims, the victims' families, to try and tell the story as authentically as we could.'

On how tough the process was, he continued: 'Honestly, I was very scared about all the things that he did and diving into that, and trying to commit to that was absolutely going to be one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life because I wanted it to be very authentic.

'But in order to do that, I was gonna have to go to really dark places and stay there for an extended period of time.'

Evan went on to credit the crew that were on set with him for keeping him stable as he delved into the dark subject for the series.

Role: In an interview with Netflix , the actor, 35, told that he was 'scared' to take on the role due to Dahmer's horrific past, adding that he had to go to 'dark places' during filming

Research: In preparation of his portrayal of the infamous murderer, Evan watched the Stone Phillips interview with the real killer, while he read a number biographies and the 1992 police report of Dahmer's confession

He said: 'I have to say that the crew was instrumental in keeping me on the guard rails, I cannot thank them enough and I could not have done any of this role with them...

'It was a challenge to try to have this person who was seemingly so normal but underneath all of it, had this entire world that he was keeping secret from everybody.'

The series debuted September 21 to an audience of 196.2 million, garnering the streaming service its best ratings since Stranger Things' season four amid Netflix's switch in reporting ratings since June of 2021, Deadline reported.

However, it was not without a backlash, as viewers hit out at Netflix for adding an LGBTQ tag to the new Jeffrey Dahmer series.

Hard: 'Honestly, I was very scared about all the things that he did and diving into that, and trying to commit to that was absolutely going to be one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life'

Portrayal: 'It was so jaw-dropping that it all really happened that it felt important to be respectful to the victims, the victims' families, to try and tell the story as authentically as we could'

Many called out the streaming platform - who have now removed the tag - saying they were 'gobsmacked' and 'disgusted' at the choice.

The series follows the infamous Milwaukee serial killer who murdered 17 people between 1978 and 1991 - many of whom were young, gay African Americans.

Many hit out at the tag, with one writing: 'Netflix added the Jeffrey Dahmer series to the LGBTQ+ tag. I am gobsmacked.'

Another wrote: They put the new Jeffrey Dahmer movie under the LGBTQ tag and I am disgusted. IT'S NOT AN LGBTQ STORY LIKE WTF.'

While someone else said: 'This is not the representation we're looking for' after the issue was raised on TikTok.

The true crime series has also been at the center of criticism over the continued commercial success of the true crime genre, and the traumatic impact it might have on survivors.

The sister of Dahmer victim Errol Lindsey, Rita Isbell, speaking with Insider Sunday, said that Netflix never reached out to her about the series, calling it harsh and careless.

The latest: Dahmer  Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story has been a ratings hit for Netflix, in spite of the controversy over the project. The series stars Evan Peters as Dahmer

'I feel like Netflix shouldve asked if we mind or how we felt about making it,' she said. 'They didnt ask me anything. They just did it. But Im not money hungry, and thats what this show is about, Netflix trying to get paid.'

In addition to Evan, the show also features actors Niecy Nash, Penelope Ann Miller, Shaun J. Brown, Colin Ford, and Richard Jenkins, with directors Paris Barclay, Carl Franklin, and Janet Mock.

Miller and Jenkins will play the roles of Dahmer's parents, while Nash will portray Dahmers neighbor Glenda Cleveland, who tried in vain to report his bizarre behavior to authorities.

Outrage: The series faced a backlash, as viewers hit out at Netflix for adding an LGBTQ tag to the new Jeffrey Dahmer series.

Reaction: Many called out the streaming platform - who have now removed the tag - saying they were 'gobsmacked' and 'disgusted' at the choice

Peters has past worked with creator Ryan Murphy on a number of projects, including nine of 10 seasons of American Horror Story, as well as the series Pose.

Peters in April told Variety about the painstaking task he had taken of researching Dahmer in depth for the role.

'I've read so much, I've watched so much, I've seen so much, and at a certain point, you've got to say, "All right, that's enough,"' he said. 'There are beautifully written scripts. You can have all the backstory you want, but at the end of the day we're not making a documentary.

'It's more about maintaining the idea and the through line of why you're telling the story and always having that as your guiding light.'

Dahmer in 1992 was convicted of 16 murders he'd been charged with, and sentenced to 16 life sentences in prison.

He was bludgeoned to death with a metal bar in November of 1994 by Christopher Scarver, another inmate at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin.

The gruesome story of Dahmer has past been chronicled in the 2002 movie Dahmer, in which Jeremy Renner played the titular role; as well as 2017's My Friend Dahmer, in which Ross Lynch played a teen version of the nascent serial killer.
Kaia Gerber looked effortlessly glamorous as she got into costume ahead of filming scenes for star-studded comedy Mrs. American Pie in Los Angeles on Friday.

The model, 21, was seen getting into character before joining her co-stars Kristen Wiig, Ricky Martin, Josh Lucas, and Allison Janney to film at the Biltmore Hotel.

She cut an elegant figure in a bejewelled red and orange bralet, embellished with brightly coloured beaded patterns and a dramatic tasseled fringe.

Looking good: Kaia Gerber looked effortlessly glamorous as she got into costume ahead of filming scenes for star-studded comedy Mrs. American Pie in Los Angeles on Friday

Kaia, who stars as Mitzi in the Apple TV+ 1970s comedy series, paired her statement top with a matching extravagant necklace and red bottoms.

Over her skimpy ensemble, she threw on a pair of grey tracksuit bottoms and a navy blue dressing gown as she relaxed ahead of shooting scenes.

She sported a pair of white sandals and carried a Celine Paris white bag in one hand and chatted to a member of the crew.

Getting ready: The model, 21, was seen getting into character before joining her co-stars Kristen Wiig, Ricky Martin, Josh Lucas, and Allison Janney to film at the Biltmore Hotel

Wow! She cut an elegant figure in a bejewelled red and orange bralet, embellished with brightly coloured beaded patterns and a dramatic tasseled fringe

Kaia styled her brunette tresses in a volumnious up-do and accessorised her look with a pair of gold hoop earrings.

The American Horror Story star bolstered her striking features with a touch of bronzer and a slick of mascara as she embodied her character Mitzi.

Written by Abe Sylvia and directed by Tate Taylor, Mrs. American Pie sees Maxine Simmons (Kristen Wiig) try to rise to the top tier of Palm Beach society in the early '70s, even as trouble within her marriage and disdainful socialites threaten to block her ascent.

On Friday, Kaia was joined on set by leading star Kristen, who was briefly seen sporting a vibrant yellow ensemble and an orange headband as she got out of a car.

Beauty: Kaia, who stars as Mitzi in the Apple TV+ 1970s comedy series, paired her statement top with a matching extravagant necklace and red bottoms

Chic: On Friday, Kaia was joined on set by leading star Kristen, who was briefly seen sporting a vibrant yellow ensemble and an orange headband as she got out of a car

Suave: Meanwhile, Ricky Martin sported a dapper figure in a black tuxedo as he gathered with his co-stars outside the hotel

Meanwhile, Ricky Martin sported a dapper figure in a black tuxedo as he gathered with his co-stars outside the hotel.

Ricky plays Robert, a 'confirmed bachelor' who teams up with Kristen Wiig's Maxine after her husband walks out on her during Thanksgiving 1969.

Devastated at the loss of her marriage and her social circle, Maxine asks Robert to create a fake family with her so Maxine can compete in the Mrs American Pie beauty contest.

Allison Janney also appeared on set, looking glamorous in a purple and gold patterned gown as she stepped out of her car.

1970s chic: Allison Janney also appeared on set, looking glamorous in a purple and gold patterned gown as she stepped out of her car

Dapper: And Josh Lucas looked equally smart in black trousers, braces and a white shirt, which he wore unbuttoned at the collar as he got ready for filming

The actress, 62, clutched what appeared to be a script in a hand as she showed off her sensational 1970s outfit.

And Josh Lucas looked equally smart in black trousers, braces and a white shirt, which he wore unbuttoned at the collar as he got ready for filming.

Other members of the cast and crew were also getting ready to shoot scenes. The cast is rounded out by Carol Burnett, Claudia Ferri, Julia Duffy, and Leslie Bibb.

Mrs. American Pie is based on the novel Mr. & Mrs. American Pie by Juliet McDaniel and is being produced by Laura Dern.

The series was announced back in February, and filming commenced starting in May.

Kaia will feature in a recurring role as manicurist Mitzi in the comedy, having previously starred in American Horror Story.

Star-studded: Other members of the cast and crew were also getting ready to shoot scenes. The cast is rounded out by Carol Burnett, Claudia Ferri, Julia Duffy, and Leslie Bibb

Project: Mrs. American Pie is based on the novel Mr. & Mrs. American Pie by Juliet McDaniel and is being produced by Laura Dern

She made her acting debut in Sister Cities at the age of 15 but then turned to modelling.

Kaia recently admitted she is feeling 'immense pressure' while filming her comedic role in Mrs. American Pie.

'I don't think I'm funny, but somehow I'm doing comedy,' she said while posing for a Flaunt cover story.

'And I'm just waiting - maybe people will figure out one day I'm not funny, but I'm riding it as long as I can.'

On-set snap: Mrs. American Pie features Mindy Cohn (L, Allison Janney (2-L), Claudia Ferri (2-R), Julia Duffy (R), Carol Burnett, Laura Dern, Kristen Wiig, Ricky Martin, Josh Lucas, Leslie Bibb

Kaia gushed that she grew up watching Laura Dern and Kristen Wiig on television, sharing her excitement about working with the stars.

The daughter of nineties supermodel Cindy Crawford just wrapped another comedy in New Orleans - Amazon Prime Video's Bottoms - alongside Marshawn Lynch (aka Beast Mode).

Kaia welcomed the 'liberation' of acting after her 'insecure' years as a globetrotting, in-demand teen model.

'I was closed for a very long time, I think, in order to do that job, and also to be someone that people looked at. Especially being so young - I was 16. I did not expect the success that I was fortunate to have,' she noted.
Married At First Sight's Melissa Walsh has revealed she ended her engagement to her former fiance after discovering he had shared nude images of another woman with his friends.

Artist Fred Whitson was convicted of two counts of using a carriage service to menace, harass, or cause offence and of prejudicial conduct by Defence Force Magistrate Major General Michael Cowan in August.

Whitson, who was a member of the Royal Australian Navy, was also dismissed from the service over the incident.

Married At First Sight's Melissa Walsh (pictured) has revealed she ended her engagement to her former fiance after discovering he had shared nude images of another woman with friends

Whitson and two other men were implicated in the nude photo leak, after Whitson obtained the images under the guise of being used as references for his artwork.

Walsh, 47, discovered the photographs on Whitson's phone in September 2020 after seeing a text from Whitson's navy colleague requesting to view the images as he 'needed to w**k'.

'I said to him you need to get some help, this is illegal what you are doing - you have used your reputation as an "artist" to get these poor young girls to get their gear off for you and your friends,' she tells The Daily Telegraph.

Artist Fred Whitson (right) was convicted of two counts of using a carriage service to menace, harass, or cause offence and of prejudicial conduct by Defence Force Magistrate Major General Michael Cowan in August

Walsh ended her relationship with Whitson that same week and contacted his victim.

'I was so anxious when I messaged her - I felt sick in the stomach because I knew I was giving her information that was going to be devastating,' she said.

'But I know the reason why I shared that information with her - if it was happening to me I would want to know.'

Walsh, 47, discovered the photographs on Whitson's phone in September 2020 after seeing a text from Whitson's navy colleague requesting to view the images as he 'needed to w**k'

Walsh says she came to the heartbreaking realisation that the man she loved had 'always been untrustworthy and sly' and 'actually quite slimy underneath'.

Walsh confirmed her split from Whitson in 2020, just days before Christmas.

'After three years together, with a heavy heart I have to say that Fred and I have parted ways,' she began in an Instagram post.

'I have loved him very much and will always treasure our good times together.'

Walsh ended her relationship with Whitson that same week and contacted his victim

While she didn't give a reason for their split at the time, she added that sometimes 'life doesn't work out the way we planned, but we must have faith that better things await us'.

'Whilst this is a very difficult time for all involved, I know that I leave with my head held high. I am strong, resilient and my integrity is at the forefront of all my decisions.'

She then thanked everyone for their support, before saying her 'heart goes out' to anyone going through something similar.

Walsh confirmed her split from Whitson in 2020, just days before Christmas

'Whatever you do, the most important thing I've learnt is be kind to yourself, take all the time you need to grieve, spend times in the safe haven of family and friends, and have faith that this is happening for your own good in the end,' she added.

On his Instagram page, Fred shared a message of his own.

After saying he was 'privileged' to have been with Melissa for three years, he cryptically added: 'A lot of us also have our own personal demons, sometimes so insidious that you didn't even realize were there, and that eventually exact an enormous toll.

'So now comes a time for me of reflection and redevelopment, to become a better person. It's a long road ahead...'

Walsh says she came to the heartbreaking realisation that the man she loved had 'always been untrustworthy and sly' and 'actually quite slimy underneath'

The pair were all set to marry back in June in Vanuatu, but put their plans on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Melissa previously told Daily Mail Australia that her wedding was set to be a 'private affair'.

'Just the two of us, maybe some friends and family and not a massive production,' she said.

The pair had announced their engagement back in December 2018.

Melissa rose to fame on Married At First Sight back in early 2018 when she tied the knot with co-star John Robertson.
Bella Hadid showed off her sensational sense of style as she stepped out in Paris on Saturday during Fashion Week.

The supermodel, 25, flashed her toned physique in a black cropped waist coat, teamed with a pair of low-waisted three quarter length pinstriped trousers.

She completed the look with a matching grey jacket and a pair of chic loafers as she left her lavish hotel, before later flashing her washboard abs as she carried her coat.

Incredible: Bella Hadid showed off her sensational sense of style as she stepped out in Paris on Saturday during Fashion Week

Wow! The supermodel, 25, flashed her toned physique in a black cropped waist coat, teamed with a pair of low-waisted three quarter length pinstriped trousers

Bella accessorised with a pair of stylish rectangle sunglasses which she wore on top of a natural makeup look.

The catwalk star styled her brunette locks up in a bun with a side bang left to fall across one part of her face.

She appeared in great spirits as she flashes a smile and waved at onlookers as she strolled past.

The appearance comes after Bella walked in the Burberry Fashion Show on Monday in London.

Edgy look: The catwalk star styled her brunette locks up in a bun with a side bang left to fall across one part of her face

Quirky look: She completed the look with a matching grey jacket and a pair of chic loafers as she left her lavish hotel

All smiles: She appeared in great spirits as she flashes a smile and waved at onlookers as she strolled past

And after gracing the runway for the brand, Bella continued to showcase her modelling skills as she posed for a series of racy snaps taken by their Chief Creative Officer Riccardo Tisci.

Daring to go topless for the raunchy snapshots, the 25-year-old supermodel put her phenomenal figure on full display.

Bella flashed plenty of underboob while posing in an open black Burberry coat, using the belt to protect her modesty.

Sensational: Bella paired her three-quarter length trousers with a pair of long black socks featuring pink and purple stripes

Hello's: She appeared in high spirits while greeting a pal with a kiss on the cheek in the street

Popular: Onlookers rushed to take snaps of the instantly recognisable model as she made the appearance

Top model: Bella has been spending the week in Paris, walking in a slew of show's for the city's coveted Fashion Week

Busy: And the outing comes just a day after she stormed the Victoria Beckham runway in the designer's debut PFW show

Weighed down: Laden with stuff, the model threw her blazer over one arm while. carrying a dark handbag

Low profile? She kept her eyes hidden underneath the dark sunglasses while heading inside a building

Beaming: Appearing later in the day, she was in great spirits as she flashes a smile and waved at onlookers as she strolled past

Looking good: Bella accessorised with a pair of stylish rectangle sunglasses which she wore on top of a natural makeup look

She teamed the garment with a black pleated midi skirt layered over long trousers.

Bella cheekily winked for the camera while posing in the doorway of a home in London.

Bella has been joined on her Fashion Week tour by her boyfriend Marc Kalman, who was spotted with her in London on Tuesday night.

Sizzling: After gracing the Burberry runway, Bella continued to showcase her modelling skills as she posed for a series of snaps taken by their Chief Creative Officer Riccardo Tisci

Hadid started dating Kalman back in 2020 after ending her on-again, off-again relationship with The Weeknd.

Earlier this year, the five-foot-nine beauty spoke about her relationship with her boyfriend and praised Kalman's hard work ethic, adding they had grown very close over their romance.

'I'm really proud of Marc, who's like my emotional support bunny and is incredibly talented at everything he does,' she said.
Paul Bettany has opened up about how his difficult real-life experiences have influenced his acting work as he posed for a suave magazine photoshoot.

The actor, 51, admitted he can't switch his emotions 'on and off' when filming tragic scenes and instead draws on his own experiences to replicate that raw emotion.

His younger sibling Matthew died aged eight after fracturing his skull in a freak accident when Paul was 16, and he said the devastating loss has influenced his acting.

Difficult times: Paul Bettany has opened up about how his real-life experiences have influenced his acting work as he posed for a suave magazine photoshoot

Speaking to Gentleman's Journal for a cover shoot, Paul said he finds himself 'picking at scabs' when filming emotional scenes - particularly when he starred in Uncle Frank.

The 2020 movie sees Paul star as Frank Bledsoe, who returns home for his father's funeral, and Paul previously admitted to taking his late brother's jumper on set with him to channel that grief.

One heart-wrenching scene sees Paul gutturally sobbing in a graveyard, and the actor revealed he thought about his raw grief after losing Matthew while filming it.

Cover star: Speaking to Gentleman's Journal for a cover shoot, Paul said he finds himself 'picking at scabs' when filming emotional scenes

Grief: The actor, 51, admitted that he can't switch his emotions 'on and off' when filming scenes and draws on tragedy in his own life to replicate that raw emotion

'Some people have amazing access to their emotions, and can switch them on like that, and I'm just not good enough to do that,' he explained.

'If I find myself in a scene that requires that, I find myself picking at scabs that I'd rather not pick at.'

Speaking about the graveyard scene in Uncle Frank, he added: 'And it's like: What am I doing? What am I doing! What the hell am I doing! Sat here in front of a graveyard, thinking about dead people in my life?'

Paul has previously confessed that he turned to alcohol and cocaine decades later to help him come to terms with Matthew's tragic death.

Loss: His younger sibling Matthew died aged eight after fracturing his skull in a freak accident when Paul was 16, and Paul said the devastating loss has influenced his acting career

Filming: In Uncle Frank, Paul plays Frank Bledsoe, who returns home for his father's funeral, and Paul admitted to taking his late brother's jumper on set with him to channel that grief

Speaking of his loss in 2015, he said: '[It was] manic. I don't know if I was aware I was numbing myself at the time. I don't think [there was anger]. It was nobody's fault.'

The Avengers star previously admitted that the tragedy caused him to feel anxious following the birth of his own children - Stellan, 19, and Agnes, 11 - who he shares with Jennifer Connolly.

In an interview with The Times newspaper, he said: 'I think [the accident] is the very centre of my feeling that life is precarious, but I think I'm becoming better at it.

'As more years pass without another catastrophe, I realise that the worst-case scenario often doesn't happen.

Personal life: One heart-wrenching scene sees Paul gutturally sobbing in a graveyard, and the actor admitted he thought about own his raw emotion after losing Matthew for the scene

Fame: Elsewhere in his interview with Gentleman's Journal, Paul spoke about how he copes with fame, describing it as an 'untrustworthy' thing that 'comes and goes' over the years

'I am definitely feeling calmer on that but don't think it will ever entirely leave. It's an indelible worry.'

Elsewhere in his interview with Gentleman's Journal, Paul spoke about how he copes with fame, describing it as an 'untrustworthy' thing that 'comes and goes' over the years.

He spoke about the positive sides of fame, including meeting friendly and pleasant people and getting seated at better tables at restaurants, but said it also comes with its challenges.

Paul described meeting people when he is out-and-about, saying he is aware that when he meets nervous fans, they aren't getting to know each other when they pose for a quick photograph.

Encounters: Paul described meeting fans, saying he is aware that when he meets nervous fans, they aren't really 'meeting' each other properly when they pose for a quick photograph

Upset: He recalled a time when a fan asked him for a photograph when he was crying in the middle of New York, after finding out his father was seriously ill

He recalled one time in particular when he had to quickly head home to Scotland after being told that his father was seriously ill. His father died in 2015.

The star said he was standing distraught in the middle of New York and was planning his flight home to Scotland when a fan asked him for a selfie.

Paul said the fan didn't see someone who was crying in the street, but the chance for a selfie, insisting the fan wouldn't have disturbed an upset person who wasn't famous.

Commenting on the challenges of fame, Paul said he tries not to find 'solace' in it, as it is something that isn't consistent in life.

As well as his candid interview, Paul also posed for an accompanying photoshoot with the magazine, where he sported an array of dapper ensembles for the snaps, taken at The Lowell hotel in New York.

Suave: As well as his candid interview, Paul also posed for an accompanying photoshoot with the magazine, where he sported an array of dapper ensembles

In one photograph, Paul sported dark jeans and a striped collared shirt, which he styled with a colour co-ordinated blazer.

He leaned against a desk in front of a bookshelf in the snap, which also saw him sport a pair of round glasses.

For another picture, Paul cut an equally smart figure in grey trousers and a black turtleneck top, which he wore underneath a black jacket.

He read a newspaper as he posed for the outdoor snap, which saw him sporting brown sunglasses as he read a newspaper.

In other suave shots, Paul sported an array of suitwear as he relaxed on a rooftop terrace and posed in front of mirrors.

Dapper: For one picture, Paul cut an equally smart figure in grey trousers and a black turtleneck top, which he wore underneath a black jacket

In his career, Paul has recently transformed into the iconic 1960s artist Andy Warhol as he is busy filming for his upcoming movie The Collaboration.

Paul will reprise the role in the movie alongside Jeremy Pope, who will take on the role of creative Jean-Michel Basquiat.

The film is based on the acclaimed play of the same title by four-time Oscar nominee Anthony McCarten, and looks into the unique friendship between the two. Paul and Jeremy both star in the play.

The play is set in 1984, when Warhol and Basquiat were collaborating together. They both died later that decade.

Collaboration: In his career, Paul has recently transformed into the iconic 1960s artist Andy Warhol (pictured with Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1985) for his upcoming movie The Collaboration

Basquiat, who had a short but illustrious professional career, is considered to be of the most significant painters of the 20th century as well as a cultural icon. The New York City artist died in 1988, aged 27, due to a heroin overdose.

Meanwhile Warhol was a visual artist, film director, and producer famous for leading the Pop Art movement and reproducing multiple screen prints of American icons such as Marilyn Monroe and Campbell's canned soup.

His life was almost ended by an assassination attempt in 1968 by radical feminist writer Valerie Solanas, who shot him at his studio, known as The Factory.

Though he was seriously wounded by the attack, he managed to survive.

The artist passed away years later on February 22, 1987, at age 58, following complications from a gallbladder surgery.

The drama depicts how the artists worked together in 1980s New York.

Directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah, the original play imagines the conversations and conflicts between the artists as they collaborated on an exhibition.

The play made its world premiere at London's Young Vic Theatre in February.

Once production on the film has wrapped, the play will head to Broadway, with December 20 set as opening night, and Bettany and Pope returning to their roles.
Jimmy Bartel is becoming a father for the third time.

The former AFL star, who shared two sons with ex-wife Nadia, announced the good news via Instagram on Saturday.

The 38-year-old and his partner Amelia Shepperd held a gender reveal party over the weekend to announce the sex of the child - a baby girl.

AFL star Jimmy Bartel is expecting a baby girl with partner Amelia Shepperd. Pictured together

Jimmy's sons Henley, three, and Aston, six, were present at the party, popping a balloon that exploded to reveal a flurry of pink confetti.

'Baby Bartel, youre already so incredibly loved,' the footy star captioned the short video.

Countless celebrities shared their congratulations, with Rebecca Maddern: 'Jimmy congratulations, beautiful news.'

'Congratulations guys xx,' commented Joel Selwood.

Jimmy's sons Henley, three, and Aston, six, were present at the gender reveal party, popping a balloon that exploded to reveal a flurry of pink confetti

Jimmy and Amelia celebrated their one-year anniversary together back in August.

At the time, Jimmy shared a blurry photo of the couple kissing to Instagram and wrote: 'It's been a blur, but what a year with you. Love you.'

He debuted his relationship with Amelia in December, with the announcement also confirming his split from former girlfriend Lauren Mand.

In a post on Instagram at the time, the Geelong great shared a photo of himself kissing Amelia in front of the Sydney Harbour skyline.

'Happy,' he simply captioned the post, adding a red love heart emoji.

Jimmy and Amelia celebrated their one-year anniversary together back in August

According to her LinkedIn profile, Amelia worked as the executive assistant to the managing director and chief operations officer of Queensland Rugby League from July 2019 to March 2021.

She recently returned to her home city of Melbourne after spending several years in Brisbane for her job.

According to a well-placed source, Amelia met Jimmy after they began following each other on Instagram.

They have reportedly been together ever since he split from Lauren, 32, whom he began dating after his separation from ex-wife Nadia Bartel in 2019.
Florence Pugh looked effortlessly chic in a Valentino outfit as she stepped out at Paris Fashion Week in her first public appearance since the drama-filled Don't Worry Darling premiere at Venice Film Festival.

The actress, 26, cut a stylish figure in distressed blue jeans and a 1,110 white satin Valentino shirt with a ribbon necktie as she was spotted in the French capital on Saturday.

She styled her gorgeous ensemble with a double breasted black blazer with white stitching around the collar and hem.

Looking good: Florence Pugh effortlessly chic as she stepped out at Paris Fashion Week on Saturday in her first appearance since the Don't Worry Darling premiere at Venice Film Festival

Florence gave herself a few extra inches in a pair of 810 cream platform heels, from Valentino, and accessorised with a unique gold knot necklace and droplet earrings.

She flaunted her good looks with a light dusting of natural make-up and a slick of peach lipstick as she stepped out on the sixth day of Paris Fashion Week.

The Black Widow star styled her golden blunt bob in a straight fashion and pinned her tresses away from her face by wearing her sunglasses on her head.

Stylish: The actress, 26, cut a stylish figure in distresses blue jeans and a white satin shirt with a ribbon necktie as she was spotted in the French capital

All smiles: She styled her gorgeous ensemble with a double breasted black blazer with white stitching around the collar and hem

She carried her essentials in a 1,890 white square Valentino handbag and appeared to be in jovial spirits as she flashed a huge grin and waved.

It is her first public appearance since she attended the premiere of Don't Worry Darling at Venice Film Festival at the start of September.

Leading star Florence has been at the centre of speculation about a reported on-set rift with director Olivia Wilde, with original co-star Shia LeBeouf adding to the drama.

Florence chose to limit her time spent for Don't Worry Darling promotional activities and press calls, due to a busy schedule with other projects, but did appear at the Venice premiere.

Glamorous: Florence gave herself a few extra inches in a pair of cream platform heels and accessorised with a unique gold knot necklace and droplet earrings

Stunner: She flaunted her good looks with a light dusting of natural make-up and a slick of peach lipstick as she stepped out on the sixth day of Paris Fashion Week

But she skipped a press conference for the film in Italy because her flight allegedly would land too late for her to get there, though she was seen in Venice nearby enjoying an Aperol spritz while it was taking place.

Elsewhere at Venice Film Festival, fans claimed footage showed leading man Harry Styles allegedly appearing to gob in co-star Chris Pine's, with the actor seeming to stop, look down at his leg, and stick out his tongue in disbelief.

The laughing actor, 42, shot an amused look back at the pop star, with fans speculating afterwards that Harry had spit on Chris' lap.

But it has been denied that any spitting took place, with a source close to Chris Pine telling MailOnline: 'Harry Styles did not spit at all. People are seeing some odd illusion of sorts online that is clearly deceiving.'

Beauty: The Black Widow star styled her golden blunt bob in a straight fashion and pinned her tresses away from her face by wearing her sunglasses on her head

Jovial mood: She carried her essentials in a white square handbag and appeared to be in jovial spirits as she flashed a huge grin and waved

And Olivia also shut down rumours of any spitting occurring, insisting that people are trying to 'look for drama'.

Florence and Olivia reportedly came into conflict during filming, as the Black Widow star was said to be unhappy over allegations that Olivia 'hooked up' with Harry Styles while engaged to Jason Sudeikis.

Olivia, 38, and Jason, 46, got engaged in 2012 and share children Otis, eight, and Daisy, five. They were thought to have split in November 2020 and Olivia made headlines with Harry in January 2021.

While it's never been confirmed that Olivia and Harry's romance began while she was still engaged to Jason, Page Six reported that Florence fell out with Olivia over the coupling.

Vibrant: Elsewhere in Paris, Anna Wintour was seen stepping out for another day of Paris Fashion Week, after attending Victoria Beckham's show on Friday

Drama: It is her first public appearance since she attended the premiere of Don't Worry Darling at Venice Film Festival at the start of September

Then in the lead-up to the film's release, Florence did little-to-no promotion for the movie and was seen enjoying a cocktail nearby in Venice as she skipped a press conference for Don't Worry Darling.

The rumours intensified after Olivia suggested Florence should have a 'wake-up call' in a leaked video, shared by Shia as he refuted Wilde's claim that he had been fired.

Shia was originally set to star in Don't Worry Darling before Olivia replaced him with Harry, with Olivia claiming Shia's process was 'not conducive to the ethos that I demand in my productions'.

But in response, Shia - who claims he quit 'due to lack of rehearsal time' - shared an an email he sent to the director and a video that she allegedly sent to him, proving he walked away from the film rather than being fired.

Group line-up: The cast were all seen attending the premiere at Venice Film Festival amid the drama. Pictured: Nick Kroll, Florence Pugh, Chris Pine, Olivia Wilde, Sydney Chandler, Harry Styles and Gemma Chan

In the footage, Olivia can be heard encouraging Shia to stay signed on to the film, rather than leave it, while also hinting at apparent tension with Pugh, 26, who she referred to as 'Miss Flo'.

In the clip, she said: 'I feel like I'm not ready to give up on this yet, and I, too, am heartbroken and I want to figure this out.

'You know, I think this might be a bit of a wake-up call for Miss Flo, and I want to know if you're open to giving this a shot with me, with us.

'If she really commits, if she really puts her mind and heart into it at this point and if you guys can make peace  and I respect your point of view, I respect hers  but if you guys can do it, what do you think? Is there hope? Will you let me know?'

Iconic: But Florence was seen in Venice nearby enjoying an Aperol spritz while a press conference was taking place, after skipping it and saying her flight wouldn't land on time

But in a recent interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Olivia doubled down on her claims that she fired Shia, insisting that she 'chose Florence' after she claimed Shia had issued her with an ultimatum.

When asked if she fired Shia, Olivia said: 'We had to replace Shia. He is a fantastic actor, but it wasn't gonna work. When he gave me the ultimatum of, you know, him or Florence, I chose Florence.'

'That was him feeling he was stepping away and me feeling like we were moving on without him,' she added.

Addressing the conflicting accounts of Olivia claiming Shia was fired and the actor saying he quit, Stephen asked if he left in such a way that they could both believe they were correct in their stances.

Feud? Leading star Florence has been at the centre of speculation about a reported on-set rift with director Olivia Wilde, with original co-star Shia LeBeouf adding to the drama

To which, Olivia said: 'It's a question of semantics. It wasn't going to move forward in a way he wanted it to, so he had to leave.'

In the interview, she also addressed the widely-rumoured feud with Florence, insisting she has 'nothing but respect' for the star, despite by being plagued by claims to the contrary.

Olivia gushed about Florence's performance in the controversial movie, and suggested being questioned about the feud is sexist because it's not something her 'male director colleagues are answering'.

'She is sensational in this film. And it is about her being brave enough to listen to the brave people who've come before her who everyone else has ignored and trust her instincts,' Olivia said.

Clashing: They reportedly came into conflict as the Black Widow star was said to be unhappy over allegations that Olivia 'hooked up' with Harry Styles while engaged to Jason Sudeikis

'And she is the one brave enough to dismantle the system. She is a super hero. And Florence Pugh is as good at dramatic work as she is at action. There are real action sequences in the film. She has a run which I refer to as her 'Tom Cruise run.' It's the most impressive run I've ever seen,' she added.

Elsewhere, crew members that worked on Don't Worry Darling shared a statement last month refuting rumours of any on-set issues between Olivia and Florence.

A total of 40 individuals, including producer Miri Yoon, came forward to release a statement obtained by DailyMail.com with the 'need to correct' the alleged claims, calling them 'absurd' and 'completely false.'

The recent statement came shortly after an insider told Vulture that both Olivia Wilde, 38, and Florence, 26, got into a 'screaming match' during filming last year.

No drama: But crew members recently came forward to state that there was never any issues between Olivia Wilde, 38, and Florence Pugh, on set of Don't Worry Darling

'As a crew, we've avoided addressing the absurd gossip surrounding the movie we're so proud of, but feel the need to correct the anonymous 'sources' quoted in a recent article,' the statement began.

'Any allegations about unprofessional behavior on the set of are completely false,' they further stated.

Olivia was addressed in the statement, with the crew expressing that she was nothing but, 'an incredible leader and director who was present with and involved in every aspect of production.'

Towards the conclusion, the individuals jointly took time to shoot down the claims made by other 'sources' to Vulture, which was shared earlier on Friday.

Keeping the peace: The recent statement came shortly after an insider told Vulture that both Olivia Wilde, 38, and Florence, 26, got into a 'screaming match' during filming last year

'There was never a screaming match between our director and anyone, let alone a member of our cast.'

The crew further reiterated in their statement that the set was always professional, and that, 'We are happy to put our names on this, as real people who worked on the film, and who have witnessed and benefitted from the collaborative and safe space Olivia creates as a director and leader.'

'We're also thrilled that the movie is in theaters this weekend. We can't wait for you to see it on the big screen,' they added at the very end.

The new claims counteract what a previous unnamed insider informed Vulture in regards to the drama that allegedly occurred on set in 2021.

The source, who had spent ample time on the Don't Worry Darling set, claimed that Olivia and Florence had a 'screaming match' due to Olivia's 'absences' during filming.

Tribute: Despite the differing rumours and alleged drama that occurred on set, Florence shared a heartfelt tribute post on her Instagram last month towards Don't Worry Darling

Tension: The actress, 26, thanked those involved in bringing the film to life and shared a snap of herself on set alongside director Olivia

'Olivia and Harry would just disappear,' the source stated, referencing to Harry Styles, who played one of the leading roles in the movie alongside Florence. The former One Direction member and Olivia have been in a relationship since January 2021.

The insider further added to the publication that the drama taking place on set had reached Warner Bros. executive, Toby Emmerich, who then had to instill a 'long negotiation process,' to keep the peace.

Despite the differing rumours and alleged drama that occurred on set, Florence shared a heartfelt tribute post on her Instagram last month towards Don't Worry Darling.

In the caption, she expressed her thanks to all who helped bring the film to life, and reflected on the memorable moments spent on set.

Olivia also shared a behind the scenes photo, which showed herself sitting next to Florence, Harry, and a crew member on set. They all appeared to be in good spirits as they prepared to shoot a scene.
When we look through our streaming apps, we are often bombarded by the hits and mainstreams first before we reach the other films. There are times though when we get tired of what the media usually endorses and give other movies a chance.

Patrick Holland, a writer from CNET, has spotted a hidden gem in the Disney Plus app which has been overshadowed by big movie names. What he saw was an eight-minute short called "Remembering."

The short starred Brie Larson, known for her role as Captain Marvel. The short is about a character who was a writer. The premise of the short video was where your ideas go when you lose them. The short then shows that the idea is found by her inner child.

Read Also: A Marvel Augmented Reality Game Will Be Available Next Year

Experience The Wonders Offered by 'Remembering'

The film can be experienced with an interactive augmented reality if you download the "Remembering: The AR Experience" app on an iPhone or iPad. The way it will work is that you have to play the film on your TV, and hold up your device the moment it says so.

You will have to keep the app running the entire film so it can listen for audio cues from the short. Disney used Apple's ShazamKit for the app to recognize the audio prompts to match the animation with the film.

The World of Imagination on the screen will then exceed beyond the spaces of your TV Frame which can be seen on your iPad or iPhone. This creates a visually stimulating experience for a kid at a young age.

It's not the first time that Disney dabbled in augmented reality. The Disney team has created a virtual mural that can be seen at Walt Disney's World Magic Kingdom Park by collaborating with Snap using their AR technology.

However, this is the first AR-enabled short film that Disney+ released, according to TechCrunch.

Here Are Other Disney+ Films You Might've Missed

"Edward Scissorhands" (1990)

A classic from Tim Burton. A good film that portrays how looks don't always define a person, as is Edward Scissorhands, a kind soul with sharp fingers

"Sky High" (2005)

In a world where superheroes and supervillains exist, it only makes sense that their kids will have a school where they can attend to hone their powers.

"The Fox and The Hound" (1981)

Witness how supposed opposites bud into a wonderful friendship. The Fox and The Hound is a movie that follows the life of the two titular characters and their ups and downs throughout their lives.

"Atlantis: The Lost Empire" (2001)

Catch a glimpse of the lost underwater city through the animated film. It features a young adventurer who becomes the key to discovering the lost city that others have spent years finding.

"Lilo and Stitch" (2002)

At some point in our young lives, we wanted to have a puppy. Lilo, a young Native Hawaiian, gets her dream and finds Stitch, only Stitch is not exactly a dog.

Related Article: Netflix vs. Disney Plus vs. HBO Max: Pros, Cons, Prices and Best Shows to Watch
Lizzie Cundy put on a busty display as she headed to an art gallery in Soho, London, on Friday for her friend's exhibition launch.

The former WAG, 53, showed off her incredible figure in a wrap-around zebra print mini dress as she celebrated her pal Valerie Ellis's new collection, Spread Too Thin.

She teamed her glamorous ensemble with a pair of black heeled boots and accessorised with a gold choker and a silver pendant.

Wow! Lizzie Cundy put on a busty display as she headed to an art gallery in Soho, London, on Friday for her friend's exhibition launch

Outing: The former WAG, 53, showed off her incredible figure in a wrap-around zebra print mini dress as she celebrated her pal Valerie Ellis's new collection, Spread Too Thin

Lizzie slung a quilted black handbag across one shoulder and shielded her eyes with a pair of oversized square sunglasses.

The TV personality styled her golden tresses loosely in a straight fashion and accentuated her features with a full coverage make-up palette.

Lizzie was seen looking at her Australian friend Valerie's minimalist art exhibition, which will feature at Noho Studios until Sunday.

Dazzling: She teamed her glamorous ensemble with a pair of black heeled boots and accessorised with a gold choker and a silver pendant

Stunning: Lizzie slung a quilted black handbag across one shoulder and shielded her eyes with a pair of oversized square sunglasses

Browsing: Lizzie was seen looking at her Australian friend Valerie's minimalist art exhibition, which will feature at Noho Studios until Sunday

According to an event description, 'the fascinating and delicate artworks illustrate the various ways in which paper can be treated and mirror the human experience of being pushed beyond our limits'.

The appearance comes after Lizzie revealed that she feels like a 'new woman' after undergoing a vagina tightening procedure at a top London clinic.

The television personality even went on to admit that following the tune up she is now having the best sex of her life.

Glamorous: The TV personality styled her golden tresses loosely in a straight fashion and accentuated her features with a full coverage make-up palette

Pals: Lizzie was seen posing up a storm at the gallery as she showed her support for her pal Valerie's work

Speaking to Closer she said: 'I feel like a new woman with my super vagina! It's so tight, it squeaks when I walk - I can barely sit down.'

The non invasive procedure uses lasers to help increase collagen in the vaginal walls which will then tighten and improve sensation during sex.

She went on to say: 'I've always felt young for my age and now I have a vagina to match. I only date younger men and they're flocking for a date.

'I'll be treating my vagina like a temple now... worship away, boys! I've been seeing someone recently and I'm sure they can feel the difference. I'm having the best sex of my life,' concluded Lizzie.

Art: According to a description, 'the delicate artworks illustrate the various ways in which paper can be treated and mirror the human experience of being pushed beyond our limits'

A source told MailOnline that Lizzie has been dating an American restaurant director who recently flew in to London from Miami just to see her.

The one-hour outpatient surgical procedure is designed to enhance sexual gratification by increasing friction. Healing is quick and you can resume normal activity in a few days to weeks.

A wand type instrument attached to a laser is inserted in to the vagina and is performed while the patient is awake and is relatively painless.

This stimulates collagen (which gives tissues tone and elasticity) production, as well as increasing fluid production by enhancing blood flow.
Yazmin Oukhellou stepped out in Essex on Friday after returning home from her month-long escape to a 3,000-per-week Marrakesh retreat.

The TOWIE star, 28, displayed her hourglass figure in a tight black maxi dress which she teamed up with matching slides for a trip to her local bakery.

In an Instagram post from her getaway, she admitted she's 'learning to live' after suffering a fatal crash that killed her boyfriend Jake McLean three months ago.

Emerging: Yazmin Oukhellou flaunted her hourglass figure in a tight black maxi dress as she stepped out in Essex on Friday after her 3k-per-week Marrakesh getaway

The influencer had jetted off to the 3,000-per-week Wellness Retreat Worldwide to put the trauma behind her.

While posing with her mentors at the spectacular Nouba Restaurant, she wrote in a post: 'Honestly cannot thank you both enough for being my rocks since my accident.

'You two are such a blessing and have completely changed my outlook on life this past week.

'I've learnt so much about myself and can honestly say for the first time in a long time that I am proud of me.

Hot stuff: The TOWIE star, 28, displayed her hourglass figure in a tight black maxi dress which she teamed up with matching slides for a trip to her local bakery

Lavish: The influencer had jetted off to the 3,000-per-week Wellness Retreat Worldwide to put the trauma behind her

Tragic: In an Instagram post from her getaway, she admitted she's 'learning to live' after suffering a fatal crash that killed her boyfriend Jake McLean three months ago

Strolling: The reality star wore her raven tresses in a sleek middle parting

'I never thought I'd start back my retreats in Marrakech @wellnessretreatworldwide but I cannot wait to share my story and help so many of you as I can.

'For any of you who are struggling right now please just know that nothing lasts. You will never forget what you have been through but you will learn to live with it.

'And know that it's okay to have shit days and then good days. It's normal. Something that has helped me so much is just changing my daily habits. Start small.

'Write down three things you are grateful for this morning. And let me know how you get on. Love Yaz. [white heart emoji].'

Classic: She ensured to turn heads during her outing

Who's that? Onlookers gawked and pointed at the brunette beauty

Hungry? The TV personality made her way into a nearby bakery

On her way: She ran her hand through her hair as she headed into the store

Jake was killed on July 3 when his blue Mercedes E class saloon crashed in Bodrum, while Yazmin was left with serious injuries after she had to break her own arm to escape the wreckage as Jake was in the driving seat unconscious.

The crash took place at around 4.30am and investigators have established that the car hurtled around 70 feet over a left turn bend and landed in a ravine almost 30 feet below.

Jake was pronounced dead at the scene while Yazmin was rushed to hospital, where she underwent treatment for her injured arm.

After the crash, she clambered through thick, thorny bushes to stop a passing motorist for help.

She has told of how she is still coping with post traumatic stress following her return to the UK.

It has been claimed the couple had a blazing row at a nightclub shortly before the crash, something which Jake's mum Anita Walsh told Turkish authorities she believed could have played a role in her son's death.

This led to a bitter fallout between Yazmin and Anita, who banned the reality star from Jake's funeral in Essex last month.

If you have been affected by this story, you can call the Samaritans on 116 123 or visit www.samaritans.org.
James Corden kept it casual as he stepped out hand-in-hand with his wife Julia Carey and their three kids during a family outing in Los Angeles, California, on Friday.

The actor, 44, took a break from his busy work schedule to spend time with his wife and their children - Max, 11, Carey, seven, and Charlotte, four.

He cut a laidback figure in navy trousers with a red stripe up the side and a black T-shirt, which he wore underneath a cream jacket.

Sweet: James Corden kept it casual as he stepped out hand-in-hand with his wife Julia Carey and their three kids during a family outing in Los Angeles, California, on Friday

The Late Late Show host kept comfortable in a pair of white trainers and shielded his eyes with black sunglasses.

He styled his golden locks in a slicked-back style as he walked hand-in-hand with his daughters, while he also wrapped an arm around his son Max.

His wife Julia cut a sporty figure in black leggings and a dusty pink Celine hoodie, which she teamed with white trainers.

The TV producer kept her essentials in a large checkered handbag and styled her blonde tresses loosely in a straight fashion.

Quality time: The actor, 44, took a break from his busy schedule to spend time with his wife and their children - Max, 11, Carey, seven, and Charlotte, four

Their outing comes as James and his family are scheduled to move back to England next year, when he steps down from The Late Late Show.

The star and his wife of 10 years are planning to return to the UK with their three children, but they are still trying to 'figure out' what's next for the family.

In June, the co-founder of James Corden's Fulwell 73 production company, Ben Turner, said he's 'really excited to get James back in the UK'.

Ben told Variety: '[Corden] has just got so many strings to his bow, and Late is a big commitment that's taken up so much of his time.

Casual: He cut a laidback figure in navy trousers with a red stripe up the side and a black T-shirt, which he wore underneath a cream jacket

Looking good: The Late Late Show host kept comfortable in a pair of white trainers and shielded his eyes with black sunglasses

'We're just really excited about having him back in the UK, and all the stuff that that entails, but it is a big moment for us.'

James currently lives in California but an insider told MailOnline that spending more time in the UK when the show ends is 'definitely on the horizon'.

Another source suggested he is planning on moving close to West Ham United's London Stadium in east London.

An insider told The Sun: 'James and Jules have had barely any time to see their families in the UK over the past few years due to his work schedule. They will go backwards and forwards for a while.

Big plans: Their outing comes as James and his family are scheduled to move back to England next year, when he steps down from The Late Late Show

'Long-term, they both want to see more of their parents and are considering a permanent move back in a couple of years.

'They sold their house in London so would have to look for a new base in the capital.'

James is set to step down as the host of the Late Late show at the end of next season after a seven-year run.

The Late Late Show, which films out of Los Angeles, first premiered in 1995 with host Tom Snyder. Craig Kilborn and Craig Ferguson followed as host until James Corden came along in 2015.

Speaking of his departure, James said: 'Seven and a half years ago, I started hosting this show. And there is no other way to put it, it has changed my life. I love it.

'I love all the people that work here. I am so proud of what we've achieved. It's been beyond my wildest, wildest dreams. So I'm happy to announce today that I've signed a new contract, to carry on hosting The Late Late Show.

'When I started this journey, it was always going to be just that. It was going to be a journey, an adventure. I never saw it as my final destination, you know?

'And I never want this show to overstay its welcome in any way. I always want to love making it. And I really think in a year from now that will be a good time to move on and see what else might be out there.'

The Gavin and Stacey star insisted he still has 'a year to go' but fought back tears as he talked about walking away.

New era: James is set to step down as the host of the Late Late show at the end of next season after a seven-year run

He went on: 'We are all determined to make this the best year we have ever had making this show. We are going to go out with a bang.

'There is going to be Carpools, and Crosswalks, and sketches and other surprises.

'And there will be tears. There will be so many tears. Cause this has been the hardest decision I've ever had to make, it really has.

'I've never taken this job for granted. Ever. Not once. And  the fact that you watch us at home.

'Or you watch us online. Wherever you are, all over the world. The fact that we get to try and entertain you and spend time with you is an absolute privilege for me and every single person who makes this show.'
Declan Donnelly appeared in great spirits as he watched Fulham take on Newcastle United at the Craven Cottage stadium in London on Saturday after returning from South Africa.

The TV presenter, 47, looked dapper in a black blazer, teamed with a black t-shirt as he watched from the stands with Newcastle beating Fulham 4-1.

He flashed his dazzling white smile and gave onlookers a thumbs-up as he entered the stadium with a Fulham lanyard around his neck.

Outing: Declan Donnelly appeared in great spirits as he watched Fulham take on Newcastle United at the Craven Cottage stadium in London on Saturday after returning from South Africa

The two Premier League teams are currently sitting in the top half of the table - with Dec hoping his team Fulham can bag another win.

It comes after Dec returned to the United Kingdom with his co-host Ant McPartlin after filming the brand new all-stars version of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! was being filmed in South Africa.

The stand alone show will run in addition to the usual annual ITV programme - which is set to return to the Australian jungle this year after two years in Wales - and is likely to air next summer.

Dashing: The TV presenter, 47, looked dapper in a black blazer, teamed with a black t-shirt as he watched from the stands

Match: He flashed his dazzling white smile at the stadium with a Fulham lanyard around his neck

Back home: It comes after Dec returned to the United Kingdom with his co-host Ant McPartlin after filming the brand new all-stars version of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! was being filmed in South Africa

Channel bosses have signed up Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly to host the show and legendary contestants from the past will compete, taking part in trials while living in camp.

A source told MailOnline: 'The team behind I'm A Celebrity are making a brand new spin off of the hit series featuring the most loved, favourite campmates from previous years.

'The campmates will be doing trials and living in the camp environment, but with fresh and exciting new twists, and they will have a hand in their own destiny through a series of internal votes and challenges.

Earlier this week, Ant and Dec wrote on Twitter: 'South Africaaaaaaa! That's right, we're filming a very special version of I'm A Celebrity in South Africa which is coming to your tellies in 2023'

'The new edition is likely to air in 2023 but before that viewers will get to enjoy the show's much anticipated return to Australia in November.'

The spin-off won't have any sort of public vote as in other series.

A source told MailOnline: 'The show is still very much based in the world of I'm A Celebrity - the camp mates will be doing trials and living in the camp environment, but with fresh and exciting new twists on the format.

'The camp mates will have a hand in their own destiny through a series of internal votes and challenges.'

It's thought the new spin-off will be a slightly shorter format of two weeks instead of the usual three.

The new pre-recorded show will either air in November or kept back to be broadcast in early 2023.

The main reality show is returning to the Australian jungle for the first time in three years after it was held in Gwrych Castle in North Wales due to travel restrictions caused by the pandemic.
Stella Maxwell captured attention in an array of show-stopping ensembles on the runway for Vivienne Westwood's show at Paris Fashion Week on Saturday.

The model, 32, made sure all eyes were on her as she took to the catwalk in two very bold ensembles - a purple dress and a beige corset.

Flaunting one of the British designer's looks, Stella put on a leggy display in a plum metallic satin dress, which she teamed with hot pink over-the-knee lace stockings.

Incredible: Stella Maxwell captured attention in an array of show-stopping ensembles on the runway for Vivienne Westwood's show at Paris Fashion Week on Saturday

She completed her quirky ensemble with a pair of black plimsoles and accessorised with a statement pair of dangling silver beaded earrings.

The former Victoria's Secret Angel shielded her eyes with an oversized pair of purple cat-eye sunglasses as she posed up a storm on the runway.

She styled her platinum blonde tresses loosely slicked-back in natural waves cascading down her back.

Stella accentuated her striking features with a touch of blusher and a slick of magenta lipstick for the show.

Edgy: Flaunting one of the British designer's looks, Stella, 32, put on a leggy display in a plum metallic satin dress, which she teamed with hot pink over-the-knee lace stockings

Vibrant look: She completed her quirky ensemble with a pair of black plimsoles and accessorised with a statement pair of dangling silver beaded earrings

She pulled off another equally sensational look as she strutted down the runway in an edgy beige zip-up corset-style dress with puffed sleeves.

The bombshell put on a leggy display in a pair of over-the-knee brown heeled boots adorned with gold stitching.

She clutched a brown handbag with a beaded strap in one hand and accessorised with a chunky gold necklace.

Stella bolstered her natural good looks with a dramatic smokey-eye make-up palette as she showed off her modelling credentials on the runway.

Eye-catching: She pulled off another equally sensational look as she strutted down the runway in an edgy beige zip-up corset-style dress with puffed sleeves

Bold: The bombshell put on a leggy display in a pair of over-the-knee brown heeled boots adorned with gold stitching

She was joined on the Paris catwalk by an array of other supermodels, including Bella Hadid, Irina Shayk and Georgia May Jagger.

The models strutted their stuff on the runway while showcasing the Vivienne Westwood ready-to-wear Spring/Summer 2023 fashion collection.

Designer Andreas Kronthaler wove an aesthetic from yesteryear with medieval and renaissance nobles and peasants into his drape-heavy silhouettes.

A-list talent: Stella was joined on the Paris catwalk by an array of other supermodels, including Bella Hadid (centre) and Irina Shayk (right), and designer Andreas Kronthaler (centre)

Vivienne's Westwood show came after Victoria Beckham made her debut at Paris Fashion Week on Friday with a five-star cast of models, her family on the front row and a collection filled with edgy sophistication.

Victoria couldn't hold back her tears on Friday as she broke down while taking to the runway of her debut show - reaching out to hug her husband David during the appearance.

Victoria mixed with the crowd afterwards in the courtyard of the venue, the Val-de-Grace abbey, on the arm of husband David Beckham - a rare move in the usually cordoned-off world of high fashion, and underlining her down-to-earth approach.

Wow! The models strutted their stuff on the runway while showcasing the Vivienne Westwood ready-to-wear Spring/Summer 2023 fashion collection

'It's London coming to Paris, and it's cool,' she was heard saying to the crowd as she posed for pictures with son Brooklyn and his new wife Nicola Peltz.

On the catwalk, it was all heightened femininity with stilettos, cutouts, sheer tops and tight dresses, with Gigi and Bella Hadid being among the models.

At Friday's show, superstar model Bella stunned in an elegant green dress with long latex gloves, while her sister Gigi was dressed in a black trouser suit.

Victoria's office and evening wear has been a surprise hit with fashionistas ever since her debut show in 2008.

She has mostly presented her clothes in New York, apart from a brief dalliance with London.

But despite having 250 global outlets selling her clothes and 30million followers on Instagram, Victoria's company has always struggled to turn a profit.

Big day: Vivienne's Westwood show came after Victoria Beckham made her debut at Paris Fashion Week on Friday with a five-star cast of models and her family on the front row

In a bid to turn things around, she has recruited top French talent - her chairman is Ralph Toledano, ex-president of the French Federation for Haute Couture and Fashion, and her CEO is Marie Leblanc de Reynies, former lead buyer at Paris shopping mecca Printemps.

Paris is the centre of the world's globalised luxury industry this week, and the ready-to-wear shows kicked off on Tuesday, including Saint Laurent and Dior.

These Parisian powerhouses are among the 107 brands showcasing spring-summer 2023 collections across the week-long event.
He was accused of injuring wife Aida Abramyan-Short during an argument

Prosecutors also charged him with one count of child endangerment

He was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence back in February 2022

The Scandal actor Columbus Short is apparently in the clear after misdemeanor charges against him were dropped

After prosecutors reviewed domestic violence and child endangerment charges filed against Short in February, they opted not to charge the 40-year-old, the Los Angeles City Attorney's office told TMZ.

'They dismissed the case from what I was told because the prosecutor felt there was no wrongdoing,' Short said when reached by the outlet.

Out of trouble: LA prosecutors dropped domestic violence and child endangerment misdemeanor charges against Scandal actor Columbus Short, 40, the LA City Attorney's office told TMZ; seen in 2019

'I knew when I was charged it was stupid but based on past allegations. They jump to the worst conclusion, as does the media,' he said.

Short reportedly praised prosecutors as 'fair' and 'rational,' and he claimed that he had never 'abused a woman.'

The actor has a history with domestic abuse, and in 2018 he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to jail time for striking his current wife Aida Abramyan-Short, whom he married in 2016.

In 2014, he was arrested twice for alleged domestic violence incidents against his former wife Tanee McCall.

Approves: Short reportedly praised prosecutors as 'fair' and 'rational,' and he claimed that he had never 'abused a woman'; seen in November 2020 in Atlanta

That year he was also arrested for allegedly getting into a bar fight.

The recently dropped charges reportedly followed an argument with his wife Aida that allegedly became physical earlier in February

The Scandal star was accused of trying to grab his spouse's phone, which resulted in him scratching her hand.

Short reportedly did not have any marks or bruises from the incident, which is said to have occurred in front of a child.

Yikes: Short was previously charged with misdemeanor counts of domestic violence and one for child endangerment in February, according to TMZ

On February 6, he spoke about his arrest in a tweet, which read: 'Marriages are challenging but getting through it is the blessing! I AM not a abusive man nor am I on drugs but drinking alcohol makes my words unholy sometimes. My wife and I are working on our marriage.'

He also linked to a since-deleted Instagram video, in which he attempted to clear his name.

'I know there's some stuff out here in the media again, arrested for felony domestic violence, but let me tell you what really happened,' he began.

Speaking out: On February 6, he spoke about his arrest in a tweet, which read: 'Marriages are challenging but getting through it is the blessing! I AM not a abusive man nor am I on drugs but drinking alcohol makes my words unholy sometimes. My wife and I are working on our marriage'

Telling his side: He also linked to a since-deleted Instagram video, in which he attempted to clear his name and explain what 'really happened'

Columbus continued: 'I asked my wife to leave the home due to my frustration and I grabbed her phone, which I shouldn't have [done] and I scratched her hand.'

'Post-OJ, the police came here, detectives were here, it was a whole just ridiculous thing,' he whined.

Ultimately, he claimed the authorities 'had to make a decision' on whether to arrest him or Abramyan.

Troubling: Short reportedly did not have any marks or bruises from the incident, which is said to have occurred in front of a child

'Based on that scratch, I went to jail,' the actor said in the video, re-shared by The Shade Room. 'I'm sorry for anybody that I let down. I'm grinding, I'm working hard, but, my apologies.'

It is unclear if the minor that witnessed the fight was their son or one of his kids from past marriages to first wife Brandi Short and second wife, Tanee McCall.

In 2018, Short was sentenced to serve a year in jail on domestic assault charges after beating Abramyan, who he married in 2016.

He only ended up serving 34 days of his 365 jail sentence.

Scary: It is unclear if the minor that witnessed the fight was one of their sons or kids from past marriages to first wife Brandi Short and second wife, Tanee McCall

At the time, he was already on probation for knocking a man out in a bar fight.

Four years prior to that conviction, Short was charged with domestic violence by his then-wife Tanee McCall, after putting a knife to her throat.

The charges were later dismissed, but Tanee filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences and she claimed sole custody of their daughter Ayala.

Due to his troubled past, Short was forced to leave the ABC's political thriller Scandal in 2014.

The announcement of his exit from the series followed his spousal battery charge along with accusing him of felony battery that seriously injured a man during an altercation at a West Hollywood restaurant.

Short has also publicly suffered from substance abuse, which is an other reason the star was forced to leave the hit show.

Prior to his 2018 jail sentence, the Stomp the Yard actor served a week in jail in 2016, after failing a drug test and violating his previous probation.
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Eva Longoria and Monica Bellucci were the epitome of glamour on Saturday as they led the stars at the Elie Saab Paris Fashion Week runway show.

Desperate Housewives star Eva, 47, put on a leggy display in a crisp white shorts suit as she stepped out once again in the French capital.

While actress Monica, 58, vamped it up in an all black ensemble as she struck a pose at the event.

The ladies were seen having a friendly catch-up as they sat in the front row of the show.

Style Queens: Eva Longoria and Monica Bellucci were the epitome of glamour on Saturday as they led the stars at the Elie Saab Paris Fashion Week runway show

Eva looked incredible as she flaunted her toned pins in the outfit, with the star appearing to go braless beneath her tailored blazer.

Accessorising her look, the beauty donned a black clutch bag and delicate diamond jewellery, while she boosted her height with a pair of pointed, silver heels.

Eva finished off her flawless appearance with swept back raven locks, while her features were perfectly lightened with a sleek palette of make-up.

Catch up: The ladies were seen having a friendly catch-up as they sat in the front row of the show

A bit of all white: Eva looked sensational as she posed in her crisp white ensemble

Work it: Eva looked incredible as she flaunted her toned pins in the outfit, with the star appearing to go braless beneath her tailored blazer

Details: Accessorising her look, the beauty donned a black clutch bag and delicate diamond jewellery, while she boosted her height with a pair of pointed, silver heels

Yes girl! Eva finished off her flawless appearance with swept back raven locks, while her features were perfectly lightened with a sleek palette of make-up

Meanwhile, Monica opted for a contrasting look, donning a long black cape beneath which she wore a black pussybow blouse with sequin detailing.

The Malena star added wide-leg black trousers and round shades to her look, while her auburn locks were worn in a sleek style.

The pair were in good company at the fashion event as also in attendance was Olivia Palermo, who looked sensational as she rocked up in a striking patent black A-line skirt.

Trio: Eva looked effortlessly stylish as she posed with Elissa and Elie Saab Jr

Big smiles: She appeared in great spirits as she posed next to Elie Saab Jr.

The stunner rounded off her show-stopping ensemble with a black lace jacket, a chic top and dark green suede boots.

Elsewhere, Isabeli Fontana showed off her toned legs in an emerald green lace overlay dress which she teamed with towering matching heels.

While Frida Aasen cut a stylish figure in a black mini dress and coordinating longline black coat.

Gothic chic: Meanwhile, Monica opted for a contrasting look, donning a long black cape beneath which she wore a black pussybow blouse with sequin detailing

Sensational: The Malena star added wide-leg black trousers and round shades to her look, while her auburn locks were worn in a sleek style

Wow: The star accessorised her look with a sequin black clutch bag which had a delicate gold chain

Nice to see you: Eva and Monica greeted each other warmly as they took their seats at the show

Black and white: They looked incredible as they sat in contrasting black and white ensembles on the front row

What fun: Eva looked like she was having a great time as she sat next to Monica

What a line-up: The ladies joined the likes of Isabeli Fontana and Sarah Rafferty on the front row

Ethereal: The Elie Saab show saw plenty of looks in white featuring semi-sheer materials with an array of delicate lace and crochet

Princess of Thailand Sirivannavari Nariratana Rajakanya meanwhile looked lovely in a bubblegum pink dress and matching platform heels.

With Jasmine Tookes stunning in a plunging monochrome dress.

Eva's appearance comes after she was every inch the supportive pal on Friday as she headed to best friend Victoria Beckham's first Paris Fashion Week show in the French capital.

Gorgeous: The pair were in good company at the fashion event as also in attendance was Olivia Palermo, who looked sensational as she rocked up in a striking patent black A-line skirt

What a vision: With Jasmine Tookes stunning in a plunging monochrome dress

Model behaviour: Jasmine and Frida Aasen looked amazing as they watched the show

Looking good: Frida Aasen cut a stylish figure in a black mini dress and coordinating longline black coat

Green Goddess: Elsewhere, Isabeli Fontana showed off her toned legs in an emerald green lace overlay dress which she teamed with towering matching heels

Glorious: The star gazed at the camera as she attended the fashion show

Style: Valery Kaufman (R) got the green memo as she posed with Liya Kebede

Fashionistas: Liya Kebede, Valery Kaufman and Frida Aasen put on a flawless display

She turned up the heat in a very racy negligee-style slip dress from her friend's fashion line as she made her way to the fashion event.

It comes after she had earlier stunned in a candy pink bra top which she teamed with a matching suit - also designed by VB - as she strolled across Place Vendome.

The TV star sat in the front row of the show and later received a hug from Victoria as the emotional designer made her way down the runway at the end.

Eva also joined the Beckham clan at the celebratory after-show dinner, with the famous family having squashed feud rumours between Victoria, son Brooklyn and his wife Nicola Peltz.

Royal appearance: Princess of Thailand Sirivannavari Nariratana Rajakanya meanwhile looked lovely in a bubblegum pink dress and matching platform heels

Eye-catching: Sarah Rafferty turned heads in a black, feathred number
Adam Collard brushed off the drama as he jetted off to Bali with some pals on Saturday amid speculation that he and girlfriend Paige Thorne are 'taking a break.'

The Love Island couple have been plagued by rumours as of late after a video emerged of the personal trainer, 26, with his arm around another girl in McDonald's.

Yet Adam appeared completely unfazed, as he flashed his toned torso and soaked up the sun in Indonesia after jetting off without his Welsh girlfriend.

Relaxing: Adam Collard, 26, brushed off the drama and jetted off to Bali with some pals on Saturday amid speculation that he and girlfriend Paige Thorne, 24, are 'taking a break'

Adam donned a pair of tiny Adidas shorts and shielded his eyes with some gold framed sunglasses for a relaxing dip in the pool.

He later posed for a selfie with his pals as they headed out to the bar during their fun-filled getaway.

The holiday comes after Adam hit out at rumours he'd been unfaithful to Paige, 24, when video emerged of him wrapping his arms around a girl in the fast food chain - insisting he left the outlet with '60 nuggets and nothing else'.

Out and about: He later posed for a selfie with his pals as they headed out to the bar during their fun-filled getaway

On and off: Adam and Paige have been plagued by rumours as of late after a video emerged of the personal trainer, 26, with his arm around another girl in McDonald's

In a recent video that emerged on social media, personal trainer Adam was spotted with his arm around another girl after ending up in McDonald's after a boozy night out.

A source claimed to The Sun on Wednesday that Paige 'is really upset by everything that has gone on and feels like she is being humiliated.

'She believes Adam didn't do anything and knows women throw themselves at him. But it doesn't mean she doesn't find it difficult when people start gossiping about their relationship and share it on social media.

'Paige had told Adam she needs a break and to spend some time away from him.'

MailOnline has contacted Paige and Adam's representatives for comment.

Awkward: In a recent video that emerged on social media, the personal trainer was recently spotted with his arm around another girl after ending up in McDonald's

Elsewhere, in photos obtained exclusively by MailOnline, Paige and Adam put on a united front as they walked hand-in-hand around London's Canary Wharf on Wednesday afternoon.

Dismissing reports that she had asked Adam to give her space, Paige was seen gazing up at her boyfriend as they stopped by a coffee shop close to their London hotel.

The couple, who appeared on both season four and eight of Love Island, became official back in August after leaving the famous villa.

Adam was a controversial figure during his first stint in the villa, with some of his scenes even sparking concerns with bosses at domestic abuse charity Women's Aid.

Still going strong: Elsewhere, in photos obtained exclusively by MailOnline, Paige and Adam put on a united front as they walked hand-in-hand in Canary Wharf on Wednesday

Adam locked horns with his then partner Rosie Williams in an explosive confrontation, during which he was widely-criticised by viewers for smirking throughout the argument and later leaving her in hysterical tears.

Voicing concern over Adam's actions, which saw him move on to Zara, Katie Ghose, Chief Executive of Womens Aid, said: 'On the latest series of Love Island, there are clear warning signs in Adams behaviour.'

Adam was a late arrival into the villa and was initially paired with Kendall Rae-Knight before Rosie was his next partnership.

The business owner maintained a 'player' reputation after his stint on the show but Paige recently revealed that the ITV producers pushed her to give him a chance.

Speaking on FUBAR radio with Bobby Norris and Stephen Leng, the former contestant confessed that she 'didn't even know' who the bombshell was - despite being warned he was a 'massive player' by the other girls in the villa.

She explained: 'All the girls were like Paige this is Adam, I was like, 'Why are you saying his name like that? I don't know who he is."
Carol Vorderman looked nothing short of sensational as she shared a slew of snaps of herself in skin-tight workout gear to Instagram on Friday.

The former Countdown presenter, 61, looked ageless as she flashed her toned midriff in the bright red cropped top which she teamed with matching leggings.

Carol took the opportunity to slam trolls who told her to 'act her age' claiming her strongest body part was in fact her 'middle finger'.

Work out: Carol Vorderman, 61, looked nothing short of sensational as she shared a slew of snaps of herself in skin-tight workout gear to Instagram on Friday

The stunner completed the look with graphic orange trainers while her blonde tresses cascaded to her shoulders in a gentle curl.

Carol worked out on a wooden deck as she showcased her incredible flexibility and practiced the splits.

She captioned the snaps: 'Been trying much more yoga and Pilates and learning the splits stretching this summer.....now Ive put it into my own routine as pure slow yoga isnt for me, even though its obviously very good'.

Incredible: The former Countdown presenter looked ageless as she flashed her toned midriff in the bright red cropped top which she teamed with matching leggings

Slamming: Carol took the opportunity to slam trolls who told her to 'act her age' claiming her strongest body part was in fact her 'middle finger'

Building up a sweat: The stunner completed the look with graphic orange trainers while her blonde tresses cascaded to her shoulders in a gentle curl

'Soooooooo just a few shots from what I now do every morning (not the whole routine)...a bit of the 5 Tibetans (a yoga thing) and adductors and abs and hamstrings all good and firing....'

'I call it my Happy Bird Whos Not Giving In To A Number Routine'

'And to anyone who says you shouldn't do this or that at a certain age...and is still living in the 20th or even 19th century....please bear this in mind when youre attempting to troll any woman no matter what their age'.

Toes: The television personality touched her toes during the high intensity workout

Hard work: Carol worked out on a wooden deck as she showcased her incredible flexibility while her hair blew in her face

'I love my life  Im alive and fit and happy.....but do you know the strongest bit of my body now? Its my middle finger.....and I use that middle finger without apology....so a word from the wise'.

'Calm Down and Smile and join the happy crowd. Its a much nicer place to be'.

It comes after Carol shared an Instagram video of herself in a Union Jack bikini on Wednesday.

Moves: Later she laid on her bag and worked on her core as she held her legs in mid air

Making a point: She captioned the snaps: 'Been trying much more yoga and Pilates and learning the splits stretching this summer.....now Ive put it into my own routine as pure slow yoga isnt for me, even though its obviously very good'

Earlier in the day Carol landed back in the UK at Heathrow airport after jetting to South Africa to reportedly film the I'm A Celebrity All Stars series.

The star wore a khaki tracksuit and shielded her tired eyes with shades as she left the terminal after her long flight.

The new spin-off series is set to hit TV screens in 2023 and will see fan favourites battle it out in the jungle once more, with presenters Ant and Dec having confirmed that they are currently filming in South Africa.
Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot and her husband Jaron Varsano were spotted on their way to lunch at Il Pastaio in Beverly Hills on Wednesday.

The 37-year-old Red Notice actress looked amazing in black yoga pants, a matching V-neck T-shirt, and running shoes.

The beauty wore designer sunglasses, pulled her brunette tresses back into a ponytail, and let her natural beauty shine by going makeup-free.

Casual couple: Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot, 37, and her husband Jaron Varsano, 47, were spotted on their way to lunch at Il Pastaio in Beverly Hills on Wednesday

Her 47-year-old husband also dressed comfortably in Nike shorts, sneakers, and a black shirt with a semi-truck and bald eagle on the front inscribed, American PRIDE.

Gadot's appearance comes after she gushed about her upcoming role as the Evil Queen in the live-action Snow White film that Disney has in the works.

The Death On The Nile actress spoke about the highly anticipated feature during the D23 Expo three weeks ago and mentioned that she isn't used to portraying a villain on screen.

While at Disney's D23 exposition, Gal described the role as 'very different than what I had done before' and said that she is 'used to playing the other end of where the heart should be,' via Deadline.

Stunner: The Red Notice actress looked amazing in black yoga pants, a matching V-neck T-shirt, and running shoes

Despite typically playing a heroine, Gadot said it was 'delightful' to have the opportunity to portray the 'iconic villain.'

'Getting under her skin was so delightful,' she said, adding that the Evil Queen is far from her real-life persona.

Filming began this past March and continued for several months before the project's crew wrapped in July. The forthcoming live-action adaptation of Snow White is currently set to make its debut in 2024.

Quite the expo: Gadot recently discussed her upcoming role as the Evil Queen in the live-action Snow White film, saying that she isn't used to portraying a villain on screen; seen with Rachel Zegler at D23 earlier this month

Since wrapping two new films over the last six months, the model has had more free time to spend with her kids and husband.

The couple celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary earlier this week.

According to Vogue, the family spends time at their home in the Hollywood Hills when Gadot shoots a film in and around Los Angeles; but, they have primarily lived in her native Israel over the years.

Earlier this week, the Hollywood leading lady played the real-life role of wife and mother-of-three as she drove her kids around, taking care of errands, which included a grocery run at a market in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Gal welcomed her youngest child, a daughter named Daniella, in June 2021.

The in-demand star finished shooting the musical fantasy film Snow White in April and the action-thriller film Heart Of Stone about two months ago.

Gadot is working on several other films, including a Cleopatra film and an untitled Hedy Lamarr project.
Warner Bros. Discovery is "not for sale, absolutely, not for sale."

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has recently made it clear to the company's employees that he is not considering selling Warner Bros. Discovery despite cost-cutting moves and layoffs.

Zaslav's statement is in response to the rumors borne from a report from The Hollywood Reporter that suggested that Warner Bros. Discovery would be merged with Comcast.

Warner Bros. Discovery Rumor Disproving Details

Zaslav mentioned in a company-wide town hall meeting over Zoom that Warner Bros. Discovery is not for sale after laying out its current predicament and the circumstances it is facing, per Deadline.

Interestingly, the company-wide Zoom meeting included 40,000 of its employees worldwide, according to a Variety report.

"We are not for sale," Zaslav said to his employees during the meeting. "We have everything we need to be successful."

According to people familiar with the meeting, Zaslav didn't mention which company he was referring to when he was discussing the potential sale, but many assumed he was referring to Comcast.

The Verge cited a Hollywood report published in mid-September saying that "top industry executives" were "convinced" that Warner Bros. Discovery would be the target of an acquisition-merger deal from Comcast, the company behind NBCUniversal and the Peacock streaming service.

The rumors of an impending acquisition-merger deal with Comcast are not unfounded. The company has recently gone through a gauntlet of cost-cutting and layoffs to reduce costs.

Read More: From Amazon Prime With Love; All 'James Bond' Films Set To Arrive on Amazon Prime on Oct. 5

It first removed some Max Original films from HBO Max, which resulted in the removal of six Warner. Bros. movies, including the sci-fi rom-com "Moonshot."

The company then proceeded to cancel the almost complete movie "Batgirl" due to its leadership's "strategic shift," according to Esquire. This cancellation was eventually followed by the company laying off 14% of its employees in several units, resulting in the loss of 70 employees.

How War Bros. Discovery Will Bounce Back

Despite these setbacks, Zaslav is optimistic that Warner Bos. Discovery will become successful soon.

During the meeting, he discussed his plans to restore the company's film output to between 15 to 20 releases annually across all genres.

Zaslav also highlighted the importance of linear marketing and "promotional muscle" across internal platforms, which led to the success of many films such as "Elvis," "Don't Worry, Darling," and "House of the Dragon."

Additionally, he said that Warner Bros. discovery's linear cable networks were the key to gaining revenue and promotion for HBO/HBO Max and Warner Bros. Pictures.

Other top Warner Bros. executives who were also present for the meeting showcased their successes during the meeting.

For isntance, Warner Bros. TV topper Canning Dungey said that her studio would "sell quite a bit" to HBO Max and to other outlets and platforms.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. flim chiefs Micahel De Luca and Pamela Abdy said they are building a full film slate to fulfill Zaslav's plan of releasing 15 to 20 movies annually, along with making the Warner Bros. film studio "a place that creatives want to work with."

Related Article: Warner Bros. Discovery Announces HBO Max Layoffs, Reduces Staff by 14% in Several Units
Kaia Gerber stuck to a casual look as she and a male friend enjoyed drinks on Friday night at La Poubelle in Hollywood.

The model, 21, donned a simple pair of high-waist black pants, black shoes, a white tank crop top and a denim jacket.

The American Horror Story star pulled most of her dark hair into a hair clip but left a few tendrils hanging in front to frame her face.

Casual: Kaia Gerber kept it casual as she and a male friend enjoyed drinks Friday night at La Poubelle in Hollywood wearing a simple pair of high waist black pants, black shoes, a white tank crop top and a denim jacket

Kaia carried a green shoulder bag to add some extra color to the low-key look.

The cover model was seen laughing and smiling with an unidentified man at the hot spot.

His look mirrored Kaia's, as he rocked a pair of black pants with a white T-shirt and a black leather jacket.

Catching up: The cover model was seen laughing and smiling with an unidentified man at the hot spot

Mystery man: His look mirrored Kaia's, as he rocked a pair of black pants with a white T-shirt and a black leather jacket

The pair seemed to enjoy themselves as they sipped cocktails outside the French restaurant.

They were later seen getting into an Uber together.

Earlier in the day, Kaia was filming on the set of Mrs. American Pie with costars Allison Janney, Julia Duffey and Josh Lucas.

Good time: The pair seemed to enjoy themselves as they visited outside the French restaurant

Kristen Wiig and Ricky Martin were also on set as the ensemble shot scenes at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.

Kaia will play a character called Mitzi in the drama based on the book by the same name.

The 10-episode series is set to release by the end of this year on Apple+.
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Man sentenced to life for murder

Brown

A Nacogdoches County jury sentenced Kasey Brown to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the 420th District Court on Wednesday for the 2017 killing of Joey Gipson.

Brown was one of four people charged with in the home invasion killing of Gipson.

Gipson, 22, was shot Jan. 9, 2017, while in bed next to his fiancee, who was expecting their child.

Jurors were told that Browns fingerprint was found on a water bill addressed to Gipsons home on Arthur Weaver street. That utility bill was found in a purse that was recovered from Loop 224 after the crime occurred, according to District Attorney Andrew Jones.

That print and geo-location evidence placed Brown in the Gipsons home, Jones said. Brown, who is from Spring, had no known connection to Nacogdoches or Gipson.

That evidence allowed investigators to charge Brown with capital murder.

He was arrested in Louisiana, where he was interviewed by detectives and detailed his involvement in the killing.

That evidence, in conjunction with the diligence and hard work of the Nacogdoches Police Department,  specifically Detective Adam Sparks and his tireless work and dogged pursuit of justice in this case  resulted in the defendants conviction and sentence, Jones said.

The investigation spanned three states over 19 months.

Patrick Deangelo Hughey, a close friend of Gibson, was sentenced to 24 years in prison after pleading guilty to home invasion on June 9.

Hughey stayed outside in a vehicle when the killing occurred, Jones has said.

Given the limit of his involvement in the offense that was actually committed versus what he knew would occur, it was most appropriate to charge him with the offense for which he pleaded guilty, Jones said.

Jamal Denard Brown began serving a 25-year sentence for murder on March 24. Investigators said he fired the fatal shot that struck Gipson in the chest.

The fourth defendant, Rassium Stephon Franklin, 32, of Porter, remains in the Nacogdoches County jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.
Nacogdoches, TX (75965)

Today

Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High near 65F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies. Scattered frost possible. Low 32F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
If you are an amusement park aficionado, chances are you have visited a Six Flags park already. You may have already visited or been wanting to visit its Magic Mountain park, which is located in California.

Here is a fun fact about Six Flags Magic Mountain: it actually holds the record for most roller coasters in an amusement park! Specifically, it has 20 roller coasters and many of them are perfect for adrenaline junkies and thrill seekers.

If you want to find out which are the five most recommended ones (or the five scariest, depending on how you want to look at it), we have put together a list just for you:

The Riddler's Revenge

Do you think it is possible to ride a roller coaster standing up? If you think it is impossible, well, The Riddler's Revenge will prove you wrong because that is actually how you should ride this coaster.

You read that right! This means you are standing as you soar up into the air and even when the ride turns you upside down. It should also be noted that, according to the Six Flags Magic Mountain website, this ride has the biggest loop found in any stand-up coaster.

Tatsu

Ever wondered what it is like to ride a roller coaster face down? If you are curious enough, you might want to check out Tatsu the next time you are in Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Tatsu's speed can reach up to 62 miles per hour and it is actually 170 feet tall. At some point during the ride, you will even experience 96 feet of zero G roll. If you are wondering what zero G means, it means zero gravity.

Twisted Colossus

Wooden coasters may seem pretty old school, but amusement parks around the world have found different ways to make them more thrilling and even scary to ride. A perfect example of which Six Flags Magic Mountain's Twisted Colossus.

Twisted Colossus is one of the longest hybrid roller coasters in the world  so yes, it is still a wooden coaster to an extent  and is actually found inside the tracks of another coaster, Goliath. Pretty cool, huh? It is also a dual-tracked ride, so there is another coaster full of people on the tracks at the same time as the coaster you are on.

Related Article: Did You Know That the First Roller Coaster in the US Opened 138 Years Ago?

Wonder Woman Flight of Courage

What actually caused Six Flags Magic Mountain to win the record of most roller coasters in an amusement is the opening of its 20th roller coaster, Wonder Woman Flight of Courage.

According to the Six Flags Magic Mountain website, this roller coaster is also the world's tallest and longest single-rail coaster. The ride is 3,300 feet long and is 13 stories high. As far as its speed is concerned, it can go up to 58 miles per hour.

X2

If extreme roller coasters are your thing, then X2 is definitely right up your alley. After all, this roller coaster boasts of 360-degree rotating seats.

That's not all X2 has to offer. In fact, it also has head-first, face down drops, which is definitely not for the faint of heart. The speed of ride reaches 76 miles per hour and even has two of what Six Flags calls the "raven turns."

What are they exactly? Raven turns are "half loops that change their minds midway and become sheer drops." Again, not for the faint of heart.

It should be noted that, as of press time, X2 is closed for refurbishment.

Read Also: [WATCH] 6 Roller Coasters Every Adrenaline Junkie Should Visit Europe For
Chiranjeevi arrived here from Vizag for the event. A few minutes after arrived, rain started with thunder showers. He was escorted to the dais with umbrellas.

ANANTAPUR: Heavy rain with thunders caused inconvenience to the pre-event release of Chiranjeevis GodFather at the Arts College Grounds here on Wednesday night.

Chiranjeevi arrived here from Vizag for the event. A few minutes after arrived, rain started with thunder showers. He was escorted to the dais with umbrellas.

Addressing the huge gathering of his fans, the actor observed that the rain god blessed him. He recalled the drought-hit Rayalaseema was always in his favour. During my every visit to Rayalaseema region, even during the election campaign in Pulivendula, the rain god blessed me with showers, he said.

Chiranjeevi said his movie has expressed its special sentiments to the rain god.

While referring to the trolling on his dialogues in GodFather on social media, Chiranjeevi delivered another dialogue on Suparipalana in the movie that was targeting the MLAs with corrupt practices involved in illicit sand, illicit liquor and contracts.

He was president of Praja Rajyam and also worked as Union minister in a Congress government.

Chiranjeevi made it clear he had no god father in the film industry but only fans. Fans are my god fathers for my success in the industry.

The actor congratulated director Mohan Raja for his good efforts as director of the movie. He also recalled the Ramacharan initiative for the making of the movie.

Music director Taman and drummer Shivamani enthralled the audience with the songs of GodFather on the occasion of the pre-release event of the God Father movie.

As the organisers issued a lot of passes, more than the capacity of the Arts College grounds, the police stopped entry for the fans at one point. As a result, the public who had to reach the grounds from ordinary entry faced inconvenience due to the huge crowd rush.
Railway stations across the city and bus terminals wore a crowded look, while taxis were also hired in large numbers by those who couldn't secure seats on the special services. (PTI file photo)

Hyderabad: With the Dasara celebrations entering the sixth day on Saturday, travellers, headed to their native places for the weekend and subsequent important festive days, buzzed about the city in large numbers.

Railway stations across the city and bus terminals wore a crowded look, while taxis were also hired in large numbers by those who couldn't secure seats on the special services.

Temporary drivers were in huge demand, with tours and travel agencies in the city also raking in profits during the festive season.

On Saturday, lines of vehicles thronged fuel stations, with petroleum dealers noting at least a 20 per cent hike in diesel and petrol sales, according to Marri Amarender Reddy, the president of Telangana Petroleum Dealers Association.

"There has been an increase of 20 per cent in diesel and petrol sales on Friday and Saturday. Basically, each day, within the GHMC region, 45 lakh litres of diesel and 35 lakhs litres of petrol is consumed, but this increased over the weekend," he said.

The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) also launched an additional 4,198 special service buses from Friday night due to the festive season.

TSRTC's regional manager for Ranga Reddy, Sridhar, said, "The festival crowds started from last Saturday onwards. An addition of buses have been made to the fleet for various destinations from the city. The RTC is having heavy traffic from Friday onwards, for which the corporation is making sure no passenger faces inconvenience."

While the South Central Railways already introduced special trains to ease the Dasara traffic, anticipating a spike in footfall, more such trains are likely to be added - especially between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh - due to the festive season. Long-distance trains are especially in demand at present.

Around 100 special trains will be taking the tracks, officials said.
VIJAYAWADA: Irrigation minister Ambati Rambabu on Saturday refuted media reports that stakeholder states Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Telangana have sought a joint survey on Polavaram project at a meeting held by the centre.

Addressing media at YSRC partys central office here, he held opposition Telugu Desam and its friendly media responsible for circulating these false reports. He said the reality is that Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Telangana had expressed doubts about suffering losses whenever there are floods due to Polavaram flood. This apart, these states had filed a petition in Supreme Court in this regard.

On orders of the apex court, central government had arranged a meeting to resolve the matter. The irrigation minister maintained that everything has been made clear at this meeting to the stakeholder states of Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Telangana. The centre also made it clear that there is no need to conduct a joint survey on the project and there is no real threat to Bhadrachalam from Polavaram.

Rambabu maintained that the Central Water Commission had cleared the Polavaram project between 2009 and 2011 after a careful study of all aspects. He said there is no truth in the slanderous propaganda being circulated by TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu that Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Telangana have sought a joint survey.

The minister recalled that Chandrababu Naidu had made more than 600 promises before being elected as chief minister of AP in 2014. But he never fulfilled any of these promises. But the Jagan government has fulfilled 98 percent of its promises, he declared.

He termed the Amaravati padayatra as not of farmers but of fat people related to TD who are misleading the public by wearing green scarves.

Rambabu said neither Harish Rao nor Telangana government, along with KCR, have any moral right to point fingers at the Jagan Mohan Reddy government. He challenged Harish Rao to come to AP for knowing the truth about the development taken up by Jagan government at the field level.
Visakhapatnam-based Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL), a defence undertaking, will soon figure among one of the top industries in Andhra Pradesh. (Image credit: www.hslvizag.in)

VISAKHAPATNAM: If all goes well as planned, Visakhapatnam-based Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL), a defence undertaking, will soon figure among one of the top industries in Andhra Pradesh with a four-digit Value of Production (VoP) index.

As per projections, HSL is expected to reach 1,000 crore VoP by March 2023 and between 1,5002,000 crore in the subsequent financial year 202324.

Presently, despite challenges due to partial lockdowns during the second and third waves of Coronavirus, HSL has a VoP of 760 crore.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, HSL chairman and managing director Hemant Khatri said they have clear-cut action plans to reach the four-digit VoP of 1,000 crore by March 2023.

If VoP reaches 1,500 crore by 2024, Vizag's HSL will definitely be listed among the top shipyards. There are several parameters to achieve this target. One is to focus on large vendors with high VoP projects, Khatri observed.

Currently, HSL has a profit of 10.69 crore, the operating net profit being 50.78 crore against last years net loss of 14 crore. HSLs VoP from shipbuilding and ship repair divisions this year stood at 81 percent and 18 percent respectively, as against 57 percent and 41 percent in the previous year.

Currently, construction of two diving-support vessels is at an advanced stage of 70 percent physical progress.

"These vessels have recently been simultaneously launched for trials. They are scheduled for delivery in July 2023," Khatri disclosed.

In ship-repair segment, HSL has repaired 17 vessels of various owners during the previous year. The shipyard has the distinction of delivering its 200th ship and repairing the 2000th ship in 202122 itself, the CMD said.

As on date, the existing value of order book for ship construction is 2,185 crore. It includes two diving support ships of the Indian Navy. In this context, Khatri said discussions with a costing committee set up by Ministry of Defence have been completed. The yard contract could be signed by December 2022.
VIJAYAWADA: Telangana minister T. Harish Raos claim that teachers were being harassed in Andhra Pradesh, and that the AP government was fixing meters to agricultural connections to secure Central funds touched a raw nerve in capital Amaravati on Friday. Many AP ministers and YSRC leaders lined up to take on Harish Rao.

Harish Rao told TS teachers that they were in a good position to compare the conditions before and after state bifurcation. If you talk to your friends (in AP), you will understand how cases are being filed, he said and added, Teachers of Telangana get higher salaries than Central government employees and teachers of other states. The TS government had given teachers 73 per cent fitment in their salary, he claimed.

AP leaders advised Harish Roa not to drag AP into Telangana politics. Government adviser Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy asked Harish Rao to settle his scores with his uncle and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and not comment on the AP government.

Ramakrishna Reddy said, Harish Rao is acting at the behest of Gang of Four which has been targeting Jagan without any substance. There may be a thousand issues in Telangana but it is not our business to speak about them.

Advising Harish Rao to focus on governance, Ramakrishna Reddy said that Harish Raos comments appeared to be part of a bigger conspiracy to provoke AP ministers and YSRC leaders to attack Chandrashekar Rao. We are unwilling to enter into any unnecessary controversy with anyone including KCR, Ramakrishna Reddy said and stated that this was not the first time that Harish Rao had taken on the AP government.

AP industries Gudivada Amarnath said they did not need any lesson from Telangana on any issue. Harish Rao should learn from AP state how to implement welfare schemes, he said.

AP education minister Botsa Satyanarayana said teachers in AP were very happy with the Jagan Mohan Reddy government. He invited Harish Rao to interact with AP teachers to know the truth. He said Harish Rao could understand the difference between the two states by comparing their pay revision commission reports.

In Telangana, Narsampet TRS MLA Peddi Sudarshan Reddy strongly condemned the criticism of Harish Rao by AP leaders. He claimed that the Telangana government had given teachers 73 per cent fitment, while it was not more than 66 per cent in neighbouring states. He said it was a fact that the AP government had taken Rs 7,000 crore from the Centre to fixing meters for free power connection.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar and others during the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra, in Chamarajanagar district. (PTI Photo)

ANANTAPUR: Rahul Gandhis Bharath Jodo Yatra is likely to be halted for three days in Anantapur if polling is inevitable for the Congress president elections on October 17.

The Yatra will enter AP at D.Hirehal mandal in Anantapur district, bordering Bellary district of Karnataka on October 14 after it covers Karnataka.

The yatra will be only for a few hours in Anantapur district after which it would enter Alur assembly segment in Kurnool district for a four-day journey.

The yatra will pass through Alur, Yemmiganur and Mantralayam assembly segments. However, the Kurnool schedule may clash with the party president polls scheduled for October 17 in New Delhi.

Three candidates -- Mllikajrnuna Kharge, KN Tripathi and Sasshi Tharoor submitted their nominations on Friday, the last day for nominations. After withdrawals, if the president is elected unanimously and there is no polling, Rahul Gandhi will continue with his Bharath Jodo Yatra in Kurnool district. Otherwise, he will go to New Delhi from Kurnool to participate in the election process. A temporary halt for the yatra is likely and it will be continued with a revised schedule, party leader Sailajanath said.

APCC working president Tulasi Reddy said the yatra will last only three hours in Anantapur district while a four-day schedule has been fixed for Kurnool district. A meeting with top leaders of the Congress party will be convened on October 4 to finalise the arrangements for the yatra in Anantapur and Kurnool districts.

Senior leaders Pallam Raju, JD Seelam and Digvijay Singh along with several national and state leaders will take part in the meeting in Kurnool on October 4.

Notably, the Congress party had held a meeting for party chief Sonia Gandhi to offer financial aid to family members of farmers who committed suicide in Anantapur district some years ago. The party is planning a similar programme in Kurnool district during Bharat Jodo Yatra.
This file photo taken Sept. 21, shows stacks of containers at a port in Korea's southeastern city of Busan. Yonhap



South Korea's exports rose 2.8 percent on-year in September, but the country suffered a trade deficit for the sixth consecutive month on high global energy prices, data showed Saturday.



Outbound shipments stood at $57.46 billion last month, up from $55.9 billion a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.



It was the highest outbound shipment for any September since the ministry began compiling related data in 1956.



September also marked the 23rd consecutive month that the country's exports have logged an on-year expansion.



The country's imports jumped 18.6 percent on-year to $61.23 billion on high global energy prices, resulting in a trade deficit of $3.77 billion last month.



Imports have exceeded exports in South Korea since April, and it is the first time since 1995 that the country suffered a trade deficit for six months in a row.



But the deficit narrowed in September from $9.49 billion the previous month following four months of on-month expansion.



South Korea depends on imports for most of its energy needs, and the country's energy imports surged 81.2 percent on-year to $17.96 billion in September, the ministry said.



Dubai crude, South Korea's benchmark, rose to $90.95 per barrel in September on average from $72.63 a year earlier.



The growth in exports had slowed down in recent months in the face of a slowdown in the global economy amid aggressive monetary tightening around the globe.



By item, overseas sales of semiconductors, a key export item, fell 5.7 percent on-year to $11.49 billion on dwindling demand and a fall in prices amid a global economic slowdown, according to the ministry.



Outbound shipments of chips logged an on-year decline for the second straight month in September following a 26-month-long growth. Semiconductors accounted for about 20 percent of South Korea's exports.



Sales of petrochemicals fell 15.1 percent to $4.07 billion, and those of steel products tumbled 21.1 percent to $2.69 billion.



But exports of petroleum products surged 52.7 percent to $5.46 billion, and car exports jumped 34.7 percent to $4.79 billion. Overseas sales of auto parts also advanced 8.7 percent to $2.01 billion.



By nation, exports to China and the European Union fell last month, while sales in the United States and the ASEAN nations went up.



South Korea's shipments to China fell 6.5 percent on-year to $13.37 billion amid its economic slowdown. China is South Korea's No. 1 trading partner.



Exports to the EU inched down 0.7 percent to $5.42 billion.



Shipments to the U.S., however, climbed 16 percent to $9.27 billion, extending the on-year growth to the 25th month. Exports to ASEAN also advanced 7.6 percent to $10.34 billion.



Exports bound for the Commonwealth of Independent States tumbled 29.9 percent to $970 million in September over the prolonged Russia-Ukraine war, the ministry said. (Yonhap)


HYDERABAD: The Telangana government has been accused of misleading people over the state receiving a national award for Mission Bhagiratha. The central government's department of water resources, in a statement on Saturday, said the claims by the Telangana government on these issues were not only misleading, but were not based on facts."

It may be recalled that on Thursday, the state government claimed that Mission Bhagiratha has been selected for a national award for supply of drinking water to all households in the state.

In Saturdays statement, issued through the Press Information Bureau, the Centre said misleading items have been reported including claims that the centre through National Jal Jeevan Mission reviewed Mission Bhagiratha scheme, and that each household was getting 100 litres per capita quality drinking water under Mission Bhagiratha, that inspections were conducted in 320 randomly selected villages across Telangana, and that all villages were provided uninterrupted, daily quality drinking water through taps.

The Department of Water Resources declared that it did not carry out any assessment of Mission Bhagiratha scheme. All that it looked at was part of its Functionality Assessment 2022 to assess functionality of tap water connection against the NJJM norms of 55 litres per capita per day (LPCD) and quality as per BIS 10500 standards.

It said the Functionality Assessment data indicates that in Telangana, out of total 12,570 sampled households in 409 villages, found 8% of households were getting less than 55 liters per capita per day of drinking water. Similarly, out of total sampled households, 5% were found to be receiving water with quality that was not up to the NJJM norms.

The department said Telangana was being given an award in the category of supplying regular water to rural households on October 2. However, regularity in water supply is one of the many parameters adopted for overall functionality assessment. It may also be noted that although the state has reported 100% of tap water connection, it has not got it certified through Gram Panchayats as required under National Jal Jeevan Mission.
Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday said the Congress government will complete its five years and that the next budget will be dedicated to students and the youth.

He also said the Congress will not let the BJP succeed in its plan to topple the government.

"We will complete five years and I have said the next budget will be presented for students and the youth," Gehlot told reporters while replying to a question whether he will present the fifth budget of the incumbent government in the state.

Gehlot is on a tour of Bikaner division to attend various events related to rural youth olympics.

Attacking the BJP, he said, "They keep making efforts to ensure that our government does not complete five years. Earlier, too, the BJP tried horse trading but our MLAs were united and they did not budge. You can see the government was saved last time and it is still going strong."

Gehlot appealed to the youth, students and the public in general to send their suggestions directly to him so the government can come up with better schemes.

Responding to the allegation that the Congress was not able to deliver a strong Opposition in the country, Gehlot said Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' had left the BJP government shocked and that it was left with no issue to attack the grand old party.

Further, he said the election to choose the Congress president was sending across a message to the people of the country.

"When Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and Nadda became the BJP presidents, no one knew. In the Congress, election is being conducted in a democratic manner. This election has given a message to the people of the country that the Congress is still in the position of giving a strong Opposition," Gehlot said.
WARANGAL: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao gave ample indications of floating a national party by talking about the country and resources, which were not being used appropriately by the Centre. This had denied India a place among the top nations or the world.

The Chief Minister was speaking after inaugurating Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences at Damera crossroads in Hanamkonda on Saturday.

He urged youth to come forward for building a new and strong India. He took potshots at Union ministers who visited Telangana and made critical statements against the state government to eventually praise its schemes.

The CM recalled that many Union ministers had acknowledged Telangana was number one state across sectors. During the statehood movement, I had said that Telangana would emerge as the richest state in the country, which has been accomplished, he said.

Telangana's per capita income is heads and shoulders above the likes of Maharashtra.

Speaking of giant leaps in the health sector, Chandrashekar Rao said that while there were only five medical colleges before 2014, today Telangana boasts of 17 medical colleges. In the coming days all 33 districts will have at least one medical college. The increase in seats will mean that students will shelve their plans for studying abroad.

On the e-health profile project, Rao said that in order to create a healthy Telangana and prepare a health profile of all individuals, the state government for the first time introduced the e-health profile by selecting Sircilla and Mulugu districts. The task was completed successfully, he said. The e-health profile will help individuals in emergency medical situations.

Rao said that after establishing the health university in Warangal, the state government is constructing a 24-storey super specialty hospital with 2,000 beds to transform Warangal into a medical city.

Speaking about agriculture, Rao said that India will emerge as the Annapurna to the whole world. The United States and China do not have much land for cultivation, whereas more than 50 per cent of land in India is cultivable.

Although nearly 70,000 tmc of fresh water flows into rivers, Indians still relish burgers and pizzas, he said in a sarcastic tone.

Some political leaders achieve their selfish intentions are trying to sow poisonous seeds in the society. It is time the youth rise to the occasion and take steps to steer India on the onward march. He concluded his speech with Jai Telangana and Jai Bharat giving indications of determination to have a firm foothold in national politics.
In their own ways, both former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh and Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor got played in the ongoing election of the next Congress president. Clearly nudged by party president Sonia Gandhi, Mr Singh suddenly jumped into the fray and was all set to file his nomination papers. But the proverbial rug was pulled from under his feet when overnight, the Gandhis decided that veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge was a more suitable candidate. According to Congress insiders, this last-minute change took place after several party members called up Sonia and Priyanka Gandhi to express their unhappiness over Mr Singhs candidature and warned that he would prove to be a liability to the party. Mr Singh was left red-faced as he had asked several delegates from Madhya Pradesh to be present in Delhi when he filed his nomination papers. All those who arrived in Delhi for this occasion eventually ended up standing in Mr Kharges support. On his part, Mr Tharoor was expecting the support of several G-23 leaders, including Anand Sharma and Manish Tewari, after he spoke to them about his decision to contest for the party presidency. None of them opposed his decision but on the critical day of filing nominations, they all feigned surprise and instead supported Mr Kharges candidature.

Once it became clear that Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot was not in the fray for the election of the next Congress president, a host of names started doing the rounds. Former Haryana Congress chief Kumari Selja was among those who figured in the list of possible contenders. While this was all in the realm of speculation, former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda apparently got extremely agitated about the possibility of Ms Selja being favoured by the Gandhis for the party presidency given his longstanding rivalry with her. It is learnt that Mr Hooda was so incensed that he even planned to contest the polls himself. He was encouraged by his camp followers who said they would personally fetch the nomination papers for him. Mr Hooda must have heaved a sigh of relief now that Ms Selja is not in the race.

As in the case of the yet-to-be elected Congress president, Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shindes stint in power is also believed to be a stop-gap arrangement. According to the political grapevine in Mumbai, the Bharatiya Janata Party is essentially awaiting the election of the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. The BJP is depending on Mr Shinde to wrest control of the corporation from the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena. If the BJP succeeds in its endeavour, it is entirely possible that it will then ask Mr Shinde to relinquish the chief ministers post, leaving him no choice but to accept a role as a junior partner. On his part, Mr Shinde is working assiduously to take full control of the Shiv Sena so that he can legitimately claim to be the real Sena. To this end, he spends his time travelling and meeting workers across the state while governance has been outsourced to a retired bureaucrat and a favoured civilian. But deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is not complaining as he gets to call the shots.

The recent meeting between RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and representatives of the Muslim community has created quite a few ripples. Shahid Siddiqui, vice-president of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, who was among the five who interacted with Mr Bhagwat, was all praise for the RSS chief, described the meeting as pleasant and said it was important to keep the dialogue alive. It would be interesting to know if RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary is in agreement with Mr Siddiqui and whether he was aware of this meeting. The RLD is currently in the Opposition camp but Mr Siddiquis positive remarks about Mr Bhagwat has led to murmurs that this could signal the start of new political equations in Uttar Pradesh. On the other hand, Abdul Khalique, secretary general in Chirag Paswans faction of the Lok Janshakti Party, has blasted the five Muslim representatives who met Mr Bhagwat. Unlike Mr Chaudhary, Chirag Paswan is positively inclined towards the BJP despite the fact that it engineered a split in the LJP. What does the young Paswan have to say about Khaliques outburst, is the question doing the rounds.

Netas and abhinetas in Kolkata are in for a tough time this Puja. For no one is a VIP now. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has decreed that VIPs will be designated as invitees and that puja committees will not make special arrangements for them. Being designated a VIP was critical for hopping from pandal to pandal and avoiding long queues to see the newest version of the goddess. The biggest and most novel "theme" pujas are mostly Trinamul Congress pujas, as these committees are headed by big time netas. But many organisers are struggling to keep the celebrations going this year as netas are not spending as generously as they did in the past for fear of a crackdown.
The Pakistan government's Twitter account has been withheld in India due to a "legal demand", the media reported on Saturday.

The account displayed a message that said: "@GovtofPakistan's account has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand."

In June, Pakistan media had reported that New Delhi blocked the flow of information to the country by banning the official Twitter accounts of several Embassies, journalists and some prominent personalities, under India's Information Technology Act, 2000, Geo News reported.

Twitter issued a statement on India banning accounts of Pakistani journalists.

"As explained in our Country Withheld Policy, it may be necessary to withhold access to certain content in response to a valid legal demand. The withholdings are limited to the specific jurisdiction/country where the content is determined to be illegal. The legal requests that we receive are detailed in the biannual Twitter Transparency Report, and requests to withhold content are published on Lumen," the micro-blogging website said.

"Deeply concerning that India has blocked the flow of information to Indian Twitter by withholding access to the following official accounts," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said in tweet, while listing down the banned accounts.

The accounts include those of the Pakistani Embassy in UN, Turkey, Iran and Egypt.

"Diminishing space for plurality of voices and access to info in India is extremely alarming," the tweet from MOFA's official account read.

MOFA called out Twitter, saying that social media platforms should abide by the applicable international norms, Geo News reported.

It said that the government of Pakistan is urging the tech company to restore access to the restricted accounts immediately and ensure adherence to democratic freedoms of speech and expression.
India stuck to Prime Minister Narendra Modis this-is-not-an-era-of-war refrain but joined China, Brazil and Gabon to abstain from voting at the United Nations Security Council on a resolution condemning Russias annexation of areas it occupied in Ukraine.

Russia finally vetoed the resolution, which was moved by Albania and the United States and which would have condemned its referendums in four regions in Ukraine, declared the exercises invalid and urged all countries not to recognize any annexation of the territory.

Read | US, allies not 'intimidated' by Putin: Joe Biden

New Delhis envoy to the United Nations, Ruchira Kamboj, reiterated Indias call for dialogue and diplomacy to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict. She also invoked the United Nations charter and stressed on respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity  apparently to send out a subtle message to Moscow, where President Vladimir Putin just a few hours back announced the accession of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions of Ukraine into Russia.

Escalation of rhetoric or tensions is in no ones interest. It is important that pathways are found for a return to the negotiating table, Kamboj said, adding: Keeping in view the totality of the evolving situation, India has decided to abstain on this resolution.

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the annexation plan as a violation of international law, warning that it marked a dangerous escalation in the seven-month war that began with Russias invasion of Ukraine on 24 February. The Charter is clear, said the UN chief. Any annexation of a States territory by another State resulting from the threat or use of force is a violation of the Principles of the UN Charter.

Dialogue is the only answer to settling differences and disputes, however daunting that may appear at this moment, The path to peace requires us to keep all channels of diplomacy open, Kamboj told the UN Security Council, adding: Indias Prime Minister has unequivocally conveyed this in his discussions with world leaders, including with the Presidents of the Russian Federation and Ukraine; so has our External Affairs Minister in his recent engagements at the General Assembly last week.

Indias Prime Minister has also emphasized that this cannot be an era of war, New Delhis envoy to the UN said, referring to Modis comment during his meeting with Putin on the sideline of the Shanghai Cooperation Organizations summit at Samarkand in Uzbekistan on September 16.

Modi had told Putin that it was not the era of war.

She expressed New Delhis hope for an early resumption of peace talks to bring about an immediate ceasefire and resolution of the conflict.
The Punjab Police on Saturday said it has arrested another operative of the ISI-backed terror module that was jointly handled by Canada-based gangster Lakhbir Singh alias Landa and Pakistan-based gangster Harvinder Singh Rinda.

Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, Gaurav Yadav said the accused has been identified as Harpreet Singh alias Har Sarpanch of village Jogewal in Ferozepur.

The arrest came eight days after the Counter Intelligence team led by Assistant Inspector General (Counter Intelligence) Jalandhar Navjot Singh Mahal had busted the module with the arrest of its two operatives - Baljit Singh Malhi and Gurbaksh Singh, both residents of Ferozepur.

Also Read | 2 terrorists killed in Kashmir encounter identified

The police had also recovered one sophisticated AK-56 assault rifle along with two magazines, 90 live cartridges and two bullet shells from a location pinpointed by Gurbaksh Singh in his village.

DGP Yadav on Saturday said following the disclosures of accused Baljit Malhi, the police team managed to apprehend Harpreet Singh alias Har Sarpanch, who is considered to be the close aide of Italy-based gangster Harpreet Singh alias Happy Sanghera and was also in touch with Canada-based gangster Lakhbir Landa.

Baljit was also in touch with Happy Sanghera, and on his directions only, he had picked consignment of weapons from a pinpointed spot at Makhu-Lohian road near the sanctuary in village Sudan in July 2022.

During preliminary investigations, Harpreet Singh alias Har Sarpanch has confessed to having arranged a 10-day stay for Lakhbir Landa's associate identified as Jagjit Singh alias Jotta of Mehta Road in Amritsar and his aide at an abandoned house in the Makhu area of Ferozepur, said the DGP.

Jotta has been facing four criminal cases and is currently lodged at Central Jail, Amritsar.

Har Sarpanch also revealed that he was in close touch with Nachattar Singh alias Mottialready arrested, and used to ferry his drug consignments in a luxury car.

AIG Navjot Singh Mahal said the accused Har Sarpanch also used to collect money on behalf of gangsters Lakhbir Landa and Happy Sanghera to further provide financial assistance and logistics support to their associates.

Further investigations are underway, he said.

Canada-based Landa is considered to be the close aide of Pakistan-based wanted gangster Harvinder Singh alias Rinda, who had joined hands with Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), and they have close ties with the ISI.

Landa had played a key role in conspiring the Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) terror attack at Punjab Police Intelligence Headquarters in Mohali and had also planted an IED beneath Sub-Inspector Dilbag Singh's car in Amritsar.
Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shobha Karandlaje said that PFI is the biggest anti-national group involved in carrying out terror-supporting activities.

The minister told reporters that NIA has been investigating PFI activities for the past three years and that the evidence gathered resulted in banning of the PFI and its allied organisations.

As SDPI is a political entity, the election commission can take action against it. An investigation is being conducted into PFI activists who are the members of the SDPI, she said.

Shobha said that Home Ministry has directed deputy commissioners to seize assets of the PFI activists.

Read | Every Muslim will now be arrested, can't support 'draconian' ban on PFI, says Owaisi

She claimed that PFI activists were trained to make bombs and use social media to carry out illegal activities. The arrest of the three engineers in Shivamogga had further exposed the activities of PFI.

The primary goal of the PFI was to weaken the country, she declared. Shobha lashed out at Congress and declared the party as a ship without a captain. It is on the verge of sinking, she said.

She demanded blacklisting of the contractors entrusted with the construction of the poor work at Gangolli mini jetty.

When her attention was drawn to Congress leader Mithun Rais charges on being unavailable to voters, she said Mithun Rais statements should not be taken too seriously. Let him come with me and take a selfie, she added.

Shobha said that Congress Bharat Jodo Yatra should be organised along the borders of China, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Whenever we plan for a holiday destination, images of the imposing Taj Mahal, Goa beaches, Varanasi riverfront, Rajasthan citadels or a monumental temple in South India props up in our thoughts. However, if the mind is dreaming of a place where the crowd, chaos and cacophony dont threaten the senses and still there is something amazing to see and experience, then Khichan, a small rural hamlet in the Thar Desert region of Rajasthan, pledges to meet the need.

A nearly three hour drive from familiar Rajasthan hotspots Jaisalmer or Jodhpur takes you to this sleepy village that hasnt yet been strongly on the radar of human tourists but for over four decades has been extremely popular with cranes from Mongolia, Russia and North China. They are named Demoiselle by the 18th-century French queen Marie Antoinette for their grace. Every year, around early October, when winter sets in their breeding grounds, they, in large numbers, fly almost 5,000 km across the Himalayas to reach warmer Khichan for their sabbatical vacation for the next six months.

Their arrival transforms sleepy Khichan into a unique bird sanctuary, worth visiting not just to see the avian spectacle, but also to appreciate how the local villagers follow the age-old tradition of Atithi Devo Bhava and look after the overseas guests during their six-month stay. This includes a dedicated plan to organise 2,000 kg of cereal grains for their meals every day.

During the day the birds can be spotted around the sand dunes, waterbodies, bushlands and neighbouring salt pans, but the best exhibition is early in the morning when they congregate at a village courtyard where the local villagers lay the food for them.

Truly, its a sight to behold watching thousands of these grey bodied, red-eyed, two-legged graceful creatures with a long black neck, pure white plumes and a wingspan of over a metre descending on the scattered grains to fill their bellies. From a distance, the feeding panorama looks like a patch of grey and black flipping up and down on a splash of yellow. Few exciting things amaze onlookers. The birds do not enter the ring until its clear of all humans. Before plunging, they wait and watch the space from nearby sand dunes and begin to descend only after receiving instructions from their leader who can be easily recognised. As the feeding arena, often referred to as the open-air cafeteria, has limited capacity, its incredible to observe the way the first batch of droves descend, eat and fly out to make room for the next.

Warm weather and easy access to food draw them here, says 40-year-old Sevaram Mali who has dedicated his life to the welfare of these winged creatures flying to Khichan since the early 70s. Initially, the numbers were very low, all fed by villager Ratan Lal Maloo in his backyard. He was a Jain, and feeding the birds was a part of his religious routine. However, as the news of food availability got passed on by the cranes on return, season after season more and more started flocking into Khichan.

The current numbers are estimated to be around 35,000, informs Sevaram who not only maintains a logbook on their movement but also takes care of any birds falling sick or wounded during their stay. He also fights insistently with local electricity authorities to get overhead powerlines, which can often become death traps for the large-winged cranes, replaced with underground cables. His efforts are well appreciated by the local and international media as a commendable example of the human-animal relationship.

As a result of this hype, Khichan has been slowly drawing attention in the domestic and international tourism circuits as a bird refuge worth visiting. During the Indian winter months, its increasingly finding a spot as a day trip in the itineraries for tourists visiting popular destinations of Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Bikaner from where Khichan is less than a four-hour drive.

How to get there: Khichan is less than 200 km by road from Jodhpur or Jaisalmer, connected by air, rail and road.

When to go: October to March.
The store in Derrys Foyleside Shopping Centre this week received the Community Champion Award which seeks to recognise collaborative retail projects who have innovatively supported each other and their local community.

The Re:Imagine initiative is a pilot programme consisting of 11 traders who won a competition to take up residence and showcase their products in prime retail space in Derry and Strabane.

Drapers Award Judges described Re:Imagine as a 'quite brilliant, wonderful concept and a true community champion'.

They were impressed at its approach to reviving the local community and economy, with one judge saying its practices should be 'a template rolled out across high streets everywhere'.

Deirdre Williams from the Fashion Textile and Design Centre received the award along with Foyleside Centre Manager Fergal Rafferty, Re:Imagine Trader Catriona Hutton from Koto Candles and Leeann Doherty from Council's Business Support team at this week's presentation at Grosvenor House in London.

"We are over the moon to receive this award which is just recognition for the brilliant way our stakeholders and traders have worked together to drive the Re:Imagine project forward," she said.

"From the start, the aim of the project was to create an environment to allow the brands to reach the next level in their development and to see that vision come to fruition is truly gratifying for everyone involved.

"The public have got behind the project by visiting the store in high numbers and to now have the backing from the retail industry at the highest level is the icing on the cake.

"I want to thank and congratulate all our partners and traders for their dedicated work in launching and managing the shop which has 'Re:Imagined' the high street with local, sustainable and organic products and clothes."

The Re:Imagine project is an element of a new Start Up Accelerator Programme being delivered by Derry City and Strabane District Council, Enterprise North West and Strabane Enterprise Agency with support from BID in Strabane.

The Fashion and Textile Design Centre (FTDC) is responsible for the design, delivery and management of the Re:Imagine pop up shop and have supported the brands through every stage of the process.

Head of Business at Derry City and Strabane District Council, Kevin O'Connor, explained the thinking behind the initiative.

"The purpose of the pop up shops is to 'Re:Imagine' the high street and the use of empty spaces, he said.

"It seeks to take a fresh look at how they source with ethical practices and local involvement to give a new shopping experience to customers through local events.

Participants from the Re:Imagine Pop Initiative being congratulated by Mayor of Derry and Strabane, Councillor Sandra Duffy on picking up the Drapers Independent Community Champion 2022 Award. From left: Elaine Duffy, Proprietor Vintage Star, Fergal Rafferty, Manager Foyleside Shopping Centre, Siobhan Corr, Proprietor Celtic Irish Art, Joanne Doherty, Proprietor Piece Makers, Leeann Doherty, Business Officer at Derry City and Strabane District Council. Front: Deirdre Williams, Inner City Trusts Fashion Textile and Design Centre.

"The traders have worked well together to create a unique and innovative retail experience and this award is just recognition for their dedicated efforts."

The other shortlisted candidates for the Community Champion title were Humes Outfitters in Scotland and Jon Ian in Cardiff, Wales.

The full list of winners of the awards can be viewed at drapersonline.com.

For more details about how Derry City and Strabane District Council's Business Support team can help existing, start up and prospective businesses visit derrystrabane.com/businesssupport




The finance chiefs from South Korea and the United States have reaffirmed that the two countries will cooperate to beef up liquidity facilities should financial market routs around the globe deepen, according to Seoul's finance ministry on Saturday.







Seoul's Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen held a conference call on Friday (Seoul time) and shared the view that South Korea has sound resilience against external shocks on the back of ample foreign reserve and foreign liquidity.







The finance chiefs also highlighted that the real economy and the financial markets are suffering heightened uncertainties due to rollbacks of expansionary monetary policies in major economies and the extended Russia-Ukraine war.







"The two countries are ready to work closely together to implement liquidity facilities when necessary such as when financial instability is aggravated byt the spread of liquidity crunch in major economies, including Korea," the ministry said in a statement.







Last month, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden agreed to closely cooperate to implement liquidity facilities if needed, when they briefly met in New York.



Seoul's presidential office said a currency swap deal could be included in such liquidity facilities.







South Korea's $60 billion currency swap line with the U.S. expired at the end of last year. The Bank of Korea and the Federal Reserve signed the swap facility in March 2020 to ease market routs caused by the pandemic and had extended the deal three times. (Yonhap)


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I am Afro Greek : Release Date, Trailer, Cast & Songs About I am Afro Greek I am Afro Greek was released on Oct 01, 2022 and was directed by Adeola Naomi Aderemi .This movie is 20 min in duration and is available in English language. I am Afro Greek is available in genre.

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New Delhi, Oct 1 (IANS) Meta-owned WhatsApp on Saturday said it banned over 23 lakh accounts in India in the month of August in compliance with the new IT Rules, 2021.

The messaging platform, which has nearly 500 million users (according to third-party data) in the country, received 598 complaint reports in the month of August in India, and the records "actioned" were 27.

"Over the years, we have consistently invested in Artificial Intelligence and other state-of-the-art technology, data scientists and experts and in processes, in order to keep our users safe on our platform. In accordance with the IT Rules 2021, WhatsApp banned over 2.3 million (2,328,000) accounts in the month of August," said a company spokesperson.

The platform banned nearly a similar number of bad accounts in India in July.

Under the upgraded IT Rules 2021, major digital and social media platforms, with in excess of five million users, have to publish monthly compliance reports.

Meanwhile, during a hearing challenging the instant messaging app WhatsApp's privacy policy, the Centre told the Supreme Court this week that the contentious Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill 2019 has been withdrawn and a comprehensive data protection Bill is being prepared.

In August, the Centre withdrew the Bill that has seen 81 amendments in the past three years, aiming to introduce a new, sharper Bill that fits into the comprehensive legal framework and protects the data of billions of citizens.

The new draft of the data protection Bill is being prepared to augment efficient usage of data since it would largely be used by the industry.

(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
A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea's missile launch during a news program at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Sept. 29. AP-Yonhap





North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Saturday, South Korea's military said, in its fourth such provocation in less than a week.







The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launches from the Sunan area in Pyongyang between 6:45 a.m. and 7:03 a.m. and that the missiles flew some 350 kilometers at apogees of around 30 km at top speeds of Mach 6.







The launches came just hours before South Korea was set to hold an event marking the Armed Forces Day with its key military assets on display. The previous day, the South, the United States and Japan staged an anti-submarine warfare exercise in the East Sea.







"The recent series of North Korea's ballistic missiles is an act of significant provocation that undermines peace not only on the Korean Peninsula, but also in the international community, and a clear breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions," the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.







It added, "Our military will maintain a firm readiness posture while tracking and monitoring related movements in close cooperation with the U.S. in preparation against additional provocations."







The presidential National Security Council convened a standing committee session and condemned the North's latest launches.






Childrens Health Foundation is calling on individuals, families, community groups, schools, creches and more across Co. Louth to get spooky this Halloween by dressing up, hosting your own Trick or Treat party, and raising funds to support sick children and their families in Childrens Health Ireland hospitals and urgent care centres.

National broadcaster and mum, Alison Curtis, this week launched Trick or Treat for Sick Children', Childrens Health Foundations annual fundraising campaign, with the help of Childrens Health Ireland patients Joy Harper (7), Luke Staunton (11), and Noah Daly (3). Proudly supported by MiWadi, Trick or Treat for Sick Children raises vital funds to support patients and their families in Childrens Health Ireland at Crumlin, Temple Street, Tallaght, and Connolly.

Getting involved couldnt be easier, simply visit www.childrenshealth.ie/trickortreat to sign up for your free party pack. Your monster bash can be as big or as small as you like, and the funds you raise will be put to work where they are needed most in Childrens Health Ireland at Crumlin, Temple Street, Tallaght, and Connolly to support sick children from all over Ireland.

Celebrating the ten-year the partnership, that has helped to raise over 3.2million to date, MiWadi has created a podcast mini-series of fantastical Halloween-inspired short stories, fuelled by the imaginations of Joy, Luke and Noah, chronicling tales of bravery and adventure. The first episode entitled Joy vs The Monsters of Springlawn Green is inspired by 7-year-old Joy Harper, who demonstrates her monster spirit and bravery by taking on some friendly neighbourhood monsters as she trick or treats with her siblings and best friends.

MiWadi created the limited podcasts series to illustrate the challenges that sick children in Ireland face each day and the mighty spirit they require to overcome such obstacles in life. The series of bite-sized Halloween stories features three episodes and is inspired by tales of bravery and adventure from three young patients and are perfect for little ears as they get in the spirit for the Halloween season. The series will be available from all podcast streaming platforms from 7th October right up until Halloween.

Speaking at the launch of Trick or Treat for Sick Children, Denise Fitzgerald, Chief Executive of Childrens Health Foundation said, This year marks an important milestone for Childrens Health Foundation and our Trick or Treat campaign, as we celebrate an amazing ten years with MiWadi as campaign sponsors.

"We are so grateful to all our Trick or Treaters across the country who support this important campaign each year and we are excited encourage families, communities, creches, schools, companies and more across Ireland to gather once again this Halloween to support sick children and their families in Childrens Health Ireland hospitals and urgent care centres. Thank you to everyone in MiWadi for your support over the past decade and for sharing our vision of giving every sick child the very best chance.

Caroline Hyde, Marketing Manager, MiWadi, Britvic Ireland commented, This is truly a special year for us. We are so proud to mark the 10th year of our Trick or Treat partnership. At MiWadi, we live through the lens of imagination and we are so excited to mark the tenth year by putting the stories of the Childrens Health Ireland patients front and centre. We hope that this year will be the biggest year yet!

Speaking at the launch of the 2022 campaign, Alison Curtis, said, Im so honoured to be part of the Trick or Treat campaign. I have long admired this campaign as it supports the very fabric of our society; children who, despite facing great challenges early in life, can through the support of their families and unwavering support of Childrenss Health Ireland, can persevere and go on to achieve great things.

Throughout the campaign, MiWadi will be sharing their top tricks and tips on social media to help get the party startled. Check it out at www.instagram.com/miwadi_ ireland. To register for a Trick or Treat for Sick Children Party Pack, register www.childrenshealth.ie/ trickortreat or call 01 709 1700 which includes posters, stickers and much more.
County Meath trainer, Gavin Cromwell, is certainly doing his bit for owners from these parts. Over the past couple of weeks, he has sent out the winner of a big Galway hurdle for the best known of Louth-based syndicates.

However, it was a County Kildare handler, Michael Halford, who went tantalising close to landing one of the big handicaps at Leopardstown for Frank Lynch.

A licence-holder since 2005 after learning the ropes at stables in Australia and this country  the late Dessie Hughes one of those who gave him instructions at his Co Kildare yard  Cromwell trains out of Balrath in the Royal County.

He concentrates on both branches of the sport and has claimed a number of notable prizes for his owners, the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, the Welsh Grand National at Chepstow and one of the main supporting events at the big Prix de lArc de Triomphe meeting in Paris among them.

Records show he has accounted for 216 winners in the last five seasons, an impressive tally by any standards.

Darver Star is in Cromwells stable strength, and probably not since the late hotelier Matt Donnellys Farney Fox, any one of many from Bunny Coxs former Lisnawilly stables, or, more recently, Judge Frank Roes Carlingford Castle, has there been a more popular local racehorse.

Darver Star doesnt really need an introduction. Since first donning the red-and-white colours of the trio in whose name he races  the mid-Louth based Pat Cluskey, Simon Fagan and Sean Fanning  hes had his name written on hundreds of bookies dockets, many of which were worth holding on to.

There would have been a real killing had he stayed on that wee bit better in the 2020 Cheltenham Champions Hurdle.

That March day, as Covid-19 began to bare its teeth, Darver went from being handily placed to taking over the lead approaching the last; but while he landed in front, he found the climb to the winning post that too much for him, and faded to finish an honourable third.

The handsome bay gelding was troubled with injury after that, and it was feared at one stage his racing career could be over. But expertly handled by the patient Cromwell and his team, he was returned to his best, confirming his well-being with a win at Kilbeggan.

Darver Star faced stronger opposition at Galway last month, but this time was even more impressive, winning the hugely competitive Deacy Gilligan Hurdle by just over eight lengths. The odds were good, 15/2.

While his last attempt at the bigger obstacles didnt work out so well, the ten-year-old, bred by Pat Cluskey, could be turned to chasing again, though for the time being is likely to stay hurdling.

Its in the other code in which Golden Twilight is trading his wares, and Frank Lynchs Leopardstown runner almost brought off the biggest win of his career.

Running in the 88,000 to-the-winner Petingo Handicap  the last race on the opening day of the prestigious Champions Weekend  the Ronan Whelan-ridden gelding, who won at Dundalk on his previous outing, hit the front inside the final furlong, and although passed by the fast-finishing Moracana, fought back tenaciously, forcing the Judge to call for a photo.

It was what they call a head-bobber, the decision likely to go to the one to have his head down at the line. They couldnt be separated by the naked eye, but the photo showed there was just the minimum between them, Moracano getting the verdict by the shortest of short-heads.

Consolation came owner Lynchs way with the runners-up prize a handsome 23,000. Golden Twilight could be seen out at Dundalk over the winter. The first meeting of the new season took place recently, and therell be racing each week over the autumn and winter months up until early April.
The local greyhound fraternity is good at commemorating former practitioners. A year doesnt go by at Dundalk Stadium that theres not a competition run in memory of at least one deceased owner, breeder or maybe a racegoer.

In recent months events have been run in the name of Ned Lawrence, Paddy and Eamon Carroll, Peter Burke and Arthur Boyle Memorial gets underway. Solid prizemoney has been attached to all of them, and theyve proven themselves very popular with owners and trainers.

The Peter Burke Memorial was run over the 525 and was won by the Co Fermanagh challenger, Tahina Blue, who came with a tremendous late run to pip Marinas Joker, earning his owner the handsome prize of 2,250.

Peter Burke had over 50 years in the greyhound game prior to his death three years ago, running a hugely successful kennel in Clogherhead. Many of his charges ran with the Mulla prefix, but it was a pair by the name of Mams Bank and Dads Bank that won him most acclaim.

The former was in the field for the 1983 renewal of the Dundalk International which produced a finish which is still recalled whenever the tracks most prestigious race comes up for discussion.

Five of the six runners crossed the line together, and it was only after a lengthy deliberation over the photo that Quick Suzy was declared the short-head winner from dead-heaters Yankee Express and the Burke runner.

English Derby winner, Whisper Wishes, was a further neck back in fourth, and it was then another neck back to Irish Derby runner-up, Brideview Sailor. Game Ball was the only one not to feature in the photo.

Peter Burkes widow, Doreen, who shared in all of her late husbands successes, regularly attending whenever the kennel had a runner, was there on to present the trophy and was accompanied by family members.

Arthur Boyle ran a very successful kennel in Dowdallshill for a number of years, and prior to his death formed a partnership with Channonrock owner/trainer, Seamus Casey.
Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) Chairperson Jeon Hyun-heui, center, poses with Georgia State Senator Ed Harbison, left, and State Rep. Bill Hitchens during a ceremony of delivering a Georgia House of Representatives resolution on expressing gratitude to the ACRC at the commission's office in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, Friday. Courtesy of ACRC



By Nam Hyun-woo



A state senator and a representative of the U.S. state of Georgia visited Korea's Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) on Friday and expressed the state's gratitude for the certification of Korean American veterans who served in the armed forces of U.S. allies in times of war, to honor them properly.



Georgia State Senator Ed Harbison and State Rep. Bill Hitchens met ACRC Chairperson Jeon Hyun-heui and delivered a Georgia House of Representatives resolution on recognizing and commending the commission's efforts to provide documentation certifying 47 veterans' war records.



Harbison and Hitchens had each tabled bills on authorizing specially designated license plates and driver's licenses for war veterans living in Georgia who served in the military of a U.S. ally during World War I or II, the Korean War or the Vietnam War. The bills were each implemented in July 2021 and August 2020, marking the first cases of honoring veterans for fighting in an allied force of the U.S. as Americans.



However, these were not the cases for some Korean American veterans residing in the state.



To be honored under the bills, proof of participation in an allied force of the U.S. was required. However, the Korean American veterans had trouble receiving English certification of their military service, and many were further stymied from getting certification online because they no longer hold Korean nationality.



A volunteer worker named Brian Kim conveyed their difficulties to the ACRC, and the commission searched through scattered records in order to provide documentation with the help of the military, the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs and other South Korean government agencies.



As a result, a total of 47 Korean Americans were able to obtain the veteran mark and U.S. flag on their driver's licenses, the specially designed vehicle license plates denoting their service and other benefits given to war veterans.



"I would like to express my gratitude to the 47 Korean veterans who were unable to attach the veteran's badge, which is granted by the state of Georgia through the amendment of the law, to their driver's licenses and vehicles without the help of the ACRC," Harbison said.



Harbison mentioned the case of Hwang Kwan-il, a Korean War veteran and the first president of the southeastern region of the Korean American community in the U.S.



After his only son passed way, he was living alone as an elderly man suffering severe dementia. He couldn't remember his hometown address or military number, but remembered that he fought as a platoon commander on a sniper ridge in the Korean War.



Hwang's records were found after nearly a year of efforts and the certification was issued, honoring him for his service before he passed away in April.



"The ACRC joined 'Saving Private Hwang Kwan-il' and helped him to gain the honor of being an American veteran during his lifetime," Harbison said.



ACRC Chairperson Jeon said, "I sincerely express my gratitude to the senator and the representative for their endeavors to help Korean American veterans to be properly honored."


National Security Adviser Kim Sung-han, left, presides over a National Security Council meeting at the presidential office in Seoul, Oct. 1, following North Korea's launch of two short-range ballistic missiles, in this photo provided by the office. Yonhap





The presidential National Security Council condemned North Korea's missile launch Saturday, vowing to maintain a firm readiness posture against any North Korean provocation.







The NSC standing committee met after North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea in its fourth such test in less than a week.







President Yoon Suk-yeol was briefed on the launch, according to his office.






A man found with white powder around his nostrils after coming out of a shopping centre toilet has got a suspended jail term for having cocaine and now he plans to study to be a drugs counsellor.

The drugs were detected at Blackpool shopping centre back on November 8 2019.

38-year-old Denis Foley of 49 Old Commons Road, Blackpool, Cork, pleaded guilty to that offence and had many previous convictions.

Sergeant Gearoid Davis said at Cork District Court that Garda Eugene Fitzgibbon was present in the shopping centre when he observed the accused with this sign of recent drug use. Garda Fitzgibbon carried out a search and found that the accused had 15 worth of cocaine in his possession.

Frank Buttimer, solicitor, stressed that that offence dated back almost three years and that since that time he had turned his life around.

Before that submission was made the judge was told that Foley had seven previous convictions for drug possession and he asked if Denis Foley had any convictions for assault. Sgt. Davis said there was no such conviction. The judge said this was important as the use of cocaine could give rise to violence.

Mr Buttimer said the accused had turned his life around quite considerably. He said Denis Foley was now looking at the possibility of training to help others with addiction.

Denis Foley told the judge, I think it is my calling, your honour.

Judge Roberts said that very often people suffering from addiction wanted to hear from someone who has lived through the same experience themselves.

The judge imposed a suspended two-month jail term on Denis Foley on the cocaine possession charge. He also wished the accused all the best with his plan to assist others with addiction.
President Yoon Suk-yeol, center, salutes the national flag at an Armed Forces Day event at the Gyeryongdae military headquarters 160 kilometers south of Seoul on Oct. 1, flanked by Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, left, and first lady Kim Keon-hee. Yonhap



President Yoon Suk-yeol warned North Korea on Saturday it will be met with a "resolute" and "overwhelming" response if it attempts to use nuclear weapons, shortly after Pyongyang fired two short-range missiles in its fourth such test in less than a week.



The launches further raised tensions as North Korea has appeared to be readying for what would be its seventh nuclear test and recently legalized the use of nuclear weapons in scenarios where its leadership is under threat.



"By adopting its nuclear arms policy into law, it is threatening the survival and prosperity of the Republic of Korea," Yoon said in a speech marking Armed Forces Day at the Gyeryongdae military headquarters 160 kilometers south of Seoul, referring to the South.



"If North Korea attempts the use of nuclear weapons, it will face the resolute and overwhelming response of the South Korea-U.S. alliance and our military," he said.



Yoon also said North Korea's nuclear weapons development defies the international nonproliferation regime and will put the North Korean people's lives in further pain.



"The North Korean regime must even now make the decision to denuclearize for true peace and joint prosperity on the Korean Peninsula," he said.











President Yoon Suk-yeol salutes the national flag at an Armed Forces Day event at the Gyeryongdae military headquarters 160 kilometers south of Seoul on Oct. 1. Yonhap
It seems like just yesterday that Elon Musk ushered a person in a spandex suit onto the Tesla AI Day 2021 stage and told us it was a robot  or at least would probably be one eventually. In the intervening 13 months, the company has apparently been hard at work, replacing the squishy bits from what crowd saw on stage with proper electronics and mechanizations. At this year's AI Day on Friday, Tesla unveiled the next iteration of its Optimus robotics platform and, well, at least there isn't still a person on the inside?

Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk debuted the "first" Optimus (again, skinny guy in a leotard, not an actual machine) in August of last year and, true to his nature, proceeded to set out a series of increasingly incredible claims about the platform's future capabilities  just like how the Cybertruck will have unbreakable windows. As Musk explained at the time, the Optimus will operate an AI similar to the company's Autopilot system (the one that keeps chasing stationary ambulances) and be capable of working safely around humans without extensive prior training.

Additionally, the Tesla Bot would understand complex verbal commands, Musk assured the assembled crowd, it would have "human-level hands," be able to both move at 5 MPH and carry up to 45 pounds despite standing under six feet tall and weighing 125 pounds. And, most incredibly, Tesla would have a working prototype for all of that by 2022, which brings us to today.

Tesla

Kicking off the event, CEO Elon Musk was joined almost immediately on stage by an early development platform prototype of the robot  the very first time one of the test units had walked unassisted by an umbilical tether. Lacking any exterior paneling to reveal the Tesla-designed actuators inside, the robot moved at a halting and ponderous pace, not unlike early Asimos and certainly a far cry from the deft acrobatics that Boston Robotics' Atlas exhibits.

Tesla

The Tesla team also rolled out a further developed, but still tethered iteration as well, pictured above. "It wasn't quite ready to walk," Musk said, "but I think we'll walk in a few weeks. We wanted to show you the robot that's actually really close to what is going to production."

Tesla

"Our goal is to make a useful humanoid robot as quickly as possible," Musk said. "And we've also designed it using the same discipline that we use in designing the car, which is to say... to make the robot at a high volume at low cost with higher reliability." He estimates that they could cost under $20,000 when built at volume.

The Optimus will be equipped with a 2.3 kWh battery pack which integrates the various power control systems into a single PCB. That should be sufficient to get the robot through a full day of work, per Tesla's engineering team which joined Musk on stage during the event.

Tesla

"Humans are also pretty efficient at some things but not so efficient at other times," Lizzie Miskovetz, a Senior Mechanical Design Engineer at Tesla, and a member of the engineering team explained. While humans can sustain themselves on small amounts of food, we cannot halt our metabolism when not working.

"On the robot platform, what we're going to do is we're going to minimize that. Idle power consumption, drop it as low as possible," she continued. The team also plans to strip as much complexity and mass as possible from the robot's arms and legs. "We're going to reduce our part count and our power consumption of every element possible. We're going to do things like reduce the sensing and the wiring at our extremities," Miskovetz said.

Tesla

What's more, expensive and heavy materials will be swapped out with plastics that trade slight losses in stiffness with larger savings in weight. "We are carrying over most of our designing experience from the car to the robot, Milan Kovac, Tesla's Director of Autopilot Software Engineering said.

To enable the Optimus to move about in real world situations, "We want to leverage both the autopilot hardware and the software for the humanoid platform, but because it's different in requirements and inform factor," Miskovetz said. "It's going to do everything that a human brain does: processing vision data, making split-second decisions based on multiple sensory inputs and also communications," thanks to integrated Wi-Fi and cellular radios.

"The human hand has the ability to move at 300 degrees per second, as tens of thousands of tactile sensors. It has the ability to grasp and manipulate almost every object in our daily lives," Kovac said. "We were inspired by biology. [Optimus hands] have five fingers and opposable thumb. Our fingers are driven by metallic tendons that are both flexible and strong because of the ability to complete wide aperture power grasps while also being optimized for precision, gripping of small, thin and delicate objects."

Tesla

Each hand will offer 11 degrees of freedom derived from its six dedicated actuators, as well as "complex mechanisms that allow the hand to adapt to the objects being grasped." Kovac said. "We [also] have a non-backdrivable finger drive. This clutching mechanism allows us to hold and transport objects without having to turn on the hand motors."

"We're starting out having something that's usable," Kovac concluded, "but it's far from being useful. It's still a long and exciting road ahead of us." Tesla engineering plans to get the enclosed, production iteration up and walking around without a tether in the next few weeks, then begin exploring more real-world applications and tangible use cases the Optimus might wind up in.

"After seeing what we've shown tonight," Kovac said. "I'm pretty sure we can get this done within the next few months or years and maybe make this product a reality and change the entire economy."
Farmers plow a field in the late 19th or early 20th century. Robert Neff Collection



By Robert Neff



Farmers have always played a vital role in society, but in the late 19th century, they were often overlooked by the pens of visiting Western writers and only occasionally captured in their photographs.



While many of these images are unflattering, they are  through their relative simplicity  beautiful and provide a rather fleeting glimpse of life outside of the capital and the main open ports of Jemulpo (modern Incheon), Fusan (modern Busan) and Wonsan.



Horace N. Allen, who came to Korea in 1884 as a missionary physician and left in 1905 as the last American ambassador before the colonization of the peninsula by Japan, devoted a couple pages in one of his books to describing the life of a Korean farmer. His description, of course, had a healthy dose of patronizing mixed in with a pinch of humor.



He began by describing Koreans as "an agricultural people" whose principal crop was rice. The Korean farmers' culture revolved around the old methods of the past which involved extensive manpower.





Farmers plant rice in the early 20th century. Robert Neff Collection



Because of the mountainous terrain that dominates much of the peninsula, terraces had to be constructed along the hillsides. Water often had to be raised from lower to upper fields:



"For this purpose a crude sort of water-wheel is often arranged, sometimes being operated by animal power. The common method, however, is by the use of a kind of scoop, shaped something like a shovel and hung on a tripod; the farmer works the handle of this appliance and with every thrust scoops a lot of water from the lower to the higher fields."



There was also the matter of plowing the fields. Allen described Korean plows as "very crude affairs, heavy to handle and with a flat blade or shovel which makes hard dragging for the plow animal and is very inefficient in sod or hard ground, while at best it only tickles the surface."





A water mill in the countryside in the early 20th century. Robert Neff Collection



According to Allen, missionaries introduced Western plows to the Korean farmers, who were at first appreciative but soon went back to their old plows. "Rather than suffer the odium of introducing some foreign innovation," the conservative farmers preferred to toil much as their fathers and forefathers did.



Describing rice paddies, Allen wrote:



"When the wet fields have been well manured, plowed and harrowed, with the clumsy tools drawn by great bulls wading up to their bellies in the mire, the bunches of young rice, each tied with a strand of straw, are thrown about in spots convenient to a row of men and women who wade out and jab a few stalks of the rice taken from the bundle, into the soft mud in fairly regular rows."





Pumping water in the early 20th century Robert Neff Collection



Once the seedlings took root, they had to be attended to constantly  kept well-irrigated and protected from the many birds, deer, boars and, in a round-about way, dragons.



The rice was harvested and the sheaves were left on the small dikes between the paddies or on the hillsides to dry before it was threshed.



"The threshing is done on a prepared clay floor by means of a flail. The rice is then husked in hand mills made of serrated sections of a tree trunk fitted together for grinding. After this is done the close envelope is removed by pounding in a stone mortar with a wooden or iron pestle. This results in many a broken tooth from biting upon a piece of stone that has been chipped off in this process and become mixed with the now white rice."





A Korean farmer plows his field with an ox and calf in the late 19th or early 20th century. Robert Neff Collection



Allen  as well as many of the missionaries  had notoriously bad teeth and, for the most part, envied his Korean hosts' clean white teeth.



While much has changed since Allen left Korea in 1905, it is still possible to find visages of the past in the countryside. In some places, farmers still dry their crops on the shoulders of roads or small lanes. And, for the unwary and unlucky, small pieces of rocks can still be found in your morning rice.





Winnowing grain or rice in the early 20th century Robert Neff Collection





Cleaning and grinding rice in the late 19th or early 20th century Robert Neff Collection
The concern for an ideal bureaucracy has been widely discussed in the public domain with regards to a particular response that was given by a senior administrative functionary to a young female student from Patna, Bihar. Arguably, the response of the officer in question to the reasonable queries raised by the student was wrapped with multiple inhospitable, if not destructive, emotions such as sarcasm, distaste, and resentment. The public reference to hygienic and contraceptive devices was in complete distaste. One could understand the basis of such a crude response that was wrapped with hostility, which is possibly evident in the argumentative mood and capacity of the student under reference. One might also notice an element of resentment that was discernible in the officers efforts to try and hide the limits and failures of the state. The failure to be tolerant to receive feedback from the female student and to handle her queries seems to have led the officer to deploy the ultimate weapon of nationalism that is widely used these days to douse dissent and to clamp down on rational arguments. In such cases, normative ethics as such are on trial.

The ethics of the elected and appointed officials perform as a vital function for ensuring the credibility of public institutions and restoring the peoples confidence in them. Both these elements refer to the internal principles of the bureaucratic system. These two are also supposed to learn from the external principles that reside in the sensible feedback received from the informed and enlightened public. But this ethical bond between the twothe appointed and the electedseems to have been broken, going by the recent evidence from the strong but strange reaction of one of the top officials whose response, according to media reports, entailed at least three emotions that are subversive of ethics. These are sarcasm, distaste, and resentment.
NATO reaffirms support for Ukraines independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that russian land grab of Ukraines territory is illegal and illegitimate.
Saturday, October 1, 2022

Commentary From Crisis Management Expert Edward Segal, Bestselling Author of the Award-Winning Book "Crisis Ahead: 101 Ways to Prepare for and Bounce Back from Disasters, Scandals, and Other Emergencies" (Nicholas Brealey, 2020)

An important aspect of recovering from a crisis is to quickly determine the extent of the impact, including relevant statistics that quantify any damage.

In the wake of Hurricane Fiona, some numbers are more readily available than others. For example, 80% of the people living in the U.S. territory still don't have power, according to Reuters. But assigning numbers to the economic toll and other damage to companies and organizations will take more time.

When it comes to recovering from a corporate crisis, there is no such thing as providing too much help or making too many resources available. The same is true for large-scale crises, such as the one businesses and people in Puerto Rico are reeling from in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona.

Four days after approving a declaration that there was emergency on the island because of the storm, President Joe Biden yesterday signed a major disaster declaration.

The first document freed up federal resources to support the local response to the hurricane and made low-interest disaster loans from the Small Business Administration available for businesses, nonprofit organizations and residents.

The second declaration directed that federal aid will supplement island-wide and local recovery efforts in the dozens of communities affected by the storm. It also provides assistance to individuals and households such as temporary housing and the restoration of roads and bridges.

Help For Individuals And Business Owners

The assistance "can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster."

"Federal funding is also available to Commonwealth and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for debris removal and emergency protective measures in all 78 municipalities in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico," according to the declaration.

FEMA's federal response framework "is now fully activated and many federal agencies will now step up in the support of the efforts," Clifford Oliver, a former assistant administrator of FEMA, said via email. He is now a principal with Nanticoke Global Strategies.

"Individual assistance and public assistance are now available under this declaration. Being an island, the military will play a significant role in supporting the movement of critical supplies onto the island," Oliver noted.

Assessing Damage And Impact

An important aspect of recovering from a crisis is to quickly determine the extent of the impact, including relevant statistics that quantify any damage.

In the wake of Hurricane Fiona, some numbers are more readily available than others. For example, 80% of the people living in the U.S. territory still don't have power, according to Reuters. But assigning numbers to the economic toll and other damage to companies and organizations will take more time.

"Damage assessments are continuing in other areas, and additional municipalities may be designated for assistance after the assessments are fully completed," Biden's major disaster declaration concluded.

Coordinating Recovery Operations

Besides providing additional resources, Biden designated who should be responsible for ensuring the success of ongoing recovery efforts.

"Thomas J. Fargione has been named the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected areas. Additional designations may be made at a later date," according to the presidential directive.

Fargione is the team leader for FEMA's national incident management team, according to the agency, and works out of their Office of Response and Recovery.

Overcoming Obstacles

Meanwhile, local efforts are continuing to help people and companies get back on their feet. "Power company officials initially said it would take a few days for electricity to be restored, but then appeared to backtrack Tuesday night, saying they faced numerous obstacles," NBC News reported.

"Hurricane Fiona has severely impacted electrical infrastructure and generation facilities throughout the island. We want to make it very clear that efforts to restore and reenergize continue and are being affected by severe flooding, impassable roads, downed trees, deteriorating equipment, and downed lines," according to LUMA, the company that operates power transmission and distribution on Puerto Rico.

LUMA said it is "focused on damage assessment, reenergizing and repairing the grid, and restoring power as quickly and safely as possible. When every customer who was impacted by this devastating hurricane has their power back on, we will be more than available to discuss the progress we've made and the significant challenges we have faced."
Yellowstone County District Court Judge Michael Moses in court (Photo by Darrell Ehrlick of the Daily Montanan).

In a sweeping 199-page ruling, Yellowstone County District Court Judge Michael G. Moses struck down three laws passed by the 2021 Legislature that would have changed voter identification laws, prohibited paid ballot collection and eliminated Election Day registration.

The decision means that unless the case is appealed or stayed by the Montana Supreme Court, Election Day registration will be legal and in place during the 2022 Election, paid ballot collectors can receive ballots and college-issued identification remains legal for primary identification for the election as well.

The decision came after a two-week trial in early August. The legal cost to voters to defend the lawmakers actions has been $1.2 million and counting. And, for one of the laws, it was the third time such legislation has been attempted, challenged and struck down by three different judges.

Moses ruled that Senate Bill House Bill 530, which prohibited paid ballot collectors, has been found repeatedly unconstitutional by Yellowstone County District Judges Jessica Fehr and Donald Harris.

Following these District Court orders holding BIPA (Ballot Interference Prevention Act) unconstitutional, the Secretary presented no evidence that the Legislature considered what was unconstitutional about BIPA or made any effort to craft HB530 to remediate the access issues identified by the court, Moses said in his ruling. To the contrary, the one legislator that the Secretary called to testify at trial stated that he did not study impediments on Native American voters when ballot collection is restricted, did not read the opinions finding BIPA unconstitutional, made no effort to learn why BIPA was held unconstitutional, but nonetheless support HB 530.

Moses ruling found that lawmakers had not corrected legal deficiencies that were found in the previous cases because the new laws disadvantage Native American voters who often live farther away and face numerous obstacles, including no residential mail service. He reasoned that making paid ballot collection illegal harms Native Americans in a way that doesnt tend to disenfranchise other groups.

HB 530 is a solution in search of a problem, Moses said. It furthers no legitimate, let alone compelling, state interest and constitutes a disproportionate, severe, and unconstitutional burden on Plaintiffs constitutional right to vote.

Moreover, Moses additionally ruled that the bills language was so vague and poorly defined that it made it impossible for citizens to understand, therefore inhibiting their fundamental right to core political speech as exercised by voting.

There is no identifiable policy, standard, or rule in HB 530 that informs the administrative rule regarding the meaning of pecuniary benefit, Moses said. He also pointed out to another unclear passage thats a definition of a government agency.

Election Day Registration

The judge also ruled that Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen, who was called upon to defend lawmakers action, had not presented any evidence of voter fraud or widespread problems with Election Day Registration, which had been bumped back by House Bill 176, to the Monday (the day before Election Day) at noon, effectively cutting out 16 hours, or a day-and-a-half of registration and voting.

Moses said that even though the Legislature has the constitutional power to set statewide elections, once it grants privileges, like Election Day Registration, which was adopted in 2005, courts had the ability to review legislative changes. He ruled that the two-week trial presented substantial evidence that Election Day Registration does not lead to higher rates of fraud, doesnt ensure safer or faster elections, and is used by many people such that eliminating it would lead to disenfranchising voters.

Removing one-and-a-half days during which Montanans could register to vote and cast their vote is a severe burden on the right to vote. HB 176 denies Montanans their right to vote for one-and-a-half days during each election cycle. It would be unconstitutional to deny Montanans the right to bear arms for one-and-a-half days. It would be unconstitutional to deny Montanans the right to freedom of religion for one-and-a-half days, he said.

Moses also pointed out that eliminating Election Day Registration doesnt eliminate work or even cut down on the possibility of errors, it just shifts the same work to another time, while having the likely effect of stopping thousands of Montanans from voting.

If EDR leads to additional work for election administrators, it is only because it boosts voter turnout, Moses said. This shift in time will only reduce the burden on election officials if it results in fewer Montanans voting.

Moses said that lawmakers had also failed to consider other ways to shift burdens away from election officials at the county level.

There are myriad ways for the state to reduce administrative burdens on elections officials without the disenfranchising effects of ending EDR, including hiring more poll workers on Election Day, offering simpler or more frequent training to election administrators, and modernizing election equipment, he said.

College or university identification

Finally, Moses held that there was no reason for state lawmakers to eliminate college-issued identification as a primary form of ID for voting. He said adopting Senate Bill 169 put college or university students at a disadvantage if they met the residency requirements, but had no other form of identification. Furthermore, he noted that concealed-carry permits  something lawmakers elevated as identification  are not standardized throughout the state and offer no more security than college IDs.

He also ruled that theres never been a Montana case of voter fraud using a college identification to vote and that lawmakers targeted college students because of the belief that they were more likely to vote for Democrat or liberal candidates, which is not a valid legislative reason for changing the law.

Young voters and voters in all other age groups are otherwise similarly situated, but SB 169s prohibition on out-of-state drivers licenses or Montana college or university IDs  two forms of accepted for years without resulting in a single known instance of fraud or any other problem  disproportionately and disparately burdens young voters, the ruling said. It is no accident that the Legislature passed SB 169 just months after Montanas youngest voters turned out to vote at record rates.

Moses said that the concerns of voter fraud and its attendant penalties are already addressed elsewhere in state law.

There is no evidence of significant or widespread voter fraud in Montana, let alone any fraud that HB 176, SB 169, or HB 530 would remedy, Moses said. Even if there were any evidence of voter fraud or coercion  which there is not, related to EDR, ballot collection, student identification, or otherwise  the challenged laws are not necessary because Montana has several other existing statutes that already criminalize such activities. The Secretary provides no evidence that the existing laws are somehow insufficient to protect against voter fraud or coercion.

The post Judge strikes down three Montana voting laws as unconstitutional appeared first on Daily Montanan.
With 6.5 million annual visitors, the monument to love has been ranked the second best-loved landmark in the world





The travel experts at Bounce have put together a list of the most-loved landmarks in the world after analysing factors such as Instagram posts, annual visitor numbers, entry price and TripAdvisor ratings.



And, happily, our very own Taj Mahal in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, finds itself ranked second in the list of best-loved landmarks across the globe. With 6,532,366 annual visitors, the memorial of love from emperor Shah Jahan for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal is a symbol of our rich history, and a major visitor draw. Google search numbers cross 23 million annually, and the monument grosses a revenue of $ 53.2 million a year.

Here are the top five attractions in the list:



The Niagara Falls, Canada

Ranked first on the list of most-loved landmarks globally, Niagara Falls is located on the border of Canada and the USA. The attraction is free to visit and attracts 11.7 million visitors annually. It enjoys a 5/5 rating on peer-reviewed websites such as TripAdvisor, and the annual Google search volume is about 18,093,000.





- ranked second
In the 10th Century, the Chola dynasty under the rule offaces both internal and external threats. His elder son,who is campaigning against Kanchi, comes to know that a conspiracy is afoot and orders his loyal follower,to get to the bottom of it and warn his parents if it turns out to be true. He also instructs Vallavaraiyan to seek out his younger sister, wholl take the necessary steps to eliminate the threat. Kundavai, in turn, asks him to travel to Sri Lanka, where her other brother, Arulmozhi Varman aka, is campaigning. She hopes that the united might of the brothers would subdue the rebellion. What they dont know is that a group of Pandya soldiers too is after the brothers as they want to avenge the death of their king, Veerapandiyan and that, the wife of Chola treasurertoo has her own agenda against the Cholas.to make this film another Mani Ratnam masterpiece. Hes always been a master manipulator of emotions and he deals his cards perfectly here too.but is shown to be emotionally unstable, pining about lost love and taking decisions that might prove wrong because of it, Nandini is shown to be both hating the Cholas and also shown having a conscience, knowing that history wont treat her kindly. Kundavai is shown to be an astute politician, whose only duty is towards the empire, feelings be damned and, the obedient son for whom the word of his king matters more than a personal survivor. Juxtaposed to all this is Vallavaraiyan, the happy-go-lucky soldier who gets thrown into one extraordinary situation after another, wonder writ large on his face. Hes our reference point to the story, as its his journey we follow. He connects the dots as he meets different factions and helps the viewers form relevant conclusions.and here the master has surpassed all his past efforts. Ravi Varmans deft cinematography lends a poetic grace to each frame. Be it the opening war sequences, Nandinis entry or the sea visuals, everything is picture postcard perfect. The films production design and costumes are spot on as well. Then, the VFX is totally out of this world. The imaginatively shot sea storm sequence, which comes towards the end, is alone worth the price of the ticket.But mere technical wizardry doesnt make a masterpiece. Mani Ratnam has a way of making sure his actors give him their best and hes done it again here. The actors have. Theyre playing legendary figures but have made the legends all too human by lending them insecurities and desires and thus making them relatable to todays audience. Be it Vikram, Jayam Ravi, Trisha, Karthi, or any other member of the cast, not one person has put a foot wrong. And what we see is a joint effort. Its not as if one actor has overshadowed anyone else. Superb casting choices, as well asWatch the film for its visual grandeur,and some sublime acting by the entire cast. The film ends on a cliffhanger climax, leaving us literally on the edge of our seats. We cant wait for the. Please make more historicals Mani sir, and perhaps sci-fi and fantasy too

M Suganth, September 30, 2022, 12:23 PM IST

critic's rating: 3.5/5

Ponniyin Selvan 1 Synopsis: The Chola kingdom is under threat from forces both internal and external, and with crown prince Aaditha Karikalan, his younger brother Arunmozhi Varman and the emperor, Sundara Cholar separated by situations, it is up to a messenger to ensure the safety of the kingdom. Can he succeed in his mission, especially with Karikalan's former girlfriend, Nandhini, plotting to bring down the entire Chola empire?



Ponniyin Selvan 1 Review: Kalki's Ponniyin Selvan is a sprawling epic that has so far remained elusive to film for many a Tamil filmmaker, and Mani Ratnam finally brings the dream alive with this spectacular adaptation that superbly captures the intrigue, thrills and page-turning quality of the books. In this first of a two-part franchise, the director and his writers  Jeyamohan and Ilango Kumaravel  rise up to the challenge. The manner in which they have condensed the novel is admirable, with the changes  like Kundhavai storming into a secret discussion, the introduction of Ponniyin Selvan's mysterious saviour - adding to the momentum of the narrative. Jeyamohan's dialogues are especially a highlight as he uses language that is both classical and colloquial without making it seem odd.

The film does have a shaky start, with the director taking his time to set up the plot. Crown prince Aaditha Karikalan (Vikram) entrusts his friend Vandhiyathevan (Karthi) to deliver a message to his father and emperor Sundara Cholar (Prakash Raj) and sister, princess Kunthavai (Trisha) on the threats that the kingdom is facing. The schemers include Periya Pazhuvettarayar (Sarath Kumar) and Chinna Pazhuvettarayar (Radhakrishnan Parthiban), the empire's finance minister and commander, the numerous kings who have sworn fealty to the emperor, the remaining forces of the vanquished Pandya king and most importantly, Nandhini (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan), Karikalan's former lover and the wife of Periya Pazhuvettarayar, who is determined to bring the entire Chola empire down for reasons of her own.



These portions, which inevitably have a bit of exposition given the nature of the plot, have rather jerky transitions as we are introduced to the numerous players in the plot and the history between them. There are times when we feel too many events being crammed up in a short time, which might make it hard for those who haven't read the books, to follow the plot. The swift character introductions also mean that we are already on to the next character before we have fully grasped the motives of the one we have just been introduced to.



But then, the film starts settling down and by the time we reach the intermission point (the ghost from the last that haunts Karikalan), we find ourselves engrossed in this narrative involving palace intrigue. And when the action shifts to Sri Lanka, where Karikalan's younger brother, Arunmozhi Varman (Jayam Ravi), the titular Ponniyin Selvan, is trying to capture the king of the land, the pace quickens and the film races towards the end, with nail-biting sequences involving the slain Pandya king's personal guards  who land there to kill Arunmozhi  and the director sets up the sequel on a high note, with a swashbuckling stunt on a ship on the stormy sea.



The casting is more or less spot on. Karthi is terrific as the playful Vandhiyathevan, and along with Jayaram, who plays the spy Alwarkadiyan, infuses humour into the largely serious proceedings. Aishwarya captures the spirit of Nandhini with her beguiling looks, while Vikram, Jayam Ravi and Trisha are effective as the royalty. The frames have grandeur, but unlike in the Baahubali films, here, it is more understated. Shooting largely on real locations, cinematographer Ravi Varman gives us spectacle in the visuals of grand fort walls, the spacious halls with multiple pillars and high ceilings, a solitary boat on a wide expanse of the ocean and innumerable bodies lined up on the beach. While AR Rahman's chopped-up songs are mainly used to further the narrative, his score helps in lending a rousing quality to the proceedings in the second half.





Also See: Ponniyin Selvan 1 movie review and box office collection LIVE updates


Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2022) - Idaho Champion (CSE: ITKO) (OTCQB: GLDRF) (FSE: 1QB1) ("Idaho Champion" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has closed the first tranche of its recently announced private placement offering. As part of the closing of the first tranche, the Company issued 11,700,000 shares for gross proceeds of $585,000*.

*All amounts expressed are in Canadian dollars.

Idaho Champion opened a non-brokered private placement of up to 20,000,000 units at a price of $0.05 per unit for gross proceeds of up to $1,000,000. Each unit will consist of one (1) common share. The proceeds of the financing will be used for the acquisition of the two prospective lithium pegmatite projects in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay territory of Quebec, preliminary field work on the Projects and for general working capital purposes.

Completion of the private placement remains subject to the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE").

The participation by the director of the Company in the financing constitutes a "related party transaction" pursuant to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company intends to rely on the exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 contained in Section 5.5(b) and Section 5.7(1)(b) of MI 61-101, respectively, on the basis that (i) no securities of the Company are listed or quoted on any of the markets specified in Section 5.5(b) of MI 61-101 and (ii) the fair market value of the securities issued to related parties pursuant to the financing does not exceed $2,500,000, along with the other applicable circumstances contained in section 5.7(1)(b) of MI 61-101.

In accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws, all securities issued pursuant to the private placement with be legended with a hold period of four months and one day from the date of issuance.

About Idaho Champion Gold Mines Inc.

Idaho Champion is a discovery-focused exploration company that is committed to advancing its highly prospective mineral properties located in Idaho, United States and shortly, Quebec, Canada. The Company's shares trade on the CSE under the trading symbol "ITKO", on the OTCQB under the trading symbol "GLDRF", and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol "1QB1". Idaho Champion is vested in Idaho with four cobalt properties in Lemhi County in the Idaho Cobalt Belt. In addition, the Company has been advancing the Baner gold project in Idaho County and the Champagne polymetallic project located in Butte County near Arco. Idaho Champion strives to be a responsible environmental steward, stakeholder and contributing citizen to the local communities where it operates. Idaho Champion takes its social license seriously, employing local community members and service providers at its operations whenever possible.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF IDAHO CHAMPION

"Jonathan Buick"

Jonathan Buick, President and CEO

For further information, please visit the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com or the Company's corporate website at www.idahochamp.com.

For further information, please contact:

Nicholas Konkin, Marketing and Communications, Idaho Champion

Phone: (416) 567- 9087

Email: nkonkin@idahochamp.com

THIS PRESS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY ANY SECURITIES IN ANY JURISDICTION, NOR SHALL THERE BE ANY OFFER, SALE, OR SOLICITATION OF SECURITIES IN ANY STATE IN THE UNITED STATES IN WHICH SUCH OFFER, SALE, OR SOLICITATION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL.

Cautionary Statements

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulation services provider has reviewed or accepted responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release This press release may include forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, concerning the business of the Company. Forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the management of the Company, including suggested strike extension. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based on are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws.

NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/139164
Courtesy of David Tizzard



By David Tizzard




The company helps small businesses design stunning websites regardless of their financial situation.

Orlando, Florida--(Newsfile Corp. - October 1, 2022) - The eminent U.S based company TOLS Multimedia, a full-service digital marketing agency, helps businesses design stunning websites even if they can't afford their services at the moment. They offer in-house financing schemes at low interest This helps them create aesthetically stunning websites, add a ton of value in terms of branding, and help improve the conversions on the website.

The specifications of the project determine the structure of the plan with entrepreneurs having to pay the cost over 12 months. The company requires that the business has been operational for over a year. The project minimum project amount is $2000 with interest-free payment plans for up to 6 months. The company only charges 1% interest on the outstanding balance monthly after that.

TOLS Multimedia has a talented team at the helm of affairs, who dive deep to understand the target audience of their clients. The company believes that research is a vital element of web design and finds the right combination of design and functionality to deliver excellence.

A spokesperson for the company added: "Our team knows that the economy is very rough and many entrepreneurs are struggling. That is why our low financing scheme can make a difference. Entrepreneurs get access to a team that helps them improve the user experience which will improve their bottom line. Our in-house financing plan is a reflection of how we feel about every person who contacts us. We want all our clients to be as profitable as possible."

Their team consists of leading experts in domains such as web development, social media development, as well as search engine optimization. The company follows the best practices in the industry to deliver world-class websites that are perfectly optimized to consistently bring in the traffic people need to grow their operations and their brand's reputation.

People interested in availing of their services can contact them using the information mentioned below.

About the Company

TOLS Multimedia is a leading digital marketing agency that helps businesses design stunning websites that are designed to meet the needs of their customers without compromising on the website's functionality. Their team has a reputation for going out of their way to understand their customer's needs and meet their expectations.

Media Contact:

Chiara Accardi

TOLS Multimedia

33 E Robinson St #104 Orlando, FL 32801, USA

Phone: 407-603-7223

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/138843
San Francisco, California--(Newsfile Corp. - October 1, 2022) - FlipX launches an innovative all-in-one technology platform that makes flipping houses easier than ever before.





FlipX Company Logo



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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"FlipX was created with the mission of empowering everyday people to pursue their financial goals through real estate investing without the barrier to entry," said FlipX founder Zack Davis. "We are excited to offer a done for you process and technology that makes the entire process simple and convenient for our users."





FlipX Platform Image



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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FlipX is a real estate platform and done for you solution that helps new and experienced investors buy, renovate, sell, or refinance single-family homes from any location - Simply, from your device.

FlipX understands that capital is often the biggest obstacle to growing a real estate investing business. Which is why they offer fully transparent, competitive services to purchase or refinance single-family real estate. Please visit flipx.io for further information on the services provided.

FlipX also offers a complete renovation concierge service, handling everything from start to finish so that users can focus on other things. Their construction infrastructure provides the expertise and efficiency to complete projects with quality and speed. An account specialist will oversee every project while providing regular updates through the process.

FlipX takes the hassle out of selling a home. Their experienced listing agents will clean, stage, and list the home, then market it to potential buyers. Throughout the process, customers are kept up to date on all offers and developments until the home is sold.

"I have seen countless investors enter the market with hopes and dreams of becoming successful fix and flip investors. Unfortunately, flipping homes is demanding and challenging to scale, and many quit because of the time it requires and its complexity. Even successful investors struggle to scale their businesses beyond their immediate location," said Zack. "I wanted to eliminate the need for accumulating the knowledge and skills required to flip homes and all of the headaches associated with renovations. Now, new and experienced investors can start and scale their business from any location, with a reliable source of capital and trusted boots on the ground."

For more information, visit flipx.io

About FlipX

FlipX is the premier end-to-end real estate platform that helps new and experienced investors buy, renovate and sell single-family homes seamlessly from any location. Our integrated tech + done-for-you services provide visibility, scalability and peace of mind.

For media inquiries, contact details below:

Name: Zack Davis

Company Name: FlipX

Website: https://www.flipx.io/

Email: zack@flipx.io

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/138883
EQS Post-admission Duties announcement: Adtran Holdings, Inc. / Third country release according to Article 50 Para. 1, No. 2 of the WpHG [the German Securities Trading Act] Adtran Holdings, Inc.: Release according to Article 50 of the WpHG [the German Securities Trading Act] with the objective of Europe-wide distribution 01.10.2022 / 20:06 CET/CEST Dissemination of a Post-admission Duties announcement according to Article 50 Para. 1, No. 2 WpHG transmitted by EQS - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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.
From left, Moscow-appointed head of Kherson Region Vladimir Saldo, Moscow-appointed head of Zaporizhzhia region Yevgeny Balitsky, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Denis Pushilin, leader of self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Leonid Pasechnik, leader of self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic pose for a photo during a ceremony to sign the treaties for four regions of Ukraine to join Russia, at the Kremlin in Moscow, Sept. 30. AP-Yonhap



Russian President Vladimir Putin signed treaties Friday to illegally annex more occupied Ukrainian territory in a sharp escalation of his war. Ukraine's president countered with a surprise application to join the NATO military alliance.



Putin's land-grab and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's signing of what he said is an ''accelerated'' NATO membership application sent the two leaders speeding faster on a collision course that is cranking up fears of a full-blown conflict between Russia and the West.



Putin vowed to protect newly annexed regions of Ukraine by ''all available means,'' a renewed nuclear-backed threat he made at a Kremlin signing ceremony where he also railed furiously against the West, accusing the United States and its allies of seeking Russia's destruction.



Zelenskyy then held his own signing ceremony in Kyiv, releasing video of him putting pen to papers he said were a formal NATO membership request.



Putin has repeatedly made clear that any prospect of Ukraine joining the military alliance is one of his red lines and cited it as a justification for his invasion, now in its eighth month, in Europe's biggest land war since World War II.



In his speech, Putin urged Ukraine to sit down for peace talks but insisted he won't discuss handing back occupied regions. Zelenskyy said there'd be no negotiations with Putin.



"We are ready for a dialogue with Russia, but with another president of Russia," the Ukrainian leader said.



At his signing ceremony in the Kremlin's ornate St. George's Hall, Putin accused the West of fueling the hostilities to turn Russia into a ''colony'' and a ''crowd of soulless slaves.'' The hardening of his position, in the conflict that has killed and wounded tens of thousands of people, further raised tensions already at levels unseen since the Cold War.



Global leaders, including those from the Group of Seven leading economies, responded with an avalanche of condemnation. The U.S. and the U.K. announced more sanctions.



U.S. President Joe Biden said of Putin's annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions: ''Make no mistake: These actions have no legitimacy.''



''America and its allies are not going to be intimidated by Putin and his reckless words and threats,'' Biden added, noting that the Russian leader ''can't seize his neighbor's territory and get away with it.''



The European Union said its 27 member states will never recognize the illegal referendums that Russia organized ''as a pretext for this further violation of Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.''





People watch a large screen at the Kremlin in Moscow, as Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech after a ceremony to sign the treaties for four regions of Ukraine to join Russia, during a meeting in Sevastopol, Crimea, Sept. 30. AP-Yonhap



Russia vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution Friday that would have condemned the referendums, declared that they have no validity and urged all countries not to recognize the annexation. China, India, Brazil and Gabon abstained on the vote in the 15-member council.



NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called it ''the largest attempted annexation of European territory by force since the Second World War.''



The war is at ''a pivotal moment,'' he said, and Putin's decision to annex more territory - Russia now claims sovereignty over 15% of Ukraine - marks ''the most serious escalation since the start of the war.'' Stoltenberg was noncommittal on Zelenskyy's fast-track NATO application, saying alliance leaders ''support Ukraine's right to choose its own path, to decide what kind of security arrangements it wants to be part of.''



Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia's Security Council, said Zelenskyy's move toward the military alliance amounts to ''begging NATO to accelerate the start of World War III.''



Zelenskyy vowed to keep fighting, defying Putin's warnings that Kyiv shouldn't try to recapture what it has lost.









''The entire territory of our country will be liberated from this enemy,'' he said. ''Russia already knows this. It feels our power.''



The immediate ramifications of the ''accelerated'' NATO application weren't clear, since approval requires members' unanimous support. The supply of Western weapons to Ukraine has, however, already put it closer to the alliance's orbit.



''De facto, we have already proven compatibility with alliance standards,'' Zelenskyy said. ''We trust each other, we help each other, and we protect each other.''



The Kremlin ceremony came three days after the completion in the occupied regions of Moscow-orchestrated ''referendums'' on joining Russia that Kyiv and the West dismissed as a blatant land grab held at gunpoint and based on lies. In his fiery speech, Putin insisted Ukraine treat the votes ''with respect.''



As the ceremony concluded, the Moscow-installed leaders of the occupied regions gathered around Putin, linked hands and chanted ''Russia! Russia!'' with the audience.



Putin cut an angry figure as he accused the United States and its allies of seeking to destroy Russia. He said the West acted ''as a parasite'' and used its financial and technological strength ''to rob the entire world.''



He portrayed Russia as pursuing a historical mission to reclaim its post-Soviet great power status and counter Western domination he said is collapsing.



''History has called us to a battlefield to fight for our people, for the grand historic Russia, for future generations,'' he said.





In this photo released by Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy leads a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sept. 30. AP-Yonhap
Dae Gee Korean BBQ Signs Franchise Agreement to Develop First South Dakota Restaurant in Sioux Falls

September 29, 2022 // Franchising.com // DENVER - Dae Gee Korean BBQ announced today the execution of its first franchise agreement in South Dakota for a single unit in Sioux Falls.

The agreement has been signed with local entrepreneur Johnny Phung, who currently owns two Envy Nail Salons in the area. Though a lease has yet to be signed, Phung expects to open his Dae Gee restaurant early next year on the Eastside of town.

In my search, Dae Gees dynamic food and exceptional dining experience jumped out at me, said Phung. With a complexity of different flavors and cuisine largely comprised of proteins, vegetables, grains and assorted spices, Korean food is a great choice for the health-conscious and clean-eating consumer. Im eager to bring a different flavor, variety and overall dining experience to Sioux Falls.

Founded in 2012, Dae Gees rise in popularity began in 2015, when the chain was featured on restaurateur Guy Fieris long-running food reality television series, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives."

Today, Dae Gee, meaning "pig" in Korean, exposes customers to an interactive experience that allows them to cook their own meat on grill tops at their tables when they dine. Customers have the option to choose from a variety of traditional Korean meats like Galbee (Beef Shot Ribs), Sam Gyeob Sal (Sliced Pork Belly) and Dak Bulgogi (Chicken), which are marinated in DAE GEEs secret marinade. Each choice meat, as well as fish and vegetarian options, can be enjoyed in a bowl, hot stone pot, or tucked inside lettuce and eaten as a wrap. Entrees can be piled high with your choice of side or mixings, including rice, fresh slaw, spicy sauce and a variety of nine side dishes, such as kimchee, broccoli, radish and fish cakes.

Dae Gee lights up your senses and enriches the full human experience, added Phung. From generations of recipes passed down, Dae Gee leaves its customers well fed with culture, humor, and top quality home recipe style Korean food.

"Were thrilled to welcome Johnny to the Dae Gee family and look forward to opening our first South Dakota restaurant," said Kim.

SOURCE Dae Gee Korean BBQ

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Handout photo released by the Galapagos Ecologic Airport of some of 185 baby giant tortoises wrapped in plastic, after being seized in a suitcase at the airport in Puerto Ayora, Galapagos, Ecuador, on March 28, 2021. AFP-Yonhap



Three people were sentenced by an Ecuadoran court Friday to a year in prison for trafficking 84 giant tortoises and five golden iguanas from the Galapagos, a fragile ecosystem registered as a Natural World Heritage site.



The defendants pleaded guilty and were also fined $29,000, the national prosecutor's office said in a statement.



The trio were arrested in June when the Ecuadoran Navy boarded the boat in which they were traveling and found five bags filled with the golden land iguanas and nine boxes containing the San Cristobal giant tortoises, seven of which were dead.





A marine iguana suns itself on the edge of a boardwalk in San Cristobal, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador on May 2, 2020. AP-Yonhap
Candles and pictures of Mahsa Amini are placed at a memorial during a candlelight vigil for Mahsa Amini who died in custody of Iran's morality police, in Los Angeles, California, Sept. 29. AFP-Yonhap



Iranians based abroad and their supporters gathered in cities around the world Saturday in solidarity with protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country's notorious morality police.



A wave of street violence has rocked Iran since Amini, 22, died days after her arrest by the morality police for allegedly failing to observe the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women.



Protests were held across Iran for a 15th consecutive night on Friday, despite a bloody crackdown that a rights group says has claimed more than 80 lives.



"Woman, life, freedom" and "Death to the dictator", they chanted in the streets of Amini's hometown of Saqqez, in Kurdistan province.



Riot police massed Saturday at major intersections in Tehran, amid reports of demonstrations at universities to seek the release of arrested students.



The 1500tasvir social media channel shared video footage of large demonstrations in the capital, as well as the shrine city of Mashhad and Kermanshah in the west.



Demonstrations in support of the movement are being held meanwhile in 159 cities across the globe  from Auckland to New York and Seoul to Zurich, according to the Iranians for Justice and Human Rights group.



"Be our voice," was the catchcry of a protest in the eastern Australian city of Brisbane, where organizers said thousands from the Iranian diaspora demanded freedoms in their homeland.



In Tokyo, demonstrators waved pictures of Amini and other women who defiantly burned their headscarves and cut their hair during the Iranian protests.





Protesters participate in a global day of action for Iran in Sydney, Australia, Oct. 1. EPA-Yonhap



Arrest of foreigners



The protests flared in Iran on September 16, when Amini was pronounced dead three days after falling into a coma following her arrest.



Oslo-based Iran Human Rights group says at least 83 people have been killed in the crackdown. Amnesty International says it has confirmed 52 fatalities, while Iran's Fars news agency has put the death toll at "around 60".



It is the bloodiest unrest in Iran since a ruthless crackdown on demonstrations in November 2019 over a sudden hike in fuel prices which killed at least 304 people, according to Amnesty.



Security forces used live ammunition and tear gas on Friday to try to disperse demonstrations in various cities and towns across the country.



Iran's intelligence ministry said "nine foreign nationals", including from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland, were arrested "at or behind the scene of riots", along with 256 members of outlawed opposition groups.



Unrest also erupted on Friday in Iran's southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan.



The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said two of its colonels were killed, bringing the overall toll to 20 dead during the clashes in which three police stations were attacked.





Hundreds gather for the Iranian American Women Foundation's candlelight vigil for Mahsa Amini at West Hollywood Park in West Hollywood, California, Sept. 29. UPI-Yonhap
ORANGE, Calif., Sept. 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Throughout the month of October, select Valvoline Instant Oil Change (VIOC) locations will offer customers an opportunity to round up their change to support the American Cancer Society (ACS) and its Road To Recovery program, helping patients get to their potentially life-saving cancer treatment.



Using the theme #DONTPUTITOFF! for the entire month of October Valvoline Instant Oil Change (VIOC) is reminding people that, just like maintaining fluids in their vehicle prevents major repairs, getting recommended cancer screenings does the same for the body. Screening can detect certain changes before cancer develops, or can catch some cancers early, when they may be easier to treat.

According to annual statistics reported by the American Cancer Society, there has been a 32% decline in the cancer death rate for men and women since 1991. One contributing factor to the success of this decline is prevention and/or early detection through screening for some cancers, including breast, cervix, colon, prostate, rectum, and lung. The risk of death from cancer dropped by about 2% in recent years compared to 1% a year during the 1990s. Accelerating declines in the cancer death rate show the power of prevention, screening, early diagnosis, treatment, and the overall potential to move closer to a world without cancer.

Through the month of October, VIOC customers will be asked to make donations by rounding-up their invoice at participating VIOC locations in CA, DE, FL, MD, and VA to raise much needed dollars for ACS. A complete list can be found on ValvolineFightsCancer.com. Through different fundraising efforts and events, VIOC has been able to raise over $383,300 for the American Cancer Society since 2017.

We are excited at the opportunity to once again partner with the American Cancer Society. They are a wonderful organization on the front lines of fighting cancer, both locally and nationally, says William Smelley, Vice President of Marketing for the VIOC franchisee.

Regular screenings increase the chances of finding cancer in its earliest stages, and in some cases, even preventing it. Thanks to VIOCs ongoing generosity and support, more lives will be saved, said Lisa Dulyea, Director, Corporate Relations for the American Cancer Society.

To help raise additional funds for the American Cancer Society, download a coupon and find participating Valvoline Instant Oil Change locations at ValvolineFightsCancer.com. For every coupon redeemed, Valvoline Instant Oil Change will donate $5. For information any time on cancer, call (800) 227-2345 or visit cancer.org.

About Valvoline Instant Oil Change

Valvoline Inc. (NYSE: VVV) is a leading worldwide marketer and supplier of premium branded lubricants and automotive services, with sales in more than 140 countries. It operates and franchises approximately 1,400 quick-lube locations, and is the No. 2 chain by number of stores in the United States under the Valvoline Instant Oil Change brand. To learn more, visit www.valvoline.com.

About Henley Enterprises, Inc.

Founded in 1989, Henley Enterprises, Inc. is the largest Valvoline Instant Oil Change franchisee. They operate more than 230 quick-lube service centers in 9 states including: California, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Virginia.

About the American Cancer Society

The American Cancer Society is on a mission to free the world from cancer. We invest in lifesaving research, provide 24/7 information and support, and work to ensure that individuals in every community have access to cancer prevention, detection, and treatment. For more information, visit cancer.org.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
- Patented technology poised to potentially offer cost-effective claystone solution

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Clear Sky Lithium Corp. (CSE: POWR) (FRA: K4A / WKN: A3DM2W) (OTC: CSKYF) (Clear Sky or the Company), a mineral exploration and development company focused on American lithium deposits to support domestic demand, has initiated a newly formed research collaboration as part of its ongoing strategic plans to advance innovative, cost-effective, and clean lithium extraction and processing technologies.

Clear Sky has engaged with California-based MDS Technical Corp. (MDS) for the development and testing of a patented membrane extraction technology tailored to lithium bearing claystones. Originally formed in 1980 as a Joint Venture between Brown Bavari Corporation (BBC) of Zurich, Switzerland, and Desalination Systems (DSI) of Escondido, California the company has developed numerous applications for membrane technology from concept to full size plant installation.

Company CEO, Patrick Morris, comments, We look forward to working with Larry and his team at MDS on this disruptive technology. As our team of advisors and consultants grows, our goal is to develop an efficient means to process our material from raw claystone lithium into a finished saleable product. This potential process could unlock the full value of our claystone projects.

Given the advanced state of the MDS technology, combined with the previous successes they have enjoyed in the mining sector, we believe we can quickly undertake a bench test to validate the potential, and initiate a pathway towards a scalable pilot study, Morris continues, If successful, a cost-effective extraction process using the membrane technology could prove beneficial for Clear Sky. As always, we are focused on developing asset value on behalf of our team, our partners, and our shareholders alike.

MDS brings over 40 years of developing solutions that have spread across almost every continent. Led by Larry Lien, the company has a proven track record of developing solutions to highly complex challenges. MDS has provided solutions to a number of industries such as wastewater management, oil & gas, mining, and metals processing sectors. With the heightened interest in lithium mining, and specifically the potential for domestic claystone production, MDS has developed key solutions utilizing its patented processes for the extraction and processing of lithium from clays present in salars, hectorite clay, and hard rock pegmatites.

Processing claystone-based lithium has historically proven challenging. While more than 50% of the undeveloped US lithium projects with established resources are clay associatedi, none of them have reached commercial production. As part of Clear Skys commitment to becoming a premier American developer of lithium for the US supply chain, the Company is diligently investigating processing solutions aimed at advancing its mineral assets towards development-stage and ultimately commercial-stage activities.

The proposed bench scale studies are currently scheduled to commence in Q4 of this year and will utilize analyzed and verified samples from Clear Skys Nevada holdings and the resulting laboratory analysis will be utilized as the basis to determine the viability of a development program based upon the MDS technology.

Clear Sky Lithium advises the public that as part of its disclosure obligations as a public issuer, all material and regulatory filings can be found on www.sedar.com. We also invite the public to visit our website at www.clearskylithium.com and to sign up to our news alerts to be advised of future news releases and related company information. Please also ensure you watch our video which is available on the website.

On Behalf of The Board of Directors,

Sincerely,

~Patrick Morris~

Patrick Morris

Chief Executive Officer

Clear Sky Lithium Corp.

www.clearskylithium.com

About Clear Sky Lithium Corp. (CSE: POWR) (FRA: K4A / WKN: A3DM2W) (OTC: CSKYF)

Clear Sky Lithium is an exploration and development company dedicated to the advancement of North American lithium deposits to support domestic demand. The Company holds interests on the Halo and Eli properties in Nevada. The Company is also focusing on the development of claystone extraction and processing technologies aimed at delivering scalable efficiencies across the value chain in a sustainable manner. Find out more visit www.clearskylithium.com and watch our video.

Notes

i Source  S&P database, Q1-2022

Forward Looking Information Disclaimer

This news release contains statements and information that, to the extent that they are not historical fact, may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information may include financial and other projections, as well as statements regarding future plans, objectives, or economic performance, or the assumption underlying any of the foregoing. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as may, would, could, will, likely, except, anticipate, believe, intend, plan, forecast, project, estimate, outlook, or the negative thereof or other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. Examples of such statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the potential results of the bench test to be performed by MDS, the ability of the Company to find a cost-effective method to extract lithium from claystone, and the timing of the bench test to be undertaken by MDS.

Forward-looking information is based on the assumptions, estimates, analysis, and opinions of management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, but which may prove to be incorrect. The material factors and assumptions used to develop the forward-looking information contained in this news release include, but are not limited to, key personnel and qualified employees continuing their involvement with the Company; the Companys ability to secure additional financing on reasonable terms; the competitive conditions of the sector in which the Company operates; and laws and any amendments thereto applicable to the Company.

Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information, including, without limitation, risks relating to the future business plans of the Company; risks that the Company will not be able to retain its key personnel; risks that the Company will not be able to secure financing on reasonable terms or at all, as well as all of the other risks as described in the Companys final long form prospectus dated May 31, 2022, under the heading Risks Factors. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking information. Further, any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Companys management to predict all such factors and to assess in advance the impact of each such factor on the Companys business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking information to reflect information or events after the date on which it is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law, including securities laws.

The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither the CSE nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Clear Sky Lithium Corp.

Investor Relations

Email: info@clearskylithium.com

Telephone: +1 (778) 383-7240
SHERMAN OAKS, CA, Sept. 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire  Petroteq Energy Inc. ("Petroteq" or the "Company") (TSXV:PQE) (OTC PINK:PQEFF) (FSE:PQCF), an oil company focused on the development and implementation of its proprietary oil extraction and remediation technologies provides the following update from its New Chief Executive Officer.



Petroteq has developed a proprietary technology to extract oil from its reserves in Utah, and has demonstrated in pilot projects the viability of its patented technology (CORT) to extract and produce oil at substantially lower cost comparable to conventional oil reservoir production, and to deliver a high quality product, while alleviating an environmental impact. The Company's facility has been designed to operate at 500 barrels per day and the Company has designed the next generation oil sands plant with 5,000 barrels per day capacity.

I am pleased to have the opportunity to lead our dedicated team of professionals at Petroteq Energy. We have a vision to deliver our eco-friendly technology to the broader international oil and gas Industry starting in North America. Our vision is daring, and perhaps even unprecedented, yet its consistent with our long-term commitment and track record that includes our operational, technical, and financial accomplishments as well as our commitment to governing ourselves in a manner that also drives environmental and social impact.

Petroteq has been working diligently, and I would like to take this opportunity to recap and further update you on the companys operational progress. It is our commitment to place the Company on sound financial footing to successfully pursue the companys goals, stated Mr. Miles.

Operational Update

As we have expressed in the past, our team remains focused on three near term objectives:

We have successfully deployed a 500 BPD pilot plant in Utah, collected fundamental data and sold extracted oil commercially. This has permitted us to further commercially develop our eco-friendly enhanced oil recovery technology (CORT) program and improve primary field production in our licensed territories in Utah;

Our immediate objective is to fully upgrade and enhance operations at our Asphalt Ridge NW facility, with a vision of 500 BPD continuous production that will lead our company towards the first step of profitability;

We have licensed our CORT technology to several companies;



- Greenfield Energy LLC, $2,000,000 USD+5% Production Royalty, fully paid

- NetOil Corporation, $6,000,000 USD+5% Production Royalty (2 licenses)

- Cantone Asset Management, LLC $2,000,000 USD+5% Production Royalty

- Petroleum Capital Funding, LP $2,000,000 USD+5% Production Royalty

- Big Sky Resources LLC, $2,000,000+5% Production Royalty

and we will continue to pursue the opportunity to integrate our process at multiple oil sands sites both domestically and internationally.

We are extremely optimistic in deriving additional value from our vast acreage in Utah, as we believe we have the ability to construct multiple oil extraction plants with capacity ranging between 5,000-10,000 BPD, thus representing an enormous opportunity for us to further evidence the value of our technology and to drive our financial performance.

Reserve and Economic Evaluation Report on the Asphalt Ridge NW Leases

Reserve and economic evaluation report (the "Report") which defines bitumen reserves on the bitumen properties covered by three Utah state mineral leases located in the Asphalt Ridge Northwest area of Uintah County, Utah (the "Asphalt Ridge NW Leases").

The Company's acquisition of the Asphalt Ridge NW Leases has been completed. As disclosed in its news release dated November 29, 2021 and described in more detail in its most recent annual report on Form 10-K, Petroteq, acting through its subsidiaries, Petroteq Oil Sands Recovery, LLC ("POSR") and TMC Capital, LLC ("TMC Capital"), has entered into an agreement with Valkor Energy Holdings, LLC ("Valkor") dated October 15, 2021 (the "Exchange Agreement"), under which (a) TMC Capital/POSR agreed to assign to Valkor all of their respective rights and interests in the certain oil sands leases collectively referred to as the "Temple Mountain Leases", and (b) Valkor agreed to assign to TMC Capital all of its rights and interests in the Asphalt Ridge NW Leases, which cover or encompass approximately 3,458.22 acres.

The Report was prepared by Chapman Petroleum Engineering Ltd. ("Chapman") of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, an independent qualified reserves evaluator, with an effective date of November 30, 2021. Chapman Petroleum Engineering has been working with Petroteq for a number of years on engineering and resource matters, and is very familiar with the Company's operations. Portions of the Report (the "Canadian Evaluation") were prepared in accordance with definitions, standards, and procedures contained in the Canadian Oil and Gas Evaluation Handbook ("COGE Handbook") and National Instrument 51-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities ("NI 51-101"). Portions of the Report (the "US Evaluation") were also prepared in accordance with Rule 4-10(a) of Regulation S-X, as adopted by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Both the Canadian Evaluation and US Evaluation were calculated in United States dollars.

Canadian Evaluation:

26 million stock tank barrels ("MMSTB") of Proved Undeveloped bitumen reserves

82 MMSTB of Proved Plus Probable Undeveloped bitumen reserves

US$265 million before-tax net present value ("NPV") of future net revenue for Proved Undeveloped bitumen reserves, discounted at 10%

US$1,017 million before-tax NPV of future net revenue for Proved Plus Probable Undeveloped bitumen reserves, discounted at 10%

US Evaluation:

Proved Undeveloped valuation US$213 million at 10% discount (BIT)

Proved Plus Probable valuation US$790 million at 10% discount (BIT)

The bitumen reserves for the Asphalt Ridge NW Leases were evaluated using Chapman forecast pricing as of December 1, 2021. The NPV is prior to provision for interest, debt service charges, and general and administrative expenses. It should not be assumed that the NPV of future net revenue estimated by Chapman in the Report represents the fair market value of the reserves.

The difference between the Canadian Evaluation and the US Evaluation is the oil price used, which under the Canadian Standards price forecasts are the norm compared to the SEC Standards where a specified procedure is used to determine the appropriate Constant price for the project life. Accordingly, the Canadian evaluation uses escalated operating and capital costs, and the US evaluation does not. All other technical factors in the report are identical for the Canadian and US evaluations

Peak Value IP, LLC Valuation of Company's Intellectual Property (IP)



Petroteq's Technology is considered a "clean technology" and is an environmentally safe and sustainable technology. While the Technology is applicable to both "water-wet" (Canada) and "hydrocarbon wet" (Utah) oils sands sediments, deposits and materials, the technology does not utilize water in its processing operations and thus there is no requirement to build and manage large tailings ponds, wastewater treatment, disposal systems and facilities. The proprietary solvents utilized in the operations of the technology are generally fully recovered and recycled, thus substantially mitigating environmental impact.

Peak Value IP's valuation study of Petroteq's CORT indicated a fair market value (FMV) ranging from $229 Million to $326 Million. The analysis of investment value (IV) ranging from $598 Million to $850 Million. The analysis has also considered a proposed production facility to be operated in Utah that will produce 5,000 BPD. The valuation also encompasses the value of the separated sand as salable to third parties, providing additional value to the IP beyond the market of oil. The deployment of the IP into multiple oil sand fields is a critical milestone in achieving Petroteq's goals for IP adoption.

Economic Evaluation of Sands By-Product from Oil Extraction



The completion of a third-party economic evaluation report dated February 10, 2022 (the "Report") in relation to sands anticipated to be produced as by-products of petroleum products from oil sands at the Asphalt Ridge NW Leases in Uintah County, Utah. The Report was prepared by Broadlands Minerals Advisory Services Ltd. ("Broadlands"), a U.S. based, independent mineral advisory company, with input from Q4 Impact Group, LLC ("Q4 Impact"), under engagement to Broadlands, on markets and prices for the sand products.

The Report is premised on the completion by Petroteq of an extraction plant capable of producing 5,000 barrels of high-grade oil per day (bpd) on what is referred to in the Report as the "Indago Lease," which consists of approximately 3,458 acres of oil sands leases that the Company recently acquired from Valkor, LLC in exchange for the Company's Temple Mountain Leases.

The cash flow analysis was run on a pre-income tax basis, at discount rates of 0.0, 7.5 and 15 percent; the results show potential economic benefit in the base case of a Net Present Value (NPV) of $1,285, $602, and $341 million, respectively. The base case cash flow used a selling price of $40 per ton for the unprocessed dry, clean by-product sand. Q4 Impact provided market sale price analysis to arrive at a reasonable selling price for the cash flow forecast. Broadlands notes the economic model and base case numbers may not be realized due to market factors.

Kahuna Ventures LLC, Independent Third-Party Engineering Report



Kahuna Ventures LLC ("Kahuna") has reviewed operating data, process simulation data, and the Front-End Engineering and Design ("FEED") study for the purposes of a third-party technical evaluation. This FEED encompasses a production train capable of processing 5,000 BPD from mined oil sands ore. The Company anticipates that this FEED can become the starting basis for future 5,000 BPD train designs for use in Utah by Petroteq and potentially by additional licensees in Utah, the US, and other locations worldwide. This "standard" design may need some customization for local site conditions and ore characteristics, but differences are expected to be insignificant.

The FEED study describes the design data, design requirements, detailed major equipment requirements and general operating philosophies for the development of the 5,000 BPD production train, including a Class 3 ( 25%) cost estimate of approximately US$110 million for construction of the plant on an undeveloped site. This provides for a capital cost of $22,000 per day barrel of production. The proposed plant covered by the FEED study will consist of an initial 5,000 BPD production train but provides for the possible future expansion to 10,000 BPD through the addition of a second parallel 5,000 BPD train.

Valkor, LLC Completed Design of 5,000 Barrel per day Oil Sands Extraction Plant



Valkor signed a Technology License Agreement with Petroteq on July 1, 2019, and has been operating at the plant in Vernal, Utah under a Service Master Agreement signed on November 1, 2018. Valkor is fully cognizant of the engineering and technical aspects needed for the process to have this update done to incorporate all additional data into the original FEED.

Valkor, LLC ("Valkor"), has updated and completed the design for the planned 5,000 BPD extraction plant. Following the FEED, Valkor conducted various additional design studies to prepare the final engineering plans. A primary part of this was a design study with M-I SWACO, a Schlumberger company, for the backend processes for sand separation and drying. The system is a conventional sand dryer modified for service with petrochemical solvents in a closed loop. A combined unit has been proposed as a turnkey system to handle as much as 8,000 tons of sand per day with a target of EPA Tier 1 quality for the resulting sand. Design performance, budget and schedule have been determined. M-I SWACO did a full 3D model of the design.

Completion of Quadrise Testing Program



Quadrise Fuels International plc ("Quadrise") completed testing of an oil sample supplied by TomCo's 100% owned subsidiary Greenfield Energy LLC ("Greenfield") taken from the Petroteq Oil Sands Plant ("POSP") and produced from oil sands ore using Petroteq's Clean Oil Recovery Technology ("CORT").

Quadrise reported that an extensive program of testing on the Greenfield oil sample was completed at the Quadrise Research Facility ("QRF") in Essex, UK.

The testing program at the QRF confirmed the ability to produce commercial MSAR and bioMSAR fuels from the sample of heavy sweet oil provided by Greenfield and a report of the testing results has been issued to Tomco. Simulations of storage and handling of both MSAR and bioMSAR produced were also completed during the program which indicated that commercial production of MSAR and bioMSAR fuels would be possible in Utah for potential power and marine end-user applications domestically and internationally.

Eliminating Debt to strengthen the Balance Sheet in furtherance of Bridging the Capital Gap

Success in any one of our operational areas of focus can materially impact the Company's valuation. Achieving success, however, will require the infusion of additional capital investment over the next several years: up to $13 million for full commercial state-of-the-art 500 BPD extraction plant in Asphalt Ridge NW, Utah; projected budget of almost $100 million for the tie-in and development of 5,000 BPD plant. With this aggressive capital program in mind, the significant size of this investment will require the deal's attractive terms, combined with a strong vote of confidence in our assets' enormous potential.

Bridging the remaining funding gap is something we hope to accomplish by receiving licensing and royalty production fees, the issuance of further equity with terms minimizing dilution for our existing shareholders. More significantly, any of our internal assets could be monetized, with proceeds reinvested in our current and future projects. This approach makes a lot of sense for our company and our shareholders, and the development of our core assets will reach a point at which we believe can achieve attractive valuations and maximize shareholder value.

As part of our corporate finance strategy, we felt it was imperative to strengthen the balance sheet by eliminating debt wherever possible on terms devoid of any discount to market or involving the issuance of warrants. I am pleased to announce that we have successfully reached agreements with six of our creditors (collectively, the Creditors), all of whom are at arms length to the Company and each other to convert outstanding debts owed by the Company to the Creditors (the Debt Conversion). These Creditors will now join our thousands of supportive shareholders who believe in the future of Petroteqs technology and robust commercial prospects. In aggregate the Debt Conversion is expected to relieve the balance sheet of $5,042,842 CAD in liabilities based on a board approved deemed issue price of five cents per share. As a result of these Debt Conversions the Creditors are expected to become shareholders of the Company and will receive an aggregate of 98,333,181 of common shares of the Company (each, a Common Share). The Debt Conversion is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the TSXV).

Further, the Company is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement of up to 1,600,000 units (the Units) to be sold at a price of C$0.05 per Unit for gross proceeds of up to C$80,000 (the Offering). Each Unit will be comprised of one Common Share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant (each, a Warrant). Each Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to purchase one Common Share (a Warrant Share) at a price of C$0.05 for a period of 12 months from the closing date of the Offering. The Common Shares, Warrants and Warrant Shares will be subject to a resale hold period under applicable Canadian securities laws. The Offering is subject to the approval of the TSXV.

Moving Ahead

As we look forward to the opportunity and challenges in front of our team, we recognize that the company faced significant problems with a slate of internal and legacy corporate issues. We are emerging from that period of turnaround today, with a stronger balance sheet and opportunities to create significant operational growth and provide material shareholder value  a very attractive prospect for all our stakeholders.

About Petroteq Energy Inc.

Petroteq is a clean technology company focused on the development, implementation, and licensing of a patented, environmentally safe and sustainable technology for the extraction and reclamation of heavy oil and bitumen from oil sands and mineable oil deposits. The versatile technology can be applied to both water-wet deposits and oil-wet deposits - outputting high-quality oil and clean sand.

Petroteq believes that its technology can produce a relatively sweet heavy crude oil from deposits of oil sands without requiring the use of water, and therefore without generating wastewater which would otherwise require the use of other treatment or disposal facilities which could be harmful to the environment. The Petroteq process is intended to be a more environmentally friendly extraction technology that leaves clean residual sand that can be sold or returned to the environment, without the use of tailings ponds or further remediation.

For more information, visit www.petroteq.energy

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. and Canadian securities laws. Words such as "may," "would," "could," "should," "potential," "will," "seek," "intend," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect" and similar expressions as they relate to the Company are intended to identify forward-looking information, including: the plan to proceed with construction of a 5,000 bpd extraction plant, sands processing facility and related infrastructure; the expectation that the plant, once completed would be capable of yielding 6,000 tons of sand per day or 1,860,000 tons per year; the expectation that the Company will be successful in developing sales channels for sand for as silica flour, fracking sand, and bulk and aggregate sand, with a view towards maximizing the value of the clean sand tailings; or that the projected prices for the sand by-products on which the economic analysis are premised are achievable and sustainable. Readers are cautioned that there is no certainty that it will be commercially viable to produce any portion of its resources, or that the sands at the Indago Lease will be converted to saleable material. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking information. Such statements reflect the Company's current views and intentions with respect to future events, based on information available to the Company, and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, without limitation, receipt of director and Exchange approval for the debt conversion transaction. Material factors or assumptions were applied in providing forward-looking information. While forward-looking statements are based on data, assumptions and analyses that the Company believes are reasonable under the circumstances, whether actual results, performance or developments will meet the Company's expectations and predictions depends on a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results, performance and financial condition of the Company to differ materially from its expectations. Certain of the "risk factors" that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's forward-looking statements in this press release include, without limitation: uncertainties inherent in the estimation of resources, including whether any reserves will ever be attributed to the Company's properties; since the Company's extraction technology is proprietary, is not widely used in the industry, and has not been used in consistent commercial production, the Company's bitumen resources are classified as a contingent resource because they are not currently considered to be commercially recoverable; full scale commercial production may engender public opposition; the Company cannot be certain that its bitumen resources will be economically producible and thus cannot be classified as proved or probable reserves in accordance with applicable securities laws; changes in laws or regulations; the ability to implement business strategies or to pursue business opportunities, whether for economic or other reasons; status of the world oil markets, oil prices and price volatility; oil pricing; state of capital markets and the ability of the Company to raise capital (which would be required for the Company to build a larger plant, including one that could produce up to 5,000 bpd; litigation; the commercial and economic viability of the Company's oil sands hydrocarbon extraction technology, and other proprietary technologies developed or licensed by the Company or its subsidiaries, which currently are of an experimental nature and have not been used at full capacity for an extended period of time; reliance on suppliers, contractors, consultants and key personnel; the ability of the Company to maintain its mineral lease holdings; potential failure of the Company's business plans or model; the nature of oil and gas production and oil sands mining, extraction and production; uncertainties in exploration and drilling for oil, gas and other hydrocarbon-bearing substances; unanticipated costs and expenses, availability of financing and other capital; potential damage to or destruction of property, loss of life and environmental damage; risks associated with compliance with environmental protection laws and regulations; uninsurable or uninsured risks; potential conflicts of interest of officers and directors; risks related to COVID-19 including various recommendations, orders and measures of governmental authorities to try to limit the pandemic, including travel restrictions, border closures, non-essential business closures, quarantines, self-isolations, shelters-in-place and social distancing, disruptions to markets, economic activity, financing, supply chains and sales channels, and a deterioration of general economic conditions including a possible national or global recession; and other general economic, market and business conditions and factors, including the risk factors discussed or referred to in the Company's disclosure documents, filed with United States Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov (including, without limitation, its most recent annual report on Form 10-K under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended), and with the securities regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada and available at www.sedar.com .

Should any factor affect the Company in an unexpected manner, or should assumptions underlying the forward- looking information prove incorrect, the actual results or events may differ materially from the results or events predicted. Any such forward-looking information is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Moreover, the Company does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this press release is made as of the date of this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable law.

Unless otherwise specified, all dollar amounts in this press release are expressed in U.S. dollars.

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.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Petroteq Energy Inc.

Ronald Miles

Chief Executive Officer

Tel: (800) 979-1897
NEW YORK, Oct. 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Momcozy, North Americas top-selling wearable breast pump brand, has launched the new S9 Pro. Featuring a long-lasting battery life, the new wearable breast pump brings hands-free convenience and comfort for moms on the go. The S9 Pro will be available online for moms on Momcozys website and Amazon, from October 3rd, 2022.





With long-lasting battery life, the S9 Pro is an upgrade over Momcozys previously released S9. Keeping in line with Momcozy's customer-centric philosophy that prioritizes user experience over profit, the S9 Pro will retail for the same price as the S9. The S9 Pro comes with a variety of features to make moms lives easier:

 High-capacity battery that lasts from 6-8 pumping sessions on one charge. Moms can pump anytime, anyplace, without worrying about plugging into a wall.

 Built with comfort in mind, the versatile pump boasts nine suction levels and 2 modes (expression and mixed), for a customizable experience to fit any moms needs.

 Quiet, streamlined and petite design makes for an unobtrusive experience, allowing moms to wear the pump anywhere.

 Intuitive LED display makes the pumps usage straightforward and easy to use.

In todays modern society, moms often have to balance being a caretaker for their children while earning income for the family. With such constant demand and such little time, moms often struggle to meet their breastfeeding and pumping goals. The launch of the Momcozy S9 Pro brings moms greater flexibility and security, with a hands-free pump that can be worn anywhere during a busy day, without the need for recharging (6-8 sessions).

With an expectation to take care of their children and to work, being a mom nowadays is more difficult than ever, said Momcozy representative Ella. Moms need all the help they can get. She continued, Helping moms every step of the way, from pregnancy through early motherhood is in Momcozys DNA. With the S9 Pro we hope to make moms lives easier by giving them the power to pump with freedom, convenience and comfort, no matter the time and place.

Early buyers of the S9 Pro can receive a 20% discount on their purchase through October 10th. Visit Momcozy or Amazon to purchase the S9 Pro.

About Momcozy

Momcozy strives to be a companion for moms from pregnancy through the early stages of motherhood. With its breast pumps, nursing bras and other mom care products, Momcozy strives to bring the very best in comfort to moms everywhere. With continuous innovation and mother involvement, Momcozy has created products dedicated to making moms' lives easier and more comfortable.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c125ae2c-8689-4c29-b8f9-814bc9e9236d
Max Verstappen is not having an excellent start to the weekend ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix. After a Friday with little action, the Dutchman has to contend with heavy rain today at the Marina Bay circuit during the third free practice and possibly qualifying. However, it is bad timing for Verstappen, who has not yet been able to put in much mileage in his RB18. The same can be said for Charles Leclerc who missed out on a lot of Friday running as well.

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The first free practice session in Singapore was still fairly positive. Verstappen topped the timesheet for most of the session, but in the closing stages Lewis Hamilton managed to beat the Dutchman's time. Still, the RB18 looked fast on the track. For Sergio Perez, FP1 did not go as well, as the Mexican had to park his car in the garage due to a problem.

During the second free practice session, Verstappen and Perez got very little action. Both drivers were in the garage for most of the session. In Verstappen's case, there were problems with the front suspension, which meant a major set-up change was done to his RB18. As a result, the Dutchman completed very few laps in FP2, while the second session is most representative of race conditions.

Leclerc is also down on lap time. In FP1, the man from Monaco recorded three fewer laps than the Dutchman. In FP2, Verstappen recorded eight laps to Leclerc's 14.

Pole position important in Singapore

With little mileage for both Red Bull drivers, it will therefore be even more difficult to set up their cars properly in the rain. The third free practice is the last chance for the teams to perfect the set-up for qualifying and the race. In addition, pole position is very important in Singapore. The race has been won eight times before from first position. Overtaking remains difficult on Marina Bay's tight street circuit with few straights to overtake. Verstappen can already win the title this weekend, but it is starting to look more and more like the battle will continue in Japan next week.
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Introduction

Xiaomi's top of the line, non-folding smartphone for 2022 may be the 12S Ultra, but its highest-end smartphone for 2022 that you can officially purchase outside of China is the 12 Pro. That's an odd situation for sure, and it's even odder still if you consider that the Mi 11 Pro, its predecessor, was confined to the Chinese market last year while the Mi 11 Ultra wasn't. It's really hard to ascertain the logic behind these moves from afar, but as the saying goes - it is what it is.

We were obviously curious to see how the company's international top dog fares if we use it for an extended period of time as our one and only smartphone, and our thoughts following that are laid out in this long-term review of the Xiaomi 12 Pro. This is the model we're talking about because this is the one most people can actually get outside of China, with warranty and all the perks, even though the shadow of the 12S Ultra will never not float around in the back of our minds.

If you look at Xiaomi's current roster, the 12 Pro seems to serve a similar purpose to Samsung's Galaxy S22+, packing high-end specs while not going all-in with everything, especially camera-wise. Does that put it in an awkward position where it's hard to justify getting one, or is it just enough smartphone that you'll be happy with it if having the best camera hardware in your handset isn't a priority for you?

These are some of the things we've set out to discover during our time with the Xiaomi 12 Pro, and if we could spoil our conclusions just a little bit, we'll say there are definitely a lot of things to love about this device, but there are also some issues, some more baffling than others. If that intrigues you, then join us over the next pages of this review as we explore what it's like to live with the Xiaomi 12 Pro day-in, day-out, in the second half of 2022.
In the black and white photo, a young Navy sailor dances with his hand at the back of a young woman with a bouffant hairdo wearing a V-back printed dress. His other hand clasps hers at his shoulder, both of them looking in opposite directions but smiling and relaxed in their embrace.

Its a sweet moment captured on film, one of 270 photographs in the collection of John Kurtz, the sailor in the photo.

He was 19 when the photo was taken, and his girlfriend was the late Diana Marie Benavente, who lived in the Dededo tent city erected after Typhoon Karen wreaked havoc on the island in November 1962.

During his time on Guam from 1963 to 1964, he captured black and white portraits of island life, many depicting Benaventes extended family in Dededo.

The family was beautiful, I loved everybody, Kurtz said. My job in the Navy was just that, a job. I spent all my time in the village.

After leaving Guam, the Navy photographer traded his camera for a paintbrush and now lives in Chicago, making a living as a painter.

During the pandemic, he had the opportunity to organize the hundreds of photographs he had taken during his photography years and reached out to the Guam Museum to see if they were interested in the Guam collection.

As soon as I saw the pictures, I was like, these are really nice, said Guam Museum curator Michael Bevacqua. Because usually when we have collections from Navy photographers, for example, theyre usually pretty boring. They took pictures of weather pressure-measuring machines or they took water treatment facilities or something.

Im sure they have historic value, of course, but theyre not particularly engaging or interesting images from military photographers over time. And everyone is always so stuffy because its military people looking very proper.

And so when he sent me just a few images, I was like, these are amazing because what you see from that time, the 50s, 60s, the military  was still kind of its own kingdom in many, many ways.

So the military didnt necessarily see your average CHamoru as an equal or as sort of worthy of interest in some ways. And so these were photographs from, you know, a sailor at that time who clearly saw CHamorus as a beautiful people, who saw CHamorus as worthy of interacting with, with spending time, with being close to.

Stories behind the photos

To discover the stories behind the photos, Bevacqua reached out to Barbara Bobbie San Nicolas Benavente, who turned out to be from a different clan of the Benaventes, familian Bobo.

With her help, he was able to coordinate a virtual meeting between Kurtz and members of the extended Benavente family living on Guam and on the mainland.

On Sept. 13, through the magic of modern technology, Kurtz rekindled relationships that were sparked 60 years ago with Diana Benaventes younger siblings Julie, Dorothy Mae, Roman and Francisco. Joining the Zoom meeting were their cousin John Benavente, Bevacqua and Bobbie Benavente.

The hourlong trip down memory lane was marked at the outset with the sad news for Kurtz that Diana Benavente had died at the age of 48 in 1989 from secondary lung cancer. But as Bevacqua shared the photos on the screen, the siblings were transported to their childhood and adolescence.

I was destined to join the military, look at that salute, Francisco Frankie Benavente said as he viewed a photo of himself at about age 11. Now living in Orange Park, Florida, he joined the Army at 22 years old and served for 20 years until retiring in 1995.

Theres pop and me, thats me and dad  he loves to dance the polka. Awwww. My daddy, Julie Benavente Flores said in response to a black-and-white candid of her dancing with their father, Eloy Benavente.

Its kind of emotional

Seeing their late sister, young and full of joy, also brought back some wistful memories.

Diana Marie liked to spoil me with jewelry, recalled Dorothy Mae Benavente in response to a portrait of herself at about 12 or 13, looking up at the camera and holding up her left hand with a ring.

It makes me miss Diana Marie. She raised me. She was my surrogate mother, Dorothy Mae Benavente said.

It brings back very fond memories, Julie Benavente Flores added. Its kind of emotional at the same time.

While the families enjoyed the online show and hoped for the creation of a digital gallery of the collection, Bevacqua hopes to get a physical exhibit, perhaps in Dededo, that would include the stories shared by the family.

Because virtual is nice, but its really compelling to see them printed out, showcasing the village 60 years ago.
Trees play a significant role in the health of Guams ecosystems and their importance was celebrated at ArborFest on Saturday  a free community event held at Jeffs Pirates Cove in Talofofo.

The event kicks off Arbor Month celebrations for October, which was proclaimed by acting Gov. Josh Tenorio and acting Lt. Gov. Therese Terlaje.

The festival was hosted by the Department of Agriculture Forestry and Soil Resources Division, with the University of Guam Sea Grant and other private and government community partners.

Booths under canopies by the beach and around the restaurant had information on conservation efforts, locally produced fruit and honey, native trees for sale, readings by UOG Press authors, art activities, live music and a meet and greet with Smokey Bear.

This ArborFest is to really show the connection the trees have between the land and sea, said Austin Shelton, director of the UOG Center for Island Sustainability and Sea Grant.

He said everything we do on land has an effect on Guams oceans.

Christine Camacho Fejeran, Guam Department of Agriculture Forestry and Soil Resources Division chief, said promoting the planting of native trees is especially important for a healthy ecosystem.

Benefits include cleaner water as tree roots prevent the erosion of soil and nutrients, which end up in the ocean, damaging the islands delicate coral reefs.

We have a major problem on the island with human-caused wildfires and because of that we see a loss of trees and vegetation, said Fejeran.

Every rainy season, with fewer roots to hold back soil and water, the chances of flash floods that damage homes and wash dirt and trash into coastal waters increases, she explained.

Shelton said there are tree planting activities planned throughout the month mostly on weekends.

The more trees we put in the ground, the more roots and soil we can stabilize and prevent from washing downstream, he said.

For updates and more information on Arbor Month volunteer events, follow the Department of Agriculture and UOG Guam Green Growth Facebook and Instagram accounts.
Heavy rainfall in Tamuning in January 2022. The National Weather Service Guam Forecast Office has issued a marine weather statement for Guam and Rota as NWS officials are tracking a line of showers, capable of producing winds of 30-33 knots located off the eastern and southern waters of the islands.
A preview performance and panel discussion of the theater production Masters of the Currents was held Saturday at the center court of the Agana Shopping Center.

The show is based on the experiences of the Micronesian diaspora who have left their island nations because of environmental and economic pressures and must overcome conflicts of identity and belonging in their new home of Hawaii.

Humanities Guahan has partnered with TeAda Productions and co-producer Breaking Wave Theatre Company to host a tour of the production in Guam.

The way the whole play came together was through a series of workshops and story circles that we did in the community and it was a three-year process. The characters are based on a composite of many peoples experiences in the community, said Leilani Chan, one of the shows creators from TeAda Productions.

It will run from Oct. 6-8 at the University of Guam Fine Arts Theater. Showtimes are 7 p.m. on Oct. 6 and Oct. 7. Two performances at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. are scheduled for Oct. 8.

Each show will be followed by post-show discussions as well as a Q&A session with the plays creators and cast members.

For tickets visit bwtcguam.com and for more information visit humanitiesguahan.org. For more information on TeAda Productions, visit teada.org.
Taiwan to cancel home quarantine requirement for arriving travelers

Xinhua) 15:29, October 01, 2022

TAIPEI, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Starting on Oct. 13, travelers arriving in Taiwan will no longer be required to submit themselves to home quarantine and will instead undergo seven days of self-initiated prevention after arrival, the island's disease monitoring agency has announced.

During the self-initiated prevention period, those without any COVID-19 symptoms can go out on condition that they hold a negative result of rapid antigen test obtained within two days and wear masks all the time outside, said the agency in a statement on Thursday.

Inbound travelers have since June been required to undergo three days of home isolation and four days of self-initiated prevention after arrival in Taiwan.

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 prevention and control policy at the border will be further eased, with the limit on the number of arrivals being reset at 150,000 per week on a trial basis, according to the agency.

Taiwan reported 43,280 new local infections and 50 deaths from the disease over the past 24 hours, said the agency on Friday. So far, the accumulated number of local COVID-19 cases recorded in the region has exceeded 6.42 million.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Bianji)




Haiti - FLASH : Ti Makak would consider attacking the diplomatic mission of the Apostolic Nunciature





In a note dated September 28, 2022, the Apostolic Nunciature in Haiti informs the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Religious Affairs that this "diplomatic mission is the subject of a rumor that the gang leader 'Ti Makak', based in Laboule 22 would consider invading the area of Morne Calvaire, particularly targeting the premises of the Apostolic Nunciature : 'Ti makak' announces the invasion of Morne Calvaire today. Its preferred target is the Apostolic Nunciature."



"Given the current circumstances of the country and given the numerous calls and messages received concerning this information which is already circulating on various social networks, the Apostolic Nunciature in Haiti requests the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Religious Affairs to inform immediately, the competent authorities so that the necessary arrangements can be made as soon as possible to ensure the safety of the personnel and property of this diplomatic mission.



The Apostolic Nunciature in Haiti already thanks the Ministry for the appropriate follow-up that it will want to give [...]"



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - NOTICE : Creation of businesses with strong social impact, call for projects





The Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) in the Caribbean, in partnership with the Embassy of Switzerland in Haiti, the Bank of the Republic of Haiti, FOKAL and the SOGEBANK Foundation, is launching a call for applications to facilitate the creation of companies with a strong social impact by Haitian students enrolled in an AUF member university in Haiti.



This call for projects will make it possible to recruit the third Promotion of beneficiaries of the Solidarity Network for Business Creation (ReSACE) program and targets the entire territory of Haiti while giving priority to business projects that will be established in the Great South of the country.



The ReSACE aims to contribute to the economic integration of students and young graduates, mainly in the Great South, through a program of advice, facilitation and financing of projects for the creation of small and medium-sized enterprises with a strong social impact piloted by Haitian students graduating or freshly graduated.



Three-step program sequence :



1 - Between January and March 2023, approximately 150 members of the companies selected at the end of this call will follow an incubation workshop in hybrid format (face-to-face and remote), lasting 180 hours, in order to develop their projects. A certificate will be issued to all those who have completed the entire incubation workshop.



2 - From May 2023, the best projects will benefit from co-financing of USD 10,000 and technical support for a semester, to enable them to launch their first operations.



3 - All candidates who have passed the second stage will contribute, between May and December 2023, to working in solidarity with a view to strengthening the Network, a commitment to be respected in parallel with the development of their own business.



Eligibility Criteria :



A project can be led by one person or by a group of up to four people;



The project leader must be enrolled in the last year of training (bachelor, master or doctorate) in a member university of the AUF Caraibe (list available here), or who have obtained their diploma after January 2021, in a of these universities;



No candidate will be allowed to participate in more than one project;



Companies and business owners previously financed by this program are not eligible;



All sectors of activity of the Haitian economy are eligible for this program;



Female applications and business projects with a strong social impact will be strongly encouraged.



Application deadline: Tuesday, October 30, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. (Haiti time)



To submit your project online : https://enquetes.auf.org/965849?lang=fr



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





Hurricane : Words from the Embassy of Haiti in Cuba

"The Embassy of Haiti in Cuba expresses its deep solidarity with the brotherly Cuban people, with all those affected during the passage of Cyclone Ian, especially the residents of the western coast of the island. This phenomenon caused loss of life (at least 2 dead) and material as well as serious damage to the communication and electrical power service."



Digicel : No price adjustment for the various services, but...

"An adjustment of the prices of the various services of Digicel Haiti is not on the agenda," reassures Maarten Boute President of Digicle. He warns, however, that this option could be considered, by next year, if the fuel price adjustment becomes effective.



NOTICE Access Haiti

"Due to an intermittent outage on one of our international circuits, our network is experiencing difficulties that are causing a slowdown in your internet service. Our technical team is hard at work with our international suppliers to make the necessary corrections and restore service to 100% as soon as possible."



12 sirens installed in GrandAnse

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP - Haiti) with the financial support of the Embassy of Canada in Haiti, has installed a siren in each municipality of the department of Grand'Anse (12 in total). Sirens are the main early warning system used by the Directorate of Civil Protection (DPC) when alerting to a disaster.



Donation of 3 school buses

As part of the cooperation between the United States and Haiti, "US Southern Command" donated 3 school buses to support the NGO of Denton's humanitarian assistance program.



Security : Closing of the RAID training course

As part of the cooperation between France and the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police (DCPJ), ended earlier this week the RAID training course (Research, Assistance, Intervention, Deterrence) from the French National Police on intervention techniques. Fabrice Mauries the Ambassador of France in Haiti who had moved declared "Despite the difficulties of the moment, I wanted to go to the offices of the DCPJ to tell the Director General a.i. Elbe of the National Police of Haiti ( PNH) all the concrete support of France to the Judicial Police of Haiti in its missions: public order, fight against gangs but also white collar delinquency."



HL/ HaitiLibre



HL/ HaitiLibre


















By Panos Kotzathanasis | Published on 2022/09/30

As all of us most probably know, the rom-com is a category of films that has been done to death, to the point that finding anything original in this type of (still rather popular) cinema is like looking for a needle in a haystack. It is, however, the genre Kim Min-geun chose for his feature debut, after shooting a series of sorts. Let us see how he fared.

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Seon-hwa is a location manager, who, as the story begins, is having trouble with a local garbage man in a place in the middle of nowhere, who thinks that she is a policewoman investigating some sort of crime. The misunderstanding is eventually solved but the young woman finds herself in much bigger trouble, when her boss, Hae-sol asks her to return to the company office to meet a new director-client, who turns out to be her ex-boyfriend, Do-yeong. Seon-hwas wants nothing to do with him, but under the pleas of Hae-sol, she agrees to scout for locations with him. Unfortunately for her, Do-yeong is not about to make things easy.

The best part of the movie is its beginning. The meeting with the garbage man, the hilariously hypocritical behavior of Hae-sol (in a great performance by Park Se-ki) and the mild fighting that takes place immediately when Seon-hwa agrees to the job, are all quite entertaining to watch, implying that this could be a rather unique romantic comedy. Unfortunately, the originality essentially ends here, with the rest of the movie following cliched paths, with the director obviously trying to spend as much time with his former girlfriend as possible, extended flashbacks to their past relationship, and a couple of comedic meetings with family members, who play ignorant but obviously know what is going on.

The comments deriving from the story are also nothing original, with the difficulties modern couples face due to work issues and the fact that people nowadays tend to be self-centered, which makes relationships even harder, being the main ones here.

If one was keen to highlight something unique in the title, it would be the presentation of the work of the location manager, which is though, quite epidermically presented, essentially a tool to move the story forward. It does allow, nevertheless, for a number of images of extreme beauty in various locations, with the work done in the cinematography being the best asset of the movie. Kim Min-geun's own editing results in a fitting mid-tempo, while at 77 minutes, the film does not extend its welcome particularly.

Gorgeous Han Sunhwa as Seon-hwa and Lee Wan as Do-yeong do not do anything special acting-wise, but their chemistry is good, as the "upper hand" changes a number of times.

"Director's Intention" is not a bad film, and is actually quite easy to watch. At the same time, it is one of those titles that one watches and forgets almost immediately, as there is nothing particularly special about it.

Review by Panos Kotzathanasis

___________

"Director's Intention" is directed by Kim Min-geun, and features Han Sunhwa, Lee Wan, Park Se-ki, Nam Gi-hyung, Yoo Min-gon, Kim Ri-hyun. Release date in Korea: 2021/09/16.
Published on 2022/09/30 | Source

New poster added for the upcoming Japanese-Korean documentary "Soup and Ideology" (2021)

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Directed by Yonghi Yang

Narrated by Yonghi Yang,...

A Japanese-Korean co-production

Synopsis

The parents were vehemently opposed to the Japanese son-in-law. The mother carefully cooks stuffed chicken for her Japanese son-in-law who is greeting her for the first time in Osaka. Her family is full of incomprehensible things, but it's just amazing to the husband. One day, the mother tells her memories of her hometown, Jeju Island, which she had never told anyone. Now, with painful memories that are gradually being forgotten, they go to Jeju Island together for the first time since born eating white boiled chicken cooked by the son-in-law.



"Even if we have different opinions, let's eat together". We are a family.

Release date in Korea : 2022/10/20
Lawyers representing the woman allegedly criminally insulted by CCC Vice President Tendai Biti have written to CCC leader Nelson Chamisa asking him to reverse a party decision to call for demonstrations during Bitis trial or publicly disassociate the party from the calls if it had nothing to do with them.

In both cases, the lawyers, Scanlen and Holderness, want the trial to proceed without political interference, without the complainant and the witnesses feeling threatened, and in accordance with the due process of the law.

At the same time, the law firm has filed a complaint to the Law Society of Zimbabwe complaining that Biti had breached the Legal Practitioners Code of Conduct through interfering with witnesses in a pending matter before the courts.

Biti is facing charges of threatening Ms Tatiana Aleshina, an international investor, outside Harare Magistrates Court in Gamal Abdel Nasser Road.

According to the lawyers, the message that was circulating read: Urgent Notice!!! Vice President Hon Tendai Biti will be appearing at Rotten Row Court tomorrow at 11.15am, in Court 9, He is currently facing frivolous charges of assault. The state is now in an overdrive to politicise the matter, and there are plots to convict him. Lets attend in solidarity with our Champion.

The lawyers found the message, aimed at mobilising party supporters to attend allegedly in solidarity with Biti, to be a sad indictment for justice and quite disturbing to their client.

Our client finds it disturbing and is concerned about the implications and potential threat to the security of her person if the action solicited by the message is carried out particularly if the crowd mobilised harbours feelings of ill-will towards witnesses in the case and she being the complainant in the matter, said Mr Evans Moyo, a senior partner at Scanlen and Holderness.

The message, he said, unnecessarily politicises a matter that is unconcerned with the opposition political party and that involved simple due process in respect of a complaint.

Mr Moyo said the message gave the impression, which the lawyers believed was incorrect, that some are immune from due process when they wrong others because there could be a fear that the matter will turn political because of their political standing.

We are instructed to inquire if the message reflects the partys position or is from an official source of communication for the party, queried Mr Moyo.

If it is from the party we urge you to reconsider and withdraw the call to allow for due process without fear, hindrance or intimidation of witnesses, in particular our client who feels threatened by the message and its potential repercussions.

If it is not, we request that your party responds to the message and disassociates with it so as to depoliticise the matter and allow for due process and the rule of law to prevail.

The law firm has since filed a complaint with the Law Society of Zimbabwe over Bitis alleged interfering with witnesses in a matter pending before the courts. Herald


ONE of the hallmarks of a marriage in the Ndebele culture is ukucola, a ritual to introduce the daughter-in-law to the ancestors which is conducted by the grooms family.

The process involves sprinkling bile from a goat on the daughter-in-laws stomach while immediate family members communicate with ancestors of the groom.

This practice is common among the Ndebele but has probably not involved Ndebele men who marry whites largely because whites do not believe in African traditional cultures.

A white wedding is usually enough especially when a Ndebele man marries a white woman.

It was however different for Advocate Mabasa Sibanda (38), a lawyer and an acting High Court judge in South Africa. The man from Linda village in Mangwe, Matabeleland South, married a white woman the traditional way with all the ceremonies and rituals of the Ndebele culture observed and celebrated.

When Advocate Sibanda married his sweetheart, Miss Haney from Port Elizabeth, he ensured that all the rituals that are conducted in the Ndebele culture to welcome a daughter-in-law were performed.

The couple first solemnised their union through the western white wedding and thereafter conducted the rituals for Haney to be recognised as Mrs Sibanda by Advocate Sibandas clan.

Last Saturday into Sunday, the family conducted a traditional wedding ceremony which saw Advocate Sibandas wife performing acts expected from a daughter-in-law.

From Johannesburg, Haney came to the family homestead, where she was introduced to the rest of the family where rituals such as ukucola were performed.

She also gathered firewood and was made to lie on top of the gathered firewood as she waited to be given a token of appreciation in line with the cultural rites.

Mrs Sibanda was also given a kitchen with pots that she is expected to use when cooking for her husband and the rest of the family.

Unlike other women who are shy during performance of such cultural rites, Mrs Sibanda was extremely excited and danced along as the Sibanda family entourage welcomed her home.

It was a celebration like no other and as someone with little knowledge on how the rituals are performed, a senior



daughter-in-law was seen whispering to her on what to do next. daughter-in-law was seen whispering to her on what to do next.

Badala nanzi inkuni, she said, showing the aunties the firewood that she had gathered, shortly before she lay on top of it. She only left after she was showered with gifts.

She was given a cow for the firewood she had gathered.

Her cousin, who had flown from South Africa to witness the traditional wedding ceremony, Mr Jonker Fourie said for them it was a new world altogether as they had never participated in Ndebele traditional marriage rituals.

This is something totally different for us. We are the only ones from her family who could come here. Its a privilege to be here and experience all of this. We are from Port Elizabeth, her hometown where she was born. So we were excited to be part of this process, said Mr Fourie who had brought his family.

He said the Ndebele traditional marriage ceremony and the performance of cultural rituals was an eye opener.

They had a western wedding in Johannesburg and its very nice for us to be here and experience the cultural wedding. Its not in Bulawayo, its at the homestead where a proper cultural wedding is being done, something we didnt know, he said.

The bride, who preferred to be called Mrs Sibanda, said participating in the Ndebele marriage rituals was important as it solidified her new position as umakoti.

She said it was also important to embrace the culture of her husband as it is a confirmation that she respects her in-laws.

Its an honour to be part of this. It was fun and interesting (to participate in this) I had mamdala explaining what to do and she would explain what I had to do, although I had been briefed on what I was to do before hand, she said.

Mrs Sibanda said she had no prior exposure to the Ndebele wedding ceremony and cultural rituals.

It is my first exposure to a Ndebele wedding and my first as makoti. It means a lot because it is family and all these people from the core family have seen him since he was a boy. So it is an extension of welcoming me so it means a lot, said Mrs Sibanda.

Advocate Sibanda said while his wife is Afrikaans, it was important to respect her and his cultures hence their decision to conduct both weddings.

We need to respect each others cultures. She is Afrikaans and Im Ndebele and as much as we celebrate her culture, we need to celebrate our (Ndebele) culture. We need to observe things that are important to us, our family and our culture. The significance of this to me is that we are welcoming her to our home, we are receiving her, we are saying nguye umakoti and show her around the kitchen and where our ancestors are buried, said Advocate Sibanda.

She is from a Christian background so we had a ceremony in Johannesburg where we celebrated her in the manner that her people do. We had a white wedding and this one holds more for me personally. It holds more as it is culturally significant for me.

Advocate Sibanda did not pay lobola as it is a culture that is not practised by his in-laws.

But what matters is how the families commit to interact with each other. That is the whole purpose of the lobola; its not about cattle but the process of bringing families closer together, he said.

Advocate Sibandas father and businessman, Mr John Linda Sibanda said performing traditional rituals is important in keeping the Ndebele culture alive.

I think its very important to keep our culture and understand who we are and where we come from. That helps us to shape where we are going. Most of the time they say indlela ibuzwa kwabaphambili. So, its important that we preserve our cultural rites because it gives dignity to our lives, it makes our lives straight forward. In doing so we will be able to even teach our children to continue on that path, said Mr Sibanda.

He said different nations and ethnic groups including whites, observe and respect their cultures.

The Irish are still strong in their cultures and Scottish still wear their skirts (kilts). So, all the nations have that kind of life so we have to uphold our culture.

Mr Sibanda said by giving the daughter in law a kitchen they were symbolically telling her in line with African tradition that she is expected to cook for the family.

She is being given the kitchen, it doesnt have much in it, she is the one who will buy stoves and so forth we are just giving her amabhodo amakhulu so that she can cook using the fire because meals cooked using fire are the best meals. The important message that she should know is that she has to cook for the whole family, not just her husband. Because nxa umuntu eyenda kayendeli endodeni but to the family. That is why the family is welcoming her, he said. Chronicle


TERTIARY institutions and students should no longer pride themselves in having paper qualifications, but the ability to produce something tangible, which demonstrates the knowledge acquired during ones time at college, President Mnangagwa has said.

The education system, the President said, should adequately empower a graduate to be self-sustaining and contribute to national development, consistent with the Governments thrust of modernisation and industrialisation to ensure the attainment of an upper middle income society by 2030.

President Mnangagwa made the remarks while addressing Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) students and Zanu PF supporters at the institutions farm where he was launching an Industrial Cattle Fattening Pens and Medicinal Feed Factory, which is part of several initiatives and innovations by the institution.

We must have a high performance and results culture within the higher and tertiary education ecosystem, he said.

Paper qualification can be futile if you cannot produce something tangible. We must celebrate producing something tangible.

We must no longer celebrate because you now have a paper qualification, but that you have been moulded in a practical way that enables you to produce goods and services.

President Mnangagwa said as graduates come out of institutions of higher learning, they should be able to produce something to contribute to development, hence the adoption of Education 5.0.

He had the crowd in stitches when he said the late national hero and former Cabinet Minister, Dr Eddison Zvobgo, used to say they had stopped slaughtering beasts if a family member graduated, lest they would empty their cattle pen given the high number of relatives graduating.

President Mnangagwa said with the multi-pronged strategy and projects introduced by the Government, the time for food insecurity had gone.

These projects are timely, coming as my Government is scaling up the implementation of the livestock growth strategy and the broader multi-pronged agriculture and food system transformation strategy.

Firstly, Zimbabwe is an agricultural country. We cannot continuously be referred to as a food insecure country. Yes, there is climate change but we have to work for ourselves and the first thing we must do as a country is to be food secure.

For that to happen we need to determine the quantity we consume annually as a country and plan to produce accordingly including surplus.

We have noted that we need a minimum of 340 000 hectares under irrigation. Over the years we have never produced enough wheat, we have just been producing wheat lasting for just two months and import the balance from Ukraine where there is war, said the President.

Zimbabwe is now producing enough wheat to meet national requirements.

President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe used to import fertiliser from Russia, but it has been established that the raw materials to produce fertiliser are available locally.

He commended CUT for making a positive contribution to the growth of the education system and the economy in general.

I therefore commend CUT for demonstrating that you are responsive and trailblazing in your areas of specialisation.

This specifically relates to advancing production and productivity, food security and nutrition.

Well done Chinhoyi University. With this spirit, I urge other universities and colleges to continue cultivating vital knowledge, requisite competencies needed for modernisation and industrialisation and sustained social economic growth of our beloved country Zimbabwe. We must develop it ourselves, said President Mnangagwa.

He reminded those who want to help in Zimbabwes development trajectory to do so on the countrys terms. Herald
A company awarded the controversial 30-year Pomona waste management deal in Harare may have pocketed at least US$6 million since March from government as the City of Harare has refused to pay a single cent.

In June, the City of Harare suspended the controversial US$240 million deal between Netherlands-based company Geogenix BV which is fronted by businessman Delish Nguwaya and the local authority.

The local authority subsequently cancelled the contract.

Last week, acting town clerk Phakamile Moyo wrote to Geogenix Bv, reminding them that the contract had been cancelled.

Pursuant to the agreement entered between City of Harare and Geogenix BV, we advise that council resolved to terminate the contract in its sitting on the 3rd of August 2022, Moyo wrote in a correspondence dated September 23, 2022.

Local Government minister July Moyo, who was in the forefront of the deal, however wrote a follow-up letter on September 27, 2022 telling the local authority that the deal subsisted and was binding since it had been given national project status.

But mayor Jacob Mafume yesterday said they would never pay a single cent to Geogenix BV amid indications that council would have been forced to pay US$6.4 million since March if it had not cancelled the contract.

Government says it will use Harares devolution funds allocation to settle the gigantic bill.

Our position is still the same. They cannot call themselves an investor and expect money from the same council they are investing in, Mafume told The Standard yesterday.

Its like a slay queen giving a blesser money. It does not work. It is against public morals, extortionate and unaffordable in the context of Zimbabwe.

As a council, we cannot afford it.

This contract was null and void from the beginning.

It is so manifestly bad that it cannot be rescued in any shape or form whatsoever.

According to Mafume, the local authority was being forced to pay US$780 000 bills a month since March for waste deliveries by Geogenix BV

We as council are not paying, he said.

If anyone is paying it is not within our authority, and unfortunately I dont superintend over the affairs of the ministry of finance.

It is the job of Parliament to make sure that the payments are not made.

What I can say is that the council cannot afford, and will not pay the US$780 000 per month they want.

We have not authorised the use of our devolution funds to pay for this.

We have not budgeted as council to authorise any deduction from our devolution funds for this project.

The Finance ministry may be paying.

In July, the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) filed an urgent High Court Chamber application seeking a ruling setting aside a resolution to use the citys devolution funds to pay Geogenix BV.

A ruling is yet to be made.

Moyo, who has been at pains defending the deal, was not picking up his mobile phone on Friday and yesterday despite repeated efforts.

In a statement on September 27, Moyo said government would never allow the cancellation of the tender.

I accordingly direct in terms of section 314 of the Urban Councils Act that council immediately rescinds the resolutions cited above which seek to not oppose court proceedings as well as the termination of the contract, he said.

The resolution is, in my view, in bad faith and not in public interest.

Finance minister Mthuli Ncube was not reachable yesterday while permanent secretary George Guvamatanga was not picking up his mobile phone.

Efforts to obtain a comment from Harare secretary for Provincial Affairs and Devolution in the Office of the President and Cabinet Tafadzwa Muguti were fruitless as the person who was answering his phone kept saying he was engaged in meetings.

Nguwaya, the local representative of Geogenix BV, said The Standard had a sinister agenda by demanding answers on Pomona.

Why the interest in Pomona?

There are many other issues to look at, not Pomona alone, Nguwaya said in a telephone interview as he sought to avoid answering questions.

CHRA acting director Ruben Akili said the Pomona deal would be resisted.

As CHRA we are against that Pomona deal, Akili said.

The devolution funds dont belong to the government, they are for the residents.

Residents should decide on how those devolution funds are going to be used.

Harare Residents Trust director (HRT) Precious Shumba said the waste management deal was totally unacceptable.

What the national government is doing in respect of imposing Geogenix BV on the City of Harare, and even making decisions on devolution funds without consulting the residents and the City of Harare is unconstitutional, unfair, unjustified and an abuse of power, Shumba said.

According to reports by City News Albania, Integrated Energy B.V (IEBV) changed its name to Geogenix BV on February 13, 2021. Standard
The upcoming Terra Solis Dubai property has created its own hospitality management company called Terra Sol Hospitality. The formation of the hospitality management company comes as Terra Solis eyes long-term growth, despite its debut Dubai project set to last eight months only. Alexander Suski has been named the consultant CEO of this new management company.

According to Terra Solis, his remit will include the expansion of Terra Solis Dubai in the region and securing its position as a "must-visit year-round destination" while developing Terra Sol Hospitality as a top hospitality management company. Terra Solis is part of the same company as Tomorrowland, a famed festival out of Belgium.

Most recently, Suski served as the acting CEO of Ishraq Hospitality. The Belgian has spent almost 20 years across hotels in the EMEA region. Previously, he was associate vice president sales and marketing for Millennium Hotels and Resorts. In that role, he looked after 48 hotels and worked on around 40 openings. Before that, Suski was area director of sales and marketing Egypt and Bahrain with Kempinksi Hotels.
MBCC announced that Patricia M. Rios, MSHRM - who has been Human Resources Business Partner at OVG360 at MBCC since 2019 - will now oversee all human resources and IT operations at the MBCC as Human Resources Business Partner | IT Operations. A veteran industry professional, Rios brings over 20 years of experience in hospitality and human resources management at reputable brands like OVG360, Centerplate, Interstate Hotels & Resorts, Starwood Hotels, and KSL Resorts. Working through a human resources lens, she has overseen property openings, transitions, and renovations at major venues all over the country and implemented lasting policies and procedures designed to build department infrastructure and increase efficiency in HR. Through it all, she has led employees with positivity, inclusion, excellent communication, and an emphasis on teamwork - focusing on talent development and retention to foster a constantly growing, evolving, and improving the environment.

In her last role, Rios was responsible for aligning business objectives with employee protocols, consulting with management about human resource issues, and being a champion for company employees. Under her new title, she looks forward to further enhancing the work experience by incorporating innovative technology that makes the day-to-day employee and data experience safer, easier, and more effective.

Both personally and professionally, Rios is passionate about community involvement. She is currently a member of the South Florida Hospitality HR Association, Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, and Miami-Dade County Summer Youth Internship Program. At OVG, she is co-champion of the Hispanic Latin Alliance Employee Resource Group, which promotes company-wide Hispanic and Latin cultural awareness, creates safe spaces for Hispanic and Latin employees, and develops more opportunities for those employees to obtain leadership positions at OVG360. Driven by her love and appreciation for her cultural heritage, Rios sees this next move not just as an exciting step in her career but as a Hispanic woman. She looks forward to getting to further advocate for diversity in the workforce with her team at OVG360.
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White Cane Day Celebration Planned at PHS

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  The school district will recognize White Cane Day at Pittsfield High School in two weeks with an event to celebrate the accomplishments of visually impaired people.

On Friday, Oct. 14, students of all ages with visual impairments will participate in activities, join a virtual presentation through the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, walk to City Hall to be greeted by Mayor Linda Tyer, and have lunch at PHS's culinary restaurant.



The national day of awareness is on Oct. 15 and has been celebrated since 1964. The cane is an essential tool used by this population to move around freely and safely.



"Its a day to really recognize the accomplishments and the independent skills of those that are visually impaired," Lynn Shortis, a schoolteacher for the visually impaired, said about White Cane Day.

The event will run from about 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and include around 50 people. Students from the Gateway Regional School District in Huntington will also join.



The district has a great relationship with the state Commission for the Blind, she said, and it does a lot for the students and to make Pittsfield more aware.

Shortis said the event is really to give the kids an empowering moment to be themselves and feel proud and important. It will also allow the students to meet and bond over shared experiences, as the pandemic has previously hindered gatherings.

Additionally, she said it is important to highlight the visually impaired in Pittsfield, as the city is often forgotten because it is the farthest west in the state.
Alumni Association Awards recipients Mikaelle Olivier, left, Juwonni Cottle, Claire Shea, Rebbecca Cohen and Shaniqua Choice with MCLA President Jamie Birge at Saturday's awards brunch. Juwonni Cottle, class of 2013, Vanguard Award, with Kimberly Roberts-Morandi and President Birge. Shaniqua Choice, class of 2013, Outstanding Educator Award. Claire Shea, class of 1965, Outstanding Educator Emeritus Award. Mikaelle Olivier, class of 2015, Community Service and Citizenship Award. Rebbecca Cohen, class of 2004, Distinguished Alumnus Award. Claire Shea with classmates. Choice with her fiance and month-old daughter. PreviousNext

MCLA Alumni Recognized for 'Outstanding' Service to Community, College



The awardees were presented with engraved clocks. NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts on Saturday took time to recognize six of its alumni who have made their mark on their communities and their fields of study.

"You're a beacon for our alumni to follow and an aspirational model for our current students," said President Jamie Birge in welcoming the honorees for this year's Alumni Association Awards.

Juwonni Cottle, class of 2013; Stephen Simo, class of 2013; Shaniqua Choice, class of 2013; Claire Shea, class of 1965; Mikaelle Olivier, class of 2015, and Rebbecca Cohen, class of 2004, were feted at a brunch in the Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation during Alumni Weekend at the college.

"I'm sure that you'll all agree that each recipient embodies the ideals of compassion, leadership ... and dedicated service that define the core values of what an education from MCLA represents," said Kimberly Roberts-Morandi, class of 1991, the morning's master of ceremonies and Alumni Association director.

Roberts-Morandi read out a brief biography of each awardee and Birge presented to the awards, engraved clocks, to the recipients.

Cohen, a former North Adams city councilor who now lives in Adams, has spent more than a decade in operations management in medical-related fields after earning a degree in biology from MCLA, and later masters in science and business administration. She is currently operational excellence manager of external quality assurance at Moderna Therapeutics.

In addition to her service on the council, she has served on a number of civic and nonprofit boards, including Louison House and the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women.

"I've always been deeply passionate about leadership in my career. Therefore, an education was something that I knew that was essential to secure a career where I could pursue those passions, while also staying true to my responsibilities as a wife and mother," she said. "Mass College of Liberal Arts laid that foundation that fostered my drive, ambition and goal to become the first in my family to obtain a bachelor's degree.

"It was this was this very foundation that gave me the strength and faith that I could achieve more than my predecessors. ... The moral of my story is  you can have it all. It is entirely possible to have a life you always wanted with the right tools, the right support and the resilience to overcome the obstacles of life."

Five the honorees were present; only Simo, chosen for the Outstanding Educator Award, was unable to attend.

Roberts-Morandi, a former administrator in the North Adams Public Schools, and a past recipient of the Outstanding Educator Award herself, read Simo's remarks for him. He is currently assistant dean of students at the University of Rhode Island.

Simo, the first in his family to graduate college, wrote that he was grateful for his time in the Berkshires and recalled the challenges presented by his professors, including Robert Bence, who was in attendance, and the mentoring they provided.

"I also made plenty of mistakes, learned what didn't work, and how to do it better. Through it all, the wonderful North Adams State College faculty and staff made such a difference in my life," he said.

Choice was also honored with an Outstanding Educator Award for her work on a professional development program focusing on equity at the Charter School of Cambridge and is a guest lecturer at MCLA on social justice education. She holds a master's degree in teaching and was accompanied by her fiance and month-old daughter.

She dedicated her time to her 92-year-old grandmother, who moved her six children from South Carolina in 1964 to Massachusetts so they could get an education  now all of her grandchildren are college graduates. Choice said she will continue work on issues of equity and creating opportunities for safe spaces in learning.

Cottle was the recipient of the Vanguard Award, given to an alum who has graduated within the past 15 years and who shown significant growth in their profession as well as being a role model.

He is an arts administrator and educator in schools and museums, and founder of Dunamis, a nonprofit based in Boston that is dedicated to providing support and space for creative people of color. This has included fellowships, arts management opportunities, performance platforms, events and programming, and grant support. But he said he was afraid while in school that he didn't know what the future would bring.

"If I could speak to the terrified Jay of 10 years past, I would tell him that although he doesn't know what's next, he should trust all that he gained from his time at MCLA," Cottle said.

Olivier was presented with the Community Service & Citizenship Award for her work in science education in training new teachers in on data-driven decision making while incorporating social-emotional learning. She's worked in Connecticut schools and state government on leadership and education and is currently talent partner for Achievement First, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based nonprofit charter school network serving 15,000 children. Her focus has been educational equity.

"Service to community has always been at the forefront of the way that I choose to do this and MCLA played a really integral part in helping me figure out how I could be the most impactful in that," she said. "I don't think I would have ever become an educator if it wasn't for MCLA."

Shea has been an educator and administrator for more than 35 years in New York, Massachusetts and Arizona, until retiring from Middletown, Conn., school after 26 years "with special attention to the issues of diversity access inclusion."

This year's Outstanding Educator Emeritus Award didn't stop at retirement: she joined a colleague in creating Imagine College, a mentoring program designed to address issues around diversity and institutional racism as well as the challenges for first-generation college students.

"I'm very proud to say that this program is still running and successful," Shea said. "And continues blazing the trail for more first-generation students to become the architects of their own lives, to move forward to college and better lives for themselves and their future families."




iciHaiti - DR : Seizure of 2,695 gallons of contraband gasoline bound for Haiti





Friday, September 30, 2022, following intelligence work, soldiers from the Specialized Land Border Security Corps (CESFRONT) intercepted in the province of Elias Pina (West near the Haitian city of Belladere) a white Freightliner truck at the sentinel post next to the Dominican gate of the border crossing of this province.



49 barrels of 55 gallons of fuel each were discovered (2,695 gallons in total) destined for the black market in Haiti. The truck was driven by an unidentified individual who fled when he saw the soldiers.



The seized vehicle and fuel were transferred to the Border Operations Base for the corresponding purposes. The driver is actively sought.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















The gender reveal trend for babies is becoming more common by the day. But the occasion wherein expectant parents announce the sex of their child is not without its fair share of drama.

Couple causes uproar after dying waterfall blue for gender reveal

In recent times, we have come across many gender reveal parties that haven't gone according to plan or been criticised for going over the top. Now, we have another to add to that list.

Screengrab/YouTube

A Brazilian couple has sparked outrage after they dyed a local waterfall bright blue to announce the birth of their son during a gender reveal party.



The couple faced backlash on the internet after they posted a video on Instagram of the moment a waterfall turned blue to indicate that they were having a boy. After the fury, they later deleted the video.



But copies of the video have since emerged on social media.

Brazil's Environment Ministry launches investigation

The environment ministry in Brazil has since launched an investigation and could charge the couple with an environmental crime.

The ministry said it has taken cognizance of the incident, which allegedly occurred last Sunday at a waterfall in Tangara da Serra, which is part of the Queima Queima Pe river.

As per reports, the river is popular among tourists visiting the Mato Grosso region and also serves as the main water source for the nearby town of Tangara da Serra.

Earlier, a YouTuber in Egypt caused uproar after he shared a video claiming to have turned the Pyramids of Giza blue as part of a gender reveal.

Siamand Mustafa shared a video on their YouTube channel with the title: First gender reveal party held by the pyramids.

In the video, Mustafa and his wife Shahad head to the Pyramids with their young daughter and some friends for the big reveal. The group can be seen standing in front of the Pyramids of Giza while counting down.

Then, as a light show begins to be projected onto the site of the pyramids and other ancient structures, the entire site turns blue following a countdown, indicating a boy.

For more trending stories, follow us on Telegram.


Dating apps should require users to register their real names to prevent the practice of catfishing, podcasters and 2FM hosts The 2 Johnnies told The Late Late Show.

Johnny OBrien and Johnny McMahon investigated the murky world of catfishing  whereby somebody poses as a potential date using a fake identity  on their podcast in a two-part episode called the GAA Catfish.

The inspiration was a real-world incident in which OBrien was hoodwinked by someone posing as a woman.

I was chatting to a girl. Im on the way to met her, he told Ryan Tubridy.

Her auntie died. A week later she got Covid. It turned out she didnt exist. It turns out this happened to a couple of other guys.

"It blew up all over the world. The amount of people who said they had been catfished.

"Social media and dating apps have to verify everyone  they have the mechanism to do it.

The 2 Johnnies have gone from local phenomenon in their native Cahir to a national sensation.

The second series of their travelogue The 2 Johnnies Do American is about to debut on RTE 2.

And they have sold out a live broadcast of their podcast at 13,000-capacity 3Arena.

Controversy

But there has been controversy too. A segment of their podcast on rude and suggestive car stickers almost saw the pair cancelled when an edited version of the video was posted online.

They had just started broadcasting on 2FM and were taken off the air.

It was a strange one, says McMahon.

"I was lying in bed in a hotel. I flicked on the telly. The war in Ukraine had kicked off. We were on the front pages. It [the offending content] was from a podcast. That podcast is still up. The edit of the video  we took it down and we owned it.

Johnny OBrien and Johnny McMahon, aka Johnny B and Johnny Smacks of The 2 Johnnies. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

On our podcast, people were sending in car-stickers, said OBrien.

We were reading some of them out. We were saying it was ridiculous. We took it down. If something goes out on Twitter, people are going to go bananas about it.

McMahon said that he was lost in life  unemployed and directionless  when he started working with OBrien.

He feels many young Irish people can empathise.

I was on the dole seven or eight months. Like a lot of 22, 23-year-oldsId dropped out of college. All I can do is have the craic. Loads of people are lost. I was stuck in that situation. Thats why we do well: were relatable.
Hina Khans recent exhibition, No Serahdain (No Borders) drew on her family history of forced migration from Pakistan and her own deeply personal ideas around borders and nationalism.

Khan said: "Ireland is a second home for me and I feel Irish Pakistani, Pakistani Irish. I am working on the topic of migration and I'm really connecting this migration toward my grandparents' migration when India and Pakistan were being made. So I'm really interested in how people form the borders and how they divide humanity."

Many of Khans paintings are of re-imagined maps. "There is water, there is earth, there is mountains, there is a different visual vocabulary, which symbolises the Earth, but there is no borders." Khan isnt keen on the label refugee artist and prefers to let the work speak for itself.

Something also important to Omar Barakdar, the Syrian artist, photographer and founder of Arthereistanbul, an art centre and community space in Istanbul.

"I don't support the idea of refugee artist. People who know us know it. But in a normal day, people passing by or checking for us, they will come to see art. Because, for me, when you give the artists this description 'he's a refugee artist', it takes something from him. It can move at one point to charity, in a way."

While Barakdar highly appreciates the motive behind people wanting to help, he says it can be difficult for artists if theyre seen as refugee artists.

"For the people who keep being cornered in the refugee place, it's hard for them. So they prefer not to be seen as refugee artistsYou see the practice, maybe you see something different.. Then it's like, we try to escape this cage of refugee for artists."

For Syrian artist and illustrator, Haya Halaw (who created our podcast artwork), theres also a reluctance to market herself as a refugee artist.

Not your refugee artwork by Haya Halaw.

"I think in the art community, there's a lot of people that look at it as someone claiming that crisis, like we're using this, this thing, to become more famous, to climb on the trend. But you can always see the genuine work."

Halaw was exhibiting her paintings, Of Home And Land at Jacaranda Gallery, Amman, Jordan - just one of the places I visited over the two months travelling in Turkey, Greece and Jordan talking to the many organisations and individuals working to build networks of solidarity and understanding.

I Am Not Your Refugee connects with some of the refugee-led projects who are working so hard to change the narrative about seeking refuge, including:

a Syrian activist group in Athens,

a photography project in Zaatari refugee camp, Jordan,

an LGBTQ+ refugee network in Turkey,

an Afghan volunteer in a Greek camp,

and the first Spanish magazine set up by refugees, Baynana.

Its presented by Mahmoud Hassino, who set up Syrias first LGBT magazine, Mawaleh, and was part of Mr Gay Syria (2017) a groundbreaking documentary drama which celebrated the lives of gay refugees in Turkey.

Now living in Germany, he worked with Schwulenberatung Berlin to help open the first major refugee center exclusively for LGBT+ people. The first episode features interviews with community organisers in Greece and Turkey, and with Mavis Ramazani of MASI (Movement of Asylum Seekers Ireland).

"Ireland is rich to have all of us here, you know, there's so much diversity, there's so much richness, individuals who are now part of Ireland," said Ramazani who works on the abolition of Direct Provision and other MASI campaigns.

"I was an asylum seeker. And experiencing the inhumane conditions where I was, it made me realise that I needed to be my own voice, I needed to talk about what is happening. And also to build a community.

"We can change together a lot of things in our community that are not benefiting our community, that are bringing harm into our community. Whichever way we came in Ireland, once you have a community, you are strong, you are better. Bridges keep building."

Whether its through direct campaigning, community networking or art, we can learn a lot from listening to those whove got first-hand knowledge of seeking refuge and by exploring ideas which challenge stereotypes around migration.

For artists like Hina Khan, this means working on visualising the world in different ways, and refusing to limit people or artists as refugee/non-refugee.

"Art is universal and artists try to create connectivity with the people. It's not about putting the people into boundaries and categories," Khan says.

"We cannot put people into categories because we are all humanLike at the end, after 100 years, people will see the artwork, they don't see the categories."

I Am Not Your Refugee

This podcast series was produced with the support of the Pulitzer Center.

Subscribe on APPLE PODCASTS, SPOTIFY, or WHEREVER YOU LISTEN TO PODCASTS.

Theme music by Omar Alkilani. Artwork by Haya Halaw. Presented by Mahmoud Hassino and produced by Bairbre Flood.

Mahmoud Hassino set up Syrias first LGBT magazine, Mawaleh, and presented and produced a podcast series before he was forced to leave in 2011. He was part of Mr Gay Syria (2017) a groundbreaking documentary drama which celebrated the lives of gay refugees in Turkey. Now living in Germany, he worked with Schwulenberatung Berlin, to help open the first major refugee center exclusively for LGBT people.

Bairbre Flood is an Irish freelance journalist who has produced radio documentaries for BBC World Service, Newstalk and community radio stations. Shes created several podcasts, including Wander, an Arts Council-funded series with writers living in refugee camps in Greece, Jordan, Bangladesh and Malawi. She has a special interest in migration and the stories of people who are seeking refuge, and how journalists can work together to challenge some of the current narratives around this.

Episode 1 - Nothing Without Us With a title inspired by James Baldwin, this podcast offers resistance and support in the face of closed camps and isolation, Frontex and loneliness, violent pushbacks and marginalisation. As policies across Europe become increasingly harsh, refugees are organising themselves to challenge stereotypes around migration and create pockets of solidarity and practical support. 'I Am Not Your Refugee' is produced by a network of Afghan, Syrian, Pakistani, Irish and Egyptian journalists, artists and activists who are passionate about changing the narrative about the lives of people who are seeking refuge. Bairbre Flood talks to three community organisers across three countries: Anas Al Natour in Tukiye, Safdar Salmani in Greece, and Mavis Ramazani in Ireland. We explore why its so important refugees themselves have ownership of their organisations and support - and see how different communities who experienced forced migration help to organise themselves. Anas Al Natour is the community liaison officer with Small Projects Istanbul, Safdar Salmani is a community volunteers who works with One Happy Family and Wave of Hope for the Future in Greece (with thanks to Fionn McArthur who interprets the conversation) and Mavis Ramazani works with MASI (the Movement of Asylum Seekers Ireland).

Episode 2 - Media & Migration

A look at migration and the media with journalists Osama Gaweesh, Nasruddin Nizami and Mohamad Shabat.

Osama Gaweesh is an Egyptian journalist who joined the Refugee Journalism Project in the UK. He explains how the project works, and why its so important - not just for individual journalists, but for the quality of news and media overall. His podcast, Untold Stories is available wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Nasruddin Nizami, from Afghanistan, is co-founder of the online magazine Solomon, in Athens and Mohamad Shabat set up the first magazine by refugees in Spain, Baynana (which is Arabic for between us).

Episode 3 - Ana Surie Zaatari refugee camp is home to just over 80,000 people who were forced to leave Syria during the war. More than half the camps residents are children. Mohamad Khalf has been teaching photography in Zaatari for many years - instilling a love of learning and creative expression in his students Ali and Mohammed Nour Al-Babisi. They talk to Bairbre Flood about the photography exhibition Mohmamad Khalf organised in the camp, called Ana Surie I Am Syrian and why they are Syrian first, not refugees. Nour Al-Hariri shares her rap music and explains why she writes about early marriage, child labour, and other issues - and how the many talented and creative women in the camp should be supported more. Watch some of the short films created by Al-Balbisi.

Episode 4 - ArtHere

Focusing on art and migration in Turkiye, Jordan and Ireland.

Arthereistanbul is a community space, an art gallery and place where artists can create in peace. Founder Omar Berakdar and artist and curator Sherin Zeraaty talk to Bairbre Flood.

In Jordan, Bairbre meets Syrian illustrator and painter, Haya Halaw whos having her first solo exhibition show in Jacaranda Gallery in Amman.

And finally we head to Cork, Ireland and meet artist Hina Khan whose exhibition, No Seradain (No Borders) draws on her family history of forced migration from Pakistan and her own deeply personal ideas around borders and nationalism.

Episode 5 - From All Over: LGBT Turkiye Two LGBT refugees in Yalova, Turkiye, Mehdi and Nihal, are setting up their own group, From All Over. Bairbre Flood met them at their home to see why they need this group, and what life is like for LGBT refugees outside of Istanbul. Presenter Mahmoud Hassino also shares some of his personal experiences helping to organise a Mr Gay Syria event which was documented in a film by Turkish director Ayse Toprak.

Episode 6 - Activism, Art, Athens

Wael Habbal started the Syrian Greek Youth Forum (SGYF), in 2018 to advocate for human rights, to connect people together, to break stereotypes around migration, and to create their own opportunities in Athens.

He sits down with another member of SGYF - Kareem Al Kabbani - and our reporter Bairbre Flood to talk about how activism, creativity and active citizenship intersect.

You can listen to some of their work on Movement Radio part of Onassis Stegi.

Episode 7 - Coffee, Comedy, Music Usman Khalid wanted to set up a coffee shop with a difference - HAVEN Coffee is a social enterprise, a cafe with a mission of breaking false narratives around migration. Their Laff-Uccino comedy gigs are regular events in London, with comedians of refugee or migrant background and Kryzsia, one of the comedians involved, talks comedy, migration and accents. From comedy in London to music on a Greek island, we head to Mythinini, Lesvos where Bairbre meets Ramozmontana, a Saudi Arabian/Somali artist on the island, and Farhad, an Iranian musician. This is the last episode in this series and wed like to thank the Pulitzer Center for their funding and support, and all the people who shared their experiences and observations with us. Thanks also to our team Caroline Dipanda, Osama Gaweesh, Wael Habbal and Reza Nouri for all their work on this series. Omar Alkilani who wrote and performed the theme music and Haya Halaw who designed the artwork. From producer Bairbre Flood and presenter Mahmoud Hassino, thanks for listening!
Two men have been arrested in Limerick today after drugs with a combined value of 71,000 were seized in two separate search operations.

This morning, Gardai attached to Henry Street conducted a search operation at a number of residences in Limerick, assisted by the Regional Armed Support Unit the Divisional Drugs Unit and the Community Engagement Unit.
Gardai have boosted patrols and checkpoints around the home of a former Sinn Fein councillor who last week admitted facilitating the murder of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel, Dublin, in February 2016.

Garda cars and marked armed support units rushed to the home of Jonathan Dowdall after two senior figures in the Hutch criminal network called to the house on Navan Road in Cabra, west Dublin, on Thursday.

Jonathan Dowdall: Armed support units rushed to his house after Hutch criminal figures called to his house.

A person in the house rang 999 after the two individuals jumped over waist-high electronic gates, walked up to the door and knocked.

It was just a day after Jonathan Dowdall, 44, and his father Patrick Dowdall, 65, pleaded guilty at the non-jury Special Criminal Court to contributing to a serious offence by a criminal organisation (the murder of Byrne) by making a room available at the Regency Hotel for members of the gang.

The attack at the Regency Hotel, conducted by a six-man team, sparked the Kinahan-Hutch feud in Ireland and Spain.

The guilty plea comes as two co-accused, Paul Murphy of Cabra Road, Dublin, and Jason Bonney of Portmarnock, Dublin, are due to stand trial, also charged with contributing to a criminal organisation in the murder of Byrne.

The trial of Gerry The Monk Hutch, charged with the murder of 34-year-old Byrne, from Crumlin, Dublin, is also due to begin.

A garda response was activated after emergency calls were received, that two-high profile figures in the Hutch criminal organisation were at the door of Mr Dowdall.

A patrol car was dispatched from Cabra Garda Station, while an armed support unit, driving along nearby Phibsboro Road, was also alerted. Both are said to have been there in around a minute.

The two individuals had fled. One is a suspect for the Regency attack. The other is a high-profile figure who has served sentences for armed robbery and manslaughter

They may have been helped by a third person, the driver of a car.

A couple of hours later, reports were received that the Regency suspect and a separate individual, also a senior Hutch gang figure and a survivor of Kinahan cartel attacks, were spotted in Coolock, north Dublin.

The report contained suggestions that one of them was carrying a bag, though sources indicated the details were vague.

Gardai were scrambled and, on foot of a warrant, a house in Coolock was searched, but no bag or suspicions items were recovered.

Gardai have increased patrols by marked garda vehicles around the Dowdall home and checkpoints in the vicinity are being carried out.

Patrols by two armed support units units, one covering the Dublin West Division, where the Dowdall home is, and one covering Dublin North Central, are prioritising the general area.

Garda sources said there is concern within the organisation at the events and that appropriate security measures have been taken.

The Dowdalls are due to be sentenced in the Special Criminal Court on Monday.
Tributes poured in on Friday after the death was announced of Dublin GAA legend Brian Mullins at the age of 68.

The four-time All-Ireland winner will go down as one of the greatest midfielders of all time. Dublin GAA led the tributes to the two-time All-Star.

In a statement they said: "In the recent past it has been often said that Dublin teams stood on the shoulders of giants. Today we lost one of those giants. Brian Mullins was a colossus and a Dublin GAA legend.

"Whether in the blue and white of St. Vincent's or the sky blue of Dublin, Brian was a dominant force who inspired his team-mates. Majestic fielding, perpetual motion, clever and accurate in possession, and capable of getting vital scores  he was indomitable with an iron will to win.

"Brian helped light the touchpaper that reignited Dublins fire almost 50 years ago. It is with great sadness that he has left us today but the memory of his deeds will live in the hearts and minds of Dublin supporters, and indeed well beyond the county lines, forever.

"Dublin GAA convey their condolences to his family, former team colleagues, both club and inter-county, and friends.

"Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dilis."

Mullins led his club side St Vincent's to a Dublin title in 2017, having been on the team that won an All-Ireland club title in 1976. The club paid tribute on Twitter.

"It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Brian Mullins. An absolute colossus in St Vincents. Theres so much to say about the man, and were all still processing this. Well honour him in the coming days. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam."

Mullins led Derry to a National League title in 1996 and an Ulster title in 1998.

Derry GAA said on Twitter: "Brian Mullins RIP. Our Ulster Senior Football Championship winning manager from 1998 and an icon of Gaelic football with his native Dublin, Brian Mullins was a great friend to Derry GAA. He will be sadly missed. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam uasal."

Mullins was appointed Director of Sport in UCD in 2000 and the university also paid tribute.

"It is with deep regret that we learned of the death of our friend and colleague Brian Mullins. Hailed as one of the greatest Gaelic footballers ever to play for Dublin, Brian was a massive champion of sport at UCD where he was appointed Director Sport in 2000."

Leinster Rugby have been based in UCD since 2012 and also paid tribute to Mullins.

"UCD has been our home since 2012 & nobody has made us feel more at home than Brian Mullins. Our hearts are broken for his family and his friends at St Vincent's, Dublin GAA and UCD.

"One of the all time GAA greats. And an even better man. Fathach fir. Croi bhriste."
Russia has vetoed a UN Security Council resolution would have condemned the referendums, declared that they have no validity and urged all countries not to recognise the annexation.

China, India, Brazil and Gabon abstained on the vote in the 15-member council.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed treaties for an illegal annexation of occupied Ukrainian territory in a sharp escalation of his seven-month invasion of Ukraine.

He vowed to protect the newly annexed regions by all available means, a nuclear-backed threat at a Kremlin signing ceremony where he also railed at the West.

Ukraines leader immediately countered with a signing ceremony of his own, releasing video of him putting pen to papers that he said were a formal Nato membership request.

Russian recruits take a train at a railway station in Prudboi, Volgograd region of Russia, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a partial mobilization of reservists to beef up his forces in Ukraine. (AP Photo)

Mr Putins land-grab and President Volodymyr Zelenskyys signing of what he said is an accelerated Nato membership application sent the two leaders speeding even faster on a collision course that is cranking up fears of a full-blown conflict between Russia and the West.

The Russian leader has repeatedly made clear that any prospect of Ukraine joining the worlds largest military alliance is one of his red lines and it was among the justifications he has cited for his invasion.

In his speech, Mr Putin urged Ukraine to sit down for peace talks but immediately insisted he would not discuss handing back occupied regions  keeping him at odds with the Ukrainian government and its western backers which have rejected his land-grab.

Mr Zelenskyy said there would be no negotiations with Mr Putin, adding: We are ready for a dialogue with Russia, but with another president of Russia. In a Kremlin ceremony at the ornate St Georges Hall to herald the annexation of the occupied parts of Ukraine, Mr Putin accused the West of fuelling the hostilities as part of what he said is a plan to turn Russia into a colony and a crowd of slaves.

The hardening of his position, in a conflict that that has killed and wounded tens of thousands of people, further cranked up tensions, already at levels unseen since the Cold War.

The European Union responded to Mr Putins latest step with a joint statement rejecting and condemning the illegal annexation of the four regions: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

The EUs 27 member states said they will never recognise the illegal referendums that Russia organised as a pretext for this further violation of Ukraines independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Ukraine vowed to continue fighting, and Mr Zelenskyy announced the accelerated Nato application, although it was not immediately clear what that would mean, since it requires the unanimous support of the alliances members.

De facto, we have already proven compatibility with alliance standards. They are real for Ukraine  real on the battlefield and in all aspects of our interaction, Mr Zelenskyy said.

We trust each other, we help each other, and we protect each other. This is the alliance. The Kremlin ceremony came three days after the completion in occupied regions of Moscow-orchestrated referendums on joining Russia that were dismissed by Kyiv and the West as a bare-faced land grab held at gunpoint and based on lies.

But Mr Putin, in a fiery speech at the ceremony, insisted that Ukraine must treat the Kremlin-managed votes with respect.

After the signing ceremony of treaties to join Russia, Moscow-installed leaders of the occupied regions gathered around Mr Putin and linked hands, before joining chants of Russia! Russia! with the audience.

Mr Putin also railed at the West, cutting an angry figure as he accused the US and its allies of seeking to destroy Russia. He said the West acted as a parasite and used its financial and technological strength to rob the entire world.

He portrayed Russia as being on a historical mission to reclaim its post-Soviet great power status and counter western domination which he said is collapsing.

History has called us to a battlefield to fight for our people, for the grand historic Russia, for future generations, he said.

Russia later vetoed a UN Security Council resolution would have condemned the referendums, declared that they have no validity and urged all countries not to recognise the annexation.

China, India, Brazil and Gabon abstained on the vote in the 15-member council.

The separatist Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine have been backed by Moscow since declaring independence in 2014, weeks after the annexation of Ukraines Crimean peninsula.

The southern Kherson region and part of neighbouring Zaporizhzhia were captured by Russia soon after Mr Putin sent troops into Ukraine on February 24.

Both houses of the Kremlin-controlled Russian parliament will meet next week to rubberstamp the treaties for the regions to join Russia, sending them to Mr Putin for his approval.

He has bluntly warned Ukraine against pressing an offensive to reclaim the regions, saying Russia would view it as an act of aggression  threats that Moscow can back up with the worlds largest arsenal of nuclear warheads.

Russia controls most of the Luhansk and Kherson regions, about 60% of Donetsk and a large chunk of Zaporizhzhia, where it took control of Europes largest nuclear power plant.

Mr Zelenskyy vowed to keep fighting, saying: The entire territory of our country will be liberated from this enemy. Russia already knows this. It feels our power.
Junta Watch Junta Watch: Coup Leader Woos Tourists; TV Censorship Revived; and More

Regime leader Min Aung Hlaing looks at products made by local SMEs, in Mandalay. / Cincds

Welcome to the warzone

Few normal people would want to spend their vacation in a volatile country routinely rocked by armed clashes and explosions. So when someone begins touting the potential of the tourism industry in such a place, it would be wise to take their claims with a grain of salt.

Speaking at an event to mark World Tourism Day on Tuesday, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing claimed that the domestic travel and inbound tour industries are developing in Myanmar. The Russian and Japanese ambassadors and the heads of the diplomatic missions of a number of other countries including India attended the event.

While the US government has hit Myanmar with its highest Level 4 travel advisoryDo Not TravelRussia, China, India and Thailand are increasing their tourism cooperation with the regime.

After years of progress under the now ousted National League for Democracy government, Myanmars tourism industry was battered by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the wake of the military coup and ensuing international sanctions, it has collapsed almost entirely.

The military regime, which is starving for hard foreign currency, is desperate to reopen the sector. Knowing that travelers from Western countries will not come, it is planning to launch direct flights to and from Moscow in the hope of attracting holidaymakers from its major arms supplier, Russia. It is also arranging Russian-language courses for hotel and tourism staff, and tourist police. At the same time, regime-backed documentaries on Myanmar have been aired by a Thai military-owned broadcaster in a bid to attract travelers from the neighboring country.

Min Aung Hlaing may be optimistic that tourism will develop further in the upcoming dry season, but it will not be easy for the industry, as the end of the rainy season is also expected to bring an escalation in fighting between his junta and resistance forces.

Noose tightens on free speech

After revoking the licenses of several media outlets and putting scores of journalists and dissidents behind bars over the past year, the military regime apparently thinks its restrictions on freedom of speech still havent gone far enough.

At a meeting on Tuesday, the junta-controlled Information Ministry decided to impose pre-broadcast censorship on local and foreign television serials. According to the decision, the ministry will ban any content it deems politically or religiously dangerous, or that it believes undermines the culture and national solidarity or arouses sexual desire.

This is indisputably a return to the draconian censorship exercised under previous military regimes, and also means the imminent death of artistic freedom in Myanmar.

On Tuesday, a regime-controlled court sentenced prominent sexy model Nang Mwe San to six years in prison for harming the culture and dignity of Myanmar. Another top model, Thinzar Wint Kyaw, faces the same charge.

In the aftermath of the coup, the regime banned people from using satellite dishes in an attempt to restrict access to protest-related news. It also ordered pay TV operators to remove news channels like the BBC and CNN.

Meanwhile, in an indication of the kind of content the regime deems acceptable, Min Aung Hlaing has resurrected the Myanmar Traditional Cultural Performing Arts competition, which was first organized during the era of former military spy chief Khin Nyunt.

Resistance shrugs off Min Aung Hlaings threats

A day after junta chief Min Aung Hlaing warned of tit-for-tat reprisals for resistance attacks on the Myanmar military and police force, urban guerilla fighters ambushed a vehicle carrying political prisoners in Mandalay on Wednesday, as Min Aung Hlaing was visiting the city.

Despite the heavy security presence due to the junta boss being in town, some prisoners managed to escape over the dead bodies of two junta policemen.

And in Yangon, where the regime has tightened security following the assassination of former Brigadier-General Ohn Thwin, who was a mentor of deputy junta chief Soe Win, resistance fighters attacked police stations in Pabedan and Mingalar Taung Nyunt townships on Thursday night, inflicting casualties.

The junta chiefs barking doesnt seem to be scaring anyone. If it did, he probably wouldnt have found it necessary recently to impose a nighttime curfew in the administrative capital, Naypyitaw, where he lives. Many retired generals must have had sleepless nights this week after Brig-Gen Ohn Thwin was shot dead in his Yangon home on Sept. 24.

India helping junta with economic goals

In the latest sign of warming ties between India and the Myanmar junta, the worlds largest democracy is helping regime leader Min Aung Hlaings ambitions come true.

The regime said this week a delegation led by its Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Minister Tin Htut Oo visited the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, an affiliated organization of the state-owned National Seed Corporation, to acquire seeds of a variety of beans and pulses, including green gram (mung beans), which regime leader Min Aung Hlaing seeks to export as a means of pulling Myanmars economy out of its nosedive.

The delegation also met with representatives of the India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA) and the Overseas Agro Traders Association (OATA) to discuss the addition of green gram to Myanmars bean and pulse export list, and to invite more Indian investment in Myanmar. They also met with other private companies to buy seeds for cotton and sunflower, another crop Min Aung Hlaing is pinning his hopes on to serve as a substitute for the countrys edible oil imports.

Furthermore, India continues to foster military, diplomatic and electoral ties with the regime. While Britain and Australia have downgraded their diplomatic missions in military-ruled Myanmar, Indian Ambassador Vinay Kumar presented his credentials to Min Aung Hlaing in April this year. The envoy also discussed further cooperation with the juntas electoral body on the election the regime plans to hold next year. Both the UN and the US have warned that the poll will not be free and fair.
Chinas YU-20 tanker aircraft hosts aerial refueling drills for two J-20 stealth fighter jets

By Liu Xuanzun (Global Times) 15:31, October 01, 2022

A YU-20 tanker aircraft hosts aerial refueling exercises for two J-20 stealth fighter jets. Photo: Screenshot from China Central Television

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force on Thursday published for the first time a video showing a YU-20 tanker aircraft hosting aerial refueling exercises for two J-20 stealth fighter jets, displaying the YU-20's high flexibility and the increasing number of J-20s in active service, analysts said.

This is the PLA Air Force's special way of celebrating the upcoming National Day on Saturday, reads a press release by the PLA Air Force posted on social media platforms.

Previously, the PLA Air Force published a video showing a YU-20 tanker aircraft hosting aerial refueling exercises for two J-16 fighter jets, and another video showing a YU-20 hosting aerial refueling exercises for a J-16 and a J-20.

The YU-20 can conduct aerial refueling for warplanes including the J-20, the J-16 and the J-10C, and such aerial refueling exercises have been carried out multiple times in high-altitude plateau regions and above the sea, enhancing the PLA Air Force's long-range maneuvering capabilities, Senior Colonel Shen Jinke, a spokesperson for the PLA Air Force, said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Being capable of hosting aerial refueling for different types of aircraft separately or at the same time in various challenging environments shows the YU-20's high flexibility and adaptability, a Chinese military aviation expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times.

It demonstrates that the domestically developed YU-20 has become technically mature, and with more aircraft of this type expected to be built, they will become a backbone for the PLA Air Force's strategic reform, the expert said.

The other protagonists in Thursday's video, the J-20s, also saw new developments recently, as Shen said that more J-20s have been commissioned across all the eastern, southern, western, northern and central parts of China, have flown greater distances, and are playing increasingly important roles.

With the successful development of the domestic engine, the J-20 has entered mass production, and it is only a matter of time before PLA Air Force units in all parts of the country get the advanced stealth fighter jet, the expert said.

With combat capabilities amplified by the YU-20 tanker aircraft and its numbers increasing, the J-20 will better safeguard national sovereignty, territorial integrity and development interests in the face of external threats and foreign provocations, observers said.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Bianji)
Black holes were something of an enigma for us, humans, for a very long time. Since the discovery of the first black hole in 1964, per Space.com, we only relied on our imagination about what they looked like.

That was the case until April 10, 2019, when the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) gave humanity the first look at what a black hole looks like.

However, how did it take that picture after all those years?

Messier 87 Black Hole Photograph Details

Messier 87 is an elliptical galaxy more than 50 million light-years away from Earth, per National Geographic. It is home to several trillion stars, 15,000 globular star clusters, and a supermassive black hole with a mass 6.5 billion times higher than our Sun, per NASA.

Although NASA knew that almost every galaxy had a supermassive black hole at their centers, they didn't know what they looked like because of how hard they were to photograph.

That until the nations of the world established the EHT- a global network of synchronized radio observatories that work together to observe radio sources associated with black holes with angular resolution similar to their event horizons, per the EHT's About Us page.

For those unaware, a black hole's event horizon is the boundary marking its limits or its very edge, per the Encyclopaedia Britannica. It is said that nothing, not even light, can escape when it crosses this region of the black hole.

However, thanks to the bright gas being sucked into the black hole, astronomers were able to use the Event Horizon Telescope to capture the first picture of a black hole.

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The bright gas the black hole is sucking provided a background bright enough to reveal a dark central region, which is surrounded by a bright ring-like structure, per the Event Horizon Telescope's official website.

Since the black hole is more than 50 light years away from Earth, astronomers used multiple calibrations and imaging methods to take humanity's first image of a black hole.

Additionally, supermassive black holes are "relatively tiny astronomical objects," contrary to popular belief. Because of their size, it was only until the EHT was established that astronomers got the first picture of a black hole.

According to Paul T.P. Ho, EHT Board member and Director of the East Asian Observatory, the observations the telescope captured to capture the first photograph of a black hole match experts' theoretical understanding "surprisingly well."

What Is The Event Horizon Telescope?

As previously mentioned, the EHT is a global network of synchronized radio observatories specifically calibrated to look for radio sources associated with black holes.

To create this network, astronomers outfitted and connected a worldwide network of eight pre-existing observatories with instruments of "unprecedented sensitivity and resolution" that makes it possible to observe black holes.

The observatory uses a technique called very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) to synchronize the eight observatories to form one Earth-size telescope observing at a wavelength of 1.3 mm. This technique allows the EHT to read a newspaper in New York from a sidewalk cafe in Paris.

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Did Optus suffer another data breach before the big leak, one that has gone generally unmentioned and unnoticed? At least one security professional who has been closely following the incidents at the telco appears to think so.

Brett Callow pointed out in a tweet that a post  on the same forum where claims of the breach of 11.2 million users were put up  dated 17 September offered 1.1 million names and email addresses of Optus customers. It has now been removed.

This post offering 1.1 million names and email address of #Optus' customers has also been removed. 1/2 https://t.co/wksD6GFTd1  Brett Callow (@BrettCallow) September 28, 2022

"The timing of that post is certainly interesting," Callow, a seasoned security researcher with New Zealand-based Emsisoft, told iTWire. "It raises the question of whether Optus was compromised more than once and, if it was, whether access was via the same method on both  or all  occasions.

"Its certainly not beyond the realm of possibility that the news of an exploitable weakness wouldve been shared in hacking communities, and resulted in more than one hack."

The post was dated the 17th and, according to forum users', the data is valid but "not from the recent breach, its something else." 2/2 pic.twitter.com/4x7ZKODmHC  Brett Callow (@BrettCallow) September 28, 2022

Forum users have pointed out that these records came from a breach unrelated to the 11.2-million-user leak. iTWire raised the issue with Optus on 23 September, a day after the big breach announcement, but received no reply.

While Optus has done everything but make a clean breast of what happened, various media organs have predictably published their "inside stories" about the breach. It's too good a story to let go without endless repetitions of what has been already repeated many times, replete with misinformation. And don't forget to praise a company which deserves nothing but condemnation.

For example, the technology editor of the Nine newspapers seems convinced that all the action took place on the dark web. Of course, that gives the story a mysterious spin: ooh, the dark web where all the bad things happen. The fact is the forum where the attacker posted claims and then apologised is very much on the clear Web.

There was this gem from News Corp: "But the data had already been secretly copied by others, and remains floating around on the dark web, a difficult-to-access part of the internet that most people never find, but which is used to sell stolen identities, credit-card numbers, drugs and child abuse material." This was in a story headlined, "How Australia responded rapidly to Optus breach".

Seven months ago #Optus was lobbying Parliament AGAINST tougher cyber security laws, complaining they would cost the company too much money. As one politician told me today it hasnt aged well. My latest on #OptusHack #auspol for @10NewsFirst pic.twitter.com/0xRVKqdap0  Hugh Riminton (@hughriminton) September 28, 2022

Asked about this, Callow, who was somewhat amused about the claim, said: "Heh. It likely is somewhere on the dark web  or, at least, the 10,200 records  but its also on the clear web. The data has been uploaded to multiple hosting services, which are linked to from the forum where the information was initially put up for sale.

"Bottom line: theres no way to know how many times the data has been shared and re-shared, where copies of it exist or how many people have accessed it and for what reasons. And that applies to both the 10,200 records as well as the millions which were supposedly deleted."

Optus has yet to say when the breach occurred. The company continues to offer spin, with full-page advertisements in several newspapers on Saturday saying nothing of substance.

But it has been beaten into submission by the government as far as paying for the mess goes. However, under the existing law, the telco can be fined only $2.2 million, which as a member of the Greens has pointed out amounts to 22 Australian cents for each person affected.

The marketing response begins from Optus with full pages ads in the paper and billboard ads.



Bit rich for them to claim there's a lot of misinformation when they haven't been providing any information. pic.twitter.com/oXILNEyhKb  Josh Taylor (@joshgnosis) September 30, 2022

Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin is yet to explain how she managed to focus on her job at the telco given all the side gigs in which she was involved, all of which were exposed by the Australian Financial Review's national correspondent Michael Roddan on 28 September.

The submission the company made in 2020 to the inquiry into the Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Bill 2020 makes for interesting reading.

This is just one of those very interesting bits: "The Bill should be dovetailed with existing regulatory provisions for the telecommunications industry. Optus recommends that policy and drafting adjustments be made so that the TSSR notification requirements in Division 3 of Part 14 of the Telecommunications Act do not apply to a responsible entity for critical telecommunications assets once it has been determined either that the entity is: (a) subject to the positive security obligation which requires it to maintain a critical infrastructure risk management program; or (b) operating a system of national significance."

Optus is working with the FBI to identify the flaws in their security. At least they said they were from the FBI.  bradpsychology (@bradpsychology) September 28, 2022

There's lots more, but let me not detract from the enjoyment that nerds derive from reading such documents in full.

Optus clearly appears to think that the breach saga has been closed. For many of its customers, both current and former, the pain may be just beginning.
Iran's government and security forces committed "crimes against humanity" in their suppression of huge nationwide protests in 2019, an international panel of lawyers probing the crackdown concluded on Friday.

The Iran Atrocities (Aban) Tribunal, which was convened by various human rights groups, heard evidence from over 250 witnesses as it investigated whether the Iranian regime broke international law in its response to the demonstrations.

The protests, of a magnitude rarely seen in Iran following the 1979 Islamic Revolution and being repeated across the country in recent weeks, erupted nationwide in November 2019 after a sudden hike in fuel prices.

Activists say the authorities managed to impose control only after a ruthless crackdown that, according to Amnesty International, left at least 304 people dead in a deliberate policy to shoot at demonstrators.

The London tribunal said expert evidence suggested that the actual number killed was likely far larger and possibly as high as 1,515.

"The panel unanimously finds... beyond a reasonable doubt that the Iranian government and the security forces designed and implemented a plan to commit crimes against humanity," the tribunal's six legal experts said in their judgment summary.

It found various branches of the regime -- from the interior ministry to the feared Basij militia -- conducted murder, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, torture and sexual violence to quell the protests and conceal its crimes.

- 'Case to answer' -

Five of the six serving as jurists also concluded that protestors and bystanders were "discriminately targeted for their collective involvement in the protests or their perceived association" with them.

They cited 161 people as perpetrators of the alleged crimes against humanity, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, former president Hassan Rouhani, and nearly a dozen other senior regime figures.

"We've named some of those who are responsible in the sense of there being a case to answer," Wayne Jordash, a criminal lawyer who chaired the tribunal panel, told AFP after the judgment was read aloud at an event in London.

He said the report has particular resonance now as protesters once again face violent repression as they demonstrate across Iran over the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini on September 16.

"The current protests look like the Aban 2019 protests, and the government's response looks pretty much the same," Jordash added.

"I would be very surprised if the government isn't again engaged in a range of crimes against humanity and gross human rights violations."

- 'Suffered' -

The Aban tribunal -- named after the Iranian month when the events took place -- was founded by NGOs including the London-based Justice for Iran, which campaigns against impunity for crimes in Iran, and the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights (IHR).

It heard evidence in two public sessions held in London last November and online in February, analysing videos, written and expert testimony, and well as witnesses' verbal accounts.

Some of those witnesses and relatives of those killed or detained during the protests attended the London judgment reading and held aloft photographs of their loved ones as it concluded.

"Today, it makes me very happy -- it needed to be done a lot sooner," said Mohammad Amin, 42, an Iranian exile living in Britain since last year who witnessed the crackdown in Baluchestan, southeast Iran.

"A lot of people in my area, in my city... were injured and killed and really the people in my area suffered the most," he told AFP, speaking through a translator.

"I saw the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) and the security forces shoot up protesters... they were just killing people."

The Iranian government could not immediately be reached for comment on the tribunal's conclusions.
Ukraine said Friday at least 30 people including children were killed and dozens injured after a convoy of civilian cars in the Zaporizhzhia region was shelled in an attack Kyiv blamed on Moscow.

"Thirty dead and 88 wounded as a result of another Russian war crime in Zaporizhzhia. Among the dead are two children: an 11-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy," Ukraine national police chief Igor Klymenko said on Facebook.

He said that a three-year-old girl was also among the injured.

"Unfortunately we also have losses among the police. A 36-year-old employee...was killed," Klymenko said.

He added that another 27 police officers were among the injured, and "four of them are in serious condition".

Ukrainian officials previously reported 25 dead and around 50 injured in the attack.

The Zaporizhzhia governor said Russian forces "launched a rocket attack" on the civilian convoy waiting to cross into the Russian-controlled part of the region.

The southern industrial hub of Zaporizhzhia, with a pre-war population of 700,000, is under Ukrainian control but subject to Russian rocket attacks.

Part of the region is occupied by Moscow.

Also on Friday, President Vladimir Putin declared four Ukrainian regions -- including Zaporizhzhia -- to be Russian in a lavish annexation ceremony at the Kremlin.

bur/rox

Meta
An army commander in the Central African Republic has been charged with crimes against humanity by a tribunal investigating atrocities committed in the war-scarred country, the court said on Friday.

Commander Vianney Semndiro was also charged with torture, rape, sexual slavery and the "forced disappearance of persons" during the regime of former president Francois Bozize, the Special Criminal Court (CPS) said in a statement.

The alleged atrocities were committed at the Bossembele military camp north of the capital, Bangui, between 2009 and 2013.

Part of the secretive camp had been transformed into jails for "political" prisoners, according to international NGOs and journalists who visited the camp in 2013 after the fall of Bozize.

One of the poorest countries in the world, the former French colony was plunged into civil war in 2013 after Bozize was ousted by the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels.

Christian and animist militia led by the ousted president have exacted reprisals and the United Nations has accused both sides of atrocities.

The CPS is a hybrid court, composed of local and international magistrates, created in 2015 by the Central African Republic (CAR) under the aegis of the United Nations.

It has a mandate to investigate and judge war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the CAR since 2003.

The country of some five million people -- which the UN says is the world's second least developed -- remains gripped by violence and human rights violations although the civil war has reduced in intensity since 2018.

Thousands have lost their lives in the conflict despite intervention by former colonial power France and the UN.

Both sides have been accused by the UN of war crimes and crimes against humanity, with some senior militia leaders being tried or prosecuted before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

The ICC trial of Mahamat Said Abdel Kani, an alleged Seleka commander, also accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, opened this week.
Ukrainian forces stepped up their counter-offensive against Russian forces in the Kharkiv region on Friday as more evidence of violence against civilians in formerly occupied territories surfaced.

Just east of the village of Kyrylivka in the Kharkiv region, on a exposed stretch of road near the front line, lay the bodies of a group of at least 11 civilians, who were gunned down in cars and a minibus.

Ukrainian troops, who recently retook the area, told AFP the six-vehicle convoy was attacked by the retreating Russians, who held Kyrylivka until earlier this week.

There was no way to independently confirm this version of events, and reporters were only able to remain on the scene for a short time before artillery fire broke out on the still-active front.

On Wednesday, an official at the Kremlins deputy administration in the neighboring Lugansk region accused Kiev forces of firing on a civilian convoy in the area, reportedly killing 30 people.

 bullet holes 

The area where the attack took place, a road through farmland east of the industrial city of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, was recaptured in the last week, and heavy gunfire broke out.

The vehicles all moved together as a civilian convoy. We can see that there is almost no distance between the vehicles, said Filya, a Ukrainian soldier who guided AFP to the scene of the crime.

And obviously they were shot at because you can see the bullet holes A car was set on fire and its impossible to spot the people without an expert, he said.

In early September, after a lightning-fast counteroffensive, Ukrainian troops recaptured Kupyansk  a railroad junction once used by the Russians to supply their troops  and a border crossing on the Oskil River.

But villages like Kyrylivka on the east bank of the Oskil were only secured four or five days ago, and the slaughtered civilian convoy was near an area where both sides had been fighting.

Russian forces have often been accused of murdering civilians in occupied territories during the seven-month war, and on Friday a Russian attack killed 25 civilians in the southern Zaporizhia region.

But as Ukrainian forces retook East Kupyansk, they shot at civilian model cars daubed with the Russian occupiers Z symbol and driven by uniformed men, now leaving bloated bodies on the side of the road.

Whoever shot the convoy, the victims appear to be civilians.

A small van or minibus burned to the ground with the charred remains of four people inside. At least one of these bodies was small enough to have been a child.

A cream-colored Lada with an open trunk pulls up in front of the bus, and a middle-aged man in a hat and blue jeans lies dead on the street next to a plastic bag full of luggage.

In the back seat of a blue car, an elderly lady lies curled up under a down jacket as if asleep. In the front seat, the driver who was killed has a blanket over his knees, suggesting he was parked.

In all, AFP reporters counted 11 bodies at the scene, which has yet to be cleared or visited by prosecutors or forensic investigators.

A short distance away in Kyrylivka, confident Ukrainian forces are now in command and a thin but steady stream of refugees are piling on foot towards the bridge over the river and to safety.

 Kamikaze Drone 

Smoke is still rising from the left front tire of a Russian APC that Ukrainian troops say was destroyed by a kamikaze drone, and three Russian tanks were captured more or less intact.

One, a T-90A, is considered a grand prize.

The model entered service in 2004 and is the most modern tank used by the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine. This one was not destroyed but appears to have been left behind after falling into a ditch.

Filyas unit is confident they can recover it, repair it and return it  and its relatively advanced thermal imaging sensors  to the fight along with two other run-down looking older and abandoned T-72s.
Bodies scattered everywhere, a ceiling destroyed by blast waves, classmates dragging each other to safety  survivors of a suicide attack in a study hall in Kabul described horror scenes after a typical exam.

Nonetheless, given the death toll of mostly women, students from the minority Hazara community were unperturbed by the obstacles to education in Afghanistan  they vowed to return to classes on Saturday.

Education is our weapon and they want to take that weapon away from us, said 19-year-old Wajiha, a day after escaping the attack that killed 35 people, according to the UN death toll.

I want to study, she told the AFP news agency. Its my dream and I will always fight for it.

On Friday, a gunman blew himself up in the womens section of a single-sex study hall in the western district of Dasht-e-Barchi.

Hundreds of students from the historically oppressed Shia Hazara community settled down for a test at the Kaaj Higher Educational Center when the attack began.

We were sitting in the classroom and had just started our exam when suddenly shots were heard, Wajiha said after revisiting the scene of the devastated classroom.

The attacker  a tall man in military uniform and holding a gun  kept firing, she said, forcing the girls to hide under the benches.

After the shot, there was an explosion and the whole ceiling of the classroom collapsed, then there was complete silence, Wajiha said in a choked voice.

Wajiha told her story in a hijab and gray headscarf and said she lost two of her friends and a teacher in the attack.

In the frantic aftermath, she saw her friends and male students trying to escape.

I saw boys climbing up the site wall and girls pulling with them. I saw a boy who was injured himself, but he kept pulling out girls, Wajiha said.

I dont know how I escaped from the classroom. I dont know how I jumped over the wall.

 Never Stop Learning 

Arsalan, 18, writing his test in the courtyard of the center, saw the bodies of women scattered on the floor of the hall.

It was horrible. There was chaos everywhere, said Arsalan, who credits his survival to his decision to sit outside the classroom.

I pulled two girls out but I couldnt go on.

Those behind the attack, which no group has yet claimed, aim to stop Hazaras from advancing, he said.

They want to eliminate us completely. Why arent they attacking another community? he asked.

The historically marginalized Hazaras make up between 10 and 20 percent of Afghanistans 38 million people.

The group benefited massively when US-led forces overthrew the previous Taliban government in 2001.

They were able to send their children to schools  including their daughters  and entered the political scene and the workforce in unprecedented numbers.

Recently, however, they have been the target of some of the most brutal attacks in Afghanistan, some of which are alleged by the Islamic State group, which considers them heretics.

But Arezo Jaghori, a resident of Dasht-e-Barchi, said nothing will stop her from seeking an education.

We will never stop learning, no matter what, the 16-year-old vowed.
Latvians went to the polls on Saturday in the shadow of neighboring Russias invasion of Ukraine, with victory expected for centrist parties, which have vowed to continue supporting Kyiv.

Opinion polls ahead of the parliamentary elections have shown a weakening of populists, conservatives and the social democratic party Harmony, which usually enjoys strong support from Latvias large Russian-speaking minority.

Political pundit Marcis Krastins said Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins is most likely to win, depending on how many smaller parties backing him break the five percent threshold for entry into parliament.

Russians invading Ukraine help Karins win voters in Latvia because at such times people tend to gather around the flag, Krastins said.

Karins New Unity Party topped a recent opinion poll with 13.3 percent.

Harmony, which came first in the recent election but didnt have enough allies to govern the Baltic state, got 5.1 percent.

Ahead of the election, President Egils Levits warned voters not to support politicians in the Russian-speaking community who were reluctant at the outset of the Russian invasion to say clearly who was the aggressor and who was the victim.

Referring to the energy crisis and economic difficulties, he warned against populists, saying he was very skeptical of political parties and figures who promise to get us out of this mess quickly and easily.

I dont trust those who offer simple and mostly useless solutions to extraordinarily complex problems, he said in a statement.

Ruled over the centuries by Crusaders, Swedes, Poles and then Russians, Latvia gained independence in 1918 before falling under Soviet occupation from 1944 to 1990.

Today, the Russian-speaking minority makes up around 30 percent of the 1.8 million inhabitants.

Polling stations open at 04:00 GMT and close at 17:00 GMT.

 Fear of Russian expansionism 

Along with residents of nearby Poland and Baltic neighbors Lithuania and Estonia, many Latvians are concerned about Russias expansion plans and feel vulnerable despite being a member of the EU and NATO.

The outgoing government has shown strong support for Ukraine, increased defense spending and worked towards greater energy security.

The Harmonie party, which won 20 percent in the last election in 2018, has since been on a path of gradual decline, partly due to a series of corruption scandals.

Harmony has condemned the Russian invasion but has been less vocal about allegations that Russian forces are committing human rights atrocities.

The Russian-speaking electorate has turned to two new parties  one openly pro-Kremlin and one less staunchly pro-Russia.

Some Russian speakers in Ukraine say that Latvians attitudes towards them have deteriorated since the beginning of the war and that their linguistic and cultural identity is being challenged.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmans new title, announced this week, could prove more significant abroad than inside the kingdom, where he already wields enormous power.

The appointment by royal decree comes ahead of a deadline for US President Joe Bidens administration to consider whether Prince Mohammed qualifies for immunity from lawsuits brought in American courts.

The 37-year-old de facto ruler of the worlds largest crude oil exporter has been targeted several times in recent years, most notably over the 2018 assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdoms consulate in Istanbul, which temporarily rendered him an outcast from the West .

His lawyers have on file argued that he heads the government of Saudi Arabia and therefore qualifies for statutory immunity.

Human rights activists and government critics immediately speculated this week that the appointment of Prince Mohammed as prime minister was a blunt attempt to bolster immunity claims and avoid legal exposure.

Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the Khashoggi-founded NGO Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), told AFP it was a last-ditch effort to conjure up a new title for him  in other words, a title wash trick. .

Saudi officials did not respond to requests for comment on the move.

 Hit Squads and Hacks 

In October 2020, two years after Khashoggis death, DAWN, along with Khashoggis fiance Hatice Cengiz, filed a complaint in the United States, accusing Prince Mohammed of involvement in a conspiracy that resulted in Khashoggi being kidnapped, tied up, drugged , tortured and murdered .

Last year, Biden released an intelligence report that found Prince Mohammed had authorized the operation against Khashoggi, a claim Saudi authorities dispute.

The legal threats against Prince Mohammed in US courts go beyond Khashoggi.

He was also named in a lawsuit brought by Saad al-Jabri, a former senior intelligence official who fell out of favor when Prince Mohammed maneuvered to be first in line to the throne in 2017.

That complaint accuses Prince Mohammed of trying to lure Jabri back to Saudi Arabia from exile in Canada  and then, when that didnt work, of using a hit squad to kill him on Canadian soil, a conspiracy that was thwarted when most would -be attackers were turned back at the border.

In another case, Prince Mohammed was accused by Lebanese journalist Ghada Oueiss of being involved in a plan to hack her mobile device and disseminate stolen personal images in order to defame her and prevent her from reporting on human rights issues .

The question of immunity seemed to come to a head over the summer when a US judge gave Bidens government until August 1 to say whether it thought Prince Mohammed qualified.

After Biden visited Saudi Arabia in July and ditched an earlier promise to turn Saudi Arabia into a pariah, his government asked for an additional 60 days to decide whether to comment on the matter.

The new deadline falls on Monday at the latest.

 Being in control at home 

Prior to this weeks announcement, Prince Mohammed, often referred to by his initials MBS, served as deputy prime minister and defense minister, managing key portfolios from energy to security and beyond.

Because of his new title, little is expected to change within the kingdom, said Umar Karim, an expert on Saudi politics at Birmingham University.

MBS was already in complete control and there was no threat as such to him that could be countered by becoming prime minister, Karim said.

At the same time, it is not clear whether the appointment as prime minister will significantly strengthen Prince Mohammeds claim to immunity, as King Salman remains head of state.

Observers pointed out that King Salman chaired a cabinet meeting on the same day Prince Mohammeds promotion was announced.

Even if the immunity issue is resolved in the United States, it is likely to arise in other countries.

In July, a group of NGOs in France filed a complaint alleging that Prince Mohammed was an accomplice in Khashoggis torture and enforced disappearance.

They said the charges could be pursued in France, which recognizes universal jurisdiction.
Han So Hee stuns fans with her amazing visuals as she heads to Paris Fashion Week 2022.

The actress was invited to see Balenciaga's show as the actress served as Maison's global brand ambassador.

Han So Hee's Airport Fashion Outfit Wows the Crowd with Her New Image

The actress arrived at the Incheon Airport in a Mercedes Maybach, while stealing the attention of everyone with her all-black ensemble.

Han So Hee's airport fashion outfit features an Adidas puffer jacket paired with a black crop top while mixing chic and comfy style with black sweatpants.

Delighted to see fans and media, the actress waved and posed for the camera.

However, one interesting detail of Han So Hee's new look was her eyebrow piercings, giving that edgy vibe.

Over Twitter, netizens gushed over Han So Hee's eyebrow piercing debut.

When the actress arrived in Paris, she was warmly greeted by enthusiastic fans welcoming the South Korean star to the City of Love.

Apart from her eyebrow piercing, the "Nevertheless" star posted a photo on social media showing off a new piercing.

On Han So Hee's Instagram, the actress surprised fans with a lip piercing, tagging the fashion brand, Balenciaga.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Han So Hee's Weight Loss Has Fans Concerned About Her Health

Whether it's fake or real, the actress looked definitely smokin with her new and edgy image.

Han So Hee's New Drama: 'Gyeongseong Creature' and 'The Price of Confession'

Besides back-to-back fashion appearances, Han So Hee is set to star in multiple K-dramas in the coming year.

The 27-year-old actress will headline an upcoming K-drama with Park Seo Joon for "Gyeongseong Creature."

The action sci-fi series is helmed by Jung Dong Yoon of "Hot Stove League" and "It's Okay to Not Be Okay" and penned by "Dr. Romantic," "Where the Stars Land" and "Forecasting Love and Weather" screenwriter Kang Eun Kyung.

The drama depicts the story of two individuals who try to survive an unexpected chaos on earth.

In addition to her team up with Park Seo Joon, Han So Hee is also in talks to join the cast of "The Price of Confession."

As for the upcoming thriller mystery K-drama, viewers will get to see two stunning actresses as Han So Hee is set to be working with Hallyu queen Song Hye Kyo.

If the top star confirms her appearance, she will be taking on the role of art teacher Ahn Yoon Soo, who dreams of living a simple yet happy life but got swept up in an unexpected incident.

As for Han So Hee, she is offered to play the character of Mo Eun, a mysterious woman with antisocial tendencies.

Han So Hee and Song Hye Kyo's upcoming K-drama will be helmed by "Sweet Home," "Jirisan," and "Mr. Sunshine" director Lee Eung Bok while the series will be penned by Kwon Jong Kwan of "Sad Movie" and "Proof of Innocence."

READ MORE: Han So Hee's Drama With Park Seo Joon Suspends Filming Because of THIS



KDramastars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
The University of Wisconsin-Parkside Professional and Continuing Education office will host physician and writer, Dr. Jason Karlawish, in a discussion on Alzheimers Wednesday, Oct. 12, at the Parkside Student Center cinema.

The conversation, titled The Problem of Alzheimers: How Science, Culture, and Politics Turned a Rare Disease into a Crisis and What We Can Do About It, is a free event offerering attendees up to 0.1 Continuing Education Units. Attendees may also follow the presentation virtually via Zoom.

Karlawish will trace Alzheimers from its beginnings to its recognition as a crisis. While he offers an unambiguous account of decades of missed opportunities and our health care systems failures to take action, he tells the story of the biomedical breakthroughs that may allow Alzheimers to finally be prevented and treated by medicine and also presents an argument for how we can live with dementia.

Karlawish researches and writes about issues at the intersections of bioethics, aging, and the neurosciences, and is the author of The Problem of Alzheimers: How Science, Culture, and Politics Turned a Rare Disease into a Crisis and What We Can Do About It and the novel Open Wound: The Tragic Obsession of Dr. William Beaumont

He has written essays for the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Forbes, The Hill, Nature, STAT, and the Philadelphia Inquirer, and is a Professor of Medicine, Medical Ethics and Health Policy, and Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania and Co-Director of the Penn Memory Center.

For more information and to register, visit uwp.edu/hhs.
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I think about my preeclampsia-specific and general knowledge gaps. I could not recall learning about postpartum preeclampsia in my prenatal classes. I wasnt given any written instructions on what symptoms to expect with my blood pressure returning to normal. My husband and I also would have benefitted from a pumping tutorial (side note: the lactation consultant said not to just power up to top suction) and a quick lesson on making formula bottles. A more empowered mom and family might be less tempted to dismiss a postpartum headache.

Maria Petty is a nurse practitioner.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, My blood pressure spike on postpartum day 3.

This episode is sponsored by the Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience.

With so many demands on their time, physicians today report record levels of burnout. Burnout is caused by many factors, one of which is clinical documentation. Studies indicate physicians spend two hours documenting care for every hour spent with patients.

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Mark my words. AI (artificial intelligence) is more dangerous than the nukes.

 Elon Musk.

The other day, as soon as I walked in to work, already running my usual ten minutes late, I was hustling from my office to the clinic when I saw one of our physician assistants in the hallway. Otherwise known for her calm composure, it seemed odd that she was visibly distressed. She had forgotten her laptop at home and could not find a loaner. I tried to save her day by offering her my laptop to work on. That would mean I would have a computer to work on in the clerical area, but I would have to see patients the whole day without a computer in the room. She resisted, but I insisted. We both went our separate ways to move on with our days.

I had not seen patients like this in quite some time now. I mean like this without a computer in the room. Apparently, it should not be a big deal, but I realized that a computer has now become an entity that is always a part of our patient encounters. If you dont have a stethoscope, you can get by, but you cannot do without a computer. Its as if a third being is present in the room, the first two being the doctor and the patient. We interact with patients briefly but constantly work at the computer, from looking up their records, labs, and scans to placing orders and scheduling instructions. Now that there is the secure instant chat feature, it talks back to us all the time. Other providers are messaging us constantly, and in a way, the computer keeps demanding our attention, robbing it of the patient in the room. It gives us alerts if there are medication interactions. It reminds us to change our passwords, prompts us to order tests, and stops us from closing patient charts if certain rules are not adhered to.

On this particular day, since I did not have this third being in the room, it was just the patient and me. I felt as if the encounter was incomplete. I kept wondering if the patient also felt incomplete because the patient also feels reassured when they see their medical chart on the computer. I dont remember which medications Im taking and what surgery I had ten years ago. Its all in the computer doc! The patients actually have a relationship with the computer because now they look up their records themselves and try to make sense of things. Sometimes they do a good job at it, and other times they suck at it. They love it for that, but if the doctor spends too much time looking at the computer instead of the patient, they start feeling slighted as a jealous lover would.

My mind kept telling me that since I will have to document everything on the computer and use it to place orders, I would have to hurry and end the visit with the patient if I had to stay on schedule. Then I asked myself, How did you see patients just a few years ago? When there were no computers in the room? Relax! A sense of calm came over me. I forgot about having to answer constant messages and to have to place orders or start documenting the visit. I was about to spend more time evaluating the patient to talk about their lives and share my own stories. I felt like the crowd had dissipated. The air in the room returned to the intimate doctor-patient relationship that had been for centuries.

We talked about how many cows my patient had at her farm. We talked about how many of them they end up eating and how many they give away. We talked about how twenty years ago, one of my patients walked in on her daughter hanging herself in the closet. Her wound is still so fresh that she truly believes that whoever says that time is the best healer is full of crap. We talked about how one of my patients had a robust sex life, but the treatment of his prostate cancer had taken away from him the man he was. We talked about how my patients nephew was found dead from a drug overdose. She was sad for him but happy that her children did not turn up like that. We talked about things that usually the third being in the room, the computer that is, does not allow us to talk about because we are too busy with the computer more than with the patient.

We also talked about how I thought medicine would be practiced a few hundred years from now. How a patient will walk through a booth of some sort. His symptoms would be heard just like Siri hears us, his clinical signs photographed and interpreted. He would be scanned from the skull all the way down to the toes with all his internal organs anatomically scrutinized. A drop of blood taken by a painless finger prick would measure all sorts of lab tests, and the computer would churn out the most adequate diagnosis and treatment options and may even inject the veins with the most precise dosage of highly effective drugs against the illness. The genetic profile of the patients would be analyzed instantly, and mutations would be identified and edited to correction expeditiously. Complex surgical procedures would be performed meticulously by ambidextrous robots. Humans would rely more on these booths than their own clinical judgment. Like when you tell me how to calculate 89,573 x 74,823, I would rely more on a calculator than on my computing skills.

When Elon Musk warns us about the dangers of Artificial Intelligence, he is not referring to medicine in particular, but we can certainly analyze his statement in the context of the future of our profession. Will there be a day that this computer and this booth will become more intelligent than the physicians clinical judgment? Never! We say. A computer has to be programmed by a human to give the results. A computer can never supersede a humans complex clinical judgment. Well, I would say that if you tell a human from five hundred years ago that I will fly tonight from New York to Kuala Lumpur, and that too within one night! He would laugh at us and ridicule us for wasting his time.

If the computers start treating us more accurately than ourselves, we would be happy to accept that. But if they start making decisions for us, no matter how, but if it indeed happens, how will they decide when its time to stop dialysis and go to comfort care? How will they decide how much pain is too much, when to give narcotics, and when to hold them when worried about addiction? How will they make personal connections with the patients and share anecdotes, and discuss hobbies? How will they go to funerals and shed tears together with patients and their families when nothing else could be done? How will these computers learn to give comfort and solace to these patients? And even if they do, will the patients accept it as they accept from us, human doctors?

What if they turn against us? What if they start selecting which pregnancies to carry and others to terminate? What if they start dictating the patients advanced directives? What if they put a monetary value on the number of years lived? What if they limit the number of children we can have? What if they tell me that my child is not worth living because of her disability? What if they tell me that my grandma is occupying a bed in a hospital that is needed for a younger patient and that she will be denied any more life-prolonging treatments? What if they tell me that its OK to clone humans and select the best ones? What if they assign abortion and sexual identity choices to patients?

Some of you might say: Isnt that what humans are already doing to humans? Yes. You are right. But will we accept it if anyone other than humans, in this case, artificial intelligence, imposes these restrictions on us?

Farhan S. Imran is a hematology-oncology physician who blogs at Did I Ask?

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
Moses Roche, who passed away on August 24, at the age of 94 years, was an out and out Corkman. Even so, both Moses and his brother Batt were legends in the Callan area of Kilkenny.

Some thirty years ago Moses Roche retired from work at Lawlors Hotel in Naas and came to live with his brother in Callan.

In the 1950s Moses had been on his way to work in the UK when he was offered the position of barman in Lawlors of Naas:

He stayed on to work for three generations of the Lawlor family over the next forty-five years.

Moses was a very popular barman and great stories about him are being told to this very day. He loved working in Lawlors and was part of the very effective team consisting of Miss Brennan, Tom Cardiff and Moses.

Characters

He greatly enjoyed the company of the numerous characters who frequented Lawlors very famous bar. Like many of them, Moses had a love of the horses and for years he even ran a Bookies Office beside the Random Inn  next door to Lawlors.

When Moses retired from Lawlors Hotel he joined his brother Batt who had bought a farm in Bauntha, near Callan. Batt originally arrived from Cork to work on the farm of Mrs Margaret Fennelly who also owned the Fennelly Pub on Bridge Street, Callan.

Callan

Shortly after his arrival Moses was working in Fennellys Bar, became involved in local politics and befriended many local people, who will confirm his legendary status.

Through these years Moses was visited by many of his old friends from Naas because of the gra they had for him.

When his health failed Moses was looked after in the caring environment of Strathmore Lodge Nursing Home, Callan.

His funeral was attended by people from all over the country, including former colleagues and customers of Lawlors Hotel and Fennellys Bar, friends in the racing world and members of the Lawlor, Fennelly and Roche families.



Farewell words

Fr Willie Dalton PP, Callan celebrated the Requiem Mass for Moses with eloquent and fitting farewell words.

Afterwards, when friends gathered at Kevin Keoghs Hostelry, the fond memories recalled identified Moses as an impressive, sincere and witty man with integrity:

May his noble soul Rest in Peace.



Months Mind Mass

Months Mind Mass for Moses will be celebrated today, Sunday September 25 at 10am in Callan Parish Church.
The Taoiseach has defended the housing minister and housing policy after Irelands homeless figures hit a new record high.

Micheal Martin said that more emergency accommodation would be provided to deal with the increasing numbers.

According to the Department of Housings monthly tally, there are now 10,805 people homeless across Ireland, with charities warning that they face an ominous winter.

This is the second record high figure in a row, with a previous peak of 10,568 recorded in July.

Speaking to reporters from the Fianna Fail Ard Fheis in Dublin, Mr Martin said that of course he has confidence in his housing minister and party colleague Darragh OBrien, and that he would remain in post  despite a Cabinet reshuffle due in December.

There is a record high number of 10,805 people living in emergency homeless accommodation This includes a record high number of:Adults (7585)Young People (1274)25-45 year olds (4078)45-64 year olds (2069)Single adults (5148)Adult men (4854) @DeptHousingIRL pic.twitter.com/ndZwqKsCZq  Simon Communities (@SimonCommunity) September 30, 2022

Hes been working flat out, the Fianna Fail leader said.

Asked about the rising homeless figures, he said: On an emergency basis, we will be providing more accommodation now fairly quickly to deal with the increase in homelessness figures.

Were not happy about it, were going to continue to do everything we possibly can in terms of dealing with increasing numbers.

He acknowledged that some factors had slowed down implementation of the Governments plan, mentioning the pandemic, the warn in Ukraine, and people objecting to local developments.

Mr Martin said the Housing for All plan is the only substantive policy document on how to tackle Irelands housing crisis.

It is the only detailed, comprehensive strategy for housing in this country. Its detailed, its resourced.

#Budget2023 sees record investment of over 4 billion in housing. Minister @DarraghOBrienTD says housing is the number 1 priority for this Government and the funding will help strengthen the progress already being made under #HousingForAll pic.twitter.com/6TtjfzuMvB  Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage (@DeptHousingIRL) September 27, 2022

He added: I would challenge anybody, any other political party for that matter  whats the alternative that theyre producing?

Ive seen nothing of any substance from any political party outside of government in this country in relation to housing.

Ive seen slogans, I have seen soundbites, but I havent seen substance. I havent seen real breadth of initiatives, that Darragh OBrien has taken to be fair to him, in respect of affordable housing, in respect of social housing.

We will build a record number of social houses this year, were beginning a new era of social housing at scale.

When asked whether more could have been done in the Budget to prevent landlords from leaving the market, Mr Martin said that there had been unintended consequences in terms of some of the policies that we werent considering in relation to that.

When asked whether another ban on evictions should be considered, Mr Martin said it is not as clear cut in a non-Covid situation to ban evictions, as there is not a restriction on peoples movements.

Focus Ireland belives that without immediate government action, the crisis will continue to deepen this winter as supply is at all-time low and the government failed to take any action in Budget 2023 to stop landlords leaving the rental market.  FocusIreland (@FocusIreland) September 30, 2022

The Department of Housings August report on homelessness, released on Friday, showed there were 7,585 adults and 3,220 children in emergency accommodation across the country.

This is up from the 7,431 adults and 3,137 children recorded in emergency accommodation in July.

It represents a 32% increase overall compared with a year ago, and child homelessness is up 47% compared with the same time last year.

There were 1,483 families recorded as homeless, of which 55% (814) were single-parent families.

Sam McGuinness, chief executive of Dublin Simon Community, said the picture is ominous going into the winter period.

This news comes at a time when single homelessness is at an all-time high and exits from homelessness are at an all-time low as the availability of rental properties, as a social housing supply, continues to dwindle, he said.

It is unacceptable to have 166,000 vacant homes while over 10,500 people experience homelessness. Simon Week 2022 is dedicated to providing solutions, but we need your help. Pledge your support today to ensure our message is heard: https://t.co/lrckbOfoah#EndingHomelessness pic.twitter.com/2ywMtemT5e  Dublin Simon (@Dublin_Simon) September 29, 2022

Behind these numbers are people who are losing hope for a life beyond homelessness. As the record-breaking levels of people in emergency accommodation experience endless waiting, their mental health and physical health is declining.

The picture is ominous as we face into the cold, dark winter months ahead and no real clarity or hope in Budget 2023 to support exits out of homelessness.

Focus Ireland chief executive Pat Dennigan said that it was unforgivable that the Governments Budget did not include measures to prevent people from becoming homeless.

As the numbers keep going up, there is a risk that Government comes to treat homelessness as inevitable, but it is the result of bad political choices and can be solved by the right policies.

It is unforgivable that this weeks budget failed to offer a single measure to help prevent these households from losing their homes.

Focus Ireland will continue to help people find homes, but it is difficult to see homeless services being able to cope with the sheer demand of people that need our support.
Weather Alert

...FREEZE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 AM TUESDAY MORNING... * WHAT...Sub-freezing temperatures from the mid 20s to around 30 expected. * WHERE...Central and eastern Missouri, as well as west central and southwest Illinois. * WHEN...From 9 PM Monday to 9 AM CDT Tuesday. * IMPACTS...Frost and freeze conditions could kill crops, other sensitive vegetation and possibly damage unprotected outdoor plumbing. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold. &&




SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son arrived in Seoul on Saturday amid speculation he could meet Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong to discuss a potential merger deal.







Son's visit comes amid years-old speculation that deep-pocketed Samsung might be interested in buying British chip designer Arm, to consolidate its position as a leading chipmaker and beef up its competitiveness in the industry of growing strategic importance.







Following a two-week business trip abroad last month, including a stop at Britain where the semiconductor and software design company is based, Lee said Son "might have some offer" when he visits South Korea, without elaboration.







Son has also mentioned a potential "strategic alliance" for Arm with Samsung.







But market watchers project that Samsung is unlikely to acquire the chip designer entirely on its own.







SoftBank's 2020 megadeal with Nvidia, one of the world's largest chip companies by market capitalization, fell through due to regulatory hurdles.







This has stoked views that Samsung, which would face the same regulatory challenge, may form a consortium for a joint deal. Some view that Son may get in touch with officials at SK hynix, the world's second-largest memory chip maker, that has also voiced interest in Arm.







SoftBank acquired Arm in 2016. (Yonhap)


Auburn, IN (46706)

Today

Cloudy with rain and snow in the morning changing to all rain in the afternoon. High 42F. Winds WNW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers late. Snow may mix in. Low 38F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.
RTHK: North Korea fires 'two ballistic missiles'

North Korea on Saturday fired what appeared to be two ballistic missiles, Japan's coast guard said, citing the defence ministry.

At least two projectiles were launched from North Korea, the coast guard said, while Japan's public broadcaster NHK said the objects appears to have fallen outside Japan's exclusive economic zone, citing unnamed government sources.

"What appears to be a ballistic missile was launched from North Korea," the coast guard said in a statement issued at 6:47 am (2147 GMT).

In a second statement issued at 07:01 am, the coast guard said another apparent ballistic missile was launched.

NHK said the both projectiles seemed to have fallen outside Japan's exclusive economic zones, citing "multiple sources from the government."

Nuclear-armed North Korea has carried out a record-breaking blitz of weapons tests this year, including several ballistic missile launches. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2022-10-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
China's State Council holds a reception to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. The reception was attended by the Communist Party of China and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan, as well as nearly 500 guests from home and abroad. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen) BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council on Friday held a reception at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. China's National Day falls on Oct. 1. The reception was attended by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan, as well as nearly 500 guests from home and abroad. Addressing the reception, Premier Li Keqiang said that the CPC will convene its 20th National Congress this year, and stressed the vital significance of the event. This year is a truly momentous one in the course of China's development, Li added. "In the face of complex and challenging developments both within and outside China, our entire nation, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, has forged ahead together with drive and resolve." Ensuring sound economic fundamentals is crucial to sustaining the steady growth of China's economy, Li said, stressing that China has taken forceful measures to ease shocks caused by greater-than-expected factors, and promptly and decisively introduced a policy package for stabilizing the economy. "We have the confidence and the ability to keep major economic indicators within an appropriate range." He said with the reform and opening-up as China's fundamental policy, the country has pressed ahead with reform to develop a socialist market economy, pursued high-standard opening-up, kept foreign trade and investment stable, and deepened multilateral and bilateral business cooperation to keep China a favored destination for foreign investment and achieve win-win development. Li stressed the commitment to conducting governance to deliver benefits to the people. Highlighting the support for efforts to ensure the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao, Li said the policy of "one country, two systems," as well as the policies of Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong and Macao people administering Macao with a high degree of autonomy, have been firmly, fully and faithfully implemented. We have firmly opposed "Taiwan independence" separatist moves and external interference, and actively promoted the peaceful growth of cross-Strait relations, he said. Li also stressed the efforts China has made to work with other countries to meet global challenges and promote peace, stability, development and prosperity in the world. Li closed his speech by calling for rallying even more closely around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, following the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and forging ahead in a concerted effort to build China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful. Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the reception. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang addresses a reception held by the State Council to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Yan Yan) Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, presides over a reception held by the State Council to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)
Actor Alia Bhatt, who is expecting her first child with Ranbir Kapoor, has come up with her maternity wear brand called Edamamma. On Saturday, she took to Instagram and gave a glimpse of her photoshoot that she recently did for the brand. Alia Bhatt To Launch Her Own Line of Maternity Wear; Says, Me Trying To Fill a Gap in My Existing Wardrobe, Led to an Entire Maternity Collection.

In the video, Alia is seen posing in a simple olive green sleeveless dress with a hand on her baby bump, and doing yoga outdoors in a tee with 'Baby in progress' written on it. The video also has visuals of Alia in yellow flowy dress.

Sharing the video on Instagram, Alia wrote, "Edamamma Maternity Wear - made with a lot of love - for mama-beans. Launching 14th October!!" Preggers Alia Bhatt Launches Maternity-Wear Line; Sneak-Peek of Her Clothing Brand to Drop on October 1 (View Post).

On Thursday, Alia made an announcement about her maternity wear brand.

"It's not like I've bought maternity clothes before. But when I got down to it, I was overwhelmed. You don't know how you're going to look or feel over the next few months and let's be honest, not being able to find the right thing to wear can be stressful," she said. She also mentioned that she even considered borrowing her husband Ranbir's oversized clothes. "Do I buy brands I already wear but in a bigger size? Should I raid Ranbir's wardrobe? And just because my body is changing doesn't mean my sense of style has to, right?"

Alia Bhatt's Edamamma Maternity Wear

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Alia Bhatt  (@aliaabhatt)

She said that she added elastic to her favourite jeans and designed shirts that she didn't have to share with Ranbir. She also wore flowy dresses to avoid 'any unwanted belly touching'. Alia shared the post with a heart hands emoji. It's the sets of Brahmastra only where the two fell in love with each other, and after dating for five years, Ranbir and Alia tied the knot in April 2022 in a close knit ceremony at their residence. In June, Alia announced her pregnancy on Instagram as she shared a photo from the hospital.

(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, October 1: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will review the security situation, attend public meetings and lay foundations of various development projects during his two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir. Shah's trip to J-K is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, October 4.

The Home Minister will start his journey at around 10 am by offering prayers at Vaishno Devi temple on October 4. He will later address a public meeting at Rajouri around one-and-half hours after visiting the Vaishno Devi temple. Jammu and Kashmir: 2 JeM Terrorists, Who Were Tasked to Attack Agniveer Recruitment Rally, Killed in Encounter in Baramulla.

The Minister will further launch development projects and also lay foundation stones for various projects at Convention Centre in Jammu. On the second day of his visit on Wednesday (October 5), Shah will review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir at a meeting that is slated to be held at Raj Bhavan in Srinagar.

Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha, top officials of the Army, paramilitary forces, state police and civil administration will take part in this high-level meeting expected to begin at 10 am. The Minister will later address a public meeting here at Baramulla around 11.30 am and will address the gathering. JK Reports 12 New Covid Cases.

Before concluding his visit to the Union Territory, Shah will also launch and lay foundation stones for various development projects in Srinagar around 3.30 pm.

(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, Oct 1 (PTI) Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers Sujoy Lal Thaosen and Anish Dayal Singh have been appointed as the new director generals of the CRPF and ITBP respectively, a government order said Saturday.

Thaosen, a 1988-batch officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, is currently working as the director general (DG) of the border guarding force Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and holding the additional charge of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.

Also Read | Congress President Election: Fail To Understand Why G-23 Leaders Who Wanted Polls Are Now Backing Off, Says Shashi Tharoor.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) DG post fell vacant on Friday after IPS officer Kuldiep Singh (1986-batch) retired.

Anish Dayal Singh, a 1988-batch officer (Manipur cadre), is currently serving as a special director in the Intelligence Bureau.

Also Read | Jaipur Shocker: Bikers Throw Acid on Two Girls in Separate Incidents, Minor Burn Suffered; Probe Underway.

Thaosen's scheduled retirement is in November this year, while Singh will superannuate in December, 2024.

The order for their appointment was issued by the Personnel Ministry after sanction from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by the prime minister.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], October 1 (ANI): Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Revanth Reddy said that Bharat Jodo Yatra is a journey that will change the future of the country.

"Bharat Jodo Yatra will remain in history like how Gandhi's struggle was remembered. It was a great opportunity to participate in a pivotal Bharat Jodo Yatra. It is a journey that will change the future of the country," said Reddy.

Also Read | Congress President Election: Fail To Understand Why G-23 Leaders Who Wanted Polls Are Now Backing Off, Says Shashi Tharoor.

He attended a meeting with the observation team of the Maharashtra Bharat Jodo Yatra at AICC Secretary Sampath's residence in Manikonda, Hyderabad.

The observation team of Maharashtra Bharat Jodo Yatra has come to Hyderabad.

Also Read | Jaipur Shocker: Bikers Throw Acid on Two Girls in Separate Incidents, Minor Burn Suffered; Probe Underway.

He said that the Yatra will last for 22 days in Karnataka and 4 days in Andhra Pradesh.

"The Yatra will enter Telangana on October 24 and after the Yatra ends in Telangana it will enter Maharashtra," he added.

Telangana Congress chief said that it was discussed in the meeting to form a coordination team with the leaders of Telangana and Maharashtra.

"The Maharashtra and Telangana leaders will be visiting Karnataka is also being discussed," he added.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday resumed the Bharat Jodo Yatra from Tondavadi Gate in the Gundlupet region of Karnataka's Chamarajanagar.

Today marks the Yatra's 24th day, which began at 6.30 am and will reach its first break point at Kalale Gate near Servo Motors at 10 am.

The participants of the 3,500-km march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir will stay opposite the Maharaja Institute of Technology (MIT) in Thandavapura of Mysore at night.

The march was aimed to cover as many as 12 states in five months. It recently reached Karnataka on Friday (September 30) and will be here for the next 21 days before moving north.

The Padyatra (march) is covering a distance of 25 km every day.

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 centralisation.

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. Sleeping beds, toilets and AC 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 places.

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)
New Delhi, Oct 1 (PTI) Delhi's wait of two long years has finally come to an end as a festival season unfolds in full measure with star-studded Ramlilas, unbounded by Covid restrictions, back across the town with bigger, grander and more impressive display.

The celebrations this year broke the Covid squeeze, adding colour, music and dance to the autumnal evenings of the national capital. Once again, the city is dotted with Durga Puja pandals and witnessing well-attended Ramlilas, the enactment of the victory of good over evil in the Hindu epic of Ramayana.

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One of the grandest productions of Ramlila in Delhi, the Lav Kush Ramlila at the the Red Fort, has invited a slew of Bollywood and TV stars as well as politicians to play the parts of different characters in the epic.

Several TV and film actors including Raghav Tiwari (Ram), Deblina Chatterjee (Sita), Akhilendra Mishra (Ravan), Arun Mandola (Lakshman), and Amita Nangia (Mandodari) have taken part in this year's production.

Also Read | WhatsApp Bans Over 23.28 Lakh Indian Accounts in August 2022.

Politicians including Manoj Tiwari (Kewat), Brijesh Goyal (Angad), Faggan Singh Kulaste (Vishnu), Vijendra Gupta (Janak), and Ashwini Kumar Choubey (Vishwamitra) are also part of the motley crew.

Arjun Kumar, president of Lav Kush Ramlila committee, said that people have welcomed the lifting of restrictions by coming to the Ramlila in full force as more than five lakh invitation cards have been printed and distributed, a rarity.

"We are taking in more than 25,000 people every day and are expecting over a lakh on Dusshera. This year we have used all the latest technology in making the three-tier stage. People come to watch the stunt scenes for which we have used large cranes Kumar told PTI.

He added the epic battle between Ram and Ravan will be fought entirely in the air using the cranes.

He also revealed that on Vijayadashami, October 5, actor Prabhas will attend the event and will fire the arrow to light the effigies of Ravan, Kumbhkaran and Meghnad.

The Lav Kush Ramlila will come to an end on October 6.

At Mandi House, the heart of Delhi's theatre scene, the 66th edition of Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra's (SBKK) 'Shri Ram' welcomed devotees and theatre-goers with an entirely new crew of dancer-actors, new musical score and costumes designed in-house.

Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra Director and Vice Chairperson, Shobha Deepak Singh said the SBKK's Shri Ram' is known for the use of several Indian classical dance forms, including Bharatnatyam, Mayurbhanj Chhau, Kathak, Odissi, and Kalaripayattu that are performed by the Kendra's students, who are also responsible for makeup, costumes, ornaments and other pre-production works.

"It won't be a mistake to say that Shri Ram as an absolute in-house production encompasses our lives in its totality making SBKK perhaps the only institution where we ourselves cater for our requirements.

"For years we have involved our students in the pre-production works of our shows, whom we consider as our best asset, this time around we will have them actively participate in the show," Singh said.

She told PTI that the Kendra's production has artistes from several states including Odisha, West Bengal, Kerala as well as foreign students from Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela among other countries.

Shri Ram' is also one of the longest running Ramlilas in Delhi as it runs for almost a month, this year starting from September 26 and coming to an end on October 22.

North Delhi's Pitampura hosts another spectacular show in the form of Broadway Ramlila'. Organised by the Aryan Heritage Foundation, the three-hour long show is performed on a grand "multi-layer stage" with 17 songs by Udit Narayan, Kailash Kher and others, and a narration by Mukesh Khanna.

The 'Broadway Ramlila' also incorporates dance forms such as Mohiniyattam, Kathakali, Chhau, as well as contemporary styles such as B-boying.

Talking about staging the Ramlila without restrictions after two years, Rajender Mittal of the Aryan Heritage Foundation said as the scale of the production is huge, it was not viable to do it with a limited audience.

"Two-hundred people allowed to watch a show meant to cater to an audience of about 10,000 would have been cruel. Since the excitement is double, so is our scale. Our stage is bigger, costumes are grander, sets are huge, Mittal told PTI

He added that the story this year has introduced new character arcs that will make the audience rethink the angle of some of the characters.

(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, Oct 1 (PTI) Union Minister Jitendra Singh will launch a special campaign here on Sunday focussing on cleanliness and reducing pendency in government offices, according to an official statement.

Until now, more than 67,000 sites have been identified by ministries/departments of Government of India for conducting the cleanliness campaigns, the statement issued on Saturday said.

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Around 21 lakh physical files and 3 lakh e-files are due for review during the campaign. For the first time this year, the campaign will also focus on e-files and their review, it said.

The campaign 2022 reinforces importance of timely disposal of references and a clean work space. This is expected to cover a number of post offices, overseas mission/posts, railway stations, and other public offices in mission mode during the month-long campaign, it said.

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A review of the pendency of all different categories like references from Members of Parliament (MPs), Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Cabinet and state government besides public grievances, easing of rules/processes and files taken up for review will be taken up in all the ministries/departments under the charge of Singh during the campaign period from October 2 to October 31, 2022, said the statement issued by the Personnel Ministry.

Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel, will also release the special campaign 2.0 guidelines booklet and "August progress report" as presented by the Department of Administrative Reforms, it said.

This report contain the work undertaken in ministries/departments in reducing pendency in the month of August as part of the earlier campaign, the statement said.

Singh will also release a number of circulars for easing of rules by the Department of Pensions and Pensioners' Welfare. Easing of rules is a part of the special campaign 2.0, it said.

The Centre had announced the special campaign 2.0 with a focus on swachhata and reducing pendency in government.

The preparatory part of the campaign had earlier commenced on September 14 with the launch of a dedicated portal by the minister.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Nagpur, Oct 1 (PTI) Congress MP Shashi Tharoor will start his campaign for the party president's election by visiting the Deekshabhoomi monument here on Saturday.

Also Read | Bihar Doctor, Arrested For Making Liquor From Medicines in Vaishali, Escapes From Excise Department's Custody.

Tharoor will pay his tributes at Deekshabhoomi, where Dr B R Ambedkar converted to Buddhism along with his followers in 1956, on Saturday, said Maharashtra Congress leader Ashish Deshmukh.

Also Read | PM Narendra Modi Performs 'Aarti' at Ambaji Temple in Gujarat's Banaskantha.

Deshmukh has organised the Thiruvananthapuram MP's visit here.

Tharoor, 66, filed his nomination for the Congress president's election in Delhi on Friday.

As per the schedule of his visit, Tharoor will land at the Nagpur airport at 4.50 pm on Saturday. From there, he will leave for Deekshabhoomi here where he will pay his tributes to Dr Ambedkar and later address a press conference.

On Sunday, Tharoor will visit Mahatma Gandhi's Sewagram Ashram at Wardha at 9 am and later go to Vinoba Bhave's Ashram in Pavnar. He will return to Nagpur by 12.45 pm and hold meetings with senior Congress leaders, the party's state unit members and workers.

Deshmukh said, "Tharoor is a popular Congress MP who has done remarkable work for the country at the international level. The election for Congress president is an important step for decentralization in the party."

Deshmukh also claimed that Congress delegates in 12 states have openly backed Tharoor and he is getting the support of party leaders and activists from all over India.

The stage was set on Friday for a contest between Tharoor and Mallikarjun Kharge for the Congress president's post with the latter emerging as the clear favourite. The third candidate in the fray, K N Tripathi, a former minister in Jharkhand, is considered a lightweight for the contest.

Kharge, Tharoor and Tripathi filed their nominations on the last day on Friday. Over 9,100 delegates are eligible to cast their votes in the October 17 election. The result will be announced on October 19.

Tharoor was a part of the Congress's G-23 group that demanded an organisational overhaul and elections at all levels of the party.

On Friday, he had called his electoral competitor Kharge as a "candidate of continuity" and of "status quo". He also ruled out withdrawing from the contest, stressing that he has not taken the trouble of filing the nomination only to opt out later.

(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], October 1 (ANI): Former Jharkhand Minister KN Tripathi's nomination for the Congress presidential election was rejected on Saturday, said Congress' Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry.

Now the fight is between party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor.

Also Read | CEC Rajiv Kumar Writes to Over 2.5 Lakh Centenarian Voters, Thanks Them for Contribution in Electoral Process.

Addressing a press conference, Mistry said a total of 20 forms were submitted during the nomination process and four of them were rejected due to signature issues.

"A total of 20 forms were submitted yesterday. Of those, the scrutiny committee rejected four forms due to signature issues. There is time till October 8 for withdrawal and the picture would be clearer after that. If no one withdraws, the voting process will begin," said Mistry.

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He further said that the two current contenders for the post of Congress President include Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor.

A total of 14 nominations were received by Mallikarjun Kharge, five by Shashi Tharoor and one by Jharkhand Congress leader KN Tripathi.

However, Tripathi's form was rejected today.

"KN Tripathi's form was rejected as it did not meet the norms set, had signatures-related issues," he added.

Senior Congress leader and MP, Shashi Tharoor on Friday filed his nomination for the post of party President at the office of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in the national capital.

Kharge received support from nearly 30 Congress leaders for the party's presidential polls. These names include Deepender Hooda, Salman Khurshid, Ashok Gehlot, Digvijaya Singh, Manish Tewari, Prithviraj Chavan, and among others.

Tripathi who also filed his nomination for the party's topmost position had said that "the decision of party leaders is respected".

"I belong to a farmer's family. The country is seeing that son of a farmer who has experience of serving with the Indian Air Force, minister in state government and elected as deputy leader of Jharkhand Legislative Assembly, can also contest for the post of AICC President," Tripathi had said before filing his nominations.

Earlier in the day Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge tendered his resignation as the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Rajya Sabha as he has filed nomination papers to contest the post of president of his party.

Kharge resigned in line with the party's Udaipur declaration of 'One Leader One Post' of the Congress party taken at its 'Chintan Shivir'.

The party is currently holding the internal elections for the topmost position, for which yesterday was the last day for filing the nominations.

The 80-year-old leader had received support from nearly 30 Congress leaders including Deepender Hooda, Salman Khurshid, Ashok Gehlot, Digvijaya Singh, Manish Tewari, Prithviraj Chavan, and several others.

Kharge is a known Gandhi family loyalist, who entered into the fray at the eleventh hour. Several top leaders including from the G-23 faction flanked Kharge when he filed the nomination papers.

Former Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijaya Singh dropped out of the Congress presidential race, extended his support to Kharge, saying that he "cannot think of contesting an election" against a senior leader like Kharge.

Singh was the second Congress leader to pull out of the race after Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot amid political turmoil in his state. Gehlot said he would be the proposer for Kharge.

The results for the party's chief post will be declared on October 19 after the counting (if required).

With the Gandhis not in the running for the top post this time around, the old party is all set to get a non-Gandhi president after over 25 years. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Gundlupet (K'taka), Oct 1 (PTI) The Congress on Saturday slammed the BJP for putting up front page advertisements in a few vernacular dailies in Karnataka, calling the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as the grandfather of India's Partition.

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As Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra' (Unite India March) entered the second day in Karnataka, the State unit of the BJP put out an advertisement in some Kannada newspapers which read, Can the great grandson unite what the grandfather of India partition' did?

With a map dividing Pakistan and Bangladesh in the middle of Nehru's and Rahul Gandhi's photographs, the advertisement painted in black questions, Can the unity of India possible from a party, which caused the bloodbath of the citizens only to come to power?

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The BJP alleged that the agenda of Bharat Jodo Yatra' is to disintegrate India.

The Congress took strong exception to the accusation, saying the right wing has always been on the wrong side of the history.

The BJP gave the advertisement. The right wing ideology has always been on the wrong side of the history. Since they could not write history, they are trying to rewrite history, the Congress chairman of media and publicity Pawan Khera told reporters.

He alleged that the two-nation theory was first mooted by the Hindu Maha Sabha in its Ahmedabad convention in 1937, which was presided over by Hindutva ideologue Savarkar.

In 1942, the founder of Pakistan Mohammed Ali Jinnah repeated the same in the Lahore convention of the Muslim League, the Congress leader said.

In 1942 when the Congress left all the provincial governments in protest and to participate in the Quit India movement, the Sabha joined hands in alliance with the Muslim League in three provincial Assemblies -- West Bengal, NWFP and Sindh where the first resolution for Pakistan was passed, Khera claimed. I challenge them (right wing) that they were in alliance with the Muslim League and they did not stop it. It's clear who partitioned India. They (BJP) are talking to a person whose grandmother divided Pakistan. They (BJP) don't know the history before 1947 and 1971. They don't know their own history, Khera charged.

Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah who was present there said the BJP is teaching history to those who brought Independence.

Which party united all the provinces and made one nation? It's Congress. Which RSS leader participated in the freedom struggle? Did RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar or the second Sarsangh Chalak Madhav Sadashivrao Golwalkar participated in the freedom struggle? Anybody from RSS died in the freedom struggle? Now, these people are taking history lessons for the Congress, Siddaramaiah charged.

Nehru was in jail for nine years. Did he go to jail like Amit Shah did? 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)
Chandigarh, Oct 1 (PTI) Several contractual employees of the state-owned Punjab Roadways and Punbus on Saturday blocked traffic on the Chandigarh-Kharar highway in protest against the alleged "outsourcing" of the hiring process by the state transport department.

The over two-hour road blockade caused inconvenience to commuters as there were massive traffic jams on the highway and the neighbouring routes.

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Protesting employees parked buses on the highway to block the movement of vehicles and shouted slogans against the state government.

Punjab Roadways, Punbus, PRTC Contract Workers' Union president Resham Singh Gill said the contractual employees were protesting against the state government's decision of hiring drivers through outsourcing.

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Gill said the government should have undertaken recruitment through the regular process.

He said that the AAP government had been claiming that contractual employees were being regularised and recruitment through outsourcing would not be done.

"But the transport department was hiring drivers through outsourcing and was offering just Rs 9,100 per month salary," he alleged.

During the road blockade, there was a long queue of vehicles on the highway.

I had to go to Una and got stuck in the traffic jam because of the protest, said a man from Himachal Pradesh who came to Chandigarh along with his family for some work.

The internal roads in Mohali's Kharar also saw heavy traffic as commuters looked for alternative routes to reach their destinations.

The protest was later called off by the contractual employees after they were assured of a meeting with the transport minister on October 11, said Gill.

He said protests were also held in Jalandhar and Amritsar.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Thiruvananthapuram, October 1: Former CPI(M) Kerala secretary and politbureau member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan passed away at 69 on Saturday.

He was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Apollo Hospital, Chennai. Mumbai Horror: 1 Killed, 3 Injured in Post-Navratri Firing Near Kandivali; Killers Nabbed From Gujarat.

Kodiyeri Balakrishnan entered politics through a student wing Students' Federation of India. He was from the Kannur district and represented the Thalassery constituency in the state assembly for 23 years.

Balakrishnan was a minister in the Achuthanandan cabinet and held the portfolio of home and tourism from 2006 to 2011. He was CPI-M state secretary from 2015 to 2022. He was imprisoned at the time of the Emergency. UP Road Accident: At Least 10 Killed, A Dozen Injured As Tractor-Trolley Carrying Pilgrims Overturns in Kanpur, PM Narendra Modi Announces Ex-Gratia.

His mortal remains will be brought to Kannur tomorrow and his body will be kept for public homage in Thalassery. His cremation will be held at Thalassery on Monday at 3 PM.

Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan expressed his condolence over the death of Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. The Chief Minister said his death is a loss to politics and the party. Ministers, party leaders and people from all walks of society have expressed condolences over his death.

(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, Oct 1 (PTI) The Delhi government's new electricity scheme, under which only those consumers who opt for the subsidy will receive it, came into effect from Saturday.

According to officials, 25.63 lakh consumers have so far applied for the power subsidy, after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced last month that people can give a missed call or send a WhatsApp message on 7011311111 to opt for the subsidy.

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The domestic power consumers in the city eligible for the subsidy will not get it by default from October 1. Kejriwal had said many people want to opt out of the subsidy scheme and those who do not require it should not get it.

The chief minister had also said the subsidy will continue for those who apply.

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There are 58 lakh domestic power consumers in Delhi, of whom 47 lakh avail the subsidy, including 30 lakh who get zero bills and 16-17 lakh who get a 50-per cent subsidy.

At present, the consumers with a power consumption of less than 200 units do not have to pay any charges and those with a consumption of up to 400 units get a 50-per cent subsidy.

Those who apply by October 31 will get the subsidy for the month, Kejriwal had announced last week. Those who do not do so will have to pay their bills but can apply next month, he 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)
New Delhi, Oct 1 (PTI) The government has given approval to Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB) equivalent to 78 days wage to eligible non-gazetted railway employees for the financial year 2021-22, an official statement said on Saturday.

The decision is likely to benefit around 11.27 lakh non-gazetted railway employees. This, however, excludes RPF/RPSF personnel, it said.

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This payment will be made before Dussehra/puja holidays, bringing smile to lakhs of families ahead of the festive season.

The financial implication of payment of 78 days' PLB to railway employees has been estimated to be Rs 1,832.09 crores. The wage calculation ceiling prescribed for payment of PLB is Rs 7,000 p.m. The maximum amount payable per eligible railway employee is Rs 17,951 for 78 days, the statement said.

Also Read | Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, CPI(M) Leader From Kerala, Passes Away at 69.

The payment of PLB would serve as an incentive and result in motivating a large number of railway employees, particularly those involved in execution and operations of railways, to improve their productivity and ensure safety, speed and service for railway customers, the statement said.

The payment of PLB will also boost the demand in economy in upcoming festival season, it added.

"Thanks to PM @narendramodi Ji on behalf of entire rail parivar for sanctioning the productivity-linked bonus for 78 days," Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a tweet.

"The Railway employees have played important role in performance of passenger and goods services which also acted as catalyst for the economy.

"In fact, Railway employees ensured uninterrupted movement of essential commodities like food, fertilizer, coal and other items even during the lockdown period. Railways has ensured there is no shortage of such commodities in the area of operations," the statement from the national transporter said.

The railways in past three years have undertaken a series of steps to regain market share in freight and increase realization in passenger fares through suitable policy initiatives, it said.

As a result, in the current year (2022-23), the railways have regained momentum in receipts, disrupted previously due to the pandemic. In F.Y. 2021-22, the railways achieved incremental freight loading of 184 million tonnes which is highest ever (Total 1418 million tonnes), it said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kochi (Kerala) [India], October 1 (ANI): The Congress leader and Kerala Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan on Saturday, extended support to Mallikarjun Kharge for party's presidential poll instead of Shashi Tharoor, an MP from Thiruvananthapuram.

The Kerala LoP argued that Kharge has a lot of experience and is very happy that a Dalit leader is going to become the AICC President.

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"I have decided to support Mallikarjun Kharge Ji. He is a very senior politician and senior Congressman with huge experience as a minister in the Centre and in the state. He was the leader of the Opposition. He belongs to a Dalit community. I am very happy that a Dalit leader is going to become the President of AICC. Not only supporting him, but I am also going to campaign for him," he said.

On being asked about Shashi Tharoor who is a leader from Kerala and is in a direct fight with Kharge for party's president post.

Also Read | Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, CPI(M) Leader From Kerala, Passes Away at 69.

"I am not ready to bring on any regional matter or any narrow-minded issue. It is a national election. This is the Congress party and it is a democratic party. Anybody can contest. That itself is very beautiful. We are all going to campaign for Kharge Ji. We hope that we can collect maximum votes from Kerala," he added.

The polling will take place on October 17 and votes will be counted two days later.

Friday was the last day for filing nominations for the election of the Congress president, where a total of three leaders have staked their claim for the post.

According to Congress Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry, 14 forms have been submitted by Mallikarjun Kharge, five by Shashi Tharoor and one by Jharkhand leader KN Tripathi.

Congress Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry on Friday said that a total of 20 nomination forms have been received, adding that the Gandhi family is not supporting any candidate for the party's president post.

This comes after Mallikarjun Kharge, who is a known Gandhi family loyalist, entered into the fray at the eleventh hour. While several top leaders including from the G-23 faction flanked Kharge when he filed the nomination papers today.

Mistry added that 14 nominations were received by Mallikarjun Kharge, five by Shashi Tharoor and one by Jharkhand Congress leader KN Tripathi.

"14 forms submitted by (Mallikarjun) Kharge, 5 by Shashi Tharoor and one by KN Tripathi. Tomorrow, we will scrutinise forms and tomorrow evening we will announce forms that are valid and the names of candidates," said Mistry at the press briefing.

He further said that the Gandhi family has not endorsed any candidate for the presidential polls."None of these three is an official candidate of the party. They are contesting on their own. The Gandhi family has not endorsed anyone's nomination. Congress president has made it very clear that she will stay neutral throughout the process and if someone claims he has her blessings and it is incorrect," Madhusudan Mistry said

So far, Kharge is believed as a strong candidate and if he becomes the party president, Congress will get a Dalit chief after 51 years. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 1 (PTI) Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Saturday said developmental projects worth Rs 97.77 crore would be implemented in the 'Ayush' sector in the State this year.

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Compared to the previous years, a three-fold increase has been made in the allocations to the sector, which comprises streams, including Ayurveda and Homeopathy, she said.

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In addition to the existing 240 units as new projects, 280 new ayush dispensaries would be upgraded as "Aysuh Arogya Swasthya Kendras", the Minister said here in a statement.

A 50-bed ayush-integrated hospital would be set up at Attappadi, one of the most backward tribal settlements, at a cost of Rs 15 crore, she said adding that similar integrated hospitals would be set up in Kottarakkara and Adoor by spending Rs 10.50 crore and Rs 7.5 crore respectively, George said.

Schemes worth Rs 5.25 crore have been given approval to make two Government Ayurvedic Medical Colleges and two homeopathic government medical colleges patient-friendly.

Setting up of 5 district ayush laboratories for low-cost tests, mobile treatment facilities in tribal areas, yoga centres in three district headquarters, lifestyle disease diagnosis scheme and so on were among the various proposed programmes in the sector, the Minister added.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
By Payal Mehta

New Delhi [India], October 1 (ANI): The Parliamentary panel for Privileges has summoned Lok Sabha member of Parliament Sisir Adhikari to appear before it on October 12 in reference to the plea filed by Trinamool Congress (TMC) demanding his disqualification as a Lok Sabha MP.

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In June this year, TMC parliamentary party leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay had written to the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla demanding Adhikari's disqualification citing certain anti-party activities. The Speaker has further sent it to the parliamentary panel for its examination.

Most recently, Sisir Adhikari defied the whip of TMC and went ahead to cast vote during the Vice President of India election which was held on August 6.

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Mamata Banerjee's TMC had announced that they would abstain from voting during this election. Abhishek Banerjee, the all-India general secretary of the party and Lok Sabha MP, said: "The question of supporting the NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar does not arise, and the way the opposition candidate (Congress leader Margaret Alva) was decided without proper consultation and deliberation with the TMC that has 35 MPs in both the Houses, we have decided unanimously to abstain from the voting process."

National Democratic Alliance's Vice Presidential nominee Jagdeep Dhankhar was elected as the 14th Vice President of India as he defeated Margaret Alva by a thumping 346 votes.

The TMC took huge offence to the senior Adhikari's presence at a rally in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi just before the 2021 West Bengal Assembly Elections.

Even if Sisir's son has joined BJP and is presently the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, the father still has not jumped ship to the BJP.

"Sisir Adhikari has been asked to be present before the panel and he will be giving his verbal testimony on why the disqualification notice should not be accepted against him," a source from the Committee aware of the developments told ANI.

Meanwhile, adding more to the TMC headache, Sisir Adhikari was seen sharing the same dais with BJP MLAs at a Durga Puja in his home in Contai a couple of days ago. (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], October 1 (ANI): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court of Delhi on Saturday extended the remand of 19 accused associated with the Popular Front of India (PFI) by five more days.

All accused were produced under heavy security before the Court at the end of their remand granted by the same court earlier.

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The NIA Judge Shailender Malik on Saturday extends the remand of all accused by 5 days after noting down the submission made by NIA counsel.

Recently in a major crackdown against PFI, over 106 PFI members were arrested so far in multiple raids carried out by a joint team of NIA, Enforcement Directorate (ED) and state police across 11 states.

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NIA in a press statement issued in regards to searches and arrests across India on Popular Front of India (PFI) stated that the searches were jointly conducted by the ED, NIA and the State Police forces across India.

NIA carried out searches in 93 locations of 15 states of India viz Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, West Bengal, Bihar and Manipur.

These searches were conducted at the houses and offices of the top PFI leaders and members in connection with 5 cases registered by the NIA following continued inputs and evidence that the PFI leaders and cadres were involved in the funding of terrorism and terrorist activities, organising training camps for providing armed training and radicalising people to join banned organisations.

NIA also said that a large number of criminal cases have been registered by different states over the last few years against the PFI and its leaders and members for their involvement in many violent acts. Criminal violent acts carried out by PFI such as chopping off the hand of a college professor, cold-blooded killings of persons associated with organisations espousing other faiths, collection of explosives to target prominent people and places, support to Islamic State and destruction of public property have had a demonstrative effect of striking terror in the minds of the citizens.

A total of 106 Popular Front of India (PFI) cadres were arrested on Thursday in a joint operation conducted by the National Investigation Agency, Enforcement Directorate and state police forces across 11 states in the country's multiple locations, according to the sources. (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], October 1 (ANI): A Delhi Court hearing the Northeast Delhi riots case has recently discharged five accused for the offence of setting shops on fire during the riots in February 2020 in the Karawal Nagar area.

The court while discharging the accused persons, noted non-disclosure of offence in the statement and photographs of shops.

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However, the court has remanded the matter back to the magistrate court for a hearing on offences related to rioting and others.

Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala of Karkardooma Court discharged five accused namely Om Prakash, Mukesh, Rohit, Saurabh and Ankit of the offence under section 436 (Mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy property...) IPC.

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The judge said, "I find that offence under Section 436 IPC is not made out against any of theaccused persons. Hence, all accused persons are discharged for offences under Section 436 IPC."

Charge Sheet was filed for offences under Section 147/148/149/188/380/454/427/436 IPC. Out of these offences, only Section 436 IPC is a session triable offence.

This charge sheet was filed after investigating the 5 complaints made by GulabAhmed, Firoz Khan, Shahid Khan, Islam and Mohd. Nasir. In their complaints, none of these complainants made any allegation about setting their shop or house on fire by the riotous mob.

Investigation Officer (IO) took my attention to the statement of Gulab Ahmed that was recorded by police wherein he alleged that the mob entered into his shop and the shop of his son Raju Malik, after breaking open the shutter. Mob committed vandalism, loot and set fire, the court noted in the order of September 27.

The court observed, " The statement does not show or mention as to what was set on fire. Setting fire any goods after taking them outside the shop (as alleged in the complaints of other complainants like Md. Nasir and Sh. Islam) itself cannot invite Section 436 IPC.

The court's attention was also taken to the photographs of the shop of complainant Gulab Ahmed and the photographs make it amply clear that his shop was not set on fire at all. The IO submits that the crime team had inspected the shop, only after repair of the same and hence, it cannot be of any use for the purposes of charge under Section 436 IPC. (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, Oct 1 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched the 5G telephony services in the country, ushering in an era of ultra high-speed internet on mobile phones.

The Prime Minister launched the 5G services in select cities at the IMC 2022 conference. The services will progressively cover the entire country over the next couple of years.

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Capable of supporting ultra-high-speed internet, the fifth generation or 5G service is expected to unleash new economic opportunities and societal benefits, serving as a transformational force for Indian society.

After the launch, all the three major telecom operators demonstrated one use case to show the potential of 5G technology in India.

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(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Visual from the spot of accident on Saturday in Kanpur (Photo:ANI)

New Delhi [India], October 1 (ANI): Leaders from the political fraternity expressed condolences after at least 10 people were feared killed and dozens were reported to have sustained injuries following an accident of a tractor trolley carrying pilgrims in the Ghatampur area in Kanpur district in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday.

Expressing condolences on the incident, President Droupadi Murmu tweeted in Hindi, "Deeply anguished by the news of the death of many people in a road accident in Kanpur. My deepest condolences to the families who lost their loved ones in this accident. I wish the injured people a speedy recovery."

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Union Home Minister Amit Shah also expressed his condolences to the bereaved families.

"The road accident in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh is very sad and heart-wrenching. The local administration is busy providing treatment to the injured. I express my condolences on the irreparable loss of those who have lost their loved ones in this incident. May God give strength to his family to bear this loss," Shah tweeted in Hindi.

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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh while condoling the demise of the pilgrims said that the local administration is providing all possible assistance.

"The road accident in Kanpur district of Uttar Pradesh is heart-wrenching. I express my deepest condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives in this. Also wish a speedy recovery to those injured in the accident. The local administration is engaged in all possible help," Singh tweeted in Hindi.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said that the government should provide help to all of the victims at the soonest.

"23 people killed and many others injured after a tractor trolley full of devotees returning from Fatehpur Chandrika Devi temple in UP overturned and fell into a pond in Kanpur. My deepest condolences to the families of the victims. The government should help all of them as soon as possible," Mayawati tweeted.

Earlier today, the devotees were returning from Unnao when their tractor-trolley overturned.

Following the accident, the police reached the spot and started the rescue operation along with the locals.

The injured were sent to the community health centre immediately for treatment.

Further details into the matter are awaited.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the next kin of each of the deceased while the injured would be given Rs 50,000, said the Prime Minister's Office.

"Distressed by the tractor-trolley mishap in Kanpur. My thoughts are with all those who have lost their near and dear ones. Prayers with the injured. The local administration is providing all possible assistance to the affected:PM," tweeted the PMO. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Gundlupet (K'taka), Oct 1 (PTI) Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday challenged the BJP government in the state to order a judicial inquiry against the alleged corruption that took place in the last 16 years, including five years of his tenure.

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Attacking the BJP in a press conference, the Congress stalwart said when he was the Chief Minister, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2018 had alleged that there was a '10 per cent commission government' in the state without assigning any documentary evidence.

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Now, the head of a civil contractors' body Kempanna has alleged that the ministers in the BJP government were demanding 40 per cent commission on public works.

"Kempanna is saying, 'Form a judicial commission. We will produce the relevant document. If we fail to prove our allegation, you take any action against us.' Why are you not doing it, if you are honest?" Siddaramaiah sought to know.

The Congress leader said when he was the chief minister and the BJP was at the Centre, eight 'allegations' were handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

He wondered why the incumbent BJP government has not handed over the case related to the commissions charged by state ministers to the CBI yet.

"The BJP says corruption took place during the Congress rule in the state. I challenge them to order a judicial inquiry to investigate all the cases that took place in the last 16 years in which BJP was in power for 10 years. But they (BJP) don't have the guts to do so," Siddaramaiah said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi [India], October 1 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched 5G technology services in India and said that technology has become democratic in its truest sense since even the poor of the country have always come forward in adopting new technologies.

He said that this is a major step in the vision of Digital India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

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"Talking about Digital India, some people think that this is just a government scheme. But Digital India is not just a name, it is a big vision for the country's development," said PM Modi while inaugurating the 6th India Mobile Congress at Pragati Maidan in Delhi and launching 5G services.

PM Modi further said that the goal of this vision is to take that technology to the common people, which works for the people, works with the people.

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"I have seen even the poor of the country always come forward to adopt new technologies... Technology has become democratic in its truest sense," he stated.

Modi further stated that there was a time when a handful of elite people doubted the potential of digital for the poor. "Many people made fun of my vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat...a handful of elite people used to think digital is not for the poor. Go see what political leaders used to say in Parliament. But I had the conviction in the inquisitiveness of the common public," PM Modi said.

"I have always had faith in the understanding of the country's common man, his conscience, and his curious mind," he further stated.

PM Modi said he saw a video where he saw a beggar was taking digital payment. "See his transparency," PM Modi said.

The prime minister said that the number of internet users in villages is increasing faster than in urban areas.PM Modi also recalled an event when as chief minister of Gujarat, he attended an event in a remote village and was surprised to see tribal women taking photos on their mobiles. "I was so surprised. I went to them and asked them what they will do with these photos. They said, 'download karenge'. They knew the word 'download'," PM Modi recounted.

PM Modi said that in 2014, there were only two mobile manufacturing units in India but now there were over 200. "Internet users now consume 14GB per month. This used to cost Rs 4,200 per month in 2014. But now it costs somewhere between Rs 125 to Rs 150," PM Modi said.

PM Modi urged industries, and startups to explore how 5G can be brought to everyday life beyond calling and watching videos. "It should become a revolution. It should not be confined only to watching reels," PM Modi said.

The 5G telecom services seek to provide seamless coverage, high data rate, low latency and a highly reliable communications system.

Earlier today the prime minister inspected an exhibition at Pragati Maidan.

The three major telecom operators of the country demonstrated one use case each in front of the Prime Minister to show the potential of 5G technology in India.

Unlike existing mobile communication networks, 5G networks will allow tailoring of requirements for each of these different use cases within the same network. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Patna (Bihar) [India], October 1 (ANI): Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav dismissed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's desire to become Prime Minister and said that the veteran leader is focused on getting the opposition together for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

"He (CM Nitish Kumar) is the CM and we're working under his guidance. The only agenda he has right now is bringing all opposition together. He has no desire to become the Prime Minister," said Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav.

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His remarks came in wake of several speculations of CM Kumar contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh's Phulpur.

Earlier on September 20, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar denied these rumours and said that he only aspires to unite the opposition parties in the country.

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In a veiled attack on Bharatiya Janata Party, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday questioned the source of money for excessive advertising and controlling the news.

While addressing media persons in Patna, Bihar, Kumar alleged, "We do so much work but we don't do that much advertising. We don't have money for useless purposes. I don't know where some people get money for so much advertising and to control the news."

Kumar was addressing the revenue staff appointment letter distribution programme in Patna, Bihar.

The state chief was also seen meeting numerous opposition leaders lately.

CM Kumar along with RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav met Congress President Sonia Gandhi at her residence in a bid to unify opposition parties before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

He further added, "We need to remove the BJP and have to save the country. For that, we all have to come together in a way we removed BJP in Bihar. We have had talks with Sonia Gandhi. She asked us to meet again after 10-12 days once the Congress party gets a new president". (ANI)

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Hyderabad, October 1: The Telangana government on Saturday issued orders providing 10 per cent reservation to Scheduled Tribes in educational institutions and government jobs. Currently, people belonging to the ST community have six per cent reservation in the state.

At a recent public meeting, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao said his government would soon issue orders enhancing the quota to 10 per cent for STs in government jobs and educational institutions. Free Water Scheme Getting Good Response in Hyderabad.

A bill on the 10 per cent reservation was passed by the Telangana Assembly in April 2017 and it was sent to the Centre for obtaining the President's assent. During these close six years the state government sent several representations in this connection, but the same is still pending. Therefore, in these circumstances, it is expedient to enhance the percentage of Scheduled Tribe reservations, without any further loss of time, the GO said. Mission Bhagiratha Scheme of Telangana Gets Central Govt's Jal Jeevan Award.

The Government of Telangana after careful consideration of the above special circumstances, hereby orders enhancement of reservations for the Scheduled Tribes from 6 per cent to 10 per cent in educational institutions and state government services, it 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/Kochi, Oct 1 (PTI) As the stage is all set for a contest between party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor in the Congress presidential polls, differences have cropped up among party leaders in Kerala on who should be supported in the elections to the top post.

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If a section of senior leaders including Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the state Assembly V D Satheesan openly extended their support to Kharge, some young leaders like Lok Sabha MP Hibi Eden expressed solidarity with Tharoor in his contest.

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Talking to reporters in Kochi, Satheesan said state leaders and workers including him would work for the success of Kharge and they were waiting for the proud moment to see a Dalit becoming the president of the Congress.

"He has been nominated after consulting with all senior leaders. So, Kharge will be supported. The contest for the party's presidential post is the beauty of democracy. Congress is a democratic party," he said.

Asking whether such a contest can be expected in the parties like CPI(M) or BJP, he said their practice was to take such decisions by "someone somewhere".

Rejecting criticism regarding 80-year-old Kharge's advanced age, Satheesan said he is an experienced politician coming to the leadership.

Age is not a factor and the advantage of the leader's experience should be made use of, the LoP said.

He, however, made it clear that the support extended to Tharoor by some state party leaders would not cause any rift in the Congress in Kerala.

Sharing similar views, senior leader and MLA Ramesh Chennithala said Kharge was one of the senior-most leaders of the country who can contribute to the Indian National Congress in a remarkable way with his experience and leadership skills.

A Dalit person becoming the chief of Congress is the necessity of the time, he said adding that Kharge's impending elevation to the top post would give the party more strength.

Describing Tharoor as his "good friend", Chennithala said he has all the freedom to contest in the polls as Congress is a democratic party but in the present circumstance, Kharge coming to the presidential post was good for the party.

Meanwhile, Lok Sabha MP Hibi Eden expressed his support to Tharoor by posting a photo of the Thiruvananthapuram MP on his Facebook page.

K M Abhijith, state president of Congress' students' union KSU, also extended support and greetings to Tharoor through social media.

Former Jharkhand minister K N Tripathi's nomination for the Congress presidential election was rejected on Saturday, leaving party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor in the fray.

The three had filed nominations on Friday, the last day of the process.

More than 9,000 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates from across the country will vote in the election.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Chennai, Oct 1 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin paid rich tributes to actor "Sivaji" Ganesan, who had left an indelible mark in the Tamil film industry, on his 95th birth anniversary here on Saturday.

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Hailing him as hero of the film 'Parasakthi', scripted by late Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, the Chief Minister said the actor's fame would remain everlasting.

"Hero of 'Parasakthi,' and 'Kalaignar's' (scholar Karunanidhi) best friend. He acted in plays penned by C N Annadurai, former Chief Minister, and was conferred the title 'Sivaji' by rationalist Periyar E V Ramasamy. He has become history. As long as art exists, 'Nadigar Thilagam's' fame will remain," Stalin tweeted.

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With his versatile acting and quite adept in playing a variety of roles, Ganesan (October 1, 1927 - July 21, 2001) earned the sobriquet 'Nadigar Thilagam' or the pride of actors.

Accompanied by his Cabinet colleagues, Stalin garlanded the actor's statue in his memorial here and paid floral tributes to a portrait of the actor.

Several leaders and the family members of the actor, including his sons Ramkumar and Prabhu, were among those who observed the anniversary.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], October 1 (ANI): An unidentified bike-borne miscreant threw a chemical substance at two girls near Vatika Road area under the Sanganer Sadar police station area of Jaipur on Saturday.

Both the girls were rushed to hospital and are out of danger.

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The Police said efforts are underway to identify the accused.

"Two girls were injured after a man on a bike threw chemicals at them in Jaipur's Sanganer area. They were rushed to hospital and are out of danger. Efforts are underway to identify the accused," said Jaipur police.

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Further investigation is underway.

Earlier, the Rajasthan Police registered a case against eight men for allegedly gang-raping a 17-year-old under the Kishangarh Bas Police Station area of Rajasthan's Alwar.

As per information, the accused after raping the girl had blackmailed her with a rape video and demanded money in return.

According to the police, the accused persons had already extorted Rs 50,000 from the victim girl and further demanded Rs 2,50,000 for not uploading the video over the Internet.

The police informed that these men, identified as Arbaaz, Javed, Mustaqeem, Taleem, Salman, Akram, Sahil, and Akram had shared the video after the girl reportedly refused to give the demanded amount to them. However, they have registered a case against all eight of them under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Information Technology (IT) Act.

"The father of the victim girl has alleged that his daughter was raped by eight men from the same village. The complaint has been taken and the FIR is also registered against the accused," said Amit Choudhary, Station House Officer (SHO).

As per the police, she was called by one Sahil on December 31, 2021, near Gothara saying that he has got some of her objectionable pictures and he would make those "viral" if she refused.

When the girl reached the spot, the eight accused men raped her and also shot a video of the assault, police said.

The police were further informed that the victim was raped twice after that on January 3 and April 6.

The matter came to light when the girl's family is to know of the viral video.

More details into the matter are awaited. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kolkata, Oct 1 (PTI) Northern Coalfields Ltd on Saturday said it has produced 64 million tonne of coal, registering a 19.8 per cent growth in the first half of the 2022-23 financial year.

The miner had produced 53.44 million tonne of coal in the year-ago period.

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The Singrauli-based subsidiary of Coal India said its dispatch also grew by 16.1 per cent year-on-year in the first two quarters of the current fiscal.

The company dispatched 66.82 million tonne of coal in the April-September period as against 57.55 million tonne achieved in the corresponding months last year.

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NCL has fed powerhouses with 60.80 million tonne of coal, which is 91 per cent of the total dispatched to consumers till date, the miner said in a statement.

"The company has been entrusted with the prime responsibility of fulfilling the energy aspiration of the country and exhorted every miner of the company for concerted efforts to make the nation self-reliant in the coal sector," NCL CMD Bhola Singh said.

NCL has been entrusted with the production and dispatch of 122 million tonne of coal each in the current financial year. The miner is also eyeing Rs1,970 crore of capital expenditure for FY'23 and has already spent Rs 1,085.86 crore till September.

NCL output comes from its 10 highly mechanised opencast mines located in Singrauli and Sonbhadra districts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh respectively.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Washington [US], October 1 (ANI): The accumulation of molecular damage contributes to the development of frailty and major diseases associated with ageing. Some people's molecular processes are more intense than others, resulting in accelerated ageing.

Fortunately, the increased pace of ageing may be detected before its disastrous consequences manifest by using digital models of ageing (ageing clocks). Such models can also be used to derive anti-ageing therapies on individual and population levels.

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According to the latest article published in Aging-US, any anti-ageing therapy needs to focus on one's mental health as much as on one's physical health. An international collaboration led by Deep Longevity with the US and Chinese scientists have measured the effects of being lonely, having restless sleep, or feeling unhappy on the pace of ageing and found it to be significant.

The article features a new ageing clock trained and verified with blood and biometric data of 11,914 Chinese adults. This is the first ageing clock to be trained exclusively on a Chinese cohort of such volume.

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Ageing acceleration was detected in people with a history of stroke, liver and lung diseases, smokers, and most interestingly, people in a vulnerable mental state. In fact, feeling hopeless, unhappy, and lonely was shown to increase one's biological age more than smoking. Other factors linked to ageing acceleration include being single and living in a rural area (due to the low availability of medical services).

The authors of the article concluded that the psychological aspect of aging should not be neglected either in research or in practical anti-aging applications. According to Manuel Faria from Stanford University: "Mental and psychosocial states are some of the most robust predictors of health outcomes -- and quality of life -- yet they have largely been omitted from modern healthcare".

Alex Zhavoronkov, the CEO of Insilico Medicine, points out that the study provides a course of action to "slow down or even reverse psychological aging on a national scale.

Earlier this year, Deep Longevity released an AI-guided mental health web service FuturSelf.AI that is based on a preceding publication in Aging-US. The service offers a free psychological assessment that is processed by an AI and provides a comprehensive report on a user's psychological age as well as current and future mental well-being. Deepankar Nayak, the CEO of Deep longevity affirms,"FuturSelf.AI, in combination with the study of older Chinese adults, positions Deep Longevity at the forefront of biogerontological research". (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Washington [US], October 1 (ANI): A trove of fossils in China, unearthed in rock dating back some 436 million years, has revealed for the first time that the mysterious galeaspids, a jawless freshwater fish, possessed paired fins.

The discovery, by an international team, led by Min Zhu of the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology, Bejiing and Professor Philip Donoghue from the University of Bristol's School of Earth Sciences, shows the primitive condition of paired fins before they separated into pectoral and pelvic fins, the forerunner to arms and legs.

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Until now, the only surviving fossils of galeaspids were heads, but these new fossils originating in the rocks of Hunan Province and Chongqing and named Tujiaaspis after the indigenous Tujia people who live in this region, contain their whole bodies.

Theories abound on the evolutionary beginnings of vertebrate fins and limbs -- the evolutionary precursors of arms and legs -- mostly based on comparative embryology. There is a rich fossil record, but early vertebrates either had fins or they didn't. There was little evidence for their gradual evolution.

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First author Zhikun Gai, a University of Bristol alumnus, said: "The anatomy of galeaspids has been something of a mystery since they were first discovered more than half a century ago. Tens of thousands of fossils are known from China and Vietnam, but almost all of them are just heads -- nothing has been known about the rest of their bodies -- until now.

"The new fossils are spectacular, preserving the whole body for the first time and revealing that these animals possessed paired fins that extended continuously, all the way from the back of the head to the very tip of the tail. This is a great surprise since galeaspids have been thought to lack paired fins altogether."

Corresponding author Professor Donoghue said: "Tujiaaspis breathes new life into a century old hypothesis for the evolution of paired fins, through differentiation of pectoral (arms) and pelvic (legs) fins over evolutionary time from a continuous head-to-tail fin precursor.

"This 'fin-fold' hypothesis has been very popular but it has lacked any supporting evidence until now. The discovery to Tujiaaspis resurrects the fin-fold hypothesis and reconciles it with contemporary data on the genetic controls on the embryonic development of fins in living vertebrates."

Corresponding author Min Zhu of VPP, Beijing, added "Tujiaaspis shows the primitive condition for paired fins first evolved. Later groups, like the jawless osteostracans show the first evidence for the separation of muscular pectoral fins, retaining long pelvic fins that reduced to the short muscular fins in jawed vertebrates, such as in groups like placoderms and sharks. Nevertheless, we can see vestiges of elongate fin-folds in the embryos of living jawed fishes, which can be experimentally manipulated to reproduce them. The key question is why did fins first evolve in this way?"

Bristol's Dr Humberto Ferron used computational engineering approaches to simulate the behaviour of models of Tujiaaspis with and without the paired fins. The co-author said: "The paired fins of Tujiaaspis act as hydrofoils, passively generating lift for the fish without any muscular input from the fins themselves. The lateral fin-folds of Tujiaaspis allowed it to swim more efficiently."

Co-author Dr Joseph Keating at Bristol modelled the evolution of paired fins. He said: "Fossil jawless vertebrates display a dizzying array of fin types, which has provoked extensive debate about the evolution of paired fins.

"Our new analyses suggest that the ancestor of jawed vertebrates likely possessed paired fin-folds, which became separated into pectoral and pelvic regions. Eventually, these primitive fins evolved musculature and skeletal support, which allowed our fishy ancestors to better steer their swimming and add propulsion. It is amazing to think that the evolutionary innovations seen in Tujiaaspis underpin locomotion in animals as diverse as birds, whales, bats and humans." (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kabul [Afghanistan], October 1 (ANI): A number of women from Afghanistan's minority Hazara community on Saturday protested in Kabul against the terror attack at the Kaaj Educational Center that resulted in 60 deaths and injuries to several others, many of whom were students.

The women protestors dressed in black chanted slogans against the genocide of minorities and demanded their rights, Pajhwok Afghan News reported.

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Friday's blast follows many recent attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure across Afghanistan, including in religious minority communities.

Families of victims and local residents raised security concerns and called on the Taliban to ensure the safety of the public and punish those responsible after the ghastly attack at an education centre in Kabul left 60 persons dead.

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Kabul Police spokesperson Khalid Zadran told CNN that the explosion occurred at the Kaaj education centre at 7:30 am local time. The blast occurred in the 13th security area of Kabul, Taliban spokesperson Abdul Nafee Takour was quoted as saying by TOLO news.

UNICEF said this "heinous act" claimed the lives of dozens of adolescent girls and boys and severely injured many more.

India condemned the terror attack on Saturday. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "We are saddened by yesterday's terror attack at the Kaaj Educational Center in Dasht-e-Barchi, Kabul and extend our condolences to the families of the victims. Indian strongly condemns the continued targeting of innocent students at educational places."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres deplored the heinous attack on the Kabul educational centre - a predominately Hazara Shia area - which caused scores of casualties.

He also extended his condolences to the families of the victims and wishes a speedy recovery to those injured. "Education is a fundamental right and an essential driver for sustainable peace and development," he said.

The UN Security Council (UNSC), while condemning the terrorist attack, reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security.

The members of the Security Council underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice.

US Charge d'Affaires Karen Decker was also quick to condemn the barbarous attack on the education centre and said that all students should be able to pursue education in peace and without fear.

Calling the attack a shameful act of terror, the US Charge d'Affaires tweeted, "The U.S. strongly condemns today's attack on the Kaaj Higher Educational Center. Targeting a room full of students taking exams is shameful; all students should be able to pursue an education in peace and without fear."

In a recent report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) repeatedly attacked Hazaras and other religious minorities at their mosques, schools, and workplaces. While the Taliban have done little to protect these minority communities from suicide bombings and other unlawful attacks from the Islamic State's (ISIS) affiliate in Afghanistan.

Since the Taliban seized power in August last year, the IS has claimed responsibility for 13 attacks against Hazaras and has been linked to at least 3 more, killing and injuring at least 700 people.

According to HRW, the Hazara are a predominantly Shia Muslim ethnic group that have faced discrimination and abuse by successive Afghan governments for over a century. During the 1990s, Taliban forces targeted the Shia for mass killings and other serious abuses. With the Taliban back in power, the Hazara have been increasingly concerned for their safety and whether the new authorities will protect them. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Beijing [China], October 1 (ANI): Over 900 million people in over 17 provinces, as well as an estimated 2.2 million hectares of agricultural land in China, have been impacted by the record high temperatures, adversely impacting its food and energy security.

Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake, and other areas of the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) continue to experience declining water levels even as the heat wave subsides, reported JustEarth news.

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It has led to concerns over China's water and food security in addition to a large decline in hydropower output and ensuing power shortages, presenting issues with the nation's energy security.

Since 1961, reliable statistics have been kept. This summer has been the driest and warmest in China. A drought developed as a result of the intense weather, and it is still getting worse, reported JustEarth news.

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Concerns over China's food security issue have already been growing in light of the extraordinary global food crisis and the country's complex geopolitical scenario.

In recent months, senior officials in China have emphasized numerous times the strategic significance of preserving the nation's food security.

President Xi Jinping urged for more actions to defend grain security and farms from rising domestic production after publicly linking food security to China's national security, reported JustEarth news.

The YRB is crucial to China's food security because it produces about 50 per cent of the nation's grain. The drought has already raised serious concerns about how it would affect China's autumn grain production.

China's autumn harvests are in a "critical stage," according to Liu Weiping, vice minister of water resources in China, who made this statement recently.

Following Xi's audacious pledge that China would attain its peak carbon emissions by 2030 and become carbon neutral before 2060, the 14th Five-Year Plan makes carbon emission reduction and the switch to clean energy a top priority, reported JustEarth news.

Hydropower is projected to gain more traction as China moves away from coal, which currently provides close to 70 per cent of its energy needs.

Sichuan stands out as China's hydropower powerhouse among the YRB provinces. According to estimates, hydropower dams provide 80 per cent of the province's electricity.

The province exports a large portion of its hydropower to other provinces (such as industrial powerhouse provinces Zhejiang and Jiangsu).

Up to 50 per cent of Sichuan's reservoirs have dried up due to the drought, which has had a knock-on effect on the province's hydropower production and exports, reported JustEarth news.

Electricity rationing and shortages in some locations, like Sichuan province and Chongqing, have compelled numerous cities to import electricity from other parts of the nation.

The nation's largest state-owned electric utility company, State Grid Corporation of China, declared that it would try to supply power to Sichuan in an effort to reduce the strain.

In order to conserve electricity for residential consumption, factories in Sichuan have also been obliged to close down or scale back operations.

According to numerous accounts in Chinese media, businesses and shopping centres were also required to turn off their air conditioning and lights.

The drought and its effects are anticipated to last longer due to Sichuan's low precipitation levels and decreased water levels in its reservoirs, reported JustEarth news. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
London, Oct 1 (PTI) Bengaluru-headquartered global technology and business process outsourcing company Mphasis will create 1,000 jobs in the northern England region of West Yorkshire, according to the regional Mayor who has just returned from a visit to India.

West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin led a trade mission to India recently and announced on Friday that she had secured multi million-pound investment for the region.

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The latest investment by Mphasis, expected to be completed over the next two years, will boost the company's existing presence in West Yorkshire, where it already has a workforce of 500 based in the city of Leeds. It builds on the company's creation of a UK centre of excellence in Leeds for its insurance clients last year.

"I'm delighted that Mphasis has chosen to invest millions of pounds here in West Yorkshire, and proud to have them as part of our business community and partners in driving the region forward," said Brabin.

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"These 1,000 new jobs will have a transformative impact on our economy and create exciting career opportunities for the people of West Yorkshire, she said.

The Mayor said that during her meetings with the firm last week, she met many inspiring female leaders.

Mphasis embeds diversity as a core part of its culture and has a strong focus on supporting and developing its people. I look forward to supporting their growth in the region and seeing the positive impact on our communities," she said.

During her visit, the first since the pandemic lockdown from the region to India, the Mayor of West Yorkshire visited Mphasis' global headquarters in Bengaluru and met with senior representatives to discuss the project and partnership opportunities.

We are proud to invest in West Yorkshire, and to build on the launch of Mphasis' first insurance domain -onshore centre in the UK in Leeds last year," said Anurag Bhatia, Senior Vice President and Head of Europe at Mphasis.

"We are setting out to create a thousand jobs to drive economic growth in the West Yorkshire region, to actively address the UK's digital skills shortage and support the next wave of talent in the local business community and beyond.

We look forward to working with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, as well as schools and universities, to inspire many more promising candidates of all backgrounds to embark on long-term careers across key digital skill sets that will help create a more diverse and stronger tech sector," he said.

According to official statistics, India is the second-largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the UK after the US, with trade in goods between West Yorkshire and India estimated to be worth over GBP 360 million.

West Yorkshire says it is committed to developing stronger links with key international markets like India to drive forward global trade and investment links. It pointed to the significant investment by Mphasis as a further example of the strong friendship of the region with India.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Vadodara (Gujarat) [India], October 1 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday visited Laxmi Vilas Palace in Gujarat and said that he is "privileged" to see the Raja Ravi Verma painting collection with the 52 foreign ambassadors and high commissioners.

"Pleasure to join 52 Ambassadors and High Commissioners on a visit to Laxmi Vilas Palace. Was a particular privilege to see the Raja Ravi Verma painting collection with them," Jaishankar tweeted on Saturday.

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After meeting delegates and ambassadors of several countries, Jashankar said: "It is a matter of pride that we have come here with officials of different countries. As the Navratri festival is on, they will spend the day enjoying festivities. They are excited to see the development here.

Jaishankar also took to Twitter and said he looks forward to participating in the celebrations tonight. The External Affairs Minister is in for the Navratri celebration. Today marks the sixth day of Navratri and devotees across the country will worship Goddess Katyayani, the sixth incarnation of Maa Durga.

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Lord Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva combined their powers to create Goddess Katyayani, according to Hindu mythology.

Also known as Mahishasurmardini, Maa Katyayani killed the demon Mahishasura. She is regarded as one of the most violent forms of Maa Durga. She is four-armed and rides a lion.

Earlier today, morning arti was performed at the famous Chhatarpur Temple in Delhi on the fifth day of Navratri. Priests chanted mantras and holy songs were played at the temple premises.

During the nine-day Navratri festival, devotees worship Maa Durga's nine incarnations in order to obtain her blessings. There is a goddess manifestation linked with each day of Navratri.

During these nine days, people maintain ritualistic fasts, recite shlokas dedicated to each goddess, wear new clothing, offer bhog, and clean their homes.

In their prayers, they ask the goddess for her favour in order to have prosperous, joyous, and fulfilled lives. Over the next nine days, devotees offer their prayers to Goddess Durga and observe fasts.

The festival of Navratri honours the defeat of the demonic Mahishasura and the triumph of good over evil. The 10th day of Sharad Navratri is celebrated as Dussehra or Vijaya Dashami.This year, Navratri started on September 26 and will conclude on October 5. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Islamabad [Pakistan], October 1 (ANI): Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf filed a petition on Saturday in the Supreme court seeking the judicial investigation in the Prime Minister's house audio leak case and also sought criminal charges against PM Shehbaz Sharif and his team for hatching a "criminal conspiracy".

A series of audio clips have been leaked over the last week, featuring Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz and former PM Imran Khan, which sparked widespread criticism from the opposition and raised questions about the cyber security of the house, Geo News reported.

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One of the leaked audio in which PM Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and others were heard discussing PTI's resignations.

In that audio, the leader also talked about 'London's permission' to accept the resignations.

Also Read | India Foils Chinas Attempt to Bring Resolution Against AUKUS at IAEA.

"...incumbent prime minister and his cabinet members [...] can be heard discussing a heinous strategy to outplay the petitioner from the parliamentary politics in most illegal, unlawful and objectionable manner," the PTI said in the petition about the audio leak as quoted by Geo News.

The petition said that the entire discussion revolves around a "criminal strategy/conspiracy" to affect and target the party through piecemeal acceptance of the resignations tendered by PTI's MNAs on April 11.

In a press conference on Tuesday, the party said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif admitted the "actuality and existence" of the referred audio leaks.

"It is also important to bring on record that the Information Minister Maryum Aurangzeb and Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan have already admitted the reality of the audio leaks," the petition stated.

PTI also claimed that the PM and the cabinet members with the help of National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf had disturbed their oath and utterly disregarded the law and the constitution, according to geo News.

"The admission on the part of the incumbent federal government requires stern action against the prime minister and the federal ministers," the petition said.

Earlier, Imran Khan's audio leaked where he was heard speaking about the "US conspiracy" as the PTI chief said, "Let's play with it".

It is pertinent to mention that "US conspiracy" refers to the foreign conspiracy which Imran Khan termed as the conspiracy by the US to topple the PTI government and replace it with Shehbaz Sharif's government in Pakistan.

According to The News International, in the latest leaked audio, Imran Khan could be heard directing his then principal secretary that they should play with the "cypher issue without taking the name of the United States."

"Let's play with it," Imran Khan believed to be said in the audio, to which Azam Khan suggested that they should hold a meeting on the US cypher to bring it on record.

Prior to that, audio clips purported of Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif with government officials and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Vice-President Maryam Nawaz had also surfaced online. (ANI)

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Islamabad [Pakistan], October 1 (ANI): Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Saturday called for a raid at ex-premier Imran Khan's residence to recover the missing copy of the cypher, alleging that Khan conspired to twist routine diplomatic cypher for his own political gains.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Maryam said that Imran Khan conspired with his aides to twist a routine cypher for his political gains knowing well this would harm the country's national interest, ARY News reported.

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"Imran Khan conspired against Pakistan while sitting at Prime Minister House just for his selfish political gains," said Maryam Nawaz adding that "former prime minister Imran Khan's Bani Gala residence should be raided to recover the "missing" copy of a diplomatic cypher that carries the details of the purported "foreign conspiracy" against his now fallen government.

Nawaz's comment came a day after the Federal cabinet was informed that a copy of the diplomatic cypher carrying the details of the US's purported threat to Imran Khan's government was found "missing" from Prime Minister House records.

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The federal cabinet met on Friday with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the chair. It accused former prime minister Imran Khan of compromising vital national interests for political gains.

The cypher, based on then-envoy Asad Majeed's meeting with State Department official Donald Lu, has been at the centre of PTI's claim that the US conspired with elements within Pakistan to dislodge Imran from office.

A handout issued after a meeting of the cabinet declared that the "theft" of diplomatic cypher records is an "unforgivable crime" and a violation of the Official Secrets Act, 1923.

"Vital national interests were damaged by giving concocted meanings to the diplomatic cypher for political gains and the cable was stolen after fraud, forgery and fabrication," the federal cabinet noted.

"It was the act of unpardonable crime against the state through which political interests were given priority over the vital national interests," the cabinet observed.

On Friday, the federal cabinet held deliberations on the issue of audio-leaks, featuring PM and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan. It termed it a strong violation of the constitutional oath, and other related laws and regulations, particularly the Official Secret Act.

Speaking of the audio leak, Maryam Nawaz said PML-N will never compromise on the security of Pakistan and audio leaks are proof that none of the party leaders heard speaking against the country, ARY News reported.

A series of audio has been leaked over the last week, featuring Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz and former PM Imran Khan.

After this, a new standard operating procedure (SOP) was implemented at the PM House under which no staff or officer was allowed to take their mobile phone inside the building, reported Dawn.

"The phones are collected at the entrance and returned after office hours," the source added.

Earlier, Imran Khan's audio leaked where he was heard speaking about the "US conspiracy". The PTI chief reportedly said, "Let's play with it".

It is pertinent to mention that "US conspiracy" refers to the foreign conspiracy which Imran Khan termed as the conspiracy by the US to topple the PTI government and replace it with Shehbaz Sharif's government.

According to The News International, in the latest leaked audio, Imran Khan could be heard directing his then principal secretary that they should play with the "cypher issue without taking the name of the United States."

"Let's play with it," Imran Khan believed to be saying in the audio, to which Azam Khan suggested that they should hold a meeting on the US cypher to bring it on record. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Moscow, Oct 1 (PTI) Russian President Vladimir Putin has reminded the world of the West's colonial policy, plundering of India and Africa, slave trade, and the use of nuclear and chemical weapons by the US, as he slammed them for their "utter deceit" and "double standards" on insisting on a rules-based global order.

Putin made the remarks during a carefully-choreographed formal speech at the Kremlin's opulent St George's Hall on Friday, days after the so-called referendums in the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia that were dismissed as shams by Ukraine and the US-led Western nations.

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In his address, Putin said, "All we hear is, the West is insisting on a rules-based order. Where did that come from anyway? Who has ever seen these rules? Who agreed or approved them? Listen, this is just a lot of nonsense, utter deceit, double standards, or even triple standards! They must think we're stupid."

Russia is a great thousand-year-old power, a whole civilisation, and it is not going to live by such makeshift, false rules, Putin said in his speech in Russian, the English version of which has been uploaded later on the Kremlin's official website.

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Western elites are even shifting repentance for their own historical crimes on everyone else, demanding that the citizens of their countries and other peoples confess to things they have nothing to do with at all, for example, the period of colonial conquests, Putin said.

"It is worth reminding the West that it began its colonial policy back in the Middle Ages, followed by the worldwide slave trade, the genocide of Indian tribes in America, the plunder of India and Africa...This is contrary to human nature, truth, freedom and justice," he said.

The European Council in a statement on Friday "firmly" rejected and "unequivocally" condemned the "illegal annexation" of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions by Russia.

By wilfully undermining the rules-based international order and blatantly violating the fundamental rights of Ukraine to independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, core principles as enshrined in the UN Charter and international law, Russia is putting global security at risk, it said.

Putin, in his speech, asserted that it was the so-called West that "trampled" on the principle of the "inviolability of borders", and now it is deciding, at its own discretion, who has the right to self-determination and who does not, who is unworthy of it.

"It is unclear what their decisions are based on or who gave them the right to decide in the first place. They just assumed it," he said.

The 15-nation UN Security Council voted on Friday on the draft resolution on Illegal So-Called Referenda in Ukraine, hours after Putin signed treaties to annex Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

However, the resolution failed to get adopted as Russia, a permanent UNSC member, vetoed it. It was supported by 10 of the 15 members of the Council, while China, Gabon, India and Brazil abstained.

Hitting out at the US, Putin said America is the only country in the world that has used nuclear weapons twice, destroying the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. And they created a precedent.

"The United States left a deep scar in the memory of the people of Korea and Vietnam with their carpet bombings and use of napalm and chemical weapons," he underlined.

US President Joe Biden has strongly condemned Russia's "fraudulent attempt" to annex sovereign Ukrainian territory and accused Moscow of "violating international law, trampling on the United Nations Charter, and showing its contempt for peaceful nations everywhere".

"Make no mistake: these actions have no legitimacy...We will continue to support Ukraine's efforts to regain control of its territory by strengthening its hand militarily and diplomatically...," he said in a statement on Friday.

Biden said the US will rally the international community to both denounce these moves and to hold Russia accountable.

"I urge all members of the international community to reject Russia's illegal attempts at annexation and to stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes," he said.

Unlike many other leading Western powers, India has not yet criticised Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and it abstained from the votes at the UN platforms in condemning the Russian aggression.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had said that any annexation of a State's territory by another State resulting from the threat or use of force is a violation of the Principles of the UN Charter and international law.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Taipei [Taiwan], October 1 (ANI): Human rights activists staged a protest against Chinese aggression outside Taiwan's Legislative Yuan and urged the politicians to sign a petition safeguarding Taiwan's democracy and not surrender in case the island nation is attacked, media reports said.

The protest was organized in Taipei on September 30, a day ahead of the National Day of the People's Republic of China today. Among those who joined the protests were various human rights organizations including Tibet, Hong Kong, and Uyghur rights activists, reported Taipei Times.

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According to Taiwan Association for Human Rights secretary-general Shih Yi-hsiang, the petition mainly comprises three calls to action -- to safeguard human rights, defend Taiwan's freedom and not surrender if attacked by China, and third to join forces to counter Chinese expansionism.

"Taiwan has continued to implement and uphold the values of human rights, in sharp contrast to what is happening in China. Defending human rights is also to defend Taiwan against Chinese military intimidation," Shih said, reported Taipei Times.

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"In Taiwan, we have a vibrant democracy and people can enjoy freedom. These are the strongest weapons against China's threat of force," he added.

Moreover, an activist for the rights of Tibet and Taiwan, Tashi Tsering said that China for decades are pushing Tibetans towards repression committing atrocities. "Although Beijing proclaims to the world that it protects the rights of ethnic minorities, the conditions in Tibet are terrible, as Chinese policies are focused on eradicating the Tibetan people's culture, language and religion," Tashi Tsering said.

Another activist Sky Fung said China is imposing increasing restrictions to phase out freedom and democracy in the territory. "We must stand up together to work with pro-democracy forces," he said. "We still have a choice, we must say 'no' to Chinese dictatorship, we must choose to fight against China and to never surrender."

"China has continued its military maneuvers to intimidate Taiwan, taking up devious means to curtail Taiwan's participation on international forums. Its disinformation and political propaganda campaigns create division and social strife in Taiwan, aimed at pushing for political extremism and conflict," the groups said in a joint statement, reported Taipei Times.

"China is providing financial support to their proxies to infiltrate all sectors of Taiwanese society to promote defeatist talk, for surrender to China," it said.

"We must fight against such dissemination of Chinese propaganda and disinformation, and to stop any politicians from promoting surrender in the guise of 'peaceful unification,' and work to cut off Chinese money entering Taiwan to fund for activities by their proxies," the statement 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)
Moscow [Russia], October 1 (ANI): A day after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of Donetsk among three other regions of Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry on Saturday said that Russian troops and the Donbas militias have pulled out of the city of Krasny Liman in the Donetsk Oblast amid the emerging threat of encirclement from Ukrainian forces.

"Due to the emerging threat of encirclement, the allied troops have withdrawn from the settlement of Krasny Liman and deployed to more advantageous positions," RT quoted the statement from the ministry.

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Earlier, the head of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, said that the city had been "half-encircled" by the Ukrainian troops and the situation in the city was "alarming".

The Russian military said that the Ukrainian forces lost more than 200 soldiers, five tanks, and five infantry fighting vehicles during the attack on Krasny Liman. Despite the losses, the Ukrainian command sent in reserves and reached "considerable superiority in men and materiel" in the direction of the attack, RT reported.

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"The Russian forces in Krasny Liman had been encircled," a representative of the Ukrainian operational command 'East', Sergey Cherevaty said. He also said that the Ukrainian troops seized five settlements near Liman, including the town of Yampol, located southeast, RT reported quoting Ukraine media.

Russian troops and Donbas forces had occupied the city of Krasny Liman in late May this year. The city is located on the DPR's northern edge not far from Ukraine's Kharkiv region, which saw its eastern part captured by Ukrainian troops in early September.

On Friday, Putin formally announced the annexation of four regions - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia and claimed that "this is the will of millions of people," media reports said.

Putin said the residents in the four annexed regions will now be Russia's "citizens forever".

While denying seeking revival of the Soviet Union by the said annexation, Putin accused Western states - which have imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Moreover, in a strong statement, Putin also added that Russia would now defend its new territory "with all the means at its disposal."

Following Putin's announcement, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that his country is submitting an "accelerated" application to join the NATO military alliance.

"We are taking our decisive step by signing Ukraine's application for accelerated accession to NATO," reported Al Jazeera quoted Zelenskyy as saying.

Russia's annexation sparked wide criticism from around the world. The western leaders condemned it, termed it "illegal" and vowed that they will "never recognize" these areas.

The United States announced that it will impose a "swift and severe cost" on Russia.

The Biden administration official said they are "targeting additional Russian government officials and leaders, their family members, Russian and Belarusian military officials, and defence procurement networks, including international suppliers supporting Russia's military-industrial complex" through announcements from the Departments of Treasury, Commerce, and State, according to CNN.

That includes sanctions from the Treasury Department on a key player in keeping the Russian economy afloat: Elvira Nabiullina, an economist who has been leading Russia's central bank since 2013.

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called on all states to reject Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

"We call on all States to reject Russia's blatant attempts at territorial conquest. These lands are Ukraine, Donetsk is Ukraine, Luhansk is Ukraine, Kherson is Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia is Ukraine, just like Crimea is Ukraine," he said. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Havana, Oct 1 (AP) The widespread power outage caused by Hurricane Ian prompted several hundred people to protest in Havana, and a monitoring group said the island's internet service shut down again on Friday in what appeared to be an attempt to curb information about the demonstrations from spreading.

An Associated Press journalist saw about 400 people gathered Thursday night in at least two spots in the Cerro neighbourhood shouting, We want light, we want light, and banging pots and pans.

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It appeared to be the first public display over the electricity problems that spread from western Cuba, where Ian hit on Tuesday, to the entire island, leaving the country's 11 million people in the dark.

The storm also left three people dead and caused still unquantified damage.

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Power was restored to much of the island within a day after the storm's blast. But there still areas without service, including in the capital.

Internet service was interrupted on Thursday, then returned by Friday morning, at least in some areas. But it went out again later in the day, groups that monitor internet access reported.

Alp Toker, director of London-based Netblocks, said the blackout in internet service on Thursday and Friday appeared different from an internet outage that occurred soon after Ian hit.

Internet has been cut again in Cuba, at around the same time as yesterday, Toker said in an email to AP on Friday night.

The timings provide another indicator that the shutdowns are a measure to suppress coverage of the protests.

Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik Inc., a network intelligence company, earlier described Thursday's event as a total internet blackout.

Repeated blackouts on Cuba's already fragile grid were among the causes of the island's largest social protests in decades in July 2021.

Thousands of people, weary of power failures and shortages of goods exacerbated by the pandemic and US sanctions, turned out in cities across the island to vent their anger and some also lashed out at the government.

Hundreds were arrested and prosecuted, prompting harsh criticism of the administration of President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

The government has not said what percentage of the overall population remained without electricity as of early Friday, but electrical authorities said only 10 per cent of Havana's two million people had power on Thursday.

Experts said the total blackout showed the vulnerability of Cuba's power grid and warned that it will require time and sources  things the country doesn't have  to fix the problem.

Authorities have promised to work without rest to address the issue.

Calls by AP to a dozen people in Cuba's main cities  Holguin, Guantanamo, Matanzas, Ciego de Avila, Camaguey and Santiago  found problems similar to those in Havana, with most reporting their neighbourhoods were still without electricity.

Authorities say the total blackout happened because of a failure in the connections between Cuba's three regions  west, centre and east  caused by Ian's winds.

Cuba's power grid was already in a critical and immuno-compromised state as a result of the deterioration of the thermoelectric plants.

The patient is now on life support, said Jorge Pinon, director of the Centre for International Energy and Environmental Policy's Latin America and Caribbean programme at the University of Texas.

Cuba has 13 power generation plants, eight of which are traditional thermoelectric plants, and five floating power plants rented from Turkey since 2019.

There is also a group of small plants distributed throughout the country since an energy reform in 2006.

But the plants are poorly maintained, a phenomenon the government attributed to the lack of funds and US sanctions. Complications in obtaining fuel is also a problem. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Colombo, Oct 1 (PTI) Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe issued an extraordinary gazette on Saturday, revoking last week's order that declared several key locations in Colombo as high security zones, after sustained pressure from the Opposition and country's human rights watchdog condemning his move.

On September 23, Wickremesinghe declared the Parliament, Supreme Court complex and the President's Secretariat among others as high security zones, and banned any kind of protest or agitation near its premises.

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The move, which many see as a throwback to the restrictions imposed during the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) days that saw suicide explosions at such key locations, prevents even the parking of cars near the vicinity of key government buildings.

By gazette number 2299/71 dated today, President Wickremesinghe states that he was revoking the said order, according to an extraordinary gazette notification issued by the Presidential Secretariat on Saturday.

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In a notification issued on September 23, the President's Secretariat declared key government installation localities as high security zones.

Areas around Parliament, Supreme Court Complex, High Court Complex in Colombo, Magistrate Court Complex in Colombo and Attorney General's Department, Presidential Secretariat, President's House, Sri Lanka Navy Headquarters and Police Headquarters have been declared as High Security Zones, the notification said.

The zone also includes the Ministry of Defence and Sri Lanka Army headquarters located near parliament, the Sri Lanka Air Force headquarters, Prime Minister's Office, the Temple Trees prime minister's residence and the Official Residences of the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and the Commanders of the Tri Forces, it added.

According to the notification, protests and public gatherings in the areas declared as High Security Zones are banned while vehicle parking won't be allowed in the vicinity of any of the designated locations.

Wickremesinghe's U-turn came amid sustained pressure from the principal Opposition, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party, which filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the order.

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka also condemned the move, and called it illegal.

Significantly, some of the designated locations were the sites for large public agitations against the Rajapaksas for their mishandling of the country's economic crisis.

Anti-government protesters are now getting arrested for unlawful entry to these key areas and the government's use of the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Act to keep under detention has also come under criticism from international rights groups.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Karachi [Pakistan], October 1 (ANI): Four officials of the Pakistan Counterterrorism Department (CTD) were injured and two others whom the officials called "terrorists from a banned outfit" were killed in an exchange of fire in Karachi's Janjal Goth area, a statement issued by the Karachi Police Media Cell said on Saturday.

The statement, quoting Civil Lines Station House Officer (SHO) Raja Tariq, said, an "encounter" between CTD personnel and "terrorists" took place in the area, in which 45-year-old Assistant Sub-Inspector Irfan, 47-year-old constable Arshad Khan, 50-year-old Constable Muhammad Amir and Constable Mola Bux, whose age was around 46-47 years old, were injured, Dawn reported.

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"Two unidentified accused were killed in retaliatory action by the police," the statement added.

According to the details, the security forces conducted the operation on intelligence reports of the presence of terrorists in a house in Janjal Goth near Gulshan-e-Maymar, ARY News reported.

Also Read | India Foils Chinas Attempt to Bring Resolution Against AUKUS at IAEA.

As per CTD spokesperson, "A woman and a child were also present in the house during the operation, who remained unhurt and were taken into custody."

The injured officers were shifted to Aga Khan Hospital while the bodies were taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. However, the condition of two of the CTD officers was said to be critical.

Further investigations were underway and the security forces cordoned off the area and an extra contingent has been called, ARY News reported.

Earlier, on Tuesday, four suspected terrorists of the banned militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Ahrar were killed in a gun battle with a team of CTD of police in the Hazar-Ganji area of the Quetta city of Balochistan province.

A CTD spokesperson said, "The four terrorists killed in the gunfight belong to banned Jamaatul Ahrar."

CTD personnel intercepted a truck, on a tip-off about drugs being smuggled to Karachi, at the Gulzarabad checkpoint on the outskirts of Quetta, the spokesperson said.

Instead of stopping, the men travelling in the truck opened fire on the CTD personnel, triggering an exchange of fire that continued for half an hour, leaving four terrorists dead, Dawn reported.

The CTD found 27 kilograms of fine quality heroin from secret compartments meant to hide drugs for smuggling, upon searching the truck.

CTD officials said that drug money was being used by terrorist outfits and that further investigation is underway. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Honolulu (US), Oct 1 (AP) US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Hawaii this week amid lingering community frustration and distrust after jet fuel from a military storage facility last year spilled into Pearl Harbour's drinking water, poisoned thousands of military families and threatened the purity of Honolulu's water supply.

Austin travelled to the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in the hills above Pearl Harbour on Friday and met the commander of the joint task force in charge of draining its tanks so it can be shut down.

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He also met with several families affected by the fuel spill and Hawaii state officials, the military said in a news release. The meetings were closed to the media, and Austin didn't hold a news conference afterward.

Outside Joint Base Pearl Harbour Hickam, several dozen protesters held signs saying Navy Lies and Shut Down Red Hill. People driving by  including many exiting the base  honked in support.

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Samantha McCoy, whose husband is in the Air Force, said her family suffered migraines, rashes, skin sores and gastrointestinal problems that only subsided when they moved out of military housing last month.

She called on Austin to make more medical care available to families.

It took four months of daily migraines to even get a referral to a neurologist. And that's really unacceptable, she said.

Cheri Burness, who lives in Navy housing, won't drink the tap water in the house she shares with her sailor husband and their two teenage children because she doesn't believe that it's safe 10 months after the spill.

Her family has spent USD 3,000 of their own money to install filters on all the faucets in the house so they can bathe, brush their teeth and wash their dishes.

She spends USD 70 to USD 100 a month to have water delivered to their home for drinking. They also use bottled water.

She recalled how Navy leaders initially told Pearl Harbour water users their water was safe to drink after the November spill. The Navy only told people to stop drinking their tap water after the state Department of Health stepped in.

The Navy later flushed clean water through its pipes to cleanse them. In March, the state Department of Health said the tap water in all residential areas served by the Navy's water system was safe to drink.

But Burness said she never got to see the reports for her house after it was tested. She was only told her water was good.

I don't trust them because cause they did nothing to show me that it ever was fine, Burness said.

A Navy investigation later showed a cascading series of errors, complacency and a lack of professionalism led to the fuel spill, which contaminated tap water used by 93,000 people on the Navy's water system.

Nearly 6,000 sought medical attention for nausea, headaches and rashes. Some continue to complain of health problems.

The military put families up in hotels for several months, but stopped paying once the health department cleared people to resume drinking their tap water.

Kristina Baehr, an attorney with Texas-based Just Well Law, sued the federal government last month on behalf of four families but said she will be adding more individuals from among the 700 clients she represents. Burness and McCoy are among her clients.

They didn't warn them to stop drinking it, and 6,000 people went to the emergency room, she said. Then, many of these people have only gotten sicker over time.

Baehr said her clients were not among those chosen to speak to Austin. If they had such an opportunity, she said they would tell him to have officials stop saying no one is medically affected by the spill and that there are no long-term effects.

They would also encourage him to provide appropriate medical care to families, safe housing because families claim the homes were not properly remediated, and compassionate reassignment to other bases to all those who ask.

A lot of people are still stuck in the houses that made them sick, she said. So it's very simple, let people out of the houses that made them sick and fix the houses so that they're safe for the next people.

The spill upset a broad cross-spectrum of Hawaii, from liberals to conservatives and veterans to environmentalists. Many Native Hawaiians have been angered given the central role of water in Indigenous traditions that revere water.

It has also increased deep-seated distrust of the US military among Native Hawaiians that dates to the US military-backed overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893.

Dani Espiritu, who was also at Friday's protest, said the military was taking risks with Native Hawaiian lives, land and culture.

All of our cultural practices are tied to aina, she said, using the Hawaiian word for land.

And so as you poison aina and jeopardise the health and well-being of communities, you are also jeopardising every traditional practice that are tied to those places.

The military plans to drain fuel from the tanks by July 2024 to comply with a Hawaii Department of Health order to shut down the facility.

Honolulu's water utility and the Sierra Club of Hawaii have expressed concerns about the threat Red Hill poses to Oahu's water supply ever since 2014, when fuel leaked from one of the storage tanks.

But the Navy reassured the public that their water was safe and that it was operating the storage facility properly. (AP)

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Shimla, Oct 1: In the run up to the Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh, Chief Electoral Officer Maneesh Garg on Saturday felicitated 103-year old retired government teacher Pyar Singh, who has been declared district icon, by visiting his house in Chamba town.

All voters above the age of 80 years were honoured across the state with a citation signed by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar at functions to mark the International Day of Older Persons.

Singh first voted in year 1952 and since then he has never missed an opportunity to cast his vote. He normally walks to the nearest polling booth at Hatnala Mohalla to cast his vote. He is a retired school teacher from Government Boys School in Chamba. CEC Rajiv Kumar Writes to Over 2.5 Lakh Centenarian Voters, Thanks Them for Contribution in Electoral Process.

"It is a unique initiative of Election Commission of India (ECI) to honour and thank the elderly voters on October 1, which is marked as International Day for Older Persons and the day inspires millions of young voters," said Garg.

He said the contribution of elderly voters in the electoral process is important.

The CEO also released an election mascot bearing a tagline "Mu Bi Gaana Vote Paana" (I will also go to vote) under SVEEP activities for awareness of the people. Uttarakhand: Avalanche Hits Mountains Behind Kedarnath Temple, Committee President Says Pilgrims Need Not Worry.

It is an SVEEP mascot, named 'Bholu' dressed in traditional Gaddi attire, urging voters to go and cast vote and at the same time giving a message for the conservation of brown bear, an endangered species mostly found in the Kugti Wildlife Sanctuary of Chamba.

The hill state, which is likely to go to the polls for 68-member Assembly in November, has 122,093 voters above 80 years of age. A total of 1,190 of them are above 100 years.

The Sullah Assembly constituency in Kangra district has 2,936 elderly, while Fatehpur seat in Kangra has 72 centenarian voters, the highest in the state.
New Delhi, Oct 1: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said on Saturday that he fails to understand as to why the G-23 leaders, who earlier talked about polls in the party, are now backing off and talking about general consensus.

It's going to be Mallikarjun Kharge versus Shashi Tharoor in the Congress Presidential polls scheduled on October 17. And Kharge has got the support of not only the senior leadership of the party, but the G-23 leaders as well.

Talking exclusively to IANS, Tharoor said that polls for the post of Congress President are being held after five years. The last election was held in 2017, which Rahul Gandhi had won unanimously. The last contested election was held in 2000, when Sonia Gandhi defeated Jitendra Prasada by a huge margin.

The Gandhi family has decided that it will not endorse any candidate this time. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi both are of the view that polls will strengthen the party, which is very good, Tharoor said. Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections: With Polls Not Far Away, Congress Minus Virbhadra Singh On A Slippery Slope.

Here are excerpts from the interview:

Q: Are you disappointed for not getting G-23 leaders' support?

A: G-23 is not an organisation. Senior leaders who had sent a letter to Sonia Gandhi had sought support from 100 people, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the letter could not get that many signatures. So the letter was sent to Sonia Gandhi with the signature of 23 leaders.

Three main persons who had signed that letter have quit the party. I was not a representative of G-23 and I do not intend to be one either. But I supported their thinking and one of their thoughts was that polls should be held in the party. Now I am contesting for the party chief's post, and I also feel that elections should be held for the working committee as well.

However, those who had said that polls should be held in the party are now saying that there should be a general consensus and elections should not be held. I fail to understand how their mind changed. But I am contesting the elections. Whatever I had written in the letter, I still stand by that. Congress Presidential Election: Gandhi Family Not Endorsing Any Candidate, Says Madhusudan Mistry.

Q. Are you disappointed that the G23 leaders didn't back you? Or by the way the senior leadership took you into confidence and the then suggested Khadge's name?

A. People are free to make their choice and express their views. I am not disappointed because we are all in one party, we are friends and colleagues. If the G23 leaders felt differently, it is their take.

Q. Any chance of you withdrawing the nomination?

A. How can I withdraw the nomination when 60 members have signed it and given me the chance? How can I betray the faith they have posed on me? I will fight the elections and become their voice, though my signature list does not have big names as Kharge's. I cannot withdraw my nomination as Congress workers are with me.

Q How you are building your support base?

A. In the coming 15 days, I will go to 12 cities and seek support from the party workers. I will reach out to the people, hold public meetings and meet people in person. I will reach out to the people via different mediums and seek their support.

But since I do not have the phone numbers of 90 per cent delegates mentioned in the list provided to me, reaching out to them is not going to be easy.

Q. What is your take on the sequence of events in Rajasthan?

A. Whatever happened in Rajasthan is really sad. But I can't give any reaction as I did not attend any of the meetings. I am not in the know of the things as to what exactly transpired there.

Q. You are seeking vote for 'change' in the Congress. Do you think that if Kharge is elected the President, he will work as a puppet and the party will continue to function in the same manner?

A. Of course not, I am not against anyone. See, we are not fighting a war. We are all colleagues who have always worked together. In the future also, we will work together. If I become the party President, will Khargeji not work for the betterment of the party? If you ask anyone about senior Congress leaders outside the Gandhi family, every list will have Kahrgeji's name.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 01, 2022 09:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Bangladesh: Prime Minister Hasina greets Hindu community on the occasion of Durga Puja, says religion for individuals, festival for all is our motto



Read More: https://t.co/mV6mME91pt pic.twitter.com/txQcCN6hDA DD News (@DDNewslive) October 1, 2022

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Former Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) warned the @AamAadmiParty (#AAP) government in #Punjab to wake up against the activities of the forces which are inimical to the state and the nation. pic.twitter.com/nA6MfpT7HG IANS (@ians_india) October 1, 2022

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The #Odisha government has extended distribution of rice free of cost to the beneficiaries covered under its own State Food Security Scheme (SFSS) for a period of another three months. pic.twitter.com/cnRHp7gjfw IANS (@ians_india) October 1, 2022

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Nicaragua says it will ban the US ambassador from entering its country. The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) October 1, 2022

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 Putin signs decree on routine autumn conscription.



Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Sept. 30 authorizing routine autumn conscription for men aged 18 to 27, calling 120,000 people for military service, according to Russian state-controlled media TASS. The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 30, 2022

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During former President Donald Trump's 2019 visit to Japan, he stopped by the Yokosuka Naval Base to visit the men and women serving in the navy. However, one of the base's flagship vessels was missing during that visit, and it was the USS John McCain.

Now, a new document obtained by Bloomberg has shed light as to why the warship was missing during Donald Trump's visit. Bloomberg made a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for documents relating to the USS John McCain. According to those documents, the Trump White House sent an email to the US Indo-Pacific Command and the Commander of the 7th Fleet. The e-mail demanded that the "USS John McCain needs to be out of sight."

Donald Trump May Have Incriminated Himself About Hiding the USS John McCain

When Trump visited the U.S. naval base in Japan, his administration was accused of a plot to hide the warship. However, both the U.S. President and the U.S. Navy responded to these accusations. The Navy's "Chief of Information" Twitter page denied these allegations, but Trump himself was not a lot more honest about the situation.

He told reporters, "I would never do a thing like that... Now, someone did it, because they thought I didn't like him. OK? And, they were well-meaning, I will say." He then added, "They thought they were doing me a favor because they know I'm not a fan of John McCain."

ABC 4 noted that Trump may have incriminated himself with those words to the reporters about the ship, as the emails have proven that this was a direct order from the White House itself.

READ NEXT: Donald Trump Considered Bombing Mexican Labs to Stop Illegal Drugs from Entering US, New Book Claims

According to a May 2019 report by the Wall Street Journal, to make sure the then-president did not see the name of his war hero-turned-senator nemesis John McCain, crew members of the ship, and anybody who might have the USS John S McCain emblazed on their caps or uniforms, were given leave on that weekend. Those crew members who tried attending the Trump speech were still turned away.

The FOIA request revealed 109 emails from the military, and it revealed that the Navy was reluctant, confused, and astonished by the White House's Order to hide the warship named after the former Arizona Republican Senator and Vietnam War Hero.

John McCain and Donald Trump's Relationship

John McCain had been a vocal critic of Donald Trump, even though both were serving under the same Republican party.

In turn, Trump has made several controversial comments against McCain, saying that he was not a war hero, and even making fun of the fact that he was captured by the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. When the former senator died after a long battle with cancer, Trump even called him a "Fu***** Loser."

During his funeral rights, Trump did not attend, even though all the other former presidents attended, even former election opponent Barack Obama. Even after his death, McCain's family has been sanctioned by Republican Party members loyal to Trump, especially in the Arizona GOP. To this day, the McCain family remains staunchly anti-MAGA, with daughter Meghan McCain often lambasting fellow conservatives on TV for their cult-like devotion to the man who often made fun of her father.

READ NEXT: Donald Trump Chief-of-Staff Mark Meadows in Communication With Trump Supporter Who Tried Stealing Voting Machines in Arizona, Texts Show

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: FOIA Request UNEARTHS DAMAGING White House Emails from 2019 Trump visit to Japan - Meidas Touch
The Texas gubernatorial elections between Republican incumbent Greg Abbott and Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke is shaping up as one of the marquee races in the midterms. However, several victims' families of the deadly Uvalde school shooting have flocked to Edinburg, Texas, where the only gubernatorial debate was held and made their presence felt.

According to the Texas Tribune, 35 family members of the 19 children killed in the Uvalde school shooting held a news conference with gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke hours ahead of the debate on Friday. Together, they lambasted the Republican governor for his inaction on gun control measures.

Uvalde Families Lambast 'No Audience Rule' Debate of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Beto O'Rourke

According to the Associated Press, the debate between Greg Abbott and Beto O'Rourke at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley had no audience, something the Democrat criticized his Republican opponent for. O'Rourke claimed that Abbott prohibited a live audience during the debate, something a spokesperson of Abbott denied.

The Democratic candidate, who previously fell short of unseating Senator Ted Cruz by a narrow margin, noted that since the Uvalde families cannot watch the debate, he will carry a card written by the families with him into the venue.

The families reportedly watched the debate at an O'Rourke watch party before heading back home. Kimberly Rubio, whose daughter Lexi Rubio died at Uvalde shooting, said Abbott's alleged audience ban was "extremely disrespectful."

Gloria Cazares, mom of Uvalde shooting victim Jackie Cazares, noted that they "love to be in the audience." However, a spokesperson of Greg Abbott told ABC News that both campaigns agreed to the rules weeks ago and blamed Beto O'Rourke for being a "fraud surrounded by incompetence."

READ NEXT: Texas School Shooting: Police Chief Could Be Fired After Massive Failure During Uvalde Attack

Uvalde Families Give Emotional Plea to Vote Greg Abbott Out

During the press conference, several Uvalde family members spoke and gave emotional speeches. Many did not hold back about the contempt they had for Greg Abbott, whom they said had done little in changing things for children's safety in Texas.

"I went to war and I made it home... My daughter went to school and was murdered in their classroom. I fought for my country overseas and now I'm fighting for changes," veteran Felix Rubio, father of Lexi, said in the press conference.

Gloria Cazares added: "There's nothing that I can do that is going to bring my daughter back. But I'm fighting for the future mom who will one day be in my shoes, who will blame herself for leaving her daughter at school after the morning award ceremony for 18 weeks."

In turn, O'Rourke praised the parents who all rode a bus from Uvalde to get to the debate area. "There's nothing they can do by being here now to get their kids back," O'Rourke said. "They are doing it for your kids and every other child across the state of Texas right now," he added.

Beto O'Rourke and the families are advocating gun safety reform measures, including raising the legal purchasing age from 18 to 21, implementing red-flag laws, and passing a ban on semi-automatic assault weapons.

READ MORE: Donald Trump Chief-of-Staff Mark Meadows in Communication With Trump Supporter Who Tried Stealing Voting Machines in Arizona, Texts Show

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Beto O'Rourke Shows Supports for Age Limits on Gun Purchases While Meeting With Uvalde Families - From KENS 5
President Joe Biden's administration has altered the eligibility rules of its student loan forgiveness. According to Money, borrowers with some Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) and Perkins loans will no longer be able to qualify for debt forgiveness of up to $20,000.

When the plan was announced, the Department of Education said at the time that borrowers need to have "federally held" student loans to qualify for one-time debt forgiveness.

On the other hand, officials further noted that borrowers with ineligible loans could access the relief after filling out paperwork to convert their loans into eligible ones.

However, the basic eligibility rules of the offer remain the same. Borrowers with incomes of less than $125,000 can qualify for up to $10,000 in debt forgiveness on their federal direct student loans.

The amount of relief then rises to $20,000 for borrowers who meet the income limit and receive Pell Grant, which is an aid aimed at the most in-need applicants while an undergraduate.

READ NEXT: Joe Biden Calls Donald Trump's Handling of Documents 'Totally Irresponsible'

Joe Biden Administration Changes Student Loan Forgiveness Eligibility

Los Angeles Times reported that what changed in student loan forgiveness was the treatment of loans guaranteed by the federal government but held by private lenders. It included some of the loans issued through the FFEL, Federal Perkins Loan, and Health Education Assistance Loan programs.

At first, the Biden administration noted that qualified borrowers with privately held loans could consolidate them into a federal direct loan and obtain debt relief.

But on Thursday, the studentaid.gov website noted that to receive relief, borrowers would have to have applied for a consolidation loan by September 29. Consolidation now, however, is no longer an option.

The website said the Department of Education is reviewing if there are "alternative pathways to provide relief to borrowers with federal loans not held by ED." Some of the FFEL and Perkins loans are held by the ED, which means they remain eligible for debt relief if borrowers meet the income limits.

The change was reported on the same day that six Republican-led states filed a lawsuit to block the blanket debt forgiveness, claiming that the Biden administration did not have the authority to wipe out student loan balances.

Student Loan Forgiveness Lawsuit

According to The Washington Post, states that filed a lawsuit against the debt relief program include Arizona, Nebraska, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, and South Carolina. The lawsuits claimed that the forgiveness plan was "unconstitutional" and posed harm to state revenue.

The complaint also argued that most of the debt relief will be given to those in the top 60% of the income distribution, and "none of the benefits will accrue to those who worked and paid their debt."

On Thursday, White House spokesman Abdullah Hasan said that GOP officials from the said states "are standing with special interest," adding that they are fighting to "stop relief borrowers buried under mountains of debt."

READ MORE: Pres. Joe Biden Labels Supreme Court Leaked Opinion on Abortion Case as "Radical Decision"

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Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: 6 Republican-Led States Sue Over Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness Plan - From CBS News
A Colorado man has been taken into custody after his parents turned him in for allegedly attempting to abduct a 10-year-old girl from outside her school.

According to People, the parents of 28-year-old Diego James Gettler went to the police and reported that they recognized him and his vehicle in the surveillance photos. Authorities learned about the incident when they were called to the STEM Launch School in Thornton at around 7:30 a.m. on September 23.

The girl reportedly told the police that a man approached her while sitting on some nearby school steps and asked her if she attended the school. She noted that she sat there after her mom dropped her off at school that morning.

The girl said the man walked behind her and up the stairs but then turned around and walked back towards her. An arrest affidavit noted that the male grabbed her at that point, wherein the victim described it as him wrapping his hands and arms around her waist from behind.

The girl started fighting off and was able to pull down a mask he wore, prompting the suspect to run.

READ NEXT: Jeffrey Dahmer: Some Shocking Facts You May Not Know About Milwaukee's Terrifying Cannibal Serial Killer

Colorado Man Arrested

Sacramento Bee reported that officers arrested Diego James Gettler on Monday on an attempted kidnapping charge. The Colorado man's parents identified him to police from the photos after Thornton police released numerous security photos of the hooded suspect.

There were also security photos that captured his vehicle near the school. Gettler was seen wearing a black sweatshirt with "three blue and orange Adidas symbols on the back of the hooded sweatshirt."

He also wore black pants and gloves. The vehicle was shown to have damage to its driver's side. His parents confirmed that Gettler drives a gray Saturn Aura, which has damage on the driver's side due to a previous car accident.

The Colorado man's parents also confirmed that their son had to get in by the vehicle's passenger side.

Girl Escaping Attempted Abduction of Colorado Man

The girl started to scream when Diego James Gettler tried to abduct her. The suspect had placed his hand over her mouth. Professor of criminology and criminal justice at the Metropolitan State University of Denver, Dr. Denise Mowder, said abductors do not expect it when their victims start struggling.

Mowder noted that when the girl pulled down his mask, he did not expect that, 9News reported. The victim said there were no other students, staff, or faculty in the area at the time. She added that she ran and banged on the windows until school staff opened the doors for her.

Mowder noted that it is important that kids know how they can fight back against an attacker. The security footage showed that the suspect seemed to be "thrashing backward" at one point in an attempt to control the 10-year-old girl.

Gettler has been booked into the Adams County jail and scheduled for a hearing on October 5. He was charged with second-degree kidnapping.

READ MORE: John Lennon Killer: The Disturbing Story of Mark David Chapman Who Was Denied Parole for 12th Time

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Diego Gettler Charged With Kidnapping in Incident at STEM Launch in Thornton - From CBS Colorado
While some areas in Cuba have their power back on, much of the country still suffers from blackouts in the wake of Hurricane Ian that led to small protests, particularly in the capital of Havana.

According to the Associated Press, around 400 people gathered in at least two spots in the Cero neighborhood on Thursday. They had been banging pots and pans while demanding electricity to return, shouting, "We want light, we want light."

These are the first blackout-related protests on the island since Hurricane Ian made landfall last Tuesday, which devastated Cuba's signature tobacco crops and damaged homes.

This was also the first time Cuba had experienced an island-wide blackout in its history. The protesters were not only demanding to get their power back on but also made their "heightened concerns over ongoing food, fuel and medicine shortages" known.

The government has still not made it clear how many of its citizens still do not have any power as of early Friday. However, electrical authorities reported that only around 10% of Havana's 2 million people had power on Thursday.

Experts then highlighted that Cuba's power grid is vulnerable and warned that it would require time and resources to fix.

READ NEXT: Joe Biden Reveals Tragic Reality of Hurricane Ian Destruction in Florida: There Could be 'Substantial Loss of Life'

Cuba Government Might Have Cut Off Internet to Halt Spread of Information

Internet service was interrupted on Thursday but returned by Friday in a few areas, and then it went out again later in the day. Watchdog groups like London-based Netblocks had stated that the blackout in internet service on Thursday and Friday appeared different from an internet outage when Ian hit.

The group's leader said: "The timings provide another indicator that the shutdowns are a measure to suppress coverage of the protests."

Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik Inc., a network intelligence company, confirmed that Cuba experienced a "total internet blackout" that raises several concerns about whether the Cuban government was trying to suppress information by cutting off the internet.

Cuba Requests U.S. For Aid After Hurricane Ian

As the United States government is dealing with Hurricane Ian, the first country that the hurricane devastated is now asking for help. In a rare request to Washington, the Cuban government requested emergency assistance from the administration of President Joe Biden, according to Reuters.

The Biden administration has now assessed that hospitals, water pumping facilities, sanitation, and other critical infrastructure will be the top priorities if Washington sends aid. However, the State Department has not responded yet to the request, nor did Cuba's embassy in Washington.

The Biden administration has vowed to re-engage with Cuba after decades of tensions. The Cuban government's recent crackdowns on protests have led Washington to impose new sanctions against their Caribbean neighbor.

According to BBC, Ian hit Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane before it headed north to Florida, where it gained strength as a Category 4.

READ MORE: Hurricane Fiona Update: Joe Biden Promises 100% Help for Puerto Rico After Major Disaster

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Destruction In Cuba From Hurricane Ian Leaves Floridians Apprehensive About Coming Days - From MSNBC



WATCH: Destruction In Cuba From Hurricane Ian Leaves Floridians Apprehensive About Coming Days - MSNBC
A national agency has a veto on whether a campaign to improve safety for people attending weddings and funerals just off the busy Portlaoise to Tullamore road bears fruit.

Directional signage for Clonaghadoo, in particular its church, has been raised yet again with Laois County Council officials by Cllr Seamus McDonald of Fianna Fail at meeting in County Hall.

Cllr McDonald tabled a motion calling on the Council to erect signs for Clonaghadoo Church at the N80 and Roskeen.

He tabled the same motion in May 2022 in response to residents. The reply at the time said maintenance crews would upgrade the signage at the junction in the coming weeks.

However, it appears that it wasnt possible to carry out the work because a national agency must give the green light first before anything can be done for the village which is located near Mountmellick.

Mr. Farhan Nasiem, Acting Senior Executive Engineer, replied to Cllr McDonalds latest appeal at the September meeting of the Borris-in-Ossory Mountmellick Municipal District meeting.

Installation and maintenance of signs on national secondary routes is managed by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII). The Road Design Section will meet with Cllr Seamus McDonald to confirm the exact location of the issue and assess proposals and submit to TII for approval, said the reply.

Cllr McDonald called for more urgency.

I want to get this moving as quickly as possible. It is in a rural isolated area. There is confusion at nearly every funeral from people attending who cannot find the church. Its the same with weddings, he said.

Cllr Paddy Bracken, also Fianna Fail, backed the call adding that there must be signs for the church.

A 480,000 road safety scheme designed by Laois County Council on the Laois Offaly N80 near Clonaghadoo in road has been rejected by councillors in 2018.

The redesign would have closed off entry to the road from the N80, with drivers to enter at another junction further out the Tullamore road. It was opposed by residents along the road.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee confirmed that funding is not available to build a new courthouse in Portlaoise.

Laois Offaly TD Deputy Charlie Flanagan asked the Minister for Justice about the status of the new courthouse in Portlaoise in a parliamentary question earlier this month.

The Courts Service has purchased a site in Portlaoise for new building to replace the existing building. It is nearly a decade since it acknowledge that the Main Street building is no longer suitable. Its replacement is also in the Government's national development plan.

In his quesiton, Dep Flanagan asked if she would ensure that the additional funding is delivered in order that the project is completed in a timely manner. The Fine Gael TD asked his successor if she will make a statement on the matter.

In a written response, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee explained the situation with regards to the courthouses and other projects around Ireland funded by her Department.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Government's revised National Development Plan 2021-2030 includes a number of Courts Service projects to be completed during the period of the plan, including: ICT projects to support the Courts Service Modernisation Programme; Provision of further new or refurbished courthouses in cities and county towns where facilities remain substandard. Locations where investment is needed include Galway City, Wicklow Town, Portlaoise, Tralee, Roscommon, Naas, Bray, Navan, Swords, Tallaght and Dun Laoghaire. In some of these locations, the proposed projects will include the provision of facilities for Regional Family Law Centres; Family Law Complex on Hammond Lane to be developed by PPP; A new Childrens Court in Dublin; and Modernisation of the Four Courts complex.

The Courthouse in Portlaoise seems unlikely to get funding until at least 2026 as Minister McEntee informed Dep Flanagan that the priority project for the period up to 2025 is the proposed new Family Law Complex in Hammond Lane.

Specifically in relation to Portlaoise, as the Deputy will be aware, the current courthouse is located in the town centre. The site at Kylekiproe will be used to build a new courthouse once funding becomes available, she said.

The campaign to relocate the courthouse is driven by a number of factors including the public order problems it has created in the town centre.
At least 20 people have died after Russian forces shelled a civilian evacuation convoy in the north-east of Ukraine, a senior official said.

Bombardments have intensified as Moscow illegally annexed a swath of Ukrainian territory in a sharp escalation of the war.

Kharkiv region governor Oleh Syniehubov said the convoy was struck in the Kupiansy district on Saturday, calling the attack on people who were trying to flee the area to avoid being shelled ruelty that cant be justified.

Russian forces have not acknowledged or commented on the attack, apparently the second in two days to hit a humanitarian convoy.

Russian troops have retreated from much of the Kharkiv region after a successful Ukrainian counter-offensive last month but continued to shell the area.

The attack comes at a pivotal moment in Russian President Vladimir Putins war.

Facing a Ukrainian counter-offensive, Mr Putin this week heightened threats of nuclear force and used his most aggressive, anti-Western rhetoric to date.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his military vowed to keep fighting to liberate the annexed regions and other Russian-occupied areas.

Ukrainian officials said on Saturday their forces had surrounded thousands of Russian soldiers holding the strategic eastern city of Lyman, which is located in one of the four incorporated areas.

Mr Zelensky formally applied on Friday for Ukraine to join Nato, increasing pressure on Western allies to help defend the country.

Also on Saturday, Ukraines nuclear power provider said Russian forces blindfolded and detained the head of Europes largest nuclear plant.

Soldiers seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Ihor Murashov, at about 4pm on Friday, Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom said.

The incident was just hours after Mr Putin signed treaties to absorb Moscow-controlled Ukrainian territory into Russia, including the area around the nuclear plant.

Amid growing international sanctions and condemnation of Russia, a Ukrainian counter-offensive that has embarrassed the Kremlin appeared on the verge of retaking more ground.

A Ukrainian official said on Saturday that the Russian-occupied city of Lyman was surrounded, with some 5,000 Russian forces trapped there.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Ukraine likely will retake Lyman in the coming days.

Citing Russian reports, the institute said it appeared Russian forces were retreating from Lyman, some 100 miles south-east of Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city.

That corresponds to online videos purportedly showing some Russian forces falling back as a Ukrainian soldier said they had reached Lymans outskirts.

It said Ukraine also was making incremental gains around Kupiansk and the eastern bank of the Oskil River, which became a key front line since the Ukrainian counteroffensive regained control of the Kharkiv region in September.

The Russian army struck the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv twice overnight, once with drones and the second time with missiles, according to regional governor Vitaliy Kim.
The finalists for this years County Kildare Chamber Business Awards, powered by Eirgrid, have been announced, with over 170 businesses battling it out in 13 categories, ranging Employee of the Year, Excellence in Communication, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion, to new categories like Net Zero Achievement and Excellence in the Community.

Now in their eight year, the prestigious event which is organised by County Kildare Chamber with Eirgrid as Principal Sponsor, is widely seen as the benchmark for business success in the County.

CEO Allan Shine said: We have received a record number of entries this year and I know it has been a real challenge for our judges to whittle down so many quality applications to the shortlist. We have incredible businesses across the county and these awards are here to celebrate them all.

Our shortlist is made up of businesses of all sizes, from all sectors and from all parts of Kildare, reflecting the diversity of our countys economy. The finalists are an amazing showcase of the strength of Kildares business community.

The 2022 County Kildare Chamber Business Awards will be a great opportunity to celebrate the outstanding successes and resilience of Kildare business. We are now looking forward to the next stage of the judging process with the overall winners to be announced at the Gala Awards evening. This year the event will be held on the 24th November in the Killashee Hotel when we will gather together to recognise and reward the best in Kildare business.

The County Kildare Chamber Business Awards 2022

Excellence in Communications sponsored by Eirgrid

Big Picture Communications

Intel

Punchestown

Queally Group

Net Zero Achievement sponsored by Maynooth University

Gannon Office Solutions

Intel

Schneider Electric

T&I Fitouts

International Trade sponsored by Grant Thornton

Equine MediRecord

K Club

VEI Global

Excellence in the Community sponsored by Hanahoe & Hanahoe Solicitors

Glenveagh Homes

K Club

Manguard Plus

Maynooth University

Sustainable Development sponsored by AIB

Barretstown

Clanard Court Hotel

Gannon Office Solutions

Green Generation

Health & Wellbeing sponsored by Permanent tsb

Killashee Hotel

Queally Group

T&I Fitouts

Zinon IT Solutions

Innovation in Business sponsored by KPMG

Dooley Cummins Architects & Engineers

Graphedia

PsycReality

Terra Nutritech

Employee of the Year sponsored by Ladytown Business Park

Barretstown  John Mitchell

Killashee Hotel  Lisa Kelly

Manguard Plus  Garry Bergin

Zinon IT Solutions  Caroline Nolan

Best Emerging Business sponsored by LEO Kildare

Babogue

FACE Credit Consultancy Ltd.

Loading & Lifting Solutions Ltd.

RGN Electrical and Communications Ltd.

Best Performing SME of the Year sponsored by OKelly Sutton Chartered Accountants

Barretstown

Clark

Terra Nutritech

T&I Fitouts

Best Performing Large Business of the Year sponsored by Gannon Office Solutions

ALDI

Crystal Air

Irish Dog Foods

Manguard Plus

Excellence in Customer Service sponsored by BP Communications

CarveOn

Elevate Marketing

Graphedia

Kilkea Castle

Diversity, Equality & Inclusion sponsored by Colourtrend

Dooley Cummins Architects & Engineers

Irish Dog Foods

Osborne
Us humans. One of our most enduring and redemptive qualities is that we always, somehow, manage to rescue hope out of the ashes of tragedy.

The possibility that the endless stream of misfortunes we experience are mostly self inflicted, rarely seems to inform our decision making process, however. We seem to have a great flair for tragic irony.

This sense of tragedy was clear in The War Back Home (recently aired on RTE1). A war being waged in Europe by a bellicose superpower was supposed to be a monstrosity confined to the twentieth century. But somehow, this familiar leitmotif has managed to raise its ugly head again.

Despite the huge land mass separating us, a little closer inspection shows that Ireland and Ukraine actually have a lot in common.

In the 1930s, Ukraine endured a devastating man-made famine (the Holodomor). In a country of plentiful agricultural output, millions died on the whim of a dictator (Stalin) who used famine as a weapon of war.

This is a people, like our own, who have long had to become adept at surviving the aggressions of more powerful neighbours.

When you consider our similarities, its little wonder that Ukraines recent troubles have mobilised a veritable army of volunteers in Ireland

Two of this group who are featured in the documentary are Aidan and Grace. Both were moved by the scenes they witnessed of the atrocities in Ukraine, and decided to take matters into their own hands. Their mission is to re-locate as many Ukrainian families as they can to the safety of Ireland.

It is obvious that both are deeply committed to the well being of the people they help to evacuate. They form a bond with their Ukrainian families and for them, their duty of care doesnt end when the displaced persons arrive in Ireland

Once the dust has settled, Grace catches up with some of the host families and their Ukrainian guests, to see how things are going.

One such host is Sinead, who has taken in Inna Hyrych and her family. Sinead is refreshingly honest.

She admits that it can be quite challenging at times, but doesnt regret doing her bit to help.

With images of mass graves in Izium and pictures of slain evacuees outside a train station in Kramatorsk, The War Back Home rightly doesnt shy away from showing the graphic consequences of this war.

Another person attempting to get loved ones safely away from this slaughter is Luba Healy, a Ukrainian born Irish citizen. Luba attempts to rescue her mother and 98 year old grandmother from Ukraine. They are initially reluctant to travel to Ireland.

Nestled around a small screen, Luba and her kids try to convince their relatives to join them in Ireland. Its like the anxieties of Covid-era Zooming, amped up a thousand-fold.

Lubas grandmother is a direct link back to the famine of the 1930s. She is no doubt made of stern stuff, but when even she admits to being terrified of staying in Ukraine, Luba finally manages to convince her to make the journey over to Ireland.

What beautiful scenes, then, when Luba hugs her frail grandmother, and then later cradles her across the threshold of her new Irish home. After almost a century on this earth, having had to suffer the indignity of crossing a continent bundled up in a minibus, she is finally safe.

The programme closes with Alynda Segarra singing her incredible song Palante (Move Forward) in the background: To all who had to survive, I say, Palante! To my brothers, and my sisters, I say, Palante!

Like I said, hope.
A five-year-old boy has died in Co Derry after he was struck by a van while on his bike.

Police confirmed Ollie Simmons-Watt died after the single-vehicle collision in Limavady on Thursday.

Sergeant Amanda McIvor said: It was reported shortly after 3.40pm that a van had struck a child in the Irwin Avenue area.

We believe at this time that Ollie was on his bike in the area at the time of the collision.

Officers attended alongside colleagues from the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and Air Ambulance NI, and the boy was taken to hospital for treatment, but unfortunately died from his injuries.

The road, which was closed for a time following the collision, has since reopened.

Our inquiries are continuing and we are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed the incident, or captured any dashcam or other footage, to get in touch via 101 and quote reference number 1235 of September 29.

Meanwhile, police are also appealing for information following a fatal two-vehicle crash in the Curr Road area of Beragh, Co Tyrone, on Wednesday.

A PSNI spokesperson said: It was reported shortly after 11.25am that a lorry and a grey Renault Modus had been involved in a collision in the area.

Officers attended alongside colleagues from the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.

One man aged in his 80s, who was driving the Renault, was taken to hospital following the incident. Sadly, he has since passed away.

Anyone who witnessed the crash, or has footage of it, is asked to contact police on 101, quoting reference 582 of September 28.
A Ballinaglera man, who was on his fourth conviction for driving with no insurance, has been given a three month jail sentence, suspended for a year, at Carrick-on-Shannon District Court.



Callum Taylor 29 of Jacobswell, Ballinaglera, Co Leitrim pleaded guilty to a charge of driving with no insurance, drink driving, no driving licence, failing to produce same and failing to produce insurance at Acres, Drumshanbo on July 11 2020.

His solicitor Martin Burke said his client had a Probation Report in court.



The court heard the defendant had a total of 12 previous convictions, including three for no insurance.

Mr Burke said his client was a 29-year-old father-of-three and he had completed the Pro Social driving course.

Judge Sandra Murphy said he had not got the best score in the world.



Mr Burke said his client had finished the course. He added that the report said the defendant had engaged fairly well and he was assessed as being at a medium risk of re-offending.



Mr Burke said his client had been driving while banned.

He added that he thought the defendant was finally getting the message that he can't drive, and his wife would be doing the driving from now on. The defendant had not come to garda notice since 2020.



Mr Burke asked the court to leave the defendant with his young family to help with their care.

The solicitor asked for a suspended sentence to be left hanging over the defendant's head and it could be activated or that he pay his debt to society through a community service order (CSO).



Judge Murphy said the blood alcohol level from a previous sitting was in the two-year jail sentence category.

The judge said she was taking into account that the defendant had a lot of responsibilities, but this was his fourth conviction for no insurance and there was alcohol in his blood also.



The judge added that she had considered a CSO but felt it was not suitable in this case and he was considered a medium risk of re-offending.



Judge Murphy fined the defendant 250 and banned him from driving for two years on the charge of drink driving.

A charge of having no licence and failing to produce documents were taken into consideration.



The judge jailed the defendant for three months suspended for a year on the no insurance charge and banned him from driving for six years.

This is a deterrent for him not to get into his car, said the judge.
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Trick or Treat for Sick Children, proudly supported by MiWadi, calls on the public across Co. Leitrim to have some mighty monster fun while raising vital funds for sick children in Childrens Health Ireland at Crumlin, Temple Street, Tallaght and Connolly this Halloween.



Families, communities, schools, creches, companies and more in Co. Leitrim are called on to get spooky and raise vital funds for sick children by hosting their own Trick or Treat party, register at www.childrenshealth.ie/trickortreat

MiWadi is celebrating ten years proudly supporting Trick or Treat for Sick Children raising funds for sick children, now supporting all Childrens Health Ireland hospitals and urgent care centres

Funds raised will go to support sick children in Childrens Health Ireland hospitals and urgent care centres in Crumlin, Temple Street, Tallaght and Connolly.

Members of the public are encouraged to register for Trick or Treat party pack via www.childrenshealth.ie/ trickortreat

MiWadi and Childrens Health Foundation launch limited series of Halloween podcasts for kids in the run up the Halloween



Childrens Health Foundation is calling on individuals, families, community groups, schools, creches and more across Co. Leitrim to get spooky this Halloween by dressing up, hosting your own Trick or Treat party, and raising funds to support sick children and their families in Childrens Health Ireland hospitals and urgent care centres. Getting involved couldnt be easier, simply visit www.childrenshealth.ie/trickortreat to sign up for your free party pack. Your monster bash can be as big or as small as you like, and the funds you raise will be put to work where they are needed most in Childrens Health Ireland at Crumlin, Temple Street, Tallaght, and Connolly to support sick children from all over Ireland.

To register for a Trick or Treat for Sick Children Party Pack, register www.childrenshealth.ie/trickortreat or call 01 709 1700 which includes posters, stickers and much more.
FeatureAfter a significant decrease in the 2000s, food insecurity now impacts 33 million Brazilians, 15% of the population, particularly women and Black or rural communities in the Nordeste and Amazonia.

The date was July 22. Desperate, Valquiria dos Santos reached for her smartphone and sent a cry for help. "I am speaking as a mother, as a woman, to ask for help!" she implored in a broken voice, in an audio message shared on WhatsApp. "I don't have a job. Everything is so expensive. There's nothing left to eat in my house. Can you help me? Anything will do!" To these heartbreaking words, Ms. dos Santos attached a photo of her kitchen cupboard: empty, except for three half-used bags of flour.

The story of this 30-year-old woman, who lives in the Parque Vila Nova favela in the city of Duque de Caxias (in the northern suburbs of Rio de Janeiro), has moved beyond her community. In a few hours, thanks to the support of a local association, Ms. Dos Santos managed to collect nearly 250 reais (48) and get her head above water. "I was hungry when I was a child. I know how much it hurts. I don't want my children to experience that," she said.

Read more Brazil is facing the return of hunger

Life came down hard on this brave mother, born in the Nordeste. Asthmatic and a street vendor of chocolate bars, she makes only a few euros every day to feed her family: five children and an emaciated husband, unemployed and suffering from AIDS. Recent times have been particularly tough, humiliating, even: skipped meals, begging in supermarkets and turning over trash cans in search of leftover meat. "It's so rare to have any that you end up eating that," Ms. Dos Santos sadly admitted.

Valquiria dos Santos and Romulo Machado da Silva in the living room of their house, located in Parque Vila Nova in Caxias (Brazil). September 26, 2022. FRANCISCO PRONER / VU FOR "LE MONDE"

From her brick house, surrounded by a smelly swamp and a garbage dump, where homeless people and crack users burn copper, Ms. dos Santos has a bird's eye view of Brazilian despair. "I'm far from being the only one in this situation," she said. After a dramatic drop in the 2000s, hunger is indeed back in Brazil, a sad legacy of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who is up for re-election on October 2.

'Here, hunger is everywhere, and the state nowhere'

A study published in June by the Penssan network, which specializes in food security, revealed the extent of the crisis: Hunger now affects 33 million Brazilians  15% of the population  almost twice as many as in 2020. The tragedy is hitting the whole country but particularly impacts women and Black or rural communities in the Nordeste and Amazonian regions.

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Janaina Ferreira, who suffered a gunshot wound to the head, in front of her house in the Parque Analandia favela in Caxias, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro. September 26, 2022. FRANCISCO PRONER / VU FOR "LE MONDE"

The situation is far from new. "Hunger is part of Brazil's history," said Patricia Andrade de Oliveira e Silva, an economist at the University of Campinas (Unicamp). Everyone remembers the cycles of droughts and deadly famines in the Nordeste. (The 1979-1983 famine claimed up to 1 million victims). "The Brazilian state, heir to slavery and colonization, has never established the basic educational, agrarian and social structures that could have remedied this tragedy. A part of the population was deliberately kept in extreme poverty," said the researcher.

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Workers cleaning up world cultural heritage monuments after damage caused by heavy monsoon rains in Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan, September 9, 2022. PPI/ZUMA PRESS/MAXPPP

Under scorching heat, helmet-wearing workers busy themselves in the archaeological ruins of the prestigious city of Mohenjo-daro. These Bronze Age remains in Pakistan's southern province of Sindh hold the secrets of the Indus civilization, which reached its peak between 2,500 and 1,500 B.C. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980, the site is considered to be the best-preserved urban settlement in South Asia. But the recent floods that devastated Pakistan did not spare Mohenjo-daro, the name of which means "city of the dead" in Sindhi. In August, torrential rains fell in Sindh, which recorded seven times more rainfall than usual. The country has not had such a rainy month of August since 1961.

"Mohenjo-daro recently suffered unprecedented rainfall and because the site is on several levels, water was able to seep into the structure in many places," said Kaleemullah Lashari, a renowned archaeologist who visited the ancient city in early September. "When the ruins, which are made of brick and earth and have no roof, are exposed to torrents of water for days, that endangers them because the walls become vulnerable," he continued. Although the emblematic stupa towering above the city's ruins was not affected, several walls that are more than five thousand years old were damaged. "As soon as the urban site begins to lose parts of its structure, it loses clues to the past. We risk therefore seeing some elements disappear that were witnesses of the Indus civilization," warned Mr. Lashari.

Read more Subscribers only Adapting to global warming is vital for Pakistan's future

The site of Mohenjo-daro was discovered late and so this ancient civilisation has yet to reveal all of its secrets. Since 1922, excavations have barely uncovered a third of the 240 hectares over which the prestigious metropolis once extended. The structure of Harappan cities, such as Mohenjo-daro, points to an egalitarian society more concerned with questions of cleanliness than with social hierarchy. While in Mesopotamia, city streets led to the palace, in the Harappan civilization, they were set up to enable access to the whole city. "Mohenjo-daro is the emblematic site of the Indus civilization, a particular moment in the history of humanity where we saw the emergence of urban centers and where society evolved to acquire a more pronounced civic sense, with notions of togetherness," said Mr. Lashari.

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A consequence of global warming

Back then, according to Mr. Lashari, who works alongside the government on the site's conservation, urban centers provided populations with all the necessary commodities and each district was supplied with drinking water. Mohenjo-daro has revealed traces of its inhabitants' customs, art and even administration. The city, which was the fruit of urban planning, had public baths but also a complex network of sewers, wells, septic tanks and a massive grain reserve, according to UNESCO. The city "enjoyed first-rate civil, economic, social and cultural organization," said the UN agency. Several theories have been put forward to explain the civilization's decline, some of them centered around climate change.

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In this photo released by Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky leads a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council in Kyiv on September 30, 2022. AP

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday, September 30, that Kyiv is requesting fast-track NATO membership after Russia formally annexed four Moscow-held regions of Ukraine.

"We have already proven our compatibility with (NATO) alliance standards," President Zelensky said in a video posted by the Ukrainian presidency on social media. "We are taking a decisive step by signing Ukraine's application for accelerated accession to NATO," he added.

He also said that Kyiv would not negotiate with Russia  which sent troops into Ukraine on February 24  as long as President Vladimir Putin was in power.

"Ukraine will not hold any negotiations with Russia as long as Putin is the president of the Russian Federation. We will negotiate with the new president," Mr. Zelensky said.

His remarks come after President Putin signed treaties to annex four Moscow-occupied Ukrainian regions  Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia  at a grand ceremony in the Kremlin.

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The pro-Kremlin leaders of the annexed territories claimed the regions voted in favor of becoming part of Russia in referendums that Western capitals and international organizations did not recognize.

Read more Zelensky calls referendums a 'farce' as Russia claims victory in Ukrainian annexation votes

Le Monde with AFP
Supporters of Brazilian presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, attend a rally in Rio de Janeiro, September 25, 2022. CARL DE SOUZA / AFP

Some 156 million Brazilians are due to vote in the first round of the presidential election on Sunday, October 2, to choose their next president from a pool of 11 candidates. A second round is scheduled for Sunday, October 30, if no candidate manages to surpass the 50% threshold of valid votes (excluding blanks and voids) in the first round. The president-elect will take over the South American country for a four-year term starting on January 1, 2023.

In the polls, former leftist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is the favorite for the first round on Sunday against far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and other contenders, but disinformation via social networks and attacks on the electoral system raise the risk of a disruptive democratic game.

As well as the presidential election, Brazilian voters will be voting in four other elections on October 2. Here is an overview of what is at stake in the Brazilian elections.

Lula favored over incumbent Bolsonaro

Although there are 11 candidates in the running for the highest office, media attention is focused on the two who together account for 86% of voting intentions, according to the latest estimate by the Datafolha institute, published on Thursday, September 29. The various polling institutes place the left-wing ex-president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, well ahead in both the first and second rounds. The politician who held power from 2003 to 2011, and is now contesting his sixth presidential election at the head of a very broad coalition, accounts for 50% of voting intentions and could possibly win in the first round, against the incumbent president, Jair Bolsonaro, credited with 36%.

Mr. da Silva, who spent 580 days in prison for corruption in 2018 and 2019, has made a strong comeback after his convictions were overturned in 2021. He is seeking a third term as president. The 76-year-old has campaigned on a platform of "rebuilding" a deeply divided country, promising to eradicate hunger as well as fight for environmental protection. The leader and founder of the Workers' Party (PT), whose public policies lifted nearly 40 million Brazilians out of poverty, ended his presidency in 2010 with record popularity.

The former metal worker hopes to benefit from the "tactical vote" and has received the support of several personalities in the home stretch of the campaign. Former center-right president Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995-2002) implicitly called on Brazilians not to vote for Mr. Bolsonaro but for Mr. da Silva, asking them to choose "democracy," and his former environment minister Marina Silva has come out in support of him after several years of disagreement.

Up against him, the extreme right-wing president, elected in October 2018, remains a fine tactician and is very powerful on social networks  nearly 50 million subscribers in total on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Telegram, compared to 15 million for Mr. da Silva. The former MP, now affiliated with the Liberal Party (PL), is backed by a base of supporters who adhere to his ultra-conservative values around God, the country and family. Also, only three months before the elections, Mr. Bolsonaro adopted a massive aid plan worth 8 billion for the poorest, as 33 million Brazilians suffer from hunger.

During his first term, the 67-year-old survived protests, threats of impeachment, a Covid-19 inquiry commission and several corruption scandals, but Mr. Bolsonaro has lost popularity and is now less supported by economic elites. A series of diplomatic incidents, the unprecedented economic crash, record fires and deforestation in the Amazon, denial of the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic and his opposition to the vaccine have all weakened him.

Among the other candidates, two of them hope to provide a third option and upset the result. Ciro Gomes (Democratic Labor Party), scores 6% of voting intentions by trying to convince center-left voters but he could pay the price of the "tactical vote" advocated by Lula. As for Senator Simone Tebet, of the Brazilian Democratic Movement, this 52-year-old lawyer has done well in the various televised debates but has not really broadened her base and barely exceeds 5% of voting intentions.

Read more Subscribers only Brazil election: 'Third way' candidates gain little ground against Lula and Bolsonaro

Major disinformation campaigns

As in the country's previous election, the presidential election has been marked by major online disinformation campaigns, mainly in favor of Mr. Bolsonaro. During his tenure, President Bolsonaro's name was added to the list of suspects in the dissemination of false information in August 2021, by the judge of the Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF, "Supreme Federal Tribunal"), Alexandre de Moraes, who had ordered an investigation to be opened.

On a wider scale, Brazil is among the countries identified as "at risk" for disinformation campaigns by Facebook and theoretically benefits from additional specific means to detect and counter destabilization operations. Yet the NGO Global Witness announced in August 2022, that it had successfully published several political ad campaigns online containing false information, including such details as the wrong election date and misleading messages about absentee voting.

The account that bought these ads was located outside of Brazil, the ads were paid for in foreign currency and the account had not confirmed its identity, which is normally required in order to publish political ads on Facebook. These are all warning signs that should, in theory, have alerted the platform's moderation services.

Read more Subscribers only Brazil election: A disinformation machine in full swing

Electronic voting machines are prepared for use in the first round of Brazil's presidential elections at the Electoral Court headquarters in Brasilia, Brazil, August 22, 2022. UESLEI MARCELINO / REUTERS

Attacks on the electoral system

Another concern is that Bolsonaro's attacks on the reliability of electronic voting  which was gradually implemented in Brazil in the 1990s  have raised fears that he will refuse to recognize the result of the presidential election if he loses. In August 2021, the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) decided to investigate the president after his rants against the electoral system.

Furthermore, some of his supporters, many of whom nickname him "Mito" (the "Myth") already say they are ready to cry fraud if the former officer loses, as happened in the United States for his great ally Donald Trump, raising fears of violence. On September 27, the White House spokeswoman said that the United States would "closely monitor" the Brazilian election, hoping that it would be conducted in a free, fair, transparent and credible manner.

While it is impossible to know what form a possible challenge to the results might take, the decrees Mr. Bolsonaro has signed in recent months, including on the free movement of firearms, and the fact that soldiers are conducting a parallel count on 400 polling stations, are helping to exacerbate tensions. This toxic climate could last for several weeks if Mr. da Silva fails to be elected in the first round.

Read more Subscribers only Brazil: Widespread hunger will be one of Jair Bolsonaro's legacies

Other important elections

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In addition to the presidential election, Brazilians must vote on Sunday  voting is compulsory for everyone over the age of 18 and optional from age 16  to choose all the regional MPs who sit in the assemblies of each state, and will also select the governors of the 27 Brazilian states. They will have to renew one-third of the 81 senators and 513 federal MPs.

Gaspard Estrada, a political scientist at Science Po, recommends paying close attention to the results of these elections, especially those of the house of representatives and the federal senate. "The fact that this is not a single-member constituency election but a one-round election with an open-list proportional system reinforces the fragmentation of votes," he said. For Mr. Estrada, "these elections are crucial for the future president, who will have to build a coalition out of an extremely divided parliament."

Brice Laemle
InterviewIn cities, children are rarely seen alone on the streets anymore. 97% of elementary students are accompanied on their way to school. Four specialists unravel this gradual disappearance.

Do you remember the age when you went out on the street alone for the first time? If you're a parent, the chances are that this big moment of independence came much earlier than for your own children. Unaccompanied children have all but disappeared from cities around the world. A single statistic  from a Harris Interactive survey for Unicef, conducted in 2020  is sufficient to give us the measure of this phenomenon. In France, in urban areas with more than 100,000 inhabitants, 97% of elementary school students are accompanied on their way to school, as are 77% of middle school students. In a text titled "The Risks of the Road", available online, the Ministry of the Interior even advises parents to avoid any unsupervised outings by children. It's a kind of institutionalization of collective fears: "Make sure they are never alone. Have them accompanied by someone you trust."

How and why have our children disappeared from the city streets? Le Monde posed this question to four experts from diverse backgrounds.

Thierry Paquot is a philosopher. He has written several books dealing with the place of children in the world and in the city, including his most recent, Pays de l'enfance ("The Land of Childhood").

Clement Riviere is a lecturer in sociology at the University of Lille and author of Leurs enfants dans la ville. Enquete aupres de parents a Paris et a Milan ("Their Children within the City. A survey of parents in Paris and Milan").

Anne-Marie Rodenas founded the Cafezoide - Cafe des enfants (Children's Cafe) in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, a place that celebrated its 20th anniversary on September 18. It's a community venue where all children from 0 to 16 years old are free to come and play, chat or work as they like.

Serge Tisseron is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, and a member of the Academy of Technologies. He has just published Le Deni ou la fabrique de l'aveuglement ("Denial, or the Manufacture of Self-deception").

Have city kids become indoor kids?

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Thierry Paquot Yes. They've become children of an interior that is not necessarily the confines of an apartment but one of the extracurricular activities: music tuition, sports, visual arts... That is to say, they only go out in order to be cooped up again. Children are being locked down. This wording has been a bit overused in the past two years, but that's really what it's all about.

This is a development relevant to society as a whole. Making the best use of time has become imperative. Both adults and children have lost the habit of "no man's time": the time for doing nothing  for boredom, waiting, or napping. These times away from time itself are highly valuable, but they're stigmatized in a society focused on efficiency.

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The image shook many: On April 6, American climate scientist Peter Kalmus, chained to the door of a J.P. Morgan bank (the leading investor in fossil fuels), burst into tears during a speech in which he was explaining his motives. Faced with the feeling that scientific warnings were being ignored, he decided to engage in civil disobedience. Within days, more than 1200 scientists in 26 countries had participated in such exploits.

In recent years, more and more scientists have been taking part in civil disobedience, in France and elsewhere  so much so that it has become the subject of a growing number of academic works examining its legitimacy, its ethical foundations and its effectiveness.

In 2019, an article in the journal Lancet discussed the ethical criteria according to which acts of civil disobedience by scientists could be legitimate. Based on John Rawls' (1921-2002) theory of justice, its authors considered the tactic to be justified as long as it denounced an unjust situation, was turned to as a last resort, effectively accomplished its goals and represented the least harmful form of action, given the threat at hand.

Based on John Rawls's (1921-2002) theory of justice, its authors consider this tactic to be justified as long as it denounces an unjust situation, if it is used as a last resort, if it is effective, and if it represents the least harmful form of action given the threat.

More frequent victories in the struggles

The question of the injustice of climate disruption is easy to decide; we know that it is those least responsible for the problem who will suffer the worst consequences. The notion of last resort is also little debated, as the classic forms of engagement seem exhausted: scientific reports piling up, one climate march after another without political response, advocacy with decision-makers carrying little weight in the face of the colossal resources of the lobbies.

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The third criterion mentioned in the article puts into question the effectiveness of civil disobedience. On this point, the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlighted that forms of engagement involving direct confrontation (boycotts, protests, civil disobedience) are becoming increasingly common and are helping to shape climate policy.

Recent work has reported that struggles against fossil-fuel projects were more frequently victorious when they relied on civil disobedience (Ecological Economics 195, 2022). In this type of action, scientists have a specific role to play, as a team of researchers recently argued in the journal Nature Climate Change (2022).

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Nasas Juno spacecraft has made the closest approach to Jupiters icy moon Europa in more than 20 years.

Juno on Thursday zipped within 222 miles of Europa, thought to have an ocean flowing beneath its thick frozen crust, raising the possibility of underwater life.

Scientists hope to get lucky and observe possible water plumes shooting from the surface of Europa, close in size to Earths moon.

We have to be at the right place at just the right time, but if we are so fortunate, its a home run for sure, Junos chief scientist, Scott Bolton of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, said in a statement.

John Bordi, deputy mission manager at Nasas Jet Propulsion Laboratory, expected the spacecraft to go screaming by pretty fast, with a relative velocity of almost 15 miles per second (23.6 kilometres per second).

The latest observations will help Nasa plan for its Europa Clipper mission, due to launch in 2024.

The European Space Agency also plans close encounters with its Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or Juice, lifting off next year.

Nasas former Galileo spacecraft still holds the Europa flyby record, passing within 218 miles (351 kilometres) in 2000.
TWO STUDENTS have received a scholarship fund by the Irish Chamber Orchestra based in Limerick.

The scholarship will help the students study the Masters in Classical String Performance at the University of Limerick (UL).

The scholarship will be awarded on merit and will assist with student college fees for one year.

This years scholarship fund has been awarded Jeannette Bogado from Paraguay, and Anna Maria Miklos from Hungary.

CEO of the ICO Gerard Keenan commented: This course is the last step to becoming a professional musician and we support our students in making this transition.

The ICO has committed to providing 8,000 per annum for the next five years.

This new ICO fund is in addition to the existing Lyric FM scholarship also valued at 8,000 which was established in 1999.

The ICOs mission is to change young people's lives through music by providing free access to music education and using music as a social leveller to guarantee equity of opportunity for all.

The ICO believes that diversity enriches and enhances the classical music artform and contributes to its vibrancy and uniqueness.

It also offers opportunities for the next generation of musicians to learn and engage with ICO through its MA in Classical Strings Programme, a two-year programme at the University of Limerick, which aims to finesse advanced solo, chamber music and orchestral skills, as well as audition preparation and the development of all-round musicianship.

Since 2015, this programme, led by ICO musicians who rehearse, teach, and perform with the students, provides wonderful opportunities to work with ICO.
LIMERICK senior hurling manager John Kiely, who works a secondary school principal, was among the panelists who contributed to a discussion on the future of education in Ireland at the Fianna Fail Ard Fheis which opened on Friday night.

The discussion which also included contributions from An Taoiseach Micheal Martin and Limerick Minister of State Niall Collins was one of the first items on the agenda for what is the party's 80th party conference.

Healthcare, agriculture and Budget 2023 will also be discussed at the Ard Fheis which is taking place at the RDS in Dublin this weekend.

Elected representatives from Limerick and dozens of delegates from across the city and county are among those attending the event which is the first fully in-person gathering of party members since Covid-19 hit two and half years ago.

An Taoiseach Micheal Martin will deliver his key-note address to the Ard Fheis this Saturday night. It will be televised on RTE One television from 6.30pm.
GARDAI in Limerick have charged a man following the seizure of cannabis herb worth approximately 30,000 this Saturday.

The man, aged in his 30s, was detained at Henry Street garda station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984.

He is due to appear before Limerick District Court on Monday morning.

Gardai in Limerick seized approximately 71,000 worth of suspected drugs and arrested two men following a search operation this Saturday.

"This morning, gardai attached to Henry Street conducted a search operation at a number of residences in Limerick. Assistance was provided by the Regional Armed Support Unit, the Divisional Drugs Unit and the Community Engagement Unit," said a garda spokesperson.

During the search of one such residence, cannabis herb with an estimated street value of 30,000 was seized as well as 1,250 in cash.

Gardai also seized cannabis herb valued at approximately 40,000 and cocaine valued at approximately 1,000 during the search of a separate residence. A second man, also aged in his 30s, was arrested at the scene and taken to Henry Street garda station where he is currently detained under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996.

All drugs will be sent for analysis. Investigations are ongoing.
The Government is not planning for a mini-budget in the new year, the Taoiseach has said.

Micheal Martin said the 11 billion euro budget unveiled earlier this week was designed to get the country through the winter period.

Speaking at his partys conference in Dublin, the Fianna Fail leader said the situation would be kept under review and conceded an escalation in the war in Ukraine may change the picture.

We dont see a mini-budget in January, Mr Martin told reporters at the RDS.

Well keep everything under review in terms of the wider international situation, the war in Europe, if it deteriorates, if other things happen.

The Governments 11 billion euro budget package comprised 6.9 billion euro in budgetary measures for next year, as well as a 4.1 billion euro package of one-off measures to help tackle the rising cost of living for individuals, families and businesses.

It was one of the countrys most extensive budgets in years.

The Government has not ruled out the need for further measures, and said those could be funded from the surplus or from a windfall tax.

Mr Martin also reiterated his defence of his partys Housing Minister Darragh OBrien.

Irelands homeless figures hit a new record high on Friday, with the number of homeless people in the state rising to 10,805.

Mr Martin again made clear that Mr OBrien would remain in post following the scheduled Cabinet reshuffle due in December.

Praising his work as minister, he said it would be totally unfair if he was replaced in the job.
A NEW report has revealed nearly 400 people accessed emergency accommodation across the Mid-West during a single week in August.

That is according to a report released, on Friday evening, by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

Between August 22 and August 28, 391 homeless adults accessed local authority managed emergency accommodation in Limerick and Clare.

According to the report, 327 sought emergency accommodation in Limerick, while 64 accessed it in Clare. It also shows that out of the 391 homeless people, 245 were men, while 146 were women.

Published on a monthly basis, the statistics refer to the number of homeless people accommodated in emergency accommodation which are funded by housing authorities. The reports refer to a specific count week, usually the last full week of the month.

For the Mid-West region, 85 families are included in the reports data, more than half of which are single parent families with a total of 158 child dependents.

Nationally, the number of people in emergency accommodation in August was a record 10,805 - up by more than 200 on the July figure of 10,568.

Noting the increased numbers of homeless people in Limerick, Sinn Fein Limerick TD Maurice Quinlivan has called for the introduction of a winter ban on evictions.

"With social housing targets not being met and more single property landlords leaving the market, we are fast approaching an official homeless figure of 11,000 across the state," he said.

Mr Quinlivan said that the Minister for Housing Daragh OBrien must immediately introduce a winter ban on evictions, and follow the lead of Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, who recently introduced a similar ban earlier this month.

"The Minister also needs to accelerate the tenant-in-situ scheme to prevent more families becoming homeless and increase and accelerate the delivery of social homes," he concluded.
Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed the millions of ordinary citizens who, he said, heroically" defended their choice to be with Russia when the annexation of four Ukrainian territories were announced. Vladimir Putin said millions of citizens, whose culture has been "destroyed", carried the "love for their historical homeland in their hearts". The Russian president said in the heat of the battle, they "heroically" came to the referendum and made their choice to be with Russia.

Vladimir Putin made the remarks at the "People's Choice: Together Forever" concert rally from Red Square, where he formally announced the annexation of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk, and Lugansk.

Vladimir Putin took part in the rally in support of the accession of the DPR, LPR, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions to Russia. Addressing the crowd during the rally, Vladimir Putin called the day a "special, momentous and, without exaggeration, historic day, a day of truth and justice."

Vladimir Putin said he cannot help but go back to the time when Russia was creating modern Ukraine".

Vladimir Putin said, It was Russia that created modern Ukraine, giving it significant swathes of land, historical lands of Russia, along with the people, who no one asked about where and how they want to live, how they see the future of their children, and in which country. The same thing happened when the Soviet Union broke apart. The elites decided everything among themselves, and no one asked millions of ordinary citizens anything."

Vladimir Putin also said that asserted only "modern Russia" has given the residents of Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson the "right to choose."

Vladimir Putin said, "The elections were going on in Lugansk, and people were standing in line in the street waiting to get into the polling station. The artillery shelling began. A shell landed nearby, not far away, but no one left the line to the polling station. Amazing!"

They have been trying to eradicate historical consciousness from these people, to destroy their traditions, to forbid them from speaking their native language, and to ban culture - nothing of that came to pass," the Russian president said.

"These people carried the love for their historical homeland in their hearts and passed it along to their children. That is why we are saying that Russia is not just opening the doors of its native home to our brothers and sisters; it is opening its heart to them. Welcome home!"

"You and I are here today on Red Square, but they are not here at the parade. They are in the heat of the battle, heroically defending the choice that the people made several days ago. I know what I am talking about. Heroically is the word."

(With agency inputs)
Britain's longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, passed away peacefully of old age' on 8 September 2022. The change of monarchy after over 70 years meant a new monarch in the form of King Charles III. The demise of the monarch also drew all attention to the relationship between the royal members and Prince Harry.

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, had stepped back from their working royals tag and relocated to Los Angeles

It is to be noted that Prince Harry was educated at Wetherby School, Ludgrove School, and Eton College. He spent parts of his gap year in Australia and Lesotho, then underwent officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He was commissioned as a cornet into the Blues and Royals, serving temporarily with his brother William and completed training as a troop leader. In 20072008, he served for over ten weeks in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He returned to Afghanistan for a 20-week deployment in 20122013 with the Army Air Corps. In June 2015, he resigned from the army.

Media outlets have unearthed a picture where Queen Elizabeth II is seen inspecting soldiers at their passing-out Sovereign's Parade at Sandhurst Military Academy on 12 April 2006. This particular picture has the Queen looking proudly at his grandson with a smile. The result- a visibly blushing Prince Harry!

The Queen is seen grinning ear to ear as she looks at her grandson at the military graduation ceremony at Sandhurst Military Academy in Surrey. Meanwhile, Prince Harry, who is dressed impeccably in his military uniform and holding a sword straight up, is seen blushing looking at his grandmother.

This precious moment captured showcased the close-knit equation between The Queen and Prince Harry, which remained constant even after. Royal researchers have suggested that although Harry may have held grudges against his family, but he has always had been only praises for his grandma.

The two time war veteran who had served in Afghanistan, had initially been denied permission to son his military uniform for his grandmother's vigil after her death. The royal family stated that only working royals could wear their uniform. However, this decision faced a lot of backlash from the commoners and royal fans.

Prince Harry also founded the Invictus Games, an international multi-sport event for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women, including serving and veterans both. Eventually, King Charles III granted his youngest son special permission to don his military uniform for his grandmother's final vigil.

As per journalist Josh Rom, Prince Harry is a little taken aback by the kind of outpouring of love" Britain has shown to King Charles III and the Queen Consort Camilla. He is also surprised how people have shown support for Prince of Wales William and Princess of Wales Kate Middleton.

The Duke of Sussex had snubbed dinner with King Charles III and his brother the Prince of Wales Prince William at Balmoral following the new monarch banning Meghan Markle from joining the grieving Royal Family on the day the Queen Elizabeth II died, The DailyMail reported on 23 September.
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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with foreign experts who have received the Friendship Award in 2022, given annually by the Chinese government to honor outstanding foreign experts in China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. Vice Premier Han Zheng also attended the meeting. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu) BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- China will provide convenient conditions and quality services for foreign talent to work in China and give more support to their research environment and innovation platform, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Friday. Li made the remarks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing when meeting with foreign experts who had received the Friendship Award in 2022, given annually by the Chinese government to honor outstanding foreign experts in China. He spoke highly of the contributions made by foreign experts in China's reform, opening-up, and exchanges between China and foreign countries. Li noted China is still the largest developing country globally, and its modernization remains a long and arduous task. He said no matter how the international situation may change, China will focus on running its affairs well and ensuring a good life for the Chinese people. This year, due to the impact of unexpected factors, the Chinese economy did face some new downward pressure, but on the whole, it has shown a steady recovery, Li said. "We have the confidence and capability to keep the economy operating within a reasonable range and promote sustained and sound economic development," he added. Pointing out that China owes its rapid development to reform and opening-up, Li said China would continue to deepen reform, open up even more, and inject strong impetus into growth. "We will continuously deepen reforms to delegate power, streamline administration and optimize government services, treat all types of market entities as equals, and foster a market-oriented and law-based international business environment," Li said. China will promote global cooperation on scientific and technological innovation with a more open attitude and promote innovation achievements to benefit the world, he added. Noting foreign experts are envoys for friendship and important links between China and the world, Li said China welcomes foreign experts to participate in China's modernization drive in various ways. The awardees thanked Li and the Chinese government and expressed willingness to continue contributing to China's development and exchanges between China and the world. At the invitation of Li, the foreign experts later attended a reception to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The meeting was also attended by vice premiers Han Zheng and Liu He. Liu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, presented the Friendship Award to the honorees and delivered a speech at the awarding ceremony, which was also held at the Great Hall of the People. This year, 49 foreign experts from 21 countries received the award. The Friendship Award is the highest award to commend foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to China's modernization drive. Since its establishment in 1991, a total of 1,848 foreign experts have received the award. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with foreign experts who have received the Friendship Award in 2022, given annually by the Chinese government to honor outstanding foreign experts in China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. Vice Premier Han Zheng also attended the meeting. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu) Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with foreign experts who have received the Friendship Award in 2022, given annually by the Chinese government to honor outstanding foreign experts in China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. Vice Premier Han Zheng also attended the meeting. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu) Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, addresses a ceremony to present the Chinese Government Friendship Award to foreign experts, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)
Man Arrested for Robbery, Assaulting a Police Officer Who Was Airlifted to Hospital

Local News, Crime

By Long Island Published: October 01 2022

Police today arrested a man after he committed an armed robbery of a gas station in Islandia and assaulted a police officer on the morning of September 29.

Suffolk County Police today arrested a man after he committed an armed robbery of a gas station in Islandia and assaulted a police officer on the morning of September 29.

Joshua Basile entered Quick Chek Gas Station, located at 3540 Veterans Memorial Highway in Bohemia and stole assorted food, then fled in a 2022 Ford Explorer, at approximately 1:35 a.m.

He then entered a BP Gas Station, located at 1460 Veterans Memorial Highway in Islandia, pointed a handgun at the clerk, and demanded money and cigarettes, at approximately 7:40 a.m. He then fled the scene in the vehicle.

An alert was broadcasted, and K-9 Section officer Ralph Dimasi observed an Explorer matching the description of the vehicle involved and conducted a traffic stop at 3480 Veterans Memorial Highway in Bohemia. During the traffic stop, officer Dimasi asked Basile to turn off the vehicle, and he complied. A second K-9 Section officer arrived as backup. When Basile was asked to exit the vehicle, he instead started the Explorer and struggled with both officers as they attempted to prevent Basile from fleeing.

Basile was able to put the vehicle into drive and flee, striking officer Dimasi with the vehicle and knocking him to the ground.

Officer Dimasi was airlifted by Suffolk County Police helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

Following an investigation by Major Case Unit detectives, Joshua Basile was located with the assistance of multiple other units, as he was driving the Explorer on the Long Island Expressway in Queens at approximately 1:50 p.m. on September 30.

As police attempted to conduct a vehicle stop, Basile struck and disabled a police vehicle with the Explorer and fled. He was located at 214-57 Jamaica Ave. in Queens Village and taken into custody at approximately 3:50 p.m.

Basile, 35, of 460 Henry Blvd, Holbrook, was charged with Robbery 1st Degree, Criminal Possession of a Weapon 2nd Degree, Criminal Use of a Firearm 2nd Degree, Assault 2nd Degree, and Petit Larceny.
The unsettled weather has arrived in Spain and some areas, which were complaining about the heat just a few weeks ago, are now looking up at snow on the mountains. This is the case with the Sierra Nevada in Granada where the first snow of the autumn has appeared on the mountain tops.

The weekend weather outlook for Mallorca suggests a fall in temperatures for today and tomorrow. The first snow fell in Mallorca last year in November.

The Palma Met Office says that as a result of global warming the summers will be hotter and the winters colder.
Sedi Behvarrad is one of many Iranians who fled Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. She has never returned. Married to a Mallorcan, she is very aware of the protests against the compulsory use of the veil, which began two weeks ago following the death in custody of a Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly disobeying the rule. "How is it possible that they can kill her because a little hair is visible?"

Sedi embodies everything that is denied to women in her country. She doesn't wear a veil because she is not a believer. She has studied at university and is a businesswoman. "Iranians only wish to live in freedom, nothing more; to be able to go out dressed as they want."

She fears that the protests against the regime will lose strength over time and so believes that the intervention of the international community is essential. "The future of the protests depends on whether or not the world helps Iran. Otherwise, they will kill everyone who has participated. It is a country that kills." She points out that the Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, took more than a week to speak about the issue, as did the minister for equality, Irene Montero. "Their position is very important, like that of the leaders of other states," adds Sedi, noting that many countries have good relations with Iran because of the export of energy resources, such as oil.

Fathers, brothers and sons of women are now on the streets demanding more rights. "They can see what they are doing and so and they have also taken to the streets. Many are dying." But there have also been demonstrations by men and women in support of the regime. There are people who benefit from government policies, Sedi observes. "The regime will remain as it is. It is very structured. If it yields, even a little, this will require international support."

She adds that during more than forty years of dictatorship, "millions" of people have disappeared and that the police make up the reasons. She met her husband in the Canary Islands, saying that she had to leave Iran because she did not "fit in". If the Islamic Revolution hadn't happened, she would still be there.
Safety in Formula One has improved dramatically in recent years, and that has saved the lives of many drivers. Advances in safety and technology probably helped Alpha Tauri driver Pierre Gasly escape without a scratch after his car caught fire during practice for the Singapore Grand Prix.

The images of the official broadcast showed the moment when the flame appeared just behind the head of the 26-year-old French driver, who quickly managed to escape from the cockpit and was unhurt. At the same time, a member of the team appeared on the scene with a fire extinguisher and ended the danger.

British reporter Ted Kravitz spoke to some of the AlphaTauri team to understand the dramatic incident: "The team tells me that the fire started when the fuel vent was connected to the car," he explained to SkySports. "Normally, when you push (the vehicle) into the garage, they put a vent on it so the fuel tank can 'breathe'. And then they keep it on when they put fuel in or take fuel out to allow air to come out of the fuel tank. What I don't understand is why that was hooked up when the car was still in the pit box. I just need to understand that."

Alpha Tauri explains the fire in Pierre Gasly's car

"He is back to normal after a small fire broke out in his car after connecting the fuel vent," read Alpha Tauri's statement on social media.

Fortunately, Pierre Gasly was unharmed by the fire, and will be ready next Sunday to contest the Singapore Grand Prix with his team.
The relationships among the British royal family are complex and strenuous among many, including Prince Harry, who has never quite seen eye to eye with Queen Consort Camilla.

Camilla married King Charles III in 2005 after the passing of Harry's mother, Princess Diana, but their relationship had dated back to even before Charles and Diana were married.

The relationship between Camilla and Harry has long been subject to speculation, but with Harry now taking up a more distant role within the family, stories have begun to be revealed about the nature of the dynamic between the two.

Harry's "nasty" words

Royal biographer Angela Levin says that Harry has been far from kind to his step-mother, Camilla, and included him among one of the most cruel things she has faced.

"Yes, that's spot on actually. I decided I had to rebalance things," Levin responded, when asked if 'Camilla: From Outcast to Queen Consort' was an attempt to set the record straight.

"One was The Crown which was really cruel to her and the other was Prince Harry who had said some really nasty things about her too."

William's relationship is also strained

Prince William has been publicly supportive of Camilla since she took up the role of Queen Consort, but their relationship has not always been strong.

"One carefully managed myth peddled by [Royal PR expert, Mark] Bolland was that the boys had warmed to Camilla. But they tolerated her at best," another royal expert Tina Brown wrote in The Palace Papers.

"In his early thirties, Harry was still complaining bitterly to friends that Camilla had converted his old bedroom at Highgrove, Charles's Gloucestershire estate, into an elaborate dressing room for herself."
New York, US (PANA) - The UN envoy for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Friday denounced the recent violence against the Organisations stabilisation mission in the country, which has been the target of manipulation and stigmatization
Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - More than two years since the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in the United States sparked the global Black Lives Matter movement, theres been only piecemeal progress in addressing systemic racism, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Friday, in a new report
The U.S. Navy acknowledged recently that the water the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz uses to bathe and drink was contaminated by what it described as "traces" of jet fuel, but a sailor on the ship said the situation was worse than the service first let on.

The crew learned about two weeks ago that the water supply had a problem. Specifically, the water had become a troublingly discolored fluid with a bad smell, a sailor said. Testing found what the Navy said were "detectable traces" of hydrocarbons, a chemical component of jet fuel.

In a recent interview with Insider, a sailor aboard the ship described a situation that appears to be far worse than what was initially indicated by the Navy.

"We were exposed to an unhealthy amount of JP-5," the Nimitz sailor, whose identity is known to Insider but is being withheld due to concerns about the possibility of retribution, said this week. JP-5, or jet-propellant-5, is a kerosene-based fuel that is used in military aircraft and is a go-to for the Navy's carrier air wings.

The sailor explained that although they and their shipmates drank and showered with the contaminated water, they were initially denied medical attention for issues that were believed to be related to their exposure to jet fuel.

After earlier Navy assurances there had been no ill effects, a spokesman for 3rd Fleet told Insider on Friday that five sailors have reported health issues that could be related to the contamination and that the ship's leadership is monitoring the situation. In an overnight update, Insider was informed the number has since risen to 10.

Cmdr. Sean Robertson, a fleet spokesperson, told Insider on Friday that "if we receive any additional reports of potentially contaminated water, we will immediately investigate and take appropriate action to safeguard the crew." The parents of the sailor Insider spoke with said at that time that the carrier's medical team was still turning away some sailors.

Discovering jet fuel in the water

The sailor said they were first informed there was jet fuel in the water on the evening of September 16. A Navy spokesperson confirmed this date to Task & Purpose, one of the outlets that along with Navy Times first reported on the problem, and said that the crew "immediately took action."

The sailor said that the ship's commanding officer announced to the ship that night that jet fuel had been discovered in the water, stressing that the crew of roughly 3,000 should not drink it and that they should drink only distributed bottled water until they returned to port.

The sailor said that later that night, however, they were told by the ship's executive officer and the commanding officer that the water was actually safe to drink and that there was nothing to worry about.

"It was not safe to drink," the sailor said. "People believed the CO and XO, and people were showering in this stuff."

On the morning of September 17, the aircraft carrier arrived at San Diego's Naval Air Station North Island, and by noon, the carrier was connected to the local water supply. It wasn't until that point that the Nimitz leadership reversed course again and said the water was actually unsafe to drink and shower in, the sailor said.

Throughout the night and through the morning, people were under the impression that the water was safe, despite indications that it wasn't, the sailor said.

"Medical was refusing to see patients or acknowledge that anything going on with patients or different sailors had anything related to the JP-5," the sailor said, adding that medical staff "refused" to note the JP-5 exposure in sailors' records.

The Nimitz sailor said that one fellow service member was throwing up while another had a rash. In a separate interview with Insider, the sailor's parents  whose identities are also known to Insider but are being withheld to protect the sailor  said they noticed their sailor had developed a dry cough after the exposure.

"Medical was telling us that it'll just pass through you," the sailor said. They said that after reviewing a safety data sheet, which has information about hazardous chemicals, and cross-referencing their jet fuel exposure, it was clear they should seek medical attention.

Sailor takes a fuel sample during a replenishment at sea aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, Nov. 8, 2012. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Benjamin Crossley)

Testing the water

The sailor explained that when the ship's water tanks were opened for inspection late on September 17, a "thick layer of JP-5 on top of the potable water" was found. The next step was trying to flush the jet fuel out of the system.

They said that starting the next day on September 18, crew members began conducting taste- and smell-tests of the ship's water  a process that continued for at least the following 10 days and something the sailor described as a "big concern."

Though Cmdr. Robertson did not say anything about taste testing, he did tell Insider that a "sniffer team" of Nimitz sailors has been tasked with checking out "hot spots," areas with concerning odors.

The process described by the sailor involved filling and then dumping the water tanks and then sampling the water for jet fuel. In draining the tank, however, they frequently spotted the fuel leaving residue along the sides of the tank.

"So basically what we're doing is draining the water out, filling it back up, and letting the JP-5 coat the sides of the tank," the sailor said.

By September 21, the water on the carrier had been laboratory-tested twice.

A Navy official told Insider that an initial test of water samples from September 19 did not "detect measurable amounts of fuel hydrocarbons." The official said more testing on water samples from the Nimitz's potable water tanks on September 21, however, did reveal "detectable traces of hydrocarbons." The Navy did not disclose the specific amount detected.

But the sailor rejected the notion that there were only "traces" of jet fuel, pointing to the "thick layer" of fuel they saw on top of the water in samples.

The aircraft carrier was supposed to depart San Diego late last week, but it ended up staying in port. The sailor speculated that this may have been because of media coverage and attention, which they said is what initially triggered the laboratory tests  not the crew's suspicion that there was still jet fuel in the water.

To highlight the visible impact of the jet fuel contaminating the water, the sailor's family provided Insider with a screenshot of a text exchange between the parents and the sailor.

In the exchange is a photograph, shared with the sailor by a shipmate. The photo was taken shortly after it was first announced that there was jet fuel in the water, the sailor said, and appears to show a water sample  drawn from a water fountain  consisting of a thick, green, layer on the top and a murky, white layer on the bottom.

An F/A-18E Super Hornet launches off of the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) to provide close-air support to Operation Octave Quartz. (U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Cheyenne Geletka)

Working through the aftermath

The sailor said that as of this week, some of their fellow Navy sailors were still drinking and showering with the contaminated water because "we don't have much of another option."

The shore water looks clear and has gotten better, they said, but the smell and taste of jet fuel still lingers, as residual amounts continue to stick to the water tanks and piping.

"So the only way we can get all the contamination out of the tank is by completely draining it and scrubbing it, because the way JP-5 sticks to metal," the sailor said.

Cmdr. Robertson told Insider in an email on Friday that the potable water system on the Nimitz continues to be evaluated so sailors get the "highest quality water" when the ship eventually leaves San Diego.

"The health and well-being of all of our Sailors is our top priority," he added. "To that end, Nimitz leadership encourages the crew daily to report to medical immediately if they exhibit any illness or injury that could potentially be caused by exposure to contaminated water."

As of Friday, Robertson said, 10 sailors have reported health issues that "could be associated with JP-5 ingestion, with no new reports in the last 24 hours."

He said symptoms  which include headache, diarrhea, and rashes  were present between September 17 and September 26. None of those individuals are "currently reporting any symptoms that might be associated with JP-5 ingestion," he said.

The parents of the sailor with which Insider spoke said in a separate interview that they have been reaching out to various lawmakers to try and voice their concerns, but they haven't had much luck getting responses.

"Serving this country is a privilege," one parent said. "But in return, I expect the leadership to support the soldiers and the sailors and to take care of them."
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Video files have a standard set of video controls: - Reset to start, - Skip back, - Play, - Pause, - Skip forwards. Keyboard shortcuts: You can stop/start video play with the P key.

Controls - Animation (Spin Rotation)

Animation (usually 360 degree spin rotations) have their own controls: - enable spin mode. Note that while images are loading this option will not be available but will be automatically activated when the animation has loaded. Once active you can spin the image/change the animation by moving your mouse or finger on the image left/right or by pressing the [ or ] keys.

The button switches to move mode so that you can use your mouse/fingers to move the image around the screen as with other media types.

The button, or the P key will start playing the animation directly, you can interrupt this by using the mouse or finger on the image to regain manual movement control.

Controls - 3D Stereoscopic images

If a stereoscopic 3D image is opened in the viewer, the 3D button appears in the bottom right corner giving access to "3D settings" menu. The 3D images can be viewed in several ways:

- without any special equipment using cross-eyed or parallel-eyed method

- with stereoscope

- with anaglyph glasses.

- on a suitable 3D TV or monitor (passive 3D system)

For details about 3D refer to: Mindat manuals: Mindat Media Viewer: 3D

To enable/disable 3D stereo display of a compatible stereo pair image press the 3 key. If the left/right images are reversed on your display (this often happens in full-screen mode) press the 4 key to reverse them.

Controls - photo comparison mode

If a photo with activated comparison mode is opened in the viewer, the button appears in the bottom right corner giving access to "Comparison mode settings" menu.

Several layouts are supported: slider and side by-side comparison with up to 6 photos shown synchronously on the screen. On each of the compared photos a view selector is placed, e.g.: Longwave UV . It shows the name of currently selected view and allows to select a view for each placeholder.

Summary of all keyboard shortcuts
Cubs outfielder Michael Hermosillo has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Iowa, Mark Gonzales relays. Chicago had designated him for assignment earlier in the week.

Its been a tough season for Hermosillo, who re-signed with the Cubs on a major league deal this past offseason. After breaking camp with the big league team, Hermosillo suffered a left quadriceps strain in May which kept him out of action until earlier this month. In addition to his injury woes, Hermosillo struggled mightily at the plate this season, batting just .115/.250/.148 (27 wRC+) in 73 trips to the plate this season.

For his career, Hermosillo has both struggled to find opportunities at the big league level and to make the most of the opportunities he does receive. Despite making his major league debut in 2018, Hermosillo has managed to accumulate just 229 plate appearances across parts of five seasons with the Angels and the Cubs, and has hit just .167/.268/.283 in those trips to the plate, only approaching league average for a season during a 16-game stint with the Cubs last year that saw him hit .194/.237/.500 (91 wRC+).

While Hermosillo has certainly struggled at the big league level throughout his career, he has had no such trouble in the minors. Across five seasons at the Triple-A level, Hermosillo has slashed .273/.368/.506, all while playing a capable center field and flashing plus speed. Hermosillo will be able to file for minor league free agency this offseason unless hes added back to the 40-man roster.

The Cubs announced that they will be releasing right fielder Jason Heyward after the 2022 season ends, but they have Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki to man the outfield corners heading into 2023. For center field, Chicago has options at the big league level such as Christopher Morel and Nelson Velazquez, to say nothing of top prospect Brennen Davis, who may be ready to join the big league club sometime next year.
Right-hander Josh James underwent flexor tendon surgery this week, the Astros announced to The Houston Chronicles Chandler Rome and other reporters. James was already on the Astros 60-day injured list, and his surgery now adds to an injury-plagued few seasons for the 29-year-old.

James has spent his entire career in the Astros organization, after being a 34th-round draft pick in 2014. The righty made his MLB debut with 23 innings in 2018, and then took on a larger role in tossing 61 1/3 innings for the American League champions in 2019. While James 4.70 ERA and 13.2% walk rate that season were nothing special, his 97.2 mph velocity and his big 37.6% strikeout rate seemingly made him a live arm to watch in the future.

However, James has only thrown 22 1/3 total innings in the majors since the start of the 2020 season, and none at all in 2022. James underwent hip surgery in October 2020, battled hamstring problems that delayed his hip rehab in 2021, and this season has been sidelined by back problems and a right lat strain. Over 27 2/3 innings in the minors this season, James has struggled to a 6.51 ERA and continued to issue too many free passes.

The flexor tendon procedure now creates doubt about James potential readiness for the start of Spring Training or the start of the 2023 season. It already seemed likely that Houston would move on from James this winter, as he is due a minimal raise (from his $800K salary in 2022) in his second year of arbitration eligibility. With another surgery now impacting James future, he seems like a logical non-tender candidate, though the Astros could look to re-sign him at a lower salary or on a minor league contract.
2:56PM: Though Brittons season is over, his time in New York could continue, as ESPNs Marly Rivera reports that Britton and the Yankees are already engaged in preliminary conversations about a new contract.

10:59AM: The Yankees announced theyve selected reliever Jacob Barnes onto the major league roster. In a corresponding move, veteran southpaw Zack Britton has been placed on the 60-day injured list. His season is over after he left last nights appearance with shoulder fatigue.

Barnes cracks a major league roster with a third different team of the 2022 campaign. The 32-year-old broke camp with the Tigers and pitched in 22 games, working to a 6.10 ERA through 20 2/3 innings. Barnes only struck out 11.2% of batters faced on a personal-worst 7.7% swinging strike percentage. Barnes did induce ground-balls at a career-best 51.5% clip, but the lack of swing-and-miss led the Tigers to designate him for assignment in June.

The veteran reliever signed a minor league deal with the Mariners and briefly made the major league roster in July. He spent a few days on the active roster but didnt make an appearance before being let go. Barnes returned to Detroit on a minor league deal, spent a month in Triple-A and then was granted his release. He signed a minor league deal with New York at the end of August and pitched in ten games for their top affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

While Barnes hasnt had much major league success this season, hes pitched 18 innings of 2.00 ERA ball at the Triple-A level. Barnes has punched out 32.9% of opponents there against a 9.2% walk rate, and hes missed plenty of bats at the big league level in years past. He punched out upwards of 30% of opponents with the Angels in 2020 and had an above-average 25.8% strikeout rate as recently as last season.

Because Barnes was in the organization by August 31, hed be eligible for the Yankees postseason roster. He wasnt on the 40-man roster at the end of August, but New York can still petition the commissioners office for him to be playoff-eligible as an injury replacement for Britton. Injury exemptions are a common occurrence each season, so the Yankees shouldnt have an issue carrying Barnes for the playoffs if they desire. Now that hes back on a 40-man roster, Barnes is technically arbitration-eligible for next season, but its probable the Yankees will take him off the roster at the end of the year and allow him to hit minor league free agency.

It seems unlikely theyd carry Barnes given his struggles at the big league level this year, but the Yankees pitching staff is navigating a number of injuries. Closer Clay Holmes has a shoulder strain, manager Aaron Boone revealed last night. New York wont place him on the injured list and rule him out as an option for the AL Division Series, but hes not expected to pitch again in the regular season. Bryan Hoch of MLB.com relays that the Yankees are hopeful Holmes will be ready for the start of the ALDS, but its hard to know for sure whether thatll be the case.

Meanwhile, trade deadline acquisition Frankie Montas doesnt look as if hell be an option for the ALDS. New York placed Montas on the IL with shoulder inflammation two weeks ago, and Boone said this morning that it appears he wont be ready for the Division Series (Hoch link). Montas is playing catch today and the Yankees havent officially ruled him out for the ALDS, but Boone suggested its more likely hed return as a relief option for the ALCS if the Yankees qualify.

Britton is certainly no longer a playoff option, with the 60-day IL placement ending his year. It could bring an unceremonious end to his four-plus year tenure as a Yankee. Acquired from the Orioles midway through the 2018 campaign, Britton was an elite late-game weapon for his first few seasons in the Bronx. He pitched to a 2.14 ERA over 105 1/3 innings through the end of the 2020 season, including grounders at an incredible 76.3% clip. The Yankees preemptively exercised a $14MM option on his services for 2022 at the end of that year to prevent Britton from triggering an opt-out thatd have allowed him to test free agency.

While an understandable move at the time, that decision proved very regrettable in hindsight. Britton was tagged for a 5.89 ERA in 18 1/3 frames last season, battling injury issues throughout the year. He eventually underwent Tommy John surgery last September, an issue that kept him on the injured list until last week. Britton made it back on September 22 and made three appearances, but he walked six of the nine batters he faced before yesterdays injury.

Britton will hit the open market this winter coming off two virtually lost seasons. His fastball velocity was down in his very brief look this month, and he obviously battled extreme rust from a strike-throwing perspective. The 34-year-old hasnt seemed fully healthy for two years, whichll obviously deal a hit to his market value.
Dr Kwame Addo Kuffour has officially has been inducted as the new Chancellor of the Kumasi Technical University (KsTU).

The former Minister of Defence in the erstwhile Kufuor administration is the first Chancellor since the universitys conversion into a technical university few years ago.

The trained medical doctor and former New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Manhyia is bringing his vast experience in the field of administration, teaching, medical practice and understanding of the political economy to bear on the university.

Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony on Friday September 30,2022, the Vice president of Ghana Dr Mahamadu Bawumia congratulated Dr Addo Kuffour his new post.

He commended him for his continuous service to the country.

"It is a well-deserved honour as all that you have done for mother Ghana in the capacity as the former Board Chairman of Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), President of the Ghana Medical Association, Member of Parliament of Manhyia Constituency, Minister of Defence and Acting Minister of Interior establishes that it is entirely appropriate that you have been appointed as the Chancellor of the University.

"Nonetheless, I believe the University could not have picked a worthier leader than you. Your worth of experience, as a Board Chairman of Suame Magazine Industrial Development Organisation (SMIDO) indicates your in-depth knowledge and already established interest in Technical and Vocational Education," he stated.

Dr Bawumia however reiterated the governments commitment to supporting TVET institutions in the country.

He added that government as part of efforts to produce skilled human resources for modern business has embarked on massive investment into the country's technical and vocational education.

This according to him will help the country's development agenda. He urged the governing council of KsTU to churn out graduates who are full of innovations.

"My expectation and hope is that, KsTU will continue to churn out graduates who are moulded to take on the opportunities and possibilities for higher achievement through innovation and creativity in today's technology-led knowledge-driven global economy and who will thereby help generate prosperity for the mass of our people in our time," he emphasised.

For his part, Dr Kwame Addo Kuffour expressed gratitude to the university's Governing Council and other stakeholders for the confidence reposed in him and pledged to position the University as a world-class technical and vocational education and training institution with innovative academic programmes and turning out graduates with 21st century skills.

He said the University would put in place measures to increase revenue mobilisation, good governance and management, and strengthen institutional linkages to meet global, national and local best practices.
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Thirty-two Libyan MPs from the eastern region have called on the Speaker of Parliament, Aguila Saleh, to present the unamended 1951 Constitution, under Beylical rule, for deliberation in a special session of Parliament to consider a return to the federal system based the three historical regions (Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and Fezzan), in order to overcome the current impasse in the country
A Moroccan appeals court has beefed up prison terms against 15 African migrants involved in a June border tragedy in which two dozen migrants died, a rights group said Friday.

The migrants, from Sudan and Chad, had been arrested after some 2,000 people, stormed the frontier with the Spanish enclave of Melilla on June 24 in a bid to reach European Union territory.

Rights groups have accused border guards on both sides of responding with excessive force, leaving at least 23 migrants dead -- the worst toll in years of such attempted crossings.

The 15 migrants had been found guilty of illegally entering Morocco, violence against the police, armed assembly and resisting arrest.

On Thursday, an appeals court in the border town of Nador "decided to increase the initial sentences of 11 months in prison to three years" against 15 migrants arrested after the tragedy, said Omar Naji of the AMDH rights group.

"It's a very severe ruling -- we had expected the sentences to be reduced," Naji told AFP.

He added that all the migrants had denied using violence.

The Spanish enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta have long been a magnet for people fleeing violence and poverty across Africa and seeking refuge via the continent's only land borders with the EU.

Since the June 24 incident, dozens of mostly Sudanese migrants have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from eight months to two years in prison without parole.
Military officers have seized control of Burkina Faso, claiming to be restoring peace to the jihadist-wracked country as they overthrew a junta leader who had also come to power in a coup at the start of this year.

In the capital Ouagadougou, pre-dawn gunfire around the presidential palace was heard at the start of a day that culminated in the latest ousting.

Just before 8 pm (2000 GMT) on Friday, more than a dozen soldiers in fatigues appeared on the state television and radio broadcaster to announce the removal of Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba for failing to stem a jihadist insurgency.

They proclaimed 34-year-old Captain Ibrahim Traore in charge.

"We have decided to take our responsibilities, driven by a single ideal: the restoration of security and integrity of our territory," they said.

With much of the Sahel region battling a growing Islamist insurgency, the violence has prompted a series of coups in Mali, Guinea and Chad since 2020.

In January, Damiba installed himself as leader of the country of 16 million after accusing elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore of failing to beat back the jihadists.

But with more than 40 percent of the former French colony outside government control, the latest putsch leaders said Damiba, too, had failed.

Damiba came to power in a January coup after overthrowing Burkina's elected president. By OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT (AFP/File)

"Far from liberating the occupied territories, the once-peaceful areas have come under terrorist control," the new military leaders said.

They then suspended the constitution, sealed the borders, dissolved the transitional government and legislative assembly and instituted a 9:00 pm to 5:00 am curfew.

New strongman Traore was previously head of anti-jihadist special forces unit "Cobra" in the northern region of Kaya.

Damiba's fate remained unknown Friday.

Calls for 'restraint'

Damiba's Patriotic Movement for Preservation and Restoration (MPSR) had said earlier on Friday that there was an "internal crisis in the army" prompting troop deployments in key areas of the capital.

AFP journalists saw troops block several main roads and intersections in Ouagadougou, with soldiers also stationed outside the state television centre.

Government spokesman Lionel Bilgo had said the "crisis" concerned an army pay dispute, and that Damiba was taking part in negotiations.

Soldiers patrol the streets of Ouagadougou after shots rang out during the morning. By Olympia DE MAISMONT (AFP)

In the morning, shots rang out in the Ouaga 2000 neighbourhood, which houses both the presidential and junta headquarters.

"I heard heavy detonations around 4:30 am and now the roads around my home have been sealed off by military vehicles," a resident close to the presidential palace said.

State television was cut for several hours prior to the military announcement, broadcasting just a blank screen with the message "no video signal".

In the afternoon, an AFP journalist saw a group of several hundred people gather in a city square demanding the departure of Damiba and the end of the French military presence.

By evening, soldiers were still in place at key points of the city, and streets were mostly deserted.

In a statement, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) "condemned in the strongest possible terms" the latest seizure of power, calling it "inappropriate" at a time when progress was being made for a return to constitutional order by July 1, 2024.

The French foreign ministry told its citizens in the Burkina capital, believed to number between 4,000 and 5,000, to stay home, while the European Union expressed "concern" at the unfolding events.

The United States said it was "deeply concerned" by the situation in Ouagadougou.

"We call for a return to calm and restraint by all actors," a State Department spokesperson said.

Rein in jihadists

Though Damiba had promised to make security his priority when he took charge on January 24, violent attacks have increased since March.

Map of Burkina Faso locating the town of Djibo. By (AFP)

In the north and east, towns have been blockaded by insurgents who have blown up bridges and attacked supply convoys.

As in bordering countries, insurgents affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have stoked unrest.

Thousands have died and about two million have been displaced by the fighting since 2015 when the insurgency spread to Burkina Faso, which has since become the epicentre of the violence across the Sahel.

In September, a particularly bloody month, Damiba sacked his defence minister and assumed the role himself.

Earlier this week, suspected jihadists attacked a convoy carrying supplies to the town of Djibo in the north of the country. The government said 11 soldiers died and around 50 civilians were missing.

On September 5, an improvised explosive device struck a supply convoy in the north killing 35 civilians and wounding 37.

The following day, at least nine people -- seven civilians and two soldiers -- were killed in two separate attacks by suspected jihadists.

Much of the impoverished Sahel region is battling the insurgency.

Starting in northern Mali in 2012, the insurgents attacked neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger in 2015.

The violence has in recent years begun to spill over into coastal states Ivory Coast, Togo and Benin.
The Ghana Civil-Society Cocoa Platform (GCCP) is hoping that the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) will build on gains from the last cocoa season ahead of the 2022/2023 cocoa season.

Cocoa farmers in the country are already geared up for the new cocoa season which is promising so much.

The past cocoa season was unprecedented for several reasons. There were numerous landmark moves both domestically and internationally that brought the issue of cocoa production under the spotlight.

While there were many gains, there were several challenges that GCCP believes COCOBOD should address to make the life of the cocoa farmer better.

Ahead of the new cocoa season, the Ghana Civil-Society Cocoa Platform has issued a press release to make a case for an increased farm gate price.

After making several estimates, GCCP says it expects that a bag of cocoa beans will sell at GHS838 per bag.

It adds that a tonne of cocoa beans should sell at GHS13,413 for the 2022/23 cocoa season.

Assuming COCOBOD gives all the 400$ LID to the farmer, that brings the farm gate price to 1,578$ per tonne for the 2022/2023 cocoa season. Using the year-on-year Bank of Ghana (BoG) exchange rate of $8.5, cocoa farmers are expected to receive not less than GH13,413 per tonne of cocoa beans which should translate into minimum GHS838 per bag of cocoa beans.

Once again, these estimations are based on the minimum projected figures and the assumption that farmers will receive minimum 100% of LID. These are very conservative estimates and we expect the COCOBOD to be able to meet them with ease, a release from the GCCP dated September 28 has said.

In the release, the Ghana Civil-Society Cocoa Platform commends the government for its commitment to cocoa farmers through the numerous interventions being implemented to ensure their well-being.

The release concludes that GCCP is anxiously awaiting the announcement by COCOBOD on the farm gate price for cocoa in the 2022/2023 cocoa season.
Painter Masha Schmidt always saw herself as a citizen of the world, but the war in Ukraine has forced her to identify as Russian and to rediscover a sense of purpose in her art.

Schmidt is one of around 53,000 Russians living in France, including 3,500 or so in the capital.

Some are descendants of the first wave that fled the Bolshevik revolution, others arrived after WWII.

Schmidt was a beneficiary of Gorbachev's glasnost, arriving in Paris in 2000, a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

She's kept a strong sense of hospitality  offering coffee, dates and homemade cookies on an elegant silver plate in her Paris studio where we sit and chat, surrounded by large canvases.

A graduate of the Moscow Arts Academy, she was 22 when she came to Paris to study at the Beaux Arts and Sorbonne. It was a radical shift, moving away from the Russian figurative tradition of her youth to Impressionism and Cubism.

I can't say there are no abstract painters in Russia  let's not forget Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky  but in my time Moscow academies weren't practicing this abstract way of painting or thinking.

"So when I came to Paris I felt like I was a very old person because I was painting like an academist of the 19th or even 18th century.

Bit by bit I started taking off my knowledge  I wanted to feel, I didn't want to know.

Listen to a conversation with Masha Schmidt in the Spotlight on France podcast

Schmidt has built a fulfilling career in fine art, but also film and theatre.

And she met the love of her life here  Georgian concert pianist Irakly Avaliani.

We do our art: he's playing his music and I'm making my paintings. It sounds like a fairy tale, she laughs.

Why paint when people are dying?

And then Russia invaded Ukraine, and even if it's 2,400 kilometres away, she felt deeply affected.

It was a terrible moment, everything stopped, she murmurs.

She found she could no longer paint.

I felt that all these things I was doing  painting, my art projects, nothing had any sense anymore in front of the horror.

"I mean why would you paint your beautiful paintings when people are dying? That was my dilemma.

Helping Ukraine was the priority, and she began collecting medicines and clothes to give to charities.

It seemed like it was a necessary and immediate thing to do. But very quickly we understood that the point was not small things, but money.

Artists didn't necessarily have fat cheque books, but they had their art.

Along with other artist friends, she set up a website Art et Paix (Art and Peace)  offering original artworks to people who donated to charities such as the Red Cross or Doctors without Borders.

It was a way of encouraging donations, but also saying thank you.

I was thinking that if somebody is doing something good, helping people in this horrible situation, someone should say 'you're a good person'.

In the following months, they gifted hundreds of artworks. The project was also a way of connecting people and sharing something positive.

Sorry, I'm Russian

Connections were made between artists and donors, money was sent, but the war has also polarised the Russian diaspora.

Until 23 February I thought I was a person, an artist, and I was in love with various world cultures and arts, but I was forced to feel like I'm Russian, Schmidt explains.

She recalls how the caretaker in her building, who'd become a good friend, saw her on the staircase a few days after the invasion.

I had red eyes and she understood I was crying all the time. She gave me her special warm hug and said 'Masha, I must apologise, I thought you were Russian all these years and now I know you're Ukrainian'!

Schmidt smiles at the presumption only a Ukrainian could be moved to tears.

I said: 'I'm Russian, I'm sorry, but I'm against the war.' She was so confused.

The thing is we became more Russian than we were. I haven't lived in Russia for 32 years, yet I was forced to feel immediately connected to Russia and to the war.

Things are very black and white, polarised, and you can't see in between.

The most important thing, she says, is not where you were born, but what you think and what you do.

Masha Schmidt's website

Listen to the Spotlight on France podcasts and subscribe here.
Burkina Faso awoke to fresh uncertainty Saturday after its second coup this year when junior officers toppled a junta leader, saying he had failed to fight jihadist attacks in the deeply poor and restive West African nation.

An uneasy calm permeated through the capital Ouagadougou where soldiers in armoured vehicles and pickup trucks guarded the national television centre but traffic slowly resumed on arterial roads.

Shops slowly started reopening in the dusty and spread-out city, where pre-dawn gunfire on Friday around the presidential palace culminated in the latest coup, that drew wide condemnation.

The Economic Community of West African States regional bloc "condemned in the strongest possible terms" the latest seizure of power, calling it "inappropriate" at a time when progress was being made for a return to constitutional order by July 1, 2024.

Burkina Faso's former colonial ruler France told its citizens in Ouagadougou, believed to number between 4,000 and 5,000, to stay home, while the European Union expressed "concern" at the unfolding events.

The United States called "for a return to calm and restraint by all actors".

Just before 8:00 pm (2000 GMT) on Friday, more than a dozen soldiers in fatigues appeared on the state television and radio broadcaster to announce the removal of Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.

They proclaimed 34-year-old Captain Ibrahim Traore in charge.

Damiba came to power in a January coup after overthrowing Burkina's elected president. By OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT (AFP/File)

"We have decided to take our responsibilities, driven by a single ideal: the restoration of security and integrity of our territory," they said.

"Damiba failed. Since he came to power, the zones that were peaceful were attacked. He took power but then he betrayed us," Habibata Rouamba, a trader and activist said on Saturday.

With much of the Sahel region battling a growing Islamist insurgency, the violence has prompted a series of coups in Mali, Guinea and Chad since 2020.

In January, Damiba installed himself as leader of the country of 16 million after accusing elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore of failing to beat back the jihadists.

Damiba accused of failure

But with more than 40 percent of the country outside government control, the latest putsch leaders said Damiba, too, had failed.

"Far from liberating the occupied territories, the once-peaceful areas have come under terrorist control," the new military leaders said.

They then suspended the constitution, sealed the borders, dissolved the transitional government and legislative assembly and instituted a 9:00 pm to 5:00 am curfew.

New strongman Traore was previously head of anti-jihadist special forces unit "Cobra" in the northern region of Kaya.

Junta leader's fate unclear

Damiba's fate remains unknown.

Damiba's Patriotic Movement for Preservation and Restoration (MPSR) had said earlier on Friday that there was an "internal crisis in the army" prompting troop deployments in key areas of the capital.

Government spokesman Lionel Bilgo had said the "crisis" concerned an army pay dispute, and that Damiba was taking part in negotiations.

Soldiers patrol the streets of Ouagadougou after shots rang out during the morning. By Olympia DE MAISMONT (AFP)

In the morning, shots rang out in the Ouaga 2000 neighbourhood, which houses both the presidential and junta headquarters.

State television was cut for several hours prior to the military announcement, broadcasting just a blank screen with the message "no video signal".

Though Damiba had promised to make security his priority when he took charge on January 24, violent attacks have increased since March.

Map of Burkina Faso locating the town of Djibo. By (AFP)

In the north and east, towns have been blockaded by insurgents who have blown up bridges and attacked supply convoys.

As in bordering countries, insurgents affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have stoked unrest.

Thousands have died and about two million have been displaced by the fighting since 2015 when the insurgency spread to Burkina Faso, which has since become the epicentre of the violence across the Sahel.

In September, a particularly bloody month, Damiba sacked his defence minister and assumed the role himself.

Earlier this week, suspected jihadists attacked a convoy carrying supplies to the town of Djibo in the north of the country. The government said 11 soldiers died and around 50 civilians were missing.
The Board of Directors and Leadership Team of the Rainforest Alliance led by Mr. Santiago Gowland, the Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Daniel Katz the founder, have paid a working visit to Ghana to among other things assess the impact the organization is making in the lives of farmers and forest dwellers in the country.

The Rainforest Alliance is an international non-profit organization working to create a world where people and nature thrive together through the creation of a more sustainable world using social and market forces to protect nature and improve the lives of farmers and forest communities.

The organization which is operational in over 130 countries across the globe including Ghana, works to achieve its mission, by partnering with diverse allies around the world to drive positive change across global supply chains in many critical natural landscapes through the implementation of proven and scalable solutions on the ground.

In an interview with the media, the Country Director for Rainforest Alliance Ghana, Mr. Kwame Osei, explained that the Board of Directors of the organization considers Ghana as one of the key places where the organizations impact is being felt by farmers and foresters. That is why they took the time to visit the country to interact with key partners and stakeholders including beneficiaries to learn at firsthand, how Rainforest Alliance is impacting their lives.

Ghana occupies a strategic position within the organization as 18% of all Rainforest Alliances certified Cocoa comes from the country. Presently, Rainforest Alliance Ghana is implementing over seven different projects and programs in strategic landscapes across the country. The organization works with over 260,000 Ghanaian farmers largely in the Cocoa sector.

During the five-day visit, the Board and Leadership Team are scheduled to visit key project sites at the Sui River Landscape at Sefwi Wiawso in the Western North Region, interact with farmers, political, traditional, and religious leaders as well as Rainforest Alliance key partners and organizations. The team will later hold a Board Meeting in Accra and visit historical places of interest in Ghana such as the Bobiri Forest Reserve in the Ashanti Region, Cape Coast Castle, Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum, and the Accra Museum among others.
01.10.2022 LISTEN

Igbo Think Tank ITT, a conglomerate of Igbo veterans activists , professionals and opinion leaders whose aim is the rapid industrialization of the South East into a Japanese model, have advised members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB to participate in the 2023 presidential elections and embrace peace and dialogue for the betterment of all Nigerians

Igbo Think Tank gave the advice at the end of the interface between members of Board of Trustees of the group and some secessionists who have vowed to truncate the democratic processes in Abuja during the Igbo day celebrations.

Igbo Think Tank advises IPOB Auto- Pilot Branch owned Mazi Simon Ekpa to jettison his plot to cause security scare during the build- up to the 2023 Presidential elections and allow Ndigbo who believe in the Nigerian Project to exercise their franchise.

Igbo Think Tank also applauds the DoS branch of IPOB led by Mr Chika Edozien for aligning with the democratic processes and transformation to taking place in Igbo lands despite the incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu.

Igbo Think Tank notes that the warm welcome and support Presidential aspirants of Igbo Extraction is receiving in the North and South West has put a lie to the IPOB propaganda that Fulani, Hausa, Northerners and Yoruba hate Ndigbo

Igbo Think Tank urges all remaining IPOB members hanging on the fence to join the democratic processes and vote out politicians who cornered Igbo share of national cake to their personal pocket.

Igbo Think Tank noted that the sorry state of federal roads in the South East is caused by Igbo politicians who embezzled the contract sums. The sorry state of electricity in the South East is caused by Igbo businessmen were milking our people, selling fake meter and deriving pleasure in rolling out darkness.

Igbo Think Tank noted that whilst politicians of other zones are attracting Federal presence to their localities, their Igbo counterparts are Admiring Street Lights in Abuja'.

Igbo Think Tank advises all Ndigbo to participate in enthroning a prudent management of national resources, which only candidates of Igbo Extraction can guarantee.

Igbo Think Tank thanks Afenifere, Middle Belt Forum and Niger Delta Forums for endorsing Igbo Presidency and tasks security agencies and INEC to conduct the 2023 poll in accordance with international standards to avoid a mass uprising capable of truncating the fourth republic.

Igbo Think Tank reiterates the need for political solution to the incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu .

.

Rev Obinna Akukwe

Vice Chairman BoT Igbo Think Tank

Comrade Chuks Ibegbu

Secretary BoT Igbo Think Tank
A police officer looks on as protesters block roads and hurl rocks in Conakry, Guinea, on July 28, 2022, after authorities prevented supporters of the opposition party, National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC), from gathering in the streets for a peaceful march. On Friday, September 23, the High Authority for Communication (HAC), Guineas media regulator, ordered the one-month suspension of Nostalgie Guinees Africa 2015 radio program and three of its hosts following a Septemb

01.10.2022 LISTEN

Dakar, September 30, 2022Guinean authorities should lift the suspension of Nostalgie Guinees Africa 2015 radio program and three of its journalists, and ensure the press can report freely on subjects of public interest without sanction, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.

On Friday, September 23, the High Authority for Communication (HAC), Guineas media regulator, ordered the one-month suspension of the radio program by the privately owned Nostalgie Guinee radio station and three of the programs hostsMamadou Mathe Bah, Minkailou Barry, and Kalil Camara, according to local media reports that include a copy of the suspension order and a local journalist who spoke to CPJ by phone and requested anonymity for fear of reprisal.

The regulator alleged that a September 22 broadcast of the programwhich featured a telephone call from Sekou Koundouno, an officer for a coalition of opposition political parties and civil society groups known as the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC)included incitement of public revolt and public insults, according to a copy of the suspension order. The order also claimed that Bah, Barry, and Camara were not being professional.

Koundouno told CPJ over the phone that during the program, he called on Guineans to mobilize for a return to constitutional order. Koundouno said he made this call to action in response to Guineas military government criticizing the president of the intergovernmental Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for opposing military rule in the country. CPJ was unable to review a copy of the broadcast because it was not available online and a request to obtain it from the radio station was not answered.

Guinean authorities should reverse their suspension of Nostalgie Guinees Africa 2015 radio program and three of its hostsMamadou Mathe Bah, Minkailou Barry, and Kalil Camara, said Muthoki Mumo, CPJs sub-Saharan Africa representative, in Nairobi. The suspensions showcase Guinean authorities ambitions to censor voices critical of the military government and send a chilling message to journalists in the country.

Chaikou Balde, president of the local press freedom group Media Alliance for Human Rights (AMDH), and the local journalist who requested anonymity told CPJ by phone that on Friday, September 23, 10 minutes before starting that days program, the hosts learned of their suspension from public media reports. Balde said that the suspended hosts were not informed directly or asked to respond to the regulators concerns before the decision. The regulator usually gives a journalist a chance to respond before ordering a suspension, Balde said.

In addition, the regulator banned the suspended hosts from speaking to local media on any topic for one month until October 22, Balde and the anonymous journalist said. The program has five hosts, but two were away during the broadcast and were not suspended, they said.

CPJ emailed Boubacar Yacine Diallo, the regulators president, and received a response that Diallo was available for an interview, but his phone was off. CPJ followed up with questions in another email but received no response.
The central and transformative promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is to leave no one behind. This requires fervent commitment to eradicate poverty in all its forms, end discrimination and exclusion, and reduce inequalities. Yet, some people who have an important role to play as change agents, are often excluded.

A deliberate effort to empower those being left behind will benefit society at large. Yakubu is an example of someone who was left behind but now feels included and empowered, thanks to a deliberate support.

I was just sitting idle at the mercy of others but now I am happy to be busy for a good cause, Yakubu Issakah, a person living with a mental health disability benefiting from a solar irrigation vegetable farming at Banda Ahenkro disclosed.

Like Yakubu, many people who often face exclusion only need a little push or support to reach their full potential as humans. Reducing inequalities requires a conscious effort in identifying who is being left behind and why they are being left behind to inform effective measures to address the root causes. With a 24acre land from the chiefs, solar irrigation facilities from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under the UNDP Global Environment Facility Small Grant Programme (GEF/SGP), and capacity development from Agriculture Extension Officers in the Banda District of the Bono Region of Ghana, Yakubu and about 250 persons with disabilities, are making a living with their environmentally friendly vegetable farming.

Like Yakubu, Rebecca was written off because of speech disability, but she is now playing an important role in safeguarding the environment for our future. She is strictly following lessons taught them in organic farming by using neem tree as a pesticide and compost, to grow fresh vegetables.

Addressing all forms of discrimination

Mostly, a major cause of people being left behind is persistent forms of discrimination including disability, gender, and age. Yakubu is a man with a disability who needed support. Just like him, by ensuring that the support provided is inclusive, Rebecca who is a woman also feels empowered to protect the environment while seeking to improve her livelihood. Similar to Rebeccas experience, women like Hannah are driving change at the grassroots.

Now, we can proudly say we have peace of mind. This is because we are now able to contribute financially to our families development, noted Hannah Chiama, President of Ayorya Women Groundnut Farming Association.

Hannah leads a group of 300 amazing women in Ayorya, who needed access to land and finance to produce and add value to groundnut. With land from the chiefs and leadership from their Queen Mother - Nana Serwaa Kruwaa, they managed to access the UNDP GEF small grant to set up a groundnut factory. They now produce groundnut paste, oil, and vegetables for major markets in the Kintampo South District of the Bono East Region of Ghana.

Working across generations

To succeed in leaving no one behind, we must also work across generations and build bridges.

What is unique about our aquaponic project approach is that we are strengthening social networks because we connect young people to older farmers for experience and knowledge sharing, stated young Zuweira Yakubu, Project Coordinator at Link Ghana  a grantee of UNDP GEF Small Grant Programme in Tain in the Bono Region.

Like the other interventions, through the UNDP GEF Small Grant Programme, over 1200 farmers including young people are combining fish farming with vegetable and crop cultivation. All these initiatives are creating jobs and improving incomes, nutrition, and environmental sustainability.

I never knew we can use water for fish farming and now I use the pond water to produce vegetables. I am also training my daughter who has graduated from the university in agriculture to take over, and also training six other young girls, said Mr. Kofi Nyamekye.

The stories of Yakubu, Rebecca, Hannah, Zuweida, and Kofi are clear examples of how deliberate support can help empower people and transform lives and communities.

Partnership is key

It is obvious that, people must always be at the centre of development and development must be inclusive, equitable, and sustainable to the benefit of all. The success of our heroes and heroines in this story demonstrates that inclusive development is possible if a deliberate effort is made to collaborate and support those being left behind.

It is also important to ensure that, while we pursue development, this is not at the peril of the environment. Living in balance with nature means we make a conscious effort to work together in addressing various forces including systemic discrimination, technological advances, climate change impacts, and conflicts. This way, we can leverage the full potential of all, to advance the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Addressing inequality requires actions at all levels. Working together will be critical in upscaling successful development interventions to ensure that all segments of society including women, youth, and persons with disabilities lead decent, dignified, and rewarding lives in a healthy environment.
The problem of illegal mining, or galamsey as it is known in this nation, simply won't allow for many of the changes we want to see in our water bodies. The devastating effects of illegal mining are what make this massive and current mad rush of activity so talked-about.

The mining industry and its profits are well known for being extremely profitable, therefore the teaming population's wild rush into the industry is not entirely unexpected. Galamsey shouldn't be treated with child gloves because of the degradation of natural resources that comes along with it. It sends the wrong message about the sustainability of these resources when farmlands are destroyed or when our major freshwater bodies are highly polluted.

I believe that the galamsey practice is a matter of security and livelihood. People's livelihoods are at stake since so many of them need to survive. They have to take care of their own needs as well as those of their family and friends. People have been more motivated to search for alternative ways of survival as a result of the absence of sustainable employment opportunities and the low value placed on agricultural activity. Galamsey is frequently viewed as a simple way to make money. A recent TV broadcast on the galamsey trade in the Ashanti region included a farmer who claimed he didn't see the value in cultivating cocoa because mining gold could earn him a sizable sum of money. Unfortunately, there are a lot of individuals that need to survive, live comfortably, and earn a living, and there are either few or no alternative sources of income.

Once more, illegal mining is a security concern since it puts human lives and natural resources in grave danger. People will do whatever to make space for occupation once they realize how profitable galamsey is. Even for members of the local community and security personnel, this occupation gradually turns into a no-go zone. This occasionally leads to violent collisions with intense rivalry for space. Through clashes and other types of mishaps, illegal mining has killed countless lives. It continues to take life. More than any other natural calamity, water body pollution puts community members' lives in danger. Metallic mining chemicals are significant home killers of people who rely on these waters for daily activity. Additionally, our natural water and forest resources are equally in danger. The continued deterioration of lands and water sources portends a bleak future. The biggest concern that galamsey poses to Ghana's future citizens is food insecurity. This is true since there won't be any land available for farming to produce food to feed the expanding population.

It will take a team effort to prevent politics from overtaking efforts to address the problem of unlawful mining. The will to stop the threat weakens as soon as we turn the fight against galamsey over to politicians. Academicians who are sincere, proactive, and well-trained in the practical arts should be able to create a framework that will support alternative livelihoods for the expanding population and sustainable development using our natural resources.

Every succeeding administration should make it a priority to establish a functioning agro-industry that will only rely on the agricultural output of farmers. While the farmers are urged to raise crops to feed the factory, the others are hired to work in these factories. Once more, the government ought to support education, particularly in rural areas, and should remove any political restrictions from the labor market. Government initiatives to support TVET education and give young people entrepreneurial skills should be rigorously pursued to ensure that the youth are equipped to come up with ideas that will earn them a respectable living.

We will keep fighting the threat ineffectively as long as the government doesn't treat galamsey like the illicit drug trade and makes it appear the same to those who engage in it. Thus, any person who wants to mine illegally is also interested in the illegal drug trade, and the law must handle them accordingly. Ghana is a lovely country, and we must take care to avoid endangering its future by engaging in political brawls with illegal mining activities.

Isaac Ofori

(Demographer, Unionist, Educator, Human Rights Activist)
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The contribution of Small-Scale Mining to the development of many countries is extremely huge. The mining industry supplies much to exports and serves as one of the main sources of employment for mankind. It is currently the fifth largest industry in the world and it plays a crucial role in the world economic development. The trade of mineral commodities represents a substantial part of international trade. Mining investment, irrespective of the type or kind of mining being undertaken is capital intensive. It is a high-risk as well as a high reward business for mining companies and communities.

Despite the enormous contribution of mining outlined, the negative impact Small Scale Mining popularly known as Galamsey create can never be over emphasised.

Across Ghana, mostly within Ashanti, Western, and Western North Regions, the activities of Galamsey have had major negative consequences on the inhabitants.

A recent article published in Morden Ghana revealed the devastating effect of flooding within the Asankragwa township (A town in the Western Region) as a result of the activities of Galamsey.

A search conducted by this writer suggests another detrimental effect of Galamsey on the Wassa Dunkwa-Enchi highway which connects the people of the Western Region to that of the Western North region.

The consequential detriment of Galamsey on Health has been left unattended. Yet much research has been done in the area.

Has the government of Ghana done much in the area of Galamsey by reducing it to its minimum level?

I believe this is a big question to be discussed some other day.

As the section of people who are hit by these erroneous actions happen to be the citizenry, whether or not the government is doing bad, the lives of each individual must be taken into their own hands to protect the environment.

We must live up to expectations to protect the environment from the inhumane activities of Illegal Small-Scale Mining.

Let us rise to the task!!

Written By

Sebastian S.K. Afari

Environmental Safety Practitioner

[email protected]
President Nana Akufo-Addo has announced plans by the government to establish a Tourism School in Accra to train persons who have an interest in the tourism and hospitality industry.

The 10 million dollar facility will serve all persons in the West Africa sub Region.

Speaking at the opening of the Tema branch of the Alisa Hotel, President Akufo-Addo said government will invest more in the tourism sector.

We plan to build a state-of-the-art tourism and hospitality training school in Accra. The 10 million US dollar facility will serve West Africa and provide customer care training to operators in the tourism and hospitality value chain.

When customers are happy and delighted, they do not only stay longer in hotels, they also spend more and likely to return in future with family and friends.

By Citi Newsroom
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Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, is questioning the relevance of District and Municipal Security Councils over their failure to fight the illegal mining menace popularly known as galamsey.

The Asantehene said years after government launched the fight against illegal mining, little has been achieved.

Speaking at a meeting with the new US Ambassador to Ghana at the Manhyia Palace, the Asantehene said the fight against galamsey has been poor.

At the district level, we have the political administration, District Chief Executive, and the Security Council. Are they all saying that they are unaware of the activities of these galamseyers? If they are unable to detect and stop the operation of these galamseyers then they are unworthy to be there, it is as simple as that.

We should have brought finality to this issue by now. The President had even put his presidency on the line, and yet this is going on. To me, something is wrong somewhere.

By Citi Newsroom
Russia's Defence Ministry on Saturday said it had pulled Russian troops out of the key town of Lyman in eastern Ukraine citing the "threat of encirclement" by Ukrainian forces.

Russian state news agencies said the troops had been withdrawn "to better positions".

The capture of Lyman is a major setback for Moscow after President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the annexation of the Donetsk region, along with three other regions, at a ceremony on Friday.

Two grinning Ukrainian soldiers taped the yellow-and-blue national flag on to the "Lyman" welcome sign at the town's entrance in Donetsk region's north, a video posted by the president's chief of staff showed.

"October 1. We're unfurling our state flag and establishing it on our land. Lyman will be Ukraine," one of the soldiers said, standing on the bonnet of a military vehicle.

Logistics hub

Russia had an estimated 5,000 to 5,500 troops at Lyman, which it used as a logistics and transport hub for its operations in the north of the Donetsk region.

Its fall marks Ukraine's biggest battlefield gain since a lightning counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region last month.

The Ukrainian military spokesperson said the capture of Lyman would allow Kyiv to advance into the Luhansk region, whose full capture Moscow announced at the beginning of July after weeks of slow, grinding advances.

"Lyman is important because it is the next step towards the liberation of the Ukrainian Donbas. It is an opportunity to go further to Kreminna and Sievierodonetsk, and it is psychologically very important," he said.

Donetsk and Luhansk regions together make up the wider Donbas region that has been a major focus for Russia since soon after the start of Moscow's invasion on 24 February in what it called a "special military operation" to demilitarise its neighbour.

Putin proclaimed the Donbas regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to be Russian land in Friday's ceremony, a swathe of territory equal to about 18 percent of Ukraine's total surface land area.

Ukraine and its Western allies branded Russia's move as illegal. Kyiv vowed to continue liberating its land of Russian forces and said it would not hold peace talks with Moscow while Putin remained as president.

(with Reuters)
President Nana Akufo-Addo has announced plans by government to convert the Kwadaso Agriculture College into a University.

Established in 1922, the Kwadaso Agriculture College has over the years trained more than 75,000 persons.

Despite the institution serving as one of the pillars in training more agriculturists, it is bedevilled with a number of challenges.

The School authorities have thus over the years appealed to government to upgrade the institution into a University and provide them with adequate infrastructure to correspond with it.

Speaking at the institutions 100th-anniversary celebration, President Akufo-Addo assured that plans are far advanced to convert the school into a University.

By Citi Newsroom
Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has handed over some managers of two facilities to the CID Unit of the Ghana Police Service for an investigation into non-compliance with the country's tax law.

The facilities which were swooped on Friday night, September 30, are Poky House at Airport residential area and the Alleys pub and club at Osu, which were found not to be issuing the Commissioner-General's invoice.

Speaking to the media after the exercise, Area Enforcement Manager of GRA in charge of Accra Central, Joseph Annan presented that the apprehended facilities had violated regulations of the Value Added Tax (VAT).

He said the exercise or operations were part of an ongoing nationwide VAT Invigilating exercise by the authority to retrieve some taxes due the State.

We are doing a test purchase, what we are looking out for is that once you are registered to charge VAT, Section 41 of the VAT act mandates you to issue the VAT invoice or an appropriate invoice sanctioned by the Commissioner General. Once you have not done that, you have committed an offence.

When we come, we will look at your records of account and assess you. There will be a full audit once investigations are done.

By Citi Newsroom
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Food and Agriculture Minister, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto says the government has banned the export of foodstuff to neighbouring countries.

Dr. Akoto says the move is aimed at preserving enough food in the country following reports of food shortages across the globe.

Speaking to journalists in Kumasi, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto said Ghana is producing enough food.

We have officially banned the export of food to neighbouring countries to make food security even stronger. All our neighbours have faced very severe food shortages, and we want to keep food within the country, not only for human consumption but for our livestock.

By Citi Newsroom
Despair, disappointment and dejection Saturday characterised the atmosphere at the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) district office in Dansoman where scores of people thronged to purchase power.

Customers on the ECG prepayment system have for about a week been unable to purchase power from vendors due technical a challenge.

As a result, the Company directed customers on its prepayment system to visit the various district offices to purchase power.

In a press statement released on Friday, ECG also indicated that it was extending the working hours for the weekend from 0900 to 1600 to ensure that it provided service to many people as possible.

However, some customers who visited the ECG district office in Dansoman were left disappointed because they were unable to do so.

When the Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited the office at 1540 hours on Saturday, it observed that customers who used the remote type of metering system could not top-up.

This, according to information gathered, was due to a network challenge.

Many people were seen around the premises with the hope that the network would be restored in time to enable them to top-up.

Those who could not stay left disappointed.

The GNA also observed the presence of about four uniformed police officers at the premises to maintain law and order.

Mrs Ewurabena Koomson, a disappointed customer, said:

It's been almost a week and this challenge has not been addressed. This is incomprehensible. I think we deserve better and ECG must be doing better.

It is really going to be a long night if we are unable to top-up this evening. I may have to try tomorrow and I hope by then the network challenge would have been resolved. 

Bernard Neequaye, another customer, said he was disappointed that for almost a week since the challenge began, ECG was yet to rectify it.

To me, I just don't understand the problem at hand, which for almost a week cannot be resolved. Is the magnitude of the problem bigger than what they are telling us?

Beside, don't they have back ups to address challenges like this? he asked.

The technical challenge has affected customers in 10 operational regional areas of the ECG in Volta, Kumasi, Accra, Takoradi, Tema, Cape Coast, Kasoa, Winneba, Swedru, Koforidua, Nkawkaw and Tafo.

In 2017, a similar incident affected more than 30,000 power consumers within four operational areas of the Company, including Kaneshie, Korle-Bu, Dansoman and Achimota.

The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission in a press release said it was engaging ECG to fix the challenge in time.

Some customers asked the Commission to direct ECG to compensate those affected by the challenge.

GNA
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, meets representatives from the C919 project team at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, attended the event. (Xinhua/Li Xueren) BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on Friday commended the achievements made in the development of the C919 large passenger aircraft and called for more major breakthroughs in China's high-end equipment manufacturing. Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks when meeting representatives from the C919 project team and viewing an exhibition on the project's achievements at the Great Hall of the People. Having large domestic passenger aircraft soaring in the sky bears the will of the state, the dream of the nation, and the expectations of the people, Xi said. He stressed the need to fully exploit the country's new system for mobilizing the resources nationwide and to prioritize safety and quality in making continuous efforts for more breakthroughs in key and core technologies, and for large scale and serialization in development. He called for solid progress in building the country into a manufacturing powerhouse. Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, attended the event. Safety and reliability should come first, and all potential safety hazards should be eliminated, Xi told the representatives. He was briefed about the design, manufacturing, experimenting, test flights, and airworthiness of the C919 large passenger aircraft while visiting the exhibition on the project's achievements. On the journey to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, we need to focus on a long-term strategy, set concrete goals in light of actual conditions, choose the right technological path, and keep up the good work step by step, Xi stressed. Aim high and be brave to ascend the peaks of the global technological landscape, Xi said. The C919 large passenger aircraft is China's first self-developed trunk jetliner. The plane conducted its successful maiden flight in 2017 and obtained the type certificate issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China after completing all airworthiness certification in September 2022. The first C919 large passenger aircraft will be delivered by the end of this year. The successful development of the C919 large passenger aircraft and its acquisition of type certificate indicates that China has the ability to independently develop world-class large passenger aircraft, which is an important milestone in this field. Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, meets representatives from the C919 project team at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, attended the event. (Xinhua/Ding Lin) Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, meets representatives from the C919 project team at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, attended the event. (Xinhua/Li Xueren) Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, views an exhibition on the C919 project's achievements at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, attended the event. (Xinhua/Li Xueren) Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, views an exhibition on the C919 project's achievements at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, attended the event. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)
Advanced Technology International (ATI) and TechConnect today announced the five winners of the 2022 Readiness Innovation Challenge. Selected from a field of 18 finalists, winners were awarded a total $50,000 in cash prizes at the Defense TechConnect (DTC) Innovation Summit & Expo, the nation's largest annual gathering of non-traditional, dual-use emerging technologies aligned with government priority requirements.

Each winner presented its innovation during the conferences Shark Tank-style pitching; finalists were given eight minutes to present to industry and government leadership aligned with participating contracting vehicles.

The five winners and their innovations are:



Circle Optics, Rochester, N.Y.: A novel technology that produces 360-degree video for VR training and synthetic environments by stitching multiple camera feeds into a single, cohesive, panoramic video.

Grayscale AI LTD, London, England: A virtual simulation platform for artificial intelligence (AI) spatial awareness training for low-SWaP (size, weight, power) platforms, such as drones, with tracking and mapping in real-time at the computer edge.

Johns Hopkins University/Surgeon MR, Baltimore, Md.: An interactive software platform that uses real-time augmented reality guidance to help surgeons safely perform their procedures.

Neuro Rehab VR, Ft. Worth, Texas: An immersive virtual reality system for rehabilitation designed to expedite patients physical therapy recovery by increasing engagement and making therapy fun and functional.

SimWerx, Denver, Colo.: A multi-modal medical simulation training that rapidly scales and improves multi-casualty prolonged care training for geographically dispersed teams in austere environments to maximize instructor capabilities, training effectiveness and real-world situational awareness for complex casualty care.

This challenge offers a $50,000 prize for innovations in modeling, simulation and training for both civilian and national security applications, including gaming technologies, synthetic environments, human immersion, AR/VR, medical MS&T, data analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, complex-domain systems, and experimentation and validation.

This years challenge featured several areas of interest for innovations in modeling, simulation and training, including gaming technologies, synthetic environments, human immersion, AR/VR, medical MS&T, data analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, complex-domain systems, and experimentation and validation. Administrators of the challenge encouraged applications from transformative innovators representing dual-use solutions for both civilian and national security applications.

DTC features six Innovation Challenges in energy and infrastructure, medical and biodefense, autonomy and air mobility, data and digital transformation, security and intelligence, and training and readiness. This years six challenges attracted nearly 800 submissions competing for a total $500,000 in cash prizes and access to more than $50 billion in prototype-level contracting authority for government customers.

Held Sept. 27-29, 2022, at Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., DTC is the nations largest annual gathering of non-traditional, dual-use emerging technologies aligned with government priority requirements. The winner of each Innovation Challenge, in addition to a cash prize, is invited to join a consortium led by DTCs parent company, ATI, the countrys leading technology consortium management firm and one of the single largest funders of prototype-level innovations for its government customers and the nation.

About Defense TechConnect

The Defense TechConnect (DTC) Innovation Summit & Expo is the nations largest annual gathering of non-traditional, dual-use emerging technologies aligned with government priority requirements. A unique bridge between private sector innovation, commercialization and government acquisition, DTC accelerates the identification and deployment of novel technologies through rapid access of vetted startups and emerging academic and federal lab innovations. In its 10th year accelerating innovation for the nation and Americas Warfighter, DTC features 500 innovations and exhibitors and is one of the most well-attended defense innovation conferences of the year. DTCs attendees include military leadership, more than 250 DoD/SES/PEO scouts, representatives from over 50 contracting offices and hundreds of active duty service members. DTC is proud to be one of the original innovation hubs to support the Department of Defense and its missions. For more information, visit https://events.techconnect.org/DTCFall.

About TechConnect

With 25+ years of experience connecting emerging technologies with unique funding and partnership opportunities, TechConnect boasts the most robust research and innovation network in the world. It employs a broad scope of tools to deliver top technologies, including open innovation programs, conferences, and open-access publications. Each year, TechConnect prospects, vets, and connects thousands of emerging technologies with corporate, investment, municipal, and national defense clients. TechConnect is a division of Advanced Technology International. techconnect.org

About Advanced Technology International

ATI, a public-service nonprofit based in Summerville, S.C., builds and manages collaborations that conduct research and development of new technologies to solve our nations most pressing challenges. Fueled by a community of experts from industry, academia, and government, ATI accelerates impact by using the power of collaboration to help the federal government quickly acquire novel technologies. ATI is a subsidiary of Analytic Services, Inc. (ANSER), a public-service research institute organized as a nonprofit corporation, which is dedicated to informing decisions that shape the nations future. ATI.org
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
Indonesian police kill militant suspected in farmers deaths View Photo

PALU, Indonesia (AP)  Indonesias elite counterterrorism police have killed a militant who was the last remaining member of an organization that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, police said Friday.

Police said Al Ikhwarisman, also known as Jaid, was a key member of the East Indonesia Mujahideen network.

The East Indonesia Mujahideen, known by the Indonesian acronym MIT, has claimed responsibility for the killings of police officers and minority Christians, some by beheading, and has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Provincial police chief Rudy Sufahriadi said Jaid conducted at least 10 of the groups executions, including the killing of four Christian farmers in May 2021. He was killed by the Densus 88 counterterrorism unit in a shootout late Thursday in mountainous Kawende village in Poso district, an extremist hotbed in Central Sulawesi province, Sufahriadi said.

Thursdays shootout occurred four months after security forces killed the other remaining member of MIT in a jungle shootout, police said.

He was the last remaining suspected member of the group, Sufahriadi said. We have managed to eliminate a dangerous militant group that has disturbed peace in Poso.

Security operations in Central Sulawesi were intensified last year to capture MIT members, particularly Ali Kalora, the groups leader and Indonesias most wanted militant. Kalora was killed in a shootout in July 2021, two months after the group killed the four Christians in Kalemago village, including one who was beheaded.

Authorities said the attack was in revenge for the killing in March 2021 of two militants, including the son of the groups former leader, Abu Wardah Santoso.

Santoso, Kaloras predecessor, was killed by security forces in July 2016. Dozens of other leaders and members of the group who escaped to remote mountain jungles of Poso have since been killed or captured.

Indonesia, the worlds most populous Muslim-majority nation, has conducted a crackdown on militants since bombings on the resort island of Bali in 2002 killed 202 people, mostly Western and Asian tourists.

Militant attacks on foreigners in Indonesia have been largely replaced in recent years by smaller, less deadly strikes targeting the government, mainly police and anti-terrorism forces, and people militants consider to be infidels, inspired by Islamic State group tactics abroad.

By MOHAMMAD TAUFAN

Associated Press
Japan PM condemns Russian annexation of parts of Ukraine View Photo

TOKYO (AP)  Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in telephone call Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, condemned Russias new annexation of parts of Ukraine as illegal and a violation of the countrys sovereignty.

I told him that the process that Russia called a referendum and its annexation of parts of Ukraine should never be accepted, and that I strongly condemn them, Kishida said afterward.

Kishida said he also reassured Zelenskyy in their 30-minute conversation that Japan is committed to working with other Group of Seven nations and the broader international community in further supporting Ukraine, and plans to impose more sanctions against Russia.

Western leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden have also condemned Russias annexation of four occupied Ukrainian regions days after voters supposedly approved Moscow-managed referendums on joining Russia.

Kishida, who is to host a meeting of leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations next year, told Zelenskyy he plans to propose that they impose tough sanctions against Russia, and will lead a discussion on Ukraines reconstruction.

He said Japan is assessing when it can reopen its embassy in Kyiv, which he described as important for close contacts between Japan and Ukraine. Japan closed its embassy in March as Russias invasion of Ukraine intensified and moved part of its operations to Lviv in western Ukraine.

Japan has closely cooperated with other G-7 members and European nations in imposing sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine. Most recently, Japan banned exports of sensitive materials that could be used to make chemical weapons.

Japans sanctions against Russia have further damaged their ties, already strained over a group of islands taken by Moscow at the end of World War II that have prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending their war hostilities.

In retaliation for Tokyos sanctions, Moscow terminated peace talks, including negotiations over the islands.

By MARI YAMAGUCHI

Associated Press
Latvias centrists are predicted to win national vote View Photo

HELSINKI (AP)  Latvia held a general election Saturday amid divisions over Russias attack on Ukraine among the Baltic countrys sizable ethnic-Russian minority. An exit poll predicted that the center-right will win the most votes but whoever forms the next government will face huge war-induced energy concerns.

A joint exit poll forecast that center-right New Unity party of Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins would win the election, capturing 22.5% of the vote. The poll was done by the Riga Stradins University, the SKDSA research center. the LETA newswire, Latvian Television and Latvian Radio.

The poll also predicted that a new centrist party that favors green development  United List  would be second with 11.5% of the vote and the opposition Greens and Farmers Union would come in third with 10.9% support. Only eight parties are predicted to pass the 5% barrier and secure representation at the 100-seat Saeima legislature.

A total of 19 parties had over 1,800 candidates running in the election. Official results are expected Sunday morning.

Initial voter turnout was 59%, the Central Election Committee said, an increase from 54.5% in the 2018 election.

Karins, who became head of Latvias government in January 2019, currently leads a four-party minority coalition that along with New Unity includes the center-right National Alliance, the centrist Development/For!, and the Conservatives.

Karins, a 57-year-old dual Latvian-U.S. citizen born in Wilmington, Delaware, told Latvian media that it would be easiest to continue with the same coalition government if New Unity wins. He has excluded any cooperation with pro-Kremlin parties.

Support for parties catering to Latvias ethnic-Russian minority, who make up over 25% of Latvias 1.9 million people, is expected to be mixed; some loyal voters have abandoned them since Russias Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

This election is likely to be the death knell for the opposition Harmony party, whose popularity has steadily declined. The Moscow-friendly party traditionally served as an umbrella for most of Latvias Russian-speaking voters, including Belarusians and Ukrainians. In the 2018 election, Harmony received almost 20% of the vote, the most of any single party, but was excluded by other parties from entering the government.

However, Harmonys immediate and staunch opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine caused many voters who still back Russian President Vladimir Putin to desert it. Those opposed to the war, meanwhile, tended to move toward Latvias mainstream parties, who condemned the invasion.

A recent poll by Latvian public broadcaster LSM showed Harmony trailing in fifth place with 5.1% support.

I think the Russophonic part of the population is very fragmented, Pauls Raudseps, a columnist at the Latvian news magazine IR, told The Associated Press. You cant say its unified on anything. Some part is pro-Putin. But what weve seen is that the war in general has changed attitudes. And it has happened fairly rapidly.

Long lines were reported outside polling stations in several places Saturday, including the capital, Riga. Many voters said Russias invasion of Ukraine affected their attitudes.

People are getting more active, and as you see, there is a queue already. So, hopefully some of the pro-Russians have switched to the more European parties now, IT engineer Ratios Shovels, 38, said at a Riga district polling place.

Elena Dadukina, a 43-year-old lawyer said, said she wasnt sure if the healthy turnout was due to the war or whether people want greater responsibility in choosing their candidates because of how they will influence our domestic politics.

Since Russias war on Ukraine started in February, Latvian officials have banned Russians from entering the country with tourist visas and dismantled a prominent Soviet monument in Riga.

This week, the Latvian government announced a state of emergency at certain border areas as a precaution following Russias partial military mobilization. Like Baltic neighbors Estonia and Lithuania, Latvia is refusing to grant political asylum to Russian military reservists escaping conscription.

Latvia, which joined the European Union and NATO in 2004, also plans to reintroduce military conscription next year after a hiatus of over 15 years.

___

AP video journalist Eduard Kolik contributed from Riga, Latvia

___

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

By JARI TANNER

Associated Press
Russia withdraws troops after Ukraine encircles key city View Photo

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  After being encircled by Ukrainian forces, Russia pulled troops out Saturday from an eastern Ukrainian city that it had been using as a front-line hub. It was the latest victory for the Ukrainian counteroffensive that has humiliated and angered the Kremlin.

Russias withdrawal from Lyman complicates its internationally vilified declaration just a day earlier that it had annexed four regions of Ukraine  an area that includes Lyman. Taking the city paves the way for Ukrainian troops to potentially push further into land that Moscow now illegally claims as its own.

The Ukrainian flag is already in Lyman, Donetsk region. Fighting is still going on there. But there is no trace of any pseudo-referendum there, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Saturday.

He was referring to referendums that Russia held at gunpoint in the four regions before annexing them  Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

The fighting comes at a pivotal moment in Russian President Vladimir Putins war. Facing Ukrainian gains on the battlefield  which he frames as a U.S.-orchestrated effort to destroy Russia  Putin this week heightened threats of nuclear force and used his most aggressive, anti-Western rhetoric to date.

Russias Defense Ministry claimed to have inflicted damage on Ukrainian forces in battling to hold Lyman, but said outnumbered Russian troops were withdrawn to more favorable positions. Ukrainian forces moved into the city, and Zelenskyys chief of staff posted photos of a Ukrainian flag being hoisted on the towns outskirts.

Lyman had been an important link in the Russian front line for ground communications and logistics. Located 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, its in the Donetsk region near the border with Luhansk, two regions that Russia annexed Friday.

Ukrainian forces have retaken vast swaths of territory in a counteroffensive that started in September. They have pushed Russian forces out of the Kharkiv area and moved east across the Oskil River.

Moscows withdrawal from Lyman prompted immediate criticism from some Russian officials. The leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, blamed the retreat, without evidence, on one Russian general being covered up for by higher-up leaders in the General Staff. He called for more drastic measures.

Meanwhile, on the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula, the governor of the city of Sevastopol announced an emergency situation at an airfield there. Explosions and huge billows of smoke could be seen by beachgoers in the Russian-held resort. Authorities said a plane rolled off the runway at the Belbek airfield, and said ammunition on board had caught fire.

Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 in violation of international law.

Russian bombardment has intensified in recent days as Moscow moved swiftly with its latest annexation and ordered a mass mobilization at home to bolster its forces. The Russian call-up has proven unpopular at home, prompting tens of thousands of Russian men to flee the country.

Zelenskyy and his military have vowed to keep fighting to liberate the regions that Putin claimed to have annexed Friday, and other Russian-occupied areas.

Ukrainian authorities accused Russian forces of targeting two humanitarian convoys in recent days, killing dozens of civilians.

The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said 24 civilians were killed in an attack this week on a convoy trying to flee the Kupiansk district. He called it ruelty that cant be justified. He said 13 children and a pregnant woman were among the dead.

The Russians fired at civilians almost at point-blank range, Syniehubov wrote on Telegram.

The Security Service of Ukraine, the secret police force known by the acronym SBU, posted photographs of the attacked convoy. At least one truck appeared to have been blown up, with burned corpses in what remained of its truck bed. Another vehicle at the front of the convoy was torched. Bodies lay on the side of the road or still inside vehicles that were pockmarked with bullet holes.

Russias Defense Ministry said its rockets destroyed Ukrainian military targets in the area but has not commented on accusations that it targeted fleeing civilians. Russian troops have retreated from much of the Kharkiv region but continue to shell the area.

And a Russian strike in the Zaporizhzhia regions capital killed 31 people and wounded 88, Ukrainian officials said. The British Defense Ministry said the Russians almost certainly struck a humanitarian convoy there with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. Russian-installed officials in Zaporizhzhia blamed Ukrainian forces but gave no evidence.

In other developments, in an apparent attempt to secure Moscows hold on the newly annexed territory, Russian forces seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov, on Friday, according to the Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom.

Energoatom said Russian troops stopped Murashovs car, blindfolded him and took him to an undisclosed location.

Russia did not comment on the report. The International Atomic Energy Agency said Russia told it that the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was temporarily detained to answer questions.

The Vienna-based IAEA said it has been actively seeking clarifications and hopes for a prompt and satisfactory resolution of this matter.

The power plant has been caught in the crossfire of the war. Ukrainian technicians continued running it after Russian troops seized the power station, and its last reactor was shut down in September as a precautionary measure amid ongoing shelling nearby.

In other fighting reported Saturday, four people were killed by Russian shelling Friday in the Donetsk region, governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said. The Russian army struck the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv twice overnight, once with drones and the second time with missiles, according to the regional governor.

Russia now claims sovereignty over 15% of Ukraine in what NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called the largest attempted annexation of European territory by force since the Second World War.

Zelenskyy on Friday formally applied for NATO membership, upping the pressure on Western allies to defend Ukraine.

In Washington, President Joe Biden signed a bill that provides another infusion  more than $12.3 billion  in military and economic aid linked to the war in Ukraine.

___

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

By JON GAMBRELL and ADAM SCHRECK

Associated Press
Calaveras County, CA  Calaveras County Public Health wants to alert the public after detecting the first case of avian influenza, also referred to as bird flu, in the county.

Announced today, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and the United States Department of Agricultures (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) have detected a case of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). Birds from a backyard flock in the county tested positive for the virus.

The bird flu had previously been confirmed in domesticated flocks in six other counties, including Tuolumne. The other five are Butte, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, and Sacramento. County public health officials disclosed, To protect other California flocks, the infected locations are quarantined and the birds are euthanized to prevent further disease spread.

Avian influenza is a highly contagious and often fatal disease in birds that spreads through contact with infected fowl or hands, shoes, clothing, feet, and fur of rodents and other animals. The public is asked to report any unusual or suspicious dead wild birds to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife online, by clicking here. The website will also have information regarding avian influenza risk, detection, reporting, symptoms, and control.
Nevada prison escape, resignation raises political stakes View Photo

RENO, Nev. (AP)  The head of Nevadas Department of Corrections resigned Friday at the request of Gov. Steve Sisolak in the wake of a prison escape by a convicted bombmaker that went unnoticed for four days.

The escapee, who was serving a life sentence for a 2007 murder in an explosion outside a Las Vegas Strip resort, was captured Wednesday night.

Sisolak said in a statement Friday he requested and received Nevada Department of Corrections Director Charles Daniels resignation, effective immediately. Six other officers were placed on administrative leave.

The embarrassing chain of events has put a spotlight on chronic staffing shortages at prisons throughout Nevada against a high-stakes political backdrop in the western battleground state a month before the November elections.

Joe Lombardo, the Republican sheriff in Las Vegas whos running against the Democratic governor, says authorities were lucky to catch the convicted killer after he got a four-day head start.

Leaders of the union representing state prison workers say it underscores the need for immediate action to ensure their safety as well as that of the general public.

Sisolak and Lombardo are scheduled to face off in a debate in Las Vegas on Sunday  five years after they worked together to raise millions of dollars for victims of the Oct. 1, 2017 mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip that left 58 dead and more than 850 injured.

Porfirio Duarte-Herrera, 42, escaped from the Southern Desert Correctional Center outside Las Vegas Sept. 23. State corrections officials didnt realize until Tuesday he was not at the medium-security facility.

A tip led to his capture at a transit center in Las Vegas on Wednesday night as he prepared to board a bus out of town.

Lombardo said Thursday at a joint news conference with an FBI special agent and the head of the U.S. Marshals Service for Nevada that they were fortunate to catch up with Duarte-Herrera so quickly given he had a four-day head start.

The policies and procedure and all the failures that occurred (last) Friday and up to Tuesday need to be addressed, Lombardo said.

Infrastructure issues and prison system staffing issues, the ability for this individual to do it  from what Ive been told  as simply as he did it is a grave concern to me and the entire law enforcement community and the community as a whole, he said.

The Department of Corrections has been silent on the circumstances of the escape from the beginning and officials declined to attend Thursdays news conference. Efforts to reach Daniels on Friday werent immediately successful. No personal phone number is listed for him and department spokespeople did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking assistance reaching Daniels for comment.

A former corrections officer at the prison who leads an advocacy group for correctional officers told Fox5Vegas that Duarte-Herrera made a dummy and used battery acid to break down the window frame of his jail cell. The guard tower that would have had eyes on the unit he escaped from was unmanned and had been for a couple of years, said Paul Lunkwitz, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police Nevada C.O. Lodge 21 in North Las Vegas.

The head of the local union representing state correctional officers called Friday for an immediate response to prison workers ongoing concerns about chronic understaffing and prioritize their safety.

NDOC leadership has cut corners that have led to dangerous incidents, including removing guards at towers that maintain a constant visual on the outer fence lines that could have prevented the escape of a convicted murder, AFSCME Local 4041 President Harry Schiffman said.

Criticism of the handling of the escape began as soon as Sisolak first announced Tuesday that Duarte-Herrera had escaped Sept. 23, that the inmates absence hadnt been detected until a head count at the prison Tuesday morning and that he was ordering an investigation.

Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske, a Republican who serves on Nevadas three-member Board of Prison Commissioners with Sisolak and Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford, said she was outraged the department didnt notify commissioners of the escape.

Sisolak ordered the corrections department to investigate the escape to ensure any lapses in protocol are immediately addressed.

Daniels resignation comes after a tumultuous month at the Southern Desert Correctional Facility and another Clark County prison, High Desert State Prison, that led many to call for his ouster.

Earlier this month, a group of medical and mental health staff at the two prisons wrote to Sisolak describing increasingly erratic, hostile and abusive behavior from the prison director.

In staff meetings after two inmates died by suicide within seven hours of each other in the same unit at High Desert, Daniels proceeded to berate the medical and mental health staff, which the letter-writers called the beginning of a witch hunt and blame game. At the second meeting, Daniels allegedly showed up an hour late and screamed at the staff present in the room and pounded his fist on the podium, shouting that no one here is special, and everyone is replaceable.

The Department of Corrections did not respond to those allegations, which were first reported by KLAS-TV in Las Vegas.

Sisolak said Friday that his office will work closely with the department to ensure the safety and well-being of both NDOC employees and inmates.

Corrections institutions across the nation are facing severe staffing shortages and together, we are working with NDOC to look at innovative ways to increase recruitment at all facilities within this state, he said.

___

Eds: This story corrects an earlier version that said the Fraternal Order of Police Nevada C.O. is a union that represents correctional officers. It is an advocacy group.

___

Stern 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 Stern on Twitter: @gabestern326.

By SCOTT SONNER and GABE STERN

Associated Press/Report for America
Max Baer, Pennsylvania Supreme Courts chief justice, dies View Photo

PITTSBURGH (AP)  Max Baer, the chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, has died only months before he was set to retire, the court confirmed Saturday. He was 74.

Baer died overnight at his home near Pittsburgh, the court said in a news release. The court didnt give a reason for his death but called his sudden passing a tremendous loss for the court and all of Pennsylvania.

The court said Justice Debra Todd now becomes chief justice as the justice of longest and continuous service on the court. She is the first female chief justice in the commonwealths history, a court spokesperson confirmed.

Chief Justice Baer was an influential and intellectual jurist whose unwavering focus was on administering fair and balanced justice, Todd said in the release. He was a tireless champion for children, devoted to protecting and providing for our youngest and most vulnerable citizens.

Gov. Tom Wolf ordered state flags at commonwealth facilities, public buildings and grounds lowered to half-staff, saying he was extremely saddened by the death of such a respected and esteemed jurist with decades of service to our courts and our commonwealth.

Baer, a Duquesne Law graduate, was an Allegheny County family court judge and an administrative judge in family court before he was elected to the high court in 2003 and became its chief justice last year. Baer also served as deputy attorney general for Pennsylvania from 1975 to 1980 and was in private practice before entering the judiciary.

Earlier this year, Baer was part of the 5-2 majority as the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld a wide expansion of mail-in voting in Pennsylvania.

Baer was set to retire at the end of 2022 after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75. The court said the seat had already been slated to be on the 2023 ballot, and in the interim the governor may choose to make an appointment, subject to confirmation by the Senate. Baer was elected as a Democrat and his death leaves a 4-2 Democratic majority on the high court.

Duquesnes president, Ken Gormley, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Baer believed justices shouldnt be public figures and that he therefore shied away from the limelight, using his position to uplift others in the profession.

He was collegial, he worked really hard to have the court function as a family, and he led by example, Gormley said. He was the most caring person imaginable  always put others first and celebrated their successes. He hated pettiness. He had no time for pettiness.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  Doctors who spread coronavirus lies could be disciplined for unprofessional conduct in California under a law signed Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The bill, AB2098, introduced by Democratic Assembly Member Evan Low, declares that a physician or surgeon commits professional misconduct if they disseminate misinformation or disinformation about the nature and risks of COVID-19, its prevention and treatment and the development, safety and effectiveness of vaccines.

A doctor who commits such conduct could face discipline by the state medical board or osteopathic medical board and in severe cases, could potentially lose their license to practice in California.

It was the last remaining vaccine-related bill of note after the more controversial measures didnt pass.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2018, more than 95,000 Californians have died, according to figures from the state Department of Public Health.

More than 80% of the population has been vaccinated with at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine but Lows bill said the spread of disinformation about vaccines has weakened public confidence and placed lives at serious risk.

The bills language says that the Federation of State Medical Boards has warned that physicians who spread misinformation or disinformation risk losing their medical license, and  have a duty to provide their patients with accurate, science-based information.

In August, state Sen. Scott Wiener announced that he wouldnt pursue a vote in the Assembly for a bill allowing teens 15 and up to be vaccinated for COVID-19 without parental consent.

Wiener said it didnt have enough support to pass.

Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco, blamed the lack of support on months of harassment and misinformation by a small but highly vocal and organized minority of anti-vaxxers.

The bill was one several coronavirus-related bills that faced heavy opposition.

Newsom and Democratic Sen. Richard Pan both delayed until next year measures relating to school vaccinations, while Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wicks withdrew her bill that would have forced all California businesses to require coronavirus vaccines for their employees.
Coming almost right after National Coffee Day, Oct. 1 marked the seventh year of International Coffee Day, an occasion meant to celebrate the classic beverage.

With that in mind, here are two Latino-owned coffee shops in the region that put forward a passion for brewing coffee, bonding local communities and engaging in social change.

Amid the pandemic, couple Carissa and Mauriel Vega wanted to find a way to connect with their local community in Woodbridge.

Carissa Vega is from Puerto Rico and her husband is from Nicaragua. Coffee was a big part of the couples upbringing, and they loved that it always brought people together. In June 2020, they opened their online coffee shop, Cafe Rebelde. The couple started off delivering coffee bags sourced from countries like Nicaragua and Peru.

It always was something we did with family and friends, Carissa Vega said. There was really not a great place to get coffee  we had to share this with people. So that was really it, it just felt right for us. It connected us to our culture, to our ancestors, but also connected us to our community.

Cafe Rebeldes dark roast is from Nicaragua, its medium roast is from Peru, and its dark roast decaf is from Mexico.

The business will also now serve a new espresso blend from Honduras, Guatemala and Brazil.

Support for farmers

Cafe Rebelde prides itself not only on the quality of its products but in its support for independent farmers and local cooperatives in Mexico, Central and South America who grow their coffee in harmony with nature.

Theyre growing it in the shade with love and care, Vega said. Theyre not big corporations that are just coming in cutting down forests bringing in pesticides, theyre growing it right.

Just a few months into their online coffee business, their virtual retail shop evolved into a pop-up cafe outside of the Woodbridge Town Library. Over the summer, Cafe Rebelde added a mobile truck to its list of offerings. With recent expansion into a mobile shop, the couple can connect with more people across the state, having the ability to offer more drinks, services and products for people looking for an ethical cup of joe.

For their coffee truck, the owners offer hot drinks, iced lattes, and specialty lemonades ranging from $3 to $6. Cafe Rebelde also partners with bakeries led by people of color.

Whether its pastries, whether its Gluten-free cookies, (or) its our coffee, Vega said. We really want to provide a space for those businesses to also flourish and collaborate with them.

Cafe Rebelde partnered with Bread and Chocolate, a Latino-owned bakery in Hamden, and gets their gluten-free and vegan cookies through Partake Foods, a Black-owned cookie company. The coffee business also sources its chocolate-covered expresso beans from Bedre Fine Chocolate, a Native American-owned chocolate company.

Mendel Ezagui from Bethany is a regular at Cafe Rebeldes spot at the Woodbridge Town Library. He said their coffee is a bit more fresh and just tastes more like coffee.

I love coming to see Mauriel, Ezagui said.  I love his coffee. Its always great to hang out with him.

According to Vega, the overall feedback from the community has been overwhelmingly positive.

I just get so excited to share something that I love with people, and hearing that they love it back, Its been beautiful.

People can purchase a bag of Cafe Rebelde coffee from their online retail shop, by visiting their regular twice-a-week spot in front of the Woodbridge Town Library or taking advantage of their monthly subscription service.

I would love everyone to know that were out there, to come and visit us, support us, Carissa Vega said. I would like people to know that they can get really good quality coffee and doesnt need to cost them an arm and a leg.

J. Rene in West Hartford

J.Rene Coffee Roasters, a Latino-owned coffee storefront in West Hartford, shares a respect for its culture and ancestors through customer experience.

Jose Rene Martinez, the Puerto Rican owner of J.Rene Coffee Roasters, explains on his website that coffee can act as a way to link people together through significant conversation while also creating long-term memories in the process. This is why he doesnt describe his store as a coffee shop, but rather as an artisanal coffee gathering place.

Aside from J.Rene Coffee Roaster, Martinez also owns VICTUS Coffee, where $2 from each bag goes to local and global advocacy organizations all the while strengthening social causes while also providing customers the taste of quality specialty coffee.
Lambert and I, and many readers, agree that Ukraine has prompted the worst informational environment ever. We hope readers will collaborate in mitigating the fog of war  both real fog and stage fog  in comments. None of us need more cheerleading and link-free repetition of memes; there are platforms for that. Low-value, link-free pom pom-wavers will be summarily whacked.

And for those who are new here, this is not a mere polite request. We have written site Policies and those who comment have accepted those terms. To prevent having to resort to the nuclear option of shutting comments down entirely until more sanity prevails, as we did during the 2015 Greek bailout negotiations and shortly after the 2020 election, we are going to be ruthless about moderating and blacklisting offenders.

Yves

P.S. Also, before further stressing our already stressed moderators, read our site policies:

Please do not write us to ask why a comment has not appeared. We do not have the bandwidth to investigate and reply. Using the comments section to complain about moderation decisions/tripwires earns that commenter troll points. Please dont do it. Those comments will also be removed if we encounter them.

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excited to be murdered by the advanced version of this in 11 years https://t.co/Gs8doWg8BC  Charlie Warzel (@cwarzel) October 1, 2022

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(Natural News) The amount of military aid the United States will send to Ukraine is about to hit $65 billion once the new nearly $12 billion package Congress is attempting to negotiate inevitably pushes through.

The $65 billion in taxpayer dollars is nearly as much as the Russian Armed Forces 2021 budget of $65.9 billion, according to an estimate by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. (Related: Prather Point: Biden is turning Ukraine into an ENDLESS WAR for the benefit of war profiteers  Brighteon.TV.)

The amount of taxpayer dollars the U.S. has spent in Ukraine is also nearly as much as the United Kingdoms full military expenditures of $68.4 billion. It is also nearly $10 billion more than what France, Germany and Saudi Arabia spend on their militaries  $56.6 billion, $56 billion and $55.5 billion, respectively.

Neil Munro, writing for Breitbart, also noted that all the foreign aid the American government has sent to Ukraine is twice as much as what the U.S. Army spends on the development and purchasing of new weaponry.

Munro added that if the government sent that amount of money back to the American people in the form of a tax rebate, all taxpayers would get a paycheck worth about $200.

According to German think tank Kiel Institute for the World Economy, the U.S. spent $43.45 billion in aid to Ukraine as of Aug. 18, consisting of $24.4 billion of military aid, $8.99 billion of humanitarian aid and $10.06 billion of other financial aid. Apparently, the U.S. sent around $10 billion more over the past month.

The next biggest spender, the United Kingdom, doesnt even spend a sixth of what the U.S. has provided to Ukraine. As of Aug. 18, Britain has given Ukraine $6.35 billion in aid, with nearly two-thirds of that  $3.93 billion  going to military aid and the rest to humanitarian and other financial aid.

Only two other nations have provided Ukraine with over $1 billion in military aid  Poland and Germany, which have provided $1.76 billion and $1.17 billion in military aid commitments, respectively.

Latest Ukraine aid package enjoys broad bipartisan support

The latest nearly $12 billion military and economic aid package for Ukraine is a result of a request from President Joe Bidens administration.

Earlier this month, Biden asked Congress to provide $11.7 billion in new military and economic aid for Ukraine in the stopgap spending bill. Sources who spoke with Reuters on condition of anonymity pointed out that there is widespread bipartisan support from both houses of Congress to spend more taxpayer dollars on Ukraine.

According to these same sources, the bipartisan aid package will include around $4.5 billion to provide more defensive capabilities and equipment for Ukraine and $2.7 billion to continue Americas ongoing military, intelligence and other defense support.

Notably, the aid package also includes $4.5 billion, which will be spent to provide direct budget support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys government through the next quarter. The money will supposedly go to paying salaries for essential employees, supporting Ukrainians displaced by the conflict and covering other critical expenses to help civilians.

This new aid package does not include the authorization request Biden asked Congress to allow him to spend $3.6 billion in Presidential Drawdown Authority money to transfer excess weapons from U.S. military stocks to Ukraine.

Learn more about the war in Ukraine at UkraineWitness.com.

Watch this clip from InfoWars featuring Owen Shroyer discussing the latest $12 billion aid package for Ukraine.

This is from the InfoWars channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Congress wants ANOTHER $12 billion sent to Ukraine as aid while Americas southern border suffers from lack of funding.

Biden regime now drawing down Pentagon weapon stocks for Ukraine, putting American forces at risk.

Russia: Washington complicit in war crimes by supplying Ukraine with ammunition.

Your government wants you to go broke, freeze to death and starve  for Ukraine.

Biden wants to continue pouring tens of billions of dollars down the Ukraine money pit while Americans suffer.

Sources include:

Breitbart.com

Reuters.com

MilEx.SIPRI.org

IFW-Kiel.de

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Meteorologist William Kininmonth with the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) authored a new paper on so-called greenhouse gases, revealing that carbon dioxide (CO2) does not impact global temperatures as many falsely claim.

At worst, CO2 has a minimal effect on temperature and climate, which is constantly in a state of flux due to factors far outside the bounds of anything mankind can control.

A former consultant at the World Meteorological Organizations Commission for Climatology, as well as the former head of the Australian governments National Climate Centre, Kininmonth knows what he is talking about when it comes to the climate. And he is not convinced that CO2 is anything about which to worry.

He says oceans are the vital inertial and thermal flywheels of the climate system. And the oceans, as we can clearly see, are not something that any person or government can control. (Related: Remember when Pete Buttigieg declared that carbon dioxide is a sin in the eyes of God?)

Efforts to decarbonize in the hope of affecting global temperatures will be in vain, Kininmonth is quoted as saying, adding that recent warming trends are probably simply the result of fluctuations in the ever-changing ocean circulation.

Ocean movement is largely responsible for planetary warming, not cow farts

Kininmonth says it must be recognized that CO2 is a non-issue when it comes to warming trends. Humans will always exhale CO2 and plants will always inhale it  and no amount of climate tampering will ever change that.

He further shared a chart showing that even as CO2 concentration increases from 0 to 600 parts per million (ppm), the total strength of the greenhouse effect barely changes, indicated by a nearly perfect horizontal line across all concentrations.

In essence, whether there is no CO2 in the air or tons of it, the greenhouse effect remains the same regardless. This basically deconstructs the entire global warming narrative with one simple data point.

No longer is it necessary to cull all cattle, destroy all gas-powered cars, and exterminate billions of people. Whether life continues on as normal or gets forced into a green transition, warming (and cooling) patterns will do what they are going to do regardless.

Good luck trying to convince the climate crazies about any of this, but it is the truth just the same. And it is helpful to have someone like Kininmonth, a renowned climate expert, saying it along with the independent media.

Kininmonth says that heat is continually exchanged with the tropical atmosphere and transported by winds to enhance warming at the North Pole. The oceans are doing this, he says, despite it getting blamed on human activity.

Temperatures at the South Pole, meanwhile, have barely moved at all over the past 50 years, which further supports Kininmonths hypothesis  which makes a whole lot more sense, by the way, than the cow farts narrative coming from the left.

Models fail to reproduce accurate energy flows, and this is the guts of how the climate system works, added Dr. John Christie, a professor of atmospheric and earth sciences at The University of Alabama, supporting Kininmonths claims about ocean energy driving climate change.

Despite all this, the prevailing climate claims still point to human use of fossil fuels as the driving factor in global warming. That is because those pushing these claims have a whole lot to gain from a forced global conversion to green energy.

Climate change is a natural process primarily controlled by the cycles of the sun, added a commenter, pointing to yet another source of global warming that is outside of human control.

The climate insanity is only getting more and more insane. You can keep up with the latest at Climate.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheGWPF.org

Infowars.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Mark Houck, 48, a Catholic pro-life author and father of seven, faces felony charges after a Department of Justice team raided his home September 23 for alleged FACE Act violations.

(Article by Rebecca Terrell republished from TheNewAmerican.com)

Around 25 to 30 FBI agents swarmed his property in rural Kintnersville, Pennsylvania, at 7:00 a.m. Having quickly surrounded the house with rifles in firing position, they started pounding on the door and yelling for us to open it, Houcks wife, Ryan-Marie, told LifeSiteNews.

After pleading with the agents to calm down for the sake of his seven children who were all present and crying, Houck opened the door. Ryan-Marie recalls they had big, huge rifles pointed at Mark and pointed at me and kind of pointed throughout the house.

The kids were all just screaming. It was all just very scary and traumatic, Ryan-Marie told the pro-life news outlet.

At first the agents refused to produce a warrant for Marks arrest, but when Ryan-Marie insisted, they gave her the first page of it and told her they were taking him to the federal building in downtown Philadelphia. The warrant claimed that Mark had attacked a patient escort at an abortion clinic, in violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a measure enacted in 1994 to squelch legitimate political protest activity, according to the National Legal Foundation.

The charge, according to Ryan-Marie, stems from a case already thrown out of Philadelphia District Court. The background of the case is this: Mark is a weekly sidewalk counselor at two abortion clinics in Philadelphia. (Sidewalk counseling is law-abiding crisis intervention that takes place on public property outside abortion mills and provides life-affirming options to women who otherwise feel they have no alternatives.)

Ryan-Marie described the situation that the Philadelphia court deemed inconsequential:

On several occasions when Mark went to sidewalk counsel last year, he took his eldest son, who was only 12 at the time, she explained. For weeks and weeks, a pro-abortion protester would speak to the boy saying crude  inappropriate and disgusting things, such as youre dads a fag, and other statements that were too vulgar for her to convey. Repeatedly, Mark would tell this pro-abortion man that he did not have permission to speak to his son and please refrain from doing so. And he kept doing it and kind of came into [the sons] personal space obscenely ridiculing his father. At this point, Mark shoved him away from his child, and the guy fell back. He didnt have any injuries or anything, but he tried to sue Mark, and the case was thrown out of court in the early summer.

A press release issued Friday from the U.S. Attorneys office paints a different picture:

According to court documents, the defendant is alleged to have twice assaulted a man because he was a volunteer reproductive health care clinic escort. The charges stem from two separate incidents both on October 13, 2021, which occurred at the Planned Parenthood Elizabeth Blackwell Health Center on Locust Street in Philadelphia, where Houck allegedly assaulted the victim, a 72-year-old man, identified in the Indictment as B.L., because B.L. was a volunteer escort at the reproductive health care clinic. In the first incident, B.L. was attempting to escort two patients exiting the clinic, when the defendant forcefully shoved B.L. to the ground. In the second incident, the defendant verbally confronted B.L. and forcefully shoved B.L. to the ground in front of the Planned Parenthood center, causing injuries to B.L. that required medical attention.

Neither the press release nor the indictment indicate the specific nature of B.L.s injuries that required medical attention. Additionally, the court docket does not list an attorney for Houck.

The press release quotes Jacqueline Maguire, special agent in charge of the FBIs Philadelphia Division, saying that violating the FACE Act by committing a physical assault is a serious crime for which the FBI will work to hold offenders accountable.

The FACE Act makes it a federal crime to use force with the intent to injure, intimidate, and interfere with anyone because that person is a provider of reproductive health care.

If convicted, Houck could be sentenced to as many as 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and fines up to $350,000.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard A. Lloret signed the warrant for Houcks arrest. According to Law & Crime, Lloret rose to his current position during the Obama administration, having been selected by a district court judge, not directly appointed by Obama. Lloret later set bail at $10,000. The judges release order requires Houck to surrender his passport, restricts his travel to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania unless he receives permission to leave from Pretrial Services, and requires Houck to surrender any firearms he may possess. The order also bans Houck from contacting any witnesses to the alleged crimes and bans him from protesting and/or sidewalk counseling at the facility where the events unfolded. Other conditions include a promise not to commit any federal, state or local crimes during the period of release.

Pro-life friends Joe and Ashley Garecht launched a GiveSendGo appeal soon after the FBI raid on the Houcks home. The campaign is within $9,000 of its $200,000 goal as of September 26.

The Garechts describe Houck as founder of The Kings Men, an organization that forms men to act as leaders and protectors in their families and communities, especially in the fight to end abortion. They also claim the incident at the Philadelphia clinic is captured on video.

But that hasnt stopped Planned Parenthood and the Biden Administration. With no prior warning, and in spite of the fact that Mark is represented by an attorney, Bidens Justice Department sent a fully armed SWAT team into a home full of young children at daybreak, to arrest a father for protecting his son. Planned Parenthood and its pro-abortion allies want to send a message of fear to the pro-life community of Pennsylvania. But we have a different message to share: We will not back down, we will not stop fighting to protect the lives of Pennsylvanias unborn children, and we WILL NOT TOLERATE the harassment of our leaders by a corrupt and politicized justice system.

The campaign stipulates that donations collected through GiveSendGo are intended help the family with any necessary expenses in relation to Marks arrest and trial.

Meanwhile, Ryan-Marie says she is trying to help her children deal with the stress of what they witnessed. After they had taken Mark, and the kids were all screaming that he was their best friend, the [FBI agents on her porch] kind of softened a bit, she told LifeSiteNews. They looked pretty ashamed at what had just happened.

Nevertheless, she is seeking professional psychiatric support for her children. I dont really know whats going to come of it when you see guns pointed at your dad and your mom in your house when you first wake up in the morning, she said.

Read more at: TheNewAmerican.com
(Natural News) A lawsuit filed against President Biden has shed some light on the shocking extent of collusion between federal agencies and Big Tech in illegal censorship activities online.

The lawsuit was brought about by the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana, Eric Schmidt and Jeff Landry, along with the New Civil Liberties Alliance, against Biden. The suit was filed in May, and as part of the discovery process, the plaintiffs identified meetings with social media platforms related to misinformation or content modulation.

Their findings revealed that a Unified Strategies group meeting was held every month between a range of government agencies and Big Tech companies. At these meetings, topics that would be suppressed or censored were discussed.

Among the topics that they deemed worthy of censorship were, not surprisingly, stories about people refusing to get COVID vaccines and the repercussions that they faced for exercising their health freedom, particularly those that involved punishments given to members of the Armed Services for refusing to get jabbed.

They also censored posts in which people discussed testing positive for the virus after getting the vaccine as well as criticism against COVID restrictions and the way that they were affecting peoples mental health. Personal stories of the side effects people experienced after getting the vaccine, such as menstrual irregularities, and concerns about vaccine passports becoming mandatory were also targeted by censors.

New Civil Liberties Alliance notes: Under the First Amendment, the federal government may not police private speech nor pick winners and losers in the marketplace of ideas. But that is precisely what the government has done  and is still doing  on a massive scale not previously divulged.

Multiple agencies communications demonstrate that the federal government has exerted tremendous pressure on social-media companies  pressure to which companies have repeatedly bowed.

More than 50 federal employees from 15 federal agencies involved

The group goes on to explain that official communications have shown the head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency discussing the need to overcome hesitation among some social media companies to work with the government in censoring certain views. They added that this type of governmental interference is unlawful and violates Americans fundamental right of free speech. They called for more discovery to uncover just how extensive this activity has been.

Some of the documents that have been obtained as part of the lawsuit identify more than 50 federal employees in 15 federal agencies who have taken part in these censorship meetings or engaged in illegal censorship in some other way.

The list of those involved in this appalling behavior is lengthy and includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of the Surgeon General, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Homeland Securitys Office of Intelligence and Analysis, the Justice Departments National Security Division, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agencys Election Security and Resilience team, and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Members of White House staff have also been implicated, such as the former White House senior COVID advisor Andy Slavitt, White House lawyer Dana Remus, and the presidents deputy assistant, Rob Flaherty.

Other emails show that outside consultants were brought in to manage the collusion between the government and social media in censoring Americans. For example, strategic marketing and communications firm Reingold was enlisted to set up a portal that CDC officials could use to flag content that it wanted social media platforms to censor.

Some of the Big Tech names who participated in these censorship meetings include Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Wikimedia Foundation, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Pinterest and Reddit.

Some social media companies may have been initially hesitant, but others showed an eagerness to cooperate with the censorship. For example, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was in regular contact with the State Department as far back as February 2020 offering to help control information and misinformation related to Corona virus.

Meanwhile, three Republican representatives on the House Oversight and Reform, Judiciary and Commerce committees have introduced legislation that would ban federal employees from using their roles to influence decisions on censorship made by tech platforms.

Sources for this article include:

ChildrensHealthDefense.org

ThePostMillennial.com
(Natural News) The hacker behind the attack against Australian telecommunications provider Optus released more than 10,000 customer records and demanded U.S.$1 million in cryptocurrency. But the cybercriminal bizarrely apologized later and promised not to leak almost 10 million Australian customers information.

Hidden under the user name OptusData, the hacker stole personally identifiable information (PII) records of 9.8 million Australians, including drivers licenses, passport numbers, home and email addresses, phone numbers, date of birth and Medicare numbers.

Only contact onsite! Optus if you wish to contact message onsite! We are businessmen 1.000.000$US is lot of money and will keep to our word. If you care about customer you will pay! Revenue 9B$ dollar, 1M$US small price to pay! OptusData said in a ransom note posted on an online data breach forum.

That post also included a threat to release more batches each day for the next four days unless demands are met. Within the same thread, hours later, the hacker posted an apology to the people affected by the leak and a claim to have deleted all the stolen data.

Too many eyes. We will not sale (sic) data to anyone, the hacker wrote. We cant (sic) if we even want to: personally deleted data from drive (Only copy). The cyber attacker said no ransom for the data had been paid as of yet. (Related: Hackers steal over $104 million worth of crypto assets from blockchain bridge.)

Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said the data breach is not what it is made out to be because the data was encrypted and the telco giant has multiple layers of protections.

It is not the case of having some sort of completely exposed [application programming interface] API sitting out there. We invest heavily in our cyber defenses, and we really are doing everything we can to ensure that our environment is secure, Rosmarin said.

However, Optus may sooner than later face a class action filed by law firm Slater and Gordon on behalf of customers affected by the cyberattack.

This is potentially the most serious privacy breach in Australian history, both in terms of the number of people affected and the nature of the information disclosed, class action senior associate Ben Zocco said.

They are filing the case for serious consequences the data breach could bring, particularly to vulnerable members of society, such as domestic violence survivors, victims of stalking and other threatening behavior, and people who are seeking or have previously sought asylum in Australia.

Customers alerted of cash in scams, to change their drivers license numbers courtesy of Optus

Tens of thousands of Optus customers are now being alarmed to be mindful of the new scam doing the rounds as fraudsters attempt to cash in on the data breach.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission-run Scamwatch issued the alert on September 27, warning customers that scammers will try to offer false compensation following last weeks cyberattack.

Beware of scams claiming youre eligible for financial compensation for identity theft, the website posted, including a photo of an example email.

Cybersecurity experts such as Alastair MacGibbon from CyberCX are skeptical that the hackers will do as they promised to remove the leaked customers PII on the world wide web.

I dont believe it. I dont trust criminals, MacGibbon told Today. That means this data is still out there. Cant put it back in that bottle.

Meanwhile, Australians victimized by the massive breach will be able to change their drivers license numbers and get new cards, with Optus expected to shoulder the multimillion-dollar cost of the changeover.

Toby Murray, an associate professor in cybersecurity at the University of Melbourne, told people who are at risk now as a result of the cyber hacking to start changing their drivers license numbers or their Medicare card numbers.

Victor Dominello, New South Wales customer service minister, advised impacted customers to apply for the replacement. NSW will charge a $29 replacement fee and will be reimbursed by Optus.

Also, Victorians will get free license number replacements and the chance to flag their license record in case of future fraud. We will request Optus repays the cost of the new licenses to the Victorian government, a spokesperson said.

Visit CyberWar.news for more news related to cyberterrorism and hacking.

Watch this video where Tom Kirkham, CEO and founder of Iron Tech Security, differentiates the three hacker types.

This video is from the Finding Genius Podcast channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Former Twitter employee: Staff at Big Tech firm feared Chinese agent could collect user data.

Libs of TikTok doxing uncovers secret hacker-government mercenary alliance behind regimes war on MAGA Americans.

People wonder if alleged GiveSendGo hacker is demonic after disturbing video where he squirms like a snake.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

9News.com.au 1

Twitter.com

9News.com.au 2

TheGuardian.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Former Pfizer employee Karen Kingston noted that the emergency use authorization granted to the Big Pharma companys Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine by the Food and Drug Administration has allowed Pfizer to avoid strict regulation and distribute a poorly made and deadly vaccine.

Kingston, a former Pfizer sales representative for the companys branch in New York, left the company and turned into a whistleblower following the Big Pharma corporations creation of the COVID-19 vaccine. She talked about how Pfizer created this drug with Ann Vandersteel during the Sept. 29 edition of the latters Brighteon.TV program, The Zelenko Report.

According to Kingston, Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine did not go through the FDAs strict approval process  and it didnt have to since it was granted emergency use authorization by the FDA, which later gave the vaccine full approval.

There are distinct legal differences between a product thats used for emergency use authorization versus a product that goes through the FDA approval process, also known as the Initial New Drug application process, said Kingston.

Kingston added that any company that wants to put its products through the Initial New Drug application process agrees to subject those products to a wide range of consumer protection laws, namely the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 and Title 21 sections 300 and 500 of the United States Code.

For Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine, this means it would have been prohibited from starting phases 2 and 3 of drug trials if it puts people at unnecessary risk, said Kingston.

Kingston added that Pfizer would have also been prohibited from giving the product to any woman of childbearing age that might affect their reproduction, and to any children who are not at risk for the disease the product is marketed at defending against, especially if it could increase the risk of children to any kind of disease, disability or death.

Kingston: Under EUA, willful misconduct is legal

Because Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine was under the protection of emergency use authorization, it avoided being put through intense scrutiny and rigorous testing before being distributed for widespread use. (Related: No, Pfizer cant use the government as a shield from liability for making false claims about COVID vaccine, lawyers argue.)

Under emergency use authorization, willful misconduct is legal, Kingston said. The point of EUA is simply to get a product to market if there is a chemical, biological or a virus agent that is a threat to national security.

By contrast, Kingston said the point of putting products through the FDA approval process is to prove that those products are safe and effective.

So, if you look at all the documents and the law  I mean, all the FDA documents, the applications, the Department of Defense contracts, youll clearly see that it states over and over again that the emergency use product from Pfizer and BioNTech is separate, said Kingston. Meaning, the product didnt go through the normal process before being injected to millions of Americans and billions worldwide.

Learn more about Big Pharma companies at BigPharmaNews.com.

Watch this Sept. 29 episode of The Zelenko Report with Ann Vandersteel featuring Karen Kingston as they discuss the liability shield that prevents people from suing Big Pharma.

The Zelenko Report with Ann Vandersteel airs from Monday to Friday at 1-2 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

Pandemic profiteering: Pfizer to earn a whooping $54 billion by years end, thanks to COVID-19.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals claims Pfizer, Moderna infringed on its patent rights to make COVID-19 vaccines.

More evidence emerges proving Pfizer committed fraud during COVID-19 vaccine trial.

Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine had a shocking DEATH rate of 3.7% during early trial  but the FDA approved it anyway.

Pfizer recorded so many adverse events that it had to hire 2,400 more employees to handle paperwork and data processing.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

SenseReceptorNews.com
(Natural News) The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is offering $500 million in grants to bolster domestic fertilizer production to spur competition and combat the massive price increases of the past few months.

Farmers have been dealing with skyrocketing fertilizer prices for most of the year. Worse yet, even though prices declined somewhat during the summer, forecasts predict that costs will surge once again in the fall. This is compounding the already dire concerns and anxieties American farmers have about potential farm income for 2023. (Related: Nitrogen fertilizer prices are expected to rise  and the cost of natural gas is no longer the only factor.)

The USDAs $500 million grant program is known as the Fertilizer Production Expansion Program. This is the continuation of a program the department established back in March when it made available $250 million to finance more domestic fertilizer production.

At the time, the USDA said it would also use funds drawn from the Commodity Credit Corporation, a government-owned corporation designed to help stabilize agricultural prices and support farmers incomes, to develop a grant program that would provide gap financing to help bring new domestic fertilizer production in the market.

America is currently one of the top three importers of fertilizer. Most of the fertilizer or components of fertilizer come from countries like Russia, Morocco, China and Canada. Supply chain issues from last year made fertilizer prices start growing. These prices crept even higher earlier this year and are expected to soar to record highs by the end of the fall planting season.

While price is one main problem for American farmers, fertilizer availability is another dire concern. Issues stemming from freak weather incidents, including the impact of Hurricane Ida, to political issues like the sanctions against massive fertilizer producer Russia, have created a cobweb of concerns that have slowed down global fertilizer production and have prevented what fertilizer there is in the market to reach the United States.

Program unlikely to help farmers deal with fertilizer costs at present

According to the White House and the USDA, the grant money from the Fertilizer Production Expansion Program will support independent, innovative, sustainable and farmer-focused domestic fertilizer production meant to supply American farmers with cheap fertilizer.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack himself said that the departments bigger goal is to help create a resilient, secure and sustainable economy, and this support to provide domestic, independent choices for fertilizer supplies is part of that effort.

Recent supply chain disruptions have shown just how critical it is to invest in the agricultural supply chain here at home, he added.

The maximum grant amount that can be doled out is $100 million. The minimum is $1 million. Each grant has a term of five years.

The Fertilizer Institute President and CEO Corey Rosenbusch praised the program, saying that anything that helps strengthen domestic fertilizer production is a win for the industry, growers and consumers.

Unfortunately, this program comes far too late to help farmers deal with prices at the moment. In Missouri, farmers are currently paying an average of $1,325 for a ton of nitrogen fertilizer. In Iowa, farmers are paying more than $1,400 per ton.

Rosenbusch himself noted that if the administration of President Joe Biden really wanted to help boost domestic fertilizer production, it would require billions of dollars. One nitrogen fertilizer plant, he noted, can cost between $2 to $4 billion to construct.

Learn more news about fertilizer production and prices at FertilizerWatch.com.

Watch this episode of the Health Ranger Report as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, talks about how Hurricane Ian has devastated North Americas fertilizer production.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Major Florida fertilizer hub took DIRECT HIT by Hurricane Ian, produces HALF the phosphate fertilizer for America.

Green energy GENOCIDE: Without fossil fuel, therell be no more fertilizer to grow food.

United Nations BEGGING Russia to export fertilizer so Western nations dont suffer a worsening food collapse.

FAMINE AHEAD: High fertilizer prices could cause global grain production to PLUMMET by 40%.

Prepare for dire food shortages as most fertilizer production in Europe goes offline.

Sources include:

AgWeb.com

CapitalPress.com

Brighteon.com
An old central heating boiler (L) and a hydrogen boiler inside the Hydrogen Experience Centre in Apeldoorn on May 27, 2021, the hydrogen house of certification body Kiwa and energy company Alliander. - The house serves as a training location for technicians, who can learn how residences can be powered by hydrogen. - Netherlands OUT (Photo : Photo by SEM VAN DER WAL/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)

30 studies contradicted the government's claim in favor of hydrogen for heating homes and cutting greenhouse gas emissions. This has cast doubts upon hopes that hydrogen will decarbonize the economy.

The report was published on Tuesday in the peer-review scientific journal Joule, making it the third major blow to proponents of hydrogen use for home heating in the past week, including Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg who told the Commons that hydrogen was a 'silver bullet', BBC News reported.

Unlike fossil fuels, hydrogen is believed to not give off CO2 when it burns, and "could be used as a way to store excess renewable power, with some adjustments piped through to people's houses to heat them during the winter," said Mr. Rees-Mogg.

While many energy scientists agree with Mr. Rees-Mogg's assessment, 30 studies concluded that hydrogen is unsuitable and unlikely to play a major role in home heating, according to The Guardian.

All But a Pipe Dream

Heating and cooling accounts for around 50% of total global final energy consumption, of which half is consumed for heating homes or buildings and most is fossil fuel based.

No matter what angle you look into, having net zero greenhouse gas emission is not attainable, which is why many gas and heating industry representatives promote low-carbon and zero-carbon hydrogen as solution to replace fossil gas.

While this may sound attractive at first glance, all of the independent research on this topic reached similar conclusion: "Heating with hydrogen is a lot less efficient and more expensive than alternatives such as heat pumps, district heating and solar thermal," said Jan Rosenow the report's author and Europe Director at the energy think-tank the Regulatory Assistance Project.

More so, the whole context was described as all but a pipe dream, and that compared to other alternatives such as heat pumps, solar thermal, and district heating, hydrogen use for home heating "is less economic, less efficient, more resource intensive, and associated with larger environmental impacts."

Also read: More Than Half of a Thousand Palm Tree Species at Risk of Extinction

Not a Miracle Energy Source

Hydrogen may look appealing since it doesn't release CO2 when burnt, can be made from water, and considered limitless, even. However, it is still no miracle and poses big challenges when being made.

For hydrogen to be considered 'green', it has to electrolyze water using electricity from renewable sources, which is an inefficient process. In fact, heating homes with green hydrogen uses approximately six times more renewable electricity than heat pumps, according to David Cebon of the Hydrogen Science Coalition and Professor of Mechanical Engineering in Cambridge University.

He adds that well-known laws of thermodynamics already determine the answer, and there's no time or resources to waste trying to find out what role exactly hydrogen plays in home heating.

Although it does help in decarbonizing heat in buildings, the government itself made clear that a decision on this will not be made until 2026, after all relevant evidence is considered.

"The reality is that significant technical alterations are needed including the pipework in homes and that it will cost people a lot of money to keep warm," another proponent against it added.

Related article: Many Species in Europe Has Thrived Thanks to Wildlife Protection Programs
RIOBAMBA, ECUADOR - OCTOBER 13: This is an undated photo of the crater of the snow-covered volcano Altar, located in the Andean center of Ecuador, from which the mud and rock slide of great proportions in the province of Riobamba took place. This disaster left two dead, 28 missing, 30 slightly injured, and 30 without housing. The slide was caused by a sudden and accelerated defrosting of perpetual snows of the Altar, from which the flow of mud and rocks created a flood that made the level of River Chambomade rise by two meters.(FILM) Foto sin fecha del crater del volcan nevado Altar, ubicado en el centro andino de Ecuador, desde el cual se produjo un deslave de lodo y rocas de grandes proporciones en la provincia de Riobamba. El saldo provicional de este desastre es de dos muertos, 28 desaparecidos, 30 heridos leves y unas 30 casas afectadas, segun informo la Cruz Roja Ecuatoriana. El deslave fue provocado por un repentino y acelerado deshielo de las nieves perpetuas del Altar, que con el flujo de lodo y rocas origino una creciente que hizo subir dos metros el nivel del rio Chambo, atrapando en el interior de un vehiculo a las dos personas que fallecieron, perteneciendo ambas a una misma familia.(FILM) (Photo : Photo credit should read SANTIAGO VALLEJO/AFP via Getty Images)

The Vredefort crater in South Africa is the world's biggest of its sort, stretching up to 300 kilometers (more than 180 miles) from edge to edge. Trekking continuously through one corner to the next could require around roughly three days.

2-Billion-Years-Old Crater

In recent report from both local and national media offices, notably the Science Alert that the marks left by a meteorite crash two billion years earlier have already been formerly blown to pieces by the environment, abandoning opportunity for debate about the exact scope of the event and the energies that generated it.

Moreover, according to recent study published under the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, and predicated on what is assumed to be a highly realistic reconstruction of the asteroid strike, the projectile that created the crater was bigger than originally anticipated.

Wherein environmental researcher Miki Nakajima of the University of Rochester in New York State explains that unlike the Chicxulub collision, the Vredefort repercussions left no evidence of widespread destruction or bushfires.

If the latest simulation is true, the meteorite that struck two billion years ago was larger than the one that produced the Chicxulub crater and wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

As per to the most recent investigation, the debris accountable for the devastation was approximately to 20 to 25 kilometers throughout and moving at a speed of 15 to 20 kilometers per second in the minutes preceding collision.

The Vredefort collision debris has been found as far afield as soviet Russia, however the studies suggest this area would be significantly nearer to the accretion disk two billion decades earlier.

The widely used Simplified Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (iSALE) schematic diagram was employed to analyze the numbers, culminating in a type of situation that supports previous investigations by pushing the approximate amount of the Vredefort crater to a relatively high distance - far further than the size that a 15-kilometer-wide asteroid could very well end up creating, the Geo Science World updated.

Also read: Many Species in Europe Has Thrived Thanks to Wildlife Protection Programs

Africa's Vredefort Crater

In fact, two billion years is a long time for a topography to erode, so determining the start point of the impact with precision is difficult. Getting availability of data supplied by a complex such as the Vredefort crater is a fantastic chance to put the concept as well as comprehension of sedimentary data to the stress, allowing us to properly comprehend collisions on Planet and elsewhere.

This information contributes to a deeper knowledge of how the globe has developed over millions and millions of years, despite massive geomorphologic as well as biological upheaval and many asteroid crashes.

Conversely, as shown in the study posted under Science Direct, the event might have had a greater influence on worldwide weather patterns than the Chicxulub influence. Previous estimations estimated the asteroid's diameter at 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) and speed at 15 kilometers per second.

The modeling research performed here as well allows academics to gain a deeper understanding of how continental plates may have changed through time.

In his official statement Johns Hopkins University astronomer Natalie Allen remarked that acknowledging the greatest influence mechanism that humanity has on Earth is crucial. Even so, as for Allen, it is quite challenging to restrict the position of mountain ranges that were distant past.

Related article: Naracoorte Caves: World's Best Fossil Sites Located in Australia Dating Back to 500,000 Years Ago
A heroic act was recorded on video after a man bravely saved a trapped cat amidst the heavy rains in Florida. The man became a social media hero showing love for the animals.

Megan Cruz Scavo posted the video on Twitter. In the video, a man, Scavo's boyfriend, saved the frightened cat against the big waves.

They called the cat miracle Ian, and the Twitter post said that they started to help affected homes by honoring the miracle cat.

As of September 30, 2022, the Twitter post garnered over 21k retweets, 3,562 quote tweets, and 196.3k likes. The man's efforts touched netizens.

Also Read: South Carolina to Expect Torrential Rain and Storm Surge after Ian intensified to Hurricane.

Hurricane Ian brought heavy rains and strong winds to Florida, causing flooding and damage to property, power lines, and trees. Local officials mobilized linemen and the national guards to assist residents affected by Hurricane Ian.

Hurricane Ian

Hurricane Ian has strengthened into Hurricane. In the latest advisory, the NOAA NWS National Hurricane Center announced that the Hurricane maintained 85 mph (140 km/h) maximum sustained winds with higher gusts.

On the other hand, the WeatherFlow station on Fort Sumter Range Front Light in South Carolina shared that Hurricane Ian was seen with a 40 mph (65 km/h) sustained winds and 58 mph (93 km/h) gust.

The advisory added that Hurricane Ian was moving north at nine mph (15 km/h). Additionally, Hurricane Ian was tracked by NHC at about 105 miles of Charleston, South Carolina.

Hurricane Ian is expected to a rapid weakening, becoming an extratropical low over North Carolina on Saturday.

Moreover, Hurricane Ian is said to reach South Carolina's coast today, and it will continue to move farther to central North Carolina and easter Carolina tonight on Saturday.

On the other hand, Hurricane Ian is expected to unload the storm rainfall that has the potential to cause flooding, mudslide, and landslide. According to the NOAA NWS National Hurricane Center, the total rainfall amounts are:

Four to eight inches with local maxima of 12 inches in Northeast South Carolina.

Three to six inches with local maxima of eight inches in Central South Carolina, North Carolina, and southern Virginia.

The advisory warned that river flooding in central Florida would continue through next week. At the same time, small river flooding could happen in coastal and northeast South Florida.

The Hurricane Center also said that a few tornadoes have the potential to emerge.

Safety

As Hurricane Ian unloaded flooding rainfall, preparing during and after the Hurricane is crucial. The Hurricane managed to strengthen despite weakening, according to forecasts. As a result, understanding reminders during and after the Hurricane can save a life.

As Hurricane Ian approaches, keep updated with current weather reports and announcements from local officials.

Refrain from traveling outdoors since Hurricane Ian could damage trees and power lines and inundate rivers. Roads could have zero visibility.

Fully charge your gadgets, including mobile phones. Hurricanes can turn down power lines causing power outages.

Prepare an emergency bag with primary documents, food supplies, and medicines.

Follow the announcements from state officials for possible evacuations.

After the Hurricane, check yourself for any injuries. Loo at your home for possible damage and repairs.

Related Article:Hurricane Ian to Unleash Heavy Rains in Florida As It Quickly Intensifies

For more similar stories, don't forget to follow Nature World News.
Sanibel Island in Florida has been devastated by Category 4 Hurricane Ian, which left flooded streets and demolished homes in its wake. Roads were also destroyed and the island is cut off from the rest of the world, as a result.

Sanibel Island's mayor, Holly Smith, said in an open letter to her constituents on Thursday evening that Hurricane Ian's devastation has "forever changed" their community. Sanibel Island is located just southwest of Fort Myers.

Smith wrote in the letter that she is having trouble putting her feelings into words, as with most of the residents are as well in the wake of the previous four days. She continued, "Their island and all of their lives have been forever changed." She concluded by saying that whatever they do today, tomorrow, and in the days, weeks, and months to come, they will strengthen and redefine their community.

Our field crews were able to make it to Sanibel island today and captured aerial footage of the damage. The only road in/out of the island was damaged extensively and rescues are being conducted by Coast Guard helicopter pic.twitter.com/rpSDUGjHy0  WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) September 29, 2022

Aerial footage from several videos that were posted on social media and showed houses being torn to pieces amid flooded streets supported Smith's claims.

Rescue and Help via Helicopter

According to WeatherNation, the only access point to the island was severely damaged, and the Coast Guard is using a helicopter to carry out rescue operations.

In his morning update on Thursday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis informed the public that Pine Island Bridge and the Sanibel Causeway, which leads to the island, will both need to be rebuilt.

Sheriff Carmine Marceno of Lee County also shared a video on Twitter along with a statement about witnessing the damage firsthand.

Marceno declared that they are heartbroken and that their thoughts are with every affected resident and that the Lee County Sheriff's Office is on the move and will do whatever it takes to assist its citizens.

Flooded streets were littered with debris, there were collapsed bridges, and smoke was coming from houses without roofs. Sanibel Island, Fort Myers, and Cayo Costa are all included in Lee County, where the first landfall of Hurricane Ian was Wednesday afternoon,

Marceno said that While diligently responding to residents who were trapped in their homes, the rescue teams were only just beginning to scratch the surface. Marceno also changed his mind after stating that the storm's death toll would be in the "hundreds" in one of his comment.

Around the island, there are also several parts of flooding as witnessed by Sam Bloch, who took a flight on Thursday to the island to assist in supplying fresh food.

To ensure that everyone who needs food is taken care of, Andres from WC Kitchen will be on location with hot meals from Florida.

Bloch said they will collaborate with the charity to deliver food to the island for those who can't leave.

Read also: Wildlife May Swarm to Different Locations as Hurricane Ian Hits Florida, Officials Warn

Local Government Action Plan

In her letter, Mayor Smith said that the rescue and transportation to safety of any citizens stranded on the island will be the city's priority.

Smith wrote that as the Mayor and City Manager Dana Souza just ended a phone call with Governor DeSantis, coordination efforts are already underway. The governor gave the officials assurance that the needs of the residents of Sanibel Island would be met despite the team's short- and long-term challenges.

According to the Florida Division of Emergency Management, as of Thursday afternoon, search and rescue teams had saved more than 500 people in the counties of Lee and Charlotte, Newsweek reports.

Related article: Florida Deploys National Guard; Millions Ordered to Evacuate as Hurricane Ian Draws Near
By looking at the winds that affect the ocean currents heating these areas, University of New South Wales (UNSW) researchers have found the answer to the question of why and how ocean hotspots are forming so quickly. Later analysis shows that the chain reaction is started by climate change.

Southern Hemisphere western boundary currents are rapidly warming, according to researchers from UNSW Sydney, and this is changing weather and habitats all over the world. The change is attributed to changes in strength and large-scale wind patterns.

Large amounts of heat are carried to the poles by the ocean's western boundary currents, which include the East Australian Current. These currents play a key role in regulating coastal climates around the world. They have created ocean "hotspots" by warming their poleward extension regions two to three times faster than the global average over the last few decades, but back then, no one understood why.

Mystery Solved

Researchers from the School of Biological, Earth, and Environmental Sciences at UNSW Sydney solved the mystery of global warming in their study.

Dr. Junde Li, the lead author of the study, said that the easterly winds at mid-latitudes are shifting south due to climate change, which is what is causing the rapid warming.

Li said this was resulting in more eddies, which are sizable ocean whirlpools that trap and carry warm ocean waters, in the western boundary current poleward extensions.

These modifications are causing heat, dissolved gases, and nutrients to be redistributed globally, which is altering regional weather patterns and marine ecosystems.

The livelihoods and lives of hundreds of millions of individuals who live along the coasts of South Africa, Australia, and Brazil are impacted by the western boundary currents found in the Southern Hemisphere.

Professor Moninya Roughan, a co-author of the study, said that Southeast Australian ocean temperatures are rising rapidly. This warming trend is occasionally broken by periods of extreme warmth. For example, in February 2022, all Sydney coastal water heat records were broken.

Read also: Several Heat Sources for Volcanic Hotspots are Shockingly Nearer than Expected

Global Warming and Wildlife

According to Roughan, ocean hotspots stress coastal lifeforms, which can cause a permanent loss of habitat. Along the east coast, the warming has extended further south, bringing many species with it.

This includes sea urchins migrating to Tasmanian offshore waters. The invasion of warmer water as well as the kelp-eating urchins in this area both contributed to the destruction of kelp forests. Both the local tourism and crayfish industries were impacted by this.

Li said that despite the study's emphasis on the Southern Hemisphere, the findings may also shed light on the factors that contribute to ocean warming as well as marine heat waves in the western boundary currents of the Northern Hemisphere, such as the Gulf Stream.

Li added that as the atmosphere warms, the oceans will also continue to get warmer. As a result, high-resolution datasets must be created to better comprehend the dynamic behavior of global heat transport.

This can aid in the forecasting and planning for the effects of warming on local communities, industries, and much more as a result of climate change, Phys Org reports.

Related article: Hawaiian Hot Spots Not to Blame for Underwater Volcanoes
Reporter

Debra Pressey is a reporter covering health care at The News-Gazette. Her email is dpressey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@DLPressey).
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Acting Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation & Telecommunication (TEATT) Omar Ottley says Arajet's two weekly flights between St. Maarten and Santo Domingo "show that we are rebounding well with hopes of an excellent season ahead."





Minister Ottley joined the Princess Juliana International Airport NV (PJIA) team in officially welcoming Arajet Airlines' inaugural flight to St. Maarten on Tuesday, September 27.





Arajet will have two (2) weekly non-stop flights between St. Maarten (SXM) and Santo Domingo (SDQ) on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The Airline will use a Boeing 737 MAX-8 with a seating capacity of 185. This venture is part of Arajets growing network out of the Dominican Republic.





Ottley said, "The Dominican Republic and St. Maarten share a long history of trade relationships. The family ties that bind us have favoured both countries for many years. The Dominican Republic has many travel enthusiasts whose visit will further enhance our economic model as we continue to grow."





"They will have the opportunity to bask in the sun on our beautiful beaches, experience exciting nightlife, and taste some delicious dishes at some of our world-famous restaurants."





Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Arajet Victor Pachego Mendez said, "We are excited to start operations at Princess Juliana International Airport." He said St. Maarten is one of the top destinations in the Caribbean.





"The launch of direct, low-fare flights from the Dominican Republic will attract more tourists, increase connectivity, and offer our guests the opportunity to experience our warm and distinctive Dominican customer service," said Pachego Mendez.





He described the Airline as "an environmentally friendly fleet" with a new and modern 737 MAX-8.





CFO of PJIA Ben van der Klift said, "Today, I'm very pleased and honoured to welcome Arajet to our airport and the island of St. Maarten. Arajet is an important addition to our hub function to increase St. Maarten's connectivity in the Caribbean. In addition, the entire island will benefit from this route development. More tourists will come to our island, and the people of St. Maarten have even more choices when they want to fly to Santo Domingo."





"Arajet's decision to include St. Maarten as a preferred destination as it expands its airlifts throughout the Caribbean indicates its trust in our Country's service cultural standard. We welcome Arajet and its staff and thank the Airline's management team for placing its confidence in our island. We look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship with the hopes to see increased airlifts over time," concluded Ottley.
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

A few clouds from time to time. High 49F. Winds NW at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Some clouds early will give way to generally clear conditions overnight. Low 29F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph.
Soldiers representing 2nd Brigade Combat Team Strike, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), and the XVIII Airborne Corps continued day three of the FORSCOM Best Squad Competition with a combat medical lane scenario and rescuing a mock high value individual while dealing with a mass casualty scenario at Ft. Hood, Tx. Aug. 17, 2022. Each of these events tested the physical and mental toughness of each squad to see which squad will represent FORSCOM at the Best Squad of the Army competition, which will take place at Ft. Bragg, NC. (U.S. Army Photos by Spc. Kendall Lewis, 40th Public Affairs Detachment)
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Information Affairs Minister Dr Ramzan bin Abdulla Alnoaimi yesterday hailed the 30% drop in the overall crime rate achieved by Bahrain over the past four years.

Dr Alnoaimi said this as he paid tribute to the Minister of Interior General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa and described the achievement as a reflection of their loyalty and relentless efforts to maintain security and public order.

The Director-General of Verdict Enforcement and Alternative Sentencing, Shaikh Khalid bin Rashid Al Khalifa, earlier announced during a community meeting with owners and representatives of Majlises the role of alternative penalties in reducing the rate of repeated crimes by 33.3%.

He also revealed that the rate of violations regarding the implementation of alternative sanctions reduced by 71.3% in 2021.

The Director-General said that the alternative penalties have so far covered 4413, while he noted that the open prison programme includes three phases: evaluation, rehabilitation and integration.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Police arrested a 34-year-old Bahraini man accused of tricking and forcing girls of foreign nationalities into prostitution with fake offers.

The Ministry of Interior, in a tweet, said the arrest followed an investigation into an audio clip that went viral online.

Director General of the Department of Investigation and Criminal Evidence said the case is currently before a competent court.

Investigators said the suspect also had a history of trafficking and had served ten years in jail for possessing drugs in 2010.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Stealing money from his fathers account landed a 16-year-old Bahraini boy in jail for six months. The boy, whose parents are separated, is charged with stealing more than BD11,000 from his fathers account.

The court will review his case three months after and based on a report by the Reform and Rehabilitation Centre.

The court, however, acquitted the boys mother, who stood accused along with the boy in the crime. The father said he filed a complaint after receiving a call from his sons friend, who told him that his son had transferred money from his BenefitPay account.

The father told cops that he and his ex-wife had differences over the custody of their son and alimony. When the boy visited my place, he took my phone, which he said was for playing games. However, it turned out that he was transferring funds through my BenefitPay to several accounts, including my ex-wife.

I was shocked that only BD3,000 was in the account, which had around BD14,000. Investigators found that the boy took the money through fraudulent transactions on the BenefitPay app. The boy confessed during interrogation that he committed the crime after taking his fathers phone under the pretext of playing a game.

Court files say the boy also tricked one of his friends into withdrawing the funds through BenefitPay. The friend, who turned witness, told investigators that the boy said he needed funds for his uncles treatment in an Asian country as he could not withdraw funds from there.

He also asked me to transfer money to his account through his uncles Benefit account, which later turned out as the account of the boys father itself. Investigators also found that the boy later sought the help of another friend to withdraw funds by telling him that his father was ill.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Indias Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is handling consultancy assignments for Bahrain Metro Project, which would cost $2 billion, a report quoting the corporation said.

The Delhi Metro is a mass rapid transit system serving Delhi and its satellite cities of Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noida, Bahadurgarh and Ballabhgarh in the National Capital Region of India.

DMRC is a 50-50 joint venture of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. A senior official at DMRC said they are currently handling consultancy assignments for Tel Aviv Metro Project, Bahrain Metro Project, Mauritius Metro Project, Alexandria Metro Project (Egypt) and Ho Chi Minh City Metro Project (Vietnam).

DMRC has provided HR Manpower to the Jakarta Metro Project in Indonesia in the past. An earlier report of ET Now said that Delhi Metro is partnering with Virtue Global Holding Ltd for Bahrains Metros 29 -km Phase 1 Work.

As per the arrangement, DMRC would execute the engineering, procurement and Construction contract if the Dubai-based financial company, which has already qualified in the pre-bid stage, wins the bid.

The final bidding, DMRC said, is expected in November. The Bahrain Metro is a fully automated, driverless system that will provide memorable journeys through residential, business, administration and leisure spots.

The Red and Blue lines that make up the Phase 1 of the new Metro System run a total of 28.6 km. At peak time, up 43,000 passengers will be served.

According to IDOM, being developed under a PPP scheme, the metro will have 20 stations (2 interchange) and a depot/stabling facility. Phase 1 is the starting point for the Bahrain Urban Transit Network Project (BUTN) which will have four lines and 109 km.
Srinagar: Hurriyat office attacked over Kashmiri Pandit killing

The Hurriyat leaders are divided on whether they want an independent state or to unite with Pakistan. This disagreement eventually led to the division of the Hurriyat Conference into two factions, one led by late Syed Ali Geelani and the other by Miwaiz Umar Farooq. The Hurriyat leaders are divid...
BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The C919, China's first homegrown large jetliner, has obtained the type certificate, a milestone step on its journey to market operation.

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, the C919's developer, got the certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on Thursday. It indicates that the C919's design meets airworthiness standards and environmental requirements.

"The type certificate approval means the C919 has the 'certificate of entry' into the civil aviation market," said Yang Zhenmei, a senior CAAC official in charge of airworthiness certification.

It also marks a milestone in China's ability to conduct airworthiness certification of large airliners in line with internationally accepted airworthiness standards, Yang added.

The C919 has to get another two certificates during airworthiness certification, the prerequisite step for civil aircraft entry into the market.

The plane conducted its successful maiden flight in 2017.

In the following five years, the C919 did six test flights in different locations to test the plane's capabilities.

The C919 has gone through tests in various types of extreme natural environments including high temperature, high humidity, severe cold, gusts and freeze. Its safety, reliability, and environmental protection performance have been comprehensively assessed, Yang said.

After completing airworthiness certification, a civil aircraft will need to go through product delivery and operation preparation before being put into commercial operation.

The C919 currently has 28 customers with orders totaling 815 planes.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council have extended congratulations on the certificate to all institutions and personnel involved in developing the C919.

Their congratulatory message was read out by State Councilor Wang Yong at the certificate conferring ceremony at the Beijing Capital International Airport Thursday.

It said that the certificate is a significant fruit of China's innovation-driven development, signaling a milestone in building China into a manufacturing powerhouse.

Vice Premier Liu He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, attended the ceremony.

Regarding the certificate as a hard-won achievement, Liu called for efforts to promote the integration of industries, universities, and research institutes, stressing that the country's talent-first strategy must be upheld.

The country's massive domestic market needs to be well utilized, Liu said, adding that developing large jetliners is a long-term undertaking China must stick to.
Socio-political activist, Deji Adeyanju, has said Nigeria has nothing to celebrate after 62 years of independence. Adeyanju anchored his cla...





Socio-political activist, Deji Adeyanju, has said Nigeria has nothing to celebrate after 62 years of independence.





Adeyanju anchored his claims on Nigerias economic imbalance since independence.





In a terse statement to mark Nigerias 62nd independence day celebration, the Abuja-based activist lamented the depreciating value of the countrys currency.





He insisted that Nigeria did better under the colonial masters than what is obtainable now.





He noted that the new colonial masters and political class are only interested in looting every sector of the countrys economy





According to Adeyanju: At 62 years, the Naira note which is our legal tender is one of the most worthless in the world. One dollar is N740 while the Ghanaian currency is 10 cedi to the US dollar. Theres absolutely nothing to celebrate here because the country is not working.





Sadly, the country was doing much better under foreign colonial masters. The new colonial masters of Nigeria, the political class are only interested in looting and destroying the educational, health and other sectors while sending their kids abroad to school and go to the best hospitals abroad.





The irony of our present reality is that candidate of the ruling party is currently rumoured to be abroad receiving medical treatment in the middle of presidential campaigns.





Welcome to Nigeria where citizens who were protesting against police brutality this time last year were treated with more brutality. How can we celebrate when ASUU has been on strike for over seven months?
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned political parties against receiving funds from anonymous sources for the...

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned political parties against receiving funds from anonymous sources for the 2023 elections.

Festus Okoye, INEC spokesperson, said this on Friday during an interview with Channels Television.

Ahead of the 2023 elections, there have been a series of debates on the legality of crowdfunding, including diaspora funding, to raise money for campaigns for political parties and their candidates.

Asked how INEC will monitor crowdfunding for campaign organisations, Okoye said political parties are not to spend funds from anonymous sources.

The law is very clear. The law says that no political party is obligated to receive funds from sources it cannot testify to  anonymous sources, he said.

And the law is very clear that when people donate funds to you (referring to political parties), you should get their names, know their addresses, and so on.

If you receive funds from a source you cannot identify, you should turn in such funds to the INEC. The law is also clear that every registered political party in Nigeria must and shall maintain proper books of accounts where it will record the sources of funds, money received, expenditure it has made, and the place where it received such funds from.

If a political party receives funds that it cannot account for or does not know its source, that particular political party ought to report to INEC that it received such funds.

Section 225 (3) of the constitution states that: No political party shall  hold or possess any funds or other assets outside Nigeria; or be entitled to retain any funds or assets remitted or sent to it from outside Nigeria.

Speaking on the legal provisions of campaign funding, Okoye said section 225 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) does not allow political parties to receive funds from outside the country.

The guiding electoral legal framework for this election remains the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the Electoral Act of 2022 , the regulations and guidelines rolled out by INEC, Okoye said.

If you look at section 225 of the constitution, it makes it very clear that no registered political party in Nigeria shall possess any fund outside the country.

In other words, a political party cannot open an account and have money remitted into that particular account outside the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Secondly, it makes it clear that no political party shall, under any circumstance, retain any funds remitted to it from outside the country and if such funds are remitted to the political parties from outside the country that political party has constitutional and legal obligation to turn in such funds to INEC within a period of 21 days from the date of receipt of such funds.

That is the law and the constitutional stipulation, and the political parties are aware of this stipulation.

As far as section 225 of the 1999 constitution is concerned, it did not make any distinction. It says you should not receive funds from outside.

If you receive funds from Niger, Chad and Benin Republic, it goes with the same issue because it seems to me that when people are talking about not receiving funds, they are just looking at funds received from places like the US, Germany and France and the rest of them. But the law says you should not receive funds from outside the country.
Independence Day was observed in Warri, Delta State on Saturday mainly by Labour Party faithful adorning the green-white-green national co...

Independence Day was observed in Warri, Delta State on Saturday mainly by Labour Party faithful adorning the green-white-green national colour rallying all over the metropolis in support of the 2023 Presidential aspiration of Mr Peter Obi.

As early as 8 oclock in the morning, the supporters drawn from various communities had mobilized at the popular Effurun Roundabout, singing solidarity songs, from where they marched out in motorcades to Airport road enroute Warri City Stadium, where they were addressed by party leaders on the importance of their active involvement in the forthcoming general elections by voting rightly.

The supporters under the aegis of Delta State Alliance for Peter Obi Movement insisted that A new Nigeria is possible with good leadership.

They carried assorted placards with inscriptions such as We need Nigeria refining her own crude oil and producing her own products, We say no to insecurity, corruption, ASUU Strike, Employing Graduates and not turning them to Keke/Okada riders, Nigeria must celebrate Education as key to economic development, and A vote for Peter Obi is a vote for better Nigeria, among others.
The Director, Abuja School of Political and Social Thoughts, Dr. Sam Amadi, has said while Nigeria looks forward to charting a new directi...

The Director, Abuja School of Political and Social Thoughts, Dr. Sam Amadi, has said while Nigeria looks forward to charting a new direction from its past, her future may not lie with politicians.

According to him, the present crop of leaders do not give much confidence about the future of Nigeria.

Amadi, who is also a former Chairman, Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, however, said the country was blessed with several people who could turn the tide if properly harnessed.

In a chat with our correspondent during the early hours of Saturday where he shared his thoughts on state of the nation as the country marks its 62ND Independence Anniversary, Amadi said Nigeria needs civic reawakening.

He added that to solve challenges bedevilling the country, Nigeria needs proper diagnosis.

According to him, the most fundamental thing to do is to seek proper diagnosis of our problem. In strategy you cannot solve a problem without an accurate and appropriate diagnosis.

After that (diagnosis) we develop a coherent set of actions to solve the problem. We have to go beneath the surface of our problems and see the underlying cause. The most important thing to is seek radical knowledge of our problems and be willing to address the roots.

The most important thing is to lay a new constitutional foundations of Nigeria to turn it from a neo-feudal and neo-patrimonial state into a truly secular, modern democratic state focused on protecting the economic and political components of democratic citizenship.

Continuing, Amadi said, Nigeria was a bright hope, a city on the hills by 1960 at independence. Today, Nigeria is a nation in distress. As a graduate student of Harvard in 2001, I described Nigeria to leading global thinkers as a country with an epileptic supply of social services like electricity.

But today, with seven total blackouts in nine months, Nigeria has gone beyond epileptic supply of electricity. Nigeria is now more than a distressed country. Many will say Nigeria is a collapsed or failed country. Those who are charitable will say the country is collapsing of failing. But what is not disputable is that Nigeria had betrayed the trust, dashed the hope and broken the heart of its citizens and well-wishers across the world who looked forward with confidence to the birth of a new country that will prove that what one race can do another can do better.





There has been several predictions of rising for Nigeria. Yet Nigeria is yet to rise. Nigeria has come of age, as its first Prime Minister declared. But it has not proved its skeptics wrong. Nigeria is a resilient country. But it is yet to become a prosperous and stable country. Probably Nigeria was misbegotten. But it is still our responsibility to correct the foundational errors and fulfill the hopes of the world leaders of a great Black Country in the African continent.

On how to get out the woods, he said, The present crop of leaders do not give much confidence about the future of Nigeria. But there many great people in the country.

Nigerias future may not lie with the politicians. It may be more important at this point to raise great men and women who will be able to orchestrate new learning and social practices to recreate Nigeria. The political class is very important but they are not sufficient. We need civic reawakening. We need explosion of knowledge and expertise.

On whether the frontline presidential candidates for next years election can be bring about the desired change for the country, Amadi explained that the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, was not the right person to lead the country from 2023.

Amadi said Tinubu and his party were deficient in ideological orientation of its governing elites, hence his opposition to (Tinubus) candidacy.

He explained that with the need for civic reawakening, the presidential candidates of Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi respectively stands a better chance of leading the country to the desired destination.

I think Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar are the best positioned to help Nigeria enter a new direction. The APC and Tinubu carry a deficit in terms of the temper and ideological orientation of its governing elite to make the desired change, he told our correspondent.

On the lingering Academic Staff Union of Universities strike, the legal scholar faulted the Federal Governments position, adding that it was the governments responsibility to ensure schools are open for learning.

He also asked the university union to seek alternative way to making their grievance known rather than primitive long strikes.

I think the FGs position is faulty. The government has responsibility to ensure that schools are open and learning is going on as required. I think ASUU needs to change direction and end this primitive practice of long strikes. They should find a new way to pressure government to meet up with its obligations. Strike actions are very dangerous to a country and should be rarely used, Amadi said.
An Aide to Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun State, Ismail Omipidan has appealed to members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the ...





An Aide to Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun State, Ismail Omipidan has appealed to members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state to remain calm in the face of the decision of a Federal High Court that nullified his candidature in the July 16 gubernatorial election.





In a statement made available to newsmen on Friday in Osogbo, Oyetolas Chief Press Secretary, Ismail Omipidan, said the governors lawyers were getting set to challenge the decision of the Federal High Court at the Appeal Court.





He also expressed confidence that the decision would be set aside when it goes to appeal.





The case was instituted by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) despite the fact there is a plethora of decisions flowing from the apex court that frowns upon such a decision.





For the records, the position of the law is that only members of the APC who participated in the primary election can approach the court to challenge the nomination of Oyetola as the candidate of the party.





All these are part of the antics of the opposition PDP and some of their collaborators from within to distract us. But like every of their plans, this too has fallen flat on their faces.





They want to distract us from the tribunal case. But we shall remain focused until we take back our mandate. We have confidence in the Tribunal to do justice in the case before it, just as we have implicit confidence in the Appeal Court to set aside this latest decision of the Federal High Court, Omipidan said.





A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had on Friday nullified the nomination of the Osun Governor Adegboyega Oyetola and that of his Deputy, Benedict Alabi in their participation in the July 16, Osun gubernatorial.





The Presiding Judge, Justice Emeka Nwite while giving the order in a judgment declared as null and void, the nomination of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola and Benedict Alabi by the APC.





The decision of the court was predicated on the ground that Governor Mai Mala Buni who submitted their names to INEC violated the provisions of Section 183 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Section 82(3) of the Electoral Act 2022.





The court also held that Governor Buni holding dual executive positions as the Governor of Yobe State and the Chairman of the National Caretaker Committee of the APC acted in contravention of the provision of Section 183 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.





The court held that the decisions taken by Governor Mai Mala Buni, including forwarding the names of Governor Isiaka Oyetola and Benedict Alabi to INEC, amounted to a nullity in law.
Thousands of supporters of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) Peter Obi are currently holding a rally at the Lekki toll gat...





Thousands of supporters of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) Peter Obi are currently holding a rally at the Lekki toll gate in defiance to the Police directive.





Many of the supporters were seen in mass numbers as they marched at the Lekki-Epe Expressway, chanting Obi! Obidient!





A supporter @Nkemchor shared images from the event, saying that police could not stop them.





The police presence at Lekki did not stop youths from gathering. Very proud of this generation. If Lekki is your route join them!





Another supporter @eklepatience also tweeted, All we want is a genuine leader thats ready to serve Nigerians were not asking for too much nah, just give us Peter Obi. Festac Lagos is Obidient.





It was reported that the Lagos State Police Command on Friday issued a directive against organising any form of rallies at the Lekki Toll gate, referencing the subsisting court order that prohibited it.





There are indications that the rally holding simultaneously in other parts of Lagos, like Festac town, Surulere and the National Stadium.
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State has warned that politicians who want to cause chaos and disharm...





Ahead of the 2023 general elections, Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State has warned that politicians who want to cause chaos and disharmony in the state will be confronted by the security agencies.





He also said anybody who wants to cause trouble through the use of fake news, hate speech, and incitement will face the full wrath of the law.





Lalong gave the warning while speaking at the Nations 62nd Independence anniversary held at the Rwang Pam township stadium Jos, the State Capital.





He said, Let me, therefore, use this opportunity to call on all politicians to put the general interest above their personal or party interests before, during and after the elections.





We should never do anything that will jeopardise, the peace, security and unity of Plateau State and Nigeria just to win elections. Without peace and stability, there will be neither democracy nor room for any politician to canvass for votes or aspire to lead.





We must act with utmost responsibility and caution because, despite political differences, we are all Plateau citizens and shall continue to remain brothers and sisters, he maintained.





Similarly, I urge the youths to shun all forms of actions that are inimical to conduct of peaceful elections such as thuggery and violence.





Nobody should deceive you into believing that you are relevant or you can be made rich through violence, Lalong admonished.





Think about your future and reject those who hide their children, but recruit the children of others to carry out political violence on their behalf.





According to him, Our administration has demonstrated that it is committed to providing opportunities for youths through empowerment and job creation.





That is why I challenge you to take advantage of empowerment programmes rather than participating in political violence.





I reassure all stakeholders that the Government under my watch will ensure that that the rights of citizens and political parties and their candidates to freely sell their manifestos and canvass for votes as enshrined in the law are protected.





However, those who want to use politics to cause chaos and disharmony will be confronted by the security agencies that are empowered to maintain law and order.





Those who also want to cause trouble through fake news, hate speech, and incitement should be ready to face the law, the Governor warned.





On the Nations 62nd Independence anniversary, Lalong said, Nigeria is a great nation with abundant human and material resources comparable to very few countries in the world.





These blessings have passed through different attempts to harvest them for the good of the citizens who are diverse in ethnic, religious, social and political orientations. Our diversity which in itself is a major resource has also put demands on managing our endowments to the point that many questions whether it is a blessing or a curse.





However, we should never forget that Nigerias diversity is in its greatest strength and not its weakness.





Therefore, we should devote more time, energy and resources on things that unite us than our differences of origin which in most cases we have no control over, he admonished.





We should equally devote more energy towards ensuring that people are treated fairly, justly and with dignity that is guaranteed by our constitution. Plateau State under our watch presents this template of managing diversity, the Governor stressed.
Watertown, NY (13601)

Today

Partly cloudy early followed by increasing clouds with showers developing later in the day. High 51F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Some clouds early will give way to generally clear conditions overnight. Low around 35F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
The crisis in Myanmar has already served as a flashpoint for major world powers, just like every other contemporary conflict throughout the globe.

by Dr Arpita Hazarika

The piercing sound of air raids, mortar shelling, and gunfire on our southern border not only violates our territorial integrity and sovereignty but also presents a gloomy image of an uncertain future for the people of Myanmar, Bangladesh, and the entire region.

The sound of gunshots also serves as a metaphor for the Myanmar Juntas struggles and failures in establishing control over its own nation. The present violence in Myanmar has all the characteristics of a civil war.

Myanmar military officers march during a parade to commemorate the 74th Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar on Wednesday, March 27, 2019. [ Photo: AP]

Burma (Myanmar) is already engulfed in a civil war. Organized opposition groups, credible challenges to state authority, ground presence, alternative governance infrastructure (usually), and external recognition are often necessary for civil conflicts. All those components exist in Burma. The opposition is not organized along ethnic lines. They have had success in battling the security forces and Burmese army.

Aung San Suu Kyis National League of Democracy was democratically elected to power in Myanmar, but that government was overthrown last year, and the military took its place. The recent trend of increased fighting and violence in Myanmar is evidence of growing unrest against the military establishment (NDL).

Following the military takeover, a sizable pro-democracy movement emerged, which later evolved into armed resistance in response to the Juntas violent assault on dissent, which claimed the lives of at least 2,300 civilians throughout Myanmar.

Peoples Defence Force (PDF), an anti-coup resistance force, has been in charge of a widespread armed resistance campaign since the coup. The National Unity Government (NUG), a shadow government in exile run by Suu Kyis NLDs expelled MPs, served as the foundation for PDF.

Frequently armed only with handmade weapons and a thorough understanding of the terrain, PDF has managed to astound the military with its capabilities.

To put an end to the resistance movement, the Junta in reaction conducted indiscriminate airstrikes, shelling, and arson attacks against cities and villages.

The Juntas support among the populace has been eroded by this indiscriminate violence against the civilian population, which has brought the nation dangerously close to civil war as more civilians take up guns to oppose the military regime.

The failure of the Junta military to take control of the country is due to the lack of popular support brought on by the indiscriminate violence against the countrys population, the Myanmar militarys lack of professionalism, and corruption at every level of its military leadership and law enforcement agencies.

Ethnic Armed Forces Organizations (EAOs), also known as powerful ethnic armed organizations, have formed coalitions to combat the Junta on the battlefield as a result of the Juntas failings. There are some of them that have friendly ties to the military establishment.

In light of recent developments, the heads of Myanmars seven most potent ethnic armed groups, including the Arakan Army, recently met in the remote WA area bordering China to strengthen their alliance.

Some of these EAOs have actively given military training and other types of support to anti-coup resistance, even if they are not actively engaged in the campaign to topple the Junta regime in Myanmar, which is the PDFs main goal.

The crisis in Myanmar has already served as a flashpoint for major world powers, just like every other contemporary conflict throughout the globe.

A semi-proxy battle has already developed in this conflict. China firmly supports the Burmese government. While western nations have denounced Burmese activities, supported the opposition diplomatically and helped them make their voices heard.

Myanmar has been attempting to take advantage of the wests diversion in attention away from this region due to the conflict in Ukraine to annihilate its rivals on the battlefield.

The Junta has been looking for supporters domestically and abroad as part of its so-called counter-terrorism drive to combat the diplomatic isolation the west imposed on the country last year.

Last June, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution urging nations to stop arming Myanmar.

However, the call was ignored. China, Russia, and Serbia are now Burmas top three weaponry suppliers.

Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, criticized Russia and China for continuing to supply the Junta with weapons despite proof of the horrific crimes being committed with impunity since launching a coup last year in his report released in February. However, Russia is still selling the Junta military equipment, and as part of a 2018 contract, it will soon send brand-new Sukhoi SU-30SM jet fighters.

Due to an uptick in violence, conditions in Myanmar have recently gotten worse for a great number of innocent people.

This brutal crackdown has unleashed a major refugee crisis forcing tens of thousands of people from almost every region to flee the country.

Since the coup, at least 1.3 million people have been forcibly evacuated in an effort to flee military attacks, he claimed, adding that the effects of this refugee flow would be felt throughout the entire Indo-Pacific region and beyond.

The largest increase in the number of refugees arrived in the Indian state of Mizoram. Since the military overthrew the government in 2021, about 30,000 people from Myanmar have sought refuge in Mizoram, according to Hindustan Times.

Bangladesh is also seeing a small influx of refugees despite intensive monitoring and surveillance in border regions. A minimum of 10-15 Rohingyas have sought refuge in the Kutupalong and Balukhali shelter camps in Coxs Bazar since September 10 as a result of the resumption of hostilities between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army in Rakhine.

The spectre of violence in Myanmar has started to compellASEAN members to take action against Myanmar. This is a very significant development.

Bangladesh and Thailand have both been patient and cautious in their response (to airspace violation and artillery shelling), but if conflict persists and such violations become routine, Burmese provocations will in the future be responded to and that might create region-wide instability and chaos.

The Indo-Pacific regions stability is threatened by the recent flare-up of fighting in Myanmar, which has alarmed neighbouring nations. The continuous insecurity and instability in Rakhine state have produced a spillover impact across the region.

Everyone worries that terrorist groups like IS and al-Qaeda may exploit the deteriorating situation in Rakhine state if the situation there is not adequately addressed. The world must emphasize the necessity of taking action on a global scale to address the security risk brought on by the unrest in Myanmar.

Bangladesh and Myanmar share a turbulent, almost 300-kilometer border, which has the potential to have negative repercussions on both countries.

For more than a month, tensions have been rising between Dhaka and Naypyidaw. On the Bangladesh side of the border, numerous instances of Myanmars brutal army airspace violations, deadly shelling, and gunfire have been documented.

Bangladeshs Foreign Ministry summoned Myanmars Ambassador in Dhaka, Aung Kyaw Moe, to express opposition to the provocation following a recent incidence of mortar fire in Bangladesh that resulted in the death of an 18-year-old Rohingya boy in the no-land mans near Bandarban.

Bangladesh must support the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Gambia, Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and other international organizations leading the efforts to hold the Myanmar military accountable for their actions against the Rohingya people in order to ensure the sustainable repatriation of the Rohingya refugees. Bangladesh needs to take the right actions to raise the Rohingya peoples voices and their grievances to the world community. Regional countries targets should be strict against the brutal Myanmar military. The world including regional countries must realize that the Rohingya issue is likely to remain stuck until the Myanmar junta is kicked out of power  and this could take a long time.

Dr Arpita Hazarika is a Gauhati University, Assam, India-based researcher. She is interested in refugee affairs, political economy, security and strategic affairs, and foreign policies of the Asia-Pacific region. With numerous foreign exposures, she has conducted research works on India-Bangladesh affairs.
Watertown, NY (13601)

Today

Partly cloudy early followed by increasing clouds with showers developing later in the day. High 51F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Low near 35F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
Deutsches Haus celebrates Oktoberfest, its version of Munichs annual festival, over three weekends in October. The festivities bring German food and beer, oompah bands, chicken dancing, a costumed dog parade and other events and aspects of German culture to its home along Bayou St. John. This year, Oktoberfest runs from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. Saturdays from opening day on Oct. 7 through Oct. 22. Visit oktoberfestnola.com for information.

Mike Larkin is a retired Air Force veteran who started volunteering at Deutsches Haus during cleanup of the former home on Galvez Street after Hurricane Katrina. He now runs the kitchen along with Joe Stephany. Larkin and Deutsches Haus general manager Jack Gonzales spoke to Gambit about its Oktoberfest celebration.

Gambit: In recent years, Oktoberfest has added more imbiss snacks, or street food. How has the food changed?

Mike Larkin: Oktoberfest used to be for the membership, but it evolved when other people started to come. It started with food for people who were very familiar with German food. As weve gotten larger, there are more people who arent familiar, so we temper it. We do authentic German food, but (in the early years at the Galvez Street location) we were doing that for 500 people. Now were doing it for 5,000 people (a day).

As weve gotten larger, a lot more younger folks are coming in. We tried to maintain doing traditional cabbage rolls. But the vast majority of people today, if theyre under the age of 45, have probably never seen a cabbage roll in their lives. Everyone knows about schnitzel, so we do schnitzel and pork cutlets. We are always going to give people three entree choices (in the main food tent). Theres schnitzel with or without jaeger sauce. We breakout the bratwurst, knackwurst and weisswurst on the three wurst plate, and theres a third option like a glazed pork or pork with cherry sauce.

We also have imbiss, the street food. Imbiss is where you get kielbasa on a stick or a brat on a bun with sauerkraut. They do a good variety of foods there. We also are going to be doing doner kebabs and currywurst. Even if people come all six days, they have more than six options.

Jack Gonzales: We used to make all our own sauerkraut. As the numbers climbed, we had to focus on dishes that werent as laborious to make. Rouladen and cabbage rolls take time.

Larkin: Well put on a special event and advertise that were going to have rouladen and cabbage rolls. But for (Oktoberfest), most people want something that they can walk around with. They want to be able to mingle, listen to the oompah band and watch the chicken dance.

The one thing we would love to be able to do, but its very labor intensive, is schweinshaxe. Weve done it for 130 people at a time. We were close to doing it this year, but we werent able to find a supplier. If we could have found a supplier who could guarantee us 1,000 per weekend, we would have done it.

Gambit: What kind of food do you normally cook at Deutsches Haus?

Larkin: I am a regular kitchen cook. I learned how to cook working with the guys here. I started doing some meals and I learned a lot by watching. The head cook is Joe Stephany. Hes the creative genius. I am the organizer. Joe comes up with some great things.

Chef Gunter Preuss has done some celebrity meals with us. We have worked with Horst Pfeifer of Middendorfs. We did an Alsatian meal with chef Hosie Bourgeois of Beau Chene Country Club. Were not chefs. Were cooks who are very good at what we cook.

We do cultural events like Viennese New Year that follows tradition in Vienna. The meal is set because its the meal Emperor Franz Joseph liked the most. It was boiled beef, roasted buttered potatoes and root vegetables. It became a tradition in Vienna.

We do trivia night every month and we get 300 people for that. We have to cook fish tacos for that, but we do traditional German stuff. Well do schnitzel, or schnitzel cordon blue. Well do Konigsberger klopse  its like a hamburger steak with gravy. Weve done rouladen. Its flank steak you fill with pickles, carrots and onions with German mustard on the inside and you roast it. We do goulash sometimes.

Gambit: What beers are you offering for Oktoberfest?

Gonzales: The beers arent all from Munich, but many are  Spaten, Hofbrauhaus, Paulaner. We want a variety of German beers. We also have Viennese lager out of Strasbourg.

We try to maintain an inventory of beers that are German or that are brewed in German styles. There are some beers here you cant find elsewhere regionally. If you go in a bar around town, its going to be Paulaner or Spaten. We have 20 draft selections (at the Deutsches Haus bar). At the festival, well have 30 or 32 beers. Some will change, because you cant get large quantities of some of the beers nobodys heard of. At Oktoberfest, we sell 800 barrels of beer. We have bottled beers as well.
As colder weather begins to move into our area, we understand that some of our NIPSCO customers may have concerns about seasonal energy bills. We want customers to know that resources are available to help them manage energy consumption and costs, and to obtain financial assistance if needed.

While providing safe, reliable and affordable electric and gas service is at the heart of what we do, we also care about the well-being of our customers and the communities we serve across northern Indiana. Our goal is to work with customers to identify solutions to help them when they need it most.

There are several bill payment assistance programs available for customers experiencing financial difficulties; some of these programs are provided by the state of Indiana and local governments. NIPSCO has also designed programs to address categories of need in our service territory. We urge any customer experiencing difficulty paying their NIPSCO bill to visit NIPSCO.com/assistance as soon as possible to review all available energy assistance programs and find the right solution for their situation.

Those looking to quickly find information 24-hours a day, seven days a week can also use our new Chat feature located in the bottom right-hand corner of our website or via our mobile app. Customers who prefer to do business in person are invited to visit our recently reopened Gary Business Office at 3229 Broadway and take advantage of the same services offered when calling NIPSCOs Customer Care Center. The office is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CT, Monday through Friday.

The widest-reaching program available through the state of Indiana is the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). LIHEAP is available to households that are at or below 60 percent of the State Median Income. Applicants must reapply annually. This years program opened on October 1 for online and mail-in applications. Customers can learn more and find out if they qualify at eap.ihcda.in.gov or by calling 2-1-1.

At NIPSCO, we want to provide additional support for our customers who qualify for LIHEAP. Our Customer Assistance for Residential Energy (CARE) Discount Program is designed to provide further bill reductions to LIHEAP-eligible customers. Once enrolled in LIHEAP, customers are automatically enrolled in the program, and reductions range from 11 to 26 percent based on the same criteria used by the state in determining the level of assistance.

Customers who do not qualify for LIHEAP still have many options available to them. NIPSCOs Hardship Program is available for customers just outside the federal poverty guidelines for LIHEAP. The NIPSCO Hardship Program offers up to $400 in gas bill assistance to households between 151 and 250 percent of the federal poverty level. Hardship funds are available through many of the same local Community Action Agencies where LIHEAP funds are distributed. The program opens on December 1. Customers can learn more at NIPSCO.com/IncomeEligible.

State and local governments may also have assistance programs available for qualifying customers. More information can be found at www.in.gov/ihcda/.

A limited amount of energy assistance funds are also distributed through local Township Trustee offices each year; customers should contact their local Township Trustee to see what help may be available.

SILVER and SERV are two newer energy assistance programs for eligible seniors, active U.S. military and veterans whose households are between 0 to 250 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. Both programs, Supply Energy Resources to Veterans (SERV) and Seniors in Indiana Low-Income and Vulnerable Energy Resource (SILVER), offer a one-time benefit of up to $400 annually to those who qualify.

Some customers may not qualify for assistance under these programs, yet still need help paying their bill. We offer flexible three- and six-month payment plan options for all customers, and a 12-month option for eligible LIHEAP customers. Customers with a current account may also enroll in the Budget Plan program at any time of the year. This convenient program allows customers to pay about the same amount each month, eliminating surprises.

Customers can enroll in the Budget Plan along with other billing and payment programs like AutoPay, Paperless Billing as well as pay their bill, track usage and manage accounts via our new NIPSCO Mobile app available for download on iPhone or Android. The NIPSCO Customer Care Center is also available Monday through Friday between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. CT at 1-800-4-NIPSCO.

Remember, customers have options to help take control of their bill - from payment and budget plans to energy efficiency programs and energy usage tips. Learn more at NIPSCO.com/takecontrol.
The Lubeznik Center for the Arts will display two new exhibits for First Friday in October.

The art center at 101 W. 2nd St. at the lakefront in Michigan City will display Joan Spohrers solo show and a two-person exhibit featuring Makayla Brooks and Yuna Choi starting on Friday, Oct. 7. It will be open for a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. that First Friday.

We look forward to presenting art by our local community in the NIPSCO Education Studios. I hope our audience will come and support the artists, said Janet Bloch, the executive director at LCA.

Spohrers exhibition Coast to Coast features art inspired by her travels. A member of the Area Artists Association, she started painting after a career working as a magazine editor and freelancer. She paints landscapes, figures and florals in an impressionistic style, working in watercolor acrylic and digital painting. She's won many awards for her work over the years.

Color as Form and Feeling" showcases the works of two seniors studying painting at Indiana University Northwest. Brooks is from Lake Station and Choi from South Korea. Brooks' painting features bright colors and spatial experimentation. Choi expresses shapes and marks that come from within.

We are not the same, but we are harmonious together, she said.

First Friday attendees can enjoy the exhibits, as well as the blockbuster moniquemeloche presents displaying artists represented by Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago. They also can enjoy light refreshments and a cash bar.

Admission is free.

For more information, call 219-874-4900 or visit lubeznikcenter.org.
Little Calumet River The Little Calumet River is shown from the Torrence Avenue bridge on the border between Lansing and Calumet City.

Watersheds in Indiana deposited massive amounts of toxic chemicals into the Great Lakes region in 2020, according to a report released Tuesday by Environment America Research and Policy Center.

The Little Calumet River is ranked sixth of the top 20 watersheds in the United States for releasing chemicals known to cause cancer and have negative reproductive effects, the report said.

The report uses numbers from the Toxic Release Inventory, a collection of data on the release of toxic substances in waterways from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The industries with the largest releases of cancer-causing chemicals in 2020 were paper, pulp and paperboard mills, according to the report.

The 6,585 pounds of reproductive toxins in the Little Calumet River contribute to Indiana's rank as the state with the second largest amount of reproductive toxins released.

The 29,691 pounds of cancer-causing chemicals from the Little Calumet River make up part of the 52,207 pounds of toxic watershed released in Indiana. The remainder is released from the Middle Wabash River and the Ohio River. Indiana has the sixth-largest amount of cancer-causing chemical releases in the U.S.

Sean Hoffmann, federal legislative advocate at Environment America Research and Policy Center, said the solution lies in more strict enforcement of laws by the government to protect waterways from toxic chemicals.

"Our nation should reduce the use of toxic chemicals, update pollution control standards and strengthen clean water act protections and enforcement," Hoffmann said.

The Little Calumet River connects to the Calumet River system, which flows into Lake Michigan and connects to the Great Lakes. The river system has a history of pollution from the industrial sectors in Northwest Indiana.

In 2019, ArcelorMittals Burns Harbor facility spilled cyanide into the Little Calumet River and killed 3,000 fish and closed beaches on Lake Michigan, prompting an investigation and a lawsuit.

While ArcelorMittal reported cyanide levels decreased soon after the spill, industrial companies in the Region still contribute to major pollution. According to the TRI, U.S. Steel Works in Gary released 70,642,388 pounds of toxic chemicals into waterways in 2020.

Companies self-report these numbers to the EPA each year, according to the TRI. The numbers are believed to be underreported, according to the report.

"It's called the toxic release inventory for a reason," Hoffmann said. "Even though some toxins are more harmful in greater concentrations or lesser concentrations than others, they are still all toxic."
No one wants soiled or limp bank notes, says Peter Balke, a senior policy adviser for De Nederlandsche Bank, the central bank of the Netherlands. Balkes work has nothing to do with money laundering, which is the bailiwick of law enforcement; for much of the last decade, he has studied how cash gets dirty and methods for keeping it cleaner. Globally, governments spend nearly $10 billion annually replacing grimy or crumpled cash (some half a billion euros are shredded each month for this reason). After Balke published research finding that peoples waxy skin oils are mainly to blame, he and his colleagues began investigating what could be done about it. To clean money, he says, you need to remove that built-up sebum.

Bleach bank notes in the sun, Balke says. One scientist has suggested letting ultraviolet light do the work by laying out the cash on the central banks roof. (Wed rather keep it in the vault, Balke says.) Most bills will remain intact in the washer and dryer. But while a wash cycle may make your money look untainted, it nonetheless ruins the bills; hot water can damage security features, and detergents change the way cash reflects light, which currency-sorting machines detect. Banks shred washed money.

At the microscopic level, because cash is so highly trafficked, it becomes a sort of palimpsest that records all the hands and back pockets and piggy banks it has passed through, accreting a kind of monetary microbiome. A study of $1 bills in New York identified a total of 397 bacterial species. Swiss researchers discovered that when they smeared bills with mucus from children with the flu, the virus lived for up to 12 days. Bank notes also retain evidence of our recreational habits. Ninety-five percent of the currency researchers tested from Washington showed traces of cocaine; in Macao, 98 percent contained ketamine.

There is a cleaning technique that works without damaging your dollars. It requires highly pressurized and heated carbon dioxide. You basically dry-clean it, Balke says. After studying the method, the European Central Bank opted to use a sebum-repelling varnish on euros instead. Despite dozens of online tutorials on how to clean cash at home, Balke doesnt think you should bother: If you end up with a particularly nasty (or mangled) bill, most banks will let you exchange it.
Ceili is the word in Irish for a house party, and also for group dances with braiding spatial patterns drawn from Celtic knotwork. So Ceili is a fitting, if generic, title for a collaboration between two dance troupes with Irish roots: Sean Curran Company and Darrah Carr Dance.

Curran and Carr, the companies namesakes, have much in common. Theyre both Irish Americans who grew up learning traditional step dance before turning to contemporary styles. They both formed companies in the late 1990s. Theyve even worked together before, creating Dingle Diwali for Carrs group in 2012. The Ceili that they debuted at Irish Arts Center on Thursday is something of a reunion, and its more about coming together than breaking new ground.

The success of any ceili depends on the music, and this one is in sure hands, with the top-notch fiddle-and-guitar duo of Dana Lyn and Kyle Sanna playing live. They start the show invitingly and remain a pleasure throughout, supplying the requisite sweetness and drive, along with a few unusual touches  like a Baroque gigue.
Trevor Noah announced his departure from The Daily Show on Thursday night on what was his seventh anniversary as host. Noah said he was grateful for anyone who had contributed to the success of the show, promising he wasnt leaving just yet.

Weve laughed together, weve cried together, but after seven years, I feel like its time, Noah said.
The close confidant who New York City Mayor Eric Adams put on the payroll of the citys economic development corporation earlier this year is earning more than $242,000 in salary  making him among the highest paid employees in city government, according to city records and documents released late Friday afternoon.

Timothy Pearson, a retired police inspector who was already drawing a New York Police Department pension, was hired by the New York City Economic Development Corporation on May 31, while retaining his prior job as head of security at the citys only casino.

But in July and August, aides to Mr. Adams refused to disclose Mr. Pearsons city salary  information that is typically public  in response to inquiries from The New York Times.

The figures released on Friday in response to a freedom of information request show that Mr. Pearson earns only a few hundred dollars less than the chief executive of the agency that pays his salary.
During fashion week, we will be spotlighting the small details we saw on the runways that surprised or delighted us. Bring on the sculptural shoes and antique fork jewelry.

PARIS  Here is something tricky to accomplish in a shoe: Reminding anyone who sees it that overconsumption and waste are warming the planet and destroying the earths natural resources  melting the ice caps, polluting the oceans and so forth. While also making the wearer look really cool.

If any brand can pull that off, its Botter, a young Parisian label that uses the taglines aquatic world and Caribbean couture to describe a sunny design sensibility mashed together from Dutch coolness and island realness. According to the brand, one of its designers, Rushemy Botter, was born on Curacao and later lived in a fishing village outside Amsterdam; the other, Lisi Herrebrugh, has shuttled between the Netherlands and the Dominican Republic, where she has family.

Their names may also sound familiar as finalists for the 2018 LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers and as artistic directors at Nina Ricci for three years, until this past January. Earlier this year, they also won the Andam Fashion Award; Harry Styles wore one of their argyle polo shirts knitted from recycled plastic hair-beads on a cover of Rolling Stone.
The new round of sanctions fulfills longtime vows by the Biden administration to punish any move by Russia to annex captured Ukrainian territory. But the United States has struggled to expand its coalition of nations aiding Ukraine, and several world powers, notably China and India, have maintained strategic partnerships with Russia and continue to enrich Moscow with energy purchases.

That could change if Mr. Putin decides to make more explicit his threats to use nuclear weapons. Mr. Putin has said Russia will take any measures available to protect its territory, and some analysts have said he might apply that threat against Ukrainian military actions in the areas he has illegally annexed. Mr. Biden has forcefully warned Mr. Putin against using nuclear weapons, and some aides say they hope other world leaders are conveying the same message to Moscow.

After Mr. Putin referred ominously in his address to the use of nuclear weapons, Mr. Sullivan told reporters that there is a risk, given all of the loose talk and the nuclear saber-rattling by Putin, that he might consider a nuclear strike. Analysts say that would probably take the form of a relatively small tactical nuclear weapon, either on the battlefield or as a warning shot in an unpopulated area.

Despite Mr. Putins latest move, the Biden administration is still holding back from the dramatic step of imposing sanctions on international purchases of Russian energy. U.S. officials are wary of sending energy prices soaring higher, especially just ahead of midterm congressional elections and as Europeans grow frustrated over home energy costs. Officials from the Group of 7 nations have been discussing a price cap on purchases of Russian oil but have not agreed on how to implement one.

The United States and major European nations have announced boycotts of Russian oil and gas. But higher energy prices since Mr. Putins invasion have boosted profits for Russian companies and the central government. Besides China and India, other nations have increased their purchases of Russian oil over last year, including Turkey, a NATO member.

U.S. officials say they hope that even if those countries do not formally endorse a price cap on Russian oil, all buyers can use a cap to negotiate much lower prices, which would drain Russia of revenue.

The sanctions announced on Friday added more names to the long lists of Russian officials, companies and institutions that U.S. agencies have penalized in the first weeks of the war.
The toll in lives that Hurricane Ian exacted in Florida may take weeks to emerge, but the first list of confirmed deaths was released on Friday night by the state Medical Examiners Commission.

Autopsies of 23 people, ranging in age from 22 to 92, confirmed that most had drowned. Bodies were found submerged in their cars, floating in floodwaters and drowned on the beach. The majority of victims were over 60; 10 were over 70. The ages of three victims were unknown.

Most of the deaths took place in Lee County, home to hard-hit Fort Myers, Cape Coral and Sanibel Island.

There were also four deaths in Volusia County, home to Daytona Beach. One involved a woman who appeared to have been swept out to sea by a wave.

In addition to the drowning deaths, a 38-year-old man in Lake County died on Wednesday when his car hydroplaned. A 71-year-old man in Sarasota County died on Tuesday when he fell off a roof while putting up rain shutters. A 22-year-old woman in Manatee County was killed when she was ejected from an A.T.V. that rolled over on a flooded road on Friday.

Officials noted that the tally was only the beginning. We do expect this number is going to go up, said David Fierro, communications coordinator for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
ATLANTA  A federal judge on Friday evening ruled that Georgias election law does not violate voters constitutional rights, dealing a blow to Fair Fight Action, the voting rights group aligned with the Democratic nominee for governor, Stacey Abrams.

U.S. District Court Judge Steven Jones ruled against all the claims brought by Fair Fight Action, which had challenged Georgias absentee ballot provisions, oversight of voter rolls and the states exact match law, which mandates that a voters name on their voter application be identical to their government identification, even in the case of hyphens or accent marks. A majority of the voter applications flagged for inconsistencies in 2018 belonged to voters of color, according to an investigation by The Associated Press.

Although Georgias election system is not perfect, the challenged practices violate neither the constitution nor the Voting Rights Act, Judge Jones wrote in his 288-page order. The judge, who was nominated by President Barack Obama, added that the burden on voters is relatively low and that Fair Fight Action did not provide direct evidence of a voter who was unable to vote, experienced longer wait times, was confused about voter registration status.

The plaintiffs, many of whom were Georgia voters, had argued that the 2018 election had been marked by a number of barriers to access to the ballot that had been racially discriminatory. Subsequent research showed that Georgia voters in 2018 saw longer lines in majority-minority precincts, faulty election equipment and undertrained staff.
GEORGETOWN, S.C.  A resurgent Hurricane Ian slammed South Carolina on Friday, swamping the coast with its storm surge and pushing inland with heavy rainfall, howling winds and the threat of flash floods.

For many South Carolina residents who had been unsettled by the scenes of devastation in Florida, Ian struck with less punch than some had feared. In South Carolina, its winds reached up to 85 miles per hour, considerably less than the 150 m.p.h. power with which it had landed in Southwest Florida earlier in the week. But the storm was still potent enough to churn up a trail of damage and disruption as it swept northwest through South Carolina and into North Carolina.

Along the Grand Strand, the stretch of beach communities specking the South Carolina coast, people had to be plucked from flooded cars and buildings surrounded by water and piers had been swept into the ocean. In and around Myrtle Beach, videos shared on social media showed the storm surge overtaking the shoreline.
SEOUL  North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Saturday, a day after the United States, Japan and South Korea conducted a rare joint anti-submarine naval exercise.

The missiles were launched from the Sunan District of Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, and fell into waters off the east coast, the South Korean military said. North Korea has often conducted missile tests from Sunan, the district where Pyongyang International Airport is located.

The country has conducted four missile tests since Sunday, launching a total of seven short-range ballistic missiles. The tests have been seen largely as a response to joint military drills by the United States and its allies in the region.

The navies of South Korea and the United States, including the American aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, conducted joint exercises off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula from Monday through Thursday. On Friday, the Japanese navy joined them for a trilateral drill to demonstrate their combined ability to detect and track enemy submarines, amid signs that North Korea might be preparing to launch a new submarine it has been building for years and to test its submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
The pipeline, along with new terminals in Poland and Latvia to receive shipments of liquefied natural gas and new regulations to increase interdependency and reduce barriers, is part of Europes broader strategy to loosen the energy monopoly once held by Russian state enterprises like Gazprom, said Benjamin L. Schmitt, a research associate at Harvard and former European energy security adviser at the U.S. State Department.

But even the most robust energy networks can function only if they are secured, he added. Those are all key components to security of supply and a well-functioning market, but if you dont have physical and cybersecurity to back that market up, you are going to end up with what are effectively statues, he said.

Baltic Pipe is the third major gas line running under the Baltic Sea, along with the now ruptured Nord Stream lines. The Polish pipeline begins in the North Sea west of Denmark, where it branches off from the Europipe II line, one of a web of thousands of miles of pipeline carrying Norwegian natural gas to Northern Europe across the North Sea.

With the two Nord Stream pipelines now damaged, Russias most efficient means for conveying gas to Europe has been disabled. Although they were each filled with limited amounts of gas, neither Nord Stream artery was transmitting the fuel at the time of the attack, because Russia had shut off 1 and Germany had never allowed 2 to begin operation.

The suspected attacks on the pipelines alarmed NATO and European countries, which have increased their patrols on the Baltic Sea. The Polish company that operates Baltic Pipe, Gaz-System, said that together with Polish authorities, the undersea stretch of the new pipeline was under surveillance on an ongoing basis by specialized operational services. Gaz-System declined to elaborate.

Experts point to the vulnerability of all undersea infrastructure, which beyond the energy pipelines includes thousands of miles of communication cables that in recent decades have been strung across the oceans floors to connect a globalized world. Keeping it safe is virtually impossible, Johannes Peters, an expert at the Center for Maritime Strategy and Security at the University of Kiel told the German reporting collective RND.
On Nov. 7, the court will hear a pair of arguments that could make it easier to challenge the constitutionality of two other agencies, the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The cases are both about timing, asking the justices to decide how long people and businesses must litigate with agencies that seek to regulate their conduct before they can go to federal court.

The first case, Axon Enterprise v. Federal Trade Commission, concerns a firm that makes body cameras for law enforcement and was investigated by the F.T.C. as part of a merger review. Rather than waiting for the conclusion of the proceedings before the agency, the company tried to sue in a federal trial court, arguing that the agencys structure was unconstitutional and that it did not have the authority to review the merger.

Even as it rejected that attempt, a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said Axons argument had force.

The second case, Securities and Exchange Commission v. Cochran, concerns an accountant accused of misconduct by the S.E.C. and involves a similar issue. The accountant, Michelle Cochran, sought to challenge the agencys structure in federal court before administrative procedures were completed. The Fifth Circuit agreed that she should be able to bring her claims, creating the sort of conflict between federal appeals courts that often prompts Supreme Court review.

Where injured workers and consumers can sue

On Nov. 8, the justices will consider whether states can require corporations to agree to be sued in that states courts as a condition of doing business in the state.
You smoke weed? Eufamia Lopez asked the half-dozen young men lounging on benches in a public housing courtyard in the South Bronx.

The soft September air reeked of the obvious answer.

Ms. Lopez, who works for a New York University health support program, plunged into her spiel. Street drugs  meth, coke, molly, Xanax, heroin and even marijuana  are being cut with fentanyl these days, she said, which can kill you. But you can test your supply before using it to see whether theres any fentanyl in it. She was giving out free kits.

She had their attention, and not just because she is 5-foot-10, frank but ebullient, with cascading black curls scarcely held in check by a brightly colored scarf. The neighborhood, Mott Haven, has one of New York Citys highest overdose rates. After she recited the simple instructions, each man readily accepted a kit with three fentanyl test strips. One asked for a second kit.

I appreciate you, she said, rewarding him with a smile.

The spread of fentanyl, a cheap synthetic opioid 50 times as lethal as heroin, into most kinds of illicit drugs has pushed fatal overdoses to record highs in the United States. Fentanyl test strips have become a popular but contentious tool in response. Supporters say they help drug users make lifesaving decisions. Opponents contend that they facilitate drug use.
The natural resources that Indigenous peoples depend on are inextricably linked to their identities, cultures and livelihoods. Even relatively small changes in temperature or rainfall can make their lands more susceptible to rising sea levels, droughts and forest fires. As the climate crisis escalates, activists fighting to protect what remain of the worlds forests are at risk of being persecuted by their governments  and even at risk of death.

For decades Indigenous activists have been sounding the alarm. But their warnings have too often been ignored. So, they organized.

Indigenous peoples and communities, working in the Americas, Indonesia and Africa joined forces and together became the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities. They work to protect their rights and territories, amounting to nearly 3.5 million square miles of land across the planet.
To the Editor:

I cannot agree more with Farhad Manjoo that nuclears problems dont mean we should shut down all nuclear plants; existing plants are quite valuable in our energy mix as we ramp up solar and wind. However, nuclear plant operators around the world have to do much more than what they have done so far to ensure the safety of this viable energy generation technology.

Because of the double exigencies of energy security and the growing need for decarbonization, many nuclear plants will be given life extensions. Germany will keep two of its three remaining nuclear power plants operational, and just recently, California lawmakers extended the life of the only operating nuclear plant, Diablo Canyon.

Based on my last 35 years of research experience in nuclear safety and visiting more than dozen nuclear reactors around the world, including Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima, I would like to point out that two of these three major nuclear accidents with long-lasting consequences  Three Mile Island and Chernobyl  were preventable and instigated by internal, not external, causes, which were primarily due to human factors, safety culture and regulatory oversight issues.

The world nuclear power industry and regulatory agencies need to double down their genuine efforts to improve human factors and safety culture considerations.

Najmedin Meshkati

Los Angeles

The writer is a professor of engineering and international relations at the University of Southern California.

To the Editor:

Had development of small-scale cookie-cutter nuclear power plants and nuclear batteries not been sidetracked by prejudice drawn from past misadventures and a focus on giant facilities, and had alternative sources of energy not been so massively subsidized, nuclear would have already displaced wind and solar.

Farhad Manjoo is correct that large-scale nuclear plants are problematic, but intermittent, unreliable energy generation is not a cost-effective, feasible replacement. The cost of standby backup is very high, and hopes for batteries as utility energy storage have foundered on the competition for the scarce elements needed for their production.
It got stuck in my 20-year-old head that self-incrimination was a Russian trait, and that Russians understood on a deep level that you cant put yourself above the rules just because you think youre superior.

Vladimir Putin, of course, contradicts that notion, as did Stalin.

Putin is less Dostoyevsky than Euripides, a walking revenge play. Like Medea  a searing production of the opera kicked off the Met season on Tuesday  Putin commits savage murder of innocents without worrying about the consequences.

Medea feels disrespected  thats all she needs to justify her carnage, murdering her own children and her husbands new bride with a poisoned robe and coronet. In some versions of the Greek myth, Medea helped Jason get the Golden Fleece, killing her own brother and betraying her father to assist him, and she wasnt about to see her husband happy in another womans arms. Now she wants blood, summoning in the opera the Black Furies and deities of Hell.

Putin, too, feels disrespected, still mourning the breakup of the Soviet Union, content to murder any number of innocent Ukrainians to slake his longing to stitch that lost empire back together.

At the end of the opera, Medea sets fire to the temple where she has killed her two sons. It bursts into flames around her. The horrified crowd runs away, singing,

Oh, terror!

Earth and Heaven are in flames!

Let us fly from

the burning sky.

In an eerie echo, Putin raised the chilling specter of a burning sky in a speech on Friday at the gilded Georgievsky Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace. He darkly alluded to using nuclear weapons, which would leave earth and heaven in flames.
The same type of ultimatum was issued on the eve of Russias invasion of Ukraine. On Feb. 21, Mr. Putin formally recognized the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples Republics. After clarifying that he meant the entire regions, not just the areas controlled by the separatists, he then demanded that the Ukrainian Army withdraw from both. Within a few days, he launched his invasion.

There is a difference between the state of affairs now and the situation in the spring, when everyone was reeling from the invasion of the worlds second-largest army into a sovereign state. Mr. Putins latest threat comes after a humiliating retreat from the Kharkiv region. It was this military setback that pushed Russia to announce the mobilization and the annexation, and it seems highly unlikely that the Ukrainians will consider Russias request for talks seriously this time around. On the contrary, Ukraine has repeatedly said that annexation would mean an end to any attempt at negotiations with Mr. Putins Russia. For Ukrainians, after what happened this week, even sitting down at the negotiating table would amount to surrender.

This leads us to Mr. Putins third point: that the United States created a precedent for the use of nuclear weapons with its bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Its not hard to work out the implication. If the West continues to send weapons to Ukraine and refuses to put pressure on Kyiv to agree to a solution that would satisfy Russia, Mr. Putin may resort to the nuclear option.

There is one clear explanation as to why the use of a nuclear weapon or even talking about it is a great temptation for Mr. Putin and those who share his views about Russias standing in the world. Equality is understood by them in a very blunt, practically arithmetical way. To be equal to the United States, Russia must show that it can do anything the Americans can, regardless of when they did it or what the context was.

This symmetrical concept of equality and an almost superstitious idea of global justice are pushing Mr. Putin and some people around him to go for the nuclear option  especially since the prospect of Russia winning a conventional war is uncertain, if not improbable, and the Kremlin doesnt recognize any exit strategy that cannot be passed off as some sort of victory.
As pandemic relief for families with children expires, she said, all the fiscal challenges we had are still there waiting for us.

Some researchers say the investments were justified at the time, but were too expensive and covered too many people to be made permanent, since many did not have income thresholds or work requirements.

It is right for these things to expire, considering they were not paid for and Congress should not fund permanent expansions to government programs by adding to the federal debt, said Angela Rachidi, a senior fellow in poverty studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Increased spending on children could be worthwhile, but only when balanced with the realities of the countrys current finances.

The investments came through dozens of programs. The largest expenditure was the child tax credit, which came as direct payments to parents, up to $3,600 per child. Next was expansions in health care, through Medicaid and the Childrens Health Insurance Program.

The next largest investment was in nutrition  via free school meals and greater eligibility for food stamps  and welfare programs for poor parents. There was a similarly large investment in child care centers and public schools.

The government also increased funding for job training for young people, housing assistance and other social services. Of all of these, health spending on children is the biggest area expected to keep growing (because of rising health care costs, not the number of children served).
Amy Lazzell and her husband, Robert, had made preparations thinking that Hurricane Ian, based on earlier predictions, would track north, sparing their home on Fort Myers Beach. They stocked up on drinking water, coolers of ice and nonperishable food. Their elevated house had been reinforced with hurricane-resistant impact glass. They thought they were prepared.

Instead, the couple found themselves at the center of what Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, on Friday called ground zero.

Video taken by Ms. Lazzell just after the storm showed their second-story, turquoise-accented living room submerged in nearly three feet of floodwater. The water has since receded, but heartache has begun to set in.

Ive been crying a lot, said Ms. Lazzell, 54, a retired emergency-room nurse. Today has been more emotional than yesterday.

Since Wednesday, the couple have been stuck at home with their three puppies, trying to get by. With the power still out, they have been living on burgers from the freezer cooked on a gas grill. They have been sleeping on a mattress almost entirely waterlogged, save for the top layer. Mr. Lazzell guessed that they had about two days of drinking water left.

They heard from a neighbor about a food station being set up at a grocery store about a mile away, but it was only a rumor. We dont know whats true or not, Ms. Lazzell said as the sound of search and rescue helicopters whirred in the background.

But they say their biggest headache in the aftermath of the storm has been dealing with their insurance companies. Mr. Lazzell said that, like many people in Florida, they had to buy separate insurance plans for their cars and home. And now, the companies were pointing fingers at one another, trying to pass on responsibility.

When youre sitting here with no electricity and no running water, and you dont even know if your neighbors are alive or not, and you have to deal with this  its been a major disappointment, said Mr. Lazzell, 64, a retired military veteran. We could just use a little help.
WASHINGTON  The National Archives informed Congress on Friday that members of the Trump White House still had not turned over all presidential records and signaled there could be legal consequences for those who do not comply.

In a letter sent to the House Oversight Committee, Debra Steidel Wall, the acting U.S. archivist, said the archives was working to retrieve electronic messages from certain unnamed White House officials who had used personal email and messaging accounts to conduct official business.

Ms. Wall wrote that the archives would consult the Justice Department about whether to initiate an action for the recovery of records unlawfully removed.

While there is no easy way to establish absolute accountability, we do know that we do not have custody of everything we should, Ms. Wall wrote to Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, Democrat of New York and the chairwoman of the Oversight Committee.
DAKAR, Senegal  A day after military officers seized power in Burkina Faso, the ostensibly deposed president refused to relinquish power and warned of a fratricidal war, plunging the West African nation into further uncertainty as it endured its second coup in eight months.

As gunfire and protests erupted on Saturday in the capital, Ouagadougou, the countrys newest self-styled leader, Capt. Ibrahim Traore, accused France of helping the ousted president stage a comeback. Captain Traore said in a speech that the former president, Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, was planning a counterattack from a French base to stir up trouble in the countrys armed forces.

The escalation in Burkina Faso between the two men, who appear to have rallied different factions of the countrys armed forces, threatened to further destabilize the region, where several countries have struggled to contain violent extremist attacks and the instability has left millions in need of humanitarian assistance.

The impoverished but once stable nation has been the subject of two of the five coups that have rocked West Africa in the past two years. The country has also been plagued by regular attacks on civilians from an Islamist insurgency that is spilling over from neighboring Mali, and in turn spreading to neighboring countries like Benin, Ivory Coast and Togo.
NAIROBI, Kenya  An outbreak of Ebola in Uganda, caused by a strain for which there is no approved vaccine or drug treatment, is fanning fears across East Africa, as the authorities race to contain the virus that has already caused 35 confirmed infections and seven deaths.

Scientists and health officials are now pushing to start clinical trials for two experimental vaccines to protect against this strain, which originated in Sudan in 1976. Even though there are relatively new and powerful Ebola vaccines, they do not protect against the Sudan strain  complicating efforts to quickly stamp out the disease before it overburdens the nations fragile health care system.

In central Uganda, where the cases were reported, at least six medical workers have contracted the virus, leading some of their peers to request transfer elsewhere. Parents, concerned their children will catch the highly contagious virus, are withdrawing them from schools. And in a nation that has faced multiple Ebola outbreaks since it reported its first case in 2000, worries persist that another fast-spreading virus could precipitate restrictions that would devastate an economy still reeling from coronavirus shutdowns.

The whole situation gives me a lot of worry, Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam, the World Health Organizations representative to Uganda, said in a phone interview.
SHENZHEN, China  The signs of a looming lockdown in Shenzhen, China, had been building for a while. The city had been logging a few coronavirus infections for days. Daily Covid tests were required to go pretty much anywhere. Individual buildings had been sealed off.

So when a hotel employee woke me up a little after 7 a.m. to explain that we were not allowed to step outside for four days, my initial disorientation quickly turned to resignation.

Of course this happened. I live in China.

As the rest of the world sheds more restrictions by the day, Chinas rules are becoming more entrenched, along with the patterns of pandemic life under a government insistent on eliminating cases. People schedule lunch breaks around completing mandatory tests. They restructure commutes to minimize the number of health checkpoints along the way.
[Read from May: Canada Plans to Ban Handgun Sales and Possession of Assault Weapons]

While the Mounties, of course, are a federal police force, Mr. Shandro said that he had the authority to issue the directive because the force, as is the case in most provinces, also acts as Albertas provincial police under a contract with Alberta.

Alberta taxpayers pay over $750 million per year for the R.C.M.P., and we will not tolerate taking officers off the streets in order to confiscate the property of law-abiding firearms owners, Mr. Shandro said at a news conference.

The instruction, the Alberta government said in a news release, falls under a section of its contract with the Mounties allowing the province to set the objectives, priorities and goals of the mounted police officers working within its borders. Mr. Shandro suggested that if the Mounties didnt heed the provincial government, it would challenge the force through a dispute settlement system also outlined in the contract.

The federal government immediately dismissed the idea that either provincial government could order the Mounties to circumvent federal gun law they oppose.

Weapons of war have no place in our communities, which is why our government banned these guns, and our buyback program will get them off our streets for good, Alexander Cohen, a spokesman for Marco Mendicino, Canadas public safety minister, wrote in an email. The courts have repeatedly confirmed that regulating firearms falls squarely within federal jurisdiction. Albertans and Saskatchewanians expect their federal and provincial governments to work together to protect their communities, not pull dangerous stunts.
He began to threaten me that he would call the military enlistment office and they would come get me.

 Artyom, 28, who paid more than $1,600 in bribes, including to a police officer.



Artyom has grim memories of his year of required service in the army.

Here you are, sitting in a trench, hugging a gun, he said. During a night like that you understand a lot, you realize a lot. After serving in the army, I decided for myself that I am a pacifist, and that war is bad. Its terrible.

After Mr. Putins call-up, a draft notice was issued for Artyom, a programmer, but he had other ideas. He, his wife and another couple drove south from Moscow.

Near the village of Urukh, about two hours from the border, they came to their first police checkpoint. There, an officer asked if Artyom wanted to be drafted.

He began to threaten me that he would call the military enlistment office and they would come get me, he said. Instead, he agreed to negotiate.

That was the first of many bribes Artyom paid throughout the drive, totaling 100,000 rubles  more than $1,600, far above the average Russian monthly salary of around 62,000 rubles. Some were to Ossetians, an ethnic group in the Caucasus, who helped navigate police stops.

At one intersection, a policeman saw the Moscow license plates on our car and began to threaten that he would turn us back, he said. We offered to negotiate. He pretended that he was not interested in all this, but in fact, he just spins for money.

When they finally arrived, the line of cars at the border stretched more than five miles, he said. So Artyom and the other man grabbed their jackets, left their wives in the car and ran for the border. The line there was tense.

Everyone was emotional, he said. People were arguing, screaming.

Still, they got through. Three days later, they were still waiting for their wives to arrive with the car.
LUBMIN, Germany  When Heidi Moritz stands at her window and gazes over the gray expanse of the Baltic Sea stretching to the horizon, she cannot make out the giant swirling pool of methane bubbling from leaks in two sabotaged gas pipelines from Russia far offshore.

But she knows it is there.

It is terrifying, said Ms. Moritz, 74, a hotel owner in the tiny village of Lubmin on Germanys northern coast, whose fate has been closely linked to that of the pipelines, both of which land here. This has brought the war to our doorstep. Where will it all end?

Seven months into Russias war on Ukraine, the undersea explosions that damaged what was once the main source of Russian gas for Germany and much of Europe have raised the level of anxiety and fear among already jittery Europeans.
Two powerful supporters of President Vladimir V. Putin turned on Russias military leadership on Saturday after it ordered a retreat from a key city in eastern Ukraine, a striking sign of dissent within the Russian elite that comes as the Kremlin tries to project an image of strength and unity.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman leader of the southern Russian republic of Chechnya, wrote on the Telegram messaging app that Russias top military brass had covered for an incompetent general who should now be sent to the front to wash his shame off with blood.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the business magnate close to Mr. Putin who leads the Wagner Group  an army of mercenaries fighting for Russia in the war  issued a statement an hour later declaring that he agreed with Mr. Kadyrov.

Send all these pieces of garbage barefoot with machine guns straight to the front, Mr. Prigozhin said in an apparent reference to Russias military leaders.
WASHINGTON  For the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, top government leaders in Moscow are making explicit nuclear threats and officials in Washington are gaming out scenarios should President Vladimir V. Putin decide to use a tactical nuclear weapon to make up for the failings of Russian troops in Ukraine.

In a speech on Friday, Mr. Putin raised the prospect anew, calling the United States and NATO enemies seeking Russias collapse and declaring again that he would use all available means to defend Russian territory  which he has now declared includes four provinces of eastern Ukraine.

Mr. Putin reminded the world of President Harry S. Trumans decision to drop atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 77 years ago, adding, By the way, they created a precedent. On Saturday, the strongman leader of the southern Russian republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, said Mr. Putin should consider using low-yield nuclear weapons in Ukraine, becoming the first prominent Russian official to openly call for such a strike.

Senior American officials say they think the chances that Mr. Putin would employ a nuclear weapon remain low. They say they have seen no evidence that he is moving any of his nuclear assets, and a recent Pentagon analysis suggests the military benefits would be few. And the cost for Mr. Putin  in a furious international response, perhaps even from the Chinese, whose support he needs most  could be tremendous.
From a distance, the double column of cars and minivans stopped on a broad strip of pavement in a province in southern Ukraine appears frozen in time. The vehicles contain the belongings of people on a long journey: suitcases, full plastic bags and water bottles.

But all around are signs of the violence of the strike that hit a convoy of people fleeing fighting in Zaporizhzhia Province early on Friday. There is a crater a few yards to the right of the convoy, its edges blackened. The vehicles are pockmarked by shrapnel, most of their tires deflated and their windows blown out.

In all, 30 people died and 88 people were wounded in a Russian missile attack, according to the regions police chief, Ihor Klymenko. Pictures from the scene showed security personnel removing bodies that had been placed in black plastic sacks, while others still lay on the ground.

An 11-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy died, and a 3-year-old girl was wounded, he said in a post on Facebook.
Political leaders and high-profile actors will be among those addressing a rally on Irish unification in Dublin later.

Pro-unity group Irelands Future, which has organised the event in the 3Arena, has said thousands of people are expected to attend.

Actors Jimmy Nesbitt and Colm Meaney will be among those participating.

Cold Feet star Nesbitt, who is from a unionist background in Northern Ireland, will deliver the keynote address at the close of the afternoon-long rally.

Ahead of the event, he insisted he was not jumping on any bandwagon.

I think people are imagining that Im jumping or joining some bandwagon, and Im certainly not, he told the Belfast Telegraph.

I come from a particular background, of which I am particularly proud of, and I dont refute or shy away from that.

Nesbitt said there was a need for a public debate on the issue.

Im going down to give my perspective because there needs to be change and there needs to be public debate, he said.

Things like this can only increase that public debate. For too long this has all been left in the hands of politicians.

Leaders of five political parties will also take part in the rally.

Irelands deputy premier and leader of the Fine Gael party Leo Varadkar will give an address, as will Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald.

The stated aim of Irelands Future is to promote debate and discussion about what a united Ireland would look like. It is campaigning for a referendum on reunification.

The group contends that Brexit has created a fresh impetus for constitutional change, with more people looking at unification as a way to mitigate the consequences of the UKs departure from the EU.

Unionist parties in Northern Ireland are not involved in Saturdays event.

The cross-community Alliance Party is also not participating.

The party, which does not take a position on the constitutional question, said while it was prepared to take part in discussions on the issue, it said it would not be appropriate to attend what it described as a rally to endorse a united Ireland.

The event is being held days after census figures showed that Catholics now outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland for the first time since the partition of the island.

The Census 2021 figures, published last Thursday, show that 45.7% of the regions population said they were either Catholic or brought up as a Catholic.

The figures for Protestants (and other Christian faiths) was 43.5% while 1.5% were from non-Christian religions.

Northern Ireland had a significant Protestant majority when it was established in 1921 as part of the partition of Ireland. Its founders believed this Protestant majority would secure the future of the newly-created political entity.

Some nationalists hailed the census results as a seminal moment in the history of the region, drawing a direct link between the religious breakdown and public opinion on the potential reunification of Ireland.

However, unionists criticised this interpretation, insisting religious affiliation is a crude metric to measure sentiment on the constitutional question.

The census figures also included data on national identity.

Census 2021 showed that 31.9% said they were British-only and 8% deemed themselves British and Northern Irish.

The proportion of the population that said they were Irish-only was 29.1% while those identifying as Northern Irish-only was 19.8%.
He cant seize his neighbours territory and get away with it. It is as simple as that, the US president said from the White House.
Rumble 02 Oct 2022

At least one civilian is killed and three others wounded after residential areas of Donetsk come under Ukrainian shelling...
The UK prime minister reportedly raised objections to him going during a personal audience at Buckingham Palace last month.
Russia's military has acknowledged its withdrawal from the strategically important town of Lyman in Donetsk. The town is in the areas Vladimir Putin unilaterally declared as annexed Russian territory.
The Blue Jays and the Jays Care Foundation have asked a residential school survivor to throw out the ceremonial first pitch on Friday, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, at the Toronto game against the Boston Red Sox. Dolores Naponse from Atikameksheng Anishnawbeck will get to be on the mound.
Hull Daily Mail 30 Sep 2022

The day after the funeral, the daily amount of correspondence peaked at 6,500  out of a total of more than 50,000 letters
The tests come amid heightened tensions in the Korean peninsula after South Korea, Japan and the US held joint anti-submarine drills off the east coast.
Vladimir Putin followed through on his threat to annex occupied Ukrainian territories, thereby drastically raising the stakes in his war on Ukraine. What comes next though is unclear. Putin has framed the conflict as a much broader fight against Western nations, and has threatened to use nuclear weapons to achieve his goals.
Oct.2 - Red Bull says it is looking into its legal options after being openly accused of cheating by its two key Formula 1 rivals...

F1-Fansite 02 Oct 2022
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At least 11 civilians met violent deaths on an exposed section of road as defeated Russian forces retreated from the outskirts of the eastern Ukrainian town of Kupiansk.
Manhattan's Upper East Side residents react after the Russian Consulate in New York was vandalized with red spray paint early Friday, in an apparent protest as President Vladimir Putin pursues his bloody invasion of Ukraine.
India abstained a UNSC resolution introduced by the United States and Albania condemning Moscow's proclaimed annexation of parts of Ukraine, citing the "totality of the evolving situation as the reason for abstention. The resolution failed to get adopted as Russia, as expected, vetoed it. It was supported by 10 of the 15 members of the Council. China, Gabon and Brazil were the other countries that abstained.
While remaining "deeply disturbed" by the situation in Ukraine, India Friday joined China, Brazil and Gabon in abstaining from voting on a UNSC resolution which condemned "illegal" referendums held by Russia to annex 4 regions of Ukraine, and called upon Moscow to unconditionally withdraw troops from the country.
Venezuela on Saturday released seven jailed Americans, including five oil executives, in exchange for the release of two relatives of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, US officials said.
Auckland mayoral candidate Wayne Brown has said the first thing he'd do in the top job is glue pictures of a New Zealand Herald journalist to urinals so people could "pee on him".Brown made the comment about Simon Wilson, whom he...
Comrade Chairman

And other members of the Executive Committee

Members of the Liberian Peoples Party

Observers

Other distinguished ladies and gentlemen

Before proceeding any further, I humbly request that you stand with me for one moment of silence to the memory of Dr. Joseph Saye Guannu, former Vice Standard Bearer of the Liberian Peoples Party and all other fallen stalwarts of the Liberian Peoples party, who are not alive today to see this day. Amen, and you may have your seats.



Fellow partisans, let me now express profound gratitude to you on behalf of me, my beautiful wife, and other members of my family for your expression of confidence in me. The mandate that you have given me by my election as the standard bearer of the Liberian Peoples Party is huge. Today, you have mandated me to effectively present to the Liberian people the agenda of the Liberian Peoples Party for a Better Liberia- a Liberia in which the rule of law will be strengthened for the safety of all Liberians and the promotion of law and order through the maintenance of an effective and accountable police force, on the one hand, and the improvement of our court system to be so independent, fair and impartial for justice to be done to all with a high degree of integrity.



Today, you have directed me to go forward to tell the Liberian people that a better Liberia is possible if we collectively fight the high level of corruption that exists in the governance of Liberia, in order to save enough money to improve our health system, educational system, reduce food insecurity, improve our infrastructure, increase our use of technology and tap on our green energy potential in order to move from being an energy-dependent country to a productive partner in improving the electricity capacity of West Africa. Yes, you have mandated me to let the Liberian people know that we can provide more job opportunities for Liberians through creative ways for factories and other employment-generating activities all over Liberia away from Monrovia via different kinds of investment incentives thereby putting more money in the pockets of Liberians and improving governments revenue-generating capacity. My dear partisans, you have directed me to tell the Liberian people that we can grow enough rice and other food crops for our consumption and even exportation by mechanized farming through farmers' cooperatives and the agricultural battalion of the Armed forces of Liberia.



My esteemed comrades, you have clearly instructed me to go forth and tell the Liberian people that we can create Liberian millionaires outside government offices by giving Liberian business entities more government contracts than is being currently done. Your mandate, dear partisans is for me to convince the Liberian people that we must insist on adding value to our mineral resources such as producing polished diamonds and processed gold, adding value to our iron ore, and stopping the exportation of round logs and instead produce made in Liberia furniture for local use and export.





Fellow partisans, Liberia has experienced the worst forms of hardship from the effects of one-party rule, military dictatorship, armed civil conflict, and brutal civilian dictatorship all due to bad governance stimulated by greed and selfishness. Bad governance has made corruption an acceptable culture of governance, unfortunately. As a result of the high level of corruption in most government offices in Liberia, the majority of the people of Liberia are getting poorer and poorer every day. Corruption has made every aspect of life so difficult that more children are dying in Liberia before reaching the age of five, more pregnant women are dying and more people are dying from easily curable diseases and hunger. Corruption is keeping more children out of school because their parents cannot afford to send them to school. Corruption has made it impossible for Liberians to travel in most parts of Liberia, especially in Southeastern Liberia during the rainy season. Corruption is a weapon of mass destruction. In Liberia corruption has become a pandemic. Like a pandemic, the only way to slow a pandemic is to take preventive measures. We will tell the people that LPP believes in operating an open, transparent, and accountable government with the assets, salaries, and benefits of the president, the vice president, the Speaker, President Pro Tempore, the lawmakers, the Chief Justice, justices and judges as well as all public service employees made known to the people of Liberia by publishing same on a government website. We will mobilize and motivate the Liberian people by showing good examples, for all Liberians to collectively sweep corruption from Liberia. The number one task of the Liberian Peoples Party today is to lead the Liberian people in the battle against corruption. We must collectively form a movement against this notorious enemy of Liberia.



Fellow partisans, the challenge of transforming Liberia into a better country for all is indeed a very difficult one. However, with our partys principle of putting the interest of the people above all other considerations, we will overcome the challenge of transforming Liberia for all Liberians to equally enjoy Liberia. The people of Botswana, Singapore, Rwanda, and UAE have shown us that with good leadership any country can be transformed into a better country, no matter how difficult the situation. For example, Botswana is a landlocked country with more than half of its land covered by the Kalahari desert; Singapore is a little island with less natural resources; Rwanda is a landlocked country that fought a bitter civil war like Liberia, and the United Arab Emirates was a dessert land for many years with the popular mode of transport being camels and donkeys. With good leadership, these countries are among the better-developed countries of the world today and their citizens are getting richer due to less corruption, while the citizens of Liberia are getting poorer every day due to uncontrolled greed and corruption. We cannot continue to choose bad leadership because bad leadership promotes corruption and corruption brings hopelessness, despair, and untold hardship to any country. Today, for example, because of corruption, the SN Brussel has canceled all flights in and out of Liberia. Liberians flying out of Liberia or coming to Liberia have to travel to Freetown, Conakry, or Abidjan by road to get on international flights. This is an additional source of suffering for Liberians.



I dream of a Liberia in which Liberia will be free and so sweet for every and all Liberians such that no Liberian will be reluctant to depart from and hurry to return to. This is only possible if we sweep corruption away from every government office in Liberia. Government is a place to serve, not to steal. Without corruption, a better Liberia is possible.



We can and will succeed. A Better Liberia is Possible



Long Live the Liberian Peoples Party



Long Live Liberia






Six GOP-led states are suing the Biden administration over its plan to cancel at least $10,000 in student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans.
The Conservative mayor of the West Midlands has hit back at a fellow Tory who described Birmingham as a "dump".
Residents claim sport promoter Barry Hearn, father of Eddie Hearn, was given a tour of the historic Cornish parish after expressing interest in its sale.
The Beckham family have congratulated matriarch Victoria Beckham as she presented her first catwalk show at Paris Fashion Week in almost three years.
Transport union leaders have apologised for the disruption caused by mass walkouts this weekend but said they had been left with no choice  as Network Rail accused them of a huge own goal.
President Joe Biden said Hurricane Ian is "likely to rank among the worst storms" in US history, adding it could take years to rebuild. But Biden vowed the government will stay "as long as it takes" to help devastated communities rebuild. (Sept. 30)


One of two American veterans released from Russian captivity after being captured in Ukraine says they both prayed for death during the brutal ride to freedom. (Sept. 30)


Germany, France, the UK and Sweden have been warned over the involvement of their "agents", Iran says.
The Iranian Foreign Minister stated that the US has sent multiple messages to Iran through the foreign ministers of certain countries.



The Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein was among a number of his counterparts from certain countries who carried Americas messages to Iran and vice versa, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein...
Scientists are discovering interesting facts about asteroids as they examine the photographs from NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), which saw a spacecraft collide with the asteroid Dimorphous.
MBABANE: Junior police and Correctional Services officers have suspended moves to seek an audience with His Majesty the King.

The officers disclosed to Eswatini News that following a proactive move by the Ministry of Public Service to engage them, they felt their move to get an emissary (lincusa) to take them to the King could wait, at least for now. The junior state security officers said they were on cloud nine for being recognised by government as key stakeholders.

Applauded

They said the ministry should be applauded for affording them the platform to bargain for their welfare as public servants within the essential services.

The Minister of Public Service, Mabulala Maseko, and his team were praised for affording the officers a chance to state their case and further advance their challenges. The engagement follows years of fruitless promises to junior police and Correctional Services officers by their seniors. The engagement with the ministry followed an urgent national executive and branch committees meeting by the officers over the prolonged Phase II of the salary restructuring exercise of 2014.

Police Staff Association General Secretary Sergeant Dumile Khumalo confirmed that they had a fruitful engagement with the ministry. Khumalo said everything was on the table and they were all praying and hoping for good news from the ministry. She said the open lines of communication from the ministry were much appreciated. We are very much appreciative of the ministry as they value us as equal partners. The ministry informed us of the latest engagement with the minister, said Khumalo. Meanwhile, the minister previously confirmed that talks between his ministry and the officers were continuing smoothly. He was reluctant to reveal more to the media as he pleaded that the discussions were still between government and the officers.

Discussed

He said the matter was on the negotiation table and could not be discussed in the public domain, for now. It will be premature to release any information regarding the status of the matter as it is still an issue under discussion between government and her employees, said Maseko.

The minister assured this publication that both parties would release a detailed statement once talks had been concluded.
Brazil's polarizing presidential campaign will wrap up on Saturday as incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and front-runner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hold rival rallies within spitting distance of each other.
SEOUL, South Korea  North Korea on Saturday test-fired two short-range ballistic missiles, its neighbors said, the fourth round this week of weapons launches that prompted quick, strong...



#seoul #northkorea #theassociatedpress #neighbors
In a rare softening of hostile relations, Venezuela has freed seven imprisoned Americans in exchange for the United States releasing two nephews of President Nicolas Maduros wife who
Pakistan as a responsible neighboring country, always offered massive relief assistance to Afghan people to help them in every difficult time. No one can deny the role of Pakistan in bringing peace and prosperity in Afghanistan. Pakistan has extended its financial and technical support to Afghanistan in various fields, including...
Tropical deforestation causes widespread degradation of biodiversity and carbon stocks. Researchers from the German Center of Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and Leipzig University were now able to test the relationship between land tenure and deforestation rates in Brazil. Their research, which was published in Nature...
Health Department Launches Flu Clinics as First Cases are Reported

The Oswego County Health Department announced that five Oswego County residents have been diagnosed with laboratory confirmed flu so far this season. Four of those diagnosed are children.

Flu season is always unpredictable, but now that we have seen cases within the county, its important to get vaccinated against influenza, stated Jodi Martin, director of preventive services for the Oswego County Health Department. Its recommended that everyone 6 months of age and older get vaccinated.

The Oswego County Health Department will offer flu clinics from 9-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m. every Monday and Friday beginning Monday Oct. 3. The clinics will be walk-in only and offer vaccines for people ages 6 months and older.

The cost of the vaccine ranges from $38 to $81 depending on vaccine type and are covered by most insurances. The health department accepts the following insurances: UMR POMCO Select, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, Fidelis, United HealthCare Community Plan, United Healthcare Medicare advantage plans, Medicaid, and Medicare. People with insurances other than those listed may have to pay out of pocket and submit a receipt to their insurer for reimbursement. No one is turned away due to the inability to pay.

Nasal flu vaccines will be available for people aged 2 to 49 years and high-dose flu vaccine will be available for those ages 65 years and above. As the Oswego County Health Department continues to receive supplies of flu vaccine, please call to check for the availability of high-dose and nasal vaccines before coming in.

Flu symptoms usually come on suddenly. People who have flu often feel some or all these symptoms: fever or feeling feverish, chills, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches and fatigue.

Most people who get flu will recover in a few days to less than two weeks, but some people will develop complications such as pneumonia, some of which can be life-threatening and result in death.

The health department recommends the best ways for people to protect themselves and their families from influenza is to:

Take time to get a flu shot. Getting vaccinated against the flu is the first and most important step people can take to protect themselves and the people close to them.

Take action to prevent the spread of germs. Frequent handwashing, sanitizing surfaces, covering coughs and sneezes, avoiding touching your face, staying home when sick and avoiding contact with those that are sick can help stop the spread of germs.

Take antiviral flu medication as prescribed by a doctor. These medicines can help make symptoms milder or shorten the duration of illness. They work best if started within two days of getting sick.

For more information on flu or vaccination clinics visit the Oswego County Department of Healths website at www. https://health.oswegocounty.com/ or call 315-349-3547.
SITEKI  Mabhensane Primary School Head teacher Sayinile Irene Sikhondze was on Thursday night shot dead by an unknown person while at her homestead under Siphofaneni Inkhundla.

Her killing happens in the midst of an existing restraining order she obtained against 25 residents. According to Nceka Chiefdom Headman Meshack Mngometulu, the incident had shocked the community as there was still a pending matter that involved the deceased with the 25 residents.

On Monday, Sikhondze appeared at the Siteki Magistrate Court before Principal Magistrate Dumsani Magagula, together with 21 residents of Nceka and Mabhensane community where a restraining court order was issued instructing them to desist from harassing, intimidating, verbally and physically abusing her. They were expected to also appear at the Siphofaneni Magistrates Court on October 11, 2022, after the matter was moved from the Siteki Magistrates Court following a request by the residents.

Warned

The Nceka headman said he met the 25 residents on Wednesday in the presence of officers from the Siphofaneni Police Station to deliberate on the matter at hand and they were collectively warned to respect the court order. Mngometulu said the shooting incident has left the community devastated, as they had not anticipated such. He further mentioned that he got the news through a phone call, from a member of the inner council. I am short of words as to how to describe this tragedy, he said. The deceaseds son, Manqoba, confirmed the news. He said one bullet on the head, fired from close range, ended her mothers life. He added that after the shooting, the unknown person fled through the gate in the still of the night. She went outside while still talking to someone on the phone at around 8pm. They have completed what they had said they will do to my mother. We are still traumatised, he said.

Police

Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed the matter. I can confirm that a woman was shot last night at around 8pm. Police are investigating the matter, she said. Meanwhile, the respondents from Nceka community in this matter are Pilosi Masina, Mazambane Mfankhona Sibandze, Mcolisi Khumalo, Thokozani Dlamini, Mongi Khumalo, Zakhele Sikhondze, Themba Mathabela and Bongani Mganga Tfwala. Others are Gungubele Tfwala, Bhekimpi Lukhele, Sipho Simelane, Casper Mhlanga, Zodwa Sibandze, Mbhuluko Ndwandwe, Mfanukhona Shongwe, Bhekane Mdluli, Doctor Dlamini and Sigodo Simelane. The rest of the restrained Nceka residents are Phumlane Simelane, Phumzile Gwebu, Mandla Dlamini and Senzo Dlamini. The trio of Mbhekeni Simelane, Sifiso Mamba and Mphikeleli Mamba are Mabhensane community members.

Those who failed to make it to court on Monday due to work related commitments were Senzo Dlamini, who reported that he was working in South Africa, Gungubele Thwala, who was admitted at Mbabane Government Hospital, while there was no report on the absence of Doctor Dlamini and Sigodo Simelane. The respondents told the court that they would not be represented by a lawyer but they would individually conduct their own defence in the matter. They responded after the principal magistrate had told them that they could engage an attorney to represent them as a group or individually.

Order

The court order reads: Having heard the applicant and there being no representation on behalf of the respondents, it is hereby ordered that the respondents or anyone else acting in their behest, directed to desist from setting foot at the residence (homestead) of the applicant situated at Nceka area. It directed to desist from setting foot at the business premises of the applicant situated at Nceka area. It also directed the respondents to desist from setting foot at the work place of the applicant being Mabhensane Primary School. It further directed the respondents to keep away from the applicant, wherever she might be for at least a minimum distance of 100 metres. The court order also directed the respondents to desist from harassing, intimidating and abusing the applicant physically, verbally or in any way whatsoever, in a manner that might or would cause imminent harm in her wellbeing or safety of her property.

It concluded by directing Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) to serve and explain the contents of this order and its existence to the respondents for purpose of compliance and to be filed with the clerk of the court for the return of service of this order. Worth mentioning is that this court order had been issued at the backdrop of the mob attack of about 200 residents at the head teachers home a fortnight ago, implicating her in stock theft.

The residents from three chiefdoms namely, Mphumakudze, Maphilingo and Nceka were on-board nine vehicles and a mini-truck. The school administrator, Sikhondze, ran a restaurant and liquor shop. After the mob was dispersed by the police, it resorted to looting stock at the restaurant and liquor shop belonging to her.

Worth mentioning is that two respondents; Mfankhona Sibandze and Mbongeni Thwala, asked the court to correct their particulars, reflected in the Court Order as the written names were wrong as Sibandze is called Mfanukhona not Mazambane while Thwala asked that the name of Bongani be replaced with that of Mbongeni Patrick.
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Port-Louis, Mauritius (PANA) - The quarantine period for COVID-19 disease in Mauritius and the existing sanitary measures would be extended up to 30 November 2022, the Government announced on Friday, following the weekly meeting of the Cabinet in Port-Louis
Photo: (Photo : Michal Jarmoluk)

Police alleged that a 12-year-old Texas girl shot her father and then herself in an apparent "murder plot" she made with another girl to kill their respective families, according to the Parker County Sheriff's Office, per CNN. The shooting occurred at 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday at a home in Weatherford, Northwest Parker County, about 30 miles west of Fort Worth.

Sheriff's deputies found the girl on the street with a headshot wound and a handgun underneath her. On the other hand, her 38-year-old dad was found inside the family's home with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Both victims were immediately taken to local hospitals by air ambulance, and their conditions were still unknown Monday morning.

The Sheriff's investigators stated that the juvenile was believed to have shot her father, fled the scene, and shot herself.

Read Also: Family Seeks Legal Advice After Blind Toddler Who Almost Died Is Denied ACC Support for Hospital Failure

Tweens have planned the entire incident

During the probe, authorities discovered that the tween had planned several weeks to murder her family, including her pets, and had been in contact with another juvenile female from Lufkin, more than two hundred miles southeast of Parker County.

According to the authorities, the juvenile from Lufkin, whose age was not released, had also planned to kill her father but did not go through with it. The two young girls had arranged for the 12-year-old to drive to Lufkin, pick up the second girl, and run away together to Georgia. The authorities are still unsure how the two girls knew each other. The Lufkin girl was charged with criminal conspiracy in planning the murder plot. However, it is still unclear whether charges have been filed against the injured girl.

Nearly half of all youth arrests are made due to theft, simple assault, murder, drug abuse, disorderly conduct, and curfew violations. Statistics show that theft is the most significant cause of youth arrests. Almost 60,000 youth below age 18 are incarcerated in juvenile jails in the United States.

The most widespread and leading reason for juvenile crime is violence at home, per Nicewicz. A home is where the children learn what kind of a person to grow into; thus, if violence is all they have experienced at home, most likely, they grow to become violent people.

Severe mental illness drove a teenager to kill his family

Another teen from New Jersey fatally shot four of his family members using a semi-automatic rifle just before the ball dropped on New Year's Eve in 2017.

Scott Kologi, 16 at the time of the incident, now 20, killed his 18-year-old sister, Brittany Kologi; his mother, Linda Kologi, 44; his father, Steven Kologi, 42. He also killed his grandfather's companion, 70-year-old Mary Schulz.

Kologi was convicted in February on all charges, including four counts of first-degree murder, and has been sentenced to 150 years in prison. In court, Kologi's defense attorney argued that his severe mental illness led him to kill his family and asked for a sentence of 30 years.

Defense Attorney, Emeka Nkwuo, told People that Kologi is a mentally ill child who begged his mother for help and never actually got it.

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Photo: (Photo : David Mark)

Katie Jo Benitz, who graduated from high school in 2021, is one of the newest firefighters of the Yakima Fire Department in Yakima, Washington. Being one of the latest trainees at the Yakima Fire Department, Benitz was surprised when her mother, Captain Bonnie Rogers, a fellow firefighter, joined her while battling a nearby wildfire earlier this month, Good Morning America (GMA) reported.

Benitz said she was inspired to join the male-dominated field because of her mother, the first female firefighter in her department in 2010. Benitz added that everything her mother has done for the family as a single mother with three kids, being in a field not frequented by women, and doing well so far in her career is an inspiration. She also thinks that her mother's chosen career is one of the coolest things she has ever seen, and it made her also want to become that inspiration for other girls to be interested in male-dominated fields, just like her mother has been for her.

Benitz's decision to enter the field came as no surprise to her mother, adding that when her daughter was about four years old and Rogers was going through paramedic school, she would help her study by holding flash cards and explaining certain things related to her studies.

Read Also: Parental Influence: Children Ends up Choosing Careers That Parents Wanted

The mother-daughter teamwork displays unity

The mother and daughter's fieldwork eventually collided for the first time in August when Benitz was called to help battle the Cow Canyon wildfire near the BBQ Flats in Selah, Washington. The mother-daughter firefighters had never crossed paths in the past, which was not unusual because they are both stationed about 90 minutes from each other.

Benitz revealed that Rogers was 20 miles away from her when the fire started, and she had wondered if her mother would go and say hi. Not long after that, they bumped into each other. Benitz said their crossing of paths was exciting as it was rare, knowing that as a captain, her mother could have been doing anything almost anywhere in the state.

Rogers, for her part, said she didn't think she would run into her daughter in the Cow Canyon assignment as a lot of people were working because of the fire's magnitude. The mother-daughter firefighters showed unity and teamwork in battling the wildfire.

According to NBC News, less than five percent of career firefighters are women; hence, the vanguard of female firefighters, paramedics, and elected officials is pushing and encouraging to make the profession more diverse.

The daughter felt fortunate working with her mom

Rogers being the captain, had a lot of responsibilities, and one of those was to check in on the different crews at the site, and while doing that, she heard a familiar laugh that she instantly recognized as her daughter's. The two greeted each other and stopped to take a photo which Benitz later posted on social media. She wrote in the caption that she's beyond fortunate to work with the amazing woman next to her side, who is her mom.

The mother-daughter firefighters then quickly got back to work. Different media outlets have picked up their story, and they hope they will inspire more people, specifically women, to become firefighters themselves.

In the United States, approximately 6,200 women currently work as full-time career firefighters and officers. Several hundred hold the rank of lieutenant or captain, and around 150 are district chiefs, battalion chiefs, division chiefs, or assistant chiefs, per Women in Fire.

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MBABANE  Hosea High School staffroom was on Thursday night burnt by unknown people as the school prepared for the Junior Certificate and Form V final examinations.

Unknown people used flammable liquid to burn the staffroom after word had circulated that final examination papers had arrived. The school Head teacher, Sikhumbuzo Dlamini, said he was surprised yesterday morning when he found that the staffroom had been burnt. Police were called to the scene to investigate the cause of the fire, he said. Dlamini said there had been no lessons on Thursday after pupils ran riot, having combined forces with their primary school counterparts. Then we woke up this morning to find that the staffroom had been burnt. We quickly called the police who came to assess the damage and launched investigations, Dlamini said.

Rioting

The pupils are known to be rioting for the release of their Member of Parliament (MP), Bacede Mabuza, who was arrested together with Ngwemphisi MP Mthandeni Dube on terrorism-related charges. Violence was heightened since last week after revelations that the two MPs had been assaulted, allegedly by His Majestys Correctional Services officers at the Matsapha Correctional Facility. The Shiselweni Regional Education Officer (REO), Siboniso Gumbi, confirmed that the school head teacher had reported the fire incident. We gathered that some pupils witnessed the arrival of papers and concluded that these were for the final examination. However, those were not final examination papers, but certain papers that are used to prepare pupils for the examination, he said.

Damage

Gumbi said the damage caused to the staffroom was extensive. Reports we gathered were to the effect that some pupils assisted to put out the flames. At the moment, we cannot say who started it, as such would be determined by the police investigations, he said. Responding to questions on the pupils refusing to learn, he said the schools administration was nursing hopes that eventually they would resume lessons. This is not the only school as that of Ngozi has also had challenges of pupils refusing to learn, the REO said.

Investigations

Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed the incident and said investigations had been launched to determine the cause of the fire. Among the burnt items were pupils exercise books, chairs, tables, stationery items, curtains and other goods that were in the staffroom. Recently, pupils burnt tyres and blocked the entrance to the school, though no valuable structure was damaged.
Photo: (Photo : Rich Polk)

The "90 Day Fiance" star Loren Brovarnik appeared confident with her body less than one month after welcoming baby number three. The TV personality showed off her postpartum progress and shared it on Instagram. She narrated that she and her husband, Alexei Brovarnik, were going out, and she decided to challenge herself by stepping out of her comfort zone. She wore a crop top despite being just 18 days postpartum. She said it's unbelievable what a woman's body does, per US Magazine.

The 33-year-old concluded that she would embrace her body and the crop top and mom jeans she wore and would have fun on Saturday night. The couple announced earlier this month that they had welcomed their third child. The two captioned a joint Instagram announcement of the arrival of their third child that they are happy and proud to introduce Ariel Raya Brovarnick to the public. The little girl was their anniversary gift, born on September 6 at 11:40 p.m. Alexei revealed that finding out the gender of the baby only when it was delivered made it more special than the couple could have imagined. He thanked his wife for making him the happiest man alive.

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Women's bodies go through huge changes

After the two celebrated their wedding in the United States and Israel, they settled in Florida, where they welcomed sons - Shai, 2, and Asher, 12 months old.

Loren Brovarnik announced her third pregnancy in May also on Instagram, writing that it was a happy early mother's day for her as a baby no. 3 was on its way. The "90 Day Fiance: Pillow Talk" alum also added that she's certain life will be crazy with "3 under 3." While the proud mom loved her new role as a mother of three, she has also been candid about her changing body.

The "Loren & Alexei: After the 90 Days" star revealed that the body changes are the downfall of pregnancy and childbirth but added that there's also something positive to it, as not everybody bounced back like some people, and that's just normal. Brovarnik wanted to show people that women go through significant changes when they grow a human inside them, and it takes time for the body to heal.

The TV personality also revealed that she wanted to have a mommy makeover done within the next few years, adding that she would do almost everything to make it work. Thus, she proudly wore crop tops and bikinis 18 days after giving birth.

According to Cleveland Clinic, 75 percent of women experience baby blues after the delivery, and more than 15 percent develop postpartum depression.

The star posted a vulnerable reel on Instagram

After giving birth to her third child on September 6, Loren Brovarnik surprised Instagram fans by posting a reel addressing her mental health in which she was shedding uncontrollable tears and captioned it, "Leaving this here as a reminder to those who need to hear it." The star explained it was OK not to be OK with a shaky voice. She reminded people that they were not alone and asked them to trust her when she said it, Screen Rant reported.

Related Article: Australian Ballroom Dancer Sharna Burgess Celebrates Three Months With Baby Zane
Photo: (Photo : Picjumbo_com)

The Federal Department of Education encourages parents to help their kids with homework as it supports children's learning. Many experts also found that parents helping with homework cultivates positive learning behaviors, reinforces class material, and reminds children that education is indeed important, per The Conversation.

Parental involvement in schoolwork allows children to learn that asking for help with difficult tasks enables them to improve and teaches them that mistakes are all part of the process. Kids also learn that perseverance and practice both strengthen skills and broaden their horizons. It also helps them to develop positive study skills and habits that will be helpful throughout their lives. It encourages them to consume time positively, learn independently, and take accountability for their work.

Moreover, parental involvement with homework is associated with higher academic performance, better social skills and behavior, and also increased self-confidence. When parents help their children with homework, it allows kids more time to expand upon subjects as learning can be accelerated in the classroom.

Read Also: Flying With a Baby or Child: Everything Parents Need To Know

How important is parental involvement to the child's learning?

Angran Li, a sociologist, says that the evidence suggests that the involvement of parents in a child's learning can make a difference through warm encouragement and a positive outlook, as well as by communicating high expectations to children. The impact of parental involvement can also be seen in the quality of homework.

The efficacy of homework help appears to increase when parents nurture independent learning behaviors. When parents assist their kids in doing homework, they should avoid trying to handle the process and also resist the temptation to complete and finish the assignment for kids. Instead, try letting the child figure out answers on their own while giving them helpful hints and positive feedback when needed.

Kids would feel more motivated when parents are involved in the learning process. As a result, their grades, self-esteem, and attitudes in class would improve. Research from the National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education states that regardless of income or background, students with involved parents are more likely to be stellar in the classroom as they attend school regularly and have better social skills, per Rasmussen University.

How homework promotes learning conversation?

According to a study, "Parental Involvement Across Middle and High School: Exploring Contributions of Individual and Neighborhood Characteristics," parents should gradually lessen homework help as the child grow older and seek advice from teachers and even from school staff on how to make homework support both engaging and attuned to their kid's learning needs.

Parents should step in to help when they see their kids struggling in school as difficult subjects, as well as topics, can distress children. On the other hand, homework helps kids take control of their workload and increase their time management skills considering that homework is all set with a deadline; thus, it allows them to think independently and develop problem-solving skills.

In addition, homework reinforces learners to retain information taught in the classroom and increases their general understanding of the language, which promotes learning conversation, per Teaching English.

Related Article: Teaching Little Girls Proper Hair Care; Assuring Hair Is Clean All the Time
Photo: (Photo : Gerd Altmann from Pixabay )

Deputies now say they believe the murder of Georgia mom, Deborrah Collier, whose naked and burned body was found in Habersham County earlier this month, was deliberate and personal, according to People Magazine.

The Habersham County Sheriff's Office held a news conference on Friday morning regarding the mysterious death of the Athens mom, who disappeared on September 10 after sending her daughter thousands in cash and a cryptic text via Venmo.

Deputies said that her daughter received a strange message at some point the day before Collier's death. The murdered mom told her daughter they would not let her go through the Venmo app. She also sent more than $2,000 in cash to her daughter.

Collier's murder mystery deepens

Collier was found dead in a ravine in Habersham County on September 11 near a burned tarp and a tote bag. A surveillance video released earlier this week showed Collier buying similar items in a Family Dollar store in Rabun County. Workers at that Family Dollar store told Channel 2s Audrey Washington that she did not appear distressed in the store and was alone.

Deputies said on Friday that they don't believe this is a random act of violence, and they do not think this was the act of a serial killer. Deputies added that they believe this act was deliberate and personal.

Deputies also announced that they had obtained new surveillance video from outside the Family Dollar store that shows the last moments that the victim was known to be alive. The footage showed Collier exiting the store and getting into her van, where she stayed for about 10 minutes. Deputies said she left the store and drove south on Highway 441.

Read Also: State Stimulus Checks Arriving to Americans in October 2022: Which States Are Sending Payments?

Collier's murder case is very complex

According to deputies, results of an autopsy to determine her cause of death were still pending, as were subpoenas and search warrants. They have determined, though, that Collier's daughter, Amanda Bearden, did receive money from her mom but said they do not know where that money went.

Deputies said that the last time Bearden talked to her mom was on September 10, according to the Independent. They added that this case is very complex in nature and has a lot of questions and unknowns that are not typical for a death investigation. Deputies explained that it is going to take significantly more time than the 19 days that have passed to solve this particular crime.

Channel 2s Washington visited the home of Bearden on Friday, but she was distraught then. She told the reporter she had no comment and asked Washington to get off her property. Washington talked to Collier's husband, Steve, who said he would like the sheriff's office to solve his wife's case.

Related Article: Hilaria Baldwin Struggles With Mom Guilt After Welcoming 7th Baby
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The Western Regional Minister, Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, has stressed the need for the development and building of managerial skills of entrepreneurs to enhance the sustainability and growth of their businesses.



He said enhancing management skills was crucial for building a business and that perseverance and openness to learning were key attributes for any entrepreneur.



These were contained in a speech read on his behalf by Mr Frederick Agyemang, Western Regional Coordinating Director at the opening session of the 17th Electrical Wiring Certificate Awards Presentation Ceremony held in Takoradi.



He mentioned helping to raise awareness of the number of opportunities that were available to grow businesses, such as the variety of finance providers in the market as another form of support which could be offered to entrepreneurs.



The Minister said, entrepreneurs must understand that every business entrepreneur made mistakes and suffered setbacks, often for reasons beyond their control but that the key difference was how one responded to such mistakes and the setbacks.



Mr Darko-Mensah, therefore, urged all existing entrepreneurs and future ones to be strong and know that they could come back stronger in the end if they persevered.



The Regional Minister indicated that youth entrepreneurship was high on every political agenda to boost competitiveness and employment since the young entrepreneurs had the potential to build new economic dynamics geared toward growth and job creation.



He said the Government over the years had given attention to entrepreneurship promotion that focused attention on creating a more enabling environment to support youth entrepreneurs.



Mr Darko-Mensah pointed out that education and training had been a critical tool to develop the entrepreneurial mindset and specific skills for business start-ups and development.



He said there were SMEs support agencies which had been established as one-stop shop providing more packaged support such as training and financial support, advisory and mentoring services for young people.



May I, therefore, use this occasion to urge the youth especially, to look critically and assess the gaps that exist in the business landscape and set up enterprises that are sustainable, to fill in the gaps, he stated.



The Regional Minister hinted that MasterCard and other Foundations were available for the youth to venture into entrepreneurship and that the Western Region offered many business opportunities for consideration under these initiatives.



Mr Isaac Yankson, Deputy Director of Trade and Industry for Western Region mentioned some of the core functions of the Ministry as the facilitation of private sector access to capital, and to ensure that private sector development programmes were complementary and covered a broad range of needs.



He added that the Ministry also facilitated innovation and entrepreneurship, to develop standards and Quality Systems to meet production requirements for local and international markets and facilitate the removal of institutional and legal bottlenecks.



MrYankson said the Ministry of Trade and Industry has been rigorously pursuing its National Industrial Transformation drive which sought to industrialize each District in the country and spatially create decent jobs for all.

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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Principals and Registrars from ten leading UK boarding schools are landing in Ghana for a Future of Learning Seminar from 2pm  4pm on Tuesday 4th October.



The practical and engaging afternoon takes place at The Kempinski Hotel, Gold Coast City, Accra and is designed for School Heads and proprietors.



It will explore topics such as best practices in teaching and learning, creating a greenhouse not a hothouse, integrating entrepreneurship in the curriculum, comparing IB, A level and BTEC programmes, preparing students for top universities, how parents choose your school and more.



Schools in the UK as well as Ghana are all on the same educational journey as we seize the opportunity to refresh and modernise the curriculum post covid.



Instead of doubling down on a narrow core of traditional, knowledge-heavy subjects with passive learning, forward looking schools should allow more space to develop attributes in their students. These skills for life include critical thinking, creativity, communication and collaborative problem-solving (which experts dub the 4Cs), says Christine Cunniffe, Principal of LVS Ascot in the UK who will be speaking at the Future of Learning seminar in Accra this week.



Future employers are looking for creative candidates who can synthesise various sources of information, extrapolate from what we know and apply this creatively to novel situations. We will be addressing the implications of this for the current curriculum in the seminar, she adds.



Schools presenting at the seminar will be Anastasia Cotton, ACS Cobham; Rachel Scannell Bromsgrove School; Henrietta Lightwood Cardiff Sixth Form College; Dave Watkin Culford School; Joss Williams Earlscliffe College; Sarah Bowman Harrogate Ladies College; Diana Cree Lancing College; Christine Cunniffe LVS Ascot; Vanessa Bowles Mount Kelly; Trisha Stevenson Westonbirt School.



Certificates of participation will be presented at the end of the event.



The events are organised by Mark Brooks Education in association with the UK's Department for International Trade (DIT).



For more information go to https://www.markbrookseducation.com/future

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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MBABANE  Yesterday, there was chaos inside the Mbabane Government Hospital when students, donning colours of several political formations, set alight a police vehicle that had brought a corpse to the mortuary.

This happened after the students clashed with the police as they attempted to deliver a petition to the Prime Ministers Office and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. It seemed, the members of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) had been successful in stopping the petition delivery in the morning when they dispersed groups of five students who had assembled next to the Engen Filling Station in Mbabane.

Suspected

The armed officers were seen moving around dispersing those they suspected were gathered there for the petition delivery, which was an event organised by the Swaziland National Union of Students (SNUS). At about 9am, a group of students suspected to be from Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT) were heard singing as they went past the Eswatini National Fire and Emergency Services (ENFES) Headquarters, however, the police officers successfully dispersed them.

One of the officers was heard telling the students that they must go back to class and learn and refrain from participating in marches. From 9am to 10:30am, the police continued to disperse groups of people whom they suspected were political activists. After 10am, the police had to engage another strategy as they heard the singing of political songs coming from the direction of the University of Eswatini (UNESWA), Mbabane Campus. Over 200 students donning colours of several political formations were singing and dancing next to the main gate of the campus, which is adjacent to the Mbabane Government Hospital. The police officers, realising that they had been outsmarted by the students, camped next to the main gate of the hospital.

Protesters

After an hour, a group of protesters arrived and they were reportedly from Manzini and this increased the numbers of the demonstrators. That is when the president of the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO), Sakhile Awviva Nxumalo, ordered that the march should begin en-route to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and then to the Prime Ministers Office. SNUS was to deliver the petition to government demanding scholarships and jobs for all; however, the marchers were seen arming themselves with huge stones.

One of the leaders who was addressing the marchers using a loud hailer, made it clear that they were not willing to back down from their plan, which was to deliver the petition to the said ministries. It was now about noon and the marchers under the banner of SNUS charged towards the gate of the hospital and as soon they reached the main road that leads to His Majestys Correctional Services (HMCS) Headquarters, it was clear that a confrontation was at hand. One of the leaders of SNUS was seen charging towards the armed police officers in an attempt to have a word with them; however, one of the cops told him to immediately back-off. The police gave the marchers a two-minute ultimatum to disperse, but this only prompted the students to respond by throwing stones in the direction of the officers. As the students threw the stones, the officers ran for cover behind their Casspir, which began pumping out tear gas, through a pipe, in the direction of the demonstrators who were seemingly not willing to stop throwing the stones.

Teargas

The officers regained their footing and began firing tear gas canisters at the protesters, even inside the hospital yard. After seeing that they were on the back foot, the students forced the hospitals security guards to open the gate and ran helter skelter inside the premises. Most of the protesters were seen rushing to the hospitals wards to seek shelter as the police continued to fire them with the tear gas. One of the protesters was seen grabbing a newborn from her mother and threw her into the hands of a nurse who was near the hospital gate. In an interview with Eswatini News, the nurse disclosed that the baby was checked by a doctor to ascertain if she had been injured and was later handed over back to her mother.

Most of the patients inside the hospital were seen perplexed at what was happening as the police and marchers continued to square-up. Some of the marchers then located the police van, which had no licence plates, that was parked inside the hospitals premises next to the mortuary. They opened its bonnet as it was not locked. They were seen placing plastics inside the front seats of the vehicle and eventually set it alight while some of them were seen tampering with the cars battery cable.

Burning

A burst was heard coming from the burning police vehicle while the marchers were shouting in excitement. After setting alight the police vehicle, which was carrying a corpse, some of the marchers disappeared inside the hospitals wards while others escaped into the UNESWA Campus premises, where they continued challenging the officers by pelting them with stones. After a few minutes, senior police officers arrived to inspect the van that was damaged and it was discovered that the corpse had not been burnt in the process. They were seen removing the corpse from the burnt vehicle and loading it unto a Toyota Quantum.



The officers were then seen leaving the scene while the confrontation with the students on the side of the university campus gate. Other vehicles were damaged during the confrontation between the police officers and protesters while some of the demonstrators were reportedly treated after inhaling tear gas inside the hospital. The attempt to deliver the petition by SNUS failed. On another note, on Thursday, the police clashed with ratepayers in Piggs Peak, where one of the officers was reportedly disarmed of his service rifle by the protesters.

Blocked

Worth noting is that in most recent cases, petition delivery has been successfully blocked by the members of the police service. It is not the first time that students clashed with the police over scholarships demonstrations in the country. At the time of compiling this report, there were no arrests made in connection to the burning of the police vehicle. Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said investigations were currently ongoing. Vilakati then advised those responsible for burning the motor vehicle to hand themselves over to the nearest police station.
Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Minister of Education, has hailed the Komenda College of Education (KOMENCO) in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem district of the Central Region for its enormous contribution to education and national development.



He also charged them to continue to raise assertive, confident and competent teachers for development.



I have not seen any institution that has raised more greatness than you have done.



Dr Adutwum gave the commendation when he joined the Management of the College to launch its 75th Anniversary Celebrations in Accra.



The anniversary, scheduled to take place in March 2023, was on the theme: Promoting Sustainable National Development: The Contribution of Komenda College of Education in 75 Years.



Dr Adutwum said: We're also looking forward that you maintain your position as the orientation that over the years you are noted for, raising teachers that are assertive themselves, they're very confident of themselves, they are very competent themselves to pass on the competencies that we rcquire in our 21st century to our prospective learners.



The Education Minister said the school, for the past 74 years, had become home for the training of some of the best brains in the education and business fraternity who continued to hold high the plans for the country and continue to make strong contributions in the country and beyond.



He commended the Methodist Church for being a pillar of transformation and of great support and partner to the Ministry of Education and, for that matter, government.



While also commending the current Management of the College for the great transformational activities they were undertaking, he charged them to continue to raise assertive, confident and competent teachers needed by the modern world.



I'm very, very hopeful that KOMENCO is going to shine more and more as the home that becomes the hope for the young child, the young student, the young female, for the young man who wants to make a difference in the life of someone, who wants to become a doctor, who wants to be a lawyer, who wants to be an engineer, who wants to be a professor at the beginning of their journey with that aspiration coming on, that beautiful girl, to know that a bright career lies ahead of them, he said.



Established in 1948 as all-male school, the College is now a mixed institution, having admitted its first female students in 1952.



Commencing with 40 all male students in 1948, KOMENCO currently has a student population of 1,896.



Out of this, 1,076 are males and 820 females.



Reverend Kwasi Nkum Wilson, the Principal of KOMENCO, said the College had achieved a lot in its 75 years of existence and contributed massively to the development of education in the country.



Explaining some of the changes that had taken place under his tenure, Rev Wilson said, since 2019, there had been a great shift in education, where much emphasis had been on demonstrative teaching and learning.



Rev Wilson said, despite the financial vulnerability of the College, it had been able to support staff and policies governing its activities with continuous staff training.



There has been a continuous workshop for Staff A, B and Junior Staff as well as student leadership of the College, he added.



He disclosed that the College has had a breakthrough from a deficit of GH 611,448.73 to a surplus of GH 429,655.58 and witnessed massive infrastructure development such as the completion of a Two-Storey ladys block, renovation of the Store sand Offices for the College Heads of Department, furnishing of Vocational/Technical Unit with sewing machines, commercial burners and ovens, cylinders, washing machines, among others.



The Most Rev. Dr. Paul Kwabena Boafo, the Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, Ghana, urged all stakeholders to assist the College to propel it to a higher pedestal.





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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Former Zambia president Edgar Lungu says he is ready to face the law if he stole during his term.



Mr Lungu is unhappy that he, as well as his former government officials and family members, have been subjects of investigation for crimes allegedly committed when he was president.



He was particularly displeased that state investigators on Thursday went to a piece of land that he owns to carry out investigations.



Mr Lungu has since appealed to his successor Hakainde Hichilema to start the process of removing his constitutional immunity from prosecution so that he can clear his name.



He who alleges, must prove and we will defend ourselves," he later told members of parliament and supporters from his Patriotic Front party who visited him.



"My urge is that may the president institute the lifting of my immunity by going to parliament to lay a case so that he can eventually prove what crimes I committed," he said.



Mr Lungu, who last year lost power to Mr Hichilema, has previously denied many allegations of corruption during his time as president.

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 Police have arrested Sixteen persons in connection with a shooting incident at Asamang Tamfoe in the Eastern Region.



The incident occurred between some persons believed to be illegal miners and a community anti-galamsey taskforce on 29th September 2022.



Police have retrieved one pump action gun, two excavators, two water pumps and a battery.



Efforts are underway to arrest the remaining suspects and retrieve any other weapons in their possession.



The Police have also seen a viral video on the incident which is being reviewed as part of the investigation.



"We would like to assure the public that all the other perpetrators will be arrested and brought to face justice." Police said

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Gomoa Fetteh Royal Family says one Kwasi Alhaji who carries himself as Chief in Gomoa community is not the Mankrodo (Chief) of the area.



The Gomoa Akyempim Traditional Council, in a statement, disclosed that self imposed chief is a landguard fuelling conflict in the area.



Gomoa Fetteh is a peri-urban town and subject to the Royal Ahunako Stool of the Gomoa Akyempim Traditional Area.



The creation of intra family insecurity, conflicts, and divisions within and among the Gomoa Akyempim Traditional Area, particularly Gomoa Fetteh which has become a den for the deadly chieftaincy conflicts and landguardism in the area.



In consultation with the Queenmother of the town, Nana Nkrabea Amoesima I, Ebusuapanyin and Elders of Gomoa Fetteh, the Kingmakers concluded that the brewing conflicts which have stalled the development of the area is championed by Kwasi Alhaji, strutting about as Mankrado, yet a non-indigene whos attempt to be gazetted by the Central Regional House of Chiefs as a legitimate sub-chief to the Gomoa Fetteh Royal Stool has been suspended indefinitely by the Central Regional House of Chiefs.



Since the late 90s, Gomoa Fetteh is without a legally recognized Chief as a result of a raging dispute between the two royal houses of the Gomoa Fetteh Stool namely: Efuwa Akoa house; represented by one self acclaimed Ebusuapanyin Kow Abeka and Maakowa house; represented by the main Ebusuapanyin Kofi Ahomka, for both houses in the Abor Twidan Royal Family/clan.



Nonetheless, the Abor Twidan Royal family/clan is only one clan with one Ebusuapanyin, but this same Obirifo Ehunako Ahor Ankobea II has certified 3 more members namely; Kweku Dadzie, Kow Abeka and one kwame Annan all in the same Abor Twidan Royal family/clan as ebusuapanyins creating conflicts here and there among the family.



Customarily, the succession of the Gomoa Fetteh Stool is a rotating one between the two (2) aforementioned royal houses. However, after the death of Nana Abor Ewusie XIX, Chief (Odikro) of Gomoa Fetteh in 1999, the emergence of Nana Abor Yamoah II, allegedly a non-indigene who does not hail from any of the ruling houses, rather, hails from the Asona clan of Dago was uncustomarily enstooled as Chief of Gomoa Fetteh and managed to get the backing of the sellf-acclaimed ebusuapanyin Kow Abeka together with numerous gunmen led by the ex convict miscreant kwesi Alhaji.



"This dispute is what has continued for years in several legal battles between the ruling houses of the Stool until the demise of Nana Abor Yamoah II in April 2019 after which the cronies, and landguards of the deceased chief, led by the same ex-convict Kwasi Alhaji, are reported to have launched a wave of terror in the area and unlawfully imposing one Kofi Baah, styling himself as Nana Abor Atta II in a maneuvering with the help of the embattled Omanhene, Obrifo Ahunako Ahor Ankobea II.



The aforementioned revelations are well known to the Gomoa Akyempim Traditional Council and other government institutions and security agencies after decades of terror in the area, they further said.



The statement continued; Unfortunately, a recent decision by the Cape Coast High Court in a suit filed by the main Abor Twidan Royal family has barred Kofi Baah self styled Nana Abor Atta II and his cronies from conducting themselves as legitimate Chiefs and custodians of the Gomoa Fetteh Stool until further determined by a competent court of jurisdiction subject to the approval of the Gomoa Traditional Council.



But in the meantime, the Queenmother of the town, Nana Nkrabea Amoesima have informed the Paramount Queenmother (Omanhemaa), HRM Obaatanpa Ama Eduwa I of Gomoa Fettehs commitment to support her selfless campaign to drive massive reforms that would help the Traditional Area as a whole to recover its distinguished reputation from injustice, unrest, disunity, underdevelopment and acts of terror that continue to undermine security, particularly in Gomoa Fetteh.



However, the Paramount Chief, Obrifo Ahunako Ahor Ankobia II continues to face other suits.

The most recent being a motion on notice for an injunction praying for an Order to restrain him [Paramount Chief] from performing any duty whatsoever as to the Gazetted Paramount Chief and President of the Gomoa Akyempim Traditional Council pending the determination of the suit and for further order appointing an Acting President of the Gomoa Akyempim Traditional Council, Secretary of the Royal Family of Gomoa Fetteh, Nana Essel, elucidated in the statement.



Reacting to the acusations, the accused Mankrado of Gomoa Feteh, Nana Kwansi Kwansah II a.k.a Kwasi Alhaji said the allegations were untrue and mere attempts to smear him and his hard- earned reputation.



He said the Gomoa Akyempim Traditional Council recognises him as the legitimate ocupant of the mankrado stool.



He also questioned why the the Royal Family of Goamoa Feteh were not present at the Birthday celebration of the Omanhen of the Gomoah Traditional Council .



Registrar of the Gomoah Akyempim Traditional Council, Henry Effah Agyei who was contacted to ascertain the veracity or otherwise of the claims said Kwasi Alhaji came to swear himself in to the President of the Gomoa Traditional Council, Obirifo Ahunu Ahor Ankobea II as the legitimate Mankrado of Gomoa Feteh in December, 2020.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Police investigation has established that Christopher Ekow Quansah Clarke, the Mankessim Akwakrom Tufuhene and Pastor Michael Darko involved in the murder of 25-year-old Georgina Asor Botchwey, have confessed to killing three other persons.



The murder of Asor Botchwey makes it four, the number of persons Nana Clarke and his accomplice have allegedly killed.



The witness said the accused persons first took the team to the house of the Tufuhene at Mankessim and Akwakrom near Mankessim, where they carried out their criminal activities.



The police thoroughly searched the rooms and took vital documents and information for further investigation.



Again, in Mankessim, the two took the police team to a location where a male teacher was allegedly invited by them and was shot and killed instantly and his toes cut.



The police were also taken to a location in the Ekumfi District where they allegedly shot and killed a female trader and buried her under a bridge in the Ekumfi District.



The team also visited a location at Batanya in the Abura-Asebu-Kwamakese District, where they allegedly killed a young lady from Kumasi.



The two pretended to be travel agents and prepared a travelling document for her to travel to Holland.



The two allegedly told the police that they met the lady at Batanyaa on the Cape Coast-Assin Fosu Highway and killed her.



The family of the deceased, who was at the mortuary in Cape Coast on Thursday afternoon, identified the body of their relative.



Meanwhile, a crack team of police personnel from the Central Regional Command were also led by the accused persons to arrest a 26-year-old mason in Mankessim, in connection with the alleged murder.



Report says the third suspect, identified as one Abbey, the in-law of Quansah has been arrested.



According to the sources, Quansah confessed to having hired the husband of one Esi Akyere to dig the pit in his houses at Mankessim.



Following the revelation, the police swiftly moved to the community and with the backing of the chiefs arrested Abbey, who initially denied the act but later admitted to digging the pit for GH50.



According to Abbey, who is also one of the leaders of the Youth Volunteer Group in the community, the Tufohen paid him the agreed amount in instalments of GH20 and GH30 respectively after the work.



Baffled by the revelation of the suspect, the sources said, the chiefs assembled all the members of the Youth Volunteer Group and impressed on them to confess if they were complicit in the murder case, but they all denied any knowledge of it.



The sources also said police personnel had been stationed at the deserted family house of the Tufuhene where two dugout holes were found in two obscure and dirty separate rooms while it had also intensified patrols.



Earlier, Nana Akwa III, the Chief of Akwakrom, at a press conference, called for the arrest and inquiry into the activities of a fetish priest in the community and one Kwesi Gyan, the Abiradze Ebusuapayin of the Tufuhene who could not be tracked since the news broke out.



We are appealing to the police to interrogate his fetish priest in the community who the Tufohen liked so much and took cover prior to his arrest, Nana Akwa pleaded.



Nana Akwa, who is also a legal practitioner, wondered how the Tufohen dug the craters containing numerous bottles and dead materials without the knowledge of the Ebusuapanyin.



Since the arrest of the Tufohen, all attempts to reach his Ebusuapanyin, who was always in the community, have not been successful. There is no way anyone can dig out two pits in two separate rooms in a family house without the knowledge of the Ebusuapanyin. This is incomprehensible.



More so, prior to the arrest of the Tufohen, his Ebusuapanyin was billed to meet the Chief and elders on some teething community issues, but he cannot be found. And why is he not answering our calls, the Chief revealed



Court



District Court II in Cape Coast has remanded the self-styled Pastor and Tufuhene of Ekwamkrom into police custody to reappear before the court on 4th October 2022.



The two accused persons, Michael Darko alias Nana 1, a self-styled Pastor and Christopher Ekow Clarke, Tufuhene of Akwakrom, a suburb of Mankessim in the Central region were arrested at their various hideouts for allegedly kidnapping, murdering and burying a student nurse.



Georgina Asor Botchwey  The Student nurse

The two have confessed to murdering the victim, Georgina Asor Botchway, for money rituals.



Georgina Asor Botchway, 22, went missing over a week ago and notices were shared in the hope of finding her.



The two accused persons were arrested at their various hideouts following a Police investigation.



According to the report, during Police interrogation, suspect Michael Darko, who is the alleged boyfriend of the senior sister of the deceased victim and was last seen with her, led Police to the location where they had buried her after the murder.



Her body was later exhumed by police at the home of the chief, Nana Clarke in Mankessim, where they were led by the pastor. Republiconline





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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Bernard Allotey Jacobs has debunked claims that the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo sat in a bus when he and the First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo, attended the funeral of the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II.



Queen Elizabeth II was pronounced dead on Thursday, September 8, 2022 at age 96.



World leaders were invited to her funeral and burial service by the royal family and President Nana Addo honored the invite.



However, only the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden and his wife were allowed to drive to the funeral in his convoy; all other leaders were officially bused to the venue.



None of the leaders including President Nana Akufo-Addo used any means apart from the bus to the function, according sources.



But Allotey Jacobs says President Akufo-Addo never sat in the bus but rather was driven in a private car.



"He didn't sit in the bus. We saw it clearly. He was in a black private car with Madam Rebecca," he said on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' morning show.

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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Former Central Regional Minister, Kwamena Duncan, has condemned the behavior of some patrons at the Global Citizen Festival towards President Nana Akufo-Addo.



During the festival which was held in Accra over the weekend, some of the attendees booed and chanted 'away' when the President appeared on stage to deliver a keynote address.



The incident has since gone viral with critics stating the treatment meted out to the President is a reflection of how the citizens feel about his administration.



Addressing the issue during "Kokrokoo" panel discussion programme on Peace FM, Kwamena Duncan argued that the President had the option not to attend the event because he had busy schedules the week ahead of the festival and was tired but ignored his fatigue to make it to the event.



The former Minister was very indignant at the crowd embarrassing the President when he had made all efforts to be present.



However, he strongly believed President Akufo-Addo is least perturbed by the boos.



"Those who did that are the ones who know why they did it. But the Akufo-Addo that we know, it isn't things like this that will distract him. For me, things like this give him energy," he stated.







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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Renowned Ghanaian reggae star Rocky Dawuni has cautioned citizens, especially young people against dependence on government.



The In Ghana hitmaker was firm in saying, nobody is coming to save you. You need to save yourself.



Before this, he had narrated how on his drives in the morning, he observes people mindlessly on their phones, especially the youth, as though there is nothing meaningful or productive to do.



Every morning when I drive, I see a lot of people on their phone, in the morning, [I am referring to] young people. They can work, we need to be working, people need to be working, and everybody is sitting down waiting for the government to come and change their life, the humanitarian activist said.



Having noted there is no savior outside of one's self coming to the rescue, he added that it is a mindset that we need to infuse into our young people to work hard.



We have land, we have so much. We just need the ideas, the tools, the inspiration, and the organisation and then a vision that can direct us as to where we are going, Mr Dawuni again said.



He also made a call for unity, as a people, akin to that of China and Trump supporters, working together for the prosperity of the nation.



In the long run, our prosperity is not for one man. Our prosperity is for all of us, so, lets work together for that, the two-time Grammy nominee entreated.



Rocky Dawuni made these statements today, Friday, 30 September, 2022, on the Daybreak Hitz radio show on Accra-based Hitz FM.

VIDEO:-

Source: Hitz FM









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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Leading Bahraini bank Eskan has announced that it has signed an agreement with The National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) to finance eligible citizens for the new housing finance schemes.

The agreement will include financing options for citizens who would like to benefit from the new housing financing schemes such as Tasheel which features three financing options  Tasheel Aqari, Tasheel Al Bait Al Oud and Tasheel Taawon - as well as the new category of Mazaya along with the previous version one, said a statement from Eskan.

The agreement was signed at Eskan Bank in the presence of Dr Khalid Abdulla, General Manager of Eskan Bank and Subah Abdullatif Al Zayani, Chief Executive- Retail Banking at NBB, alongside executives from both entities.

Dr Abdulla said Eskan has maintained its successful partnership with NBB, a leading financing institution in the Kingdom, as the group continues to elevate the quality of its services with the aim to meet the housing demands of Bahraini citizens.

"Through our collaboration with the various private sector and financial institutions in the Kingdom, we are able to provide a variety of housing options to fit the needs of different segments of our beneficiaries," he noted.

Al Zayani said: "We are pleased to continue our journey with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning and Eskan Bank in providing innovative housing solutions for Bahraini nationals. Both Tasheel and Mazaya finances are key contributors to our sustainable financing portfolio, and in-line with our ESG commitments."

"Our teams are well prepared to extend financial advisory services to prospective clients who will make use of the recently launched schemes," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Bahrain-based Taha International Industrial Services, a major company working for the elimination of waste from the aluminium industry, said it has been signed up by Indian refining company Runaya for supply of two additional hot dross processing units.

These units are based on a patent that was developed by Bahraini and foreign experts at Taha International in Bahrain and is currently being employed by a rising number of aluminum smelters worldwide, said the company in a statement.

The hot dross processing technology has the ability to change how companies handle their dross, thus making the process environmentally friendly and, most importantly, zero-waste.

A recent study conducted by Ernst & Young, the Netherlands in collaboration with the renowned Austrian Montan University Leoben found that compared to other processes, Tahas process reduces greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80%.

In short, it provides a sustainable, zero-waste solution for handling and processing aluminum dross, making for a trailblazing green business solution that Runaya Refining trusts to further transform the Indian aluminum industry, it stated.

In short, it provides a sustainable, zero-waste solution for handling and processing aluminium dross, it added.

According to Taha, the new Sarah hot dross processing units will make for a trailblazing green business solution that Runaya Refining trusts to further transform the Indian aluminium industry.

Runaya Refining had placed this order to boost its capacity for refining, as well as strategising to employ cutting-edge technologies in the manufacturing industry while also preserving the environment.

The acquisition will also help the Indian aluminum industry to grow through valuable tie-ups between national and global industry leaders. Runaya Refining currently serves 67% of Indias primary aluminum producers, it added.

Lauding the successful collaboration, Taha International Group CEO Patrick Pollmann said: "Runaya has shown great leadership by continuously adopting innovative solutions and fully committing to sustainability in the field of aluminum."

"By significantly increasing their processing capacities, they are making another critical contribution to greening the Indian aluminum industry. I am excited about the opportunities this key partnership will offer in the time to come," he added.

Taha International CEO Ammar Awachi said: "The aluminum dross processing technology has the potential to transform how companies manage their aluminum waste, making it more ecologically friendly and, most importantly, free of toxic and dangerous waste."

"This is in line with our commitment to support the strategy of the Kingdom of Bahrain in addressing environmental and climate challenges and to bring carbon emissions to net zero by 2060," remarked Awachi.

On the key tieup, Runaya Refining CEO Annanya Agarwal said: "With sustainable solutions and innovative technologies at the heart of Runaya, we continue working towards our vision of a greener and sustainable tomorrow."

"Converting Waste-to Wealth is our driving force, and through such acquisitions, we have prevented 40,000 tonnes of hazardous industrial waste from causing harm to the environment at large- which further help us to achieve more and contribute our part towards creating an AtmaNirbhar Bharat," added Agarwal.-TradeArabia News Service
Weve been busy upgrading the Creekside Gondola and Big Red Chair, and of course expanding the Whistler Bikepark, and were not done yet! Were so stoked to share the news that well be getting two new lift upgrades in summer 2023, following approvals + installation: Fitzsimmons Express and Jersey Cream will both be replaced, improving lift line wait times and overall circulation and capacity.



Fitz will go from a 4-person to an 8-person high-speed chair, reducing wait times and significantly increasing uphill capacity in winter and summer, providing even greater access to our bike park.



Across the valley on Blackcomb, Jersey, the mountains most popular lift, will go from a 4-person to a 6-person high-speed chair, also reducing wait times, increasing uphill capacity, and improving mid-mountain circulation and capacity.



Weve got a long history of innovation, and were committed to always being forward-thinking  it's part of our DNA as an industry leader. Were excited about what this means for our mountains, and hope you are too!  Whistler Blackcomb

Whistler Blackcomb has announced that it is working on two new lift upgrades in 2023 that will be replacing the main chairlift in the bike park, the Fitzsimmons Express, alongside the Jersey Cream lift.The changes will see the Fitzsimmons Express go from a four-person to an eight-person chair with higher speeds that is claimed to significantly increase capacity.To make these changes for future improvements will mean some closures in the bike park while the work is completed. The goal currently is to start on the Fitzsimmons Express project next spring. Whistler Blackcomb says:While the Fitz zone will be subject to rolling trail closures, the aim is to communicate these in advance so no one is left unaware of what is actually open. Most of the impact from the construction will be on trails surrounding the Fitz chair. Currently, Whistler Blackcomb says that the Whistler Village Gondola will be exclusively used for mountain bikers in the summer with other users moved over to the Blackcomb Base, Garbanzo, Peak and the new Creekside Gondola. Next season will also see Creekside return with new updates to existing trails and eight new lines for riders to try.We reached out to Pierre Ringuette, Senior Manager, Whistler Mountain Bike Park and Snow Surfaces at Whistler Blackcomb, for more information.

When will the Fitzsimmons Express project start?

Next spring, more to be announced soon.

How was the timing of the replacement chosen? What factors went into the decision on timing?

See FAQ (copied below) for timing question, but basically theres no good time for construction at WB since we are a 4 season resort but the value that this lift will provide for years to come outweighs the inconvenience of the construction for next summer.

What trails in the bike park will be impacted by the closures?

Fitz zone will experience occasional rolling trail closures while the new towers and lift lines are going in  these will be communicated in advance so guests are aware. The majority of the occasional impacts will be in the trails immediately surrounding Fitz chair, while trails further from the line will be less impacted (Like Crank It Up or Dirt Merchant).

What lifts will be open for operations in Summer 2023 for mountain bikers?

Whistler Village Gondola will be utilized fully for the bike park guests, moving the sightseeing guest over to Blackcomb Base. Garbanzo, Peak and the new Creekside Gondola will be operating as usual.

Will Creekside be fully operational next year? How many new trails will be open in Creekside next year?

FAQs

Q: How do you plan on dealing with demand in the Whistler Mountain Bike Park without Fitz spinning?

A: Theres never a perfect time to do this kind of construction, but these projects are important for the future of accessing our mountains and your experience overall. Plans to accommodate WMBP riders are still being hammered out, but you shouldnt expect any kind of consistent major disruption  you'll still have access to the Fitz Zone via the Whistler Village Gondola. This, in combination with uploading options and expanded bike parks trails in Creekside will help ensure timely access to the mountain.



Q: Will the bike park be open during construction?

A: Yes! Were excited to be introducing new and expanded trails at Whistler Bike Park next summer  part of our commitment to always innovating and providing new experiences for our guests.



Q: Will the price of the Whistler Mountain Bike Park pass be adjusted to reflect Fitzsimmons chair closure?

A: Youll still have access to the Fitz Zone and will be able to upload from Whistler Village via the Gondola  we dont expect this to impact pricing.



Q: Why are you planning another set of lift upgrades when you havent been able to finish Creekside Gondola and Big Red yet? Will these be finished by opening day?

A: As it stands, Creekside and Big Red are on track to open on time. Even though the work on these projects is around the clock, were still planning for improvements next year. Well keep you posted on updates about the opening of Creekside Gondola and Big Red, too.



Q: Creekside doesnt offer the same level of terrain as the Fitzsimmons/Garbanzo zone. Why would I want to upload there?

A: Over the summer, we invested heavily in trail upgrades to improve diversity in terrain at Creekside as part of our WMBP expansion project. Next year, visitors can look forward to Trail 1199, a new pro level race track as well as a rebuild on the popular Insomnia trail which will bring a new jump line to the area. All this and more will be readily available thanks to the 100% bike accessible gondola.



Q: So youre saying Fitz is going to be an 8-pack that offloads to a 4-person chain...wont that cause more congestion and backup?

A: To ensure this isnt an issue, well lean into our expertise in line management and loading efficiency to ensure as smooth an experience as possible. You should prepare for some delays on weather days, but we feel confident that this will not significantly impact flow on the majority of our ski days.



Creekside will be fully operational and we have some exciting new updates to existing Creekside Trails and 8 new single tracks (from blue to proline) to offer in the Creek.
RunGood Tulsa Stop to Feature $100K Guaranteed Main Event Oct. 14-16

October 01, 2022 Connor Richards Editor & Live Reporter U.S.

The RunGood Poker Series (RGPS) is headed to Oklahoma Oct. 11-16 for RGPS Tulsa, a poker stop that will feature a $600 buy-in Main Event with a $100,000 guarantee.

The RGPS Tulsa stop, taking place at Hard Rock Casino Tulsa, will also feature a handful of other Ring Events and satellites into the Main Event.

$100,000 Guaranteed Main Event

The $100,000 guaranteed Main Event will have three starting flights, the first of which will kick off on Oct. 14 while the next two flights play on Oct. 15.

The exchange for their $600 buy-in, players will receive a starting stack of 30,000 chips with blinds starting at 100/200/200. The Day 1 flights will play until 12.5% of the field remains from each and the remaining players will combine on Oct. 16 for Day 2, which will play down to a winner.

For those who don't want to put up $600 for the event, there will be a number of satellites running for an opportunity to win a seat, including a $150 satellite awarding ten guaranteed seats and another $150 satellite awarding five guaranteed seats.

RGPS Tulsa

Other Ring Events

RGPS Tulsa will kick off on Oct. 11 with a the $200 Seniors Ring Event and a $160 Ambassador Bounty Ring Event, which will feature special guests with bounty envelopes that contain prizes between $1,000 cash and RunGood apparel store credit.

Read how "Boston" Rob Mariano won the ambassador event at RGPS Cleveland!

Next up on Oct. 12 will be two flights of the $250 Studio Ticket Ring Event, which will award a seat into the 2022 All-Stars ProAM Event at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas in December.

Day 2 of that event will play out on Oct. 13, alongside a $200 No-Limit Hold-em Ring Event and a $300 Pot-Limit Omaha Ring Event.

After the Main Event, a $200 Closer NLH Ring Event will close out the series on Oct. 16.

Hard Rock Tulsa

Previous Winner

When the RunGood series was last in Tulsa in 2019, the $675 Main Event attracted 319 runners and it was Blair Hinkle who won the trophy and $44,012.

Hinkle entered the day as the overall chip leader with 37 players left and kept it all the way until heads-up play against Matthew Blackwell, who he eventually overcame to win the title.

Other players who made deep runs in the 2019 RGPS Tulsa Main Event include Michael Crawford (3rd- $18,662) and Greg Jennings (4th - $13,015), who recently won back-to-back World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit rings in the same venue at WSOPC Tulsa.

Blair Hinkle

2019 RGPS Tulsa Final Table Results

Place Player Prize (USD) 1 Blair Hinkle $44,012 2 Matthew Blackwell $27,868 3 Michael Crawford $18,662 4 Greg Jennings $13,015 5 Tai Phan $9,761 6 Matt Newcomb $7,656 7 Stephen Hart $6,469 8 Eric Bunch $5,359 9 James Jewell $4,613

After RGPS Tulsa, where PokerNews will be on-site to provide coverage of the Main Event, the RunGood team will head to Iowa for RGPS Council Bluffs, which will feature a $600 Main Event with a $200,000 guarantee.

The full schedule for RGPS Tulsa is available in the table below.

RGPS Tulsa Schedule

DATE TIME EVENT Oct. 11, 2022 12:00 PM Seniors Ring Event (AGE 50+, Buy-in $200) Oct. 11, 2022 7:00 PM Opening Night Guest Bounty Ring Event (Buy-in $160) Oct. 12, 2022 12:00 PM PokerGO Studio Ticket Ring Event FLT A (Buy-in $250) Oct. 12, 2022 6:00 PM PokerGO Studio Ticket Ring Event FLT B (Buy-in $250) Oct. 13, 2022 12:00 PM PokerGO Studio Ticket FINALS Oct. 13, 2022 1:00 PM ONE DAY NLH RING EVENT (Buy-in $200) Oct. 13, 2022 4:00 PM POT LIMIT-OMAHA RING EVENT (Buy-in $300) Oct. 13, 2022 7:00 PM Main Event Satellite (Buy-in $150, TEN Seats GTD) Oct. 14, 2022 12:00 PM Mega Satellite (Buy-in $150, FIVE Seats GTD) Oct. 14, 2022 6:00 PM RUNGOOD Main Event FLT A (Buy-in $600, $100,000 GTD Prizepool) Oct. 15, 2022 12:00 PM RUNGOOD Main Event FLT B (Buy-in $600, $100,000 GTD Prizepool) Oct. 15, 2022 6:00 PM RUNGOOD Main Event FLT C (Buy-in $600, $100,000 GTD Prizepool) Oct. 16, 2022 12:00 PM MAIN EVENT FINALS Oct. 16, 2022 1:00 PM TURBO NLH RING Event (Buy-in $200)
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A new YouGov poll released today has some conflicting information within it. But there is one major takeaway. Only 35% of Americans believe that Trump should even be allowed to run for office again. Trump is precariously close to having two out of every three Americans believing that he has disqualified himself somehow and that he should not be allowed (Suggesting formal procedures) to run again.

This is an important consideration when Trump spouts off about the American people will not stand for an arrest and that things will get very bad. He has convinced himself that over half the American people support him. Even the people who believe that he should be able to run again would be highly unlikely to turn to violence. It is likely that only two to five percent of Americans would act out violently. Of course, it doesnt take a large percentage, as weve seen. But MAGAs like to say that they are 50% of the country, and thats not true.

It wasnt all bad news for Trump:

Yahoo News reports. Three weeks ago, President Biden held a 6-point lead over Trump (48% to 42%) in a hypothetical head-to-head 2024 rematch  the Democrats largest advantage in months. In the latest survey, Bidens margin has shrunk to 2 percentage points (47% to 45%).

While Trump remains as competitive as ever in a general-election context  where partisanship matters most  the new poll also suggests his standing among Republican voters may be softening somewhat.

If Trumps power among Republican voters is softening, its hard to see him holding up as a viable candidate nationally. DeSantis is cold-blooded and will launch a full frontal attack, promising all the MAGA, none of the baggage. And, of course, its possible that an independent conservative could enter the presidential race just to keep Trump out of office, clearing the way for Biden. Liz Cheney appears poised to possibly take on such a role.

Additionally, the six point to two point swing over three weeks almost screams meaningless in the larger context.

The full takeaway is that Trump may see himself as president again, though its not at all a given that hell actually run, but the numbers keep piling up against him. There is also the very relevant fact that he might be indicted, and an indictment would lay out more damning facts that would be sure to sap even more support.

It is hard to see Trump having much of a viable political future.
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The single most significant January 6th case to date is now being tried in front of a Washington DC jury. The case is against the leaders of the Oath Keepers, who are charged with seditious conspiracy, attempting to overthrow the government as part of a coordinated scheme. Now, the AP is reporting that the defendants plan is to put Trump front and center in a bizarre and highly dangerous (to Trump and Oath Keepers) defense.

From the AP:

The defense team in the Capitol riot trial of the Oath Keepers leader is relying on an unusual strategy with Donald Trump at the center. Lawyers for Stewart Rhodes, founder of the extremist group, are poised to argue that jurors cannot find him guilty of seditious conspiracy because all the actions he took before the siege on Jan. 6, 2021, were in preparation for orders he anticipated from the then-president  orders that never came.

Right. Except thats not a defense. Because if the orders never came, what were they doing trying to overthrow the government?

Rhodes intends to take the stand to argue he believed Trump was going to invoke the Insurrection Act to call up a militia to support him, his lawyers have said. Trump didnt do that, but Rhodes team says that what prosecutors allege was an illegal conspiracy was actually lobbying and preparation for the President to utilize the law. Its a novel legal argument in a trial thats one of the most serious cases coming out of the Capitol attack.

Right. Except thats still not a defense, novel, as it may be. Actually lobbying and preparation for the President to utilize the law doesnt allow you a freebie at trying to overthrow the government.

So one wonders. Rhodes is going to take the stand. Rhodes is going to talk about anticipated orders. Is Rhodes going to upend the trial and the country by pointing the finger right at Trump and saying, He communicated to us because it sure sounds like that is the defense they really want to use and are simply dancing around it. They would never, ever telegraph that defense ahead of time, Trump would rage and rage, and the Oath Keepers themselves could be targeted. But with ten to twenty years riding on how the trial comes out, perhaps Rhodes is ready to blow the lid on everything. Probably not. But, wow, the stars are sure aligned for him to do so.

And its still not a defense, even if Trump did order them to do it. But it could easily be a factor in sentencing.
Members of the Aiken Municipal Development Commission said Friday that downtown redevelopment is too important for the city's future to permanently abandon.

The Rev. Doug Slaughter and Aiken Chamber of Commerce President and CEO J. David Jameson, both members of the commission, spoke on Friday about the Aiken Municipal Development Commission vote to stop Project Pascalis.

The commission voted unanimously, 5-0, Thursday afternoon to declare a purchase and sale agreement with RPM Development Partners null and void and to cancel the redevelopment plan that led to the $75 million downtown redevelopment project, which stops Project Pascalis from moving forward.

Commission Chairman Keith Wood and Vice Chairman Chris Verenes said in statements after the Thursday afternoon meeting that the decision to stop was made because the South Carolina Community Development Law was not followed.

Slaughter said he felt the commission did "do some things wrong" and that downtown redevelopment was an important project for the city's future.

"I think we did the right thing by revisiting the project and making sure that we get it right," Slaughter said. "I will say this: I think this project is going to be great for the community  I think the project would be a benefit for the downtown."

He said downtown redevelopment would benefit Aiken by making the downtown more attractive to young people who want to live in a vibrant and active downtown where there are things to do. Slaughter said the project could also create jobs in the downtown area.

Slaughter said he felt it took a lot of courage and integrity for Wood and Verenes to make their statements.

Jameson called the vote inevitable and said the commission was in the process of working to correct the issue when the commission and others were sued over the project on July 5.

In their statements, Wood and Verenes said they did not realize the commission was not following the Community Development Law because they were not advised of the requirements of the law by city staff.

Slaughter said his memory on what the staff was told was not as clear as the memory of others.

Jameson said that the commission felt it was doing the right thing but it turned out that it was not.

Commissioner Philip Merry declined comment on the vote on the advice of legal counsel.
Aiken, SC (29801)

Today

A mainly sunny sky. High 61F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies. Low near 35F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
A three-story commercial and residential building is planned for a corner property in downtown Charleston where a house of worship once operated.

Developer CKC Properties plans to build a three-story building at Cannon and St. Philip streets. It will first have to demolish a rundown, one-story structure, formerly Miracle Church of Christ.

The building's bottom floor will house a 1,670-square-foot restaurant and bar while the upper two levels will be set aside for residential units, according to site plans.

The city's Board of Zoning Appeals signed off on a special exception request in March that allows the development to go forward without the required minimum of nine off-street parking spaces.

The panel also noted the developer must cooperate with neighbors and the neighborhood association to mitigate potential noise from any rooftop use.

A CKC affiliate bought the property in June for $1.65 million, according to Charleston County land records.

Trucking in

A commercial development is planned near a key intersection in North Charleston where a large industrial building was recently completed for a trucking company.

A Charleston-based developer plans to build retail tenant structures on the front portion of a 9-acre tract at 9585 Palmetto Commerce Parkway in Barkley Palmetto Commerce Park near Ladson Road.

The property abuts Spinx convenience store and Walmart Neighborhood Market. The Charleston region's second Krispy Kreme donut restaurant operates up the street.

Trident Construction finished building the 80,300-square-foot warehouse where Nashville-based trucking company Accelerated Courier opened in July on about 6.5 acres on the property's backside at 9581 Palmetto Commerce Parkway, according to Miles Barkley, owner of Barkley Palmetto Parkway LLC. He also is managing member and project manager for the site.

Barkley wants to develop the front 2.1-acre parcel for retail, restaurant or other commercial uses.

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"We are negotiating with one tenant now," he said.

The site is expected to see "continued growth and traffic from business along the Palmetto Commerce Parkway corridor and in the Ingleside development over the foreseeable future," Barkley said. "I am very optimistic about this project and its location and potential for development."

Barkley will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. Oct. 6 with North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey.

The commercial real estate firm Lee & Associates, where Barkley is a broker, is marketing the property.

Tour of homes

The Charleston Symphony Orchestra League will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Symphony Tour of Island Homes on Nov. 5 with a tour of several Kiawah Island homes.

"The homes are as impressive as one would expect on this exclusive island," said Sandra Ericksen, chairwoman of the fundraising event. "They showcase the talents of premier designers, architects, builders and landscapers."

From 10 a.m.-3 p.m., symphony musicians and music students will provide music to participants as they tour decorated homes that reflect the interests and lifestyles of their owners.

Organizers require participants to wear flat-heeled shoes. The event does not provide handicapped access and will be held rain or shine with no refunds.

Charleston Symphony Orchestra will perform a free concert at Freshfields Village Shopping Center at 5 p.m. to top off the tour.

Advance tour tickets are $65 online through Nov. 4. Tickets can also be purchased at Indigo Books in Freshfields or at Kiawah Island Town Hall on Betsy Kerrison Parkway during normal business hours.

Tickets at $70 each also will be sold on the day of the event on Freshfields Village Green, where participants exchange their tickets for wristbands and programs, starting at 9:30 a.m.

As part of the 25th anniversary, the league will host a $35-per-person Silver Jubilee Celebration with live music and refreshments 5-7 p.m. Nov. 4 at the Kiawah Island Sandcastle.

Tickets for all events can be purchased at csolinc.org.
Ford India signs settlement agreement with Union

Chennai, Oct 1 (UNI) An year after announcing to wind up its

Chennai operations by the second quarter of this year, auto

major Ford India and the Chennai Ford Employees Union

(CFEU), representing 2592 hourly permanent employees,

has executed a Settlement Agreement, concluding the

negotiations on the severance settlement package.

The severance settlement agreement, signed between

Ford and the Chennai Union last evening is an important

milestone and a win-win for everyone involved", Ford India

Transformation Officer Balasundaram Radhakrishnan

said today.

"I thank the team at Ford as well as the Chennai Ford

Employees Union for negotiating in good faith and

arriving at a settlement outcome that keeps the best

interest of employees at heart", he said.

The final settlement package (an average equivalent of

140 days of gross wages per completed year of service

and additional Rs.1.5 lacs lumpsum per employee)

signed translates to an average of about 5.2 years/

62-month of salary for each employee (from a

minimum of 4.1years i.e., 49 months to

a maximum of 9.0 years i.e., 108 months) thus

guaranteeing an adequate financial cushion and

time for each employee to chart their future action.

The last date of employment for all employees will

be September 30, 2022 and the company is notifying

employees of the next steps and looks forward to

completing the exit formalities.

Keeping the upcoming festival month in mind, the

company, as a goodwill measure, has also decided

to pay an additional amount equivalent to one month

of gross wages as a sign-on benefit for employees

who complete the exit process by October 14, 2022.

"We thank our employees in advance for their

patience and support in the process and remain

grateful to the Tamil Nadu Government and Labour

Officials for guidance, he said.

It may be recalled that in September last year Ford

India had announced that it would shut down its

vehicle assembly in Gujarat's Sanand by the fourth

quarter of 2021, and the vehicle and engine

manufacturing facility in Chennai by the second

quarter of 2022.

UNI GV 1210
Santee Cooper plans to shut down the four coal-fired units at its Winyah Generating Station no later than the end of 2028 and is studying whether to convert the Georgetown County plant to natural gas. File/John McDermott/Staff
PAWLEYS ISLAND  All things considered, Jody Tamsberg considers himself blessed.

Tamsberg, who lives in Georgetown full-time, made the brief drive up U.S. Highway 17 on the morning of Oct. 1 with his son, Joel, to assess the damage at the family's two decade-old house, which faces the Pawleys Island beach.

Less than 24 hours after Hurricane Ian made landfall, mud ran along nearby Myrtle Avenue and sand had run into the ground-level garage. The bottom step on the back stairway, which had previously been buried in the sand, had been exposed.

But the house itself, which like most on the island is elevated above ground-level in case of such disasters as Ian, was intact.

"Other than the damage to our dock, we've been very fortunate," Jody Tamsberg said. "We've got a mess to clean up as you can see, with the tide coming up underneath the house, but we don't (have) power yet, so I can't determine if there's anything going on inside, but I don't think so."

Ian entered South Carolina as a Category 1 storm with 85 mph winds near Pawleys Island, a Georgetown County town with a permanent population of 130 that attracts thousands of visitors to seaside homes. They include Gov. Henry McMaster, whose family has owned a home on Pawleys Creek for the better part of the last century.

But the small community found itself, as it has many times before, in the crosshairs of a major storm when Ian made landfall south of Georgetown around 2 p.m. Sept. 30.

Torrential rainfall, hurricane-force winds and storm surge overtook marshland and roadways, quickly severing power to homes. The water began to recede on the afternoon of Sept. 30, allowing the vehicles of homeowners, real estate officers and contractors called in to help with the mess to begin crawling across the north causeway beginning at 10 a.m. Oct. 1.

Pawleys Island Mayor Brian Henry on Oct. 1 called Ian's destruction a "gut punch" during a news conference in Georgetown with McMaster and several other state and local officials.

"We're estimating it was a 7-foot surge," Henry said. "The good news for us is it's a beautiful day for clean up."

In an email sent to island homeowners on the evening of Sept. 30, Henry observed that storm surge on the island had surpassed that of 2016's Hurricane Matthew by about a foot.

At 7 a.m., S.C. Department of Transportation had heavy equipment lined up and ready to go to work, Henry said. By 5 p.m., the town's roads were once again open for residents and construction and debris crews, and power was being restored. The town still has not opened to the public. The mayor said it might be Oct. 3 or Oct. 4 before Pawleys Island opens to the public.

The number of homes damaged in the storm was unclear Oct. 1, town officials said.

Gray skies brought by Ian by Oct. 1 had been replaced with a largely cloudless and blue morning as the Tamsbergs surveyed their property.

The recreational fishermen that often populate the north causeway over Pawleys Creek had returned for their morning catch, though on each side of the bridge they faced several destroyed wooden structures that had fallen into the creek and the marsh.

State road repair crews had arrived early in the morning from as far away as Union and Chester counties to clear the roadways. Sirens from Midway Fire Rescue vehicles periodically sounded on U.S. 17, and state roads trucks backed trailers hauling bulldozers against the creek.

"We will bounce back and will do so as quickly as possible," Henry stated in his Sept. 30 email to homeowners. In another update to homeowners on the morning of Oct. 1, he wrote that properties south of the island's south causeway were still without power, and roads below Pritchard Street were still closed.

Further north, the end of Pawleys Island Pier collapsed into the ocean, while a stairway to the beach from the First Avenue beach access had been swept away. Town Administrator Daniel Newquist said he is still trying to get an idea of the amount of erosion the beach has undertaken.

"We have last year's inspection report of the profile of the beach, and we'll compare that with what we observe post-storm," Newquist said. "I don't know how long that's going to take to process and get a feel for the extent of loss of dunes and beach and stuff."
Randal Seyler is the editor of the Georgetown Times and the Myrtle Beach Post and Courier.
When David Sibley was growing up in Camden, a small town outside of Columbia, his home cable system carried two stations that showed long-running trivia show "Jeopardy!"

I could watch one episode at 7, and then watch the same episode again at 7:30, Sibley said. So I would yell all the answers that I knew at the 7 oclock episode, and then I could watch it again at 7:30 and cheat because I had all the answers from watching it once before.

The Furman University alum always knew he wanted to compete on the show. His four-game "Jeopardy!" win streak ended on Sept. 30 with $78,098 in total winnings. An Episcopal priest, Sibley now lives in eastern Washington with his wife and their baby.

He said he has received support from people hes known in different parts of his life, from his church community in Washington to people back in South Carolina. To stay informed, Sibley consumes news, reads books and sometimes ventures down Wikipedia rabbit holes for hours.

Ive sort of always been someone thats just sort of enjoyed soaking up knowledge, and a trivia tournament or a game like 'Jeopardy!' is, I think, one of the few places in life where you actually get to put it to use for something, Sibley said.

Since graduating college, Sibley said his outlet for putting his knowledge to use in a competitive setting has been limited to the occasional bar trivia. But in his role as a religious leader, Sibley said he gets to do new things all the time. Just this week, he worked with the board of his parish on certain legal issues, plunged toilets, and answered questions about understanding Jesus.

If you find the world interesting, theres always something new to learn, and I do. Thats just a joy for me, thats fun, Sibley said.
Hurricane Ian, the first to make landfall in South Carolina since Matthew in 2016, left Charleston area restaurants largely unscathed. Most, including those located in flood-prone areas, were able to reopen first thing Oct. 1.

Downtown Charlestons Little Line Kitchen & Provisions at 176 Line St. reopened for breakfast Oct. 1, a mere 12 hours after large parts of Line Street  bookmarked by President Street and Ashley Avenue  were under water.

The West Side daytime eatery did not see any obvious damage, owner Wendy Gleim said, though she reported drain issues later in the day that could have been related to flooding.

Other peninsula restaurants returned to normal service less than 24 hours after Ian passed through Charleston.

Steps away from Little Line, Daps Breakfast & Imbibe reopened the morning after the storm.

A crew outside Melfis returned the restaurants sign to its normal hanging position after it was taken down as a precautionary measure. The restaurant was left unharmed, co-owner Brooks Reitz said.

Huger Street was another downtown thruway that found itself under water Sept. 30, but that didnt stop Renzo, 384 Huger St., and Berkeleys, at the corner of Huger Street and Rutledge Avenue, from reopening the following day.

A handful of Charleston area bars and restaurants decided to stay open during the storm, including Frannie & The Fox, Kwei Fei, Stems & Skins, Share House and Blind Tiger.

Matthew Conway, who owns The Tippling House wine bar with his wife Carissa, said he never consider closing. The couple and The Tippling Houses chef, Sean Clinton, live within walking distance of the wine bar, so Conway knew he could open without putting his staff in danger.

It was by far our biggest food sales night ever, said Conway, who eventually had to start turning people away by the end of the night. Over my career Ive found that those are the nights you can really bond with the community. Just the camaraderie you feel with the people that come in that night.

Chef and restaurateur Nico Romo hoped to offer the same type of atmosphere for patrons at his new Summerville restaurant Laura. But shortly after bringing in his kitchen crew in the morning, he made the decision to close Laura, along with his other two restaurants  NICO Oysters + Seafood in Mount Pleasant and Bistronomy By Nico downtown.

I didnt know Summerville as well and I didnt expect them to be as flooded, Romo said.

It might be only one night, but the decision to close on a Friday was a big one for Romo and other Charleston restaurateurs. Especially ones that rely on local seafood (NICO) and house-made pasta (Laura).

You dont want to waste any product, and the product is already there, Romo said. You have to stay open as long as you can.

The hardest hit of Romos restaurants was Bistronomy, which closes weekly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

So now (for) a five-day week, Im already only getting sales for three days, said Romo, who said he knows it could have been worse. Youve got to always look at the positive side. In some ways we take the risk to live on the coast.
Airlines that canceled dozens of flights at Charleston International are taking steps to accommodate travelers whose flight plans were disrupted this week by Hurricane Ian.

The runways, which were closed Sept. 30 as high winds picked up, reopened mid-morning Oct. 1 at South Carolina's busiest airport, according to spokesman Spencer Pryor.

Most major carriers at CHS announced contingency plans.

United Airlines said it will issue travel waivers for passengers who bought tickets by Sept. 27 and were traveling between Sept. 28 and Oct. 3 for affected South Carolina airports, including Charleston, Columbia, Greenville-Spartanburg, Savannah/Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach.

The Chicago-based carrier said the waiver allows for travelers to book another flight by Oct. 10 for travel within one year of the ticket purchase date. The change-of-flight fee and any difference in fare will be waived for covered United flights as long as travel is rescheduled in the originally ticketed cabin for any fare class and between the same cities as originally ticketed.

For wholly rescheduled travel for a change in departure or destination city, United will waive the change fee, but a difference in fare may apply.

Delta Air Lines said it expanded its "fare difference waiver" to include more destinations in Georgia and South Carolina as Ian churned north from the west coast of Florida. The waiver is effective Sept. 2530.

"With this, the fare difference for customers will be waived when rebooked travel occurs on or before Oct. 6, 2022, in the same cabin of service as originally booked," the Atlanta-based carrier said on its website.

Southwest Airlines said on its website that affected passengers can rebook in the original class of service or travel standby within 14 days of their original date of travel between the original city-pairs without paying any additional charge.

Southwest travelers also can request a refund for an unused ticket, according to the Dallas-based carrier's website.

American Airlines will waive change fees for canceled flights if the ticket was bought by Sept. 28 for scheduled travel between Sept. 28 and Oct. 3 from or to the original destination in the same cabin. Changes must be made by Oct. 3 for travel by Oct. 10. Flights can be changed but must be taken within one year. A difference in fare may apply.

JetBlue Airways will waive change or cancellation fees for those traveling Sept. 30-Oct. 3 for tickets bought by Sept. 28. Flight changes must be made by Oct. 8.

A Breeze Airways spokesman said the Utah-based carrier does not charge change or cancellation fees.

Travelers should check with individual airlines for the latest information on cancellations and flight resumptions.

Note: This story was updated to reflect the airfield's reopening at mid-morning Oct. 1.
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH  There is one less seafood restaurant on the Grand Strand as a North Myrtle Beach landmark on Ocean Drive has closed its doors for the last time after decades in business.

Duffy Street Seafood Shack Main St recently announced it was closing after 27 years, citing the current state of the economy and the difficulty of remaining in business coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thank your local restaurant owner for taking it on the chin for America during the past two years, said the restaurant on its Facebook page. The restaurant industry has suffered and is continuing to suffer tremendously. Real people, real lives and real families are feeling the pain!

Duffy St. Seafood Shack was known for its expansive seafood menu as well as for allowing patrons to throw their peanut shells on the floor in its prime location near Ocean Boulevard.

The restaurants namesake and original location on the corner of Sea Mountain Highway and Duffy Street, built in 1944, closed months ago and is currently listed for sale at $860,000.

Going electric

Myrtle Beach City Council voted unanimously to apply for a grant that would allow the city to acquire three electric vehicle charging stations for the convention center, joining other local municipalities undergoing such efforts.

With a rise in electric vehicles on area roads, Myrtle Beach officials said there is a need for spaces to charge them. The city voted to apply for a grant from the Santee Cooper Evolve Grant Program for $42,314. Officials said a match of $21,171 is required from the Myrtle Beach Convention Center budget.

Santee Cooper said the grant program is designed to help transform the Grand Strand and other parts of the utilitys service territory into electric vehicle-friendly destinations.

The city of Loris recently had a charger installed downtown on Meeting Street that was donated by the electric provider.

A new way to pay at Coast RTA

Coast RTA, the public transportation provider for Horry and Georgetown counties, has simplified the process of riding its buses by allowing riders to cap fares at $3.50 per day.

According to the program, the capped fare applies when riders pay with their contactless debit or credit card or mobile wallet.

As part of this program, fares will be reduced to $1 per trip, Coast RTA said in a statement. Transfers will no longer be sold, and magstripe cards and passes will no longer be valid.

When boarding the bus, riders can pay with a contactless Visa or Mastercard debit or credit card as well as the mobile wallet on their smartphone or other payment-enabled devices. Customers who prefer to pay cash can add money to a Cash Card at various retail locations.

For a list of retail locations that will reload a Cash Card, visit: https://cash.app/help/us/en-us/6488-paper-money-deposits.

Have any Myrtle Beach/Georgetown business news to share? Reach Richard Caines at rcaines@postandcourier.com.
Ghana villagers ousted for Chinese mine

Talensi (Ghana), Oct 1 (UNI) Ghanaian soldiers have kicked local miners out of their homes to make way for the expansion of a Chinese mine at the centre of a

395 million dispute with Australian mining firm Cassius.

In Talensi, northern Ghana, some miners have sold their plots to the Chinese state-linked mining company Shaanxi. Others have refused to give up their land, The Age reported.
SUMMERVILLE  Dorchester School District Two is slowly taking steps to combat its staffing shortage.

The DD2 board unanimously voted on Sept. 26 to increase substitute teacher pay, increasing classified subs  people who do not have a teaching license  from $90 per day to $125, and certified subs  people who do have a teaching license  from $125 per day to $150.

Superintendent Shane Robbins said he had done some research into the school district and learned it had roughly a 68 percent substitute teacher fill rate, meaning if 100 substitute teachers were needed, the district would only be able to pull in 68.

Because there are occasions when the district is unable to get a substitute teacher for a class, Robbins said they have to get creative.

Were using instructional assistants; were using classroom teachers who may be on a prep period. Sometimes were even using spare administrators or counselors  any adult body that we can get in there to supervise the kids, Robbins said. In worst-case scenarios  this would be more for high school classes  weve even consolidated classes, so one teacher is supervising two groups.

He said knowing DD2 is competing with the Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton and Dorchester District Four school districts, he wanted to take action as soon as he could to increase substitute teacher pay.

To go through an entire school year and not address it was meaning we were just kicking the can farther down the road, and it was going to be an increasing struggle to try and make sure we had subs in our buildings, Robbins said.

He said during the board meeting that even with this increase, DD2 would still be ranking last in terms of substitute teacher pay, but it would at least be more competitive with surrounding school districts. After speaking to those superintendents, Robbins said the other districts pay substitute teachers anywhere between $140 and $170 per day.

In 2021, DD2 used COVID-19 relief money to award district staff with a one-time bonus of $1,500. Certified substitute teachers saw a pay increase from $120 a day to $140, and classified saw $100 versus the previous $90.

The pay increase for substitute teachers went into action on Sept. 27.

Kareema Hines, who works with DD2 transportation, spoke at the meeting. The district had taken away the incentives for the bus drivers to do double and triple routes, and Hines said itll be easier to recruit more bus drivers if DD2 reestablishes the incentives.

Its unfair, Hines said. It was a good incentive for us. It was giving us that drive, that push, and it just got taken away from us.

Robbins said upon doing additional research after the meeting, he learned the incentives Hines spoke of were removed because it was one-time COVID-19 money.

Assistant superintendent Kenneth Wilson spoke at the DD2 board meeting on Sept. 12 about the issue with transportation.

Weve been working on this transportation issue since the beginning of school, Wilson said. When we were working on this in the spring, we had sufficient staff to run the routes, but right before the start of school, we lost 10 drivers.

Robbins said district officials are researching the possibility of adding further incentives for drivers running double and triple routes.
Editorials represent the institutional view of the newspaper. They are written and edited by the editorial staff, which operates separately from the news department. Editorial writers are not involved in newsroom operations.
Frances Emmanuel Macron, like a number of other world leaders, has denounced Italy and its incoming Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni. I will chalk that up as a mistake. I dont think a lot of people have seen this amateurishly-filmed response by Meloni, but it is scorching.

It is not hard to understand why colorless leftist leaders fear Meloni and denounce her as a fascist. I think that means she gives speeches that are effective and that people like. I dont necessarily agree with everything Meloni says here, but she makes some good points about illegal immigration and Africa:

I wish we had someone like Meloni here in the U.S.
I hope our readers will indulge the attention we have paid to the Feeding Our Future scandal here in Minnesota. The issue has, I think, national significance as it is the biggest single fraud that has so far been uncovered in connection with the trillions of dollars that the federal government shoveled out the door, ostensibly as covid relief. The scandal$250 million stolen, and countingreminds us of one of the basic tenets of conservatism: the government will never spend your money as carefully as you do.

In attempting to deflect responsibility for the fiasco, Minnesotas Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison have tried one dodge after another. They have claimed that a judge ordered them to continue paying Freedom Our Future in April 2021implying that they knew, by then, that the whole operation was a fraudbut that was a lie. (For an in-depth discussion of the scandal, go here.) They have also said that they knew about the fraud, but kept quiet because the FBI asked them not to stop it, as they paid out hundreds of millions in stolen money. This is obviously ridiculous.

Walz and Ellison have suggested that they knew a massive fraud was being perpetrated, but couldnt do anything about itfirst because a judge ordered them not to, and then because the FBI asked them not to. That raises an obvious question: when, exactly, did Governor Tim Walz find out that hundreds of millions of dollars were being stolen from the Minnesota Department of Education? It turns out that this is a question Walz cant answer.

The Minnesota Reformer is a far-left online news outlet, but (unlike the Star Tribune, for example) its fealty to the Democratic Party is not absolute. So the Reformer asked Governor Walz, when did you find out that Feeding Our Future was a fraud? Good question!

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz found out about suspicious activity in a child food aid program  now the subject of a massive federal law enforcement dragnet  around the time that local nonprofit Feeding Our Future sued the state Department of Education in November 2020, his office told the Reformer Friday.

But that was answer number three. Answer number one:

In an interview with the Reformer on Thursday, Walz said he was verbally briefed about suspicious activity in the program in late April or early May of 2020  very early in the program, Walz said.

Answer number two:

A spokesperson for the governor later told the Reformer that Walz misspoke and he found out when MDE alerted federal authorities. MDE first reached out to officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture with concerns about the nonprofits rapid growth in the summer of 2020.

Answer number three:

The spokesperson then followed up again to clarify that Walz found out after Feeding Our Future filed a lawsuit in November 2020.

At this point, Walz is obviously just making stuff up. But his various answers to the question, if we take them seriously, mean that a large majority of the $250 million-and-counting theft occurred after Governor Walz knew it was going on. If he had spoken upgiven a press conference, told what he knew, called for an investigation, whateverthe fraud would have come to a screeching halt. But by his own admission, Walz sat on that knowledge while many millions went out the door.

American Experiments Bill Glahn, the leading expert on the Feeding Our Future fraud, writes:

[T]here is a minimum six-month period (November 2020 to April 2021) during which Gov. Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison knew about the fraud, were not constrained by any judges ruling or FBI investigation, and chose to keep the money flowing. At any time during that period, the state could have cried fraud or acted unilaterally. During that interval, Feeding Our Future was invoicing the state about $20 million per month. The system didnt fail. The states highest elected officials failed.

And that count gives Walz and Ellison much more of the benefit of the doubt than they deserve. Amazingly enough, both Walz and Ellison are running for re-election rather than resigning in disgrace.
The Associated Press reports that Japanese wrestler and politician Antonio Inoki has died at the age of 79. I was a high school teacher who paid good money to attend his whatever-it-was with Muhammad Ali televised live from Tokyos Budokan over closed circuit at the Minneapolis Auditorium in June 1976.

Inoki contended with Ali during most of the 15 rounds by kicking him while positioned on his back. Ali taunted him to stand up and fight like a man, and I believe the Japanese audience even joined in. I did not understand the rules of engagement. As Jerry Lee Lewis might put it, whole lotta kickin goin on.

The Guardian has a well-researched 4,000-word account of whatever-it-was in The forgotten story ofMuhammad Ali v Antonio Inoki. When Ali died the New York Times declared it Alis least memorable fight. Newsweek published an excerpt of Josh Grosss 2016 book on the whatever-it-was. A YouTube video here delivers the highlights with commentary. The video shows Inoki fighting dirty.

I lost track of Inoki after the disappointing spectacle. The AP obituary makes clear that he led an interesting and constructive life. However, I would still like my money back.
China's State Council holds National Day reception

EditorChen Zhuo Time2022-10-01 16:45:20

China's State Council holds a reception to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022.The reception was attended by the Communist Party of China and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan, as well as nearly 500 guests from home and abroad. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council on Friday held a reception at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. China's National Day falls on Oct. 1.

The reception was attended by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan, as well as nearly 500 guests from home and abroad.

Addressing the reception, Premier Li Keqiang said that the CPC will convene its 20th National Congress this year, and stressed the vital significance of the event.

This year is a truly momentous one in the course of China's development, Li added. "In the face of complex and challenging developments both within and outside China, our entire nation, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, has forged ahead together with drive and resolve."

Ensuring sound economic fundamentals is crucial to sustaining the steady growth of China's economy, Li said, stressing that China has taken forceful measures to ease shocks caused by greater-than-expected factors, and promptly and decisively introduced a policy package for stabilizing the economy. "We have the confidence and the ability to keep major economic indicators within an appropriate range."

He said with the reform and opening-up as China's fundamental policy, the country has pressed ahead with reform to develop a socialist market economy, pursued high-standard opening-up, kept foreign trade and investment stable, and deepened multilateral and bilateral business cooperation to keep China a favored destination for foreign investment and achieve win-win development.

Li stressed the commitment to conducting governance to deliver benefits to the people.

Highlighting the support for efforts to ensure the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao, Li said the policy of "one country, two systems," as well as the policies of Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong and Macao people administering Macao with a high degree of autonomy, have been firmly, fully and faithfully implemented.

We have firmly opposed "Taiwan independence" separatist moves and external interference, and actively promoted the peaceful growth of cross-Strait relations, he said.

Li also stressed the efforts China has made to work with other countries to meet global challenges and promote peace, stability, development and prosperity in the world.

Li closed his speech by calling for rallying even more closely around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, following the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and forging ahead in a concerted effort to build China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful.

Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the reception. 
Tumultuous times for Sri Lanka tea

Colombo, Oct 1 (UNI) Sri Lankas tea industry is going through tumultuous times in terms of production, with crop levels plunging to near three-decades low.

The August crop of 18.27 million kilos is the lowest in 28 years and the first eight months production at 171.37 million kilos is lowest since 1996, the Daily FT newspaper on Saturday quoted the Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers as saying.

It said the August 2022 crop was a decline of 5.6 million kilos or 23 per cent year on year and all elevations have shown a decline over the corresponding month of 2021.
Hurricane Ian is moving up the Atlantic seaboard and apparently passing into history. It was tremendously destructive as it hit the Gulf coast of Florida, and Democrats didnt even wait for the hurricane to make landfall before politicizing it.

Democrats hope Ian will bring down, or at least put a chink in the armor of, the heretofore invincible Ron DeSantis. But I am confused: didnt we learn during Katrina that dealing with hurricanes is the responsibility of the federal government? Specifically, the president? And that other officials, like governors and mayors, are irrelevant? So if there are problems dealing with the aftermath of Ian, they will be blamed on Joe Biden. Right?

The Democrats have tried to politicize Hurricane Ian in at least two more ways. Notwithstanding the fact that Florida has been hit periodically by hurricanes throughout recorded history, they blame this one on global warming. The New York Times, which exists to mislead its readers, was particularly dishonest, as is explained at Watts Up With That. The Times claims that severe hurricanes have been increasing since 1980:

But why start the chart in 1980? CO2 has been added to the atmosphere since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. So what is special about 1980? This chart shows severe hurricanes that have hit the U.S., not since 1980, but since 1860. You can easily see the trick the Times played:

Global warming fanatics do this all the time. They begin a chart at the time when a phenomenon (hurricanes, wildfires, whatever) happens to be at its lowest point, and pretend that any random uptick from that point is a climate change trend. In fact, the long-term trend for severe hurricanes is flat or downward.

But the Democrats werent done politicizing yet! The hopelessly inept Kamala Harris couldnt resist:

Vice President Harris came in for a torrent of criticism after telling an audience that communities of color would be first in line for relief in the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Ian. We have to address this in a way that is about giving resources based on equity, understanding that we fight for equality, but we also need to fight for equity, she said during a discussion with Priyanka Chopra at the Democratic National Committees Womens Leadership Forum on Friday. If we want people to be in an equal place sometimes we need to take into account those disparities and do that work, she added.

What in the world was she talking about? Was she suggesting that the federal government would withhold aid from white people in order to prioritize minorities? Apparently so. Harris naturally has been roasted by just about everyone, starting with DeSantiss fiery aide Christina Pushaw, who tweeted:

This is false. @VPs rhetoric is causing undue panic and must be clarified. FEMA Individual Assistance is already available to all Floridians impacted by Hurricane Ian, regardless of race or background.

Maybe Joe Biden will send Kamala Harris to Florida to oversee the federal governments hurricane efforts. No doubt she would be as effective in that role as she has been as border czar.
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Movie Title: Brotherhood

Runtime: 2 hours

Director: Loukman Ali

Producer: Jade Osiberu

Release date: 23 September 2022

Cast: Sam Dede, Ronke Oshodi, Zubby Michael, OC Ukeje, Folarin Falana (Falz the Bahd Guy), Tobi Bakre, Bright Okpocha (Basketmouth), Toni Tones, Omawunmi, Jidekene Achufusi, Debo Adedayo (Mr Macaroni), Boma Akpore, Diane Russet, Dorathy Bachor and Seyi Awolowo.

Before we start this review, I want to use this medium to ask the producers of Brotherhood for a sequel because there are many questions I need answers to.

When I scrolled through Twitter and saw many people raving about the Brotherhood movie, I thought it was probably one of those overhyped, boring films. With this hunch, I went to the cinema, where I was proved wrong.

Brotherhood comes from the creative mind of Jade Osiberu, who is responsible for many blockbusters such as Ayinla, Isoken, and Sugar Rush. While the film has several flaws, it was a breath of fresh air from the cliches and tropes in Nollywood.

Directed by Ugandan filmmaker Loukman Ali, the film is similar to the 2004 Nollywood classic drama thriller, Dangerous Twins, starring Ramsey Nouah. It tells the story of twin brothers, Wale and Akin, who find themselves on different sides of the law and morality.

The Tea (The Plot)

As mentioned earlier, Brotherhood primarily focuses on twin brothers Akin (Tobi Bakare) and Wale (Falz), who lost their parents growing up. While Wale went on to seek a job as a detective, Akin became a criminal, which landed him in prison several times.

After serving a term in jail, Akin is released and informed that his twin brother has reached a new job with the anti-crime unit, SWAT. Based on his reaction and conversation with his aunty (Ronke Oshodi), one can quickly tell that both brothers dont get along.

Ignoring the chance and advice to turn a new leaf, Akin joins an armed robbery gang called the Ojuju Boys. Due to his intelligence and network, Akin helps step up their robbery game and falls in love with a team member, Goldie (Toni Tones).

Meanwhile, an incident causes Wale to investigate the Ojuju boys identity.

Things were going well for both brothers until Akin showed up uninvited at Wales wedding party, flaunting his newly found wealth. It makes Wale suspicious of Akin being part of the notorious robbery squad.

Fast forward to the groups final heist, and both brothers find themselves in a standoff where only one of them legally survives.

The Good

Cinematography is applaudable as camera movements and lighting complement the intentions of each scene. My favourite scene concerning cinematography would be the SWAT office because the rays of sunlight emitted through the windows gave a sense of realism to the film.

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The location contributes to a films success, and its pretty safe to conclude that the director nailed it. The locations from the third mainland bridge to the Ojuju boys hideout made many action sequences believable and a joy to watch.

It would be somewhat of a crime if I dont give credit to the cast, as they all delivered outstanding performances. OC Ukeje did an excellent job switching from being a Nollywood heartthrob to a greedy bad boy called Izzie. Tobi Bakare made me take him seriously as an actor, and Falz showed that he is beyond playing characters with funny accents.

Lastly, something about the storyline feels different. Maybe it deviates from the cliche narrative of twin brothers on opposite sides of the law but doesnt know each other until the end. Brotherhood also puts a new spin on how protagonists are seen. For example, somewhere in between the movie, I found myself rooting for Akin even though he killed his brothers father-in-law and was, in a way, responsible for the crimes.

The point is Brotherhood chooses to throw away the Nollywood cliche book and give us not only a thrilling cold open but also a bittersweet ending.

The Bad

Brotherhood reminded me of the need for Nollywood to invest in a scriptwriter who, in addition to the ability to tell stories, also knows how to write dialogue. Many conversations felt flat, and there were many show, dont tell moments. The latter is that characters often rely on words to move the plot forward. An example would be Wales first day at work, where he immediately meets a detective who clearly states he doesnt like him. A part of me wanted something different, like maybe having this detective shoot glaring eyes at Wale before speaking to him.

Visual effects are another problem I have with this movie. While I sincerely appreciate the effort of the SFX (Special Effects) team, I have to point out that showing blood splashes on screen doesnt make it more realistic that a person has been shot. Sometimes less is more. Also, not to sound like I know it all, but I am pretty sure they leave a mark when bullets are fired at a car.

There were some questionable casting choices, as I felt some of the actors in the movie did not bring life to their characters and were there for promotions.

Wrapping it up is the question of who killed Akin and Wales parents. While I appreciate that the films plot wasnt built around this event, it only feels right that it plays a role. During the film, it was rarely mentioned, and there werent any teasers to keep audiences intrigued.

Final Verdict

8/10.

Brotherhood is a good film that would leave you on the edge of your seat, make you laugh and cry, and ask, God, when? while watching Akin and Wale fall in love.

Brotherhood is now showing in cinemas nationwide.
Ahead of its Thursday premiere, Showmax staged an exclusive screening in Victoria Island, Lagos, hosted by popular media personality, Chigul.

The cast  Uzoamaka Onuoha, Chinyere Wilfred, Gloria Anozie-Young, Frank Konwea, and Uzoamaka Aniunoh were at the event.

Also, the shows executive producer, James Omokwe, and co-directors, Fiyin Gambo and Ifeoma Chukwuogo, were present and answered a few questions during the questions and answers session.

The anticipated psychological thriller series is the streaming platforms first-ever Nigerian original limited drama series.

It is executive produced and directed by James Omokwe. The series is also co-directed by Tolu Ajayi, Fiyin Gambo, and Ifeoma Chukwuogo.

The drama follows the life of Diiche, who becomes a prime suspect in a high-profile murder investigation over the death of Nnamdi, her fiance.

As the search for Nnamdis killer kicks off, she must prove her innocence  except a story from almost 30 years ago, known only to her mother, reveals the tussle between good and evil.

The thriller stars Uzoamaka Onuoha as Diiche Anyanwu, Daniel K Daniel as Nnamdi Nwokedi, Efa Iwara as Folajimi Gbajumo, Gloria Anozie-Young as Adaure Nwokeji, Chinyere Wilfred as Kessandu Anyanwu, Uzoamaka Aniunoh as Inspector Ijeoma Anene, and Frank Konwea, as Inspector Dipo Kazeem.

The producers describe Diiche as a psychological thriller promoting indigenous language and alluding to the ancient African culture of divinity.

Diiche was coined from the word Odiiche, which means Different in the Igbo language.

Busola Tejumola, Executive Head of Content and West Africa Channels, MultiChoice, acknowledged the cast and crew of Diiche, saying it was an exciting journey producing the series.

Remarks, inspiration

The Executive Director said he worked with other directors  Tolu Ajayi, Fiyin Gambo, and Ifeoma Chukwuogo noted that the choice of multiple directors cutting across different ethnic groups was deliberate.

He said this affected a situation whereby different creatives with different imaginations and ideas relay a complicated story.

After screening the first episode, the executive producer talked about how excited he was to produce the series.

I dont want to give too much away, but theres a particular episode in Igbo, and its a big deal. When the opportunity to make this film came, it was exciting for us as a team. To be honest, my real love is telling psychological stories.

The first film I ever did, called the Awakening, is a thriller. It (Diiche) was like a homecoming for me, and I was very excited to produce it. However, I was anxious because it was for Showmax, and the production scale was so large, but we did it eventually, he said.

When asked what she expects the audiences reaction to be, a cast member, Ifeoma Chukwuogo, said, I think the audience will find the show very layered. Diiche is a beautiful blend of genres. Its a whodunnit. Its a psychological thriller. There are some metaphysical, supernatural stuff, and cultural elements.

So, as people watch the series, theyll start to see so many layers to the storytelling. Its entertaining, exciting, and illuminating. People will also ask questions about themselves, certain elements of the human condition, and some cultural things. In general, Ill say entertaining and intriguing.

Co-director Fiyin Gambo added to this, sharing what he believes people will be surprised to learn about the making of Diiche. He said, I think what comes to mind is  now you see me, now you dont. With the series, you think you are right and know who killed Nnamdi, but with each episode, your thinking starts changing. I think thats what the series does to keep that suspense throughout the six episodes. Its almost telling you, dont judge a book by the cover and dont take things as it is.

Actress Gloria Anozie-Young, who played Nnamdis mother, said this was the first time she would be featured in a production where she had to speak the Igbo language.

She said she found it intriguing and exciting.

Another cast, Uzoamaka Aniunoh, described the series as entertaining, intriguing, exciting and illuminating, with a beautiful blend of drama and cultural elements.

Diiche premiered exclusively on Showmax with new episodes every Thursday.
Osita Duruocha, an official of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who was declared missing recently, has been found dead.

His corpse was found along Isu-Aniocha-Urum Road in Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigerias South-east.

The deceased, Mr Duruocha, was a Principal Executive Officer II on Grade Level 10 at the electoral commission.

INEC national spokesperson, Festus Okoye, disclosed this in a statement on Friday.

He said the commissions Administrative Secretary in the state, Jude Okwuonu, reported the disappearance of Mr Duruocha on Wednesday.

Mr Okwuonu also informed the commission, on Thursday, that Mr Duruochas body was found where it was dumped by unknown persons, Mr Okoye said.

Other staff members of the commission, Duruochas brother and the police have evacuated the body and deposited same in the morgue.

The police and other security agencies have commenced an investigation to determine the circumstances that led to Duruochas disappearance and eventual death, the commission spokesperson added.

Recurring decimal

INEC officials have become targets of attacks by gunmen lately across Nigerias South-east.

The gunmen, said to be part of the Biafra agitation, have been threatening to disrupt the 2023 general election in the South-east.

Beyond the threat to disrupt the election in the South-east, there have been renewed attacks on INEC facilities and personnel across the region.

On 14 April, gunmen, who claimed to be Biafran agitators, killed an INEC official, Anthony Okorie, when they attacked a polling unit at Ihitte Uboma Local Government Area of Imo State, where the continuous voter registration was being held.

During the attack, the gunmen were heard in a video clip issuing warnings that the INEC registration exercise should not be held in the area and that there would be no election in the region in 2023.

INEC had immediately suspended the exercise in the area, following the attack.

Again, on 3 July, some suspected arsonists, believed to be resisting plans to hold elections in the region, attacked INEC office in Ogurute, Enugu-Ezike, a community in Igbo-Eze North Local Government of Enugu State.
A Federal High Court, Abuja, on Friday, nullified the nomination of Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun as the All Progressives Congress (APC)s candidate in the 16 July governorship election.

Justice Emeka Nwite, in a judgment, nullified the candidacy of Mr Oyetola and his deputy, Benedict Alabi, on the grounds that Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe, who submitted their names to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) violated the provisions of Section 183 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Section 82(3) of the Electoral Act, 2022.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had filed the suit against Governor Buni, Governor Oyetola, and others.

The PDP, through its counsel, Kehinde Ogunwumiju, SAN, had, on 7 April, commenced the suit, challenging the nomination and sponsorship of Mr Oyetola and his deputy as the duly nominated candidates of the APC for the recently concluded governorship poll, in which Ademola Adeleke was declared the winner by INEC.

Challenging the competence of the suit, Kunle Adegoke, SAN, who represented Mr Oyetola, had contended, amongst other grounds, that the PDP did not have the locus to commence the action and that the suit was statute-barred.

But Mr Ogunwumiju argued that the plaintiff (PDP) rightly commenced the suit under Section 285(14) (c) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).

Delivering the judgment, Mr Nwite agreed with the submissions of the PDP counsel and declared as null and void, the nomination of Messrs Oyetola and Alabi by the APC.

The court also held that Mr Buni acted in contravention of the provision of Section 183 of the Constitution when he held dual executive positions as the Governor of Yobe and the Chairman of the National Caretaker Committee of APC.

The court said the decisions taken by Governor Buni, including forwarding the names of Messrs Oyetola and Alabi to INEC, amounted to a nullity in law.

NAN reports that INEC declared the candidate of the PDP, Mr Adeleke, the winner of the 16th July Osun governorship election.

The returning officer for the election and Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, announced that Mr Adeleke got a total of 403,371 votes beating the incumbent, Mr Oyetola of the APC, who got 375,027 votes in a keenly contested race.

(NAN)
President Muhammadu Buhari has said he is personally pained by the frequent closure of the nations public universities.

Mr Buhari, who said this on Saturday during a media chat to mark Nigerias 62nd independence anniversary, appealed to the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to return to classrooms while negotiations on other unresolved issues on the unions demand list.

The president said: I must confess that I am very pained by the recurring disruption to our tertiary education system and I am using this Independence Day celebration to re-iterate my call for the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to return to the classroom while assuring them to deal with their contending issues within the limits of the scarce resources available.

Mr Buhari said his administration has made appreciable progress in redressing these issues that have been lingering for over eleven years.

He said the government will continue to mobilise resources both internationally and nationally towards funding education to ensure that our citizens are well educated and skilled in various vocations in view of the fact that education is a leading determinant of economic growth and employment generation.

ASUU Strike

The strike by ASUU has crippled all academic activities in all Nigerian public universities since 14 February.

The development has led to agitations among Nigerians and particularly students under the umbrella of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).

The lecturers are demanding better pay, improved conditions of service as well better funding for the university system as contained in several agreements it has had with the government.

The failure of the government to implement the agreement led to ASUU to declare an initial four week strike and has continue to extend it until 29 August 29 when it extended it indefinitely following the lack of resolution after several meetings with the government.

The government referred the dispute to an Industrial court and filed an injunction for the lecturers to suspend its strike while the matter is being heard by the court.

The court granted the order and ordered ASUU to suspend the strike but the union has appealed the judgement the judgement applied for a stay of execution.

Meanwhile, the leadership of the House of Representatives has attempted to broker peace between the executive arm of government and ASUU.

At a meeting on Thursday, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, promised to forward details of the meetings to the President for a decision.

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
President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday said Nigeria defied global predictions of the negative socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic because of the countrys resilience in managing the pandemic.

Mr Buhari in his broadcast to mark Nigerias 62nd Independence Anniversary said the commitment and passion exhibited in managing the pandemic contributed to the success recorded.

As you are aware, Nigeria was one of the countries that defied global predictions of the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic because of our resilience, commitment, and passion with which we individually and collectively managed the pandemic, he said.

He also said the countrys health facilities have greatly improved especially during and after the the COVID-19 pandemic.

This was an improvement which he said attracted commendation of the global community.

Saturdays broadcast is the last Mr Buhari will deliver as Nigerias president with the country expected to elect a new president in February.

Global predictions

There were several predictions that the COVID-19 pandemic will wreak havoc on the African continent as compared to other parts of the world.

In early 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that nearly a quarter of a billion Africans would have contracted the virus by the end of the year, with between 150,000 and 190,000 of them dying.

But as of November 3, the total infection on the continent stood at 1,784,083, less than one per cent of Africas one billion population. At this time, about 42,000 people had died.

Although Nigeria appears to have moved at a snail-pace in its initial response to the pandemic, it has not been badly hit as compared to European and American countries. This is despite having advanced medical facilities and health experts which are unavailable in the African region.

A study published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases explained the reason for the lower prevalence of the disease in sub-Saharan Africa compared to that in the US, Europe, and Asia.

Findings of the study show that there is a higher prevalence of cross-reactive antibodies against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) in the blood samples collected from sub-Saharan African populations.

The level of antibodies is probably because of Africans prior exposure to other human coronaviruses, according to a report on news-medical.net.

An antibody is a protective protein produced by the immune system in response to the presence of a foreign substance, called an antigen. Antibodies recognise and latch onto antigens in order to remove them from the body.

About three years after the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Nigeria, 265,382 cases have been recorded so far. Out of this, 3,155 people died while 3,846 are still receiving treatment, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has constituted the women wing of its presidential campaign with Aisha Buhari, wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, as the grand patron.

Remi Tinubu, wife of the partys presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, and Nana Shettima, wife of the vice presidential candidate, Kashim Shettima, will serve as chair and co-chairman.

Asabe Villita, a former member of the House of Representatives from Borno State, was appointed the national coordinator of the team with Lauretta Onochie, the controversial aide to President Muhammadu Buhari, as her deputy.

However, Dolapo Osinbajo, the wife of Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, is noticeably absent from the campaign list released on Saturday by Rinsola Abiola in Abuja.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported the exclusion of Mr Osinbajo from the list of the APC Presidential Campaign Council released by the APC a week ago.

Mr Osinbajo lost the APC presidential primaries to his former boss, Mr Tinubu at the convention in June. While other aspirants have been drafted into the campaign, the vice president was excluded from the campaign council.

He served as the attorney general and commissioner for justice of Lagos State under Mr Tinubu. The latter is also believed to have nominated Mr Osinbajo for the office of the vice president in 2015.

To debunk speculations of a rift between Messrs Tinubu and Osinbajo, the ruling party had in a statement claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari requested the exclusion of his deputy and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, to allow them to focus on governance.

Mr Buhari is the Head of the council.

The APC is still struggling with backlash over its Muslim/Muslim ticket and these officials are two of the highest-ranking Christians in the administration.

Wives of governors to coordinate their states

Zainab Bagudu is the zonal head of North-west, Falmata Zulum for North-east, Olufolake Abdulrasaq for North-central, Claudian Sanwo-Olu for South-west, Chioma Uzodinma for South-east and Linda Ayade for South-south. They are the wives of Kebbi, Borno,Kwara, Lagos, Imo and Cross River States.

According to the statement, all ministers wives, all female senators, all female ministers and all APC deputy governors wives are members of the campaign team.

The administrative secretariat is headed by Wahab Alawiye-King, who is also the chairman of the committee on strategic planning.

Fatima Raji-Rasaki, a former Senator, chairs the committee on logistics, while the media team is chaired by Modele Sarafatu-Yusuf.

The committee on finance and special duty is headed by Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, a former deputy governor in Lagos State and Abike Dabiri, has been saddled with the reponsibility of Diaspora Committee.

Veteran actor, Joke Sylva, is leading the performing arts committee of the campaign.

The team directed that all appointees are to collect their letters of appointment at the Tinubu/Shettima Women Presidential Campaign Office at No 2 Kainji Crescent, off Lake Chad Crescent, Maitama, Abuja.

See full list HERE
The Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has again visited Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.

Mr Obis Friday visit came barely 48 hours after the commencement of the presidential campaigns ahead of the 2023 general elections.

The LP candidate met with Mr Wike behind closed doors at the governors residence in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of the state.

Earlier today, I visited @GovWike in Port Harcourt. As usual, I was very well received with genuine warmth and fraternal affection, Mr Obi posted on his verified Twitter handle on Friday.

Messrs Obi and Wike did not speak with journalists after the meeting.

There are speculations that the LP candidate may have visited Mr Wike to seek his support ahead of the 2023 presidential election.

Naturally, we discussed issues germane to national interest and nation-building, the LP candidate said, without giving details.

It was nice hosting my brother @PeterObi once again, Mr Wike posted on his Twitter handle on Friday.

Mr Wike was a presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He lost the partys presidential primary in May to Nigerias former vice president, Atiku Abubakar.

Mr Obi, who was Atikus running mate in the PDP in the 2019 presidential election, was among the PDP presidential aspirants this year.

He, however, announced his resignation from the PDP a few days to the party presidential primary, saying there were practices in the party that were inconsistent with his belief and persona.

He defected to the LP where he later emerged the partys 2023 presidential candidate.

Mr Wike had criticised Mr Obi for the decision and accused the former governor of lacking character and integrity.

But both politicians appear to have become closer to each other after the PDP primary election.

This is the third time the duo would hold a meeting behind closed doors since the primary.

Mr Obi first visited and had a closed-door meeting with the Rivers governor on 22 June.

The latest visit comes amidst a raging crisis in the PDP.

Mr Wike is engaged in a political battle with the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku, over the Rivers governors demand that the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, relinquish his position for the sake of a regional balance.

Aggrieved after the primary election, Mr Wike accused the party of betraying him and breaching its constitution.

He is insisting that the resignation of Mr Ayu is a criterion that must be met before he discusses giving support to Atiku in next years poll.

Mr Wikes argument is that both Mr Ayu and Atiku hail from northern Nigeria.
Residents of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, came out in their numbers on Saturday to take part in a rally in support of Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) Presidential candidate for the 2023 general elections.

A similar rally is being held in Lagos State, Nigerias South-west.

Those who took part in the Uyo rally assembled by 10 a.m. around a water fountain by Nwaniba Road, one of the major roads in the heart of Uyo, from there they marched peacefully through the roads, singing, dancing, and waving the LP flags, alongside the Nigerian national flags.

Several youths carried placards indicating that they have taken a decision to support Mr Obi in next years presidential election.

Obi! Obi! Obi! They crowd sang, as they marched on.

Woah, woah, woah! Its unbelievable, Anthony Abonyi, the coordinator of Peter Obi Support Group in Akwa Ibom State, said of the crowd and the mood, as he marched along with others.

The movement is revolutionary. Its unbelievable. Obi is already the president, Mr Abonyi said.

He said for such a large crowd to voluntarily take part in the rally is a pointer that Nigerians are tired of bad governance.

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Nigerians are tired. They are tired of bad governance. We are tired of everything that has to do with the PDP and the APC, there must be a change. There must be a change. Yes, everybody is desirous of that change.

Mr Abonyi said the rally is a way of letting the government know that Nigerians are tired of bad governance.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been the dominant party in Akwa Ibom State since Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999.

It is, however, unclear for now what impact the support for the LP candidate would likely have on the PDP in the state.
The weekly sit-at-home order by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has been ineffective in Ebonyi State, according to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

Ebonyi does not observe sit-at-home directives on Mondays, and this has made our job easier, the Commandant of the NSCDC in Ebonyi State, Felix Gbolade, said on Saturday in Abakaliki.

Mr Gbolade made the observation, while parading a crime suspect, accused of stealing electricity cable around Amike-Aba in Abakaliki.

He said that the NSCDC has deployed over 1,000 of its personnel to guard public facilities and also ensure security in the state.

We deployed intelligence personnel to flashpoints around the state for relevant information on vandals activities.

Female members of our strike-force are currently patrolling schools to ensure the safety of students.

The initiative is being implemented in schools within Ebonyi North Senatorial District and we hope to mobilise more resources to replicate it in other districts, he said.

Mr Gbolade commended Governor David Umahi for his support for security agencies and efforts to ensure adequate security in the state.

We also commend him for his infrastructural strides which have improved accessibility and enhanced the peoples wellbeing, he said.

The commandant said the civil defence would arraign the suspected cable thief after the investigation.

(NAN)
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State on Saturday urged Nigerians to shun politics of division and bitterness, as the 2023 general elections approached.

Mr Sanwo-Olu gave the advice at the Independence Day Parade to commemorate the 62nd National Independence Day Celebration of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The parade, held at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan, was organised by the Lagos State Ministry of Home Affairs.

Mr Sanwo-Olu urged Nigerians to respect divergent opinions and know that the beauty of democracy lies in the fact that all would not share the same ideological and political views.

According to him, what Nigerians want, and what is not negotiable, is a better country.

He said the country had been blessed with an energetic population, resourceful and laden with entrepreneurial energy, a free and vibrant press, and a youth population that was increasingly politically aware.

Mr Sanwo-Olu said that Nigeria remained blessed with a democracy that was not complacent, and a thriving appetite among all the people for good governance.

He said that all of these meant that all could look forward with hope to the future of Nigeria.

I am personally fully persuaded and confident that Nigeria is on an irreversible march to greatness, economically, politically, socially, and culturally.

There is no gainsaying that the world awaits the greatness of our nation; and by our collective efforts, we will rise above all odds and take our rightful place in history.

Let me use this opportunity to commend the efforts of all of you our people who have remained resolute in commitment to Project Nigeria, despite the challenges our country is contending with.

Today marks the 62nd independence anniversary of our dear country. On this day in 1960, the shackles of colonialism were broken and cast aside, and Nigeria joined the league of independent countries, the largest sovereign black power on the earth.

Although we may not have fully attained the heights dreamt of by our founding fathers, we still have every reason to celebrate this historic day, the governor said.

He said that every 1st October was a time to reflect on the journey of nationhood, to rededicate all to the task of nation-building, and continue to work hard at building a formidable nation in Africa and the world at large.

Mr Sanwo-Olu said the year 2022 also marked the 23rd year since the birth of the 4th Republic, the most successful democratic journey in the history of the nation, Nigeria.

According to him, Nigerians truly have a lot to be grateful for, as, amidst many odds and challenges, all have continued to exist as one strong country, recording progress on many fronts.

Even if we are not always where we will like to be as a nation, there are clear signs of slow and steady progress, he said.

The programme featured an inspection of a parade by various groups which included Nigeria Police, Civil Defence, paramilitary, voluntary organisations, school pupils, and students by the governor, cutting of the 62nd Independence anniversary cake, among others. (NAN)
Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has directed the Comptroller of the states Federal Correctional services to release 16 inmates from its custodial facilities to mark the 2022 Independence day celebration.

Charles Titiloye, Attorney General of Ondo State and Chairperson of the state Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy said this in a statement on Saturday.

Mr Titiloye said the gesture was in accordance with the power conferred on the governor by paragraphs (a) (c) and (d) of Subsection (1) of Section 212, of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, (as amended).

He said the inmates who were serving various terms of imprisonment at the correctional centers received the grace and mercy of the governor based on their good conduct.

According to him, the inmates were recommended for release by the states Advisory Council on Prerogative of mercy.

Mr Titiloye said the governor urged the released inmates to be of good conduct and see their release as another opportunity to live a better life devoid of crime.

He said the governor also called on residents of the state not to discriminate against them and integrate them into their various communities.

Mr Akeredolu also commuted and reduced the sentences of 17 other inmates serving various terms of imprisonment in custodial centres in the state.

Lagos

In Lagos, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu approved the release of 46 inmates from various correctional facilities across the state.

Mr Sanwo-Olu also commuted the death sentences of six inmates to life imprisonment.

The approval was in celebration of Nigerias 62nd Independence Anniversary, according to a statement by Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN).

The statement was issued on Friday in Lagos.

Mr Moyosore said the approval was based on recommendations of the Lagos State Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy.

The exercise is in pursuant to the provisions of Section 212 (1) (2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Amended).

The Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy, in reaching its recommendations, exercised due diligence in its deliberation of the applications in line with the guidelines.

The council took note of information provided by correctional authorities, the nature of offence, period of incarceration, age, health and behavioural conduct of the inmates, the official said.

He added that the approval was in demonstration of the governors commitment to decongesting correctional facilities in the state as part of the states justice sector reforms. (NAN)
Money is the lifeblood of politics across the world but the abuse of the laws guiding how it is spent by politicians, especially on elections, continues to hurt democracy.

That abuse is rife in Nigeria where the countrys electoral commission has been unwilling or unable to enforce the laws.

After its political history had been interrupted by military coups in the first four decades of its independence, Nigeria finally restored democratic rule through a swift transition programme implemented by its last military dictator, Abdulsalami Abubakar, in 1999.

Since then, Nigeria has had six cycles of regular general elections, the most in its history. However, virtually all the political parties that participated in these elections and their presidential, governorship and federal and state legislative candidates have breached the laws on campaign and election spending.

As the political actors start their campaign activities for the 2023 general elections, PREMIUM TIMES observed that the electoral commission remains uninterested in enforcing the relevant laws stipulated in the constitution on expenditure for elections and political activities.

Breaches

As in many democracies, political parties in Nigeria attract funds for their operations and activities through contributions from members and supporters, and donations from corporate organisations.

The parties are then mandated to submit to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) their audited financial reports, capturing revenue inflows and outflows, after a general election and at specific periods in the year.

However, three years since the last general elections, nearly all the political parties have not submitted reports on their expenditures on that election as mandated by the Electoral Act.

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), New Nigeria People Party (NNPP), African Democratic Congress (ADC), African Action Congress (AAC), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Accord, Action Alliance (AA), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and Boot Party are some of the parties that participated in the 2019 elections but have not filed their reports.

Others are Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Action Peoples Party (APP), National Rescue Movement (NRM), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Young Progressive Party (YPP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).

The Action Democratic Party (ADP) partially complied with this provision as it submitted its expenses within the stipulated window, but without accompanying it with a court affidavit as mandated by the law.

Section 92 (3) of the 2010 Electoral Act (as amended) says Election expenses of a political party shall be submitted to the Commission in a separate audited return within 6 months after an election and such return shall be signed by the political partys auditors and countersigned by the Chairman of the party and be supported by a sworn affidavit by the signatories as to the correctness of its contents.

In a copy of the original document submitted to the commission on 30 May 2019, the ADP said it spent a total of N95 million (N95,388,417) on the 2019 general elections.

When quizzed, INECs Director of Election and Party Monitoring (EPM), Aminu Idris, at two-day training for journalists in preparation for the 2023 elections in Lagos on Thursday, confirmed the infractions but was silent on what the electoral commission is doing to curb it.

The EPM monitors the finances of political parties.

Mr Idris also did not accede to requests for clarity on whether erring parties have ever been sanctioned and the amount they have paid in fines over the infractions since the 2015 general elections.

PREMIUM TIMES had approached INEC spokesperson, Festus Okoye, with the request but was directed to the EPM Director as Mr Okoye said he had no information on the subject.

The Three Reports

There are three financial reports that political parties are expected by law to submit to INEC. They are the election contributions report, election expenses report and annual report.

The election contributions report is expected to contain details of monetary and other forms of contributions received by a party for an election while the election expenses report should provide the breakdown of money spent by or on behalf of a party for an election.

The elections contributions report is expected to be submitted three months after election results are announced while the election expenses report is expected to be submitted six months after Election Day.

Also, an annual report of a party must detail party assets, liabilities and analysis of its sources of funds and its expenditure for a year, and it is due for submission at the end of March of the following year, whether there is an election or not.

These mandates were reinforced in the 2022 amendment to the Electoral Act signed by President Muhammadu Buhari in May.

The amendment also raised the threshold for campaign spending for elections into the different offices.

For example, from the N1 billion ceiling stipulated for presidential elections in Section 91 of the 2010 amended Act, Section 88 of the new law set N5 billion as the new limit on presidential election expenses.

The new spending limits on the governorship, senatorial and House of Representatives elections have also been raised from N200 million, N40 million and N10 million to one billion, N100 million and N70 million respectively. Other state offices have also witnessed increments to reflect the countrys economic realities.

Caught out

Although they did not submit their financial reports as required by law, INEC through tracking and monitoring established that the APC spent N4.6 billion (N4,620,144,784) while the PDP spent N3.3 billion (N3,282,206,642) on the last presidential election. The figures are at least thee times more than what the law permitted them to spend at the time

President Buhari and Atiku Abubakar were the candidates of the APC and PDP respectively in the 2019 race.

Similar infraction of spending above the threshold was also recorded by the major parties in 14 out of the 29 states where governorship elections were conducted in the same year. The candidates of the APC in 11 states, those of the PDP in five states, APGA in one state and AA in one state spent above the N200 million set for the office, according to INECs findings.

The four areas that gulped their money include billboards, electronic media (radio and television), political advertisements in newspapers and campaign rallies (live coverage inclusive).

Section 92 (7) of the 2010 Electoral Act states that political parties that incur election expenses beyond the limit stipulated in this Act commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a maximum fine of N1,000,000.00 and forfeiture to the Commission of the amount by which the expenses exceed the limit set by the Commission.

Despite being caught out for breaching this section, neither the APC nor the PDP has paid the expected fine nor forfeited the excess of N3.6 and N2.2 billion they respectively incurred during the last presidential poll.

Only eight out of the 18 registered political parties submitted their annual report for 2015 while only the ADC, ADP and LP submitted their annual reports for 2019.

Accord, AA, ADC, ADP, LP, APGA, APC, PDP and NNPP submitted the report in 2015.

Annual audit

Until the latest deregistration of some political parties by INEC in February 2020 for not meeting the terms of their registration, the commission had scores of parties on its roll, including many that did not field candidates across elective offices.

Following the controversial deregistration exercise, only 18 parties will participate in the 2023 polls.

Respectively, 20, 25, 20, 14 and 73 political parties were on the ballots in the 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019 presidential elections. Only three parties participated in the 1999 general elections. Of those three, only the PDP is still alive in the same form, the other two have since transformed or merged into new parties.

While the ruling APC and its main opposition PDP remain dominant because they have established visible structures across the country, at least two other parties are being closely watched to challenge them in this cycle, especially in the presidential poll.

The two presidential candidates are former two-term governors  Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People Party (NNPP).

Unsanctioned breaches of the law

An INEC document prepared by external auditors from the annual reports of the political parties between 2013 and 2016 revealed how the parties have been breaching the financial laws with impunity.

The auditors used the internal audit report, book account, fixed asset register, internal control procedures, membership register and the yearly budget of each party in preparing the document.

For 2013, the APC, PDP and NNPP scored 33.3 per cent on compliance after meeting only two out of the six auditing requirements. They had submitted only their books of accounts and fixed asset registers.

The LP scored 66.7 for meeting other criteria except submitting their yearly budget and internal audit report.

In 2014, the APC, PDP and NNPP, scored higher for adding internal control procedures and membership registers in their submissions.

The LP did not submit its internal control procedures, yearly budget and internal audit report that year.

The PDP ticked all boxes for the 2015 external auditing exercise while its three main rivals submitted only one each.

In 2016, the NNPP met only one of the yardsticks, but the others ticked all the boxes.

Parties kick

However, some of the political parties in separate interviews with PREMIUM TIMES blamed INEC for their failure to comply with the requirements.

The leaders of AA and AAC said INEC was culpable in their internal crises that diverted their attention from party governance.

The 2023 presidential candidate and former chairman of AAC, Omoyele Sowore, said the delay in the submission of the reports was caused by INEC due to its recognition of the partys former national secretary, Leonard Ezenwa, as the chairman of the party, instead of Mr Sowore.

You know our party was established in August 2018 and for about five months into that, we had elections and we travelled. But before we could submit, they hijacked the party from us. I was not recognised by INEC until June 2, 2022, we were in court.

Whoever was in charge then must be able to tender what he received and what he spent. It was him that INEC recognised, for three years the party was not with us, the legitimate leaders of the party. When the Court of Appeal did justice to the matter, we went straight into elections, which led us to where we are now. We have been gathering every piece of information we have in regards to that but the partys account has not been surrendered to us till date by this hijacker, Mr Sowore told PREMIUM TIMES.

He said he has always published his campaign expenses and contributions from supporters.

The National Chairman of AA, Kenneth Udeze, also accused INEC of intervening in its internal affairs. He said his party slipped into crisis after the commission declared his leadership of the party illegal.

He said it took a court three years to resolve the leadership crisis of the AA.

What actually marred our submission of those reports you mentioned was as a result of a long legal tussle between the leadership of the party after the 2019 general elections, he said.

It took three years before a court determined who the national leader of the party was. From that 2019 till sometime in March 2022 was when AA was able to sort out its issue of national leadership.

It was the same INEC that wrote the leadership of this party under my humble self, Kenneth Udeze, that they will not recognise me. The letter was written on 9 August 2019, I have the records, just a few months after the general elections.

This is the same me, the chairman, who fielded all the candidates that contested election in 2019. The same INEC came to tell me that they no longer recognised me based on one report from a member of the party and we have been in court or the other until the leadership tussle was settled in this year, March. Immediately after March, a notice of the poll came out, he told PREMIUM TIMES.

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But the Organising Secretary of Boot Party, Mohammed Kabir, could not explain why the party delayed the submission of the report which he said the partys external auditor was working on.

We are working on it, our external accountant is working on the documentation, it will be ready soon, he said on phone to this newspaper.

The national chairmen of APGA and Labour Party, Victor Oye and Julius Abure respectively; and the spokespersons of APC and PDP, Felix Morka and Debo Ologunagba respectively, did not answer numerous calls made to them in attempts to get their comments on this report.

Why it is difficult to sanction erring parties  Expert, lawyer

A Senior Programme Officer at the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Austin Aigbe, blamed the unchecked infractions by political parties on loopholes in the Electoral Act despite its latest amendments.

Mr Aigbe noted that campaign finance law sets benchmarks for candidates but refuses to do the same for parties.

This is where the problem is. Usually, there is a campaign finance provision that sets out benchmarks for candidates but refuses to put benchmarks for parties. When people say Atiku or Buhari spent over four billion (naira), is it Buhari that spent that money or the party? It is easy to lie about it. We do creative accounting a lot in Nigeria, creative accounting in the sense that if you want a party to send you what they spent, someone will sit somewhere and create it. It is creative accounting.

In 2015, there was an account Buhari gave out for his campaign for people to contribute to him. In 2019, there was no such bank account. All the money for the campaign was contributed by the party and the party is unlimited in terms of campaign funding. That is the problem of campaign finance monitoring.

I have said consistently that INEC is unable to monitor political parties campaign funding. In any case, there are usually non-state actors, individuals or groups of individuals, some of them will even call themselves CSOs and said they have contributed N1 million to someones campaign. They will put up a billboard, saying courtesy, you will see someones picture. You cannot calculate that persons billboard as the spending of a candidate, he explained in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES.

The CDD senior officer said the new N5 billion spending ceiling for presidential candidates is unrealistic given the logistics and manpower required to pull election through for candidates across the country.

There are 8,909 wards in this country. Lets say you give your agent at the ward level 50,000. You know what that is (N445 million). If you then look at the state and then the national. Thats just for that. There are other things that go into campaigns that we have not factored in.

Do you know that these candidates attend burials and they spend money there? They attend birthday parties and these are not calculated among their spending. They hide them under donations and all that. These are parts of the problems, he noted.

Speaking in the same vein, the Lead Director for the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), Eze Onyekpere, said mere expenses on renting a stadium, aircraft and hotels are enough to take campaign spending beyond the threshold set by the Electoral Act.

To post a poster during the Anambra election, they were calling for N10 million. Then you can imagine a presidential candidate who will travel around Nigeria, even on aircraft which may cost as high as five to seven million. What do you think the total would be if the party or candidate has to pay for 50 trips?

In his recommendations, Mr Onyekpere said aggressive crowdfunding and token from candidates supporters, as seen in more advanced democracies, would help reduce the financial burden on the parties and candidates.

He added that it may also help in reducing candidates appetite for stealing public funds.

Mr Aigbe, on his part, called on INEC to seize this campaign period to exercise its authority and get the job done rather than projecting itself as helpless.

I expect INEC to use its big stick, even once to sanction political parties that have refused to comply with its mandate. INEC is at that point where it can call political parties that if you have not submitted, we give you 24 hours to do so or otherwise, you wont be cleared to campaign in this coming elections.

If INEC had done that, by tomorrow morning, you will see submissions. It is after this that INEC can then use those submitted documents to appropriately sanction them, he said.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday lauded his administrations performance in tackling corruption since coming to power in 2015.

Mr Buhari spoke in his broadcast to mark Nigerias 62nd Independence Anniversary. Saturdays broadcast will be his last Independence Day address as he is expected to complete his second and final term in office in May 2023.

Although he admitted that Nigeria had yet to arrive at its desired destination, he said the country, on his watch, had made appreciable progress in his administrations focal areas including fighting corruption.

Among his achievements in office, the president said, is making significant progress in the eradication of endemic corruption.

He also said prosecution has surged in number with associated increase recorded in the recovery of stolen assets and repatration of looted funds stashed abroad.

One of the areas where we have made significant progress is in the eradication of deeply entrenched corruption that permeates all facets of our national development.

We strengthened the institutions for tackling corruption and also cultivated international support, which aided the repatriation of huge sums of money illegally kept outside the country.

The increasing number of prosecutions and convictions, with associated refunds of large sums of money is still ongoing.

He promised that his administration would continue to block opportunities that encourage corrupt practices.

Mr Buhari came to power in 2015 on the promises to fight corruption, improve the economy and end terrorism.

He had pledged to fight corruption during the 2015 electioneering with the mantra: If we dont kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria.

Buharis anti-graft claims at variance with reality

But, PREMIUM TIMES in a recent editorial, chronicled how the Buhari-led regime reneged on his pledge to cripple graft.

The pardon granted by the Council of State to former Governors Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame of Plateau, the only ex-governors convicted for corruption under Mr Buhari, remains in conflict with his avowed commitment to the fight against corruption.

Similarly, the endemic fraud in constituency projects by members of the National Assembly with no lawmaker held to account; the N523 million school feeding scandal during the 2020 COVID-19 lock-down; the presidents signature lethargy that has ensured that the forensic audit report on the Niger Delta Development Commission submitted in September 2021 remains a secret document, were cited as the hallmarks of the Buhari administrations failures in the anti-graft war.

Interference in corruption cases, as seen the case of former Gombe State Governor, Danjuma Goje, has also been cited as a major setback to the anti-corruption drive under the Buhari administration.

The Danjuma-Goje alleged N25 billion corruption trial by the EFCC, traded off by Mr Buharis government on the altar of political expediency in the Senate.

A penal regime that allows a former Comptroller of Nigeria Customs Service, Abdullahi Inde, who stole N40 billion, to return just N1.5 billion in a plea bargain makes a mockery of Mr Buharis anti-corruption campaign.

Also, in clear conflict with Mr Buharis boast during the 20-minutes independence day broadcast, a fiscal governance that allowed the suspended Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris and three others to allegedly siphon N109 billion is ineffective.

Despite being the Nigerias most important institution for accountability under the constitution, the Auditor-General of the Federation has scarcely been an effective anti-corruption body.

For years, the Auditor-Generals reports have uncovered cases of corrupt practices and how public officials have failed to account for public assets they are in charge of. But little or no consequences have emerged as a result of these revelations.

In July 2018, National Assembly passed the Federal Audit Service Bill, which sought to empower the Auditor-General to penalise government agencies and officials who refuse to submit their financial statement for audit.

Sadly, Mr Buhari refused to assent to the bill; thereby jeopardising measures aimed at improving financial accountability and transparency among government officials and organisations.

The presidents failure to sign the bill into law is at variance with his avowed fight against corruption.

These will continue to raise questions about the sincerity of Mr Buharis anti-corruption fight.
The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Iyorchia Ayu, on Friday returned to the country after a two-week trip to Europe.

The Special Adviser to the National Chairman on Media, Simon Imobo-Tswam, disclosed this in a statement he issued on Friday in Abuja.

Mr Imobo-Tswam said that Mr Ayu, who jetted out of the country on 14 September returned to Abuja via the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, at about 7 p.m.

It is recalled that Mr Ayu had handed over to the partys Deputy Chairman (North), Iliya Damagun, and communicated the handover to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

While Mr Ayu was away, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State alleged that he collected N1 billion from a presidential candidate in Lagos and worked for the emergence of Atiku Abubakar as the PDP presidential candidate.

Mr Wike and some party members in his camp have been demanding the resignation of the national chairman to pave way for the emergence of a southerner as chairman of the party since Atiku hails from the north as him (Ayu).

Mr Wikes group believes that it will balance the lopsidedness in the leadership of the party.

Also, on Thursday some members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the opposition party, returned over N120 million to the Mr Ayu.

The monies ranging from N28 million to N36 million were recently paid into their accounts and tagged housing allowance or house rent.

In separate letters addressed to Mr Ayu, the four members said it became necessary to return the money after backlash from the media accusing them of taking bribe.

The NWC members who returned the money are the National Vice Chairman (South-West) Olasoji Adagunodo, the Deputy National Chairman (South) Taofeek Arapaja; the National Vice Chairman (South), Dan Orbih and the National Women Leader, Stella Affah-Attoe.

While Mr Arapaja got N36 million, Messrs Adagunodo and Orbih and Ms Effah-Attoe got N28.8 million each.

The national chairman was abroad when Atiku inaugurated the 600-member presidential campaign council for the 2023 election.

Mr Ayu is a member of the council.

(NAN)
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has condemned the coup in Burkina Faso.

PREMIUM TIMES reported the Friday coup in the West African country that sacked the military junta.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) condemns in the strongest terms the seizure of power by force that took place in Burkina Faso on Friday 30 September 2022, the regional bloc said in a statement.

It said it found the new coup inappropriate at a time when progress had been made in ensuring an orderly return to constitutional order by 1 July 2024.

ECOWAS reaffirms its unreserved opposition to any seizure or retention of power by unconstitutional means and demands the scrupulous respect of the timetable already agreed with the Transitional Authorities for a rapid return to constitutional order, it added.

Residents of Burkina Faso on Friday woke up to the sounds of heavy gunfire near the main military camp and residential areas of the capital, Ouagadougou. A large blast also rang out near the presidential palace.

Several roads in the capital have been cordoned off by officials in uniform and the national television cut off.

Several hours later, the coup was confirmed by army captain Ibrahim Traore who announced that former military ruler Paul-Henri Damiba had been deposed and his government dissolved.

He also announced the suspension of the constitution and transitional charter.

Mr Traore announced this in a statement read on national television.

He said a group of officers had decided to remove Mr Damiba due to his inability to deal with a worsening armed uprising in the country.

This was the same reason the now deposed military ruler gave for overthrowing former President Roch Kabore in a coup earlier this year.

The latest coup in Burkina Faso is the most recent in West Africa where countries like Chad, Mali and Guinea recently experienced coups.

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.
President Muhammudu Buhari has assured Nigerians that their resilience and patience in the face of the insecurity that has bedeviled the country would not be in vain.

The president made the broadcast in an early morning Independence Day broadcast on Saturday which was monitored by PREMIUM TIMES.

The broadcast is his last as a siting president of the country.

In his speech, the president reeled out some of the successes and challenges faced by his administration since inception.

De-escalated security

Speaking on insecurity, the president said while his administration began to address existing forms of insecurity he met in 2015, newer forms emerged.

He however said all the forms are currently being addressed by security agents.

As we continue to de-escalate the security challenges that confronted us at inception of this administration, newer forms alien to our country began to manifest especially in the areas of kidnappings, molestations/killings of innocent citizens, banditry, all of which are being addressed by our security forces.

I share the pains Nigerians are going through and I assure you that your resilience and patience would not be in vain as this administration continues to reposition as well as strengthen the security agencies to enable them to deal with all forms of security challenges.

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At the inception of this administration in 2015, I provided the funding requirements of the security agencies which was also improved in my second tenure in 2019 to enable them to surmount security challenges. We will continue on this path until our efforts yield the desired results, he said.

He added that his administration was able to reduce all the forms of insecurity in the country.

In order to address Insecurity, we worked methodically in reducing Insurgency in the North East, Militancy in the Niger Delta, Ethnic and Religious Tensions in some sections of Nigeria along with other problems threatening our country.

Improved security situation

Of all his claims in the last seven and half years, his recent comment would be the first to be almost accurate in the aspect of security. This is because the nations security situation has improved in the last 10 weeks.

Insecurity in Nigeria in the last seven years worsened under the Buhari administration as the country witnessed some of the bloodiest attacks in its history.

Almost every geo-political zone in the country suffered one form of attack or the other, notably from outfits such as Boko Haram/ISWAP, IPOB separatists and bandits.

The country also witnessed the highest number of school children abductions and hostage-taking since 2014 when the Chibok school girls were abducted.

Besides, the country also witnessed the highest number of jailbreaks in a single year as no fewer than four prisons were affected.

Also, bandits overshadowed the Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists as they made some states in the North-west and North-central the epicentres of killings in the country.

Although the Buhari administration repeatedly claimed that Nigerians are more secure under it than the previous administrations, this assertion has been disputed by facts on ground.
President Muhammadu Buhari has again pledged to leave a legacy of credible elections in the country.

He also said having more women and youths participate in the electoral process in the 2023 general elections is one of his heart desires.

Mr Buhari said this in his Independence Day nationwide broadcast on Saturday.

The Independence day broadcast is the presidents last because he is leaving office in May when he will complete his second term in office.

Mr Buhari said he has resolved to bequeathe a sustainable democratic culture to the country, noting that it was the reason for signing the 2022 Electoral Act.

He stated that his experience at the poll explains his determination to improve the process.

Mr Buhar contested the 2003, 2007 and 2011 presidential elections but lost but lost to former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru YarAdua and Goodluck Jonathan.

He, however, won the 2015 and 2019 presidential elections.

It is for this reason that I have resolved to bequeath a sustainable democratic culture, which will remain lasting. The signing of the Electoral Act 2021 as amended with landmark provisions further assures us of a more transparent and inclusive Electoral Process.

Having witnessed at close quarters, the pains, anguish and disappointment of being a victim of an unfair electoral process, the pursuit of an electoral system and processes that guarantee election of leaders by citizens remains the guiding light as I prepare to wind down our administration, the president said.

He pointed to the recent stand-alone elections across the country as evidence of his commitment to free, fair, and credible elections.

You would all agree that the recent elections in the past two years in some states (notably Anambra, Ekiti and Osun) and a few federal constituencies have shown a high degree of credibility, transparency and freedom of choice with the peoples votes actually counting, he said.

Mr Buhari urged politicians to avoid hate speech and focus on issues-based campaign ahead of the election

The president also admonished youth to avoid being used by politicians to mar the nations democratic process.

He said his desire is to see youth and women participate in the political process.

I also want to express my wish that we see more female and youth participation in the forth-coming electoral cycle, he said. I am sure that our teeming and energetic youths now realise that violence generally mar elections and so should desist from being used by politicians for this purpose, he said.
I love NASA and am highly fascinated by the American space programme. The incredible science behind it and the ingenuity of men pushing the frontiers of science never ceases to amaze me. But you would be jolted to hear that the man regarded as the father of the American space programme was a German, although he later became a naturalised American.

This article is inspired in part by my recent encounter with a scientist and director at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). NASA is an agency of the US government responsible for Americas space programme and aeronautics research. JPL is NASAs research and development arm, located in Pasadena, California and managed by California Institute of Technology (CALTECH). The centre produces spacecrafts called Rovers used in extraplanetary explorations.

It turns out that this man who leads a team of rocket scientists converses in English that is barely intelligible. Obviously, he is not a naturally born American. I suspect that he is of Eastern European descent and he likely migrated to the US at some point past his formative years. Yet, despite what one may see as his shortcomings, he has risen to the pinnacle of his career. We will get back to that a little later.

On Monday, 26th September, in a historic test, a NASA spacecraft was intentionally directed to slam into an asteroid, a harmless space rock known as Dimorphos, which is about 6.8 million miles from the earth. The $325 million mission was designed to prove whether prodding an asteroid can alter its trajectory and in the process, protect the earth from a potentially catastrophic collision with a space rock. It provided scientists with a real-world test of planetary defence technologies.

Later this month, NASA is expected to launch Artemis, its lunar (moon) space exploration programme. Artemis was named after the daughter of the king of gods and the sky god, Zeus and Leto. In old Greek mythology, the god Apollo, whom the eponymous space programme, Apollo 11, that put the first human and an American astronaut, Neil Armstrong, on the moon on 16th July, 1969 was named after, is the twin brother of Artemis.

NASAs Artemis is made up of three separate components joined together. There is the Space Launch System (SLS), which is the rocket system that starts the journey. The Orion crew capsule that was designed to separate from the rocket to begin its ascent into the lunar orbit. Then, thirdly, a lander that will ferry astronauts from the lunar orbit, down to the surface of the moon. The goal of the programme is to pave the way for future space exploration. Using the moon as a base, NASA will build the infrastructures needed to pursue the next frontiers, which would be a trip to the planet, Mars.

As a medical doctor, I have always been curious about the therapeutic possibilities that could emanate from space exploration. In mid-2000, NASA researchers developed a chemical reagent that can be used to detect the shingle virus in saliva, fast and easy. This now helps to detect the virus before it gets serious, which is great.

Laurie Leshin, a highly accomplished woman, world-class scientist and a Professor of Geochemistry and Planetary Science, has been JPLs director since 16th of May. She left her job as the 16th president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute to join NASA. Her former position at Worcester is now occupied by a Nigerian-American, Wole Soboyejo, a material scientist whose professional career had taken him to the hallowed grounds of MIT and Princeton.

But by far, one of the most revolutionary space technology-inspired inventions in medicine, is called neuroArm, the worlds first robot capable of performing surgery inside magnetic resonance machines. This robot mimics the robotic arm developed for extravehicular activities in the now retired US space shuttles. The delicate touch was used to successfully remove an egg-shaped tumour from a patients brain. Fascinating!

Asked if the total budget of $93 billion for the Artemis programme, an amount more than the combined annual budget of many African countries put together, is a great way to appropriate resources, one top NASA executive had this to say: We feel that this stands as a symbol of insatiable curiosity of all mankind to explore the unknown. My take is that its hard to justify the cost of space exploration versus the benefit in a world where millions are dying of hunger and starvation. But it sure inspires humans to dream about the yet impossible and go for it. The importance of that cannot be quantified in dollars.

I love NASA and am highly fascinated by the American space programme. The incredible science behind it and the ingenuity of the women and men pushing the frontiers of science never ceases to amaze me. But you would be jolted to hear that the man regarded as the father of the American space programme was a German, although he later became a naturalised American.

Wernher von Braun was a member of Hitlers Nazi Party, as well as the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany. He helped develop the V-2 rocket used during the world war. After the war, he was secretly moved to the United States, along with about 1,600 other German scientists, engineers, and technicians, as part of an operation code-named Paper clip.

In 1960, his group was assimilated into NASA, where he later served as director of the Marshall Space Flight Center and was the chief architect of the Saturn V rocket that propelled the Apollo spacecraft. The Apollo 11 expedition was what handed the US victory over the Soviet Union during the space war.

If there is anything America is known for, its being a magnet for global talents. To ensure that America is first in innovation, the US Congress created the H-1B Visa programme in 1990. As a result, 65,000 new visas are issued every year, with an additional 20,000 available to workers with a US masters degree or higher.

In Africa, we continue to celebrate mediocrity and elevate tribe and other primordial considerations over ability and excellence. Little wonder we are left behind to wallow in the Stone Age, while our best brains leave our shores in droves to do amazing things in a foreign soil!

The work-focused visa was introduced to allow companies in the US to hire high-skilled workers and it has played a crucial role in driving innovation and business growth in the United States in the past three decades.

Googles U.S. workforce is almost evenly split between Whites and Asians. In fact in the year 2020, 32.4% of new US employees at the trillion dollar company were Asians, compared to 30.1% Whites, according to that years Diversity Annual Report. The reason being that Asians, though dwarfed in population in comparison to Whites in America, are known to have a strong foundation in maths and science. Today, about 60 of the CEOs of Americas Fortune 500 companies are of Indian origin.

Laurie Leshin, a highly accomplished woman, world-class scientist and a Professor of Geochemistry and Planetary Science, has been JPLs director since 16th of May. She left her job as the 16th president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute to join NASA. Her former position at Worcester is now occupied by a Nigerian-American, Wole Soboyejo, a material scientist whose professional career had taken him to the hallowed grounds of MIT and Princeton.

America may be bedeviled by so many ills but she celebrates excellence in every hue and colour. Here is to one nation that continues to be the melting pot for talents from all over the world.

In Africa, we continue to celebrate mediocrity and elevate tribe and other primordial considerations over ability and excellence. Little wonder we are left behind to wallow in the Stone Age, while our best brains leave our shores in droves to do amazing things in a foreign soil!

Osmund Agbo, a public affairs analyst is the coordinator of African Center for Transparency and Convener of Save Nigeria Project. Email: Eagleosmund@yahoo.com
Instead of obeying the order of the court and appealing the judgment, ASUU has gone on appeal, while refusing to obey the courts order. According to the Union, it has not only filed an appeal against the judgment of the National Industrial Court, it has also filed a stay of execution against the order of the court. I hope ASUU is listening to its lawyers and I hope its lawyers are giving the Union sound legal advice. Even a lawyer fresh from the Law School knows that an appeal doesnt operate as a stay of execution.

Sometime in May when the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) extended its three-month old strike by another three months, I weighed in on the matter, describing the move as unconscionable, considering the fact that the Union was dealing with people who are either stone deaf or genuinely unreasonable.

Of course, my appeal to both feuding parties to see reason so that our students could return to their campuses fell on deaf ears.

I still find it difficult to believe that a government battling insecurity on all fronts and all over the country could feel comfortable when its most virile population, the leaders of tomorrow, are compelled to be at home for over seven months as a result of its inability to resolve a strike by the countrys university lecturers.

To say the least, it beggars belief.

What does the ancient wit say? The idle mind is the devils playground.

How does one reconcile the fact that the government not only finds it difficult to comply with the agreements it willingly entered into with ASUU but also that the government tore to shreds the reports of the committees it set up to negotiate with ASUU.

ASUU too has its share of the blame. It smacks of an ego trip and unbridled arrogance to declare an indefinite strike.

Does the interests of the students no longer matter?

Why would a union of intellectuals adopt a do-or-die attitude over an industrial dispute?

After all, there is wisdom in the saying that he who runs from a fight lives to fight another day.

In my view, ASUU had two windows of opportunity to suspend the strike.

The first was when university undergraduates, under the aegis of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), took over the fight from their lecturers and embarked on a series of protests: blocking major highways such as the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the Ibadan-Ife highway, to mention a few.

ASUU should have, in my view, grabbed that opportunity with both hands to suspend the strike in the interest of the country and for the strike not to result in unintended consequences andexpose our beloved students to danger.

That way, it would call off the strike with its head held high.

Another opportunity came on 21 September via a ruling, when the National Industrial Court ordered the lecturers to return to the classroom.

The Federal Government, at its wits end, had dragged the Union to court.

Justice Polycarp Hamman, who gave the order, agreed with the government that irreparable damage was being done to the lives of the students rendered idle by the ongoing strike.

The judge cited examples of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and employment in Nigerias armed forces, where age is a requirement for participation and employment.

He also pointed out that the Trade Dispute Act prohibits parties from engaging in an industrial action when disputes have been referred to the Industrial Court, the Industrial Arbritation Panel or when a conciliator has been appointed.

Instead of obeying the order of the court and appealing the judgment, ASUU has gone on appeal, while refusing to obey the courts order. According to the Union, it has not only filed an appeal against the judgment of the National Industrial Court, it has also filed a stay of execution against the order of the court. I hope ASUU is listening to its lawyers and I hope its lawyers are giving the Union sound legal advice. Even a lawyer fresh from the Law School knows that an appeal doesnt operate as a stay of execution.

A stay of execution first has to be argued and granted by a court before a party can rely on it.

Our appellate courts have, in a plethora of cases, clearly stated that an appeal is not synonymous with a stay of execution.

Perhaps a case which stands on all fours with the ASUU case is the 1986 case of Governor of Lagos State versus Ojukwu. What are the facts of the case?

The Lagos State Government had appealed a judgment of the Court of Appeal, which asked it to restore Ojukwu to his residence at 29 Queens Drive, Ikoyi (just like ASUU is appealing the judgment of the National Industrial Court).

Also, the Lagos State Government also filed a stay of execution of the court ruling (just like ASUU has also done against the ruling of the National Industrial Court asking it to call off its strike).

In a unanimous judgment by all the five judges of the Supreme Court, they lambasted the Lagos State Government for its disobedience of the order of the Court of Appeal.

Justice Kayode Eso, bless his soul, who read the lead judgment had this to say:

I think it is a very serious matter for anyone to flout a positive order of a court and proceed to taunt the court further by seeking a remedy in a higher court.

Eso also described the non-obedience of the court order as executive lawlessness.

His learned brother, the erudite Chukwudifu Oputa, while agreeing with Eso, also added:

The court system cannot be maintained without the willingness of parties to abide by the findings and orders of a competent court until reversed on appeal. This presupposes that no party and no court of subordinate or even coordinate jurisdiction can say: I DO NOT LIKE THE ORDER MADE AND I WILL NOT OBEY IT.

Justice Oputa also touched on the issue of stay of execution.

I quote his Lordship:

Ordinarily, any court has a discretion to grant or refuse stay of execution pending an appeal but this is a discretion that must have to be exercised both judicially and judiciously, bearing in mind the equal rights of the parties before it. Normally, therefore, a court will not deprive a successful litigant of the fruits of his litigation.

Democracy is anchored on the rule of law. The court, it is popularly said, is the last hope of the common man.

If you ask me, I would say, the court is the last hope of everyone.

It is an acclaimed principle of law that all court orders must be obeyed by all.

Failure to do so is an invitation to lawlessness, anarchy and even violence.

Yesterdays very powerful men who had the world at their feet have been known to be saved by the power of the court.

He who goes to equity, the saying goes, must go with clean hands.

Karma is real.

Those who trample on the orders of the court today cant be heard complaining of the non-obedience of a court order tomorrow, when the shoe is on the other foot.

Tomorrow will always come. My advice to ASUU is to obey the order of the court immediately by calling off its strike and continue to pursue its appeal.

Gbemiga Ogunleye is a Nigerian lawyer, journalist, media scholar and the former provost of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism.
Our energy should be focused on holding all candidates to account  on their past records and their potential in their new roles. Everyone. Not only the 18 presidential candidates but everyone who wants to be governor and legislator: Where do they stand on police brutality, sexual and domestic violence, reducing the cost of governance and decreasing the number of ministries, agencies and departments of government we have across the country?

Presidential and federal legislature campaigns kicked off recently on 28 September, and it promises to be heated and contentious; busy and entertaining.

Last week the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) published the details of candidates for the Presidency, Senate and House of Representatives. In total, we have 4223 candidates for federal positions, including 381 female and 10 people living with disabilities. There were no surprises in terms of the presidential list  we have 18 contestants, down from 79 in 2019, which provides a more manageable length of ballot paper when voting. The youngest presidential candidate is 38 (Accord Party) and youngest vice-presidential candidate is 36 from the Boot Party (dont ask, please). The sole female candidate for president is flying the ticket of the Allied Peoples Movement.

In terms of candidacy for the Senate, the fate of three entitled and privileged men has started to emerge. All three  Godswill Akapbio; Dave Umahi, current governor of Ebonyi State; and Ahmad Lawan, current Senate president, had contested their partys presidential primaries  lost and/or stepped down and then returned to their states, where the Senate primaries had already been held, to insist on getting the Senate tickets. They were being ignorant or willfully dismissive of Sections 29 and 33 of the Electoral Act (2022), which speak to the timing for submitting names to INEC and conditions under which candidates can be substituted: Only through new primaries; even in the case of death. These provisions are new; designed for men like Umahi, who got his brother, Austin, to run for the Senate ticket and, of course, won the primary. When Umahi did not win the APC presidential ticket, Austin decided that he would step down for Dave. Ann Agom-Eze, who got the second highest votes after Umahis brother, argued that if anyone was going to benefit from the change of heart of Austin, it should be her, and the Federal High Court in Abakaliki agreed with her.

Akpabio and Umahi are now both on INECs list of candidates  by virtue of court orders and new primaries held for them, while Lawan, who has been in the National Assembly since 1999, has been knocked off by a court decision. It is unfortunate that the courts, not party members or voters, have so much influence in determining who gets into power through elections in Nigeria. Agom-Eze did not take part in the second primaries for determining the candidate for the Ebonyi South Senatorial Zone and has filed an appeal with the Court of Appeal. Considering that only 92 women make up the 1,101 candidates for the Senate and the realities of our elections i.e., where governors never lose primaries, lets hope the Court of Appeal looks at the spirit of reforms in our revised electoral act i.e., to even the political field, and for aspirants like Agom-Eze.

It is also important to hold INECs feet to the fire regarding the allegations of interference with the voters register, as raised by the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) in a press conference. The allegations were clear: That the insertion of fake voters could not have been done without the connivance of INEC staff and that fact brings into question what else has been planned with insiders to rig the elections.

As campaigns get underway and politicians are let loose, there are several things Nigerians and stakeholders for credible elections must consider getting involved in.

The first is to monitor INEC closely to ensure that the election management body is well prepared and has the technical capacity and necessary civil society and political party oversight to ensure we do not have a repeat of 2019, when the presidential poll was postponed hours to the election. It is also important to hold INECs feet to the fire regarding the allegations of interference with the voters register, as raised by the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) in a press conference. The allegations were clear: That the insertion of fake voters could not have been done without the connivance of INEC staff and that fact brings into question what else has been planned with insiders to rig the elections.

Already there is a lawsuit filed at the Owerri Federal High Court on 24 August to prevent the use of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) during the general elections. This is Imo, the state governed by Hope Uzodinma whose ward was one of the samples used by CUPP to provide some of the most egregious examples of ghost voters inserted into the register: pictures of dead people and hundreds of entries of voters with 1900 as their year of birth. We must have better elections than we did in 2019 and we must collectively indicate with our words and our actions that we will not allow the political status quo to be maintained due to the machinations of the political class. Getting and sharing intel about what those we know are involved in is critical to mitigating any plan to compromise the integrity of our elections.

Second, is to monitor hate speech, particularly where it originates, and those who use their incumbency to thwart freedom to campaign and freedom of association. The 2023 presidential elections are set to be divisive and fiercely contested for various reasons. The country is sinking economically and socially; Buharis policies since 2015 have exacerbated ethnic and religious hostilities. Millions of Nigerians, particularly following the youth-led ENDSARs campaign, are more aware of the connection between who gets into office and what we endure or enjoy as citizens, and some presidential candidates are so unsure of their popularity that raising decades old narratives of suspicion about various ethnicities is the only way they can address their inadequacies.

What have they done or said, what will they do about improving the quality of our education, and health care? It will be a busy time for us all  and we can expect at least another six thousand to join the 4223 candidates whose names we already know. After two chronically ill presidents in the last 10 years, we need candidates to have clean bills of health; it might not be required by law, but we can demand it and we can make our decisions based on what we hear and see.

The media has a role to play, so does INEC as umpire, but we the people also have powers. We can be discerning about what we share  will it inflame passions? Then dont forward it. Can you verify that the short five second video clip tells the full story behind what you have watched and heard? Do not share it. Take time to counsel family and friends; we have the control levers for spreading and amplifying hate; we can refuse to be used. Those who have raped Nigeria for years are from every ethnicity and religion, they only want us to remember we are different when it is time for elections and they need us too incapacitated by suspicion and fear to collaborate.

Third, and by no means exhaustive for what voters and Nigerians should be concerned with over the next few months until the elections: issues, issues, and issues.

Everything else is a distraction: What Keyamo said, how Dino danced, what Fani Kayode and Reno are spewing will not curtail the mafia who benefit from our fuel subsidy bill blowing up by a factor of five! Our energy should be focused on holding all candidates to account  on their past records and their potential in their new roles. Everyone. Not only the 18 presidential candidates but everyone who wants to be governor and legislator: Where do they stand on police brutality, sexual and domestic violence, reducing the cost of governance and decreasing the number of ministries, agencies and departments of government we have across the country?

What have they done or said, what will they do about improving the quality of our education, and health care? It will be a busy time for us all  and we can expect at least another six thousand to join the 4223 candidates whose names we already know. After two chronically ill presidents in the last 10 years, we need candidates to have clean bills of health; it might not be required by law, but we can demand it and we can make our decisions based on what we hear and see. Twice bitten, thrice shy. We have another opportunity to reset Nigerias direction, lets take it.

Ayisha Osori is the author of Love Does Not Win Elections.
I sing this dirge to Nigerias dying future, which the government is ignorantly killing. Education is the hope of a progressive future for any nation, and research is the tool it uses to chart its successes. The intellectual capacity of a nation is a projection of how far it will grow in the future and its position in global discussions. Innovations and developmental discoveries are the results of dedicated research and efforts. A war or affront against the intellectual bloc of the nation is a risk of a negative expectation for the nations future.

The chicken perches on the rope

The rope is restless,

The chicken is off-balance

Should we wear black clothes, carry our lamps, and walk barefooted, singing the dirges of the bereaved yet? Should we sing those dirges with the finality of nothingness? Or is there still a pulse our two fingers cannot make sense of? Should we speak of death, dying, or many things far from being alive? Not of humans but of the Nigerian educational system, whose viability and health are deplorable and, specifically, of the university system that causes students, the academia, the nation, and its citizens to dilly-dally. Should we sing dirges to the different excruciating deaths destroying education and the nation beyond repair?

On 14 February, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) declared a strike by its members, causing universities to close their gates to students for the past seven months, with no hope of resumption. The ongoing industrial action is one of the many that the university system has witnessed, crippling several processes and putting many Nigerians in confusion. ASUU has embarked on strike at least 16 times since 1999 and for more than 1,500 days cumulatively; this is outside the local and internal strike actions on local issues embarked on by individual unions in some of the universities. The longest ASUU strike was the 270 days of total shutdown of Nigerian public universities in 2020, and the present one is about to overtake it if there is no favourable development and intervention.

Aside from the ASUU strike, the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and other unions under the Joint Action Committee (JAC) also consider strike actions as the only language the government listens to. Two months after the NASU and SSANU strikes were called off, the unions members claim their salaries have not been paid since then. With the continuous and constant strike actions by the staff of the university system, large underfunding, and lack of average facilities for convenient and purposeful learning, it is understandable if one is confused on whether to pronounce the system dead or dying. However, it appears to be far from being convincingly alive, and if there is any hope of revival, there must be a strategy towards this.

ASUU has been in constant demand for the revitalisation of the university system through the injection of 1.1 trillion by the Federal Government. The purpose of this, which is reasonable enough, is to raise the standard of Nigerian tertiary education and bring the various institutions close to the level of their counterparts across the globe. We can even forget that ASUU cannot monitor campus fraud, and some of this money will be stolen. Alongside this are agitations for the payment of earned academic allowances and the discharge of other commitments by the Nigerian government.

Currently, the Nigerian government spends between 5-7% of its total budget on education, against the recommended 27% by the United Nations. In a nation like Nigeria that needs considerable investment in both human resources and factors that guarantee a favourable future for the nation, education is an investment that cannot be excused. However, education cannot fully displace other needs like the lack of power, bad roads, and insecurity, so we have to cry out for other priority needs too. University professors are not the only ones suffering from the consequences of a mismanaged state; they just happen to be the most combative.

Another dirge is to the death of the minds of the Nigerian students caused by increasing drug abuse made worse by these strikes. Logically, thousands of students who have been denied access to education, which formed their primary source of engagement, would be vulnerable to acts like drug abuse. In other words, there is often a considerable risk of drug abuse among students of tertiary institutions in Nigeria, and the disengagement from academic activities exposes them to even greater risk.

These problems and other issues faced by the Nigerian university system, including social factors that have placed the institutions under lock and key for a long time, make one doubt how to describe the state of the university system. I do not intend to address whom to blame in the feud between the academic staff and the government, but the provocation and damning damage to the nations state, the citizens, and students. On this issue, the system and the institutions are not the only ones affected, as the nation records more body count and an increase in social vices, as well as the systematic soaring of the number of miscreants traceable to unengaged students over a long period. For emphasis, a study by Andreu Arenas and Lucas Gortazar shows that students who are victims of school closure are more likely to experience learning loss, and according to Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann, there will be a possible reduction in their future incomes. It has also been proven that students coming from prolonged school closures have a higher risk of failing future tests and examinations. This is because the heavy distractions from learning affect their psychology and their orientation towards learning.

Whereas one could hold a strong ground as to the existence of certain activities of the academia or institutional operations, it cannot be denied that the rising brain drain at the university level in Nigeria due to this brouhaha is causing intellectual death and sickness in the university sector. If we do not know whom to sing our dirges to, we should prepare ourselves for this increasing intellectual death.

Unfortunately, as the system dies, those within it are dying too. On 8 July, the Ambrose Alli University chapter of the ASUU claimed that the university had lost ten lecturers that month, five months into the strike. Also, on 26 September, it was reported that 21 lecturers, including professors, and other non-academic staff of the University of Calabar, lost their lives. Many still alive have resorted to other ways of surviving, selling belongings and petty trading. On 13 September, it was reported that a University of Maiduguri lecturer, Dr. Othman Abubakar, from the Department of English, decided to sell his library at any price. Abubakar was convinced that nothing was left in academia after the gradual destruction of the university system and the insensitive starvation of lecturers. Abubakars statements made me cringe, and to make it worse, some individuals have started calling for aid for lecturers, as if they were some castaways. It should also not be forgotten that the government implemented a no work, no pay policy for striking lecturers to make them give in to pressure. Starvation has become a wicked weapon to test the integrity of intellectuals; even in war, starvation is not a noble strategy. So, I sing a dirge to the lost souls and the purpose of the Nigerian intellectuals.

I sing yet another dirge to the simultaneous effects of this strike on the university students who have become the primary victims. While intellectual death among the lecturers is overwhelming, the students also lose their lives. On 8 March, it was reported that Henry Ehis, a 300-level student of the University of Jos, committed suicide due to frustration from the unending strike. Rachael Opadele, a final year student of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, took a part-time job in a hotel because of the strike, was kidnapped in the same hotel, and killed afterwards in August. Many other students have been killed by unfortunate events that would have been prevented if they had been in school.

Another dirge is to the death of the minds of the Nigerian students caused by increasing drug abuse made worse by these strikes. Logically, thousands of students who have been denied access to education, which formed their primary source of engagement, would be vulnerable to acts like drug abuse. In other words, there is often a considerable risk of drug abuse among students of tertiary institutions in Nigeria, and the disengagement from academic activities exposes them to even greater risk. On 13 May, Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State lamented the increasing rate of drug consumption in the state after ASUU embarked on strike, noting that drug abuse has become the second problem of his government. Likewise, in June, Senator Douye Diri, the Bayelsa State governor, confirmed that increased drug abuse amounted to increased criminal activities in the state.

I sing a dirge to the death of ambition and purpose in the frustrating waits of the Nigerian students. Many students get their purposes and ambitions crippled by life-changing incidents during the schools shutdown. Equally, the prolonged and delayed educational period caused by unpredictable ASUU strikes reduces the rate of employability and loss of certain opportunities, killing dreams and purposes

On 19 August, 2021, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) revealed that about 40% of the Nigerian youth, which forms the majority of university students, are deeply involved in drug abuse. Also, on 22 February, the NDLEA, through its Chairman, Buba Marwa, stated that drug abuse accounts for and influences about 90% of crimes in Nigeria. Since the majority of students in the university are youths, there is a tendency for drug abuse among them. The psychological and physical effects of drug abuse are dangers the nation cannot afford. It is a pronouncement of an end to the academic endeavour of individuals, either directly or indirectly.

Moreover, there is a strong and direct link between drug abuse and criminal tendencies. Given the above positions and facts, it is only logical to be concerned about the consequences of students disengagement and idleness due to ongoing strike actions. And though different universities in the country have developed anti-drug abuse schemes to put drug abuse in check; however, closing these schools makes the programmes inefficient.

Then I sing a dirge to the death of ambition and purpose in the frustrating waits of the Nigerian students. Many students get their purposes and ambitions crippled by life-changing incidents during the schools shutdown. Equally, the prolonged and delayed educational period caused by unpredictable ASUU strikes reduces the rate of employability and loss of certain opportunities, killing dreams and purposes, particularly because the delay causes many students to graduate above the entry age of many employment requirements.

I sing this dirge to Nigerias dying future, which the government is ignorantly killing. Education is the hope of a progressive future for any nation, and research is the tool it uses to chart its successes. The intellectual capacity of a nation is a projection of how far it will grow in the future and its position in global discussions. Innovations and developmental discoveries are the results of dedicated research and efforts. A war or affront against the intellectual bloc of the nation is a risk of a negative expectation for the nations future. Human resources development is pivotal to any nation that wishes to develop, but with the above incidences, one would doubt if Nigeria considers development important.

Where there is value, there is respect and care, and it seems the value given to education by the nation reflects in the management of the industrial crisis in academia. Where workers at factories strike, the company is forced to react, as it stands to lose products and profits within the period. In this instance, the products are of value, and for their sake, the company finds a solution to the problem within a limited time. Taking the company as Nigeria, the workers as the lecturers, and the students as the products, it seems that the nation does not value the students enough to be motivated to a quick resolution with the academia.

I sing a dirge to the death of a nation, its intellectuals, and the pillars of its future, the students.

Toyin Falola, a professor of History, University Distinguished Teaching Professor, and Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at The University of Texas at Austin, is the Bobapitan of Ibadanland.
ASSAC, France, Oct. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CGN Europe Energy ("CGN"), a European leader in green energies, is co-organizing the open day of its wind farms located in the south of the city with Town Hall of Assac. Themed "From Wind Farms to Windmills", the 6 kilometers hike is also the first hike ushered in after the hiking route was officially included in the "Industrial Tourism" promotion project by local tourism bureau. Myriam Vigroux, the Mayor of Assac, along with the members of the municipal government and over 20 local residents, joined the tour.

Hikers set foot on the 6km long path connecting the ancient riverside hiking route with the windmill and wind farm at 9:30 AM on Oct. 1st, learning the details of the historical and ecological features of the area with the explanatory boards along the trail, gaining an understanding of wind power, new energy and environmental protection concepts, and observing the changes brought about by wind power in the community.

"This hiking route is 6 kilometers in total. It is the first hiking route through our city," said Mayor Vigroux proudly. "Walking on it is like traveling through time and space, connecting the ancient windmill by the river and the modern wind farm."

The trail, co-designed by CGN, Town Hall of Assac, Office de Tourisme Valle du Tarn &Mont d'Albigeois, L'association Villes internet du departement de la vallee Tarn and Le Comite Departemental de la Randonnee Pedestre du Tarn, has been included in the key "Industrial Tourism" promotion project by both Tarn Valley and Office de Tourisme Valle du Tarn & Mont d'Albigeois.

In order to better introduce and display various natural and cultural landscapes along the way for tourists, popularize wind power-related knowledge, promote the concept of new energy and environmental protection, and enhance the awareness of ecological protection, CNG also set up explanation boards along the route. In July this year, representatives of the design parties also held the unveiling ceremony of the explanation boards for the hiking route. The route's theme also echoes the theme of "Rethinking Tourism" of this year's World Tourism Day, and has become a model for building clean and sustainable tourism resources.

"The joint planning with CGN European Energy sets a great example," said Gerard Pallis, President of Le Comite Departemental de la Randonnee Pedestre du Tarn. "Facing the challenges of new energy development and energy conversion, we will also give more consideration to the energy development of a region and the region's energy development in the planning of hiking routes. combined to bring new content to existing and future hiking trails."

CGN has committed to fulfill its long-term corporate social responsibility ("CSR") and promoting economic development, environmental improvement and social progress with the development of sustainable and clean energy. With a total generating capacity of 2.4 gigawatts, CGN provides research, construction, operation and production of clean and renewable energies, such as wind turbines and photovoltaic panels in France and great European countries. In 2021, CGN Europe Energy supplied over 5 billion kWh of green energy to 2 million European homes, contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the creation of over 13,000 square hectares of woodland.

For more information, please visit CGN Europe Energy.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1912440/CGN_Europe_Energy.jpg

SOURCE CGN Europe Energy
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Featuring reductions in prescription drug costs and money-saving Medicare Advantage benefits and extras that make a difference

WOONSOCKET, R.I., Oct. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Aetna, a CVS Health company (NYSE: CVS), announced its 2023 Medicare offerings, featuring more affordable medical and prescription drug coverage and expanded money-saving benefits that support members' whole health and well-being. We'll offer new Medicare Advantage plan options, including Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans in new markets, a new Institutional Special Needs Plan and expanded Aetna Medicare Eagle plans designed with Veterans in mind.

"In addition to the health challenges that typically come with getting older, we recognize the heavy financial strain on older adults and people with disabilities, who often live on fixed incomes," said Christopher Ciano, president of Aetna Medicare. "To help lower their health care costs, we expanded our Aetna Medicare Solutions portfolio of products to include improved prescription drug coverage that will save members money, more essential benefits that make a meaningful difference in members' lives and plans that fit their unique needs and budget. As part of the CVS Health family, Aetna wants our 10.6 million Medicare members nationwide to feel protected and supported through every moment of their personal health journeys."

Expanded Medicare Advantage plans to meet diverse needs

More than 3.2 million Medicare beneficiaries are currently enrolled in an Aetna Medicare Advantage (MA) plan, which often includes valuable benefits, such as prescription drug coverage, dental, vision, hearing and fitness. To keep plans affordable, Aetna continues to offer many $0 premium plan options. Aetna estimates 84% of the Medicare-eligible beneficiaries in the U.S. will have access to a $0 monthly premium Aetna MA plan.1

For 2023, Aetna is offering Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MAPD) plans in 46 states plus Washington, D.C. Aetna added 141 new counties across the country, providing 1 million more Medicare beneficiaries access to an Aetna plan. In total, Aetna will offer MAPD plans in 2,014 counties in 2023, accessible by 55 million Medicare beneficiaries.2

For those who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid benefits, Aetna expanded its Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan (D-SNP) offerings across 30 states, including new markets in South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah, and new PPO plan options in Georgia and South Dakota. All plans offer prescription drugs at no out-of-pocket cost and additional benefits for members who qualify for Low-Income Subsidy (LIS). Coverage varies by plan and may include healthy foods, utilities, over-the-counter items, additional transportation, companionship and fall prevention benefits.

New for 2023, Aetna will introduce the Aetna Medicare Longevity Plan, an Institutional Special Needs Plan (I-SNP), in Pennsylvania. This plan is specifically designed for people living in nursing homes. It includes prescription drug coverage and provides enhanced access to onsite care in the facility. Members receive extra benefits tailored to improve their quality of life by caring for their unique medical, social and emotional needs.

Aetna also expanded its Aetna Medicare Eagle MA plans to 42 states and 1,383 counties  reaching more than 6.1 million Veterans over age 65. These plans are designed with Veterans in mind3 to complement their VA health care coverage and ensure access to important benefits for this population. All 2023 Aetna Medicare Eagle plans will feature a $0 monthly plan premium, $0 primary care copay (including walk-in clinics), dental, vision, hearing, over-the-counter allowance, SilverSneakers fitness program and $0 lab copay.

Robust standalone prescription drug plans with lower copays

The Aetna standalone prescription drug plans (PDP) serve 6.1 million members. In 2023, Aetna Medicare will continue to offer three individual, standalone plans. SilverScript SmartRx (PDP) will be renamed SilverScript SmartSaver (PDP) in 2023 and will feature an average monthly premium of $5.92, along with $10 copays for select insulins at preferred pharmacies. SilverScript Choice (PDP) will be available to members with full Extra Help for a $0 monthly plan premium in all 50 states and D.C., while SilverScript Plus (PDP) has the most robust prescription drug coverage of our PDPs. All three plans are available in all 50 states and D.C and feature increased formulary coverage from 2022.4

Big reductions in prescription drug costs across the MAPD portfolio

Aetna made major changes to our formularies (drug lists) for 2023 to remove many cost and access obstacles and help our members be more adherent with their medications. Prescription drug benefit changes will result in significant cost savings for our 2023 Individual MAPD members. Highlights include:

$0 deductibles: 100% of MAPD members will enjoy a $0 deductible on all Tier 1 drugs, with 74% of plans offering a $0 deductible on all tiered drugs (Tiers 1  5).

100% of MAPD members will enjoy a deductible on all Tier 1 drugs, with 74% of plans offering a deductible on all tiered drugs (Tiers 1  5). $0 copays at preferred network pharmacies: Over 97% of our MAPD plans will offer $0 copay on Tier 1 drugs, and 50% of our MAPD plans will offer $0 copay on Tier 1 and Tier 2 drugs, for 30-, 60- or 100-day supply.

Over 97% of our MAPD plans will offer copay on Tier 1 drugs, and 50% of our MAPD plans will offer copay on Tier 1 and Tier 2 drugs, for 30-, 60- or 100-day supply. Robust drug coverage: New for 2023, our most widely used formulary will move nearly 300 drugs from higher-cost drug tiers to lower tiers. This means direct cost-share savings for our members, giving them access to many more drugs for a $0 or low copay. Plans using our other formularies can count on similar savings. For example, a member who had a drug (like Ezetimibe/generic Zetia used to treat high cholesterol) down-tiered from Tier 3 in 2022 to Tier 2 in 2023 on a plan with a $0 Tier 2 copay in 2023 and a $47 Tier 3 copay in 2022 would save $564 next year.

New for 2023, our most widely used formulary will move nearly 300 drugs from higher-cost drug tiers to lower tiers. This means direct cost-share savings for our members, giving them access to many more drugs for a or low copay. Plans using our other formularies can count on similar savings. For example, a member who had a drug (like Ezetimibe/generic Zetia used to treat high cholesterol) down-tiered from Tier 3 in 2022 to Tier 2 in 2023 on a plan with a Tier 2 copay in 2023 and a Tier 3 copay in 2022 would save next year. Pharmacy network: 99.9% of our MAPD plans offer prescription drug coverage with access to nearly 66,000 network pharmacies, with 24,000 preferred options offering additional savings.

99.9% of our MAPD plans offer prescription drug coverage with access to nearly 66,000 network pharmacies, with 24,000 preferred options offering additional savings. 100-day supply at no extra cost: All MAPD plans will offer 100-day supply 5 for drugs on Tiers 1-4 at both retail and mail-order pharmacies with no increase in copay/coinsurance. Members who choose to use our preferred mail-order pharmacy to fill their 100-day supply prescriptions can count on convenient, no-cost standard shipping. Extended-day supplies will save members money and help them stay on their drug treatment program.

All MAPD plans will offer 100-day supply for drugs on Tiers 1-4 at both retail and mail-order pharmacies with no increase in copay/coinsurance. Members who choose to use our preferred mail-order pharmacy to fill their 100-day supply prescriptions can count on convenient, no-cost standard shipping. Extended-day supplies will save members money and help them stay on their drug treatment program. Tier 1/Tier 2 Coverage Gap: 99.3% of our MAPD plans provide robust Tier 1 and Tier 2 gap coverage at the same cost-share as in the initial coverage phase, allowing predictable copays through the donut hole and reducing the possibility of members reaching the catastrophic phase.

99.3% of our MAPD plans provide robust Tier 1 and Tier 2 gap coverage at the same cost-share as in the initial coverage phase, allowing predictable copays through the donut hole and reducing the possibility of members reaching the catastrophic phase. $0 copays and $0 deductibles on Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans: All D-SNPs will share one set of common features  robust drug coverage, $0 deductibles and $0 prescription drug copays. Members simply need to qualify for D-SNP enrollment to receive this benefit.

All D-SNPs will share one set of common features  robust drug coverage, deductibles and prescription drug copays. Members simply need to qualify for D-SNP enrollment to receive this benefit. Insulin: Members won't pay more than $35 for a one-month supply of each insulin product covered by our plan.

Members won't pay more than for a one-month supply of each insulin product covered by our plan. Vaccines: Many covered Part D vaccines will be available at $0 copay for Medicare beneficiaries.

Money-saving MA benefits and extras that make a difference

"We know our members want to feel confident that their Medicare plans offer the coverage they need, when and where they want it  and at a price they can afford," said Ciano. "So, for 2023 we expanded some popular benefits and added new ones to empower members to get important preventive care, stay healthy and keep doing the things they enjoy most." Individual MA plan features that will make care more affordable, convenient and accessible in 2023 include:

Aetna Medicare Extra Benefits Card (new): Select plans will include a new, preloaded debit card with a quarterly allowance that can be used towards the purchase of over-the-counter (OTC) items and/or a combination of support services 6 such as: healthy foods; utilities (including water, electricity, gas, phone and internet service); and transportation. The card can be swiped at thousands of participating retailers for OTC and healthy foods.

Select plans will include a new, preloaded debit card with a quarterly allowance that can be used towards the purchase of over-the-counter (OTC) items and/or a combination of support services such as: healthy foods; utilities (including water, electricity, gas, phone and internet service); and transportation. The card can be swiped at thousands of participating retailers for OTC and healthy foods. Aetna Medicare Payment Card: Aetna is expanding this debit card to more plans and states and making it more convenient. Qualifying members will receive a quarterly allowance to use towards either out-of-pocket expenses for in-network care; approved OTC wellness items; or both. Members whose benefit includes an allowance for OTC items can buy a wide selection of items at any CVS Pharmacy retail location 7 or place orders online through OTC Health Solutions, a CVS Health company.

Aetna is expanding this debit card to more plans and states and making it more convenient. Qualifying members will receive a quarterly allowance to use towards either out-of-pocket expenses for in-network care; approved OTC wellness items; or both. Members whose benefit includes an allowance for OTC items can buy a wide selection of items at any CVS Pharmacy retail location or place orders online through OTC Health Solutions, a CVS Health company. Memory Fitness (new): Select Aetna Medicare plan members will get access to brain games, exercises and a huge library of information on activities that promote brain health. Memory Fitness can be accessed through BrainHQ on computers, smartphones and tablets.

Select Aetna Medicare plan members will get access to brain games, exercises and a huge library of information on activities that promote brain health. Memory Fitness can be accessed through BrainHQ on computers, smartphones and tablets. Fresh Food Boxes (new): Qualifying members of select Individual Aetna MA plans can receive a produce box containing fresh fruits and vegetables delivered to their homes either biweekly, monthly or quarterly.

Qualifying members of select Individual Aetna MA plans can receive a produce box containing fresh fruits and vegetables delivered to their homes either biweekly, monthly or quarterly. Dental, vision and hearing: Aetna believes benefits like dental, vision and hearing care are essentials and not simply extras. Aetna will continue to offer most MA members access to routine dental, vision and hearing coverage. 8

Aetna believes benefits like dental, vision and hearing care are essentials and not simply extras. Aetna will continue to offer most MA members access to routine dental, vision and hearing coverage. Improved dental: In 2023, 95% of our MA plans will include a comprehensive dental benefit. Aetna will expand the Total Choice dental benefit introduced in 2022 to additional Individual MA HMO-POS and PPO plans. This benefit provides coverage of preventive and comprehensive dental services up to a benefit maximum and allows the member to choose any licensed dentist, in or out of network. Members may save money when visiting a dentist within our network. As one of the nation's largest MA dental networks, Aetna is continuing to expand the Aetna Dental PPO network across the country to meet our members' need to find affordable dental care. We're also improving the member experience by removing dental deductibles from some other dental benefit plans.

In 2023, 95% of our MA plans will include a comprehensive dental benefit. Aetna will expand the Total Choice dental benefit introduced in 2022 to additional Individual MA HMO-POS and PPO plans. This benefit provides coverage of preventive and comprehensive dental services up to a benefit maximum and allows the member to choose any licensed dentist, in or out of network. Members may save money when visiting a dentist within our network. As one of the nation's largest MA dental networks, Aetna is continuing to expand the Aetna Dental PPO network across the country to meet our members' need to find affordable dental care. We're also improving the member experience by removing dental deductibles from some other dental benefit plans.

Vision: In 2023, 96% of our MA plans will include an eyewear benefit.

In 2023, 96% of our MA plans will include an eyewear benefit.

Hearing: In 2023, 93% of our MA plans will include a hearing aid benefit.

In 2023, 93% of our MA plans will include a hearing aid benefit. Telehealth: All Aetna MA plans will continue to cover telehealth visits for primary care, urgent care and specialty care provided by a doctor, including mental health services. In 2023, additional telehealth services will be available including physical, occupational, and speech therapy, substance abuse and opioid treatment, kidney disease education and diabetes self-management training services. Depending on location, members will be able to schedule telehealth visits 24/7 via MinuteClinic, Teladoc or another network provider offering this service.

All Aetna MA plans will continue to cover telehealth visits for primary care, urgent care and specialty care provided by a doctor, including mental health services. In 2023, additional telehealth services will be available including physical, occupational, and speech therapy, substance abuse and opioid treatment, kidney disease education and diabetes self-management training services. Depending on location, members will be able to schedule telehealth visits 24/7 via MinuteClinic, Teladoc or another network provider offering this service. Meals: In 2023, 85% of MA plans will include home-delivered meals after an inpatient stay.

In 2023, 85% of MA plans will include home-delivered meals after an inpatient stay. OTC: Aetna is making its OTC benefit offered through OTC Health Solutions, a CVS Health company, available to more members and increasing the OTC allowance amount on many MA plans. With the OTC benefit, members can choose certain health care products by phone, catalog or online for home delivery. They'll also be able to present their ID cards to receive items directly from 3,800 select CVS Pharmacy or Navarro Discount Pharmacy locations across 39 states. Select Aetna plans will offer an OTC kit mailed directly to the member's home. These kits contain curated OTC items that help support our members' health.

Aetna is making its OTC benefit offered through OTC Health Solutions, a CVS Health company, available to more members and increasing the OTC allowance amount on many MA plans. With the OTC benefit, members can choose certain health care products by phone, catalog or online for home delivery. They'll also be able to present their ID cards to receive items directly from 3,800 select CVS Pharmacy or Navarro Discount Pharmacy locations across 39 states. Select Aetna plans will offer an OTC kit mailed directly to the member's home. These kits contain curated OTC items that help support our members' health. $0 cost-shares on select benefits: To ensure important services are affordable, Aetna continues to expand services available at no extra cost to the member. Most MA plans will have $0 copay for primary care visits and many plans will offer labs at no cost to the member.

To ensure important services are affordable, Aetna continues to expand services available at no extra cost to the member. Most MA plans will have copay for primary care visits and many plans will offer labs at no cost to the member. Stable or reduced member out-of-pocket costs limits: All Aetna MA plans include maximum out-of-pocket cost protection for covered plan services. Aetna will keep member in-network maximum out-of-pocket costs limits the same or decrease them in 82% of its Individual MA plans for 2023.

All Aetna MA plans include maximum out-of-pocket cost protection for covered plan services. Aetna will keep member in-network maximum out-of-pocket costs limits the same or decrease them in 82% of its Individual MA plans for 2023. Fall prevention: Aetna continues to expand its fall prevention benefit through CVS Pharmacy to additional states and plans. In select MA plans, eligible members will receive an annual allowance for certain clinically appropriate safety items that help lower the risk of injury from falls in the home.

Aetna continues to expand its fall prevention benefit through CVS Pharmacy to additional states and plans. In select MA plans, eligible members will receive an annual allowance for certain clinically appropriate safety items that help lower the risk of injury from falls in the home. Hospice: Aetna understands some members may need extra support at critical points in their lives. So, we're expanding the number of plans that offer our Compassionate Care Transitions program. On select MA plans in Ohio and Pennsylvania , Aetna will be responsible for members' full medical coverage and hospice services. Members enrolled in this program will have access to supplemental benefits to support their end-of-life journey. These benefits include extra transportation, additional meals, in-home support and access to a personal emergency response system.9

In addition, Aetna will continue to offer the following supplemental benefits and programs as part of its MA plans:

Healthy Rewards Program: The program helps members improve their health and well-being with personalized reward activities. All Individual MA members will be able to earn $150 or more annually, depending on plan, to use at an expanded set of merchants, such as local grocery and national restaurant chains, by completing certain healthy activities.

The program helps members improve their health and well-being with personalized reward activities. All Individual MA members will be able to earn or more annually, depending on plan, to use at an expanded set of merchants, such as local grocery and national restaurant chains, by completing certain healthy activities. SilverSneakers fitness memberships are available to all Individual MA members at no additional cost. 10 Through SilverSneakers, members have access to over 15,000 fitness locations. SilverSneakers FLEX also gives members access to exercise programs outside of traditional gyms, such as recreation centers, malls and parks. Individuals can also connect to a support network and virtual resources through SilverSneakers LIVE, SilverSneakers On-Demand and our mobile app, SilverSneakers GO. New in 2023, members can access mental enrichment and well-being classes through GetSetUp.

fitness memberships are available to all Individual MA members at no additional cost. Through SilverSneakers, members have access to over 15,000 fitness locations. SilverSneakers FLEX also gives members access to exercise programs outside of traditional gyms, such as recreation centers, malls and parks. Individuals can also connect to a support network and virtual resources through SilverSneakers LIVE, SilverSneakers On-Demand and our mobile app, SilverSneakers GO. New in 2023, members can access mental enrichment and well-being classes through GetSetUp. All MA plans will offer an annual healthy home visit at no extra cost that includes a comprehensive health risk assessment and non-invasive physical exam from the comfort of the member's home. The clinician will also evaluate the home environment to identify social support needs and risks that could result in early detection of health problems. Follow up with the member's doctor can lead to treatment and a better quality of life.

at no extra cost that includes a comprehensive health risk assessment and non-invasive physical exam from the comfort of the member's home. The clinician will also evaluate the home environment to identify social support needs and risks that could result in early detection of health problems. Follow up with the member's doctor can lead to treatment and a better quality of life. The Aetna Resources For Living program helps address loneliness and other social needs by connecting members with important community resources, such as transportation, housing, food programs, caregiver support and utility assistance, based on individual member needs. The program serves as an early point of intervention for the many issues that affect our members' physical and mental health.

Competitive Medicare Supplement and ancillary plan options

To complete our portfolio of products, Aetna also offers Medicare Supplement plans. With more than 1.3 million members, our competitively priced Individual Medicare Supplement plans utilize a simplified underwriting process. We also offer popular dental, vision and hearing products in 37 states. Our ancillary plan options cover 45 states and can provide members with life insurance coverage, benefits paid directly to them after being diagnosed with cancer, or for hospital stays, and home or skilled nursing facility recovery care.

Visit AetnaMedicare.com to learn more about the 2023 Aetna Medicare plans. Or call 1-844-588-0041 (TTY: 711), 7 days a week, 8 AM to 8 PM. The Medicare Annual Enrollment Period runs from October 15 through December 7, 2022. A licensed agent may answer your call.

1CMS Enrollment data, August 2022.

2This number includes Aetna's Joint Venture in Minnesota (with Allina Health).

3These plans do not include prescription drug coverage. They are available to all Medicare-eligible individuals and could be a good fit for beneficiaries who already have prescription drug coverage at least as good as Medicare Part D.

4Source: CMS 2023 PDP Landscape Source Files available at https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Prescription-Drug-Coverage/PrescriptionDrugCovGenIn.

5Not all medications are dispensable in 100-day supply due to unbreakable package sizing (e.g., inhalers), or as a result of being a controlled substance.

6Some services may be limited to those with qualifying conditions.

7Excludes CVS Pharmacy in Target locations.

8Level and type of coverage vary by plan.

9See Evidence of Coverage for details.

10Exception: SilverSneakers is not available with the Aetna Medicare Longevity Plan (I-SNP).

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.

About Aetna

Aetna, a CVS Health business, serves an estimated 34 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional, voluntary and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental and behavioral health plans, and medical management capabilities, Medicaid health care management services, workers' compensation administrative services and health information technology products and services. Aetna's customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and expatriates. For more information, visit www.aetna.com.

Aetna Medicare is a HMO, PPO plan with a Medicare contract. Our DSNPs also have contracts with State Medicaid programs. Enrollment in our plans depends on contract renewal. Plan features and availability may vary by service area. The formulary, provider and/or pharmacy network may change at any time. You will receive notice when necessary. Aetna Medicare's pharmacy network includes limited lower cost, preferred pharmacies in Suburban Arizona, Suburban Illinois, Urban Kansas, Rural Michigan, Suburban Michigan, Urban Michigan, Urban Missouri, Suburban Utah, Suburban West Virginia and Suburban Wyoming. The lower costs advertised in our plan materials for these pharmacies may not be available at the pharmacy you use. For up-to-date information about our network pharmacies, including whether there are any lower-cost preferred pharmacies in your area, members please call the number on your ID card, non-members please call 1-833-278-3928 (TTY: 711) or consult the online pharmacy directory. Other pharmacies and providers are available in our network. Out-of-network/non-contracted providers are under no obligation to treat plan members, except in emergency situations. Please call our customer service number or see your Evidence of Coverage for more information, including the cost-sharing that applies to out-of-network services. Members who get "Extra Help" are not required to fill prescriptions at preferred network pharmacies in order to get Low Income Subsidy (LIS) copays. Participating physicians, hospitals and other health care providers are independent contractors and are neither agents nor employees of Aetna. The availability of any particular provider cannot be guaranteed, and provider network composition is subject to change. Medicare rules don't allow earned rewards to be used for Medicare-covered goods or services, including medical or prescription drug out-of-pocket costs. Earned rewards may not be used to pay for medical copays, prescription costs, or any other Medicare covered good or services. Earned rewards may also not be used on alcohol, tobacco or firearms or be converted to cash. This material is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Health information programs provide general health information and are not a substitute for diagnosis or treatment by a physician or other health care professional. Contact a health care professional with any questions or concerns about specific health care needs. Providers are independent contractors and are not agents of Aetna. Provider participation may change without notice. Aetna is not a provider of health care services and, therefore, cannot guarantee any results or outcomes. The availability of any particular provider cannot be guaranteed and is subject to change. Information is believed to be accurate as of the production date; however, it is subject to change. For more information about Aetna plans, refer to our website. The benefits mentioned are a part of special supplemental program for the chronically ill. Not all members qualify.

SilverScript is a Prescription Drug Plan with a Medicare contract marketed through Aetna Medicare. Enrollment in SilverScript depends on contract renewal.

Aetna, CVS Pharmacy and MinuteClinic, LLC (which either operates or provides certain management support services to MinuteClinic-branded walk-in clinics) are part of the CVS Health family of companies.

Resources For Living is the brand name used for products and services offered through the Aetna group of subsidiary companies.

SilverSneakers is a registered trademark of Tivity Health, Inc. 2022 Tivity Health, Inc. All rights reserved. GetSetUp is a third-party service provider and is not owned or operated by Tivity Health, Inc. ("Tivity") or its affiliates. Users must have internet service to access GetSetUp service. Internet service charges are the responsibility of the user. Charges may apply for access to certain GetSetUp classes or functionality.

2022 Aetna Inc.

Y0001_32296_2023_M

Media contacts

Ethan Slavin

860-273-6095

[email protected]

Rosemarie Miller

610-399-1957

[email protected]

Investor contact

Larry McGrath

800-201-0938

[email protected]

SOURCE CVS Health
NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the research report "Baby Food Maker Market by Application and Distribution Channel - Forecast and Analysis - 2022-2026", the market will witness a YOY growth of 7.29% in 2022 at a CAGR of 8.29% during the forecast period. The report is segmented by application (food preparation products and bottle preparation products), distribution Channel (offline and online), and Geography (North America, APAC, Europe, South America, and the Middle East and Africa). Read Sample PDF Report

Vendor Insights

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Baby Food Maker Market 2022-2026

The global baby food maker market is fragmented and competitive. Key vendors are adopting various marketing strategies to gain an edge over their rivals. Some of the key strategies followed by vendors include the development of innovative products, product differentiation, strong distribution channels, promotional activities, and unique packaging. During the forecast period, the competition in the market will increase with the entry of new players, technological innovations, and a rising number of partnerships among vendors and research organizations.

The report analyzes the market's competitive landscape and offers information on several market vendors, including:

ALT GROUP BABYMOOV CORP

Apollo Pharmacies Ltd.

BABY BREZZA

BEABA SAS

Capital Brands Distribution LLC

Cuisinart

Dualit Ltd.

Elechomes Innovations LTD

Hamilton Beach Brands Inc.

Homewell

Kalorik

Koninklijke Philips NV

Newell Brands Inc.

NutriChef Kitchen LLC

OXO International Ltd.

Peek A Boo USA INC

INC Pigeon Corp.

QUARK BABY LTD

Sage Bears LLC

Williams Sonoma Inc.

Find highlights on the growth strategies adopted by vendors and their product offerings. Request Sample Report

Geographical Market Analysis

APAC will provide maximum growth opportunities for vendors operating in the baby food maker market during the forecast period. According to our research report, the region will contribute 35% of the global market growth and is expected to dominate the market through 2026.

China and Japan are major markets for baby food makers in APAC. The rise in the number of working women in developing countries such as China and India is driving the growth of the regional market. APAC will also emerge as the fastest-growing market for baby food maker market. The growing interest in feeding healthy food to children is expected to fuel the growth of the baby food maker market in APAC during the forecast period. Furthermore, countries such as the US, Germany, and the UK are expected to emerge as prominent markets for baby food makers during the forecast period.

Key Segment Analysis

By application, the baby food maker market share growth in the food preparation products segment will be significant during the forecast period. Similarly, by distribution channel, the market will observe significant growth in the offline distribution channel over the forecast period. View Report Sample to identify other potential segments and regions in the market.

Key Market Drivers & Challenges:

The baby food maker market is primarily driven by technological innovations and portfolio extensions. Changing demands of consumers across various regions are encouraging vendors in the market to focus on launching advanced and innovative products. Some of the key factors considered in product innovations include safety, durability, and customization. For instance, Philips offers 2-in-1 healthy baby food maker, AVENT, which is designed with ease and practicality in mind, where the settings are intuitive and comprised of just a few parts, making it easy to clean and store. Similarly, Danone introduced the pre-measured tab formula milk in the UK by partnering with the Japanese food manufacturer, Meiji. As per the deal, there will be the manufacturing of a format innovation in its formula milk recipes with Meiji's proprietary tab production technology. Such product innovations and developments among vendors will positively influence the growth of the market during the forecast period.

However, the decline in the birth rate will reduce the growth potential in the market. Globally, there has been a decline in the birth rate over the years. This is evident in both developed and developing countries including China, India, Brazil, the US, the UK, France, Japan, and Canada. This can be attributed to an increase in the unmarried population and a drop in the number of children per family. For instance, the current birth rate for India in 2022 is 17.163 births per 1000 people, a 1.23% decline from 2021. The birth rate for India in 2021 was 17.377 births per 1000 people, a 1.22% decline from 2020. Such a decline in the birth rate is expected to reduce the growth potential in the market.

Download Sample Report Now to identify other drivers and challenges influencing the market growth.

Customize Your Report

Don't miss out on the opportunity to speak to our analyst and know more insights about this market report. Our analysts can also help you customize this report according to your needs. Our analysts and industry experts will work directly with you to understand your requirements and provide you with customized data in a short amount of time. Speak to our Analyst now!

Related Reports:

Baby Food Maker Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 8.29% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 403.25 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 7.29 Regional analysis North America, APAC, Europe, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution APAC at 35% Key consumer countries US, China, Japan, Germany, and UK Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled ALT GROUP BABYMOOV CORP, Apollo Pharmacies Ltd., BABY BREZZA, BEABA SAS, Capital Brands Distribution LLC, Cuisinart, Dualit Ltd., Elechomes Innovations LTD, Hamilton Beach Brands Inc., Homewell, Kalorik, Koninklijke Philips NV, Newell Brands Inc., NutriChef Kitchen LLC, OXO International Ltd., Peek A Boo USA INC, Pigeon Corp., QUARK BABY LTD, Sage Bears LLC, and Williams Sonoma Inc. Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and future consumer dynamics, 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 Application



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Distribution Channel



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 09: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 10: Parent market



Exhibit 11: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 12: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 13: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2021

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026

Exhibit 14: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 16: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 17: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 18: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2021 and 2026

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 19: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2021 and 2026

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 20: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 21: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 22: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 23: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 24: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026

5 Market Segmentation by Application

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 25: Chart on Application - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 26: Data Table on Application - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Application

Exhibit 27: Chart on Comparison by Application



Exhibit 28: Data Table on Comparison by Application

5.3 Food preparation products - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 29: Chart on Food preparation products - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Data Table on Food preparation products - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 31: Chart on Food preparation products - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 32: Data Table on Food preparation products - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Bottle preparation products - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 33: Chart on Bottle preparation products - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Data Table on Bottle preparation products - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 35: Chart on Bottle preparation products - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 36: Data Table on Bottle preparation products - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Market opportunity by Application

Exhibit 37: Market opportunity by Application ($ million)

6 Market Segmentation by Distribution Channel

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 38: Chart on Distribution Channel - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Distribution Channel - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Distribution Channel

Exhibit 40: Chart on Comparison by Distribution Channel



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Comparison by Distribution Channel

6.3 Offline - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 42: Chart on Offline - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Offline - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 44: Chart on Offline - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Offline - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

6.4 Online - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 46: Chart on Online - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 47: Data Table on Online - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 48: Chart on Online - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 49: Data Table on Online - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

6.5 Market opportunity by Distribution Channel

Exhibit 50: Market opportunity by Distribution Channel ($ million)

7 Customer Landscape

7.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 51: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

8 Geographic Landscape

8.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 52: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 53: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

8.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 54: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 55: Data Table on Geographic comparison

8.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 56: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 57: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 58: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.4 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 60: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 61: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 62: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 63: 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 64: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 65: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 66: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 67: 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 68: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 69: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 70: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 71: 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 72: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 73: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 74: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.8 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 76: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 77: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 78: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 79: 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 80: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 82: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 83: 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 84: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 85: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 86: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 87: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.11 UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 88: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 89: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 90: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 91: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.12 Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 92: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 93: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 94: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 95: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 96: 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 97: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

9.4 Market trends

10 Vendor Landscape

10.1 Overview

10.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 98: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

10.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 99: Overview on factors of disruption

10.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 100: Impact of key risks on business

11 Vendor Analysis

11.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 101: Vendors covered

11.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 102: Matrix on vendor position and classification

11.3 ALT GROUP BABYMOOV CORP

Exhibit 103: ALT GROUP BABYMOOV CORP - Overview



Exhibit 104: ALT GROUP BABYMOOV CORP - Product / Service



Exhibit 105: ALT GROUP BABYMOOV CORP - Key offerings

11.4 BABY BREZZA

Exhibit 106: BABY BREZZA - Overview

- Overview

Exhibit 107: BABY BREZZA - Product / Service

- Product / Service

Exhibit 108: BABY BREZZA - Key offerings

11.5 Capital Brands Distribution LLC

Exhibit 109: Capital Brands Distribution LLC - Overview



Exhibit 110: Capital Brands Distribution LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 111: Capital Brands Distribution LLC - Key offerings

11.6 Cuisinart

Exhibit 112: Cuisinart - Overview



Exhibit 113: Cuisinart - Product / Service



Exhibit 114: Cuisinart - Key offerings

11.7 Hamilton Beach Brands Inc.

Exhibit 115: Hamilton Beach Brands Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 116: Hamilton Beach Brands Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 117: Hamilton Beach Brands Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 118: Hamilton Beach Brands Inc. - Key offerings

11.8 Kalorik

Exhibit 119: Kalorik - Overview



Exhibit 120: Kalorik - Product / Service



Exhibit 121: Kalorik - Key offerings

11.9 Koninklijke Philips NV

Exhibit 122: Koninklijke Philips NV - Overview



Exhibit 123: Koninklijke Philips NV - Business segments



Exhibit 124: Koninklijke Philips NV - Key news



Exhibit 125: Koninklijke Philips NV - Key offerings



Exhibit 126: Koninklijke Philips NV - Segment focus

11.10 Newell Brands Inc.

Exhibit 127: Newell Brands Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 128: Newell Brands Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 129: Newell Brands Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 130: Newell Brands Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 131: Newell Brands Inc. - Segment focus

11.11 OXO International Ltd.

Exhibit 132: OXO International Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 133: OXO International Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 134: OXO International Ltd. - Key offerings

11.12 Peek A Boo USA INC

INC Exhibit 135: Peek A Boo USA INC - Overview

INC - Overview

Exhibit 136: Peek A Boo USA INC - Product / Service

INC - Product / Service

Exhibit 137: Peek A Boo USA INC - Key offerings

12 Appendix

12.1 Scope of the report

12.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 138: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 139: Exclusions checklist

12.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 140: Currency conversion rates for US$

12.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 141: Research methodology



Exhibit 142: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 143: Information sources

12.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 144: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the research report " Frozen Food Market by Product and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026 ", the market will witness a YOY growth of 6.85% in 2022 at a CAGR of 6.95% during the forecast period. The report is segmented by product (frozen ready-to-eat meals, frozen meat and poultry, frozen fish and seafood, frozen fruits and vegetables, and others) and geography (Europe, North America, APAC, South America, and the Middle East and Africa). Read Sample PDF Report

Vendor Insights

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Frozen Food Market 2022-2026

The global frozen food market is highly fragmented due to the presence of many vendors. Vendors are competing in the market by introducing new products, expanding their presence through mergers and acquisitions, and launching marketing campaigns. The vendors offering frozen food products are expected to witness certain challenges during the forecast period. One such challenge is the frequent recall of frozen foods, which may affect the brand value of the vendor and the consumer acceptance of its products and, thus, the overall profitability.

The report analyzes the market's competitive landscape and offers information on several market vendors, including:

Ajinomoto Co. Inc.

Aryzta AG

Associated British Foods Plc

Conagra Brands Inc.

General Mills Inc .

. Hanover Foods

J.R. Simplot Co.

JBS SA

Kellogg Co.

Lantmannen Unibake International

McCain Foods Ltd.

Nestle SA

Nomad Foods Ltd

PNW Veg Co. LLC dba NORPAC

Smith Frozen Foods Inc

The Kraft Heinz Co.

Tyson Foods Inc.

Unilever PLC

Vandemoortele NV

Wawona Frozen Foods Inc.

Find highlights on the growth strategies adopted by vendors and their product offerings. Request Sample Report

Geographical Market Analysis

Europe will provide maximum growth opportunities for vendors operating in the frozen food market during the forecast period. According to our research report, the region will contribute 39% of the global market growth and is expected to dominate the market through 2026.

The UK is the major market for frozen food in Europe. The increased demand for processed food products is driving the regional market's growth. In addition, the increasing number of consolidations through M&As, innovative marketing campaigns by vendors, and the premiumization of frozen foods products are driving the growth of the regional market.

Europe will also emerge as the fastest-growing market for the frozen food market. Factors such as increasing product innovation and the rising number of new product launches are expected to fuel the growth of the frozen food market in Europe during the forecast period. Furthermore, countries such as the US, Mexico, China, and Germany are expected to emerge as prominent markets for frozen food during the forecast period.

Key Segment Analysis

By product, the frozen food market share growth in the frozen ready-to-eat meals segment will be significant during the forecast period. The segment comprises frozen pizza, frozen pasta, frozen croissants, frozen Asian meals, frozen rice bowls, frozen noodle bowls, frozen crispy pancakes, and frozen pies among other products. The increasing availability of nutrient-rich varieties of frozen food is driving the growth of the segment. View Report Sample to identify other potential segments and regions in the market.

Key Market Drivers & Challenges:

The frozen food market is primarily driven by the expansion of retail stores offering frozen food. The expanding presence of supermarkets, hypermarkets, and specialty stores has significantly contributed to the growth of the organized retail sector worldwide. This is enabling vendors and retailers to sell frozen food products such as frozen food, frozen fish and seafood, frozen meat and poultry, and frozen fruits and vegetables. All these factors are expected to drive the growth of the market during the forecast period.

However, health risks associated with the consumption of frozen ready meals will reduce the growth potential in the market. Frozen foods are stored at a low temperature to prevent spoilage and increase their shelf life. Frozen food manufacturers often substitute healthier ingredients with cheap alternatives. For instance, nutrition-dense olive oil is often replaced with less effective rapeseed oil, which results in the loss of antioxidants present in frozen foods. Hence, the frequent consumption of frozen food also puts consumers at risk of developing high blood pressure and other health-related problems. This growing awareness among consumers is expected to reduce the growth potential in the market.

Download Sample Report Now to identify other drivers and challenges influencing the market growth.

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Don't miss out on the opportunity to speak to our analyst and know more insights about this market report. Our analysts can also help you customize this report according to your needs. Our analysts and industry experts will work directly with you to understand your requirements and provide you with customized data in a short amount of time. Speak to our Analyst now!

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Frozen Food Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 6.95% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 105.72 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 6.85 Regional analysis Europe, North America, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution Europe at 39% Key consumer countries US, Mexico, China, Germany, and UK Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Ajinomoto Co. Inc., Aryzta AG, Associated British Foods Plc, Conagra Brands Inc., General Mills Inc., Hanover Foods, J.R. Simplot Co., JBS SA, Kellogg Co., Lantmannen Unibake International, McCain Foods Ltd., Nestle SA, Nomad Foods Ltd, PNW Veg Co. LLC dba NORPAC, Smith Frozen Foods Inc, The Kraft Heinz Co., Tyson Foods Inc., Unilever PLC, Vandemoortele NV, and Wawona Frozen Foods Inc. Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and future consumer dynamics, 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 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 ($ billion)



Exhibit 14: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



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 Frozen ready to eat meals - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on Frozen ready to eat meals - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Frozen ready to eat meals - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 30: Chart on Frozen ready to eat meals - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Frozen ready to eat meals - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Frozen meat and poultry - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Frozen meat and poultry - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Frozen meat and poultry - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Frozen meat and poultry - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Frozen meat and poultry - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Frozen fish and seafood - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 36: Chart on Frozen fish and seafood - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Frozen fish and seafood - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 38: Chart on Frozen fish and seafood - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Frozen fish and seafood - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.6 Frozen fruits and vegetables - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 40: Chart on Frozen fruits and vegetables - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Frozen fruits and vegetables - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 42: Chart on Frozen fruits and vegetables - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Frozen fruits and vegetables - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.7 Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 44: Chart on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 46: Chart on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 47: Data Table on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.8 Market opportunity by Product

Exhibit 48: Market opportunity by Product ($ billion)

6 Customer Landscape

6.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 49: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 50: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 51: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 52: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 53: Data Table on Geographic comparison

7.3 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 54: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 55: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

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 (%)

7.4 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 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

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 (%)

7.5 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 62: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 63: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 64: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 65: 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 66: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 67: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 68: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 69: 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 70: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 71: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 72: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 73: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 74: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 75: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 76: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 77: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.9 Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 78: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 80: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.10 UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 82: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 83: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 84: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 85: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.11 China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 86: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 87: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 88: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 89: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.12 Mexico - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 90: Chart on Mexico - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 91: Data Table on Mexico - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 92: Chart on Mexico - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 93: Data Table on Mexico - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 94: Market opportunity by geography ($ billion)

8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

8.1 Market drivers

8.2 Market challenges

8.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 95: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

8.4 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 96: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 97: Overview on factors of disruption

9.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 98: Impact of key risks on business

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 99: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 100: Matrix on vendor position and classification

10.3 Ajinomoto Co. Inc.

Exhibit 101: Ajinomoto Co. Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 102: Ajinomoto Co. Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 103: Ajinomoto Co. Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 104: Ajinomoto Co. Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 105: Ajinomoto Co. Inc. - Segment focus

10.4 Associated British Foods Plc

Exhibit 106: Associated British Foods Plc - Overview



Exhibit 107: Associated British Foods Plc - Business segments



Exhibit 108: Associated British Foods Plc - Key offerings



Exhibit 109: Associated British Foods Plc - Segment focus

10.5 Conagra Brands Inc.

Exhibit 110: Conagra Brands Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 111: Conagra Brands Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 112: Conagra Brands Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 113: Conagra Brands Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 114: Conagra Brands Inc. - Segment focus

10.6 General Mills Inc .

. Exhibit 115: General Mills Inc . - Overview

. - Overview

Exhibit 116: General Mills Inc . - Business segments

. - Business segments

Exhibit 117: General Mills Inc . - Key news

. - Key news

Exhibit 118: General Mills Inc . - Key offerings

. - Key offerings

Exhibit 119: General Mills Inc . - Segment focus

10.7 Kellogg Co.

Exhibit 120: Kellogg Co. - Overview



Exhibit 121: Kellogg Co. - Business segments



Exhibit 122: Kellogg Co. - Key offerings



Exhibit 123: Kellogg Co. - Segment focus

10.8 McCain Foods Ltd.

Exhibit 124: McCain Foods Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 125: McCain Foods Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 126: McCain Foods Ltd. - Key offerings

10.9 Nestle SA

Exhibit 127: Nestle SA - Overview



Exhibit 128: Nestle SA - Business segments



Exhibit 129: Nestle SA - Key news



Exhibit 130: Nestle SA - Key offerings



Exhibit 131: Nestle SA - Segment focus

10.10 The Kraft Heinz Co.

Exhibit 132: The Kraft Heinz Co. - Overview



Exhibit 133: The Kraft Heinz Co. - Business segments



Exhibit 134: The Kraft Heinz Co. - Key offerings



Exhibit 135: The Kraft Heinz Co. - Segment focus

10.11 Tyson Foods Inc.

Exhibit 136: Tyson Foods Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 137: Tyson Foods Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 138: Tyson Foods Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 139: Tyson Foods Inc. - Segment focus

10.12 Unilever PLC

Exhibit 140: Unilever PLC - Overview



Exhibit 141: Unilever PLC - Business segments



Exhibit 142: Unilever PLC - Key news



Exhibit 143: Unilever PLC - Key offerings



Exhibit 144: Unilever PLC - Segment focus

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 145: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 146: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 147: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 148: Research methodology



Exhibit 149: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 150: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 151: List of abbreviations

food allergy among consumers: There is an increase in the number of people suffering from food allergies globally. Food allergy is caused when the immune system reacts to the ingestion of certain foods. Ingredients of packaged foods and meats that can create allergic reactions in some people include (but are not limited to) milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish (e.g., crab, lobster, and shrimp), tree nuts (e.g., almonds, walnuts, and pecan), peanuts, wheat, and soybeans. Even consumption of small amounts of food allergens can trigger signs and symptoms such as digestive problems, hives, and swollen airways. In some people, a food allergy can cause severe symptoms, or even a life-threatening reaction is, known as anaphylaxis. For example, in the US, nearly 3% of the adult population suffers from shellfish allergy.

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
NANJING, China, Oct. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- When's the last time you watched the sunrise? On October 1, Modern Express, a well-known Chinese media, released a videohttps://youtu.be/SOlvJ9fQwEM. Before China's National Day in 2022, three youngsters from Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao jointly recorded a fiery sunrise. There is a promise behind this: in the cities where they live, they will participate in a flag-raising ceremony at sunrise.

A Sunrise Date with Youth in China

At around 4 a.m. in Beijing, Zhao Wengai, a Beijing girl, got up from her warm bed and went to Tiananmen Square. "Hurry up! Grab the front position." While trotting, she raised her selfie stick to shoot Vlog.

"Golden Bauhinia Square" Hong Kong youth Vincent Poon got into a taxi. His favorite song came out of the car radio: "I like you, those eyes are moving..." When the fresh sea breeze at Victoria Harbor blew on my face, he reached his destination.

At a bakery at around 5 o'clock in the morning, Kay Chan, a Macao girl, bought breakfast. The clerk habitually said, "So early?" "I have made an appointment with friends." After taking breakfast, she got on her bike and went straight to the Golden Lotus Square.

"Here we are." In the morning light, three youngsters arrived at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Golden Bauhinia Square in Hong Kong and Golden Lotus Square in Macao as promised.

The sound of synchronized march made the crowd slowly quiet. With the most familiar melody for them, they spontaneously looked at the red in the air.

When the morning glow broke through the clouds, and the golden edge of the clouds gradually appeared, the most dazzling thing in the sky was the floating red. "When the sun rose, they slowly looked up at you."

SOURCE Modern Express
NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Automotive Active Aerodynamics System Market by Application (Mid-sized vehicles and High performance vehicles) and Geography (North America, Europe, APAC, Middle East and Africa, and South America) - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026" report has been added to Technavio's offering. The potential growth difference for the automotive active aerodynamics system market size between 2021 and 2026 is USD 3.25 billion. To get the exact yearly growth variance and the Y-O-Y growth rate, Request a FREE PDF Sample Report

Company Profiles

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Automotive Active Aerodynamics System Market 2022-2026

The automotive active aerodynamics system market report provides complete insights on key vendors including Batz Group, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, Burelle SA, Daimler AG, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co, HBPO GmbH, Johnson Electric Holdings Ltd, Koch Industries Inc., Koenigsegg Automotive AB, Magna International Inc., Pagani Automobili Spa, Plasman Plastics Inc., Polytec Holding AG, Porsche AG, Rochling SE and Co. KG, SONCEBOZ SA, and Valeo SA. The key offerings of some of these vendors are listed below:

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG - The company offers automotive active aerodynamics systems such as an air curtain in the front apron or the air breather behind the front wheel arches, which allow BMW to travel with greater ease through the air. Other aerodynamic features include the optimized underbody and streamlined vehicle proportions.

The company offers automotive active aerodynamics systems such as an air curtain in the front apron or the air breather behind the front wheel arches, which allow BMW to travel with greater ease through the air. Other aerodynamic features include the optimized underbody and streamlined vehicle proportions. Ford Motor Co. - The company offers automotive active aerodynamics systems such as powerful EcoBoost production engine.

The company offers automotive active aerodynamics systems such as powerful EcoBoost production engine. General Motors Co - The company offers automotive active aerodynamics systems to improve fuel economy by helping cars and trucks slip through the air more easily.

The company offers automotive active aerodynamics systems to improve fuel economy by helping cars and trucks slip through the air more easily. Koch Industries Inc. - The company offers automotive active aerodynamics systems through SRG Global finish technologies.

The company offers automotive active aerodynamics systems through SRG Global finish technologies. Koenigsegg Automotive AB - The company offers automotive active aerodynamics systems such as triplex suspension system and Z-shaped anti roll bar.

This report provides a full list of key vendors, their strategies, and latest developments. Request a FREE PDF Sample Now

Competitive Analysis

The competitive scenario provided in the automotive active aerodynamics system market report analyzes, evaluates, and positions companies based on various performance indicators. Some of the factors considered for this analysis include the financial performance of companies over the past few years, growth strategies, product innovations, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc.

Key Market Dynamics

The stringent regulations for emission control increasing the adoption of active aerodynamics systems are driving the automotive active aerodynamics system market growth. However, factors such as the increased weight and complexity of vehicles may challenge the market growth during the forecast period.

Technavio has identified key trends, drivers, and challenges in the market, which will help vendors improve their strategies to stay ahead of their competitors. View our FREE PDF Sample Report

Market Segmentation

By application, the market has been classified into mid-sized vehicles and high performance vehicles. The mid-sized vehicles segment will contribute the largest share of the market.

segment will contribute the largest share of the market. By geography, the market has been classified into North America , Europe , APAC, the Middle East and Africa , and South America . Europe will have the largest share of the market during the forecast period.

Learn about the contribution of each segment summarized in concise infographics and thorough descriptions. View a FREE PDF Sample Report

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Electric Motor Sales Market by Application and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026: The electric motor sales market share is expected to increase by USD 52.69 billion from 2021 to 2026

Automotive Active Aerodynamics System Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 16.45% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 3.25 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 16.23 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, Middle East and Africa, and South America Performing market contribution Europe at 32% Key consumer countries US, China, France, UK, and Germany Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Batz Group, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, Burelle SA, Daimler AG, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co, HBPO GmbH, Johnson Electric Holdings Ltd, Koch Industries Inc., Koenigsegg Automotive AB, Magna International Inc., Pagani Automobili Spa, Plasman Plastics Inc., Polytec Holding AG, Porsche AG, Rochling SE and Co. KG, SONCEBOZ SA, and Valeo SA 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.

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Key Topics Covered

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 Mid-sized vehicles - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on Mid-sized vehicles - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Mid-sized vehicles - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on Mid-sized vehicles - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Mid-sized vehicles - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 High performance vehicles - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on High performance vehicles - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on High performance vehicles - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on High performance vehicles - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on High performance vehicles - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Market opportunity by Application

Exhibit 36: Market opportunity by Application ($ million)

6 Customer Landscape

6.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 37: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 38: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 40: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Geographic comparison

7.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 42: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 43: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 44: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 45: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 46: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 47: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 48: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 49: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.5 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 50: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 51: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 52: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 53: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 54: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 55: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 56: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 57: 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 58: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 60: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 61: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 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 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 (%)

7.11 France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 74: Chart on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 76: Chart on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.12 UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 78: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 79: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 80: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 81: Data Table on UK - 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 Bayerische Motoren Werke AG

Exhibit 89: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG - Overview



Exhibit 90: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG - Business segments



Exhibit 91: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG - Key news



Exhibit 92: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 93: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG - Segment focus

10.4 Ford Motor Co.

Exhibit 94: Ford Motor Co. - Overview



Exhibit 95: Ford Motor Co. - Business segments



Exhibit 96: Ford Motor Co. - Key news



Exhibit 97: Ford Motor Co. - Key offerings



Exhibit 98: Ford Motor Co. - Segment focus

10.5 General Motors Co

Exhibit 99: General Motors Co - Overview



Exhibit 100: General Motors Co - Business segments



Exhibit 101: General Motors Co - Key news



Exhibit 102: General Motors Co - Key offerings



Exhibit 103: General Motors Co - Segment focus

10.6 Koch Industries Inc.

Exhibit 104: Koch Industries Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 105: Koch Industries Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 106: Koch Industries Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 107: Koch Industries Inc. - Key offerings

10.7 Koenigsegg Automotive AB

Exhibit 108: Koenigsegg Automotive AB - Overview



Exhibit 109: Koenigsegg Automotive AB - Product / Service



Exhibit 110: Koenigsegg Automotive AB - Key offerings

10.8 Magna International Inc.

Exhibit 111: Magna International Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 112: Magna International Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 113: Magna International Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 114: Magna International Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 115: Magna International Inc. - Segment focus

10.9 Pagani Automobili Spa

Exhibit 116: Pagani Automobili Spa - Overview



Exhibit 117: Pagani Automobili Spa - Product / Service



Exhibit 118: Pagani Automobili Spa - Key offerings

10.10 Porsche AG

Exhibit 119: Porsche AG - Overview



Exhibit 120: Porsche AG - Business segments



Exhibit 121: Porsche AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 122: Porsche AG - Segment focus

10.11 Rochling SE and Co. KG

Exhibit 123: Rochling SE and Co. KG - Overview



Exhibit 124: Rochling SE and Co. KG - Business segments



Exhibit 125: Rochling SE and Co. KG - Key offerings



Exhibit 126: Rochling SE and Co. KG - Segment focus

10.12 Valeo SA

Exhibit 127: Valeo SA - Overview



Exhibit 128: Valeo SA - Business segments



Exhibit 129: Valeo SA - Key news



Exhibit 130: Valeo SA - Key offerings



Exhibit 131: Valeo SA - Segment focus

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 132: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 133: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 134: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 135: Research methodology



Exhibit 136: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 137: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 138: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions.

With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

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Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The global baby travel bags market is fragmented due to the presence of several established vendors offering a wide range of products. The vendors in the market are incorporating automation in the manufacturing process. They are differentiating themselves in terms of quality, regulatory compliance, and product innovation. However, the price differentiation among vendors is low as the products are made of similar raw materials and designs. Organic growth in the market has a moderate impact on disruption, while inorganic growth is having a low emphasis because of negligible M&A activities. Get deeper insights into the vendor landscape, product launches, and competitive scenario by purchasing our full report. Download PDF Report Sample before purchasing

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Baby Travel Bags Market 2022-2026

The global baby travel bags market size is expected to grow by USD 242.37 million between 2021 and 2026. However, the growth momentum is expected to decelerate at a CAGR of 6.2% during the forecast period.

is driven by the changing lifestyles coupled with the rise in single-parent and nuclear families. Baby travel bags have well-organized compartments to store essential baby products such as baby bottles and baby diapers. They are also hassle-free and can be used for other day-to-day purposes. Thus making it convenient and easy for single-parent and nuclear families while traveling. With the rise in the number of nuclear families, in both developed and developing countries, the demand for baby travel bags is expected to increase during the forecast period.

In addition, the introduction of multi-featured baby travel bags is anticipated to further boost the growth of the baby travel bags market. However, the declining birth rate in developed countries will challenge the growth of the market.

Major Baby Travel Bags Companies:

2 Red Hens Collections: The company offers baby travel bags namely Rooster diaper bags.

The company offers baby travel bags namely Rooster diaper bags. Active Doodie Gear : The company offers baby travel bags namely Active Doodie dad diaper bags.

The company offers baby travel bags namely Active Doodie dad diaper bags. Britax Child Safety Inc.: The company offers baby travel bags such as car seat bags.

The company offers baby travel bags such as car seat bags. Carters Inc.: The company offers baby travel bags such as diaper bags, hip packs, and backpacks.

The company offers baby travel bags such as diaper bags, hip packs, and backpacks. Elodie Details AB: The company offers baby travel bags such as changing bags, toiletry bags, and backpacks.

The company offers baby travel bags such as changing bags, toiletry bags, and backpacks. Albee Baby Carriage Co. Inc.

Brainbees Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Guccio Gucci Spa

hap tim.com Inc.

Itzy Ritzy

JuJuBe

OiOi Pty Ltd.

Parker Baby Co.

Petunia Pickle Bottom

Sanrio Co. Ltd.

Storksak Ltd.

The ERGObaby Carrier Inc.

TOMY International Inc.

Wenger SA

Xiamen Worthfind Imp. and Exp. Co. Ltd.

Baby Travel Bags Market Distribution Channel Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2021-2026)

Offline - size and forecast 2021-2026

Online - size and forecast 2021-2026

The offline segment accounted for maximum sales in the market in 2021. However, the revenue of the offline distribution channel has been declining gradually over the years due to a shift in consumer preference for online shopping. To fuel the sales through offline channels, players are focusing on their store expansion in the local and regional markets.

Baby Travel Bags Market Geography Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2021-2026)

Europe - size and forecast 2021-2026

- size and forecast 2021-2026 North America - size and forecast 2021-2026

- size and forecast 2021-2026 APAC - size and forecast 2021-2026

The Middle East and Africa - size and forecast 2021-2026

and - size and forecast 2021-2026 South America - size and forecast 2021-2026

North America will dominate the market growth, occupying 36% of the global market share. The regional market is driven by the high spending power of the population and the wide presence of luxury brands across North America. Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report, such as the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. Request Sample Report Here

Related Reports:

Baby Travel Bags Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Decelerate at a CAGR of 6.2% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 242.37 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 7.02 Regional analysis Europe, North America, APAC, Middle East and Africa, and South America Performing market contribution North America at 36% Key consumer countries US, China, France, UK, and Germany Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled 2 Red Hens Collections, Active Doodie Gear, Albee Baby Carriage Co. Inc., Brainbees Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Britax Child Safety Inc., Carters Inc., Elodie Details AB, Guccio Gucci Spa, hap tim.com Inc., Itzy Ritzy, JuJuBe, OiOi Pty Ltd., Parker Baby Co., Petunia Pickle Bottom, Sanrio Co. Ltd., Storksak Ltd., The ERGObaby Carrier Inc., TOMY International Inc., Wenger SA, and Xiamen Worthfind Imp. and Exp. 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 Distribution Channel



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 Distribution Channel

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 24: Chart on Distribution Channel - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 25: Data Table on Distribution Channel - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Distribution Channel

Exhibit 26: Chart on Comparison by Distribution Channel



Exhibit 27: Data Table on Comparison by Distribution Channel

5.3 Offline - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on Offline - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Offline - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on Offline - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Offline - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Online - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Online - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Online - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Online - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Online - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Market opportunity by Distribution Channel

Exhibit 36: Market opportunity by Distribution Channel ($ 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 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 42: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 43: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 44: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 45: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.4 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 (%)

7.5 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 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 54: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 55: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 56: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 57: 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 58: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 60: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 61: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 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 France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 70: Chart on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 71: Data Table on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 72: Chart on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 73: Data Table on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.11 UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 74: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 75: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 76: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 77: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.12 Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 78: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on Germany - 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 2 Red Hens Collections

Exhibit 89: 2 Red Hens Collections - Overview



Exhibit 90: 2 Red Hens Collections - Product / Service



Exhibit 91: 2 Red Hens Collections - Key offerings

10.4 Active Doodie Gear

Exhibit 92: Active Doodie Gear - Overview



Exhibit 93: Active Doodie Gear - Product / Service



Exhibit 94: Active Doodie Gear - Key offerings

10.5 Britax Child Safety Inc.

Exhibit 95: Britax Child Safety Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 96: Britax Child Safety Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 97: Britax Child Safety Inc. - Key offerings

10.6 Carters Inc.

Exhibit 98: Carters Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 99: Carters Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 100: Carters Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 101: Carters Inc. - Segment focus

10.7 Elodie Details AB

Exhibit 102: Elodie Details AB - Overview



Exhibit 103: Elodie Details AB - Product / Service



Exhibit 104: Elodie Details AB - Key offerings

10.8 hap tim.com Inc.

Exhibit 105: hap tim.com Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 106: hap tim.com Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 107: hap tim.com Inc. - Key offerings

10.9 Itzy Ritzy

Exhibit 108: Itzy Ritzy - Overview



Exhibit 109: Itzy Ritzy - Product / Service



Exhibit 110: Itzy Ritzy - Key offerings

10.10 Sanrio Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 111: Sanrio Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 112: Sanrio Co. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 113: Sanrio Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

10.11 The ERGObaby Carrier Inc.

Exhibit 114: The ERGObaby Carrier Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 115: The ERGObaby Carrier Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 116: The ERGObaby Carrier Inc. - Key offerings

10.12 TOMY International Inc.

Exhibit 117: TOMY International Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 118: TOMY International Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 119: TOMY International Inc. - Key offerings

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 120: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 121: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 122: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 123: Research methodology



Exhibit 124: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 125: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 126: 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 provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions.

With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contacts

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
YIWU, China, Oct. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Yiwu is the world's capital of commodities, Yiwugo.com is the official website of the Yiwu Commodity Market, which is the largest commodity wholesale market in the world. Yiwugo hosts 50,000 merchants and 10 million registered buyers, 10% of whom are overseas buyers. It has 800,000 daily average visits and a daily average PV of 15 million. According to the latest statistics from Yiwugo and the feedback from merchants, the number of European buyers purchasing hot-water bags has grown significantly, with the regular water injection type is the mainly-purchased product.

Sales doubled from the previous year at the beginning of the peak season.

Jingyang Daily Necessities is an established international trade enterprise with a history of more than 30 years. 12 years ago, Chen Jianping took the business over from her parents. For enterprises in Yiwugo, there are usually two peak seasons every year. The first begins from July and lasts till October as boosted by buyers from the northern hemisphere, and the second from the end of the year till next spring, as boosted by buyers from South America. This year is unusual. Although the first peak season has just been halfway through, enterprises' sales volume has already doubled from last year.

Chen explained that, due to the impact of repeated Covid-19 outbreaks at home and abroad, most orders were placed by long-time buyers instead of new ones in the past two years. This year, however, the number of new customers, particularly end customers, has suddenly surged. Most of them are from Europe, looking for water injection hot-water bags. As electric heating hot-water bags were previously popular exports to countries such as India, it is unusual to see water injection type gaining popularity in Europe.

In fact, this is closely attributed to the rising energy price in Europe. The natural gas price in Europe has reportedly reached more than 10 times that of the same period last year; the anthracite price has been three times that of the same period last year; the electricity price has increased by 12 folds from the previous year. The German government announced that it would levy a "natural gas surcharge" from October, and Italy has shortened the heating period by 15 days for this winter.

The surging energy price this year has driven up the heating cost, especially for European people living in frigid high-latitude regions. As such, the traditional affordable water injection hot-water bags have suddenly become their favourite choice. Even though European people have also started to use water injection hot-water bags, they have never lost their aesthetic sense and pride. According to Chen, European consumers favour fashionable, high-quality hot-water bags with high rubber content and European architectural style of decorative imprints.

The popularity of hot-water bags in Italy and other European countries aroused Chen's curiosity. She later figured that a significant number of buyers had come around by searching the English site of Yiwugo. Although many orders placed were small or medium ones, they were still "fresh blood", and all the buyers were overseas wholesalers. This encouraged Chen and made her confident about her decision last year to launch new products continuously and establish an international site on Yiwugo.

Some of the new customers were referred to Chen by merchants of home textiles, quilts and other warm-keeping products in Yiwu market. There are also merchants in other lines of business who are entrusted by customers to make purchases, or those who recommend Jingyang Daily Necessities to buyers after they found the company on Yiwugo. The buyers will then have intermediaries such as international trade companies to make purchases directly from Jingyang.

Chen explained that there had been signs of this purchase frenzy since the first half of the year. From April to May, some well-established buyers, including those from European countries such as Italy, already stocked a large quantity of water injection hot-water bags. But this was not common practice at the time, so it did not attract much attention of merchants.

Domestic-oriented enterprises generated more export sales than domestic sales this year.

Yu Fengchao, owner of Yiwu Junma Hot Water Bottle Factory, is running an established international trade factory of water injection hot-water bags. The factory was established over 30 years ago, receiving orders mainly from Spain.

As a second-generation business executive, Yu took the business over exactly ten years ago. To date, his factory has been a member store on Yiwugo for five years. A Spanish new customer contacted Yu on Yiwugo this July. After they communicated with each other for a while, the customer, without meeting Yu in person, placed an order of more than RMB 100,000 for high-quality hot-water bags, mostly in the shape of cartoon characters and covered with insulating cloth.

Yu explained that the water injection hot-water bag, which is a home-grown product, used to be sold domestically. Since July, however, many new buyers have emerged from European countries such as Spain and Italy. Driven by the recent trend towards original design, new models are launched in the second half of each year. In this peak season, export sales have surpassed domestic sales.

It is mutual trust that has led an overseas new customer to place his very first order for more than RMB 100,000. Besides faithful communication between the two sides, Yiwugo, a third-party platform, has also played a vital role as a guarantor for them to build trust. As enterprises divert more resources into Yiwugo in recent years, the platform has also yielded better results for them, thus forming a virtuous circle of win-win cooperation.

2022 marks the 40th anniversary of Yiwu market, as well as the 10th anniversary of Yiwugo as the largest e-commerce platform in China. As the market enters the second generation in the past decade, more and more young merchants are choosing Yiwugo as their partner. Likewise, Yiwugo will join hands with them to embrace a brighter future.

SOURCE Yiwugo; Yiwubuy.com
SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio, Oct. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- This is a test press release from Cision's PR Newswire. Please Disregard. This is a test press release from Cision's PR Newswire. Please Disregard. This is a test press release from Cision's PR Newswire. Please Disregard. This is a test press release from Cision's PR Newswire. Please Disregard. This is a test press release from Cision's PR Newswire. Please Disregard.

Please Disregard. This is a test press release from Cision's PR Newswire. Please Disregard. This is a test press release from Cision's PR Newswire. Please Disregard.

Please disregard. Tweet this This is a Test from Cision US

Please Disregard. This is a test press release from Cision's PR Newswire. Please Disregard. This is a test press release from Cision's PR Newswire. Please Disregard.

SOURCE Cision US
VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Copper Mountain Mining Corporation (TSX: CMMC) (ASX: C6C) (the "Company" or "Copper Mountain") announces that it has filed a technical report (the "2022 Technical Report") for its Copper Mountain Mine prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101  Standards for Disclosure of Mineral Projects. The 2022 Technical Report corresponds to the Company's September 28, 2022 news release entitled "Copper Mountain Mining Announces a 57% Increase in Copper Mineral Reserves at the Copper Mountain Mine and Updated Life of Mine Plan."

The full technical report is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.CuMtn.com.

About Copper Mountain Mining Corporation

Copper Mountain's flagship asset is the 75% owned Copper Mountain Mine located in southern British Columbia near the town of Princeton. The Copper Mountain Mine currently produces approximately 90 million pounds of copper equivalent. Copper Mountain also has the development-stage Eva Copper Project in Queensland, Australia and an extensive 2,100 km2 highly prospective land package in the Mount Isa area. Copper Mountain trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "CMMC" and Australian Stock Exchange under the symbol "C6C".

Additional information is available on the Company's web page at www.CuMtn.com.

On behalf of the Board of

COPPER MOUNTAIN MINING CORPORATION

"Gil Clausen"

Gil Clausen, P.Eng.

President and Chief Executive Officer

Website: www.CuMtn.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (together, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as "plans", "expects", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "occur" or "be achieved". In this news release, certain forward-looking statements are identified, including anticipated production at the Copper Mountain Mine. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance and opportunities to differ materially from those implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include the risks set out in Copper Mountain's public documents, including in each management's discussion and analysis, filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although Copper Mountain believes that the information and assumptions used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply 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. Except where required by applicable law, Copper Mountain disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Copper Mountain Mining Corporation
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The trial law firm Carpenter & Zuckerman (CZ Law) recently won two appeals in a class action lawsuit against Polaris, Inc. with major implications on the future of California consumer protection cases in federal courts.

On September 29, 2022, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena overruled a district court's decisions in a class action lawsuit where plaintiffs claimed Polaris Inc., a motorsport manufacturing company, misrepresented the safety of the roll cages on the majority of their RZR and Ranger vehicles.

Plaintiffs Jeremy Albright and Paul Guzman, represented by CZ Law trial lawyer and class action attorney John Kristensen, contend Polaris falsely represented the strength of the roll cages of their vehicle. An old loophole permits manufactures to "adopt" voluntary guidelines from manufacturer controlled interest groups. Instead of adopting the updated roof strength tests for automobiles requiring vehicle roofs to withstand three times their gross vehicle weight, Polaris claimed to adopt a 1972 standard for farm tractors. Then Polaris didn't comply with its higher strength requirement based on horsepower. Yet, they sold the public that their roofs were up to the OSHA standards.

"Polaris sold UTVS to the public claiming the roll cages complied with an OSHA standard when they did not," said Kristensen. "They are substantially weaker. It's like telling customers the vehicle has a five-star safety rating when it's really two-stars."

The Ninth Circuit Court also ruled that the claim from one of the cases under California's Unfair Competition Law, which prohibits false advertising, could proceed in state court. This ruling now sets a precedent allowing future cases based on California consumer protections to proceed in federal courts.

Albright and Guzman first filed the lawsuit in August 2019 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California seeking to represent a class of California residents who purchased Polaris UTVs with labels stating that their roll cages met OSHA standards.

The plaintiffs will be seeking $200 million to $300 million in damages against Polaris at the trials.

About Carpenter & Zuckerman

The California law firm of Carpenter & Zuckerman is dedicated to fighting for the rights of the injured. CZ Law is dedicated to helping clients recover the compensation they deserve for their injuries. For more information or to schedule a free consultation, visit www.cz.law today.

###

Media Contact: John Kristensen

(310) 882-9711

[email protected] or [email protected]

SOURCE Carpenter & Zuckerman
Lagos  An APC leader has dismissed as false, claims that presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is sick and recuperating in a London hospital.

The source, who was privy to the former Lagos governor's trip, said: "Tinubu is not sick. I saw him before he travelled on Saturday night to London."

Asked whether the APC presidential candidate had met with Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and his allies in London, the source said: "I am sure if the opportunity presents itself, they will meet."

Tinubu to make more concessions to NWC

However, indications emerged last night that Tinubu will grant more concessions to the Senator Adamu-led NWC.

It was gathered that the council would be expanded by creating more directorates but that the campaigns would still be run by the Tinubu team.

"Tinubu is the candidate. It is his election. He must be allowed to run his campaign. If we did not have a sitting president, Tinubu would have been the chairman of the campaign council. Whenever you have a campaign council, what is the job of the NWC? The NWC takes the back seat. That is tradition. That is the way it has always been.

"However, our presidential candidate is always ready to accommodate all interests. Do not be surprised if members of the council rises to between 1,800 and 2,000. He is ready to accommodate everybody," said one of his close associates.
Company continues to move additional repair crews into areas with outages

More than 95% of customers will be restored by tomorrow night

Estimated restoration times will be posted to the map today at duke-energy.com/outages/current-outages

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy crews continue to make progress following Hurricane Ian, restoring power to nearly 750,000 customers in North Carolina and South Carolina.

Nearly 1 million customers lost power during the storm. As of 5:00 p.m., 178,500 customers  most of them in North Carolina  remained without power. The latest outage numbers can be found here .

More than 95% of customers will be restored by Sunday night, with the remainder by Monday.

Power line technicians and specialists from the Carolinas, other states and Canada have been assessing damage and restoring outages since Friday night. Duke Energy restores power in a sequence starting with public health and safety facilities and equipment that restores the greatest number of customers.

Estimated restoration times will be posted to the map today at duke-energy.com/outages/current-outages.

Customers who are registered to receive Duke Energy text outage alerts will receive a text once an estimated restoration time is established for their location.

Duke Energy mobilized thousands of crews early Saturday to respond to the hardest-hit areas in and around Wake and Guilford counties. Significant structural damage hindered progress early on.

Hardest hit areas continue to be Chatham, Guilford, Orange, Stokes.

"We know our customers depend on us for the power they need to live their lives," said Jason Hollifield, Duke Energy's Carolinas storm director. "We are committed to completing this restoration as quickly and safely as possible."

Power restoration process

Click here for more information on how Duke Energy restores power.

Customers who experience a power outage can report it the following ways:

Text OUT to 57801 (standard text and data charges may apply).

to 57801 (standard text and data charges may apply). Visit duke-energy.com on a desktop computer or mobile device.

Use the Duke Energy mobile app (download the Duke Energy app on your smartphone via Apple Store or Google Play).

Call Duke Energy's automated outage-reporting system: 800.769.3766 (800.POWERON).

More tips on what to do before, during and after a storm can be found at duke-energy.com/safety-and-preparedness/storm-safety.

A checklist serves as a helpful guide, but it's critical before, during and after a storm to follow the instructions and warnings of emergency management officials in your area.

Tips to protect refrigerated food during power outages

For customers who lose power and have full refrigerators and freezers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends the following:

Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to maintain the cold temperature.

A refrigerator can keep food cold for about four hours if it is unopened. If the power will be out for more than four hours, use coolers to keep refrigerated food cold.

A full freezer will keep the temperature for approximately 48 hours (24 hours if it is half full) if the door remains closed.

The FDA offers additional tips for proper food handling and storage before, during and after a power outage at www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/food-and-water-safety-during-power-outages-and-floods.

Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America's largest energy holding companies. Its electric utilities serve 8.2 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 50,000 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas unit serves 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The company employs 28,000 people.

Duke Energy is executing an aggressive clean energy transition to achieve its goals of net-zero methane emissions from its natural gas business and at least a 50% carbon reduction from electric generation by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The 2050 net-zero goals also include Scope 2 and certain Scope 3 emissions. In addition, the company is investing in major electric grid enhancements and energy storage, and exploring zero-emission power generation technologies such as hydrogen and advanced nuclear.

Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2022 "World's Most Admired Companies" list and Forbes' "America's Best Employers" list. More information is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos and videos. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Media contact: Jeff Brooks (Carolinas Media inquiries)

Media line: 800.559.3853

Twitter: @DE_JeffB

SOURCE Duke Energy
A virtual event will be held Oct. 4, 2022 to kick off new initiative

ATLANTA, Sept. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- INROADS, Thurgood Marshall College Fund and UNCF (United Negro College Fund) formed a historic partnership with the Southern Company Foundation to prepare students at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to become successful business and community leaders committed to upholding the tenets of sustainability. The new initiative officially launches Oct. 4, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. ET, through a virtual event designed to inform universities, students and employers about program opportunities.

The HBCU Sustainable Communities Initiative (HBCU SCI) seeks to equip HBCU talent with support, resources and knowledge to ensure underrepresented communities are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable. The initiative encompasses three core areas of impact:

Students: Scholarships, paid internships and experiential learning opportunities including the Sustainability and Social Justice Series

Scholarships, paid internships and experiential learning opportunities including the Sustainability and Social Justice Series Universities: Endowed professorship grants to scale or start academic programs in sustainability fields

Endowed professorship grants to scale or start academic programs in sustainability fields Employers: Mentoring and internship programs that develop diverse talent pipelines and the next generation of sustainability leaders.

Oct. 4 also marks the launch of a Sustainability Professorship grant application process, funded by the Southern Company Foundation for eligible HBCUs, a signature component of the initiative. The Sustainability Professorship expands the capacity of select HBCUs to develop and strengthen program offerings in sustainability studies and related fields. The HBCUs selected through the grant process must raise $500,000 to match a $500,000 grant to establish $1 million endowments at each institution. Endowed professorship grant applications are due Dec.5, 2022.

The official launch highlights early successes of the program. To date, 75 students have been awarded approximately $750,000 in two-year scholarships, and 35 students have been placed in sustainability-focused internship roles with six different employers for fall 2022.

"As part of the HBCU SCI program, I've had the opportunity to participate in the Sustainability and Social Justice Training Series and become an intern at the National Parks Conservation Association," said Lawrence Omodele, computer information systems major and sophomore at Alabama State University. "I've learned a lot about sustainability and how it can make a positive difference in business and in my community. I'm now really interested in using sustainable practices in my own entrepreneurial endeavor, a carwash service I own and run, in addition to being a student."

During the Oct. 4 launch event, attendees will receive an overview of the initiative, and informational breakout sessions will be hosted for student program participants and for HBCUs interested in the Sustainability Professorship grants. Featured speakers include:

Forest T. Harper, Jr. , president and CEO of INROADS

, president and CEO of INROADS Dr. Harry L. Williams , president and CEO of Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF)

, president and CEO of Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) Dr. Michael L. Lomax , president and CEO of United Negro College Fund (UNCF)

, president and CEO of United Negro College Fund (UNCF) Michael K. Anderson , senior vice president of Georgia Power and president and CEO of the Georgia Power Foundation and Southern Company Foundation

Registration is open for the event at www.hbcusci.org/events.

For more information about the HBCU Sustainable Communities Initiative, visit www.HBCUSCI.org .

###

About HBCU SCI

Established in 2021, the HBCU Sustainable Communities Initiative (HBCU SCI) fosters thriving communities by preparing HBCU talent for careers in sustainability. HBCU SCI equips HBCU talent with support, resources, and knowledge to ensure communities are socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable. The HBCU Sustainable Communities Initiative is powered by the Southern Company Foundation and delivered through an innovative and historic collaboration among INROADS, Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF), and United Negro College Fund (UNCF), three national nonprofit organizations dedicated to creating a more equitable, inclusive, and socially just world. Learn more at www.HBCUSCI.org and follow on Instagram and Twitter @HBCUSCI.

About INROADS

Founded in 1970, INROADS delivers innovative programs and creative solutions that identify, accelerate, and elevate the development of underrepresented talent throughout their careers. Through this development, students become equipped for corporate and community leadership that effects community renewal and social change and elevates economic status and quality of life. INROADS has more than 30,000 alumni and over 900 interns and serves 4,000+ students and 200 corporate clients. Learn more at INROADS.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn @INROADSInc.

About TMCF

Established in 1987, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) is the nation's largest organization exclusively representing the Black College Community. TMCF member-schools include the publicly supported Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Predominantly Black Institutions, enrolling nearly 80% of all students attending Black colleges and universities.

About UNCF

UNCF (United Negro College Fund) is the nation's largest and most effective minority education organization. To serve youth, the community and the nation, UNCF supports students' education and development through scholarships and other programs, supports and strengthens its 37 member colleges and universities, and advocates for the importance of minority education and college readiness. While totaling only 3% of all colleges and universities, UNCF institutions and other historically Black colleges and universities are highly effective, awarding 15% of bachelor's degrees, 5% of master's degrees, 10% of doctoral degrees and 19% of all STEM degrees earned by Black students in higher education. UNCF administers more than 400 programs, including scholarship, internship and fellowship, mentoring, summer enrichment, and curriculum and faculty development programs. Today, UNCF supports more than 60,000 students at over 1,100 colleges and universities across the country. Its logo features the UNCF torch of leadership in education and its widely recognized trademark, A mind is a terrible thing to waste." Learn more at UNCF.org or for continuous updates and news, follow UNCF on Twitter at @UNCF .

About Southern Company

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is a leading energy company serving nine million customers through its subsidiaries. The company provides clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy through electric operating companies in three states, natural gas distribution companies in four states, a competitive generation company serving wholesale customers across America, a leading distributed energy infrastructure company, a fiber optics network and telecommunications services. Southern Company brands are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and affordable prices below the national average. For more than a century, we have been building the future of energy and developing the full portfolio of energy resources, including carbon-free nuclear, advanced carbon capture technologies, natural gas, renewables, energy efficiency and storage technology. Through an industry-leading commitment to innovation and a low-carbon future, Southern Company and its subsidiaries develop the customized energy solutions our customers and communities require to drive growth and prosperity. Our uncompromising values ensure we put the needs of those we serve at the center of everything we do and govern our business to the benefit of our world. Our corporate culture and hiring practices have been recognized nationally by the U.S. Department of Defense, G.I. Jobs magazine, DiversityInc, Black Enterprise, Forbes and the Women's Choice Award. To learn more, visit www.southerncompany.com .

SOURCE INROADS Inc.
Submissions for the Veterans Day Stair Lift Giveaway will be accepted Saturday, October 1 through Monday, October 31 at leafhomesafetysolutions.com/contest

HUDSON, Ohio, Oct. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Leaf Home and Leaf Home Safety Solutions are celebrating U.S. veterans just in time for Veterans Day. To honor those who have served, Leaf Home Safety Solutions will be providing and installing one of its industry-leading stair lifts for a deserving veteran in the communities of each of its 21 locations across the United States through its second annual Veterans Day Stair Lift Giveaway.

To honor those who have served, Leaf Home Safety Solutions will be providing and installing one of its industry-leading stair lifts for a deserving veteran in the communities of each of its 21 locations across the United States through its second annual Veterans Day Stair Lift Giveaway.

Entries will be accepted throughout October, with winners being announced in time for Veterans Day. To enter, participants must submit their information, along with a photo of their stairs and one-to-two sentences on how the stair lift will help them in their life. Winners in each of the 21 communities will be randomly selected after the contest has closed. Interested applicants can visit the website for more details and the official rules.

"This contest is a fantastic opportunity for veterans across the nation to live a happier, safer, and more accessible life," said Jeff Collignon, President of Leaf Home Safety Solutions. "We're excited to do our small part in providing peace of mind to veterans in our communities with our stair lifts."

Since its foundation, Leaf Home and its businesses have dedicated and supported efforts to give transitioning service members an opportunity to continue their professional journeys. In 2020, the company partnered with the Department of Defense SkillBridge program, which connects service members with civilian work opportunities. Additional partnerships include Hiring Our Heroes, Army PaYS, 7 Eagle Group, and Disabled American Veterans (DAV). Leaf Home currently has over 175 veterans on staff and was recently recognized as a Patriot Employer by DAV, a special recognition that spotlights companies who specifically do outstanding work in recruiting and hiring veterans.

"Leaf Home is constantly focused on ways we can serve our nation's veterans, be it through career opportunities, advancement, or initiatives that support our communities," said Nick Busse, Military Engagement Manager at Leaf Home. "We're thrilled to hold this giveaway for the second consecutive year, this time on a much larger scale. As we stay true to our commitments, initiatives like this are key to doing our part."

The Veterans Day Stair Lift Giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. EDT on October 31, 2022. There is no cost to enter. Those interested are encouraged to learn more details, including eligibility requirements and how to enter, by visiting www.leafhomesafetysolutions.com/contest.

About Leaf Home

Leaf Home is a leading technology-enabled direct-to-consumer provider of branded, innovative home solutions in North America. The company is on a mission to enhance the safety, enjoyment, and comfort of homeowners and their families by delivering seamless, transformative home solutions including gutter protection, home safety, water purification, and other home enhancement products. With its corporate headquarters in Hudson, Ohio, and locations across the U.S. and Canada, Leaf Home has become a trusted partner to over 1.1 million homeowners. Live Comfortable. Live Safe. Live Happy. For more information, visit www.leafhome.com.

Contact: [email protected].

SOURCE Leaf Home
NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Military Robots Market report has been added to Technavio's offering. The military robots market value is anticipated to grow by USD 8.19 billion, at a CAGR of 8.15% during the forecast period.

Market Driver

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Military Robots Market 2022-2026

One of the major elements propelling the military robots market's expansion is the improvement of border patrol and surveillance. Vendors including Elbit Systems, BAE Systems, and Saab provide border patrol and surveillance equipment. As an illustration, Elbit Systems supplies the Border Monitoring System (BSS), which delivers real-time regional surveillance, early warning, and the management of mission-critical border-patrol tasks. Therefore, during the projection period, such advancements and the strengthening of border monitoring and patrolling systems will propel market expansion. Request Free Sample Report.

Market Trend

Another major military robotics market trend driving the industry's expansion is the development of multi-mission robots. More and more military robots are built to do numerous tasks. Robotics now have more operating flexibility thanks to technological developments and the shrinking of electronic components. Robots do not experience physical or mental weariness like humans do. They are built to withstand more, including the effects of bombs and weaponry.

As a result, modern robots are outfitted with ammunition and mission-specific modules to perform a range of tasks. Recent launches of new multi-mission robots in the military industry by a few of the key competitors in the market are under consideration. Therefore, during the projected time, the development of such robots will boost market expansion. Buy Sample Report.

Vendors Profiles

The report includes competitive analysis, 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, and growth in market share.

Some of the companies covered in this report are AeroVironment Inc., Applied Research Associates Inc., BAE Systems Plc, Bayonet Ocean Vehicles, Cobham Ltd., Ekso Bionics Holdings Inc., Elbit Systems Ltd., General Dynamics Corp., General Robotics Ltd., Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd, L3Harris Technologies Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp., Milanion Ltd, M-Tecks Robotics, Northrop Grumman Corp., Saab AB, Teledyne Technologies Inc., and Thales Group, etc. Download Free Sample Report.

Market Segmentation

By Product , the market is classified into airborne military robots, naval military robots, and land-based military robots. Airborne military robots contribute the largest share of the market.

, the market is classified into airborne military robots, naval military robots, and land-based military robots. Airborne military robots contribute the largest share of the market. By Geography, the market is classified as North America , APAC, Europe , South America , and the Middle East and Africa . APAC will have the largest share of the market.

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Industrial Safety Integrated Components Market by End-user, Product and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026: The industrial safety integrated components market share is expected to increase by USD 2.53 billion from 2021 to 2026, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 6.85%.

Military Robots Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 8.15% Market growth 2022-2026 $8.19 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 7.86 Regional analysis North America, APAC, Europe, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution APAC at 36% Key consumer countries US, China, India, Russia, and Germany Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled AeroVironment Inc., Applied Research Associates Inc., BAE Systems Plc, Bayonet Ocean Vehicles, Cobham Ltd., Ekso Bionics Holdings Inc., Elbit Systems Ltd., General Dynamics Corp., General Robotics Ltd., Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd, L3Harris Technologies Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp., Milanion Ltd, M-Tecks Robotics, Northrop Grumman Corp., QinetiQ Ltd., Robo-Team Defense Ltd., Saab AB, Teledyne Technologies Inc., and Thales Group 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 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 Airborne military robots - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on Airborne military robots - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Airborne military robots - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on Airborne military robots - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Airborne military robots - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Naval military robots - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Naval military robots - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Naval military robots - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Naval military robots - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Naval military robots - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Land-based military robots - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 36: Chart on Land-based military robots - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Land-based military robots - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 38: Chart on Land-based military robots - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Land-based military robots - 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 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 58: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 60: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 61: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 62: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 63: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 64: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 65: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 66: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 67: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 68: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 69: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.9 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 Russia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 74: Chart on Russia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on Russia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 76: Chart on Russia - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on Russia - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.11 India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 78: Chart on India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Chart on India - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on India - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.12 Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 82: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 83: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 84: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 85: Data Table on Germany - 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 AeroVironment Inc.

Exhibit 93: AeroVironment Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 94: AeroVironment Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 95: AeroVironment Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 96: AeroVironment Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 97: AeroVironment Inc. - Segment focus

10.4 Applied Research Associates Inc.

Exhibit 98: Applied Research Associates Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 99: Applied Research Associates Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 100: Applied Research Associates Inc. - Key offerings

10.5 BAE Systems Plc

Exhibit 101: BAE Systems Plc - Overview



Exhibit 102: BAE Systems Plc - Business segments



Exhibit 103: BAE Systems Plc - Key offerings



Exhibit 104: BAE Systems Plc - Segment focus

10.6 Ekso Bionics Holdings Inc.

Exhibit 105: Ekso Bionics Holdings Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 106: Ekso Bionics Holdings Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 107: Ekso Bionics Holdings Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 108: Ekso Bionics Holdings Inc. - Segment focus

10.7 Elbit Systems Ltd.

Exhibit 109: Elbit Systems Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 110: Elbit Systems Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 111: Elbit Systems Ltd. - Key offerings

10.8 General Robotics Ltd.

Exhibit 112: General Robotics Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 113: General Robotics Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 114: General Robotics Ltd. - Key offerings

10.9 Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd

Exhibit 115: Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd - Overview



Exhibit 116: Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd - Product / Service



Exhibit 117: Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd - Key news



Exhibit 118: Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd - Key offerings

10.10 L3Harris Technologies Inc.

Exhibit 119: L3Harris Technologies Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 120: L3Harris Technologies Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 121: L3Harris Technologies Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 122: L3Harris Technologies Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 123: L3Harris Technologies Inc. - Segment focus

10.11 Lockheed Martin Corp.

Exhibit 124: Lockheed Martin Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 125: Lockheed Martin Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 126: Lockheed Martin Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 127: Lockheed Martin Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 128: Lockheed Martin Corp. - Segment focus

10.12 Teledyne Technologies Inc.

Exhibit 129: Teledyne Technologies Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 130: Teledyne Technologies Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 131: Teledyne Technologies Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 132: Teledyne Technologies Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 133: Teledyne Technologies Inc. - Segment focus

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 134: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 135: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 136: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 137: Research methodology



Exhibit 138: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 139: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 140: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Technavio's latest offering, the Motion Sickness Drugs Market report provides a detailed analysis of the competitive scenario and the market growth across various regions. The motion sickness drugs market value is anticipated to grow by USD 119.64 million, at a CAGR of 4.15% during the forecast period.

Market Driver

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Motion Sickness Drugs Market 2022-2026

One of the reasons influencing the growth of the market for motion sickness medications is the accessibility of over-the-counter (OTC) medications. The first-line treatment for repressing and preventing motion sickness symptoms has been anticholinergics and antihistamines. Numerous antihistamines are sold over-the-counter (OTC) and are suitable for usage by young patients. Furthermore, rather than being used to treat motion sickness, these medications are primarily utilized to avoid its effects.

OTC drugs are described as pharmaceuticals that are distributed directly to patients or consumers without a doctor's prescription. The potential for patients to self-medicate for the treatment of minor sickness symptoms is made possible by the OTC availability of these medications, which also increases their accessibility and affordability. Request Free Sample Report.

Company Profiles

The motion sickness drugs market report includes information on the product launches, sustainability, and prospects of leading vendors including Aurobindo Pharma Ltd, Baxter International Inc., Caleb Pharmaceuticals Inc, Cipla Ltd., CVS Health Corp., DM Pharma, Dr Reddys Laboratories Ltd, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Hylands, Johnson and Johnson, Lupin Ltd, Merck KGaA, Myungmoon Pharm Co. Ltd., Perrigo Co. Plc, Pfizer Inc., Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc., Reliefband Technologies LLC, Viatris Inc., WellSpring Pharmaceutical Corp., and Zenomed Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. Buy Sample Report.

Competitive Analysis

The report includes competitive analysis, 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.

Market Segmentation

By Product

The anticholinergics market share for motion sickness medications will experience significant growth. An anticholinergic medication called scopolamine or hyoscine hydrobromide is used to treat motion sickness. A naturally occurring alkaloid called hyoscine binds to muscarinic receptors in a competitive manner, preventing the release of acetylcholine.



Because hyoscine is a lipophilic substance, it can cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and have an impact on both the central and parasympathetic nervous systems. In the near future, these variables will accelerate segment expansion.

By Geography

North America will account for 41% of market growth. The two biggest markets in North America for anti-motion sickness medications are the US and Canada . The market in this region will expand more slowly than the market in Asia. Over the projection period, rising consumer disposable income will support the expansion of the North American market for anti-motion sickness medications.

To know additional highlights and key points on various market segments and their impact in coming years, Download Free Sample Report.

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Motion Sickness Drugs Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 4.15% Market growth 2022-2026 $119.64 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 3.67 Regional analysis North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of World (ROW) Performing market contribution North America at 41% Key consumer countries US, Canada, UK, Germany, and China Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Aurobindo Pharma Ltd, Baxter International Inc., Caleb Pharmaceuticals Inc, Cipla Ltd., CVS Health Corp., DM Pharma, Dr Reddys Laboratories Ltd, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Hylands, Johnson and Johnson, Lupin Ltd, Merck KGaA, Myungmoon Pharm Co. Ltd., Perrigo Co. Plc, Pfizer Inc., Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc., Reliefband Technologies LLC, Viatris Inc., WellSpring Pharmaceutical Corp., and Zenomed Healthcare Pvt. 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 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 Anticholinergics - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on Anticholinergics - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Anticholinergics - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on Anticholinergics - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Anticholinergics - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Antihistamines - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Antihistamines - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Antihistamines - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Antihistamines - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Antihistamines - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Market opportunity by Product

Exhibit 36: Market opportunity by Product ($ 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 Asia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 50: Chart on Asia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 51: Data Table on Asia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 52: Chart on Asia - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 53: Data Table on Asia - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 54: Chart on Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 55: Data Table on Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 56: Chart on Rest of World (ROW) - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 57: Data Table on Rest of World (ROW) - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.7 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 58: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 59: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 60: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 61: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 62: Chart on Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 63: Data Table on Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 64: Chart on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 65: Data Table on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.9 UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 66: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 67: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 68: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 69: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.10 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 (%)

7.11 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 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 78: 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 79: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

8.4 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 80: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 81: Overview on factors of disruption

9.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 82: Impact of key risks on business

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 83: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 84: Matrix on vendor position and classification

10.3 Baxter International Inc.

Exhibit 85: Baxter International Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 86: Baxter International Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 87: Baxter International Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 88: Baxter International Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 89: Baxter International Inc. - Segment focus

10.4 Caleb Pharmaceuticals Inc

Exhibit 90: Caleb Pharmaceuticals Inc - Overview



Exhibit 91: Caleb Pharmaceuticals Inc - Product / Service



Exhibit 92: Caleb Pharmaceuticals Inc - Key offerings

10.5 GlaxoSmithKline Plc

Exhibit 93: GlaxoSmithKline Plc - Overview



Exhibit 94: GlaxoSmithKline Plc - Business segments



Exhibit 95: GlaxoSmithKline Plc - Key offerings



Exhibit 96: GlaxoSmithKline Plc - Segment focus

10.6 Johnson and Johnson

Exhibit 97: Johnson and Johnson - Overview



Exhibit 98: Johnson and Johnson - Business segments



Exhibit 99: Johnson and Johnson - Key news



Exhibit 100: Johnson and Johnson - Key offerings



Exhibit 101: Johnson and Johnson - Segment focus

10.7 Myungmoon Pharm Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 102: Myungmoon Pharm Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 103: Myungmoon Pharm Co. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 104: Myungmoon Pharm Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

10.8 Perrigo Co. Plc

Exhibit 105: Perrigo Co. Plc - Overview



Exhibit 106: Perrigo Co. Plc - Business segments



Exhibit 107: Perrigo Co. Plc - Key offerings



Exhibit 108: Perrigo Co. Plc - Segment focus

10.9 Pfizer Inc.

Exhibit 109: Pfizer Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 110: Pfizer Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 111: Pfizer Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 112: Pfizer Inc. - Key offerings

10.10 Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc.

Exhibit 113: Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 114: Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 115: Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 116: Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc. - Segment focus

10.11 Reliefband Technologies LLC

Exhibit 117: Reliefband Technologies LLC - Overview



Exhibit 118: Reliefband Technologies LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 119: Reliefband Technologies LLC - Key offerings

10.12 WellSpring Pharmaceutical Corp.

Exhibit 120: WellSpring Pharmaceutical Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 121: WellSpring Pharmaceutical Corp. - Product / Service



Exhibit 122: WellSpring Pharmaceutical Corp. - Key offerings

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 123: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 124: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 125: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 126: Research methodology



Exhibit 127: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 128: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 129: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The global online sex toys market will be driven by the growing LGBT population in developed countries. The LGBT community is supported by mainstream news media in many developed countries. In 2015, 379 corporations and employer organizations urged the Supreme Court in the country to remove state bans on gay marriage. Goldman Sachs, Google, Morgan Stanley, and Coca-Cola were some of the organizations that were part of this initiative. The support for the LGBT community is also evident in an objective in the US Department of Health and Human Services. The Healthy People 2020 initiative was solely dedicated to improving the health and wellness of this population.

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Online Sex Toys Market 2022-2026

The LGBT population is the primary adopter of sexual wellness products. They are among the primary purchasers of sex toys, including dildos, adult vibrators, and erection rings. Thus the expanding LGBT population is expected to positively influence the growth of the market in focus during the forecast period. Use our insights to make effective decisions. Download Free Sample Report

Technavio estimates the market size to grow by USD 7.48 billion, accelerating at a CAGR of 8.25% between 2021 and 2026. Besides, the growing LGBT population, the growth of the market will also be driven by the rapid growth of e-commerce in APAC and an increase in cases of ED. However, cultural taboos and stringent laws in regional markets might reduce the growth potential of the market.

Online Sex Toys Market: Product Landscape

By product, the market is segmented by adult vibrators, erection rings, dildos, and others. The market observed significant demand for adult vibrators in 2021. Factors such as the changing perception of people toward sex toys, including vibrators, new product launches, and product innovations are driving the growth of the segment.

Online Sex Toys Market: Geographic Landscape

By geography, APAC is going to have lucrative growth during the forecast period. About 52% of the market's overall growth is expected to originate from APAC. Factors such as rising government initiatives and the increasing presence of vendors in developing countries are driving the growth of the online sex toys market in APAC.

Learn about the contribution of each segment summarized in concise infographics and thorough descriptions. Request Sample PDF Report

Companies Covered:

Adam and Eve Stores

Bad Dragon Enterprises Inc.

BMS Factory

Cliq Ltd.

FUN FACTORY GmbH

ItspleaZure

JIMMYJANE

LELOi AB

LifeStyles Healthcare Pte. Ltd.

Love Honey Group Ltd

Lovetreats

Luvu Brands Inc

Pipedream Products LLC

Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC

Tantus Inc.

TENGA Co. Ltd.

The Aneros Co.

VIBRATEX Inc.

WOW Tech International GmbH

What our reports offer:

Market share assessments for the regional and country-level segments

Strategic recommendations for the new entrants

Covers market data for 2021, 2022, until 2026

Market trends (drivers, opportunities, threats, challenges, investment opportunities, and recommendations)

Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations

Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends

Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments

Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancements

Related Reports:

Online Sex Toys Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 8.25% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 7.48 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 7.85 Regional analysis APAC, Europe, North America, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution APAC at 52% Key consumer countries US, Canada, China, Japan, Germany, and UK Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Adam and Eve Stores, Bad Dragon Enterprises Inc., BMS Factory, Cliq Ltd., FUN FACTORY GmbH, ItspleaZure, JIMMYJANE, LELOi AB, LifeStyles Healthcare Pte. Ltd., Love Honey Group Ltd, Lovetreats, Luvu Brands Inc, Pipedream Products LLC, Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC, Tantus Inc., TENGA Co. Ltd., The Aneros Co., VIBRATEX Inc., and WOW Tech International GmbH 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:

Executive Summary

Market Landscape

Market ecosystem

Value chain analysis

Market Sizing

Market definition

Market segment analysis

Market size 2021

Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026

Market outlook

Five Forces Analysis

Five Forces Summary

Bargaining power of buyers

Bargaining power of suppliers

he threat of new entrants

Threat of substitutes

Threat of rivalry

Market condition

Market Segmentation by Product

Market segments

Comparison by product placement

Adult vibrators - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Erection rings - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Dildos - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Market opportunity by product

Customer Landscape

Overview

Geographic Landscape

Geographic segmentation

Geographic comparison

APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 MEA - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Key leading countries

Market opportunity by geography

Market drivers

Market challenges

Market trends

Vendor Landscape

Overview

Vendor landscape

Landscape disruption

Vendor Analysis

Vendors covered

Market positioning of vendors

BMS Factory

Church and Dwight Co. Inc.

Doc Johnson Enterprises

FUN FACTORY GmbH

LELOi AB

LifeStyles Healthcare Pte Ltd.

Lovehoney Group Ltd.

Luvu Brands Inc.

Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc

TENGA Co. Ltd.

Appendix

Scope of the report

Currency conversion rates for US$

Research methodology

List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis 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
Trading Symbol TSX: SVM

NYSE AMERICAN: SVM

VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Silvercorp Metals Inc. ("Silvercorp" or the "Company") (TSX: SVM) (NYSE American: SVM) is pleased to report that all matters submitted to shareholders for approval as set out in the Company's Notice of Meeting and Information Circular, both dated August 15, 2022, were approved by the requisite majority of votes cast at Silvercorp's annual general meeting ("AGM") held today. A total of 101,907,093 common shares, representing 57.58% of the votes attached to all outstanding shares as at the record date for the meeting, were represented at the AGM. The details of the voting results for the election of directors are set out below:



Votes For Withheld Director Number Percentage Number Percentage Dr. Rui Feng 74,978,190 96.08 % 3,057,320 3.92 % Paul Simpson 71,088,697 91.10 % 6,946,814 8.90 % David Kong 71,335,481 91.41 % 6,700,030 8.59 % Yikang Liu 76,896,116 98.54 % 1,139,394 1.46 % Marina Katusa 74,288,517 95.20 % 3,746,994 4.80 % Ken Robertson 76,955,339 98.62 % 1,080,171 1.38 %

The Company would like to welcome Ken Robertson to the board of directors. Mr. Robertson is a Chartered Professional Accountant with over 35 years of public accounting experience in Canada and England. He was a Partner and Global Mining & Metals Group Leader with Ernst & Young LLP ("EY"), where he developed extensive experience in initial public offerings, financings, governance, and securities regulatory compliance. Mr. Robertson holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McMaster University and the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Shareholders also approved the share-based compensation plan and the re-appointment of Deloitte LLP as auditors of the Company for the ensuing year. Final results for all matters voted on at the AGM will be filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website.

About Silvercorp

Silvercorp is a Canadian mining company producing silver, gold, lead, and zinc with a long history of profitability and growth potential. The Company's strategy is to create shareholder value by 1) focusing on generating free cashflow from long life mines; 2) organic growth through extensive drilling for discovery; 3) ongoing merger and acquisition efforts to unlock value; and 4) long term commitment to responsible mining and ESG. For more information, please visit our website at www.silvercorpmetals.com.

For further information

Silvercorp Metals Inc.

Lon Shaver

Vice President

Phone: (604) 669-9397

Toll Free 1(888) 224-1881

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.silvercorpmetals.com

SOURCE Silvercorp Metals Inc
Longstanding giving program furthers $18.5 million investment in national breast cancer advocacy work and continues support of community nonprofit organizations

GREENSBORO, N.C., Sept. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc. (NYSE: SKT) announces the launch of its annual Pink campaign this October, building upon the company's commitment to breast cancer research and local breast cancer support groups within the communities it serves. Tanger continues its partnership of over a decade with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), bringing the organization's impact to life by spreading the message of its mission  supporting those impacted by breast cancer and committing critical funds that help save lives and improve outcomes. In addition to this company-wide partnership, Tanger's field teams continue to champion organizations in their 37 communities across the U.S. and Canada with local funding that supports research, care and patient services.

For nearly 30 years, the signature Tanger Pink program has contributed more than $18.5 million toward raising awareness for early detection, funding research programs and supporting those affected by a breast cancer diagnosis. Since 2011, the initiative has directed $4.2 million to BCRF, funding more than 84,000 hours of dedicated research. As a values-led organization that prioritizes philanthropic commitments, Tanger is proud to continue its pledge to help bring an end to cancer by advancing the world's most promising research. The company furthers this mission by empowering its local teams to identify needs in their communities and partner with cancer support organizations that make a direct impact in their own neighborhoods.

BCRF is the highest-rated breast cancer research organization in the United States and the largest private funder of breast cancer research worldwide. Tanger's sustained support of the organization is dedicated to underwriting the work of Dr. Shelley Hwang, Professor of Surgery and Chief of Breast Surgical Oncology at Duke University, who is focused on the latest medical trials to improve cancer diagnosis outcomes and save lives. "We all have a power within us to make a difference in the lives of these patients, and we must embrace this together as a community," noted Dr. Hwang. "I feel so privileged to be able to partner with BCRF and Tanger to do this important work."

"Tanger is deeply committed to raising awareness and funding for the fight against cancer," said Tanger Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Leslie Swanson. "The personal impact breast cancer has had on so many of our shoppers, team members and families inspires Tanger to continue our support for BCRF, alongside local nonprofit partners in our communities. The combined contributions of our shoppers help provide significant funding to this collective research that we hope will one day lead to a cure."

Throughout October, all 37 Tanger centers across the U.S. and Canada invite shoppers to help support breast cancer research and programs. As part of the new 2022 program, the Tanger Pink Savings Card provides two levels of savings at participating stores based on TangerClub status: 15% off a single item and 15% off an entire purchase for Tanger Insiders or 25% off a single item and 15% off an entire purchase for TangerClub members. Pink cards are available in either a physical or digital card format and can be purchased online at tangeroutlets.com or onsite by visiting Shopper Services. Brands participating in this year's Tanger Pink program include Columbia, J.Crew, Under Armour, Old Navy, Vera Bradley, Adidas, Puma and American Eagle. To learn more about Tanger Pink 2022, please visit tangeroutlets.com/pink and connect with Tanger Outlets on Facebook and Instagram.

Tanger Pink 2022 continues the company's relentless commitment to a better shared future for its local communities. The October program comes on the heels of the company's September education initiative, awarding more than $160,000 to local schools through TangerKids Grants. During this program, Tanger partnered with local educators to enrich learning opportunities for students, including grants to support more inclusive classroom environments for underserved schools and scholars.

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 tangeroutlets.com.

About the Breast Cancer Research Foundation

Breast cancer is a complex disease with no simple solution. Research is the key to stopping it in its tracks. Founded in 1993 by Evelyn H. Lauder, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation is the largest private funder of breast cancer research in the world. We invest in the best minds in sciencefrom those investigating prevention to metastasisand foster cross-disciplinary collaboration. Our approach accelerates the entire field and moves us closer to the answers we urgently need. We can't stop now. Join us in fueling the world's most promising research. With you, we will be the end of breast cancer. Learn more and get involved at BCRF.org.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Brianna Poplaskie

BRAVE Public Relations

404.233.3993

[email protected]

SOURCE Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc.
Funds to provide recovery assistance and relief to military families and local communities hit by recent storm

SAN ANTONIO, Oct. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- USAA has committed $1.25 million to seven organizations enabling additional relief, support and recovery for the millions of Americans impacted by Hurricane Ian. American Red Cross and Team Rubicon will each receive $500,000, and five U.S. military aid societies will receive a combined $250,000.

"Our military members are always prepared to protect our nation, and part of our company's mission is to respond to their needs during natural disasters like Hurricane Ian," said Wayne Peacock, president and CEO of USAA. "This storm has left millions reeling from its catastrophic effects, and it isn't over, yet. We want to ensure we are doing everything we can to help the military and our local communities get back on their feet."

The American Red Cross is already on the ground assisting with basic needs such as food, water and shelter. Team Rubicon is assisting with disaster response efforts, including route clearance. Their volunteers are ready to provide home muck outs and expedient home repair. The five military aid societies will provide emergency financial assistance to current servicemembers who need assistance due to impacts from Hurricane Ian.

"Our teams are working around the clock to ensure basic needs are provided for families in areas impacted by Hurricane Ian," said Sunny Howard, chief development officer at American Red Cross. "The additional support provided by USAA will allow us to meet the urgent needs of those affected and focus on providing safe shelter, food, emotional support, first aid and health services."

In 2022, USAA, The USAA Foundation, Inc. and USAA Bank have committed a total of more than $50 million in contributions to support its local communities and promote military family resilience  ensuring that service members, veterans, and their families have the skills and resources to withstand, recover and grow from challenges.

For those interested in learning more about how they can volunteer their time or donate to relief efforts, visit usaa.com/help. USAA members can also visit usaa.com/help for more detailed instructions on how to file an insurance claim.

About USAA

Founded in 1922 by a group of military officers, USAA is among the leading providers of insurance, banking, and investment and retirement solutions to more than 13 million members of the U.S. military, veterans who have honorably served and their families. Headquartered in San Antonio, USAA has offices in eight U.S. cities and three overseas locations and employs more than 38,000 people worldwide. Each year, the company contributes to national and local nonprofits in support of military families and communities where employees live and work. For more information about USAA, follow us on Facebook or Twitter (@USAA), or visit usaa.com.

Contact: USAA Media Relations

[email protected]

210-498-0940

SOURCE USAA
During the Amsterdam event, Viking also named the Viking Polaris and her identical sister ship, the Viking Octantis  , which is currently sailing her inaugural season in the Great Lakes. Both ships will spend the Austral summer in Antarctica, before traveling north to the Great Lakes for a series of voyages during spring and summer.

"Today is historic for Vikingto celebrate our 25th anniversary, to have all classes of our ships sailing together for the first time, and to name our phenomenal new expedition vessels. We are very grateful to their godmothers, Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft, for honoring us. As renowned explorers who became the first women to ski across Antarctica, they are the perfect choice for ships that are designed for expeditions," said Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking. "I am very proud of what we have accomplished in our first 25 years. And in our view, we are just getting started. Where do we go next? Onwards."

Renowned explorers and educators Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft, the respective ceremonial godmothers of the Viking Octantis and the Viking Polaris, were in attendance in Amsterdam and offered a blessing of good fortune and safe sailing for the new shipswith Arnesen offering her blessing remotely via video to the Viking Octantis in the Great Lakes. In keeping with the naming tradition, Arnesen and Bancroft assisted in breaking a bottle of Norwegian aquavit on each of the ship's hull. During the ceremony, guests enjoyed performances from Sissel Kyrkjeb, one of the world's leading crossover sopranos and godmother of the Viking Jupiter, and violinist Tor Jaran Apold. Guests on all three Viking ships in Amsterdam were able to join in the naming ceremony, as well as witness the historic convoy, from their ships' respective outdoor viewing areas.

Viking's 25th anniversary celebration in Amsterdam is the most recent event during a milestone year in which the company has also welcomed to its fleet eight new Viking Longships on the rivers of Europe and new purpose-built vessels on the Mekong, Nile and Mississippi rivers. By the end of 2022, two new, identical ocean ships will have also joined Viking's fleet. Earlier this year, Viking was named the #1 Ocean Line and #1 River Line in Travel + Leisure's 2022 "World's Best" Awards, in which the company became the first cruise line ever to top both categories in the same year. Viking is also rated #1 for both rivers and oceans by Conde Nast Traveler, making it the first cruise line to ever simultaneously earn #1 in its categories from both publications. Additionally, Viking has published a new video about the company's history and some of the key partners who have contributed to its success, which was shared on board all Viking ships today as part of the 25th anniversary celebration.

Liv Arnesen , Godmother of the Viking Octantis

Liv Arnesen is a native Norwegian, educator, cross-country skier, explorer and lecturer. Arnesen led the first unsupported women's crossing of the Greenland Ice Cap in 1992. The Viking Octantis is named after Sigma Octantis, the south star; Arnesen was chosen as godmother specifically because of her accomplishment as the first woman in the world to ski solo and unsupported to the South Pole. As the godmother of the Viking Octantis, Arnesen will periodically serve as a member of the Viking Expedition Team when sailing in Antarctica and beyond.

"It is an honor to be the godmother of the new Viking Octantis. I have spent significant time in Antarctica and recently had the privilege to return on one of the ship's first voyages. The region is a special destination for scientists and adventurers, and sailing with Viking is the perfect way to get there," said Liv.

Ann Bancroft , Godmother of the Viking Polaris

Ann Bancroft, an American polar explorer, educator and author from Minnesota, became the first woman to successfully ski to both poles in 1993. Bancroft also led the first American women's east to west crossing of Greenland and dogsled 1,000 miles from the Northwest Territories in Canada to the North Pole. The Viking Polaris is named after Polaris, the north star; Bancroft was chosen as godmother specifically because of her accomplishment as the first woman to reach the North Pole by sled and foot. In addition to being the godmother of the Viking Polaris, she is the founder of the Ann Bancroft Foundation to inspire girls and build confidence.

"Growing up in the Minnesota region, the Great Lakes are where I spent my early years becoming an explorer. I am proud to be the godmother of an expedition vessel like the Viking Polaris that will allow guests to visit, not only the Great Lakes, but also Antarctica, two regions that played a pivotal role in my life," said Ann.

Liv Arnesen & Ann Bancroft Partnership

For more than 20 years, Arnesen and Bancroft have worked together and in 2001, they became the first women to ski across Antarctica. Together they co-founded Bancroft Arnesen Explore / Access Water, an initiative that aims to engage and empower more than 60 million minds to create a sustainable tomorrow.

Viking Expedition Ships

The new Polar Class Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris host 378 guests in 189 staterooms. The vessels are purpose-built for expeditions, at an ideal size for safety and comfort in remote destinations. With more indoor and outdoor viewing areas than other expedition vessels, guests are as close as possible to the most magnificent scenery on earth. Highlights include:

The Aula: A stunning panoramic auditorium inspired by the University of Oslo's famed ceremonial hall, the former venue for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Used for lectures, daily briefings, documentaries and films, this spectacular venue features a 4k laser-projected screen that retracts to expose floor-to-ceiling windows and 270 views.

A stunning panoramic auditorium inspired by the famed ceremonial hall, the former venue for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Used for lectures, daily briefings, documentaries and films, this spectacular venue features a laser-projected screen that retracts to expose floor-to-ceiling windows and 270 views. Finse Terrace: An outdoor lounge area just above sea level with recessed, heated seating and lava rock "firepits," the Finse Terrace was designed to allow guests the comforts of the ship al fresco while enjoying the dramatic scenery. Named after the Finse Plateau in Norway , where some of the greatest polar explorers, including Nansen and Amundsen, did their expedition training in preparation for their North and South Pole expeditions.

An outdoor lounge area just above sea level with recessed, heated seating and lava rock "firepits," the Finse Terrace was designed to allow guests the comforts of the ship al fresco while enjoying the dramatic scenery. Named after the Finse Plateau in , where some of the greatest polar explorers, including Nansen and Amundsen, did their expedition training in preparation for their North and South Pole expeditions. The Hangar: A state-of-the-art, industry-first in-ship marina providing ease of embarkation and disembarkation of Special Operations Boats and other equipment while sheltered from the elements.

A state-of-the-art, industry-first in-ship marina providing ease of embarkation and disembarkation of Special Operations Boats and other equipment while sheltered from the elements. The Bow: An important forward-viewing platform. And in the case of inclement weather, The Shelter is a comfortable, partially enclosed space for guests to warm up with a hot drink before going back out into the elements.

An important forward-viewing platform. And in the case of inclement weather, is a comfortable, partially enclosed space for guests to warm up with a hot drink before going back out into the elements. The Science Lab: Developed in partnership with the University of Cambridge and Akvaplan-Niva, The Science Lab, at 380 sq. ft., is designed to support a broad range of research activities and is equipped with wet and dry laboratory facilities. Guests have supervised access to The Science Lab to learn from and participate in undertaking meaningful research with scientists.

Developed in partnership with the and Akvaplan-Niva, The Science Lab, at 380 sq. ft., is designed to support a broad range of research activities and is equipped with wet and dry laboratory facilities. Guests have supervised access to The Science Lab to learn from and participate in undertaking meaningful research with scientists. Expedition Central: The hub for the expedition team to consult with guests on their expedition activities and share knowledge about the destinations on a one-on-one basis, with the aid of 3D printed maps, digital screens, and a state-of-the-art spatial data visualization chart table.

The hub for the expedition team to consult with guests on their expedition activities and share knowledge about the destinations on a one-on-one basis, with the aid of 3D printed maps, digital screens, and a state-of-the-art spatial data visualization chart table. Dining Choices: The Restaurant offers fine dining featuring regional cuisine and always-available classics; the casual World Cafe offers an open kitchen, bakery, grill and premium seafood and sushi choices, as well as a wide range of international flavors; Mamsen's, named for the Hagen family matriarch, serves Scandinavian-inspired fare; and Manfredi's offers the best of Italian cuisine.

The Restaurant offers fine dining featuring regional cuisine and always-available classics; the casual World Cafe offers an open kitchen, bakery, grill and premium seafood and sushi choices, as well as a wide range of international flavors; Mamsen's, named for the Hagen family matriarch, serves Scandinavian-inspired fare; and Manfredi's offers the best of Italian cuisine. The Nordic Spa: Following a day of exploration, The Nordic Spa offers guests opportunities to experience the ultimate healthy Nordic traditions, with an indoor heated pool set against expansive windows and a badestamp (wood-sided hot tub) that is open to the outside.

Following a day of exploration, The Nordic Spa offers guests opportunities to experience the ultimate healthy Nordic traditions, with an indoor heated pool set against expansive windows and a (wood-sided hot tub) that is open to the outside. Explorers' Lounge: Located high on the ship with floor-to-ceiling windows, the Explorers' Lounge provides guests an ideal space to take in the magnificent scenery, share discoveries with fellow travelers or to enjoy a drink.

Located high on the ship with floor-to-ceiling windows, the Explorers' Lounge provides guests an ideal space to take in the magnificent scenery, share discoveries with fellow travelers or to enjoy a drink. The Living Room: On the Viking Octantis and the Viking Polaris , The Living Room is located to maximize views of the surroundings through floor-to-ceiling windows and a library that informs even the best-read explorers. The Library is curated by acclaimed London bookshop Heywood Hill , as on all Viking vessels, as well as Cambridge University's Scott Polar Research Institute.

On the and the , The Living Room is located to maximize views of the surroundings through floor-to-ceiling windows and a library that informs even the best-read explorers. The Library is curated by acclaimed bookshop , as on all Viking vessels, as well as Scott Polar Research Institute. Nordic Balcony: A first for polar expedition vessels, all staterooms on board Viking's expedition ships feature a Nordic Balcony, a sunroom that converts into an al fresco viewing platform with an observation shelf at elbow level to stabilize binoculars or a camera. Guests can choose from six stateroom categories that range from 222 sq. ft. to 1,223 sq. ft.all with a Nordic Balcony, as well as a king-size bed and large bathroom with spacious glass-enclosed shower, heated bathroom floor and anti-fog mirror. Every stateroom is also equipped with a unique floor-to-ceiling drying closet that circulates warm air to dry and store clothing and expedition gear.

A first for polar expedition vessels, all staterooms on board Viking's expedition ships feature a Nordic Balcony, a sunroom that converts into an al fresco viewing platform with an observation shelf at elbow level to stabilize binoculars or a camera. Guests can choose from six stateroom categories that range from 222 sq. ft. to 1,223 sq. ft.all with a Nordic Balcony, as well as a king-size bed and large bathroom with spacious glass-enclosed shower, heated bathroom floor and anti-fog mirror. Every stateroom is also equipped with a unique floor-to-ceiling drying closet that circulates warm air to dry and store clothing and expedition gear. Expedition Ship Suites: Nordic Junior Suites (322 sq. ft.) and Explorer Suites (580 sq. ft.) on the Viking Octantis and the Viking Polaris are similar to those on Viking's fleet of ocean ships, with wood detailing and amenities that include additional storage and seating, an expanded bathroom with extended shower and double sinks, welcome champagne, a fully-stocked mini-bar replenished daily, complimentary laundry, priority restaurant reservations and more. Explorer Suites feature two separate rooms, a Nordic Balcony and a full outdoor veranda. Additionally, each ship features one Owner's Suite (1,223 sq. ft.) that has three rooms  a living room, a board/dining room and a bedroomas well as a 792 sq. ft. private deck with a traditional Norwegian badestamp open to the invigorating outdoors.

Nordic Junior Suites (322 sq. ft.) and Explorer Suites (580 sq. ft.) on the and the are similar to those on Viking's fleet of ocean ships, with wood detailing and amenities that include additional storage and seating, an expanded bathroom with extended shower and double sinks, welcome champagne, a fully-stocked mini-bar replenished daily, complimentary laundry, priority restaurant reservations and more. Explorer Suites feature two separate rooms, a Nordic Balcony and a full outdoor veranda. Additionally, each ship features one Owner's Suite (1,223 sq. ft.) that has three rooms  a living room, a board/dining room and a bedroomas well as a 792 sq. ft. private deck with a traditional Norwegian open to the invigorating outdoors. Enrichment On Board and On Shore: Viking has created the world's leading scientific enrichment environment in an expedition setting. Exclusive partnerships with the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge University , The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)as well as other prestigious scientific institutions match leading researchers and educators with each expedition. Thirty-six experts accompany each journey as part of the Viking Expedition Team, including an Expedition Leader and support staff, photographer, field research scientists, general naturalists, mountain guides, kayak guides, submarine pilots and specialists (ornithology, geology, higher predator biology and history). On board, guests will enjoy daily briefings and world-class lectures about their destination. On shore, they can assist in fieldwork or interact through experiential activities during landingssuch as monitoring birds to help identify migratory patterns; accompanying scientists to collect samples; or taking their cameras ashore alongside a professional photographer to learn how best to capture scenic landscapes.

Viking has created the world's leading scientific enrichment environment in an expedition setting. Exclusive partnerships with the Scott Polar Research Institute at , The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)as well as other prestigious scientific institutions match leading researchers and educators with each expedition. Thirty-six experts accompany each journey as part of the Viking Expedition Team, including an Expedition Leader and support staff, photographer, field research scientists, general naturalists, mountain guides, kayak guides, submarine pilots and specialists (ornithology, geology, higher predator biology and history). On board, guests will enjoy daily briefings and world-class lectures about their destination. On shore, they can assist in fieldwork or interact through experiential activities during landingssuch as monitoring birds to help identify migratory patterns; accompanying scientists to collect samples; or taking their cameras ashore alongside a professional photographer to learn how best to capture scenic landscapes. Environmentally Considerate: Viking's expedition ships have set a new standard for responsible travel with an energy-efficient design that exceeds the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) requirements by nearly 38%. In addition to an integrated bow that creates a longer waterline for the ships, engines with heat recovery systems and Azipod Electric Propulsion, the Viking Octantis and the Viking Polaris have received one of the industry's first SILENT-E notationsthe highest-level certification for quiet ship propulsion, minimizing underwater noise pollution.

About Viking

Viking was founded in 1997 and provides destination-focused journeys on rivers, oceans, and lakes around the world. Designed for experienced travelers with interests in science, history, culture and cuisine, Chairman Torstein Hagen often says Viking offers guests travel experiences for The Thinking PersonSM. Viking has more than 250 awards to its name, including being the first cruise line to ever be named both the #1 Ocean Line and the #1 River Line in a single year in Travel + Leisure's 2022 "World's Best" Awards. Viking was also rated the #1 River Cruise Line and #1 Ocean Cruise Line by Conde Nast Traveler in the publication's 2021 Readers' Choice Awards. For additional information, contact Viking at 1-800-2-VIKING (1-800-284-5464) or visit www.viking.com. For Viking's award-winning enrichment channel, visit www.viking.tv.

SOURCE Viking
interview

New York  The African Finance Corporation (AFC), has a mission even more critical today than when it was created in 2007 - mobilizing private sector-led infrastructure investment needed to drive the continent's economic growth. Younger and perhaps lesser-known than its sister development finance institutions  the African Development Bank and the Afreximbank  AFC is attracting attention with a broad portfolio of innovative projects across its 37 member states.The Central Bank of Nigeria is the largest shareholder, with a 42% stake. Most of the other shares are owned by private African banks, as well as government agencies and pension funds.

In April, AFC reported record performance "driven by high impact investments and its strong credit profile". Last year, the rating agency Moody's upgraded AFC to 'stable', based on "demonstrated ability to avoid the erosion of its intrinsic financial strength despite the pandemic, which led to the worst recession on the African continent in decades."

Samaila Zubairu, who became president and CEO in 2018 after nine years heading Africapital Management Limited, calculates that Africa needs to spend $170 billion on infrastructure each year. Africa's growth and development has global importance, he says, because Africa can make such substantial contributions to solving the major problems facing the world today. Zubairu spoke with AllAfrica about AFC's objectives and achievements on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York:

The Africa Finance Corporation was created 15 years ago by the Central Bank of Nigeria - an initiative that came out of the African Peer Review Mechanism. Infrastructure was identified by President Obasanjo (Nigeria), President Mbeki (South Africa) and a few other leaders as the Achilles heel for Africa's development. The idea was to create an institution with a different approach from existing institutions, with the immunities and privileges of a multilateral institution and the flexibility and pragmatism to get things done on the continent.

AFC doesn't start with an application checklist; it collaborates to reduce risks.

Cenpower Kpone Independent Power Project, a multi-fuel-fired thermal power station in Ghana's port city of Tema.

A typical financial institution will give a checklist of what is required to get financing. We take a different approach. We're very focused on risk management, and we think that is something to be done together in the early stages. You need both experience and the regulatory framework to get things done, and sometimes the client is not able to access that. We take the view that we need to engage with both the government and the sponsor to create the environment to invest.

I'll give you an example. We did the first independent power project in Ghana  Cenpower. We had several starts and stops. Part of what we did was to craft the first power purchase agreement in the country - and to get everybody to buy into that. That template was used for several other financings down the line. We worked to de-risk the opportunity. We did the first independent power project in Cape Verde as well. It uses wind turbines to provide 20 percent of energy requirements of the island and replaces more carbon intensive fuels.

We learned a lot from those experiences. So when we got into another project in Cote d'Ivoire - a hydro project - we decided that we needed to eliminate the construction risk, as much as possible. That's the biggest risk for a project and that's what takes the most time. So we came up with a finance product that allowed us to start construction, get to commissioning, and then invite financial institutions to provide the debt.

We invest in the entire spectrum of capital structure.

This is a good segue for me to tell you that we invest in the entire spectrum of capital structure, from the very early-stage risk to working capital finance. We play across the entire spectrum, and we're the only African institution that does that. We have taken the view that whatever is the reason that development in Africa has not happened, whatever the reason is that things have taken long, we will make a difference with our approach. We will understand the risk. We will make sure that there's proper allocation of risk between the sponsor, the government, ourselves and all the parties that we're going to work with. And we'll manage to ensure that those risks are mitigated, to assure the returns that we expect.

The perception of risk in Africa is highly overestimated.

Several rating agencies have done studies showing that Africa is less risky than North America, and Asia. The only region in the world that is less risky than Africa is Western Europe.

We have deployed over $10 billion across 37 African countries. We have demonstrated that it is profitable to invest in Africa, to take the risk once you can manage them. We've paid a dividend every year for the last 12 years. We are a profitable organization. We are an investment-grade institution, we have an investment grade rating that allows us to de-risk projects, and to distribute those projects to other partners.

Working with AFC, the U.S. government can achieve its aspirations for infrastructure development. We get things done!

We believe in partnership and alliances, which is why we are here today. We think that there's a window of opportunity for the U.S. government to engage with AFC, because we are able to help them achieve their aspirations around infrastructure investment for economic development.

We got a $250-million investment from the DFC [Development Finance Corporation] in 2020. Now that the U.S. government is thinking more constructively about engaging with Africa, there are several opportunities for us. We have our capital to deploy, but we want to partner to do more. We think that we are an essential entity for the United States and the G7 to deploy $600 billion for infrastructure in emerging markets. We get things done. We have built infrastructure projects that enable industrialization to take place, which is one of the key ingredients for a sustainable economy.

READ: President Biden and G7 Leaders Launch the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment

I'll give you some examples of how we deliver. We worked with the government of Gabon to diversify income away from hydrocarbons, focusing on forestry. We built the first timber focused industrial park. We built three ports to facilitate export. We invested in rail lines for throughput to the ports. We invested in wire lines, for better access of electricity to the Special Economic Zone. We put in a one-stop regulatory and processing office in the Special Economic Zone.

Cabeolica The Cabeolica Project wind farms on the island of Santiago in the Republic of Cape Verde.

Since that project was commissioned, exports have grown by over four times and the value of the exports has increased. They used to earn 20 to 50 euros per cubic meter of wood. Now, they earn 150 to180 euros per cubic meter of wood - in some cases up to 40,000 euros.

Gabon, with AFC, built Africa's only carbon-neutral zone.

Gabon is one of the largest exporters of veneer, plywood and sawn wood. We have over 100 companies operating within the zone. They have created  last time I checked - something like 40,000 jobs, and we have been able to replicate this success in other jurisdictions. The power of example is what is working for us. Since the project was built, several African leaders and foreign dignitaries have gone to the site. It is actually the only carbon-neutral industrial zone in Africa as we speak.

And we are replicating that in Togo. We've already built the park and it's sold out. We're expanding the industrial park. We're looking at timber cutting and cashews. We're looking at making generic drugs in the Special Economic Zone. We're having a facility that would assemble electric bikes.

In Benin, we are far advanced in construction of another Special Economic Zone. The whole idea of this industrial park is to transform agricultural products such as cotton to garments. We're looking at providing conscientious consumers traceability of the origins of the cotton so they can know that this is sustainably farmed, processed and utilized. That, again, we're using to demonstrate that we can have value capture on the continent, and we can do it at scale. We're looking at projects like that across African countries. We're looking at Cote d'Ivoire, Republic of the Congo, DR Congo. We're looking at Nigeria.

AFC is capturing value across Africa  at scale  providing jobs and managing migration.

We are doing a lot of things. We recently acquired Lekela, the largest renewable energy company in Africa. We have our own pipeline. We are one of the largest port owners in Africa - we have currently four ports with another one under construction and several others in the pipeline for development. We have invested in precious metals like gold. We're building a royalty and streaming platform. We're also looking at battery, minerals, and metals.

Africa Finance Corporation The Nkok Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Gabon is a multi-sectoral industrial park that includes an industrial zone, a commercial zone and a residential zone and includes a cluster dedicated to wood processing.

Our thesis is that moving from exporting raw materials to exporting processed goods is the only way to structurally transform the African economy. That is the only way to create the jobs that are required for growing populations. That is the only way that we can also work with the rest of the world to manage immigration, because once Africa works, there'll be less migration out of Africa.

African institutions are the main investors now. The PIC [Public Investment Corporation of South Africa] recently agreed to make an investment. We think the time has come for the world to also join, because what we're doing works for everybody. Development in Africa is important because Africa has significant resources, and Africa is a key part of the solution to most of the challenges facing the world today. Climate - Africa has natural carbon sinks that absorb carbon emissions. We need to consider reforestation as a way of keeping those carbon sinks.

If we're going to move towards a more livable planet, we need to take net zero in Africa seriously.

In our white paper on climate change where we outline Africa's path to net zero, we argue that for real change to happen, we need to focus on three things. First, we need to localize circular economies in Africa that will process the significant amount of minerals and metals required for the energy transition We need to find a way of preserving African carbon sinks . We need to build better infrastructure to withstand the impacts of climate change. Financial innovation and renewable energy sources must be utilized. Africa has 60 percent of the best solar sources globally, but less than one percent has been constructed.

We need to do more value addition on the continent to reduce the massive emissions from shipping. If shipping was a country, it would be the sixth largest emitter after China, US, India, Russia and Japan. If we do value addition to the vast minerals and metals that are required for the energy transition, we would reduce carbon emissions globally. We can't be shipping all the minerals to Asia for processing, and then on to the rest of the world.

@SPimentaIFC / Twitter A agro-processing facility under construction in the Glo-Djigbe industrial zone in Benin.

If we provide LPG and other efficient cooking methods to the vast majority of Africans, we will keep trees in the ground and will have trees to absorb a lot more carbon going forward.

Look at all the opportunities for the African Continental Free Trade Area. For that to work efficiently, we need something like two million trucks, and it can't be diesel trucks. It has to be electric trucks  fabricated in Africa. And for that to happen, we need an African market big enough for the likes of Ford and GM. It makes sense to invest alongside us to build trucks and batteries in Africa. Production capacity in Africa creates jobs in Africa and reduces migration out of Africa.

The intersection of climate change, the energy crisis, the food crisis provides our best chance. We need to take seize the moment.

Adaptation is key! Mitigation is not going to be enough. Africa is at the very low end for energy access. African nations on the coast suffer the most severe consequences of climate change, and that needs to change. We have real losses from floods, drought, and farming. We need to financially innovate, look at blended finance, first-loss insurance as a tool for mobilizing the capital required to build industries that will process the minerals and metals for batteries and mobility.

We need financial innovation to attract the pledges that have been made for climate. We need to find a way to manage currency risk.

Africa has the chance to turn things around. If you look at the intersection of climate change, the energy crisis, the food crisis, this is our best chance. We need to seize the moment. Africa has the resources. Africa has significant capital. If we repurpose a lot of the foreign reserves for development in Africa, if we find a way of getting pension funds comfortable enough to invest, Africa will go a long way. But we also need to work with the rest of the world, because it's in our collective interest for Africa to develop.

AllAfrica conversations and interviews are lightly edited for clarity, flow and length.
Jakarta, Oct 1 : An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 jolted Indonesia's western province of North Sumatra on Saturday morning, and there were no preliminary reports of damages or casualties, authorities said.

The quake hit at 02:28 Jakarta time on Saturday with the epicenter at 15 km northwest of the North Tapanuli district and a depth of 10 km, the country's meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

The quake, followed by two tremors with magnitudes of 5.1 and 5.0 respectively, did not have the potential to trigger a tsunami, according to the agency.

So far there were no reports of damages or casualties, including in the hardest-hit areas of the North Tapanuli district, said Agus Wibisono, head of the Search and Rescue Office for the Nias Island of the North Sumatra province.

"We got information from the rescuers in the North Tapanuli district that so far there are no damages or casualties there," he told the news agency via phone.

The tremors were also felt in the nearby province of Aceh.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : Even the top executive of a luxury car brand could require an auto-rickshaw to reach his destination -- this came true for Martin Schwenk, the Chief Executive Officer of Mercedes-Benz India, after he got stuck in Pune's traffic jam recently.

Stuck in traffic jam, Schwenk step out of his Mercedes S-Class car, walk for a few kilometres and took an auto-rickshaw, he narrated in an Instagram post.

Sharing a picture, Schwenk wrote, "If your S-class is stuck in traffic on the wonderful Pune roads - what do you do? Maybe getting off the car, start walking for a few KM's and then grabbing a rickshaw?" The post soon gone viral on the social media with a few users asking him about his experience of taking an autorickshaw.

A user wrote, "Well, lucky you. Not everyone is fortunate enough to find an autorickshaw driver who agrees to take you to your destination." Another user wrote, "I would still sit in the S-Class and enjoy its rich comfort even with the traffic." Schwenk has been associated with the brand since 2006. He became CEO of Mercedes-Benz India in 2018. Prior to that, he served as the Chief Financial Officer of Mercedes-Benz China.
Seoul, Oct 1 : North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Saturday, South Korea's military said, in its fourth such provocation in less than a week.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that it detected the launches from the Sunan area in Pyongyang between 6:45 a.m. and 7:03 a.m. It did not provide other details, Yonhap news agency reported.

"While strengthening our monitoring and vigilance, our military is maintaining a full readiness posture in close cooperation with the US," the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.

The latest launches followed earlier provocations on Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday. South Korea, the US and Japan staged an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) exercise in international waters of the East Sea on Friday.

The three countries have been reinforcing bilateral and trilateral security coordination amid concerns that the North could ratchet up tensions by conducting a nuclear test or other provocative acts.

On Thursday, US Vice President Kamala Harris made a daylong visit to South Korea, during which she met with President Yoon Suk-yeol and toured the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides Korea. While here, she said Washington would do "everything" in our power to ensure its security commitment to the Asian ally.
Tehran, Oct 1 : At least 19 people were killed in the "terrorist" attack on a police station in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan, the provincial governor Hossein Modarres Khiabani has said.

On Friday, "some rioters who belong to terrorist and separatist groups, and whose identities are known, attacked a police station in the guise of Friday prayers, and threw stones and flammable materials, and shot in order to seize" the police station, the official IRNA news agency quoted Modarres Khiabani as saying, reports Xinhua news agency.

In this incident in the provincial capital Zahedan, 19 people lost their lives and 20 others were injured, including members of the police forces, he said.

The attackers also set fire to other public property including chain stores, and vandalised banks and government centers, he noted.

The military and police force gave a decisive response to the attackers and the confrontation continued until the arrest of all of them, he said, adding that his province now is calm.

Following the attack on the police station, an armed group gathered near a mosque and started shooting, and the commander of the intelligence unit of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps in Sistan and Baluchestan Ali Mousavi has been killed in clashes, Press TV reported.
Stockholm, Oct 1 : Swedish companies have been granted export permits for the sale of military equipment to Turkey, the country's Inspectorate of Strategic Products (ISP) has announced.

The granting of export permits is part of Sweden's agreement with Turkey in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) negotiations, Xinhua news agency reported.

The permits apply to all products affected by arms export legislation, which includes electronic equipment, software and technical assistance.

All shipments of military products to Turkey were halted in 2019 due to its military operation against Syria's Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which Turkey considers a terrorist group.

Sweden, together with Finland, applied to join NATO in mid-May. Turkey, which is already a member of the military alliance, objected over Swedish and Finnish ties with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and Syria's YPG. Ankara has also voiced dissatisfaction with the Swedish arms embargo against Turkey.

Turkey and Hungary are the two remaining countries among NATO's current 30 member states that have yet to formally approve Sweden and Finland's bid to join the military alliance.
United Nations, Oct 1 : India has abstained on a Security Council resolution condemning Moscow's annexation of parts of Ukraine while saying it was "deeply disturbed by the recent turn of developments" there.

The resolution, which sought to declare as illegal the referendum Moscow said it held in those areas to annex them, was vetoed by Permanent Member Russia, although it received 10 votes with four abstentions in the 15-member Council on Friday.

India's abstention came a fortnight after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had emphatically spoken to Russia's President Vladimir Putin against the invasion and External Affairs Minister told the General Assembly last week that New Delhi was on "the side that respects the UN Charter and its founding principles".

While explaining the abstention, India's Permanent Representative Ruchira Kamboj told the Council, "India is deeply disturbed by the recent turn of developments in Ukraine. We have always advocated that no solution can ever be arrived at the cost of human lives." "India's Prime Minister has also emphasised that this cannot be an era of war," she added highlighting his public statement to Putin in Samarkand in September, which has been welcomed by Washington and interpreted as a shift from India's presumed neutrality.

This was at least the ninth time India had abstained on a substantive resolution on Ukraine at the UN.

US Permanent Representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield did not attach much weight to the abstentions by India, along with China, Brazil and Gabon.

Speaking to reporters outside the Council chamber after the vote, she said, "Their abstentions clearly were not a defence of Russia. They were not in support of Russia and they made clear their condemnation of Russia." Kamboj said, "India's position has been clear and consistent from the very beginning of this conflict: The global order is anchored on the principles of the UN Charter, international law and respect for sovereignty and the territorial integrity of all states." Calling for an immediate end to the conflict, she said, "Dialogue is the only answer to settling differences and disputes, however daunting that may appear at this moment." Prime Minister Modi has unequivocally said this to both Putin and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, she added.

The Council took up the resolution hours after Putin held a ceremony at the Kremlin to formalise the annexation and declared that the territories were now part of Russia and Moscow would defend them.

The seized territories together cover "more than 90,000 square km", which UK's Permanent Representative Barbara Woodward said, "is the largest forcible annexation of territory since the Second World War".

The referendum came after Russia faced military setbacks and retreated from some of the territories it had invaded.

The vetoed resolution introduced by Albania and the US called the "so-called referendums" held by Russia in the four Ukraine regions, Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya, "illegal" and said they were an attempt to change Ukraine's internationally recognised borders.

The issue will now go before the General Assembly either through a similar resolution or by a new procedure adopted by it to require permanent members to explain their vetoes.

Thomas-Greenfield said before the vote that if Russia vetoed the resolution she would take it to the Assembly, where there are no vetoes, to "send an unmistakable message to Moscow".

Although the Assembly has no enforcement powers, large support for the resolution would give it moral authority and show Moscow's isolation.

Thomas-Greenfield said that "sham referenda" were held under "the barrel of Russian guns" and the outcome was "pre-determined in Moscow".

"Time and time again we have seen the Ukrainian people fight for their country and their democracy," she added.

Russia's Permanent Representative Vasily Nebenzya dismissed the resolution as a tactic to provoke a veto.

He asserted that the people of the four regions have spoken and "there will be no turning back, as today's draft resolution would try to impose".

Later at the request of Moscow, the Council took up the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline that carries Russian gas to Germany.

After UN Assistant Secretary-General Navid Hanif said that while the organisation could not confirm any of the reports about the causes of the four leaks in the undersea pipeline, the discussions descended into the US and Russia trading charges.

Nebenzya alleged that the "Anglo-Saxons" - an imprecise reference to the multi-ethnic US - had sabotaged the pipeline and American natural gas companies would be "celebrating" increased opportunities in Europe.

US Deputy Permanent Representative Richard Mills "categorically" denied the allegations.

He said that "sabotage of critical infrastructure should be of concern to us all" and pointed out that there have been "numerous Russian attacks damaging civilian infrastructure" in Ukraine.

Hanif said that the damages to the Nord Stream pipelines had two major impacts, on the environment and on the energy supply.

"Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of methane emissions" would result from the broken pipeline and it "can exacerbate the high price volatility on the energy markets in Europe and around the world", he said.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at aru.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Washington, Oct 1 : US President Joe Biden's administration has imposed fresh sanctions on Russia in response to Moscow's formal annexation of four occupied regions in Ukraine, a move that has sparked international condemnation.

Among the punitive measures announced on Friday by three cabinet-level departments were those from the Department of the Treasury that designated "14 persons in Russia's military-industrial complex, including two international suppliers, three key leaders of Russia's financial infrastructure, immediate family members of some of senior Russian officials, and 278 members of Russia's legislature" for enabling the referendums that resulted in Moscow claiming the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia as Russia's sovereign territory, reports Xinhua news agency.

"The Treasury Department and US government are taking sweeping action today to further weaken Russia's already degraded military industrial complex and undermine its ability to wage its illegal war," said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

While announcing the sanctions, the Department said that it it has also issued new guidance that "warns of the heightened sanctions risk that international actors outside of Russia would face for providing political or economic support to Russia as a result of its illegal attempts to change the status of Ukrainian territory".

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department added 57 companies located in Russia and the Crimean Peninsula - which Moscow declared as its territory in 2014 following a referendum -- to the so-called Entity List, designating them as export control violators.

In addition, the Commerce Department issued new guidance warning that "the US' export controls on Russia can be applied to entities in third countries that seek to provide material support for Russia's and Belarus's military and industrial sectors".

The State Department has imposed visa restrictions on Russian national Ochur-Suge Mongush for torturing a Ukrainian prisoner of war, according to a statement by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Visa restrictions are also being applied to another "910 individuals, including members of the Russian Federation military, Belarusian military officials, and Russia's proxies for violating Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence", Blinken said.

In response to Russia's move, Biden said on Friday that the US "will rally the international community to both denounce these moves and to hold Russia accountable", adding Washington "will continue to provide Ukraine with the equipment it needs to defend itself".

Noting that his administration on Wednesday announced an additional round of security assistance to Kiev worth $1.1 billion, the President said he looked forward to "signing legislation from Congress that will provide an additional $12 billion to support Ukraine".

Earlier on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the "accession treaties" with the regions' Moscow-installed leaders at a ceremony in the Kremlin's opulent St George's Hall.

Watched by members of the political elite, he declared the regions would "forever" be part of Russia, the BBC reported.

Kiev, meanwhile, reacted by launching a new, fast-track bid to join the NATO alliance.

Flanked by his Prime Minister and the Speaker of Parliament, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country had long been a "de-facto" member of the security bloc, and accused Moscow of redrawing borders "using murder, blackmail, mistreatment and lies".

"We are taking our decisive step by signing Ukraine's application for accelerated accession to NATO," the BBC quoted Zelensky as saying.

Russia's move has received widespread international condemnation.

While NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called the move "the most serious escalation since the start of the war", EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said "the illegal annexation proclaimed by Putin won't change anything... Ukrainian land and will always be part of this sovereign nation".

French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to "stand by Ukraine in order to deal with Russian aggression and to enable Ukraine to recover its full sovereignty across its entire territory".

In response, the UK banned has export of almost 700 goods to Russia that are critical to manufacturing production.

The EU Commission unveiled proposals to impose a cap on the price of Russian seaborne oil, while also imposing a ban on the bloc's citizens serving on the boards of Russian companies.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Washington, Oct 1 : Ian has made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on the coast of the US state of South Carolina after carving a swathe of deadly destruction across Florida.

The landfall occurred at 2.05 p.m. on Friday near Georgetown, South Carolina, with maximum sustained winds of 140 km per hour, Xinhua news agency quoted the National Hurricane Center as saying in an update.

Life-threatening storm surges, damaging winds, and flash flooding are lashing South Carolina and North Carolina.

In coastal South Carolina, Ian has already ripped apart four piers and sent torrents of water flooding into neighbourhoods, including in the popular seaside city of Myrtle Beach, reports the BBC.

Nearly 200,000 homes and businesses in South Carolina were without power by Friday evening.

Ian made landfall in southwest Florida as a Category 4 hurricane on Wednesday afternoon, bringing catastrophic storm surges, heavy rains and destructive winds, and dangerous flooding to both coast and inland areas.

Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie told reporters on Friday that there have been 21 deaths reported so far in the state due to Ian, while 1.6 million people still have no electricity.

According to the NHC, there was also a possibility that Ian could spawn tornados in North Carolina and Virginia as it blew towards the north.

Ian is expected to dissipate over either North Carolina or Virginia by late on Saturday.

President Joe Biden said from the White House on Friday afternoon that Hurricane Ian "is likely to rank among the worst in the nation's history".

"We're just beginning to see the scale of that destruction," Biden added. "It's going to take months, years to rebuild." Hurricane Ian, however, was much less damaging than the Category five Katrina, which killed more than 1,800 people and wreaked $125 billion in damage when it slammed into Louisiana in August 2005.
press release

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank has approved a loan of 2.3 billion South African rands ($134.9 million) in co-financing for the second phase of Namibia's Governance and Economic Recovery Support Program (GERSP II).

The funds will support Namibia's resilience and post-Covid-19 inclusive economic recovery by strengthening governance and implementing real sector reforms. German development bank Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW) is processing a complementary budget support loan to the tune of 50 million euros.

The program has three components: attaining fiscal sustainability, supporting private sector-led agriculture and industrial sector transformation, and enhancing economic and social inclusion.

The approval, on 28 September, follows an earlier loan tranche of 1.5 billion rands, which the Board approved for the program's first phase in March 2021. The International Monetary Fund contributed 4.1 billion rands ($270.8 million) in co-financing for phase I through the Rapid Financing Instrument.

The program's primary beneficiaries are government ministries, departments, and agencies whose reforms are being supported by the operation. The private sector will benefit from improved investment opportunities in agriculture and industry and public-private partnership opportunities.

The GERSP II aligns with the Bank's policy on program-based operations (2012), its Ten-Year Strategy (2013-2022), the Strategy for Economic Governance in Africa, the Industrialization Strategy and the 'Feed Africa' strategy. The project advances Namibia's social protection policy targeting provision of safety nets for marginalized groups in the country. It also aligns with the country's 5th National Development Plan and Vision 2030 to increase domestic revenue and stimulate the private sector to create jobs.

As at May 2022, the Bank's active portfolio in the country, comprising loans and grants, totaled $764.5 million. It covers the transport, water and sanitation, finance, multi-sector, agriculture, and social sectors.

Contact:

Kwasi Kpodo | Communication and External Relations Department | African Development Bank | email: media@afdb.org
Brussels, Oct 1 : The European Commission has urged the member states of the European Union (EU) to tighten their visa procedures and heighten border checks for Russian citizens.

On Friday, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said the guidelines come in response to the recent escalation in Moscow's ongoing war against Ukraine, reports Xinhua news agency.

"The EU will protect itself and our citizens. We are making sure to have a coherent and united approach at EU external borders vis-a-vis Russian citizens and also when it comes to applying strict rules on issuing short-stay visas for Russian citizens," she said.

Under the new rules, the EU member states should apply "stricter assessments" and security checks when they issue visas to Russian citizens.

They should also apply a strict approach when assessing the justification of the journey and the validity of visas, irrespective of the issuing member state.

She said the member states should not accept Schengen visa applications from citizens of Russia who are present in a third country for short stays or for purposes of transit.

Johansson explained that exceptions can be made in cases of hardship and for humanitarian reasons, such as family visits due to sudden serious illness of a relative residing in the EU, dissidents, or human rights defenders.

On similar lines, Finland on Thursday banned Russian citizens travelling with tourist visas from entering or transiting the country.

The Finnish government said the move aims to "completely prevent Russian tourism".

Finland had earlier pushed for an EU-wide decision and called for a total ban on Russian nationals travelling to the bloc.

While the Czech Republic and Estonia have also imposed visa restrictions, Germany and France have rejected the proposed blanket ban fearing "unintended rallying-around-the-flag effects" in Russia.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Washington, Oct 1 : The US House of Representatives has approved a stopgap funding bill to fund the government through mid-December, following a Senate passage.

The House on Friday night cleared the bill on a 230-201 vote, sending it to President Joe Biden for his signature.

The previous day, the Senate voted 72-25.

The so-called continuing resolution would prevent a partial government shutdown after the current fiscal year expired on Friday night.

"It's become routine for Congress to wait until the very last minute before an urgent deadline to spring into action," Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a budget watchdog group, said in a statement.

This will make time number eight out of the last 10 years in which lawmakers have waited until "the very last week" of the fiscal year to pass a stopgap measure to avoid a full or partial government shutdown, the group noted.

"When lawmakers don't bother to set spending priorities, it shows how truly broken the federal budget process is," the group said.

"While it seems both chambers can't agree on much these days, they should at least be able to agree on this: we should not run our country without a budget." A continuing resolution temporarily funds the government in the absence of full appropriations bills, often by continuing funding levels from the prior year.

But the newly approved stopgap measure included several provisions beyond funding the federal government's current operations, including $12 billion in aid to Ukraine.

The legislation also provides billions of dollars in disaster aid to support communities that are recovering from extreme weather.

Some $20 million will be used to fix the water infrastructure in Jackson, Mississippi, where heavy rainstorms led pumps at the main water treatment plant to fail last month, leaving 150,000 people without safe drinking water.

The stopgap bill had previously been held up by disagreements over a proposal from centrist Democrat Joe Manchin, a senator from West Virginia, regarding federal permitting process for major energy projects.

In the face of bipartisan opposition, Manchin had to drop the measure.
Berlin, Oct 1 : The recent mass fish deaths in the Oder river that runs through Poland and Germany were caused by the proliferation of brackish water algae, which in turn was triggered by a sudden increase in the river's salinity levels, according to a report.

Fishermen first discovered dead fish in the river near the Polish town of Olawa at the end of July, reports Xinhua news agency.

The fish deaths down the river in Germany were only reported around two weeks later.

Tonnes of dead fish have been pulled from the Oder river as the micro-algae at issue -- known as Prymnesium parvum, or golden alga -- produces a toxic substance that is lethal to fish and other aquatic organisms.

A Polish-German expert group was subsequently set up to investigate.

The fish deaths in the Oder are a "serious environmental catastrophe", Germany's Minister for the Environment Steffi Lemke said on Friday, stressing that it was "caused by human activities".

Alongside attempts to fully understand what happened, the focus now is on the regeneration of the Oder river.

The exact cause of the high salinity level could not be determined "due to a lack of available information", the Ministry for the Environment (BMUV) and the German Environment Agency (UBA) said in a statement.

It also remained unclear about how the algae, which naturally occurs in salty brackish water near coasts, reached the Oder river.

Salinity levels in other rivers in Germany are also too high without the phenomena occurring.
Hyderabad, Oct 1 : Four of the five children in conflict with the law (CCL) held as accused in the Jubilee Hills gang rape-case, are to be tried as adults, the Juvenile Board ruled on Friday.

The five along with a sixth person had been held in the sensational case that had rocked the state a few months ago.

The fifth CCL, who is the son of an MIM lawmaker is to be tried as a juvenile, ruled principal magistrate G Radhika. His case is to be transferred to the children's court.

The magistrate did not concur with a board member who had opined that the children in conflict with the law (CCL) may have been lured by the welcoming approach of the victim and that they do not have legal education and hence unable to understand the legal consequences." Noting that CCL were neither under the influence of alcohol or other substances, the principal concluded there were no compelling circumstances for them to commit the crime.

The sensational case had the opposition parties attacking the ruling TRS party in Telangana and the police department shielding the MLA's son by invoking milder sections of the law against him.
Indigenous people dance during an event to commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, on Sept. 30, 2022. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Indigenous people dance during an event to commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, on Sept. 30, 2022. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Ottawa, Oct 1 : Canada marked the second National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, honouring the children who died while being forced to attend residential schools, as well as survivors, their families and communities.

The federal statutory holiday, also known as Orange Shirt Day, was established last year, reports Xinhua news agency.

According to a statement issued on Friday by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, at least 150,000 First Nations, Inuit, and MAtis children were forcibly removed from their families and communities between 1831 and 1998 to attend residential schools, where they had to abandon their languages, beliefs, cultures, traditions and identities, reports Xinhua news agency.

Many experienced physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, and thousands never came home.

"The experiences and intergenerational trauma of these so-called schools continue to live on for Indigenous Peoples across the country every single day," said Trudeau.

"It is our shared responsibility to confront the legacy of residential schools and the ongoing impacts on Indigenous Peoples, so we can truly move forward together.

"Reconciliation is not the responsibility of Indigenous Peoples. It is the responsibility of all Canadians. It is our responsibility to continue to listen and to learn," the Prime Minister added.

He said the government will continue to support "the painful but necessary work to locate unmarked graves, and to support survivors as they tell their stories".

In an interview with the local media, Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald said on Friday that the day was about residential school survivors as well as the children who never returned from them.

"It's their day, especially those who suffered in those institutions and survived and then I also feel that it's for all the little ones who died in those institutions and didn't make it home," Archibald said.

Governor General Mary Simon, an Indigenous person, said people wear orange shirts to show that every child matters, which is important to do because of how traumatic residential schools were to Indigenous children.

Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Marc Miller, Minister of Indigenous Services Patty Hajdu, Minister of Northern Affairs Dan Vandal and Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez also issued a joint statement saying the government must work faster and harder to address the harms and intergenerational trauma caused by Canada's colonial legacy.

The locating of unmarked graves at former residential schools shocked and saddened Canadians, as it marked the first time many faced this stark truth.

For Indigenous Peoples across the country, it brought back painful memories as many have shared their stories for decades only to be ignored, the statement said.

Under the leadership of survivors, their families and communities, the government will continue working in partnership to support their efforts at their pace.
Chennai, Oct 1 : Tamil Nadu's Department of Revenue has initiated steps against illegal quarrying in many parts of the state after several individuals, organisations and political parties pointed out the blatant embezzlement of mineral wealth without any license.

In Ariyallur district, two Village Administrative Officers (VAOs) were suspended by the Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) after it was found that they were hand in glove with an illegal limestone quarrying group.

There were reports of illegal mining also taking place in Karuppur Senapathy, Reddipalayam, Periyathirukkonam, Unjini and Thalavai.

The two VAOs were suspended after 11 trucks with illegal mines were seized. They merely mentioned that the vehicles were carrying materials beyond their capacities and that the vehicles were covered.

On proper investigation, the RDO found out that the limestone that was being transported was extracted from illegal mines and that the two VAOs were responsible for checking the legality of the quarries and mines in their jurisdiction.

Environmental activist R. Rajendran, who runs the Special Action Group in Tiruchi, told IANS: "The incident at Ariyalur is only the tip of the iceberg. Loads of trucks are transporting minerals that are extracted from illegal mines. They are destroying the environment and even paying any rightful taxes to the government. Unless stringent action is taken, nothing will stop these looters from getting away and it is unfortunate that these people have political patronage." In Theni district, there have been widespread protests against illegal mining with truck loads of materials, including stones, being transported to Kerala.

Speaking to IANS, R. Ilavarasan, a social activist based out of Theni, said: "There is blatant mining taking place in these quarries. Most of them are illegal and in some cases, there is license for one quarry and with that paper, several others are functioning. We have given several complaints to many offices but to no avail. We are planning a 'road roko' agitation to bring the situation to the forefront and there could be major natural catastrophes in the days to come if we don't put an end to this illegal mining." There are complaints from the Dindigul, Madurai, Tirunelveli, and Thoothukudi districts about illegal mining.

When contacted, a senior official with the Department of Revenue told IANS that a crackdown has already begun and that many vehicles transporting illegal limestones and other materials were seized in Ariyalur, Coimbatore, Dindigul and Tirunelveli.

He also said that special squads are involved in preventing illegal transportation and those mines and quarries that do not have licenses are being shut down.
Seoul, Oct 1 : North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Saturday, in its fourth such provocation in less than a week, South Korea's military said.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launches from the Sunan area in Pyongyang between 6.45 a.m. and 7.03 a.m. and that the missiles flew some 350 km at apogees of around 30 km at top speeds of Mach 6, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The launches came just hours before South Korea was set to hold an event marking the Armed Forces Day with its key military assets on display.

On Friday, the South, the US and Japan staged an anti-submarine warfare exercise in the East Sea.

"The recent series of North Korea's ballistic missiles is an act of significant provocation that undermines peace not only on the Korean Peninsula, but also in the international community, and a clear breach of UN Security Council resolutions," the JCS said in a statement.

"Our military will maintain a firm readiness posture while tracking and monitoring related movements in close cooperation with the US in preparation against additional provocations." The presidential National Security Council convened a standing committee session and condemned the North's latest launches.

The latest launches followed earlier provocations on Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Military authorities have been looking into possibilities that the North's recent launches might have involved its KN-23, KN-24, the KN-25 super-large multiple rocket launcher or other short-range platforms.

The KN-23 and KN-24 are modeled after Russia's Iskander ballistic missile and the US' Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), respectively.

Both KN-23 and KN-24 missiles are known for "pull-up" maneuvers to avoid interception.

Pyongyang's test-firing of short-range missiles raised speculation that it has been doubling down on its push to develop tactical nuclear arms.
Chamarajanagara, : Oct 1 (IANS) Amid drizzles, thousands of Congress workers led by their leader Rahul Gandhi, resumed the Bharat Jodo yatra which entered day two in the state on Saturday.

The padayatra, which will cover 15 kilometres in the morning, started at 7.40 a.m. from Tondawadi Gate and is slated to enter Mysuru district in few hours.

Image Source: IANS News

After a break, the rally will leave Kalalegate at 4 p.m. and reach Chikkaiahyyana Chatra in Nanjangud town of Mysuru district by 7 p.m.

Image Source: IANS News

Meanwhile, the police department had lodged an FIR against a Congress worker for displaying PayCM poster.

The party worker had also worn t-shirt with Pay CM poster besides carrying a flag. The case has been lodged against Akshay Kumar from Vijayapura district.

Image Source: IANS News

Lodging a complaint, Gundlupet town Municipality member Kiran Gowda had alleged that by displaying PayCM posters, the Congress worker had insulted Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.

Image Source: IANS News

Earlier, the padayatra was delayed due to rains in the morning. Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh has tweeted on Saturday that the 24th day of Bharat Jodo Yatra that was to start at 6.30 am has been delayed due to rains.

The rains arrived after a gap of 15 days and will benefit farmers.

-- Syndicated from IANS
Chennai, Oct 1 : Director Gina Prince-Bythewood's 'The Woman King' is to release in India on October 14 this year, its makers have announced.

Inspired by real women warriors - an all-female fighting force called the Agojie, the historical epic movie follows their story as they fought battle after battle in order to protect the African kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s.

Touted as this season's Academy award contender, 'The Woman King' is also only one of two movies this year to have received the A+ CinemaScore - one of the most prestigious and credible scores to be conferred upon movies based on audience surveys.

More significantly, it is helmed by women on all fronts.

From the Academy, Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy award winning actor Viola Davis to International Emmy award winning Thuso Mbedu, to Lashana Lynch, who has made history as the first Black woman to be cast as 007, to Sheila Atim in the cast to Gina Prince-Bythewood, who has directed the film, the film has only women helming the affairs.

Written by Dana Stevens and Maria Bello, the film has been produced by Cathy Schulman and has cinematography by Polly Morgan.

The Viola Davis-starrer is now all set to make its way to theatres in India on October 14. The movie will release across India in English and Tamil.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : India on Saturday condemned the terror attack at Kaaj Educational Center in Dasht-e-Barchi, Kabul and extended condolences to the bereaved families.

This blast in the west of Kabul took place in Friday morning when students were taking a practice college exam.

The Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that India strongly condemns the continued targeting of innocent students at educational places.

"We are saddened by yesterday's terror attack at the Kaaj Educational Center in Dasht-e-Barchi, Kabul and extend our condolences to the families of the victims. Indian strongly condemns the continued targeting of innocent students at educational places", said MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in a tweet today.

Reportedly, a suicide blast at an education institute in Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul killed 19 people and injured 27 others. However, as per the local media report, the death toll is likely to rise.
press release

Implemented between 2017 and 2021, the Guinea-Bissau Support Project to Build Institutional Capacity in the Justice Sector helped to improve the quality of training in the judicial sector, particularly for lawyers. It also contributed to an increase in the number of women members of the national bar association; there were three before the project and there are now 58.

The Bank provided a $1.7 million grant from its Transition Support Facility to the Government of Guinea-Bissau for the project. The program was implemented through a partnership of the Bank, the government, and the United Nations Development Agency (UNDP), the executing agency.

The project aimed to build institutional, organizational and human capacity in the Ministry of Justice, the two higher councils of the judiciary, and the Bar Association. It also implemented a strategy to train human rights and other civil society organizations to actively monitor the justice system's performance.

The training also benefited judicial police officers, lawyers, court clerks, notaries, and registrars. As a result of the project, recruitment procedures in the judicial sector have become more transparent and inclusive.

Commenting on the project's benefits, the then Attorney General of the Republic, Fernando Gomes (currently the Minister of Territorial Administration), said implementing continuous training within the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court has bolstered the effectiveness and credibility of adjudication by the magistrate courts, particularly during recent electoral disputes.

The project helped to create a "Justice and Human Rights" coordination group, which brings together justice sector stakeholders, including representatives of civil society organizations, and technical and financial partners.

The project has also promoted human rights awareness and access to justice in local communities. Overall, 17,760 people were sensitized in collaboration with civil society organizations.
Singapore, Oct 1 : Williams Formula 1 driver Alex Albon, who returned to the racetrack here on Friday following a surgery for appendicitis and subsequent respiratory failure barely a few weeks ago, has said he has done 'better than expected' in his practice sessions.

Singapore's Marina Bay Street Circuit will host the F1 race on Sunday, but Albon seemed unfazed by the challenges he expects to face on the tough circuit.

Albon was released from hospital after a surgery for appendicitis and post-operative anaesthetic complications on September 15.

Ahead of the Italian Grand Prix he was diagnosed with appendicitis, with the Thai driver then suffering respiratory failure that resulted in him being intubated and treated in an Intensive Care Unit in Italy.

Despite his preparations for Singapore going awry because of the health issues, Albon returned to the car on Friday, though he admitted that he had been feeling some after-effects.

The Williams driver took a P16 in both Free Practice 1 and 2.

On how his return to the racetrack went on Friday, Albon said, "Okay. I'd leave it at okay! We knew it was going to be difficult, but I feel like I'm coping better than I expected. We've had a good amount of long runs. It's still a quarter of what we'd be doing come race day on Sunday, but I've still got a day to rest tomorrow (Saturday) and of course, just it being one race and one block of driving, it should hopefully be not too bad.

"It feels okay when I'm in the car, generally speaking. It's more just the heat! When you get out, you can feel that it's obviously physical. But I feel like there's no big issues so I'm feeling pretty good," formula1.com quoted Albon as saying.

Albon admitted that Williams had expected to struggle in Singapore, and that making it out of Q1 on Saturday would be a result in itself, according to formula1.com.

"It feels like we know where we're struggling, that's the main thing," said Albon. "It feels like the car's got a little bit more potential in it. We knew that coming here, we were, let's say, a little bit more behind than we were in Monza. The circuit doesn't tend to go in our favour; this is a very downforce efficient circuit -- it's 22, 23, corners around here, not many straight lines to get that lap time back.

"We're doing what we can. I feel like there's definitely lap time to be had, I'm still getting into the rhythm and getting closer to the walls, that's what it's about. So we'll do our research, homework tonight, we'll come back stronger and Q2 would be a really big success for us this weekend."
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 1 : With the dye now cast for the election to the post of Congress president and for sure from South India, all eyes are not on the presidential candidates - Mallikarjun Kharge and Shahsi Tharoor, but on 81-year-old veteran leader A.K.Antony.

According to sources in the know of things, it was Antony who with his political acumen, managed to get the support of the G23 group in favour of the Gandhi family and got them to sign Kharge's nomination papers.

For Tharoor, Antony has always been 'Antony Chettan' (chettan in Malayalam means elder brother).

Antony is now lock stock and barrel tied up with the Gandhi family which was more than evident when he remarked that Tharoor never mentioned his candidature to him.

The reason for Antony's strong stance is that he knows that the Nehru/Gandhi family happens to be the spinal cord of the party and any aberration to it will weaken the organisation.

He knows that, even though one reason why this political career got a huge boost was when he parted ways with Indira Gandhi and after his return to the party, a few years later, he realised that nothing should weaken the Gandhi family and since then has been its staunchest supporter.

Incidentally, it was only after Antony's Delhi visit a few days back that the official Congress candidate selection became easy and Kharge's name got the nod.

Moreover, it was another Keralite -- AICC general secretary (organisation) K.C.Venugopal who did the initial spadework and was able to get Antony on board for the final kill.

Though Tharoor sprang a surprise when he managed to get 15 leaders from various age groups and factions to ink his nomination paper from Kerala, with 9,100 voters to decide the new president, Kharge at the moment appears to be in pole position.

Tharoor, however, is in no mood to relent as he knows that he has nothing to lose and everything to gain as he has started his journey to solicit votes and will first arrive in Mumbai.

But even though a huge majority of the voters have a soft corner for the Gandhi family, many among them are in a fix trying to decide whether an 80-year-old Kharge rejuvenates the party better and faster than the 66-year-old dynamic personality Tharoor.

It is being observed that the AICC voters in the below-50 age category are cheering for Tharoor and it is to be seen whether he emerges as a dark horse or a black sheep in the grand-old party.

Interestingly, even Antony's son also is rooting for Tharoor and that could be a sweet revenge of Tharoor to Antony Chettan.
Islamabad, Oct 1 : Pakistan has termed the recent remarks of an official from the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan as "against the spirit of friendly relations", and highlighted the need for interim authorities to take necessary steps to address international expectations and concerns.

The views were expressed by Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Asim Iftikhar at the weekly media briefing here on Friday, in response to a question regarding the statement of the Taliban's Deputy Foreign Minister Sher Abbas Stanikzai, a week after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif shared the concern of the international community regarding threats posed by terrorist groups operating from the neighbouring country, during an address to the UN General Assembly, Dawn news reported.

The premier's speech, however provoked a sharp rebuke from the Taliban, with Stanikzai claiming on September 27 that Islamabad was "receiving millions of dollars" from Washington to allow American drones to conduct flights over Afghanistan.

"How long can we tolerate this?" he asked a gathering in Kabul. "If we rise against this, no one will be able to stop us." In response to the question about his comment, the FO spokesman said: "This is very unfortunate and unacceptable. We have noted with concern, these recent remarks. We consider such statements as against the spirit of friendly relations between our two brotherly countries.

"Pakistan's role in facilitating peace in Afghanistan, and our efforts to strengthen bilateral ties are well known, and they are acknowledged widely.

"We believe that for the success of positive engagement, it is important that the interim Afghan authorities take necessary steps to address international expectations and concerns.

"For its part, Pakistan will continue to pursue positive engagement with Afghanistan for peace, prosperity, and progress of the two countries and the wider region."
Bengaluru, Oct 1 : Unfazed by criticism that the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra is failing to resonate with people, Congress party workers in Karnataka are upbeat about the outcome of the 21-day padyatra being led by their leader Rahul Gandhi.

Once again, the Gandhi scion has displayed his negotiating skills by brokering peace between warring factions of state president D.K. Shivakumar and Opposition leader Siddaramaiah.

Candidature of Mallikarjun Kharge for the post of AICC chief has also created a favourable vibes across the oppressed communities, which are now with the BJP.

The response that the yatra is generating among the party workers and commoners is giving anxious moments to the ruling BJP, insiders say.

Rahul Gandhi's interaction with the families of the victims of the oxygen tragedy that claimed 24 lives in Chamarajanagar has also not gone unnoticed. Moved by the children's account of their lives without their fathers, the Congress leader empathetically assured government jobs to family members of the deceased has also touched people.

Recalling the human tragedy, the organisers slammed the saffron party over its apathy for the victim families. They expressed their ire against the party for trying to brush the issue under the carpet and refusing to accept that oxygen shortage had led to the fatalities.

Videos of children recounting the trauma and emotional breakdown of the affected families during the interaction have gone viral on social media triggering a barrage of comments lambasting the BJP.

According to sources in Congress, the party which gained public attention with the PayCM campaign, offending the ruling BJP and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will go much more offensive in days to come.

Deriding the Bharat Jodo Yatra as "Bharat Todo yatra", chief minister Bommai has announced to embark on a state-wide tour with party old horse B.S. Yediyurappa immediately after Dussehra festivities.

With its mega event in Doddaballapur on the completion of one year term, the ruling party tried to get its roots in south Karnataka where Congress and regional party JD (S) dominate.

BJP which has never gained a simple majority in Karnataka in general assembly elections and managed to get to power only through operation lotus, was hopeful of breaking the jinx and attaining simple majority.

Winning assembly seats in south Karnataka is crucial to attain the dream but the Bharat Jodo Yatra will prove to be a big roadblock to the saffron party according to political pundits.

However, byoued by the response, Rajya Sabha Member and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh has asserted the with the Yatra, the party will gain momentum like it managed to get with the victory of late former PM Indira Gandhi in Karnataka's Chikkamagalur parliamentary constituency after the emergency.

Prithvi Reddy, President of Aam Aadmi Party in Karnataka, told IANS that the Congress has been the biggest strength of ruling BJP. The present mess in the state is not only the failure of ruling party BJP but has stemmed from the failure of the opposition party.

The ruling BJP which is blatantly corrupt asks the Congress party whenever it is questioned on corruption that how about you? When Shivakumar talks about corruption there are no takers. Congress has failed to raise people's issues, he explained.

On the pretext of Bharat Jodo Yatra, the Congress is actually trying to unite the party and hence it is a "Congress Jodo yatra". People of Karnataka are fed up with three parties, BJP, Congress and JD (S). The people don't see hope in the Congress party. The response from the people is also lukewarm, Prithvi Reddy explained.

Taking a dig at the grand-old party, former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy of regional party JD (S) said that he did not know when the country got divided for the Congress party to organise a Bharat Jodo Yatra.

The state is dogged by many crisis situations. Is it possible for the Congress party to resolve this crisis situation through the Bharat Jodo Yatra and PayCM campaign?,he wondered.
Bhopal, Oct 1 : At a crucial juncture when the Congress leadership is making all out efforts to revive the grand old party with the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' led by Rahul Gandhi, crisis broke out in Rajasthan, which led to twists and turns in the filing of nomination for the Congress presidential poll scheduled on October 17.

Factionalism that came to the fore in Rajasthan over the conflict between two camps led by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot brings back the memory of what had happened in Madhya Pradesh in 2020, when Jyotiraditya Scindia jumped ship to the BJP, resulting in the fall of the Kamal Nath-led Congress government within 15 months of assuming power.

However, senior Congress leaders, including Kamal Nath, said the situation in Rajasthan is not what it was in Madhya Pradesh.

Commenting on the comparison between the current crisis in Rajasthan and what happened in Madhya Pradesh in 2020, Kamal Nath recently said, "Sachin Pilot didn't do anything wrong. He was asked to be at the party headquarters and he followed the instructions of the party chief. There is no basis of comparing Rajasthan's situation with happened in Madhya Pradesh." With Assembly elections scheduled in Madhya Pradesh next year, the Congress led by Kamal Nath seems to be leaving no stone unturned to return to power, and more importantly, reviving the grand old party.

Hopes are pinned on the Congress leadership in Madhya Pradesh as a victory in the Assembly polls will energise the entire party cadre ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Perhaps this was the reason why Kamal Nath distanced himself from the race to be the next Congress President, despite his name doing the rounds, from Bhopal to Delhi.

Kamal Nath kept saying that he would focus on Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, making it clear that he is not interested to become the next Congress chief.

"I have repeatedly said that I am not interested in contesting the AICC presidential poll. Instead, I want to focus on Madhya Pradesh only. Assembly elections are just one year away and a lot of work needs to be done to bring the party back in power," Kamal Nath had said after meeting Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Wednesday.

The senior Congress leader has been reiterating that the party will form the government in Madhya Pradesh after the 2023 elections, even making promises like reintroducing the 'old pension' system for the state government employees.

Although the veteran Congress leader has been a nine-time MP from his hometown Chhindwara, Kamal Nath became active in Madhya Pradesh politics in 2018 after he became the state head of the party in the run-up to the 2018 Assembly elections.

In 2018, Kamal Nath was sworn-in as the 18th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, bringing to an end 15 years of BJP rule in the state which had become the saffron party's stronghold.

However, in 2020, 22 Congress MLAs resigned along with Jyotiraditya Scindia, resulting in the collapse of the Kamal Nath-led government and bringing back BJP's Shivraj Singh Chouhan as the Chief Minister for a fourth term.

Political observers believe that after the collapse of the 15-month-old government, the biggest challenge before Kamal Nath was to keep the leaders of different factions united and to ensure that no factionalism emerges within the party.

Kamal Nath remained the MPCC President even after his government collapsed, and thereafter he also led the party in the Assembly as the leader of opposition before stepping down in April 2022, when voices were raised for 'one man one post' in the party.

And his efforts bore fruits after veteran party leader Digvijaya Singh repeatedly said that Congress will contest the 2023 Assembly elections under Kamal Nath's leadership.

After being nominated unanimously to lead the party in the run-up to the 2023 Assembly elections, Kamal Nath's first step was to form a committee to oversee the political developments in Madhya Pradesh. The committee includes all senior party leaders in the state who have been assigned different tasks.

Stepping up to strengthen the party ahead of the Assembly elections, Kamal Nath has made several structural changes, especially in the lower-level party cadre. District and block heads have been appointed on the basis of their performance reports.

Bouncing back from the 2020 crisis, Kamal Nath seems to be re-energising the party cadre ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections.
Lucknow, Oct 1 : For almost a decade before 2019, the refrain in the Uttar Pradesh Congress was 'Priyanka lao, desh bachao' and 'Desh ki aandhi hai, aaj ki Indira Gandhi hai'.

As the party graph gradually slipped down in UP, party workers sincerely believed that it was the charisma of Priyanka Gandhi that alone could salvage the situation for the party.

Priyanka's arrival in Uttar Pradesh in 2019, expectedly, unleashed euphoria as she held meetings that continued till the wee hours, met party workers who arrived in droves and promised to bring back the glory days of the party.

As the weeks rolled by and the Congress suffered a humiliating defeat in Amethi in the Lok Sabha elections, things began changing.

The then UP Congress president Raj Babbar put in his papers, Priyanka shut her doors to veterans, Ajay Kumar Lallu became the new UPCC president and finally Priyanka Gandhi's coterie led by her personal secretary Sandeep Singh took over the UP Congress completely.

The arrogance and dominance of Sandeep Singh and his men created a turmoil within the party.

Ten senior Congress leaders were expelled merely because they held a meeting to celebrate Nehru Jayanti on November 14, 2019.

Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi refused to meet the veterans which further emboldened the 'emerging coterie' within the party.

Being brusque, abusive and arrogant was the new behaviour code.

Expulsions became the order of the day and the young and the old were told to keep away.

Priyanka's visits to UP were closely guarded by loyalists and no one had any access to the leader.

As the 2022 assembly elections approached, Priyanka launched the ambitious campaign of 'Ladki hoon lad sakti hoon' that went completely awry with the party giving tickets to women who were totally undeserving.

They got tickets only because they were women.

Allegations of tickets being sold for a price were also levelled on the social media but the party leadership simply looked away.

A clear divide had developed by now between what is called the 'Priyanka Congress' and the 'Rahul Congress'.

Senior Congress leaders like Annu Tandon, Jitin Prasada, R P N Singh, Laliteshpati Tripathi walked out of the Congress and blamed Priyanka's style of functioning for their decision.

In the 2022 assembly polls, the Congress hit rock bottom by winning just two of the 403 seats and merely 2.3 per cent votes.

Nearly 387 party candidates forfeited their deposits.

In ten seats, the party candidates got less votes than NOTA.

Displeasure against the team that handled the elections is growing by the day and there are almost no leaders even left to be expelled.

It is almost six months since the Congress faced its worst-ever drubbing in the assembly elections and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has simply stayed away from Lucknow.

Her political activity is restricted to Twitter and her 'team' is having a free run in Lucknow.

"Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is not even willing to listen to what party workers have to say. She has not come to Lucknow after the election results were announced and her coterie is happily taking action against anyone who speaks up. I was an AICC member but was expelled by her team even though it is against the rules. If they feel that by expelling dissenters, they will save the Congress, they are mistaken," says Zeeshan Haider, a senior party leader who recently resigned.

He said that ever since Priyanka Gandhi was appointed general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh, around 9,000 party leaders and workers have either left or have been pushed out.

"The Gandhis, it seems, are not willing to address the issues and problems. For them it does not matter that the party is almost over. The Congress president neither replies to our letters and nor does she agree to meet us," he added.

Another former Congress MP, who spoke to IANS on condition of anonymity, said, "Priyanka Gandhi Vadra should have called meetings of candidates and senior leaders to discuss the reasons for the debacle. We are about a year and a half away from the Lok Sabha elections and if this head-in-the-sand attitude continues, the Congress will be relegated to the dustbin of history." Another veteran leader said, "Just like a child gets tired of an old toy, Priyanka Gandhi seems to have lost interest in UP politics. She is directly responsible for the demolition of Congress in UP, taking the party away from power in Punjab and it was her insistence on Imran Pratapgarhi's candidature for Rajya Sabha in Maharashtra that dismantled the Thackeray government there. We are now watching what happens in Himachal Pradesh where Priyanka has considerable interests." According to senior party leaders, the problem with Priyanka is that she refuses to interact with party workers and depends solely on whatever feedback she receives from her coterie.

"She is not a people's leader but a leader of only her team. The magic has waned and the Congress will have to rebuild itself from scratch now," said a party leader.

The state unit is also in a state of limbo after Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Ajay Kumar Lallu was asked to resign in March. The party remains completely headless and directionless.

"It is a free-for-all situation here. None of the party leaders visit the party office and there is no political activity happening after the polls," said an employee at the UPCC office.
Jaipur, Oct 1 : Will the desert storm wipe out the Congress in Rajasthan? Can the divided Congress infuse fresh energy in its demotivated workers? Will the party be able to beat the opposition which is already fragmented? Can it cash in on the divided opposition to change the trend persisting in the state since four decades where power gets shifted to alternate hands every five years? These are the questions being discussed by the Congress as well as the opposition parties.

The Congress workers are already fed up with discussing rebels, political camps, infighting and finally the party's future after the last four years since the Congress has been in power in Rajasthan.

They agree that the party has failed to strengthen its presence at the booth level in these four years and the voters' trust in the Congress remains shaken, said a senior leader.

The ongoing political crisis has hit the workers hard and they have lost trust in their leaders.

However, a ray of hope emerged after former deputy CM Sachin Pilot spoke of returning the party to power in the 2023 polls after meeting Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday.

"We need to discuss strategies to bring back our government, however no one is interested in thinking about it, but all seem interested in saving their chairs," said a senior leader.

It is because of these senior and selfish leaders that chief minister Ashok Gehlot had to say sorry in front of everyone in Delhi, said another leader.

"We are glad that amid the ongoing crisis, someone used the word 'together' in these testing times. This word is sacrosanct today as the party stands divided in three factions: there is one group loyal to the high command, another to CM Ashok Gehlot and the third to Sachin Pilot," he added.

Meanwhile, questions are being raised about the conduct of Assembly speaker CP Joshi who silently accepted the resignations of 92 Congress MLAs and is staying silent amid all this drama when the MLAs themselves are saying that they were made to resign forcefully.

The WhatsApp calls of all senior leaders are busy...discussing if a new CM will come or if Gehlot will manage to hold on to his chair.

The million dollar question is, "Will the desert storm wipe out the Congress in Rajasthan?" This is the question being discussed because the Gehlot camp MLAs are now questioning his right hand men, UDH Minister Shanti Dhariwal, PHED minister Mahesh Joshi and RTDC chairman Dharmendra Rathore on why they called an unofficial meeting parallel to the CLP meeting last Sunday. These are the three leaders who were issued show-cause notices on Sunday.

Now all are waiting for the decision of the high command on the CM face. There will be a ray of light, says Vedprakash Solanki from the Pilot camp who termed Dharmendra Rathore a 'Dalal' when he called Pilot a traitor.

We are ready to go for mid-term elections but we want CM Gehlot to remain our leader, says minister Parsadilali Lal Meena.

We are with the high command, says Divya Maderna, granddaughter of Parasram Maderna who couldn't become CM under similar conditions as are existing today.

So with three factions in the party, all eyes are now on the high command.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : The Congress will witness a contest for the party president's post between Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor, both having filed their nominations on Friday. However, with senior leaders siding with Kharge and the Congress G-23 group too endorsing his candidature, it leaves fellow member Tharoor to fend for himself.

The G-23 leaders are the main proposers of Mallikarjun Kharge along with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for the Congress presidential poll. Digvijaya Singh who also collected the nomination papers for himself ended up becoming a proposer for Kharge. He is tipped to become the Leader of Opposition in the Upper House when Kharge vacates the position after being elected Congress president.

In the set of nominations, the names of the proposers include Anand Sharma, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Prithviraj Chavan, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, Mukul Wasnik and Manish Tewari, who were in the G-23. Others who signed the nomination papers include Ashok Gehlot, who opted out of the race on Thursday after meeting Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi.

Almost all the G-23 leaders were present at the Congress headquarters at the time of Kharge's filing of nomination, signalling an end to the stalemate since 2020 when the group wrote a letter demanding elections in the party. The group, however, has not come out in support of Shashi Tharoor who was part of it.

Gehlot, who was initially the frontrunner, opted out after Sunday's fiasco in Jaipur where MLAs loyal to him boycotted the CLP. Gehlot's supporters demanded that the issue of Chief Minister should be decided after October 19 but Congress state in-charge Ajay Maken wanted a one line resolution.

Ashok Gehlot opted out and said, "In this circumstances I don't want to contest and the issue of chief ministership will be decided by the party high command. Whether I remain the CM will be decided by Madam (Sonia Gandhi)... I am a loyal soldier of the Congress from Indiraji's time. I have expressed regret and sadness over whatever happened in Jaipur." Earlier, while entering Sonia Gandhi's residence at 10 Janpath, Gehlot was seen carrying a set of papers. On one of the papers, it was written "Whatever has happened is sad and I am also hurt." "I have always acted as a loyal soldier of the party. The incident that happened on the day of the legislature party meeting has left everyone shaken. It gave a message as if I wanted to continue as the Chief Minister, so I apologised to her," Gehlot said after the meeting.

In Rajasthan, amid the full blown controversy, the Congress has had to issue gag orders against making public statements. The Congress on Tuesday served show-cause notices to Rajasthan Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal, party chief whip Mahesh Joshi and RTDC chairman Dharmendra Rathore for holding a parallel meeting of party legislators in Jaipur.

The notice issued to Dhariwal said that he, being the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, has committed "grave indiscipline" by hosting a parallel MLAs meeting at his residence and thus "pressuring MLAs not to attend the official meeting".

"As Parliamentary Affairs Minister, hosting the unofficial meeting confused the Congress MLAs as to which one was convened officially," the notice reads.

The notice that has sought a response within 10 days also noted that Dhariwal's action (parallel meeting) came even when senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge and Rajasthan in-charge Ajay Maken repeatedly clarified that they have come to speak to each MLA "individually and impartially" and report to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

Similarly, the notice addressed to Joshi stated that he, as Chief Whip, has conducted "grave indiscipline" by boycotting the official CLP (Congress Legislature Party) meeting and by participating in and convening a parallel meeting of the MLAs at the time when the officially appointed observers were waiting for the official meeting to start.

"As Chief Whip your presence at the unofficial and illegal meeting confused the MLAs as to which one was convened officially," added the notice.

In the show-cause notice to Rathore, he was accused of making all the logistical arrangements and was held responsible for being behind the entire planning of the unofficial meeting of the MLAs.

Maken has recommended disciplinary action against Dhariwal, Joshi and Rathore whom he blamed for holding the parallel meet.

Maken, in his report to the party president, has reported "grave indiscipline" on their part. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, sources said, has been exonerated in the report submitted to Sonia Gandhi.

The official meeting of the Congress Legislature Party was to be held at 7 p.m. on Sunday at the Chief Minister's residence in Jaipur, but before that Gehlot's loyalists gathered at Dhariwal's residence. From there, they went to Speaker C.P. Joshi's residence and collectively submitted their resignations to him.

The other contender for the Chief Minister's post, Sachin Pilot on Thursday met Sonia Gandhi and said that everyone has to work together for the party to come back to power in 2023.
Chennai, Oct 1 : Actor Jayam Ravi, who plays the pivotal role of Arun Mozhi Varman (who is also called Ponniyin Selvan) in director Mani Ratnam's just released magnum opus, 'Ponniyin Selvan 1', has lauded music director A.R. Rahman's background score for the film.

Taking to Instagram to share his delight at having been a part of the film, Jayam Ravi wrote: "The pride of Indian cinema has done it again and how! A Mani Ratnam celluloid extravaganza that transports us to an era we have been in awe of for centuries together." "Lived, laughed and loved experiencing the Chola empire for three hours as an audience!"

"A R Rahman sir, your music and BGM is haunting and will be etched in history forever! Ravi Varman sir -- Thank you for showing us an unseen era so beautifully and realistically. You are pure magic sir. Thottatharani sir... a pillar of strength as majestic as the pillars you created for every set! "Kudos to the numerous other unsung heroes of this Dream Team! My heart is filled with pride to have just been a part of this magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan. PART 2 #ps2 who's waiting?" 'Ponniyin Selvan', the first part of which was released on Friday, is a brilliant story that revolves around the early life of prince Arun Mozhi Varman, who later on went on to be known as the great Raja Raja Chozhan.

Called by Mani Ratnam as his dream project, the film features a host of top stars including actors Vikram, Aishwarya Rai, Trisha, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Jayaram, Parthiban, Lal, Vikram Prabhu, Jayaram, Prabhu and Prakash Raj. The film is among the most expensive projects ever undertaken in the country and is based on the Tamil classic 'Ponniyin Selvan' by eminent writer Kalki.
Mumbai, Oct 1 : In a horrifying incident, two persons indiscriminately fired at a crowd dispersing after Navratri celebrations in Mumbai's Kandivali west suburb, killing one and injuring at least three others, on Saturday.

Kandivali police, which is probing the incident, said that they have launched a manhunt for the unknown assailants.

According to an official, at around 12.15 a.m., the two men sped to the Laljipada area and started shooting at the people dispersing after a local Navratri programme.

Amidst the chaos, the assailants' bullets managed to kill one and wounded three others, said the official.

The victim was identified as Ankit Yadav, who died on the spot, while Abhilash Dabholkar, Prakash Narain and Manish Gupta who sustained gunshot injuries, have been admitted to the BMC's Shatabdi Hospital for treatment.

Locals claimed that the assailants may be youths living in the vicinity, while the police ruled out the possibility of a gang war and suspect it to be vendetta for some previous enmity.

Deputy Commissioner of Police-11 Vishal Thakur said that teams were on the lookout for the killers, scanning CCTVs in the area, probing various angles, including from where the guns were acquired, the exact number of rounds fired, and other issues.
Mogadishu / Washington  A top Somali police official and several of his guards were killed Friday in a roadside bomb blast near the southern town of Balad, according to Somali authorities.

The attack involved a landmine that targeted Mogadishu Police Commissioner Farhan Mohamoud Adan, better known as "Qarole," near the Balad district, 35 kilometers north of Mogadishu.

"The police commissioner stepped out of his bulletproof vehicle as he was visiting a government military post and then a landmine apparently planted there went off, killing the commissioner and an unidentified number of police officers accompanying him," a government official who requested anonymity told VOA Somali. "It's part of the ongoing efforts to eradicate al-Shabab. They will be remembered for their role in Somalia's anti-al-Shabab operations."

Somali police Major Sadiq Aden Ali-Doodishe, who spoke to VOA after the blast, confirmed the incident, but he could not provide further details about the nature of the blast or the number of casualties.

Ali-Doodishe said the attack occurred during security operations targeting the Basra village area on the border of the Middle and Lower Shabelle regions.

"The commissioner was in the middle of a successful operation that flushed out terrorists from these areas when he was targeted by a blast," the police major said. "We ask God to have mercy on the martyrs who died, and may God bless those who were injured."

Ali-Doodishe added that such attacks would never deter Somali soldiers in their fight against terrorism. "Terrorism is a threat to life. We will never be diverted from our goal of ensuring the security of the country and the elimination of terrorism," he said.

Authorities blamed the al-Qaida-linked Islamist group al-Shabab for the attack, though no one had yet claimed responsibility.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud condemned the attack in a statement. "Commissioner Aden and [the] other valiant soldiers who have died in the blast dedicated their life for Somalia's peace," he said.

Speaking at a government-sponsored youth conference Friday in Mogadishu, Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre called on Somali youth to unite in the fight against what he called "a ruthless enemy." He was referring to al-Shabab, which has been waging a bloody insurgency in the impoverished Horn of Africa nation for more than 15 years.

"Somali religious scholars have made their positions [clear] on our fight against al-Shabab. Al-Shabab does not represent Islam nor Muslims. Therefore, there is a responsibility for Somali youth to participate [in] the efforts to eradicate al-Shabab so that the innocent Somalis suffering under al-Shabab's enmity and ruthlessness will be freed," Barre said.

Ethiopia coordination

Analysts say government counterterrorism operations were stepped up after the group's brazen cross-border attack into eastern Ethiopia in late July.

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On Friday, in Addis Ababa, Mohamud concluded his state visit to Ethiopia, where he held talks with Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

It was Mohamud's first visit to neighboring Ethiopia since he was elected in May. The top priority of his agenda was regional support in the fight against al-Shabab in Somalia.

In a joint communique, Mohamud and Ahmed agreed to strengthen ties, reiterating their intention to fight against a common enemy. They also applauded the Somali National Army's gains in anti-al-Shabab operations, and they called on the U.N. Security Council to consider Somalia's request to lift the arms embargo.

Middle, Lower Shabelle

The killing of Mogadishu's police chief followed a government operation Friday that removed militants from multiple villages along the border between the Middle and Lower Shabelle regions.

Somalia Defense Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur told the Somali National News Agency that troops also had razed several al-Shabab barracks in nine villages.

"These gains are achieved following well-coordinated operations in the early hours of this Friday," Nur said.

In the Hiran region of central Somalia, a counterterrorism military campaign backing a pro-government local clan militia has been making significant gains, Somali National Army officials said Thursday. They said they had secured control of at least 50 villages and al-Shabab strongholds.

The anti-al-Shabab campaign follows the Somali president's call for all Somalis to fight against al-Shabab.

Falastin Iman contributed to this report from Mogadishu.
After getting the authority done, Anu Tyagi got the trees planted again late at night. Image Source: IANS News

After getting the authority done, Anu Tyagi got the trees planted again late at night. Image Source: IANS News

After getting the authority done, Anu Tyagi got the trees planted again late at night. Image Source: IANS News

Noida, Oct 1 : In the NCR's Grand Omaxe Society, Noida Authority, on Friday sent four bulldozers and demolished 16 illegal constructions and uprooted 10 palm trees from outside the house of self-claimed BJP leader Shrikant Tyagi. However, following the incident, his wife Anu Tyagi got trees placed back outside their house.

When the Authority's bulldozer ran in the Grand Omaxe Society, and the process lasted for about 6 and a half hours. At the sight of 4 bulldozers and 4 dumpers, the residents came out in protest, raising slogans against the government. However, this did not stop the bulldozers at work. Some women even burst into tears before the officers.

Of the 17 palm trees outside Srikant Tyagi's house, 12 were uprooted. Additionally, illegal constructions of 16 flat owners (which were extensions from the authorised limits of construction) were also pulled down.

132 flat owners were given an ultimatum of 48 hours to withdraw the encroachments. Anu Tyagi opposed the action, saying that there is a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the builder. Despite producing the NOC, the demolition did not stop. The boundary wall at Alexander Tower within the society was also demolished.
New York, Oct 1 : Most Twitter users don't follow political elites and they are much more likely to follow celebrities than an elected official, suggest researchers.

Despite the prominence and impact of presidents, congressmen, journalists, pundits and the news media, researchers found that only 40 per cent of Twitter users follow one or more political "elites" and the remaining 60 per cent follow no political actors at all, according to the study published in the journal Science Advances.

"Those users who do follow political accounts on Twitter, however, stick to insular online communities and mostly follow and share information from their political in-group," said Magdalena Wojcieszak, lead author and professor of communication at the University of California, Davis, and the University of Amsterdam.

In other words, speaking to ongoing debates about so-called "echo chambers" on social media platforms, the small group of users who do follow political elites display clear political biases and engage with these elites in a very one-sided way.

The findings come after researchers analysed four years' worth of data from a sampling of 1.5 million Twitter users.

Researchers concluded that even though the group of social media users who display political biases in their online behaviours is small, it is nevertheless consequential.

"Given that we analysed over 2,500 American political elite accounts including Donald Trump, Joe Biden, prominent pundits including Rachel Maddow and Sean Hannity, and the most popular media outlets such as MSNBC and Fox News, the fact that only 23 per cent of the representative sample of over 1.5 million users follow three of more of such elite accounts is revealing," Wojcieszak informed.

The research also reveals important ideological asymmetries: conservative users are roughly twice as likely as liberals to share in-group versus out-group content, as well as to add negative commentary to out-group shares.

"Overall, the majority of American Twitter users are not sufficiently interested in politics to follow even a single political or media elite from our list," Wojcieszak said.

Given a growing radicalisation in America, decreasing support for democratic norms, and rising support for political violence, concerns about political biases on social media platforms are valid, no matter how small the groups displaying those biases may be.
Bengaluru, Oct 1 : A group of Kannada activists led by sandalwood actor Zaid Khan on Saturday presented a memorandum to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai demanding singing of the state anthem in theatres and multiplexes across the state.

Zaid Khan, the son of Congress MLA from Chamrajpet B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, in his memorandum has urged the government to make the state anthem mandatory alongside the national anthem.

"We must recite the national anthem and state anthem with pride while singing. We must inculcate the habit of reciting the state anthem for the present and future generations to come," he said.

Zaid appealed to the Chief Minister Bommai to ensure recitation of the state anthem in future in all theatres alongside the national anthem. The chief minister has assured Zaid Khan to hold discussion with sandalwood fraternity and do the needful.

While presenting memorandum, representatives of various Kannada organisations and members of Dalit organisations were present with Khan.
Phnom Penh, Oct 1 : Cambodia has witnessed a spike in both drug arrests and seizures during the first nine months of 2022, said a report released by the Anti-Drug Police Department (ADP) on Saturday.

The authorities had detained 11,431 drug-related suspects during the January-September period this year, up 16 per cent from 9,828 over the same period last year, Xinhua news agency quoted the report as saying.

It said that some 6.25 tons of narcotics had been seized, up almost 5 times from 1.05 tonnes last year.

According to the report, some 4.77 tonnes of unfinished ketamine, 476 tons of chemical substances, 23 pistols, 49 rifles, 119 cars, 1,183 motorbikes, 4,381 telephones, and 329 scales had also been confiscated from the suspects.

The seized narcotics this year included heroin, ecstasy, ketamine, cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, methamphetamine pills, and cathinone, among others.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said earlier this week that the government was committed to cracking down on all forms of crimes including drug trafficking, human trafficking, and sexual exploitation.

He advised all competent authorities and other stakeholders to join hands in preventing Cambodia from becoming a haven for organised crime groups engaged in human trafficking and drug trafficking.

The Southeast Asian nation has no death sentence for drug traffickers.

Under its law, someone found guilty of trafficking more than 80 grams of illicit drugs could be jailed for life.
Patna, Oct 1 : After a college student in Bihar was humiliated by an IAS officer over her query to subsidise the rates of sanitary pads, a Delhi-based firm has decided to provide her free napkins for a year, as well as bear the expenses of her education until graduation.

Chirag Pan, CEO of PAN healthcare private limited, the Delhi-based sanitary pad manufacturing company, said: "Menstrual hygiene has been considered a taboo subject discussed in hushed voices for generations. This must change. We need many more girls to come forward and boldly demand open discussions about period bleeding. We salute Riya's courage to speak up on this subject on a public platform with confidence.

"A year's supply of Everteen's neem and safflower sanitary pads is just a small token of our appreciation for her conviction to put an end to the bloody hypocrisy around menstruation that pervades society at large. We will also bear the cost of her education fees through her graduation." Speaking to IANS, Riya Kumari, the 20-year-old student, said: "My question was not wrong. I can afford the cost of sanitary napkins but there are many poor girls who can't afford it. It seems that the Madam (IAS Harjot Kaur Bamhrah) took it another way. It may be possible that she might try to make us self dependent and not dependent on the government." Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said: "The Bihar government is providing Rs 300 to every girl under the 'Kanya Utthan' programme. The brave girl demanded the sanitary pad at the cost of Rs 20 to Rs 30 while the government is providing Rs 25 per month. It may be possible that the girl and the officer were not aware of it." At a "Shashakt Beti Samridh Bihar" event, the student asked Bamhrah that when the government is providing school dress, scholarship, bicycles and many other facilities to students, can't it provide sanitary pads for Rs 20 to 30 to girl students. The question was applauded by the participants But the IAS officer hit out at the query and said that people are clapping over the question but these are endless demands.

"Today, the government would provide you with sanitary pads for Rs 20 to Rs 30. Then you ask for jeans, pants and then, beautiful shoes," she said, but did not stop there.

"When it comes to family planning, will the government give condoms to you. Why would I have a habit of taking everything free from the government? What is the need of it?" At that, the student said the government comes to them to seek their votes. Bamhrah angrily replied that "this is the height of stupidity. You don't vote and go to Pakistan. You are giving a vote to take money and facilities from the government".

Following the incident, Bamhrah faced huge criticism and she eventually apologised to the girl.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also said that he would take action against the IAS officer.
Mumbai, Oct 1 : Bollywood actress Nimrat Kaur recently visited Patiala for the inaugural ceremony of her father Late Major Bhupendra Singh's statue in the Patiala Regiment.

In honour of his contribution to the nation, a bronze statue of Major Bhupendra Singh was placed at the Heritage Hall at his parent regiment: 64 Assault Engineer Regiment in Patiala.

While Nimrat's father was awarded the Shaurya Chakra posthumously, she said: "It's a really special moment for us all to be here to honour his memory and partake in this wonderfully noble and incredible gesture by the Indian Army." "Patiala is very close to my heart because I have been in Patiala with my parents in two different tenures that my father had his postings there; when I was a little baby, and incidentally we lived in the same house for both our postings and the second time we were all together as a family as after that we lost him in Kashmir where we couldn't join him." "Patiala is also my favourite because I completed my 5th, 6th and 7th standard in a school there and that really laid the foundation for where I am today, as extra-curricular activities, dramatics and incredible values were instilled in me as a child," Nimrat added.

After the success of 'Dasvi', along with Abhishek Bachchan, Nimrat will be seen in Maddock Films' next film titled 'Happy Teachers' Day'.
Kolkata, Oct 1 : Kolkata Police on Saturday issued a lookout notice against a close associate of Amir Khan, the prime accused in the multi-crore mobile gaming app, E-Nuggets scam.

Suhojeet Srimani, a resident of BK Paul Avenue who is principal operator of Khan's sextortion racket, is currently believed to be hiding in Dubai.

Srimani used to operate from a flat at Behala's Mahabirtala area under the guise of call centre where the cops of Kolkata Police conducted raids on Thursday.

In laptops seized from the call centre, the police found a link of a mobile dating app, sexually explicit videos and screenshots. As many as 15 employees of the call centre, mostly young women, have been detained for questioning.

"We strongly believe that both -- this mobile gaming app as well as the sextortion rackets -- have overseas links. Recently, we raided Khan's other office in Salt Lake, from where we seized laptops and desktops which were remotely operated from outside. That office had only one employee who was the caretaker, whose task was to start the laptops and desktops. However, there was no other employee to operate these machines and all of them were remotely operated," informed a city police official.

He also said that getting Srimani in their custody is extremely crucial since besides running the sextortion racket in all probability, he acted as the main link between Khan and overseas operators.

Till Friday evening, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Kolkata Police have recovered Rs 75.17 crore in cash as well as cryptocurrency in connection with the app fraud.
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 1 : Kerala Police have discovered a body buried in the backyard of a house on the Alappuzha-Changnacherry road, which they suspect to be of a youth who was reported missing since September 26.

Kerala Police launched a probe after a missing complaint was lodged at the Alappuzha North station by the mother of the missing man, identified as Bindhukumar.

On September 29, the police received the call records of Bindhukumar and found that he spoke to his friend Muthukumar on September 26, the day he went missing.

Muthukumar was questioned by the police on Bindhukumar's but he said he had no clue.

He was asked to appear before the police on Friday, but he did not show up. After this the police tried to contact him but his phone was switched off.

On Saturday morning when the police reached Muthukumar's rented accommodation, it was locked but they found that some work had taken place at a shed in the backyard.

On digging the backyard, the police found the body, who they suspect to be of Bindhukumar. The police are now awaiting a forensic report.

On further investigations, it was found that apart from Muthukumar and Bindhukumar, two others were also present in his house on September 26 Bindhukumar worked as a real estate broker, while Muthukumar is a carpenter by profession.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : The Supreme Court will hear SEBIs petition, in an open court, seeking review of its August 5 judgment, which directed the market regulator to share certain documents with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL).

A bench headed by Chief Justice U.U. Lalit and comprising Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Hima Kohli said: "Considering the facts and circumstances on record and the submissions advanced in the review petition, we deem it appropriate to allow application for listing of the instant petition in open court. Let this review petition be listed in court on October 12, 2022." SEBI has refused to entertain RIL's request to share the privileged documents on the grounds that under the Sebi (Settlement Proceedings) Regulations, the accused company has no right to seek information from it.

The apex court, in its judgement, had rejected this stand of the market regulator.

RIL had claimed that documents will exonerate it and its promoters from criminal prosecution initiated in a case related to the alleged irregularities in acquisition of its own shares between 1994 and 2000.

Last week, a bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna had recused from hearing RIL's petition seeking to initiate contempt proceedings against SEBI for failing to provide certain documents to the company.

On August 5, a bench led by then Chief Justice N.V. Ramana had said: "The approach of SEBI, in failing to disclose the documents, also raises concerns of transparency and fair trial. Opaqueness only propagates prejudice and partiality. Opaqueness is antithetical to transparency." The top court had said the market regulator should show fairness and furnish documents sought by RIL, and SEBI has a duty to act fairly, while conducting proceedings or initiating any action against the parties.

RIL filed a contempt petition as SEBI has not shared three documents -- the two legal opinions by former apex court judge B.N. Srikrishna and former ICAI president Y.H. Malegam's report which examined the irregularities.

The company claimed SEBI cannot continue to resist the production of these documents and it had also sent a notice to the regulator saying if documents were not received by August 18, then it will establish that SEBI does not want to comply with the apex court's judgment.

In 2002, Chartered Accountant S. Gurumurthy filed a complaint with SEBI alleging irregularities by RIL, its associate companies and their directors/promoters, including Mukesh Ambani and his wife, Nita; Anil Ambani and his wife, Tina; and 98 others.

The complaint cited the issue of two preferential placement of non-convertible debentures in 1994.

SEBI had alleged that RIL along with Reliance Petroleum had circuitously funded the acquisition of its own shares in violation of the Sections 77 and 77A of the Companies Act, 1956.
Guwahati, Oct 1 : An FIR has been lodged against Assam Congress general secretary Apurba Kumar Bhattacharjee after a woman party colleague accused him of molesting her, sources said on Saturday.

In the police complaint lodged in Guwahati's Bhangagarh police station on Thursday, the woman party worker accused him of touching her inappropriately near his room inside the premises of Rajib Bhawan in Guwahati in May.

"I was shocked for a while, but, later, I moved aside and informed about the incident to my fellow members of the party. I was going through a very scary mental trauma since then. In the month of June 2022, I tendered my resignation to the party. I hope that police will take appropriate action against Bhattacharjee," the complaint read.

Following the police complaint, Assam state Congress president Bhupen Borah formed a three-member committee to look into the matter.

Borah has instructed the committee to submit the report within 10 days of a stipulated time.

Meanwhile, Bhattacharjee has denied the allegation and termed it "baseless".
Banjul  Victims and rights activists have raised concerns about the lack of Gambian government's implementation plan of the 2021 Truth Commission's recommendations. The vetting process is largely incomplete; the strategy for trials is unknown; the reparations budget is postponed. And there seems to be no political will at the president's office.

When Gambia's Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) wrapped up in November last year, its end was greeted with excitement and hope for a much-awaited second part of the post-dictatorship justice response, mostly criminal justice and reparations. Which meant implementing the TRRC key recommendations.

"We executed our mandate almost flawlessly and submitted our final report and recommendations to the government, and we closed shop," said Commission's former executive secretary Dr. Baba Galleh Jallow, looking back on their work.

The TRRC inquiry has found former dictator Yahya Jammeh directly and indirectly responsible for arbitrarily killing of at least 232 people. One of those victims was Jammeh's own cousin Haruna Jammeh, the father of Isatou Jammeh. Haruna Jammeh was killed by the former leader's hit-squad called "Junglers", according to one of its members Omar Jallow, who confessed before the Truth Commission in June 2019 to have participated in the execution. But like many other victims, Isatou Jammeh said the "excitement that greeted the TRRC's work has faded".

No government implementation plan

It has been 10 months--from November 25 to now--since Gambian president Adama Barrow received the TRRC final report on human rights violations under the Jammeh, and nine since he officially accepted it. In May the government issued a white paper accepting all but two of the Commission's 265 recommendations. The Justice minister Dawda Jallow promised action would be taken on Jammeh-era crimes, announcing that letters had already been drafted to officials recommended to be sacked or banned by the Commission for involvement in human rights abuses.

But four months after the promise, none of the officials have been fired. Those who should have been banned from holding public office continue to work or are sent on administrative leave.

"Every time you have them at workshops, they say the same things. We are tired of hearing what the Ministry (of Justice) intends to do. Let us see these things so that we can believe something is going on," said Isatou Jammeh.

The implementation of the recommendations of the TRRC -- as envisaged by the former Justice minister Abubakarr Tambadou -- is to be monitored by the National Human Rights Commission. The problem though, according to the rights commission's chair Emmanuel Joof, is that "the government is yet to come up with an implementation plan," that they could use as a checklist.

Lack of political will?

The relationship between President Barrow and the Jammeh's victims has been a tough one. Quite often Barrow chose political expediency over justice. One such case was his attempt to forge an alliance with Jammeh ahead of the 2021 presidential elections--an attempt refused by the exiled autocratic ruler but accepted by the leadership of his party.

On September 22, Barrow faced Gambian lawmakers for his 'state of the nation' address. The televised address is expected to reveal his legislative and policy plans for the coming year. He had one sentence to say about the TRRC. "Following the submission of the TRRC report last year, Cabinet approved the relevant Government White Paper in May 2022 for implementation," said Barrow. No word on justice for Jammeh-era crimes. No word on reparations. No word of any efforts being made to actually implement the recommendations.

And the person who welcomed him into the parliament - the House leader and the third most powerful political official in the country - was Fabakary Tombong Jatta, Jammeh's longest serving majority leader in the parliament who, until recently, had campaigned for the TRRC report to be binned. Unsurprisingly his appointment by Barrow was criticized by the victims.

"There's absolutely no political will otherwise it would not have taken nine months since submission of final report and 4 months since the white paper was issued - and still there's no action or direction," said Gambia's leading rights activist Madi Jobarteh. "All we hear is the Minister of Justice lamenting the lack of capacity and resources and that the reparations bill will come in 2023."

"No money"

At this point, the Ministry of Justice has also failed to produce a prosecution strategy or even decide on a model of a court to handle serious crimes cases. Everything, except the "selective implementation" of the Commission's recommendations on the sacking and banning of public officials, is stalled.

Following a 'Never Again' march by victims in October 2021, the Ministry of Justice issued a statement promising to budget D150 million (about 3 million dollars), for the implementation of the TRRC recommendations for 2022. It didn't come through. Instead, Jallow confirmed to the human rights committee of the National Assembly in June that they have no money to implement the recommendations for this fiscal year.

"Many of these recommendations require only simple reforms that do not require much money, if at all," said former lead counsel of the TRRC Essa Faal. "These low-hanging fruits could be harvested. Such steps will show commitment and will reinforce the hopes and aspirations of many Gambians for justice in this matter. That could be a good start."

Delayed reparations bill

After the sale of the assets of Jammeh, who lives in Equatorial Guinea, the Gambia government promised to pay D100 million (1,8 million dollars) to the TRRC reparations fund. Only D50 million were paid. In addition to this, Tambadou announced in August 2019 that Senegal had contributed D50 million to the TRRC Trust Fund. According to a source who got direct knowledge of the donation this money was from proceeds of the sale of over 2000 tons of Senegalese timber confiscated in the Gambia. When sold by the Gambian authorities, they sent D50 million to Senegal in December 2019, which were returned as Senegal's contribution to the TRRC.

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But it isn't clear where the donation money went. "The timber sale was not yet completed at the time and the government decided to give out the D50 million from the Jammeh assets. Meaning that Senegal's donation is still outstanding," claimed a senior official of the Justice Ministry who does not want to be named.

By July 2021, the Truth commission has already paid a significant amount of reparations from the D50 million it had received. The TRRC full reparations assessment would require a pay-out of little over US$4 million, TRRC chairman Lamin Sise and his deputy Adelaide Sosseh said in a press conference on July 16, 2021. This leaves a revenue shortfall of US$3.3 million, including US$625,610 to be paid to families of West African migrants killed in Gambia in 2005. However, the government said it is working on a reparation bill to be tabled next year that will take care of the remaining reparations.

"The Ministry of Justice should have done a capacity assessment to determine what technical capacities are required for investigations, prosecutions, reparations, and other aspects of the implementation process," said Jobarteh. "They should cost the entire TRRC recommendations so that there's an indicative figure. This will help to determine what the government can provide and where the rest of the money should come from."
Major demolition drive going on at Bet Dwarka island, off Okha port in Gujarat. Devbhumi Dwarka district administration have identified 30 illegal properties including six religious places encroaching government land. Image Source: IANS News

Major demolition drive going on at Bet Dwarka island, off Okha port in Gujarat. Devbhumi Dwarka district administration have identified 30 illegal properties including six religious places encroaching government land. Image Source: IANS News

Major demolition drive going on at Bet Dwarka island, off Okha port in Gujarat. Devbhumi Dwarka district administration have identified 30 illegal properties including six religious places encroaching government land. Image Source: IANS News

Jamkhambhaliya : , Oct 1 (IANS) The Gujarat government on Saturday embarked on a major demolition drive at the Bet Dwarka island against illegal properties encroaching government land.

More than 1000 jawans police force from the district and neighbouring districts and even State Reserve Police force have been pressed into service.

The strategically located island is considered to be a sensitive island, it is 7 nautical miles off the Okha port of Devbhumi Dwarka district on Western Coast of Gujarat. It is spread over 13 kilometers.

District administration has identified some 21 illegal constructions, including six religious places being constructed on government land. The administration plans to free 52,078 square feet and its market value is Rs 1,22,38,424, said a government officer.

Police force was drawn from the Devbhumi Dwarka and neighbouring district and even State Reserve Police Force jawans are deployed at Bet Dwarka to provide security and protection to the demolishing team, said Nitesh Pandey, District Superintendent of Police.
Kolkata, Oct 1 : Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Detective Department, Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate, to submit a comprehensive report on an investigation into a complaint against poet Srijato Bandyopadhyay for a 2017 poem that allegedly hurt Hindu sentiments. Justice Rajasekhar Mantha directed that the report be submitted by November 17 when the matter comes up for next hearing.

Petitioner Biplab Kumar Chowdhury had lodged a complaint against Bandyopadhyay at the Bidhannagar Police Station around March 21, 2017 for a poem about placing a condom on a Trishul. The Trishul is considered holy by Hindus, particularly Shaivites. After the police refused to take any steps, the petitioner moved the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate of Barrackpore who directed the Inspector-in-Charge of Airport Police Station on April 1, 2017 to treat the complaint as an FIR and file a compliance report within 24 hours.

According to Chowdhury's counsel Phiroze Edulji, the FIR was finally lodged on April 11, 2017, nearly 10 days after the order was passed by the magistrate. However, the police didn't bother to carry out any probe into the matter or examine the complainant or witnesses. This prompted Chowdhury to move the Calcutta High Court in 2017 itself. While proceedings were on at the High Court, the Airport Police Station submitted its final report to the magistrate.

The petitioner was not satisfied with this report and moved a protest petition before the magistrate. The prayer for further investigation was allowed on December 7, 2021 by the magistrate. Thereafter, the police sought time from the court on several occasions to complete the investigation. The matter was adjourned on several occasions.

Edulji submitted in the High Court that the investigating officer in this case has adopted a dilatory tactic to delay and frustrate the case of the complainant by not filing his report despite a direction by the magistrate.

Edulji also highlighted in the petition the importance of the Trishul to Hindus and why the poem is offensive in nature. During the hearing, the state submitted that the matter has been transferred by the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate to the detective department. Justice Mantha then directed the Deputy Commissioner of the Detective Department to submit the report duly vetted by the Commissioner, Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate.
Chennai, Oct 1 : Actor Suriya, who received the National Award for Best Actor from President Draupadi Murmu for his sterling performance as 'Maara' in director Sudha Kongara's Tamil film 'Soorarai Pottru', has dedicated the award to his 'Anbaana fans'.

Taking to Twitter on Saturday to express his gratitude, Suriya said: "Ever grateful Sudha! Hearty congratulations to all the winners. This one's for you Anbana fans!! #SooraraiPottru #NationalFilmAwards." The actor also responded to a tweet by Ajay Devgn, who had along with Suriya jointly won the Best Actor Award for his role in the Hindi film, 'Tanhaji - The Unsung Warrior'.

Ajay Devgn had initially tweeted: "It was fantastic to share time with my esteemed colleague & fellow best actor award winner, Suriya. Deeply respect his talent and love his movies."

Suriya responded to Ajay's tweet: "Thank you for the love and warmth sir! So nice to have shared this moment with youa Lots of respect. Waiting for 'Kaithi' and the next 'Singham'."

'Soorarai Pottru', which was partly inspired by events from the life of Air Deccan founder Captain G. R. Gopinath, swept five National Awards including the awards for Best Feature Film, Best Actor and Best Actress at the 68th National Film Awards.

-- Syndicated from IANS
Lucknow, Oct 1 : On a balmy afternoon, a seemingly tattered poster pasted on a semi plastered wall in a tiny house in Ayodhya changed the fate of an organization that was gaining roots, especially in north India.

The organisation was the Students Islamic Movement of India, popularly known as SIMI.

The poster showed the three tombs of the Babri mosque with a pair of eyes -- with tears rolling down -- peering out of the outer two tombs.

The caption called for revenge for the demolition of the mosque.

The poster, published in a national daily, put the government machinery on its toes.

The Special Task Force officials began investigating and the story that tumbled out got increasingly frightening.

SIMI activists were making inroads into Muslim youth groups and they were not necessarily students. Some were zardozi workers, some were motor mechanics and even fruit sellers -- all semi-educated and fully radicalized.

Their offices - if they may be called that - were housed in the bylanes of various cities with no signage to identify them.

SIMI offices dotted the UP-Nepal border in Lakhimpur Kheri and Bahraich that provided an easy escape to the Himalayan kingdom during police crackdowns.

As facts emerged and a blueprint of an organization that had spread beyond imagination was seen, communication between the then Rajnath Singh government in Lucknow and the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in Delhi became fast and furious.

Law enforcing agencies closed in on SIMI hideouts, raids were conducted and activists arrested. On September 27, 2001, the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre announced a ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, for its 'anti-national and destabilising activities', for 'making controversial remarks questioning the country's sovereignty and integrity' and for its 'links with militant outfits like the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Hizbul Mujahideen'.

A retired police official who was a part of the crackdown on SIMI, recalled, "The action was taken in utter haste and based on posters and pamphlets found. We did not get time to prove SIMI's links with international terror outfits and there was little credible evidence against the organisation." Most of the SIMI activists who evaded arrest, immediately went underground and continued with their daily chores that included small odd jobs.

A few months later, in February 2022 the Godhra incident took place and SIMI regrouped into units without a name.

Their activities continued but the 'crusade' remained largely headless since all identified leaders were already in jail.

In 2006, the Mulayam Singh government attempted to withdraw cases against 16 SIMI activists, including Mohammed Amir. The move was aimed at minority appeasement and also the fact that 'credible evidence' was lacking.

Cases registered 12 years ago - before SIMI was banned - were based on flimsy charges and an investigation that has been rapped for loopholes.

However, the courts did not allow withdrawal of cases.

The pamphlets and posters produced by the government to establish the anti-national credentials of the organisation were nothing more than a collection of poetic verses from the Quran, and elsewhere, depicting the ultimate victory of those who believe in Allah after overcoming all obstacles, including bloody ones, coupled with a few pictures.

The notification banning SIMI described its activities on the following points: Firstly, it claimed that SIMI was in close touch with militant outfits and is supporting extremism/militancy in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere.

SIMI supported claims for the secession of a part of the Indian territory from the Union, supports groups fighting for this purpose, and is thus questioning the territorial integrity of India.

SIMI was working for an international Islamic order.

During Ikhwan conferences, the anti-national and militant postures of SIMI clearly manifested in the speeches of the leaders who glorified pan Islamic fundamentalism, used derogatory language for deities of other religions and exhorted Muslims to jihad.

SIMI had published objectionable posters and literature, which were calculated to incite communal feelings and which questioned the territorial integrity of India.

It was involved in engineering communal riots and disruptive activities in various parts of the country.

The notification further said that the activities of SIMI were 'detrimental to the peace, integrity and maintenance of the secular fabric of Indian society and that it is an unlawful association.' The ban sparked a political controversy, exposing the government to charges of selective persecution with an eye on the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

The ham-handed way in which the UP government handled the violence that broke out in Lucknow following the ban, only served to strengthen this impression.

Though the crackdown was peaceful, it left Lucknow on the boil.

Prime Minister Vajpayee's parliamentary constituency and the capital of Uttar Pradesh witnessed widespread riots.

The police opened fire on protesting Muslims, killing four and injuring many. Curfew was clamped in several areas.

Although the situation was brought under control without further loss of life, the episode took an ugly political turn, with the ruling BJP and the Opposition parties accusing each other of trying to gain political mileage.

Following the ban, there was a nationwide swoop on SIMI activists, and hundreds of them, including its president Shahid Badr Falahi, were arrested from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.

SIMI offices across the country were sealed and 'incriminating' documents seized.

At that time, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party claimed that the ban was meant to divide the people along communal lines so that the BJP could consolidate its Hindu vote bank.

"It is a move to divert people's attention from the government's failures," SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav had stated.

The BSP had said that the fact that other political parties were not taken into confidence before the ban was slapped, smacked of a conspiracy.

The Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) echoed the same opinion.

The Congress, meanwhile, had described the ban as 'ill-timed in view of the vitiating international situation' and demanded a similar ban on the Sangh Parivar affiliates.

The ban was lifted in August 2008 by a special tribunal, but was reinstated by K.G. Balakrishnan, then Chief Justice, on 6 August 2008 on national security grounds.

Incidentally, SIMI was originally found in Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh in 1977.

The stated mission of SIMI was the 'liberation of India' by converting it to an Islamic land.

While SIMI maintained a comparatively low profile initially, it was only after the demolition of the Babri mosque that the organization began recruiting and radicalizing Muslim youth.

A senior police official of the Special Task Force says, "Even after the ban, SIMI activities did not stop. Its members assumed different names and identities that kept changing frequently. Their outfits would appear and disappear with an alarming frequency but their activities continued discreetly. SIMI supporters had obviously become clever enough to evade the police net."
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 1 : The Popular Front of India (PFI), which was banned on September 28 by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs for a period of five years is an Islamist organization involved in several cases including murders and the infamous chopping off of the right palm of a college professor in Kerala.

The PFI was formed on 22 November 2006 with the merger of the National Development Front (NDF) from Kerala, Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD) and Manitha Neethi Pasare (MNP).

Later, the Association for Social Justice, Andhra Pradesh, Citizens Forum, Goa, Community Guidance and Social and Educational Society of Rajasthan, Nagariak Adhikar Suraksha Samithi, West Bengal, and Manipur's Lelong Social Forum also joined the PFI to expand its footprint across India.

The PFI's allied organizations like the Campus Front of India, Rehab Foundation of India, Women's Front of India, National Confederation of Human Rights Organisations, Imams Council, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation Kerala were also banned.

Interestingly the political arm of the Popular Front of India, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) has not yet been banned and it seems that the government is waiting for a report from the Election Commission of India.

The government while issuing the ban order stated that the organization has links with international terror organizations and it was closely associated with terror outfits in Turkey as well as the LeT and the Hizbul.

It was involved in the killing of several RSS/ABVP leaders as well as SFI leader Abhimanyu who was stabbed to death at Maharajas College in Ernakulam, Kerala. Abhimanyu was a Dalit and a SFI and CPI-M leader and this debunks the claim of the Popular Front that it was for the uplift of the downtrodden and backward classes including Muslims, Dalits, and other marginalized groups.

Another of its aims is to oppose the RSS. Abhimanyu was a CPI-M man and a Dalit and this proves that the PFI was aiming for something else and clearly, it is for an Islamist country. The PFI and SDPI leaders had openly stated that by 2047 they will rule India.

While discussing the PFI and its activities one has to go back a few decades to the emergence of this movement which has its roots in the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

In January 1986, graffiti appeared on the walls from Kasargod in North Kerala to Thiruvananthapuram in the South. It read, "India's liberation through Islam". The fonts used were similar, it was in black and white and the organization behind it was the Students Islamic Movement of India.

The organisation was formed at Aligarh Muslim University in April 1977. SIMI's avowed aim was to convert India into 'Dar- ul-Islam' (Land of Islam) by converting everyone in the country to Islam either by persuasion or by violence.

SIMI was banned by the Union government in 2001 after the 9/11 incident in the United States. While the ban was lifted in 2008, the Supreme Court reinstated it in the same year on grounds of national security.

One of the founding members of SIMI, P. Koya, an Islamic ideologue and professor of English language in a government college of Kerala, was instrumental in forming the 'Nadapuram Defence Force' (NDF) after there were some issues with the CPI-M in Nadapuram, the CPI-M bastion in North Kerala.

There were killings and counter killings and the NDF became a feared organization in the area after it took up the Islamic cause and killed and maimed anyone who opposed it.

Later the Nadapuram Defence Force changed its name to the National Development Front (NDF). The organization took up the issue of Islam and started to represent the rights of Muslims by gaining confidence in the community.

By 1997, the NDF floated a human rights arm and termed it the Confederation of Human Rights Organizations in which many former journalists were roped in with late Mukundan C. Menon, a former naxalite and journalist, heading it.

The NDF tried to make inroads into Kerala society by taking up the cause of Islam with Muslims being the 'victims'.

The bloodiest day in the history of the NDF was alleged to be the 2002 Marad massacre when eight Hindu fishermen were brutally hacked to death while they were resting at Marad beach in Kozhikode.

The Justice Thomas P. Joseph commission constituted by the Kerala government in its report stated that "activists of Muslim League and NDF, a Muslim outfit, were actively involved in the massacre." There were several confidential reports by the police that the NDF was getting funds from both Iran and Pakistan.

It remains to be seen whether the ideology of the PFI will be wiped out with this ban. There are 50,000 active cadres and around 1,50,000 sympathizers of the organization and the ideology will likely survive.

The ideology will stay but the ban will definitely work and the effect could be seen in the days to come even as there has been skepticism about the ban.

Dr M. Ahmad, a retired professor of sociology from the United Kingdom and a native of Thalassery in Kannur district of Kerala, told IANS, "An organization like the PFI has to be banned. All the talk that the ban won't help is rubbish. People will think twice and thrice to associate with such an ideology and such a thought process. The PFI was a threat to even God fearing, liberal Muslims and was taking the country and especially Kerala to the dark ages of theocracy against which action was indeed required on a war footing."
New Delhi, Oct 1 : Banned for the next five years, the Popular Front of India (PFI) has been accused of being involved in anti-national and anti-social activities by the Indian government.

The blanket ban on PFI, which was formed in 2006, came just days after the nationwide crackdown on it by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President Asaduddin Owaisi, a popular voice of Muslims in India, came down heavily on the government and said that a draconian ban of this kind is dangerous as it is a ban on any Muslim who wishes to speak his mind.

"The way India's electoral autarky is approaching fascism, every Muslim youth will now be arrested with a PFI pamphlet under India's black law, UAPA," Owaisi wrote on social media.

So did the government take the action in haste or was it already on the cards? Top agency sources say that PFI had been one of the most potent radical Muslim outfits and its members had been involved in numerous cases of violence, unlawful activities and terrorism. It was not a one-day action, the probe had been going on for years.

Notably, over 1,300 criminal cases had been registered by the police and NIA against cadres of PFI and its front organisations in different states. Some of these cases were also registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Explosive Substances Act, the Arms Act, and other heinous sections of IPC.

In 2013, 13 members of PFI were convicted for an assault on T.J. Joseph, a college professor, whose hand was chopped off on allegations of blasphemy.

Ironically, before the ban, PFI used to claim on its website (not functional now) that none of its members has been accused, jailed, or booked for mass murder, anti-national activity, or terrorism. The reality, however, is different.

In 2013, PFI organised a training camp in Kannur, Kerala, to impart training in using explosives and weapons to prepare people for terror activities against India. The NIA took over the case after which 21 people were convicted by a special NIA court in 2016.

As per an MHA dossier, in Tamil Nadu, PFI cadres killed V. Ramalingam (a Hindu leader) for challenging its Dawah activities in 2019. Other prominent cases include the killing of pro-Hindu leaders such as Nandu (Kerala, 2021), Abhimanyu (Kerala, 2018), Bibin (Kerala, 2017), Sharath (Karnataka, 2017), R. Rudresh (Karnataka, 2016), Praveen Poojari (Karnataka, 2016) and Sasi Kumar (Tamil Nadu, 2016).

Some AQ and ISIS training videos, depicting gruesome murders, had also been recovered from the PFI cadres accused in these cases. Such activities created fear among the members of other religious communities, besides the public.

Further, there had been a number of instances of international linkages of PFI with terrorist groups.

Sources said that some activists of PFI, particularly from Kerala, had joined ISIS and had participated in terror activities in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of these Indian ISIS terrorists were also killed in action by security forces in those conflict theatres.

Further, PFI had linkages with Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh. Some of these terrorist elements had been arrested by the NIA and state police forces.

The PFI, which had always claimed to be a social organisation, was found involved in the murder of BJP youth wing worke Praveen Nettaru in Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district.

Nettaru was hacked to death by bike-borne assailants on July 26. The ten accused persons arrested so far are all members of PFI.

(Atul Krishan can be reached at Atul.k@ians.in; Ujwal Jalali can be reached at ujwal.j@ians.in)
Agra, Oct 1 : Though the longest street in Agra is named Mahatma Gandhi Road, people in the city have generally forgotten 'the father of the nation'. A few statues of the Gandhi have not been cleaned for years.

"Only his symbols, the eye glasses used for the 'Swachchta Abhiyan' and the discount sale at the Khadi outlets remind us of Gandhi, ritualistically on October 2 and January 30," lamented an elderly Gandhian.

"No one cares for the Gandhi memorial, on the Yamuna bank, next to the Mughal monument Etmauddaula. It lies in a shambles," reminded businessmen Rajiv Gupta.

The memorial is near Etmauddaula, a monument that attracts only some tourists each day despite being among the first buildings from the Mughal era to be constructed in white marble, and not red sandstone.

Its fate is shared by the nearby memorial of Mahatma Gandhi.

Before Independence, the Gandhi Smarak on the banks of the Yamuna was a hub of Gandhian activities. Sarvodaya workers would gather near it. These days, it has become a den for vagabonds.

"The Agra Municipal Corporation is supposed to be the custodian of this property. But all they do is use it as a storage facility," a neighbourhood shopkeeper said.

The memorial building is actually the house where Mahatma Gandhi stayed for 11 days in 1929 while being treated by an Ayurvedic doctor here.

The building was renovated and opened to the public in 2008 by then Agra mayor Anjula Singh Mahaur, who had promised that it would become a place worth visiting for tourists.

But it soon fell into disrepair. Some even use the vast open space near the building for defecation.

In August 2008, the Gandhi memorial made headlines after statues from a 300-year-old temple within the premises disappeared.

The local corporation officials however claim that the memorial had been cleaned up and the premises spruced up. But no one showed any interest in visiting this place.

"The younger generation does not find Mahatma Gandhi attractive, signs of changing times. Relevance of Gandhian ideology was being questioned. They seem to admire Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose," a retired professor of economics said.
Mumbai, Oct 1 : TV actors Shweta Tiwari and Manav Gohli, who are seen in the show 'Main Hoon Aparajita', recently visited the Shree Siddhivinayak Ganapati temple seeking blessings for the success of their daily soap.

While Shweta is portraying an independent mother of three daughters, Manav is shown as her ex-husband.

Shweta has worked in a number of TV serials and films. She became popular with 'Kasautii Zindagii Kay' and was later also part of 'Mere Dad Ki Dulhan', 'Kasturi', and 'Kkvyanjali' among others, She said: "I believe in taking blessings from Bappa before starting anything new in life. Therefore, Manav and I decided to visit Siddhivinayak temple before the show went on air." After working in serials such as 'Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii', 'Shaadi Mubarak', and others, Manav is occupied with his latest project and he wishes to achieve success in it. Thus he also decided to visit the temple with Shweta.

He said: "Siddhivinayak is a very peaceful place I believe, and to seek blessings for our new show, we decided to visit 'Bappa'. It is believed that Tuesday is the day of Ganpati Bappa and coincidentally our show also premiered on a Tuesday, which is rare." "Shweta and I went early in the morning because the show was going to go on air the same evening. I can't express how excited I am for this new journey ahead of us," concluded the 'Kkusum' actor.

'Main Hoon Aparajita' airs on Zee TV.
Chennai, Oct 1 : The idol wing of the Tamil Nadu police has seized seven Chola-era idols from a house at RA Puram in Chennai, an official said on Saturday.

The idol wing in a statement said some of the idols had markings and slots for fixing on temple palanquins.

The police also said that the owner of the house did not had any proper documents regarding the idols.

The seized idols are of Krishna, Parvati, Buddha, Parvati in sitting posture, Tara statue, Goddess statue and one more Buddha statue. Two paintings were also seized from the house, the idol wing statement said.

The idol wing will send the seized bronze idols and the paintings to the Archeological Survey of India and a report will be sent to the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (HR&CE).

The Idol wing police said that they got a tip off and acted on this but as the house was locked they were not in a position to get hold of them.

However, the police contacted the owner of the house who was an NRI, and allowed him a week to provide his statement on the idols.

The statement said that the NRI told the police to take hold of the statues and the paintings and that he did not know anything about them.

He also informed that the bronze idols and the paintings were at his home even before he was born and that he don't know how it had come to his family.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : Since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, its ties with Islamabad have deteriorated amid deadly border clashes. More recently, the militants have accused Islamabad of permitting its air space to be used by US drones to strike targets in Afghanistan. In turn, Pakistan has accused the Taliban of harbouring terrorists, media reported.

Experts say the longstanding alliance, which dates back to the emergence of the Taliban in southern Afghanistan in the mid-1990s, is coming under unprecedented strain as their interests diverge.

"The Taliban may have accepted Pakistani support for years but do not wish to be Pakistani proxies forever," said Husain Haqqani of the Washington-based Hudson Institute who previously served as Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, RFE/RL reported.

Last month, the Taliban accused Pakistan of allowing US drones to use its airspace to conduct strikes inside Afghanistan. The August 28 claim came after an American drone strike in Kabul killed Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in July. Islamabad has denied involvement in or advanced knowledge of the strike.

On September 14, Islamabad accused the Taliban government of harbouring Masood Azhar, head of the Jaish-e Mohammed (JeM) extremist group and a UN-blacklisted terrorist. The Taliban strongly rejected Pakistan's claims, RFE/RL reported.

In his speech to the UN General Assembly on September 23, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Islamabad "shares the key concern of the international community regarding the threat posed by major terrorist groups operating from Afghanistan." Sharif mentioned the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Al-Qaeda, the East Turkistan Islamic Movement and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan as groups based in Afghanistan that "need to be dealt with comprehensively, with the support and cooperation of the interim Afghan authorities." The speech provoked a sharp rebuke from the Taliban, with Deputy Foreign Minister Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai on September 27 claiming Islamabad was "receiving millions of dollars" from Washington for allowing American drones to conduct flights over Afghanistan.

"How long can we tolerate this?" Stanikzai asked a gathering in Kabul. "If we rise against this (Pakistani interference), no one will be able to stop us." Experts say another source of tension is the Taliban's unwillingness to crack down on the TTP, a close ideological and organizational ally. From its bases inside Afghanistan, the extremist group has intensified its insurgency against Islamabad in recent years, RFE/RL reported.

(Sanjeev Sharma can be reached at Sanjeev.s@ians.in)
This handout photo released on September 27, 2022 and taken from an aircraft of the Swedish Coast Guard (Kustbevakningen) shows the release of gas emanating from a leak on a Nord Stream gas pipeline in the Swedish economic zone in the Baltic Sea, near the Danish island of Bornholm. [Photo/Agencies]

A Chinese envoy to the United Nations said on Friday China was seriously concerned about the recently reported leaks on the Nord Stream pipelines, and the leak was a catastrophe that China does not want to see.

"We are seriously concerned about the recent multiple leaks on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, which were accompanied by powerful underwater explosions," Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said at a UN Security Council on damage to Nord Stream gas pipelines.

Nord Stream gas pipelines are the main artery of energy transportation in Europe. The project provides important natural gas supply to 23 European countries, Geng said.

The leaks led to the physical disruption of the pipeline to transport gas, exacerbating the problem of energy supply shortages in Europe, said Geng, adding that consumers around the world, including in developing countries, are likely to suffer the resulting turmoil in energy markets and rising energy prices.

While methane is still leaking from the pipelines, it will impact shipping routes and the ecological environment in the relevant sea areas, Geng said.

"At a time when Europe and the world are facing endless challenges, this is a bad catastrophe that we do not want to see," he said.

"We note that current information indicates that the leak was not an accident, but likely to be sabotage," said Geng. "If true, this would constitute an attack on multinational civilian facilities and undersea pipelines, in violation of international law."

"We also note that all relevant parties consider it necessary to conduct an objective, impartial and professional investigation into the leak," he said.

The leakage highlights the fragility of cross-border infrastructure, said Geng. "We are willing to work with all parties to safeguard the security of the cross-border infrastructure."

On Monday, Danish and Swedish officials said that leaks had been identified in two natural gas pipelines  Nord Stream 1 and its twin, Nord Stream 2  under the Baltic Sea off the coast of Denmark's Bornholm island, near the exclusive economic zones of Denmark and Sweden.

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Tuesday the leaks clearly were caused by deliberate actions and could not have been a result of accidents.

"There is no information yet to indicate who may be behind this action," she said at a press briefing in Copenhagen, adding that authorities do not see the incidents as a direct military threat against Denmark.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council failed on Friday to adopt a draft resolution, which "condemns" the referendums held in four Ukrainian regions.

The draft resolution titled "Illegal So-Called Referenda in Ukraine," submitted by Albania and the US, was vetoed by Russia, one of the five permanent members of the council. China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstained.

China's position on the Ukraine issue is consistent and clear, Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, said in his remarks in explanation of China's vote.

"We always maintain that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be respected, the purposes and principles of the UN Charter upheld, the legitimate security concerns of all countries taken seriously, and all efforts conducive to the peaceful settlement of the crisis supported," said Zhang.

UN Security Council should play a constructive role in resolving the Ukraine issue, and give priority to regional peace and stability and the universal security of all countries, said Zhang, adding that actions taken by the Security Council should help cool the situation and facilitate diplomatic resolution rather than fueling tensions and causing further escalation.

China always stands on the side of peace, and will continue to play a constructive role, he said.
Several citizens of Weajue, in Grand Cape Mount County, have apologized to the management of Bea Mountain Mining Company for holding their employees hostage last week in demand for a relocation package.

At a mass meeting held on Wednesday, September 28, 022, the chiefs, elders and youths of the area apologized to the company for the level of hostility exhibited towards some employees last week.

Speaking at the meeting, madam Hawa Thomas, Chairlady of Weajue said it was unfortunate for such a protest to be carried out. She said they consider the company as one family and there was no justification for such barbaric action.

"We want to say sorry for what our children did. We want to take this time to tell you that holding the people here not to go outside was not good," she said.

It can be recalled that some citizens from Weajue community, especially in Tah mounted a roadblock last week and held some employees of the company hostage on grounds that they needed relocation or safe water channel to enable water to move freely in the community. They said due to the heavy downpour of rain, most of the towns got flooded and wanted immediate help from the company; but decided to take some employees hostage as a way to draw the attention of management.

The meeting was attended by many local government officials as well as elders and chiefs from the community and nearby clans.

Meanwhile, following discussions held between Bea Mountain Mining Company and Laar Clan, in Cape Mount County, the company has approved several projects in three communities in the clan totaling US$69,400(sixty-nine thousand four hundred united states dollars).

The amount is part of the Clan Development Fund of US$150,000(One hundred and fifty thousand united states dollars) earlier given to the clan this year.

This was agreed on Wednesday, September 28, 2022 at a mass meeting held in Kinjor .

During the meeting, the Projects Management Committee(PMC) of Laar Clan presented through a Power Point presentation, in which they showcased four projects that they intend to implement.

The projects are; Renovation of Beh-Gondor Clinic with additional units and have it functional $31,500USD, provision of drugs to the clinic of US$4,000, and Renovation of Gold Camp Town Hall and extension of additional facilities $9,000USD.

Also, the Construction of Jennema Town Hall $20,000USD, and scholarships for University Students $8,500USD. In the same meeting, the PMC of Laar Clan also stressed the need to have its members capacitated in order to monitor pending projects. The PMC Chairman Charles Cooper named mobility, computers, office space and stipends as major challenges to enhancing their work effectively.

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Also speaking during the meeting, the General Manager of BMMC Mr. Reza Karimiyan thanked Laar Clan Development Committee for being the first to present their planned priority projects to top Management. The General Manager emphasized the need for the Clan to give more attention to the Health and Education sectors in awarding scholarships.

Mr. Reza Karimiyan further indicated that the PMC must ensure that the amount stipulated for the four projects are actualized without any lapses for the full completion of said projects.

For their part, the Community Representative Superintendent Mr. Henry Vincent and CR Supervisor Mr. Isaac Sasraku thanked the PMC of Laar Clan for coming and sharing with top Management on their priority projects pending approval by BMMC.
Kolkata, Oct 1 : A minor technical issue in its first charge-sheet on West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment irregularities scam filed at a court in Kolkata on Friday has kept the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials here a bit worried.

CBI sources pointed out that of the 16 persons named in the charge-sheet, there are six such names, including that of former education minister, Partha Chatterjee, who were part of the state government machinery at the time of their arrests. As per Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, in case of including the name of any state government functionary, an approval of the state government concerned is required.

A CBI official pointed out that they had given a formal application to the state government almost a fortnight back and since then despite constant reminders, formal consent is yet to come from the state government.

In case the court raises questions about this particular point, CBI's source said, the agency's counsel will highlight the reluctance on part of the state government in giving the formal consent despite repeated reminders from the agency. The idea is to explain to the court that there had been no lapse on part of the central agency in following up the matter with the state government.

According to the counsel of the Calcutta High Court, Jyoti Prakash Khan, once the CBI counsel refers the matter at the court, the judge concerned will refer the matter to the state government asking the latter to give the consent within a reasonable point of time or explain to the court why it is not willing to give the consent regarding inclusion of names in the charge-sheet.

"If the state government is unable to give satisfactory explanation on the reasons of its unwillingness to give the formal consent, then the court might again set a deadline for the consent within a reasonable point of time beyond which it will be deemed that the consent has been given. But this process will not tantamount to declaring the charge-sheet as invalid," Khan explained.

In the charge-sheet filed on Friday, CBI has identified Partha Chatterjee as the mastermind in the entire recruitment irregularities scam.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said on Saturday that he fails to understand as to why the G-23 leaders, who earlier talked about polls in the party, are now backing off and talking about general consensus.

It's going to be Mallikarjun Kharge versus Shashi Tharoor in the Congress Presidential polls scheduled on October 17. And Kharge has got the support of not only the senior leadership of the party, but the G-23 leaders as well.

Talking exclusively to IANS, Tharoor said that polls for the post of Congress President are being held after five years. The last election was held in 2017, which Rahul Gandhi had won unanimously. The last contested election was held in 2000, when Sonia Gandhi defeated Jitendra Prasada by a huge margin.

The Gandhi family has decided that it will not endorse any candidate this time. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi both are of the view that polls will strengthen the party, which is very good, Tharoor said.

Here are excerpts from the interview: Q: Are you disappointed for not getting G-23 leaders' support?

A: G-23 is not an organisation. Senior leaders who had sent a letter to Sonia Gandhi had sought support from 100 people, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the letter could not get that many signatures. So the letter was sent to Sonia Gandhi with the signature of 23 leaders.

Three main persons who had signed that letter have quit the party. I was not a representative of G-23 and I do not intend to be one either. But I supported their thinking and one of their thoughts was that polls should be held in the party. Now I am contesting for the party chief's post, and I also feel that elections should be held for the working committee as well.

However, those who had said that polls should be held in the party are now saying that there should be a general consensus and elections should not be held. I fail to understand how their mind changed. But I am contesting the elections. Whatever I had written in the letter, I still stand by that.

Q. Are you disappointed that the G23 leaders didn't back you? Or by the way the senior leadership took you into confidence and the then suggested Khadge's name? A. People are free to make their choice and express their views. I am not disappointed because we are all in one party, we are friends and colleagues. If the G23 leaders felt differently, it is their take.

Q. Any chance of you withdrawing the nomination? A. How can I withdraw the nomination when 60 members have signed it and given me the chance? How can I betray the faith they have posed on me? I will fight the elections and become their voice, though my signature list does not have big names as Kharge's. I cannot withdraw my nomination as Congress workers are with me.

Q How you are building your support base? A. In the coming 15 days, I will go to 12 cities and seek support from the party workers. I will reach out to the people, hold public meetings and meet people in person. I will reach out to the people via different mediums and seek their support.

But since I do not have the phone numbers of 90 per cent delegates mentioned in the list provided to me, reaching out to them is not going to be easy.

Q. What is your take on the sequence of events in Rajasthan? A. Whatever happened in Rajasthan is really sad. But I can't give any reaction as I did not attend any of the meetings. I am not in the know of the things as to what exactly transpired there.

Q. You are seeking vote for 'change' in the Congress. Do you think that if Kharge is elected the President, he will work as a puppet and the party will continue to function in the same manner? A. Of course not, I am not against anyone. See, we are not fighting a war. We are all colleagues who have always worked together. In the future also, we will work together. If I become the party President, will Khargeji not work for the betterment of the party? If you ask anyone about senior Congress leaders outside the Gandhi family, every list will have Kahrgeji's name.
Agra, Oct 1 : Miss Universe Great Britain 2022, Noky Simbani visited the Wildlife SOS Elephant Conservation and Care Centre in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura for a conservation education tour and met the elephants under its care.

She along with fellow contestants extended their support to the NGO's 'Refuse to Ride' campaign which exposes the dark truth about elephant rides in India.

On Friday, Noky and her team visited the Elephant Conservation and Care Centre to promote and spread awareness about wildlife conservation in India.

Noky, 25, graduated from the University of Birmingham with a Master's degree in Chemical Engineering and is now a chartered commercial banker, driving enterprise growth initiatives to support businesses across the country.

She was crowned Miss Universe Great Britain in 2022 and was previously Miss Grand England 2017 and represented England at the Miss Grand International 2017.

She was accompanied by pageant finalists Trishala Lakhani, Harriotte Lane, Jasmin Cadwallader and Miss Universe Great Britain 2021, Emma Collingridge.

The team spent time interacting with the resident elephants, all of whom have been given a second chance at a life free of abuse and cruelty. This was followed by an interactive session with the Wildlife SOS team of elephant care staff and veterinarians to understand the threats that Asian elephants face in India and learn about the organisation's elephant protection efforts.

The team also shed light on the dark reality behind elephant ride attractions in India and Wildlife SOS' ongoing 'Refuse to Ride' campaign, aimed at creating awareness among tourists and the general public.

The British pageant queens also embarked on an observational walk with elephants Arya and Zara. Noky later took to her social media account on Instagram sharing images from her visit and encouraging people to visit and volunteer for the cause.

The Miss Universe Great Britain, 2022, said: "I was shocked to learn about the harrowing experience these rescued elephants faced in the past. But I have been overjoyed to see just how effective and caring the Wildlife SOS team is in giving these elephants a better life along with specialised medical care. I would urge you all to get involved either by raising awareness or by visiting the Elephant Conservation and Care Centre and supporting the cause to make a lasting impact on these beautiful animals." Geeta Seshamani, Co-founder and CEO, Wildlife SOS, said: "We have been hosting the titleholders of the Miss Universe Great Britain at our rescue centres for years. It is encouraging to see prominent young influencers coming forward to support and promote this endeavour. This will help spread a conscious message about conservation and wildlife protection and draw attention to India's plight of Asian elephants. We hope for their continued support for the cause." In 2010, Wildlife SOS and the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department established the first-of-its-kind facility, the Elephant Conservation and Care Centre, in Mathura.

Equipped with state-of-the-art veterinary facilities, the centre is currently providing care and treatment for more than 30 rehabilitated elephants, rescued from extremely stressful conditions such as performing in circuses, giving tourist rides, begging on the streets and being used in wedding processions etc.
Guwahati/Sivasagar, Oct 1 : Two brothers died after their scooter hit a roadside tree in Assam's Sivasagar district on Friday night, an official informed on Saturday.

The accident happened in the Konwarpur area in Kari Gaon village.

The deceased brother duo was identified as Shiromani Konwar and Ajay Konwar. Another person identified as Pradyuman Bairagi was injured in the accident.

While narrating the incident, a police officer of Kari Gaon police station told IANS that three persons were returning at around 11 p.m. from a family function in a nearby village.

"Three persons were on the scooter when they lost balance, hitting a roadside tree, and got seriously injured," he added.

Shiromani Konwar was a karateka and also played at the national level.

He recently grabbed attention by leading a team to a medal in the Assam Youth Olympics.

The police officer further informed that Shiromoni Kanwar died on the spot. He was rushed to a nearby hospital but the doctors declared him brought dead, while his brother was sent to Dibrugarh for better treatment though unfortunately he also died on the way.

The injured person Bairagi is undergoing treatment and is out of danger now.

The bodies were sent for an autopsy report and whether they were driving in an intoxicated state can be ascertained once the report arrives.

Several local associations, including the All Assam Karate Association and Sivasagar District Karate Association, have expressed their condolences for the demise of Konwar.
Shimla, Oct 1 : In the run up to the Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh, Chief Electoral Officer Maneesh Garg on Saturday felicitated 103-year old retired government teacher Pyar Singh, who has been declared district icon, by visiting his house in Chamba town.

All voters above the age of 80 years were honoured across the state with a citation signed by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar at functions to mark the International Day of Older Persons.

Singh first voted in year 1952 and since then he has never missed an opportunity to cast his vote. He normally walks to the nearest polling booth at Hatnala Mohalla to cast his vote. He is a retired school teacher from Government Boys School in Chamba.

"It is a unique initiative of Election Commission of India (ECI) to honour and thank the elderly voters on October 1, which is marked as International Day for Older Persons and the day inspires millions of young voters," said Garg.

He said the contribution of elderly voters in the electoral process is important.

The CEO also released an election mascot bearing a tagline "Mu Bi Gaana Vote Paana" (I will also go to vote) under SVEEP activities for awareness of the people.

It is an SVEEP mascot, named 'Bholu' dressed in traditional Gaddi attire, urging voters to go and cast vote and at the same time giving a message for the conservation of brown bear, an endangered species mostly found in the Kugti Wildlife Sanctuary of Chamba.

The hill state, which is likely to go to the polls for 68-member Assembly in November, has 122,093 voters above 80 years of age. A total of 1,190 of them are above 100 years.

The Sullah Assembly constituency in Kangra district has 2,936 elderly, while Fatehpur seat in Kangra has 72 centenarian voters, the highest in the state.
Bhubaneswar, Oct 1 : Brown sugar valued at Rs 1 crore has been seized by the Odisha police during a raid at Havelipadia under Khordha town police station, an official said on Saturday.

Based on an input, a team of special task force (STF) of Odisha crime branch conducted the raid on Friday, and seized the contraband brown sugar weighing a little over 1 kg from the possession of a drugs peddler.

The accused has been identified as Sidhartha Nayak, 23, of Khordha district. The police also seized one KTM motorcycle, and other incriminating materials from his possession.

The accused person has been forwarded to the court of Additional District & Sessions Judge, Khordha.

In this connection, the STF has also registered a case under the NDPS Act, 1985. Further investigation is on, the official said.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : Shaheen Bagh in Delhi, which grabbed the headlines in December 2019 due to the anti-CAA protests, again drew the attention of investigating agencies as the Centre cracked the whip on Popular Front of India (PFI) and its associates during the last couple of weeks.

On September 28, the Centre banned the PFI and its associates or affiliates for a period of five years. The move came following country-wide raids on the PFI by law enforcement agencies.

After the Centre banned PFI, heavy police presence was witnessed outside the PFI office in the Shaheen Bagh area on Wednesday as the notification of the Ministry of Home Affairs came out during the early morning hours. Delhi Police were extra vigilant to prevent any untoward incident because of the ban on the PFI. Apart from police patrolling in the area, drones were also pressed into service to keep an eye over Shaheen Bagh.

The police had already imposed Section 144 in the entire Jamia Nagar area under which unlawful assembly of four or more people is prohibited.

The sources in the intelligence agencies have confirmed that PFI through its three offices based in Shaheen Bagh was controlling pan-India operations. The members of PFI working at these offices were also found to be influencing local Muslim youth.

"They had been befriending young gullible Muslim population since the beginning. Initially, there was only one office of PFI in Shaheen Bagh. Later, it opened two more offices in the area. They basically spread their base in the area by associating with the local Muslim youth," said an intelligence source.

According to information received, the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Vinay Kumar Saxena, has written to Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora to seal the three offices of PFI in Shaheen Bagh.

"The PFI has three offices at F30/1B Zaid Apartment, Ground Floor; N44A/1 Hilal House, Ground Floor; and B 27/2 Tihri Manjil, Zamia. From these three places, the outfit was allegedly carrying out illegal and anti-national activities. Now we are sealing them," an official said.

Interrogation of PFI members by different law enforcement agencies have revealed that it used to identify Muslim youth, especifically from poor or middle class backgrounds, who were then instilled with anti-Hindutva ideology. They were also imparted training.

However, Delhi Police have become more alert now, particularly after the prolonged anti-CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh which continued for over three months.

While the protests had started in mid-December, 2019, it continued till the Covid pandemic broke out in the last week of March 2020.

As per police sources, the PFI had funded the anti-CAA protests across the city as part of a planned conspiracy to spark communal violence in North-East Delhi.

Delhi Police had also arrested PFI state president and its secretary in March 2020 for allegedly hatching a conspiracy to incite communal riots in several parts of Delhi.

The arrests came days after an FIR was registered against unknown persons in connection with the riots in North-East Delhi.
Bhopal, Oct 1 : The body of a tiger was found floating in a river in the buffer zone of Pench National Park -- a tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh, officials said on Saturday.

Shockingly, the big cat's paws were missing, and the incident has come to the light on a day (October 1) when all six tigers reserves in the state were reopened for tourists.

The forest officials received a call from the local residents early on Saturday that the carcass of a tiger was floating in Pench river between Badal Par and Lonar Pindari region.

The tiger was aged around 3.

On receiving information, the forest officials reached the spot and recovered the tiger's body.

Officials suspect the tiger may have died of electrocution due to use of electric wire for fishing by local villagers.

Sources told IANS that all four claws were found missing, giving a reason to forest officials to assume that the tiger was either poached for claws, or the villagers must have severed it after finding the body.

However, what exactly caused the death of adult tiger was yet to be known from the officials of Pench Tiger Reserve.

It needs to be mentioned that poaching of tigers or other wild animals had been a major threat to tiger conservation in this area.

It is also said that self-styled 'tantriks' extract paws, claws and whiskers to cast spells and make money from it.

Talking to IANS, Ajay Dube, a Madhya Pradesh based wildlife activist, said: "Not only this particular tiger but all those are killed or being poached in every tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh, is occurring because of gross negligence. More, ironically, the forest officials can not do anything. To ensure the security of tigers in MP, Centre government in 2008 had approved a policy to recruit a Special Tiger Protection Force ( STPF), which not implemented by the state government." He further said that MP's tiger reserves like Kanha, Bandhavgarh and Pench are highly sensitive zone and poaching had been a regular incidents for the last many years.

"Due to dense forest area and number of tigers and other wild animals, these zones are highly sensitive. Such incident won't stop until STPF are deployed in forest areas and every time we would just counting number of tigers died in MP," Dube added.
Chandigarh, Oct 1 : Former Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Saturday warned the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab to wake up against the activities of the forces which are inimical to the state and the nation.

Addressing a press conference after inducting former office-bearers of the Punjab Lok Congress, which has merged with the BJP, Capt Amarinder said law and order was the state subject and it was the duty and responsibility of the state government to confront such forces and their activities.

Asked as to who did he think was behind all such activities, he said, it was Pakistan, which had never stopped from indulging in mischief and seeking an opportunity to foment trouble in Punjab.

He pointed out that he had been long maintaining that Pakistan was consistently using drones to send weapons and drugs into Punjab. While earlier the range of drones was about 7 km and now these could go up to 42 km even.

Capt Amarinder said if the state government did not take strict and firm action the situation could deteriorate further which Punjab cannot afford anymore after seeing a dark decade.

To a question about the precarious financial situation in the state and huge debt accumulated and whether the Centre can bail the state out, the former Chief Minister said it was not possible.

"The Centre does not have that much money to waive off debt as everything is planned and budgeteda, he pointed out, while saying that the state will need to generate and mobilise its own resources.

However, he expressed grave skepticism over any such possibility as the government was being remote controlled by Raghav Chadha and Arvind Kejriwal.

He said this was unprecedented and unconstitutional that someone like Chadha would convene meetings of senior officers and then refer matters to Kejriwal instead of Bhagwant Mann.

While inducting various office-bearers of the PLC into the BJP, Capt Amarinder said, he was profoundly grateful to them for standing by him during difficult times.

He said, with their induction, the BJP will get further strengthened. He announced that similar functions will be held separately in Malwa, Doaba and Majha regions to induct grassroots level workers into the BJP.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : Experts say that the situation that has arisen out of this Supreme Court judgement in Vidarbha Industries case calls for legislative intervention to ensure that the objective of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) is achieved as otherwise this can lead to considerable delay or interventions in admission of insolvency cases.

L. Viswanathan, Partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas in his perspective on the Vidarbha Industries case said: "Over the last few years the Government has responded to changes required in IBC through ordinances and initiated legislative measures. The situation that has arisen out of this Supreme Court judgement calls for legislative intervention to ensure that the objective of IBC is achieved; as otherwise this can lead to considerable delay or interventions in admission of insolvency cases.

"A legislative intervention would be a timely response and will give confidence to all stake-holders that the government is committed to strengthen this key economic legislation." IANS had reported last week that the Supreme Court declined to entertain a review petition by Axis Bank challenging an order passed in the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) for Vidarbha Industries Power Ltd.

A bench, headed by Justice Indira Banerjee (retired now), upheld the ruling that National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has the discretion to admit or reject a valid initiation of the insolvency process by a financial creditor under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

"To interpret words and provisions of a statute, it may become necessary for the judges to embark upon lengthy discussions. The words of judges interpreting statutes are not to be interpreted as statutes. There are no grounds for review of the judgment and order. The review petition is, accordingly, disposed of," said the bench, also comprising Justice J.K. Maheshwari, in the order passed on September 22, but uploaded on Thursday.

Axis Bank had filed a review petition challenging the judgment passed on July 12 by the same bench.

"It is well settled that judgments and observations in judgments are not to be read as provisions of statute. Judicial utterances and/or pronouncements are in the setting of the facts of a particular case," noted the top court, in its order on the review petition.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that certain observations made by the bench in the judgment and order under review could be interpreted in a manner that might be contrary to the aims and objects of the IBC and render the law infructuous. However, the top court said: "The apprehension appears to be misconceived." While disposing of the review petition, the top court held that judgments cited by Axis Bank did not adjudicate upon the question so raised in the civil appeal, i.e., whether Section 7 (5) of the code was mandatory or discretionary.

In the July judgment, the top court had noted that the adjudicating authority (NCLT) simply brushed aside the case of the power company that an amount of Rs 1,730 crore was realisable by it in terms of the order passed by the APTEL in its favour.

"With the cursory observation that disputes if any between the appellant and the recipient of electricity or between the appellant and the Electricity Regulatory Commission were inconsequential," it said.
"PIU Officers Involved in Faraba Banta Incident Interdicted"

As the debate continue at the National Assembly, Members engaged the Minister of the Interior regarding the incident between the youth of Faraba Banta and the PIU officers in 2018, which resulted to the deaths of some the protesters.

The engagement started when Sainey Jawara, the member for Lower Saloum asked the Minister to explain to the Assembly, the fate of the PIU officers allegedly involved in the Faraba Banta incident.

In his explanation, the Minister told members that the PIU officers involved in the incident were indicted but the investigation into the matter is currently stalled; that his ministry will make the necessary follow-up and update them accordingly.

In a supplementary question from the same member on whether his ministry was not updated on the issue, the minister responded that he is new in the position but will find out and get back to them with the right answers.

A disappointed member (Jawara) could be heard murmuring "I am disappointed because we have to protect our citizens and serve justice at all costs, irrespective of who is involved."

Next to address the minister was Lamin J. Sanneh of Brikama South who told the minister that he received the oral questions from members weeks before coming to Parliament and the expectation was to investigate their concerns in order to give them the right answers. However, the Minister maintained his position that he will investigate and update them on the developments.

The member for Busumbala also asked the minister to inform them about whether the officers involve in the Faraba Banta incident were indicted, sacked or suspended.

In his response, the minister said by legal procedures, they were interdicted.

The member for Janjanbureh could not hide his frustration and asked the minister whether they are hiding behind an investigation to free the PIU officers involved in this incident without justice being served and seen to be served, and the minister responded in a low voice and replied in the negative.

In his turn, the member for Lower Niumi told the Minister that justice delayed is justice denied and asked the minister to tell them when justice will be served in this case.

"It is a court process and due process has to be followed," the minister responded.

On a separate issue, members express their surprise to the minister when he informed them that armed robbery has decreased as compared to before.

This came when the member of the Sami Constituency asked the minister to inform them of his ministry's long-term plans to put an end to armed robbery in the Sami district, particularly during the rainy season.

In response to the question, the minister said the issue of armed robbery in Sami District is not as frequent as per their daily situation reports, but was quick to say that there was a recent robbery reported in Karantaba sometime in June of 2022, adding that after that incident, no report of armed robbery was received for Sami District.

He continued to say that the police command has intensified ongoing patrols in the area by PIU officers posted in Kaur and Kerr Mot Hali respectively, and said the ongoing community engagements in the area through community and intelligence-led policing, have minimised robbery and built confidence among the community.

The minister further told the member that his ministry has plans to create a PIU base at Karantaba as a medium-term intervention and in the longer term, create a hybrid station.

In a related supplementary question, the member indicated his surprise to the minister's assertion that robbery is not frequent in the area while attacks have been taking place until recently. He further asked whether the minister will be willing to provide a vehicle to the police station in the area for patrol. The minister responded by saying they will look into the issue.

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The member for Lower Saloum also indicated that armed robbery is increasing in the area and asked for the interior ministry's plans in tackling the issue.

The minister in his answer said they are doing everything possible to tackle the issue which he said requires the participation of the public by sharing information with officers.

At this point, Suwaibou Touray told the minister that the police stations are not armed and usually, the robbers are always armed with weapons.

The minister applauded the Member for his concern for the safety of his officers but was quick to say that his ministry is under resourced.

Then the Member for Sandu asked what the minister meant by "being under resourced" and he replied said in both personnel and funds.
Srinagar, Oct 1: With more and more skeletons tumbling out of the closet in the investigation over irregularities in the selection of over 1200 Sub Inspectors for the Jammu and Kashmir Police, the CBI has found that almost all recruitments of non-gazetted services in the last 5 years were based on a fraudulent process.

The investigating agency has discovered that a Bengaluru-based agency had managed get the recruitment board's controller of examinations transferred after he declined a bribe offer of Rs 50 lakhs.

Sources privy to the investigation revealed to India Narrative that the Bengaluru-based agency Merit Trac managed its contract with the Government of Jammu and Kashmir through fraudulent means. According to these sources, the agency had been black-listed by several States but senior officials of the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (SSB) not only hired it for all non-gazetted staff selections but also managed back-to-back extensions of its services. The successful bidder was ignored and Merit Trac, which was second in the bidding, was selected to conduct the written examinations for selection of the staff for all non-gazetted services.

Even the selection of SIs, which the J&K Police used to conduct independently, was taken away and assigned to the Bengaluru-based agency.

Immediately after the agency published the selection list on the basis of 'merit', it was widely noticed that a large number of the candidates had been selected from Jammu and Akhnoor areas. It was also noticed that multiple children of certain families, with same parentage and residential address, had been picked up for the recruitment.

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha then ordered a departmental inquiry which established the allegations of irregularities. On its recommendation, the selection list was cancelled and a fresh process of selection ordered. A CBI investigation was also ordered into the recruitment scam.

Sources said that some senior bureaucrats and political leaders could be called for sustained interrogation to find out how a former Controller of Examinations had been transferred after he refused to accept the huge bribe. It was being investigated how the tainted agency had been hired. According to these sources, the CBI was almost convinced that almost all the selections made by the agency in the last 4-5 years had been compromised.

However, rather than opening a larger Pandora's box, the agency would focus only on the selection of SIs for the J&K Police, Account Assistants for Finance Department and Junior Engineers for Jal Shakti Department for which the exams had been held in March 2022. All the three selection lists have been cancelled by the Government.

The CBI sleuths, according to these sources, have also learned that the SSB officials in league with the Bengaluru-based agency and an inter-State network of agents had not only leaked the question papers but had also replaced OMR sheets of their clients against huge amounts of money. At least 28 of such OMR sheets with fake signatures of invigilators have been identified. The entire selection of Accounts Assistants for Panchayats has been found compromised. Besides, a deal of Rs 4 crore had been struck for leakage of the question papers for selection of Foresters.

Three senior ranking officers of the SSB have been found involved in replacing the OMR sheets. It appeared that OMR sheets were written by the candidates afresh with correct answers after the exams and submitted to the SSB under a nexus in exchange for cash. One member and three officers of the SSB are likely to be called for questioning in a week's time.

Significantly, the racketeers were not only active in Jammu but they had also leaked a question paper of Haryana with the help of a CRPF constable then posted in Gangyal.

Eight persons including a Government teacher, two constables of J&K Police, one constable of IRP and one former CRPF jawan have so far been arrested by the CBI in connection with the scam. Three of them have been sent to jail while five others are still in the CBI custody facing interrogation.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
Kyiv, Oct 1 : Russian troops have detained Ihor Murashov, director of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, state nuclear regulator Enerhoatom said, as per a media report.

It says Murashov was held as his car was on its way from the facility to the nearby town of Enerhodar on Friday.

He was then blindfolded and taken to an unknown location, Enerhoatom says, BBC reported.

Russia has not commented. Moscow seized Europe's biggest nuclear plant in March, and kept on its Ukrainian staff.

Both Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of repeatedly shelling the plant, amid global concerns that this could lead to a major radiation incident in Europe.

Enerhoatom president Petro Kotin said that Murashov "bears main and exclusive responsibility for the nuclear and radiation safety" of the nuclear plant.

He said Friday's detention "jeopardises the safety of operation of Ukraine and Europe's largest nuclear power plant".

Kotin appealed to the International Atomic Energy Agency to demand the immediate release of the plant's chief, accusing Russia of "nuclear terrorism".

The six-reactor Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is located near Enerhodar, in the occupied part of Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region.

Ukraine says Russian troops are using the station as a military base and that employees are in effect held at gunpoint. Moscow denies the claim.

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the annexation of the Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk regions - a move widely condemned by Ukraine and the West.

Moscow does not fully control any of the four regions in Ukraine's east and south, BBC reported.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Dubai, Oct 1 : I2U2 is the newest alliance to be formed on the world stage, a 4-country alliance that is going to give a new direction to the world in business, economic, peace, and energy development. I -- India, Israel, U -- United Arab Emirates, US.

This alliance was formed just a few months back and the first meeting of I2U2 was held in July 2022. But in just 3 months, this organisation has started giving shape to its vision.

During his visit to the Middle East in early July, US President Joe Biden attended the first leaders' summit of a new group made up of Israel, India, the United Arab Emirates, and the US, and the first on July 14.

The four countries as formed this bloc to deepen technical and private sector cooperation and tackle international challenges in six focus areas -- water, energy, transport, space, health, and food security.

As a result of the group's inaugural summit, which was attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, and UAE President HH Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the leaders announced that UAE will invest $2 billion "to develop a series of integrated food parks across India", while the I2U2 group agreed to go ahead with "a hybrid renewable energy project in the Indian state of Gujarat".

The main collaborations of I2U2 are focused on economic development and trade synergies, as opposed to alliances based on defence.

According to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, I2U2 aims to encourage joint investments in six mutually identified sectors such as water, energy, transport, space, health, and food security.

It intends to mobilise private sector capital and expertise to help modernize infrastructure, drive low-carbon growth for our industries, improve public health, and fuel the development of critical emerging and green technologies.

The I2U2 framework will focus on potential joint projects as well as other common areas of mutual interest to strengthen economic partnerships in trade and investment in our respective regions and beyond.

These projects can serve as a model for economic cooperation and provide opportunities for our businessmen and workers.

I2U2 is a coalition that intends to raise capital and expertise from governments as well as the private sector to modernize infrastructure, create joint financing opportunities and link new start-ups to I2U2 investments, and key emerging and green technologies. While promoting the development of agriculture and ensuring long-term food and energy security.

While the White House issued a statement regarding I2U2, it said: "We are looking forward to the progress of economic cooperation in the Middle East and South Asia, and especially from these historic developments, including the promotion of sustainable investment among I2U2 partners.

"The I2U2 leaders discussed innovative ways to ensure sustainable, more diverse food production and food delivery systems that can better manage the global food issue." Foreign Policy Expert Mohamed Seemab Zaman believes that this alliance of I2U2 can also be called an extension of the Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and the United Arab Emirates and the Abraham Accord between the United Arab Emirates and Israel.

I2U2 participating countries and their trading partners have immense potential to contribute to global competitiveness, said Prof. Faisal Ahmed of the FORE School of Management, Delhi.

The focus has to be on mutual geo-economic benefits and increasing the participation of each country in the 'global value chain'.

Mobilization of private sector capital could be a matter of concern.

Therefore, there is a need for policy efforts to create something like "I2U2 Joint Investment Fund".

The availability of such funds can help in a smooth and well-planned flow of investments. It will also help establish I2U2 as a credible and predictable framework for infrastructure development and financing.

The initiative is considered a collaborative project for the Quad, a four-way partnership involving Australia, India, Japan, and the United States that was established partly in response to growing Chinese influence in the Pacific.

I2U2 strengthens the efforts of the United States and India to control China's influence in Asia and Africa and establish better relations between its allies in different parts of the world.

India benefits from I2U2.

The I2U2 group, like other recently announced groups, mostly reflects the institutionalization of the economic alliance that took place amid the global realization brought on by the pandemic. Considering the trade relations between the member states, based on the 2021 IMF data, the trade between the four countries is about $400 billion.

There are already thriving trade corridors between the United Arab Emirates and India as well as the US and Israel.

India tops the list as the largest trader along with the other three countries with $188 billion.

The United States comes in second place with a trade of about $167 billion with other states, which has a lot of room for growth considering the US's nearly $5 trillion trade profile.

As far as UAE is concerned, its trade ties with India are deep and historic and its trade ties with Israel are growing rapidly. Israel still has a lot of scopes to boost trade with both the UAE and India.

For India, the target is primarily economic. Delhi took the initiative to strengthen trade ties with the emirate after the sealing of a major economic deal in March, and accelerated talks for a trade deal with Israel.

About 3.5 million Indians live in the emirate, which is about a third of the total population of the Gulf country, making them an important source of labor for the UAE. India also receives significant amounts of oil from the emirate and weapons from Israel.

A joint India-UAE delegation from the healthcare sector visited Tanzania in August 2022 to explore investment opportunities in healthcare (establishment of hospitals, and diagnostic centres) in Tanzania. Leading hospitals, diagnostic centres, and investors from India (Apollo Hospitals, Fortis, Medanta, NephroPlus, Dr. Lal Path Labs, KEF Holdings, FICCI and Invest India) and UAE (G42 Healthcare, Tamouh/Sumerian) and government representatives from both countries had participated. India and UAE are working on joint health projects in Kenya and Tanzania.

The Future of I2U2.

The I2U2 alliance is still gaining momentum and is focusing only on trade, fertilizer security, and new energy.

Bringing together like-minded international and regional powers within a geo-economic framework to find solutions to problems of human security, US leadership, Israeli innovation, the UAE's financial clout and the Indian market and their collective entrepreneurial spirit has been focused on.

It is an alliance that is more geo-economic, and less geo-political, but if the extension of I2U2 is to be expected, then Egypt and Saudi Arabia are the two states in West Asia that have the ability to convert I2U2 from a geo-economic group to a real one.

The regional security architecture has both diplomatic and military potential to change. Despite the challenges, I2U2 is a promising initiative with immense potential for cross-regional collaboration, and if successful, could prove to be a template for future collaborations.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : Facing a massive controversy over the proliferation of child pornography on its platform in India, Twitter said on Saturday that it banned 57,643 accounts in the country for promoting child sexual exploitation, non-consensual nudity and allied content between July 26 and August 25.

Earlier this week, Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Swati Maliwal had said the replies received from Twitter in the child pornography complaints were incomplete and the Commission was not satisfied with them.

Maliwal had on September 20 summoned Twitter India Policy Head and Delhi Police over tweets depicting child pornography and rape videos of women and children on the micro-blogging platform.

Taking suo moto cognisance of several tweets openly depicting videos and photographs of sexual acts involving children, the Commission said that most of the tweets portrayed children completely naked and many of them also depicted brutal rape and other non-consensual sexual activities with children and women.

Twitter, in its monthly report in compliance with the new IT Rules, 2021, also said that it received 1,088 complaints from users in India in the same time-frame through its grievance redressal mechanisms.

Acting on the complaints, the company took action against 41 URLs.

In addition, "we processed 76 grievances which were appealing Twitter account suspensions. These were all resolved and the appropriate responses were sent", said the company.

"We overturned none of these account suspensions after reviewing the specifics of the situation," it added.

Twitter also received 15 requests related to general questions about accounts during this reporting period.

The company said it "does not tolerate any material that features or promotes child sexual exploitation -- whether in Direct Messages or elsewhere throughout the service".

In India, the users complained the most about online abuse and harassment (544) and hateful conduct (502), among other categories.

Meanwhile, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk this week expressed grave concerns over reports about the presence of tweets soliciting child pornography on Twitter.

Reacting to a report on how major advertising brands have pulled out from Twitter as their promotion posts appeared alongside child porn tweets, Musk said: "Extremely concerning."
New Delhi, Oct 1 : Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora has directed all the Deputy Commissioners to file a detailed report on all sexual harassment cases that were reported to the internal complaint committee in the last five years.

The order was reportedly issued by the top cop on September 30 to all the district DCPs. The DCPs were asked to maintain a data of the sexual harassment cases reported to the internal complaint committee till September.

The DCPs will have to file a report about the action they took against the accused involved in the matter. They will also have to mention how many complaints were disposed off.

Recently, the Delhi High Court issued notice to Delhi Police Commissioner, Delhi Government and Deputy Commissioner of Police, South District in this regard.

A woman had moved a plea before the Delhi High Court seeking redressal of her complaint lodged against a Sub Inspector (SI) before the internal complaint committee.

Her plea read that the internal complaint committee should have been established as per the guidelines of the apex court. She mentioned in the plea that in her case, there was no such committee.
Islamabad, Oct 1 : A magistrate of Islamabad's Margalla police station has issued an arrest warrant against PTI chief Imran Khan, media reports said on Saturday.

The area magistrate issued the arrest warrant in the case registered on August 20 against Khan for his remarks on Additional District and Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry, Geo News reported.

The FIR includes four sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), including 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 189 (threat of injury to public servant), and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant).

The former Prime Minister is facing contempt charges for his controversial remarks against Zeba Chaudhry, Geo News reported. The court has issued the warrant for Khan's non-appearance in court.

Following the issuance of the warrant, PTI leader Asad Umar warned the government not to arrest Khan, saying that it will "regret" the decision.

Meanwhile, former Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the issuance of a warrant in such a "weak" case was pointless.

"A circus has been created in the media by issuing warrants over pointless legal clauses and a foolish case which was not needed," he wrote on Twitter, Geo News reported.

Refuting all claims that Khan has left his residence for an unidentified location, Senator Shibli Faraz shared a picture of the PTI chief feeding his dogs at his residence.
Chandigarh, Oct 1 : The Special Task Force (STF) of Haryana Police has arrested a gangster of Lawrence Bishnoi gang after an encounter and recovered foreign-made arms and ammunition from his possession.

The team of STF Ambala conducted a search operation in the Sadar Karnal area from where they nabbed the most wanted criminal.

The team received a tip-off that Mukesh, a resident of Karnal district and an active member of the Ankush Kamalpur gang and the Lawrence group, had brought illegal weapons in large quantity which were reportedly dropped by a drone from Pakistan.

On the basis of the information, the police team raided the spot and after an encounter, arrested the accused.

A total of four foreign pistols, empty shells and 10 cartridges were recovered from the possession of Mukesh.

During preliminary interrogation, it was revealed that the accused had links with the Babbar Khalsa group, Lawrence Bishnoi group and Ankush Kamalpur gang.

The accused had purchased illegal weapons from gangsters Damanjot Singh, alias Kahlon, and Virender Sambi, who are currently residing abroad.
Mumbai, Oct 1 : In a horrifying incident, two persons opened indiscriminate fire at a crowd dispersing after Navratri celebrations, in Kandivali west suburb, killing one and injuring at least three others, early on Saturday.

The Kandivali Police and the local Crime Branch, which had launched a manhunt for the unknown assailants, managed to track the duo to Gujarat's Navsari town on Saturday evening and arrested them, said an official.

According to the official, around 12.15 a.m. the two men sped to the Laljipada area on scooter and started shooting blindly at the people dispersing after a local Navratri programme in the middle-class residential locality.

Amid the screaming, shouting and people running away, the assailants' bullets managed to kill one and wounded three others, including two pedestrians, he added.

They have been identified as Ankit Yadav, who died on the spot, while Abhilash Dabholkar, Prakash Narain and Manish Gupta who sustained gunshot injuries, have been admitted to the BMC's Shatabdi Hospital for treatment.

Moving swiftly, the Kandivali Police set up a team to trace the killers and finally caught up with them in Navsari town as their incident struck terror among Navratri revellers.

They shall be brought to Mumbai later tonight and produced before a court on Sunday, the official said, though the police have ruled out any possibility of a gang-war.

Earlier on Saturday, locals claimed that the assailants may be youths living in the vicinity and suspect it to be vendetta killing for some previous enmity, but the police have not commented on the motives yet.

Deputy Commissioner of Police-Zone XI Vishal Thakur said that the police teams are probing various angles to shootout, including from where the guns were acquired, the exact number of rounds fired, business or personal rivalries and other issues.
United Nations, Oct 1 : India's abstentions on Western-sponsored resolutions on Russia's invasion of Ukraine don't weigh on India-US ties or are seen as neutrality, Permanent Representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield has indicated.

Speaking to reporters on Friday after India had abstained for at least the ninth time on a substantive resolution on Ukraine, she said that it was not done to support Russia and it had made clear the condemnation of the invasion.

India joined China, Brazil and Gabon to abstain on a Security Council resolution condemning Russia's annexation of four Ukraine territories it had captured.

Thomas-Greenfield said: "Their extensions clearly were not a defence of Russia. They were not in support of Russia. And they made clear their condemnation of Russia." Asked about the abstentions, she said: "The four countries who abstained, I can't explain their decisions to abstain, but I can refer you to the statements that they made in the council, and all four of them express concerns about what Russia is doing in Ukraine." Explaining the abstention at the Council, India's Permanent Representative Ruchira Kamboj said: "India's position has been clear and consistent from the very beginning of this conflict. The global order is anchored on the principles of the UN Charter, international law and respect for sovereignty and the territorial integrity of all states." She also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi telling Russia's President Vladimir Putin publicly last month in Samarkand that "this cannot be an era of war".

This was a clear statement from India against Moscow's invasion and another was External Affairs Minister telling that General that India was on the side that respects the UN charter and they were welcomed by US officials.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: "I really want to emphasize what (Indian) Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, because I think he captured, as well as anyone I've heard, fundamentally what this moment is about. As he said, 'This is not an era, this is not a time for war'." "And then in the General Assembly, where the prime minister said of India, and I quote, 'We are on the side that respects the UN Charter and its founding principles,' end quote," Blinken said at a news conference with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, although that speech laying out India's foreign policy objectives was by Jaishankar.

While India's abstentions have been portrayed as neutrality on Russia's invasion, Thomas-Greenfield's statement shows that as far as Washington is concerned, India's UN abstentions are not viewed as neutrality or a departure from outspoken statements critical of Russia or implying backing for Ukraine based on it being the party that respects the UN Charter and its founding principles.

India has voted twice -- once in the Council and another time in the Assembly -- with the West on Ukraine-relater matters, but both were on a procedural matter to allow Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to speak through a video-link.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
New Delhi, Oct 1 : The entertainingly controversial reality show hosted by Salman Khan is back with its 16th season.

As the host introduces the new season and asks viewers to "expect the most unexpected", he assures them that this season is going to be different and it won't be easy to guess what's going to happen next.

Salman then went on to introduce Nimrit Kaur Ahluwalia of 'Chhoti Sardarni' fame as the first contestant.

A lawyer when she's not on screen, Nimrit engaged in banter with the host and accused him of "breaking hearts" by "not being shirtless" on the show. She also said that apart from being shirtless in movies, he should host Weekend Ka Waar in the same condition.

She also recalled a childhood incident and revealed how she met Salman in Ladakh when she was in Class VII and took a picture with him, which made her popular in school. She always called him her "lucky charm".

'Bigg Boss 16' airs on Colors.

Latest updates on Bigg Boss Season 16
editorial

The remarks of the President on a recent demonstration need further clarification and elucidation.

In a democratic system of governance every four, five or more years provide the opportunity to the sovereign voters to take stock of the performance of the government in office and decide whether to allow it to continue or discontinue in office. This means that even though a voter may have voted for the President to be office, that same voter may change his or her mind and vote against that president. Hence it is important to draw lessons from what happened to the two movements before the 2021 presidential election.

The two forces launched a pro-Barrow and an anti-Barrow movement. Consequently, two permanent camps were created which was not based on critical appraisal of the government performance in order to take a position on whether to support or oppose the government on the basis of its performance. This is the danger of a politically motivated demonstration and counter demonstration by forces with political objectives.

Demonstration in a democratic society should be issue based. It should remind an existing government of its obligation to the people and help the government to hold the government into account in a peaceful manner. Once demonstration and counter demonstration are partisan, the participants become rigid in their politically motivated positions, which undermines issue based purposes for holding them and promote factional feelings among the population.

What is therefore very significant is to re-examine the effects of the three years jotna and five years jotut demonstrations and draw correct lessons. The Gambian people should not be held hostage to partisan sentiments. All Gambians should wish any government that is in office to abide by section 1 subsection (2) of the Constitution and use its authority to promote the welfare of the people. Should it fail to promote the general welfare of the people all Gambians irrespective of party affiliation should recognise the failure and work together to have a democratic system of government where they will be able to express their will in the next following election.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Saturday said it has recovered 198 kg crystal methamphetamine and 9 kg cocaine valued at Rs 1,476 crore in Navi Mumbai.

A DRI official said that it was one of the biggest seizures of methamphetamine and cocaine in the country.

"Based on intelligence inputs, surveillance was maintained for 10-13 days looking for the consignment of fruits being cleared from some cold shortages. On Friday evening, the team of DRI Mumbai officers intercepted a truck in Vashi, carrying imported oranges. On thorough checking and examination, a huge quantity of drugs was found concealed in the cartons carrying Valencia oranges," the official said.

The official said that the said truck had left the Prabhu Hira Ice & Cold Storage in Vashi along with goods laden.

This is a new kind of modus operandi involving concealment of drugs in the boxes of "Valencia Oranges" imported from South Africa.

After clearance of such oranges from Customs area, the goods used to get stored in some cold storages located in Vashi.

"The importer of the goods has been nabbed and is being questioned. Further search operations for identifying and nabbing the people involved in running this chain of smuggling of drugs is underway," the DRI official said.
New Delhi, Oct 1 : A man was stabbed to death by three persons in Sunder Nagari under the Nand Nagri police station in North-East Delhi on Saturday night. Heavy police force has been deployed there to avoid any untoward incident, as the killing can trigger tension in the sensative area.

The deceased has been identified as Manish. He was rushed to Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital where he was declared brought dead.

"At about 7:40 pm, we got a PCR call informing about the incident. After preliminary inquiry, three youth, Aalam, Bilal and Faizan, all residents of Sunder Nagri, have been rounded up as the main suspects," a police officer said.

"As of now, the motive behind the murder seems to be an old enmity," the officer said.

Speaking to IANS, Sushil, the brother of the deceased, claimed that Manish was stabbed by three persons named Alam, Bilal and Faizan.

"The three of them are friends of Mohasin and Kasim, who are presently in jail for attacking my brother. They had threatened to take revenge, and today they stabbed my brother to death," said Sushil.
Bhopal, Oct 1 : On Sunday (October 2), the nation will celebrated the 153rd birth anniversary of the Father of Nation -- Mahatma Gandhi. This day is also observed as Gandhi Jayanti.

This year on this occasion, political parties as well many politicians in Madhya Pradesh have made plans to organise special programmes.

To begin with the grand old party -- Congress, which still claims to be moving on the Gandhian path or ideology, has made elaborate plan to kickstart its programmes on Gandhi Jayanti. However, the plan is completely focussed on assembly elections scheduled to be held towards the end of 2023.

The Madhya Pradesh Congress will kick start its mega plan of organising 'Gandhi Chaupal' across the state. The event that will continue till January 30, aims to reach out to the people of the state ahead of upcoming assembly polls.

The Congress plans to reach out to people of all 23,000 villages by holding 'Gandhi Chaupal', during which programmes like Gandhi Bhajan - 'Vaishnav Jan To Tene Kahiye' would be chanted along with villagers.

For this purpose, the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) has directed it district and block-level cadre in advance to get prepared.

"It would be mandatory for all Congress leader and workers to attend Gandhi Chaupal. District and block level workers would fix a particular date and will send it to the state committee. Chaupal will be held between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., during which Gandhiji's mantra and bhajan would be chanted along with people of villages," MPCC's notification to district party headwaters issued last month stated.

Besides, Mahatma Gandhi's bhajans and Vande Matram, social programmes would also be organised in all regions in local dialects. The 'Nukkad Natak' (programmes) on subjects like freedom fighters belonging to the particular region, struggle of the Congress for the freedom of the country, current social and cultural scenario and many more will be organised.

Madhya Pradesh's ruling BJP has also planned to observe Gandhi Jayanti with special announcement of government schemes.

On the other hand, senior BJP leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti would begin her "silent protest" on October 2, as she has announced during a press conference in Bhopal on September 9.

Bharti, who has been taking on the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government on its liquor policy, later softened her attack. However, she has mentioned that she would continue her fight against the use of drugs and liquor across the state.
New Delhi, Oct 2 : Actress, model and politician Archana Gauram joined 'Bigg Boss 16' and she informed the host, superstar Salman Khan, she wants to marry a politician.

Gautam had contested unsuccessfully on a Congress ticket in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections from the Hastinapur constituency in Meerut district.

She also held forth on what she expects from her partner. Archana said she dreams of her lover holding her from behind when she's in the kitchen cooking.

Talking about her dream with the host, she recreated it with actor and fellow contestant Gautam Singh.

Archana, who was named Miss Bikini India 2018, has also worked in Bollywood and her first movie was 'Great Grand Masti'.

Salman said she has joined the show so that with the popularity she is going to garner here, she can win the next election she contests.
Bengaluru, Oct 2 : Pushing forward Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra in Karnataka on Saturday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi discussed the prevailing situation in the country with intellectuals and prominent persons from the fields of culture and performing arts in the region.

Setting out from Tondavadi Gate in Gundlupet on Saturday, Rahul walked for around 13 km.

"The Karnataka Congress has exposed the '40 per cent' BJP state government time and again. The state government is riddled with corruption and their very own ministers and MLAs are admitting to this very fact. The state Congress unit will continue to raise the issues of corruption, violence and unemployment and will also strive to find solutions to the same," Rahul Gandhi said.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra will move through Nanjungud and reach Mysore over the next few days. In the next three weeks, Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to traverse around 500 km in Karnataka.
Washington, Oct 2 : The chances of removing Florida Judge Aileen Cannon from the Trump classified documents case of Mar-a-Lago are now wide open considering her series of pro-Trump judgements have not gone down well with the Department of Justice which considers it as an interference on FBI investigations and their concerns for national security.

Former federal prosecutor Robert Katzberg made the case that US District Judge Aileen Cannon's continued interference in the work being done by special master Raymond Dearie in the matter of government documents allegedly stolen by Donald Trump could lead to the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals stepping in and taking the case from her, media reports here said.

Earlier in the week, the Trump-appointed Cannon gave Donald Trump's legal team an assist by ruling that they did not need to comply with an order from Dearie and reply in a filing whether they believe the FBI agents lied about documents recovered at the former president's Mar-a-Lago resort almost two months ago.

As Katzberg sees it, the Department of Justice could appeal, which they did late Friday, and that they may have a compelling case to ask for Cannon's removal -- although such moves rarely occur.

Adding that the 11th Circuit has already stepped in to curb some of Cannon's excesses, Katzberg claimed it might be open to stepping in in a more forceful way.

"The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals has already filed a stinging opinion that contains ample criticism of Cannon to quote in support," he wrote.

"Appeals courts are hesitant to remove judges from a case, but here, there is a clear record of questionable decisions that have stymied an extremely significant criminal investigation and, per the DOJ, undermined national security. Under these unusual circumstances, reassignment might well be an appropriate solution," he said.
New Delhi, Oct 2 : Host Salman Khan introduced 'Imlie' actress Sumbul Touqeer as the youngest contestant on 'Bigg Boss 16'. She impressed him with her simplicity and her ability to mimic people.

Sumbul told Salman that she is scared of his 'Weekend Ka Vaar' avatar and mimicked the way he takes the contestants to task. Salman praised her and said no one could mimic him so well.

Sumbul recited a poem and her father joined her on the stage. She said that after signing for the show, she was quite nervous and her father had motivated her to participate in it. She recalled her father saying: "You can never lose." Now, she added, she is ready to start a fire inside the house.

Salman appreciated Sumbul for her upbringing. Post her entry, many fans took to Twitter and called her a "complete package". A few even predicted that she will be the "finalist".

The other contestants on "Bigg Boss 16" included Tina Datta, Sreejita De, Gautam Vig, Manya Singh, Soundarya Sharma and Gor Nagori.

'Bigg Boss 16' airs on Colors.

Latest updates on Bigg Boss Season 16
Washington, Oct 2 : Former President Donald Trump "wants his old job back" and will announce within weeks his run for the presidency in 2024. Trump is eager to get back to the White House, and wants to announce his 2024 run in the coming weeks.

Stating this, Kellyanne Conway, his 2016 campaign manager and close ally, said she had advised him to wait until after the midterms in November, according to Business Insider. .

Speaking on Friday with CBS News, Conway was asked whether Trump would announce his candidacy after the midterm elections and before Thanksgiving.

"Well, he would like to," said Conway, as per CBS News. "He's as active as anybody in these midterm elections. That's important to the calculus also, Catherine, because we have the most ironic, if not unprecedented situation right now," Conway continued.

"We have a president, a current president, whose party doesn't really want him to campaign with them." Trump will assess the timing of his announcement after the midterms, which take place on November 8, Conway said. "I will tell you why he wants to run for president," she said. "Donald Trump wants his old job back." In July, Conway described Trump as "champing at the bit" to announce his third presidential bid. Speaking to CBS News, she said she advised him to wait until right after the midterms.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy also said he lobbied the former president not to announce a 2024 presidential run before the midterms. "My point to him has always (been), 'Let's go win '22,'" McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol in July.

That same month, a top Republican strategist told Insider that a pre-midterm announcement from Trump would be a "train wreck for the party" and "a complete mess." Meanwhile, how Democrats, who aren't named Joe Biden, are running for president - without running for president. Joe Biden plans to seek reelection in 2024, even though voters are souring on him.

Democrats aren't expected to primary Biden, but questions linger about a backup plan. Would-be candidates have been seeking the national spotlight. President Joe Biden has been clear that he plans to run for a second term in 2024. His political team is even getting ready for a spring reelection announcement, according to the Washington Post.

But that hasn't stopped the "will he really?" chatter, particularly after a New York Times poll found that 61 per cent of Democrats said they hoped someone other than Biden would be their nominee in 2024, largely because of his age and job performance.

Democratic insiders are questioning whether Biden, 79, can mount a vigorous campaign in 2024 - especially if former President Donald Trump decides to run again.

Despite the doubts, Biden is not expected to face a primary challenge given that it would alienate other people in the party as well as the donor class, said Mark Jones, Rice University (Houston, Texas) political science professor and Baker Institute fellow, the Insider said.

"The norm is that you do not challenge a sitting president from your party," Jones said. "That's a major political faux pas. It either isn't done, or if it is done it's done more for political ambition - not to actually win, but to put the spotlight on yourself for other reasons." A key factor helping Biden's staying in power is Trump. The New York Times poll found that Biden would be favoured to win in another contest against Trump. "The belief is that if Biden beat Trump before, he can beat him again," Jones said. If a Democrat were to try to primary Biden - and weaken him in the process - then that person would be blamed if a Republican, even Trump, were to win in 2024.

But none of these factors rule out politicians' making under-the-radar moves. If Biden somehow reverses his plans, that'll mean the party will need to find a backup.

Some ways that candidates begin to test the field through "invisible primaries" are by campaigning for other Democrats to build loyalty, particularly in swing districts. They also may appear at events in potential early voting states and offer noncommittal responses about whether they'll support Biden in 2024, said Shawn Donahue, a University at Buffalo (New York) assistant professor of political science.

Other ways are through grabbing headlines through weighing in on national debates, holding leadership roles in the party, and raising huge sums particularly from out-of-staters. In the case of governors interested in the White House, they'll need to crush the opposition if they're up for reelection this year, in November, the Insider said.

"There will be a host of people who want to be waiting in the wings so the moment Biden says he's not running they can sort of jump in," Jones said. Even if Biden doesn't change his mind, 2028 isn't much further off. There are 15 politicians who are taking actions or gaining interest that might position them for a 2024 White House run if Biden changes his mind. And this includes the three top contenders, VP Kamala Harris, Florida Governor Gavin Newsom and senator Elizabeth.
Noida, Oct 2 : Two armed miscreants were arrested after a brief exchange of fire in Noida sector-24 on Saturday.

According to the information, during checking near Aravali Chowki, a suspicious motorcycle was signalled to stop by the police. On which the miscreants tried to escape instead of stopping and opened fire on the police team. In self-defence, police retaliate to the firing in which miscreants got injured and were subsequently arrested.

The miscreants arrested were identified as Shabir Ansari alias Chhotu and Riyazuddin.

Two illegal blank cartridges, two live cartridges, a motorcycle used in the incident, a fake media ID card (Aap Tak channel) and Rs 5,670 cash were from their possession.

The injured miscreants were sent to the hospital for treatment.

In past, the miscreants carried out several loots in Delhi, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Noida.

The police are investigating criminal history and other information of the miscreants.
New Delhi, Oct 2 : Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers S.L. Thaosen and Anish Dayal Singh have been appointed as the new chiefs of the CRPF and ITBP respectively, according to a government order issued on Saturday.

Thaosen, a 1988-batch officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre who is currently serving as Director General (DG) of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and holding additional charge of Indo-Tibetan Border Police, has been appointed as the DG of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The post had fallen vacant after the retirement of IPS officer Kuldeep Singh on Friday.

Singh, a 1988-batch officer of Manipur cadre, who was presently working as Special Director in Intelligence Bureau, has been appointed as DG of ITBP.

According to the information, Thaosen's retirement is scheduled in November, while Anish Dayal Singh will retire in December, 2024.

The order for their appointment was issued by the Personnel Ministry after sanction from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by the Prime Minister.
Addis Ababa - At the end of the official state visit by Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, President of the Federal Republic of Somalia to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the two leaders issued a Joint Communique.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed welcomed President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of the Federal Republic of Somalia in his first official visit to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia on the 28th and 29th of September 2022.

During the course of the visit, the two leaders held bilateral discussions, accompanied by high-level officials from the two countries. They raised and discussed various issues of mutual and regional concerns ranging from collaboration to overcoming threats of terrorism and extremism to bilateral economic cooperation.

According to the Communique, the two leaders agreed to work on specific priorities while considering the need to focus on key common issues paramount to the relationship of the two countries.

In this connection, the two leaders agreed to nurture and strengthen the longstanding bilateral ties and relationships between the two countries and peoples based on respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of both countries.

The two paid tribute to the gallant Ethiopian Defense Forces who paid the ultimate sacrifice for peace, stability and nation-building in Somalia.

They further reiterated their resolve to effectively collaborate in the fight against their common enemy, terrorism, and extremism and directed their respective security agencies to strengthen existing mechanisms of cooperation, and agreed to exchange intelligence.

Both Leaders further applaud the recent successful offensive by the Somalia National Army (SNA) against Al Shabab in the regions of Hiraan and Galmudug.

The leaders also call upon the UNSC to consider the request of the Federal Governments of Somalia for the lifting of the arms embargo imposed on the country for more than 30 years to ensure that Somalia is sufficiently equipped to effectively address the security threat posed by the Al Shabab terrorist groups.

Prime Minister Abiy and President Hassan Sheikh also emphasized the need to work together, minimize the effects of undue external interferences that could potentially undermine their joint effort for peace and stability in the region, and effectively combat terrorism.

To this effect, they have agreed to hold regular bilateral consultations and to collaborate in multilateral and regional forums to promote their common national interests on the basis of mutual respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the two countries.

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The leaders noted that the two countries and the sub-region at large, are facing recurrent drought and other multifaceted natural disasters induced by climate change, threatening the livelihoods of the peoples of the region. They emphasized in this regard, the imperative to collaborate and the need to redouble efforts to overcome these challenges.

They also called upon international partners to continue to support affected communities including in the area of building long-term livelihood resilience.

They agreed to increase scholarships and training granted by Ethiopia for the civil servants and security forces of the Federal Republic of Somalia with a view to enhancing the implementation capacity of government agencies and emphasized the importance of expanding cooperation in the areas of trade, economy, and infrastructure as well as communications in addition to the well-established political and security collaborations.

The two leaders directed the respective government offices to hold the Joint Ministerial Commission in a rotating manner at the soonest possible time, to discuss and set directions and implementation mechanisms on issues of mutual interest.
Gilbert, Arizona resident, Jennifer Smith was acquitted of the 2016 murder of her husband, Paul Smith.

Gilbert resident, Jennifer Smith was acquitted of the 2016 murder of her husband, Paul Smith, earlier this month after maintaining she acted in self-defense.

At the conclusion of an 11-day trial that began on August 15, 2022, an Arizona Superior Court jury found Smith not guilty of 2nd Degree Murder and all lesser-included charges. The jury deliberated for approximately two days with the verdict of not guilty being delivered on September 8, 2022. The Arizona Superior Court case number was CR2016-119278.

Ms. Smith testified that she suffered years of domestic violence from her husband, much of which was documented in police reports and court records. On the date of the incident, Ms. Smith explained that her husband threatened to kill her family members. She further testified that she believed he was going to kill her immediately before she fired at him in self-defense. This is a case about an abusive husband and a wife who defended herself, Smiths defense attorney, Travis Jenson of JacksonWhite, stated in his arguments. He went on to detail the years of abuse and the circumstances that led to Ms. Smith acting in self-defense. Mr. Jenson encouraged the jury to apply the law which required them to view Ms. Smiths actions from the perspective of a reasonable person who has experienced the same domestic violence as Ms. Smith.

Upon the reading of the verdict, a relieved Smith met eyes with her family and hugged her defense attorneys. Smiths defense attorney John K. Dosdall of JacksonWhite Attorneys at Law stated, This has been a long journey for Ms. Smith and her family. We are pleased that the justice system prevailed and we were able to secure this acquittal for our client.

Smiths family has arranged a crowd funding campaign to help cover her financial loss from the years long court battle.

Founded in 1983, JacksonWhite, P.C. offers a full-range of services to assist individuals, families, and businesses with their legal needs. Since its inception, the Mesa firm has grown steadily to include 22 highly experienced attorneys and over 40 paralegals, legal assistants, and staff. At this size, the firm is large enough to offer the efficiency and technical expertise of larger firms, yet small enough to provide clients with individualized, personalized attention. JacksonWhite has three offices around the state of Arizona including Mesa, Scottsdale, and Phoenix. For more information on a specific attorney or area of practice, please visit http://www.jacksonwhitelaw.com.

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We believe that quality growth and diversification is essential to continued success in our industry, and we intend to achieve it both organically and through mergers or acquisitions, explained Ronald L. Westad, President and CEO of Arizona Financial.

Arizona Financial Credit Union (Arizona Financial) announced today that it has completed its planned purchase of assets and assumption of liabilities of Horizon Community Bank (Horizon Community), an Arizona state-chartered bank headquartered in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Horizon Bancorp, Inc. (OTC Pink: HRRB) (Horizon Bancorp).

This transaction allows Arizona Financial to expand into western Arizona, further diversify its assets, and add talent and expertise to its workforce. It will also help the credit union continue investments in new products and services and help fund the expansion of services to additional new markets throughout Arizona.

The 12,000 clients of Horizon Community benefit by gaining access to Arizona Financials full suite of banking services, including consumer loans, insurance, credit cards, investments, small business services, SBA and commercial loans, and more.

null [After successfully integrating the operations of Pinnacle Bank in 2019, Arizona Financials board of directors endorsed acquisition opportunities as a component of the credit unions future growth strategy. __title__ null]We believe that quality growth and diversification are essential to continued success in our industry, and we intend to achieve it both organically and through mergers or acquisitions, explained Ronald L. Westad, President, and CEO of Arizona Financial.

That strategy aligned well with Horizon Community as they explored future options for their organization. Arizona Financial has demonstrated their competency and commitment null [to community banking and they __title__ null]have become a great partner throughout this process, said Ralph Tapscott, former President and CEO of Horizon Community who will now serve as the Western Arizona Market President for Arizona Financial. Im excited for the future of our combined organizations and the additional financial services and resources well bring to the communities of western Arizona, he added.

Horizon Community was founded in 2002 and operated six branches in Fort Mohave, Kingman, Lake Havasu City, Mesa, Parker, and Quartzsite, all of which will remain open and have been converted to Arizona Financial locations.

In parallel with the purchase and assumption of Horizons assets and liabilities, Arizona Financial converted from a federally chartered to a state-chartered credit union. This allowed the credit union to expand its field of membership beyond Maricopa and Pinal counties to now include Coconino, Gila, La Paz, Mohave, Navajo, Pima, Yavapai, and Yuma counties. Any individual or small business who lives works worships, attends school, or regularly conducts business in these counties is eligible for membership with Arizona Financial. The final step of the charter change, which occurred on July 1, was the credit union rebranding itself as Arizona Financial Credit Union from its prior name Arizona Federal.

The combined organization, which will operate under the Arizona Financial banner, has more than $3.3 billion in assets and now serves more than 155,000 members at 20 locations throughout Arizona. Deposits of Arizona Financial continue to be federally insured by the National Credit Union Administration.

Arizona Financial was advised by Honigman LLP, as legal counsel, and McQueen Financial, as financial advisor. Horizon Community was advised by Fenimore Kay Harrison LLP, as legal counsel, and Hovde Group, LLC, as financial advisor.

About Arizona Financial Credit Union

Arizona Financial, formerly Arizona Federal, is a $3.3 billion not-for-profit financial cooperative providing consumer and small business banking services and expertise to more than 155,000 members/owners. Founded in Arizona in 1936, the credit union empowers members to take hold of their financial future through the delivery of leading-edge self-service tools and mobile apps, competitive rates on loans and deposits, robust home loan solutions, identity protection services, and SBA and commercial loans. Arizona Financial has a history of local community involvement and is the sponsor of the LiveNation Theatre venue and exclusive credit union partner of the Phoenix Rising FC. The credit union has 20 locations across metro Phoenix and western Arizona and is part of the CO-OP network that provides members nationwide account access at 5,000 credit union branches and 30,000 ATMs. Deposits are federally insured by the National Credit Union Administration.

For more information: ArizonaFinancial.org
Whether you are in charge of reserving your family vacation, extended family, a corporate group, birthday party, or more, take this opportunity to save on your dream adventure on the Rogue River.

Morrisons Rogue Wilderness Adventures & Lodge announced the schedule and trip pricing for the 2023 Rogue River season.

As our season comes to a close for 2022, we are reflecting on all of the magnificent memories and adventures that were had on the Rogue River this year. We want to invite you to come and experience your own adventures and create memories for 2023; that is why we are offering our 2022 rates for any 2023 trip booked before October 31st, says Andrew Pratt, General Manager at Morrisons Rogue Wilderness Adventures & Lodge. Whether you are in charge of reserving your family vacation, extended family, a corporate group, birthday party, or more, take this opportunity to save on your dream adventure on the Rogue River.

Morrisons Rogue Wilderness Adventures & Lodge provides an unforgettable wilderness experience for all of its guests along the majestic Rogue River. For decades their team has been motivated by the opportunity to share these adventures. They are committed to creating lifelong cherished memories by providing outstanding experiences that exceed their guests expectations!

The lineup of Rogue River trips offered by MRWA includes the following adventures:



Multi-Day White Water Camping Rafting Trips

Multi-Day White Water Lodging Rafting Trips

Multi-Day White Water Camping/lodging Rafting Trips

Single Day White Water Rafting Trips

Multi-Day Lodge to Lodge Raft Supported Hiking Trips

Multi-Day Conventional and Fly Fishing Trips

Single Day Conventional and Fly Fishing Trips

The 2023 Rafting, Hiking, and Fishing season will kick off on May 15, 2023. For more information about our various trip types and to book your dream river adventure, visit https://rogueriverraft.com/.

----------------- After 43 years of operating on the Wild and Scenic Rogue River as Rogue Wilderness Adventures, Morrisons Lodge merged the two companies in 2016. This is an exciting merger of two of the top Rogue River outfitters. We are now known as Morrisons Rogue Wilderness Adventures. We look forward to sharing the amazing Rogue River with you year after year. Morrisons Rogue River Lodge has been in operation since 1964 by the Hanton family, and they continue to share an amazing lodging experience at the premier destination on the Rogue River.

Our promise to you is we will provide an exciting and unique river adventure in the beautiful Wild and Scenic Rogue River Canyon. Our hiking, fishing, and whitewater rafting adventures are designed to give you a thrilling and relaxing experience in the wilderness of Oregon. After a trip with Morrisons Rogue Wilderness Adventures, you will want to visit us year after year for your next adventure on the Rogue River.

Theres a World of Incredible Adventure on the Rogue River in Oregon  You Will Find it with Morrisons Rogue Wilderness Adventures and Lodge.
DriveSavers Data Recovery offers services to those affected by Hurricane Ian. DriveSavers is known worldwide for recovering data from severely traumatized devices including those that have been dropped, burnt, crushed, and submerged in water, said Scott Moyer, president of DriveSavers. We offer our expertise to those whove lost irreplaceable data.

Data recovery industry leader offers services to those affected by Hurricane Ian.

http://www.drivesaversdatarecovery.com/DriveSavers, the worldwide leader in data recovery, today announced it will provide $1,000 off per data recovery service to residents of Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia who have lost critical data as a result of Hurricane Ian and resulting floods.

The company is donating time, resources, and years of expertise to provide up to $1,000,000 in data recovery services. This offer includes all digital storage devices including external hard drives, Mac and Windows computers, multi-drive servers, iPhones, Androids, flash drives, and camera cards.

DriveSavers is known worldwide for recovering data from severely traumatized devices including those that have been dropped, burnt, crushed, and submerged in water, said Scott Moyer, president of DriveSavers. We offer our expertise to those whove lost irreplaceable data from photos and videos of loved ones to business and financial records.

This deeply discounted data recovery service is available for victims of Hurricane Ian and the resulting floods. Because exposure to water and air cause corrosion on circuitry, customers must contact DriveSavers and ship devices no later than October 31, 2022. This offer is limited to one device per business or household.

Those who require data recovery should call DriveSavers immediately at +1-800-440-1904 or visit http://www.drivesaversdatarecovery.com. Data recovery advisors are available by phone seven days a week.

About DriveSavers

DriveSavers Data Recovery, worldwide leader in data recovery since 1985, provides the industrys fastest, most reliable and only certified secure data recovery service. All of the companys services meet security protocols for financial, legal, corporate and healthcare industries and it is the only company that posts proof of its annual SOC 2 Type II audit report and HIPAA data security and privacy compliance.

DriveSavers Data Recovery adheres to U.S. Government security protocols, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act Data Security Rule (GLBA), the Data at Rest mandate (DAR) and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). DriveSavers Data Recovery engineers are trained and certified in all leading encryption and forensic technologies and operate a Certified ISO Class 5 Cleanroom. Satisfied customers include Bank of America, Google, Lucasfilm, NASA, Harvard University, St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, U.S. Army and Sandia National Laboratories.

Press Contact: Michelle West

+1-415-429-3116

Send email by clicking here
Stonewall Coffee Bridgeport in Bridgeport, West Virginia Knowing what we know now, we would have paid much more than $69.99 for the 7 Steps book. It is one of the best investments we have made. - Kevin Zakariasen, Owner, Stonewall Coffee in Clarksburg, West Virginia

Want to learn how to open a coffee shop in West Virginia? Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea has you covered!

The award-winning coffee roaster recently published an online guide to starting a coffee shop in The Mountain State  covering everything from choosing the right location to training employees.

Through its 7 Steps to Success coffee shop startup program, Roast magazines 2016 Macro Roaster of the Year has taught over 300 entrepreneurs in 30 states how to open a coffee shop.

Now, the companys 7 Steps coffee shop startup consulting team has added to its series of state-level coffee shop startup guides with, How to Start a Coffee Shop in West Virginia.

West Virginia is a terrific place to start a coffee shop! said Crimson Cup Founder and President Greg Ubert.

In fact, West Virginia ranks 37th among the states in the number of coffee shops per capita, with fewer than one coffee shop for every 7,817 residents. That leaves a lot of West Virginians without a local coffee shop.

The program is based on Uberts book, Seven Steps to Success: A Common-sense Guide to Succeed in Specialty Coffee, which he wrote to help customers develop profitable businesses by mastering all aspects of successful coffee shop operations.

We help entrepreneurs with little or no coffee experience become owners of thriving coffee shops serving their local communities, he said. From choosing a terrific location and writing a strong coffee shop business plan to buying and laying out equipment, hiring and training staff and more, our team is here to guide you.

To hear about the book in Uberts own words, download a free recorded introduction on Soundcloud.

Coffee entrepreneurs Kevin and Sarah Zakariasen named Stonewall Coffee in Clarksburg, West Virginia for the citys most famous native son. A statue of Civil War General Thomas Johnathon Stonewall Jackson sits in the plaza next to their coffeehouse at 218 Court Street in historic downtown Clarksburg.

The Zakariasens and their children settled in Clarksburg after spending eight years as missionaries at an orphanage in South Africa. They realized downtown Clarksburg was ripe for revitalization and saw an opportunity to strengthen the community through coffee.

Lacking coffee experience, the couple explored coffee franchise options and visited Jitters Coffee House in Millersburg, Ohio, a nonprofit coffee house supported by Crimson Cup.

Even after the recommendation from Jitters Owner Martin Mann, the couple felt reluctant to purchase Crimson Cups 7 Steps to Success book and to follow its tenets.

Despite the books warnings against used equipment, for example, they purchased a previously owned espresso machine that proved unusable.

After trial and error, they began following Crimson Cups guidance, which is based on experience with hundreds of independent coffee shops in 30 states, Guam and internationally in Bangladesh.

Knowing what we know now, we would have paid much more than $69.99 for the 7 Steps book, Kevin Zakariasen said. It is one of the best investments we have made.

They also benefited from Crimson Cups comprehensive on-site training for coffee shop owners and baristas.

7 Steps Project Manager and Trainer Steve Bayless spent a week training the Zakariasens in their own coffee shop, then stayed on site for the soft opening in December 2016.

On the first day of operation, the Zakariasen family served over 130 people, with a line of customers out the door.

"It's been really exciting and neat to see the community come out and say, 'Hey, this is exactly what we needed here in Clarksburg,'" Kevin Zakariasen said.

The warm community welcome gave rise to the shops motto, West Virginia gathers here.

The Stonewall Coffee menu features hot, iced and frozen espresso drinks  including mochas, lattes and cappuccinos  as well as iced coffee and tea, cold-brewed coffee, hot chocolate, fruit smoothies and other custom drinks.

Comfortable seating and free Wi-Fi beckon customers to sit and socialize or catch up on work.

The shop is entirely family operated by the Zakariasens, their children and extended family members.

The owners believe Stonewall Coffee has become a vital part of downtown Clarksburg's revitalization.

And, about five years after opening their first location, the Zakariasens started a second Stonewall Coffee at 1219 Johnson Avenue, Suite 103, in nearby Bridgeport. They held grand opening celebrations for the new shop on April 27, 2022.

Weve been really encouraged a lot of people have told us over and over again how glad they are to have us in Bridgeport, and we are super glad to be here as well, Kevin and Sarah Zakariasen said.

The couple invites everyone in Clarksburg, Bridgeport and Harrison County, West Virginia to gather at Stonewall Coffee.

Our desire is to bring the best coffee experience to our customers, said Kevin and Sarah Zakariasens. West Virginia gathers at Stonewall Coffee because of our great coffee, friendly service and cozy atmosphere.

For updates about menu, hours, events and more, follow the Stonewall Coffee Clarksburg and Stonewall Coffee Bridgeport Facebook pages.

Besides the West Virginia guide, Crimson Cup recently published guides on How to Start a Coffee Shop in Texas, Ohio, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Virginia, Missouri, Wisconsin, Connecticut, New Jersey, Iowa, and Louisiana. It will roll out more state guides in the months ahead.

Although the fundamentals of coffee shop operation remain the same from state to state, the economic opportunities, business formation and licensing requirements vary widely, Ubert said.

Were excited to share information and resources to help entrepreneurs expedite their startup journey.

He invited anyone who is thinking of opening a coffee shop in any state to call Crimson Cup for guidance.

If you run into any roadblocks or just want to discuss your vision with a coffee expert, you can reach our startup team by calling 1-888-800-9224.

About Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea

Founded in 1991, Crimson Cup is at the forefront of the coffee industry. Its attentive roasting, startup support and global partnerships are consciously designed for the greater good of communities around the world. Among other national recognitions, the company has earned 2020 and 2017 Good Food Awards, the 2019 Golden Bean Champion for Small Franchise/Chain Roaster and Roast magazines 2016 Macro Roaster of the Year.

Crimson Cup travels the world searching for the perfect cup  driven by meaningful relationships, honesty and a shared vision for the future. Its Friend2Farmer initiatives foster respect and decency through mutually beneficial collaboration across local and global communities.

Through its 7 Steps to Success coffee shop startup program, the company teaches entrepreneurs how to open and run independent coffee houses in their local communities. By developing a coffee shop business plan, entrepreneurs gain insight into coffee shop startup costs.

Crimson Cup coffee is available through over 350 independent coffee houses, grocers, college and universities, restaurants and food service operations across 30 states, Guam and Bangladesh. The company also owns several Crimson Cup Coffee Shops and a new CRIMSON retail flagship store. To learn more, visit crimsoncup.com, or follow the company on Facebook and Instagram.
Recruiters.co launches nationwide search initiative. In order to find the best candidates in some of the western region for our current and future clients, we are hosting a number of virtual and in-person meet-ups to connect various stakeholders in the industry.

Recruiters.co, a top healthcare and technology recruiting agency, has announced a new nationwide recruiting initiative for nurses and nurse practitioners seeking to expand their employment horizons. The new campaign will seek to connect talented nurses with leading healthcare organizations and technology companies across the country.

"The talent shortage in healthcare is real and demand for good nursing talent remains strong, even in the waning hours of the pandemic," says Ryan Nead, VP of Recruiting. "Our new initiative is designed to help nurses who may be looking for new opportunities outside their current geographic area to connect with some of the best employers in the country."

The initiative will include a series of virtual career fairs, targeted online advertising, and direct outreach to nurses across the country. Recruiters.co has already begun to see strong interest from both nurses and employers in the new initiative and is confident that it will be a success.

If you are a nurse or nurse practitioner interested in exploring new employment opportunities, please visit the healthcare recruiting page on Recruiters.co to learn more and register for upcoming career fairs. Employers interested in connecting with talented nursing candidates are encouraged to contact Recruiters.co to learn more about the initiative and how to get involved.

In order to find the best candidates in some of the western region for our current and future clients, we are hosting a number of virtual and in-person meet-ups to connect various stakeholders in the industry," says Abby, one of the Talent Acquisition Specialists at Recruiters.co. "If you think this initiative could be beneficial to your business or career, please don't hesitate to reach out and learn more about our upcoming events."

About Recruiters.co:

Recruiters.co is a leading healthcare and technology recruiting agency with a mission to connect great employers with great employees. The company offers a variety of recruiting services to help employers find the talent they need to succeed.

Our team of experienced recruiters has a deep understanding of the healthcare and technology industries and is passionate about helping employers find the perfect candidates for their open positions. Contact us today to learn more about our services or visit our website to search for available jobs.

About DEV.co

A top software development firm, DEV.co has been providing software development staffing and recruiting services to Fortune 500 companies and startups for over 10 years. The company offers a variety of software development services to help employers find the talent they need to succeed.

DEV.co's team of experienced developers has a deep understanding of the software development industry and is passionate about helping employers find the perfect candidates for their open positions.

Both Recruiters.co and DEV.co are owned and operated by Nead, LLC a middle-market consulting firm founded in Seattle, Washington in 2008.

This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute an endorsement by Recruiters.co, Nead, LLC or its affiliates.

CONTACT:

Ryan Nead, VP of Recruiting

Recruiters.co

ryan@recruiters.co
Pink Ribbon Scrubs This donation isnt just for BCRF, but everyone they touch through their amazing work.

Uniform Advantage (UA), a multi-channel retailer of medical uniforms for medical and hospitality industries, is proud to continue its partnership with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) with a $20,000 donation.

Uniform Advantage is all about supporting and celebrating our healthcare heroes, said Susan Masimore, President & CEO of UA. Not only the people who care for patients but those who offer hope and help through research and by finding cures. This donation isnt just for BCRF, but everyone they touch through their amazing work.

One in eight women in the U.S. will develop invasive breast cancer in her lifetime. With more than 44,000 Americans expected to die of breast cancer this year, the disease affects a staggering number of people, including family, friends, healthcare professionals, and caregivers.

The need to discover better treatments has never been more urgent, said BCRF President and CEO Myra Biblowit. Through our shared commitment to research, we will bring an end to breast cancer.

BCRF funds researchers who have been deeply involved in every major breakthrough in breast cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and metastasis. BCRF is the largest private funder of breast cancer researchand metastatic breast cancer researchin the world and is the highest-rated breast cancer research organization in the country.

Over the past three years, Uniform Advantage has donated $60,000 to BCRF, and its employees have raised thousands more through peer-to-peer fundraising.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer worldwide, affecting both women and men, said Masimore. It is a cause around which we all can rally. Every one of us at UA is proud to support the vital work of BCRF.
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Banadir Regional Police boss Gen. Farhan Mohamud Qaroole was killed by an explosion near Basra outside Mogadishu during an anti-al-Shabaab operation.

Reports say that Gen. Farhan died on the spot after a landmine blast struck him while walking, and some of his bodyguards were reportedly killed in the incident.

Farhan served in the past as the commander of the Haramcad brigade before he was appointed in April 2021 as the chief of the police force of the capital.

The Basra area is a strategic location of great importance for al-Shabaab, and it is where they used to cross from three regions and organize their operations in the capital.
In 2013, when she was 18 years old, Deena Mohamed, an Egyptian illustrator and writer, created a webcomic that went viral. Qahera features a Muslim superhero who can detect misogyny, racism, and Islamophobia with her super-hearing powers. In January, Pantheon will publish Mohameds debut graphic novel, Shubeik Lubeik (Arabic for your wish is my command), the first title in a gorgeously drawn fantasy trilogy set in a Cairo, where wishes are for sale at the corner kiosk. Three characters buy wishes, and their stories expose desire, bureaucracy, and social ills as they deal with the consequences of their purchases.

Ive been drawing my whole life, Mohamed tells me. I was on the internet a lot at 18, and to entertain friends I made small comics and got really interested in making and reading them.

After Qahera drew considerable attention, things changed. I was referred to as a comic artist, Mohamed says. At that point, she started researching Egyptian comics, finding the inspiration for Shubeik Lubeik. I wanted to create something in print, in English, she explains, noting that she felt confident enough to do a graphic novel.

The idea for the book came from the kiosks of Cairo. There is one on every corner, and they are bright spots of color in contrast to the buildings, Mohamed says. Theres banners and red iceboxes; the snacks are in brightly colored packages. I wanted to draw a kiosk, and I have always loved magical stories. Modern Egyptian movies do not have fantasy; they are realist, tragic, or comic, but old Egypt was fantastical.

Mohamed is charming and gracious and palpably thrilled about everything that has happened to her. She self-published 100 copies of the first book of Shubeik in 2017 and took it to the Cairo Comix Festival. The comics community in Cairo is a real community, she says. Its small and not competitive. Its all about a love of comics.

Shubeik went on to win the best graphic novel prize and the grand prize of the Cairo Comix Festival. Mohamed then translated it into English herself and, at the end of 2017, sent it to Anjali Singh at Ayesha Pande Literary Agency, after an introduction by Egyptian American professor Sherine Hamdy. Hamdy, who is represented by Singh, was doing research on comics in Egypt and had interviewed Mohamed to discuss Qahera.

Anjali really liked Shubeik and immediately offered to represent me, Mohamed says. I remember feeling overwhelmed by the idea. I hadnt expected it. Singh is the agent who early in her career discovered the graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (which, Singh says, had an original print run of 11,800 copies and went on to sell three million).

Deenas book was short, 90 pages, Singh says. But she had ideas for the second and third books. We put together a proposal that included the first book and a description of the next two and sent it out widely. There was interest, but when Dan Frank came in with an offer for world English rights in the summer of 2018, we went with Dan. An understandable choice: Frank, as the head of Pantheon, was credited by the New York Times as the editor who helped establish graphic novels as a literary genre.

Im very excited about this book, Singh says. It continues to open up the stories that comics can tell. Most adult mainstream graphic novels are memoir or nonfiction. Anyone who loves a good novel, who wants to be transported to another country, will love this book.

Sadly, Frank died from cancer at 67 in May 2021, after the second book was finished. Pantheon editor Vanessa Haughton then stepped in to work on the series. Dan was always so humble about his editorial taste, Haughton says. He never took the success of the graphic novels for granted. He shared the first book of Shubeik with me, and I remember reading it in a cafe and totally falling in love with it.

Frank told Haughton that Mohamed was amazing and would have a long career, but he wasnt sure shed want to work with him since she was so young. Dan asked me to get involved, Haughton says. I was a young Arab woman; my heritage is Lebanese and I have a knowledge of Arabic so we agreed to coedit. One of our discussions was the decision to publish right to left, the way Arabic is read, and to keep the Arabic title. It was important to honor the origin of the story, the history of where it came from.

Haughton adds that Mohamed captures a handful of cultural and social issues in a story filled with dragons, talking animals, and magic cars. The character of Noor, a college student, struggles with depression, and its hinted that they're nonbinary. Mohamed is a storyteller, Haughton says, but synthesizes issues in contemporary Cairo.

Haughton worked on part two, but when part three came in, Frank was in the hospital (the book is dedicated to him), so, she says, it was a natural progression for me to continue.

Mohamed tells me, Vanessa understood what I wanted. I never felt that the book lacked an editor. It was a logical transition. And both Dan and Vanessa gave me independence and creative freedom with all of it: writing, translation, drawing, covers. The book took a long time. I cant believe its happening.

Shubeik Lubeik was published in three parts in Egypt by Dar el Mahrousa: the first in 2018, the second in 2019, the third in 2021. The English translation will be published by Granta in the U.K. in January 2023, titled Your Wish Is My Command, and rights have been sold in France and Italy.

So what do people wish for? Wishes gravitate around gain and regret, Mohamed says. When she was writing Shubeik, and thinking about wishes and what people want, she asked friends a simple question: If you already had a million dollars, what would you wish for?

Good question.

Correction: This piece has been updated for pronoun consistency.
Ouagadougou  Troops in Burkina Faso have blocked streets in the capital, and state TV has stopped broadcasting after reports of heavy gunfire near the military camp where the country's junta leader is based. The signs point to a possible coup, which could be the second this year after a military takeover in January.

At around 4:30 a.m. Friday morning, gunfire and a loud explosion were reported in Ouagadougou, in the vicinity of Camp Baba Sy, where the country's president, Paul-Henri Damiba, is based. Witnesses said gunfire could also be heard coming from Kosyam, where the presidential palace is located.

Reports also said soldiers had blockaded the center of the city, an area where many government buildings are located as well as the national broadcaster's TV station and the French embassy.

Just outside the military blockade in the center of town on Boulevard Charles de Gaulle, the military are blocking the road. Many are wearing facemasks and are reluctant to talk. Local police could not tell VOA what's happening. People are still going about their daily business, although they're being turned away from the area where many of the government buildings are by the soldiers. At the moment the situation is still unclear.

In January, Lieutenant Colonel Damiba came to power in a military coup that saw the former president Roch Kabore arrested by members of the armed forces. National broadcaster RTB went offline for much of the day, before soldiers appeared on television to announce they had taken power.

This morning, RTB was once again off air for several hours, although a story about cotton farming aired around 9 a.m. local time before the channel went off air again.

Just after 12 p.m. local time, the president's office released a statement on Facebook, part of which said, "In view of the confused situation created as a result of a movement of mood by some elements of the national armed forces this Friday ... Negotiations are underway to bring back calm and serenity."

The U.S. Embassy has warned Americans to limit their movements and stay informed of local media reports.

The events of this morning come after rising frustration with the government's inability to deal with insecurity caused by militant groups linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State.

On Monday, a convoy carrying food and basic supplies to the northern town of Djibo, which has been under siege by militants for years, was ambushed. Eleven soldiers were killed, and more than 50 civilians were said to be missing.

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The incident raised serious concerns about the government, with many citizens expressing their fears and doubts on social media.

"The military seized power in Burkina Faso in January and justified their coup by the failure of the previous democratic government to tackle the jihadist violence, but by that very benchmark, this military junta has proved unable to seriously reduce the level of violence and frustration has continued," said Paul Melly, an analyst for Chatham House, a London-based think tank. "Burkinabe feel afraid about the continuing spread of jihadist violence."

One small business owner who declined to give his name said that in any case, the way they govern is no good. There are the jihadists who kill a lot of people.

The next few hours will likely be crucial in determining if Damiba has been deposed after just nine months in power.
For many authors, being given a chance to write a bestselling series would be more than a dreamit would seem impossible. However, for author Marshall Karp, cocreator and writer of the NYPD Red series alongside the venerable James Patterson, thats precisely what happened. Patterson would never give away a series, Karp said. But I was with it since its birth, and so I think thats what sets me apart.

Karp first met Patterson in the late 1980s, back when Patterson was still working in the advertising business. Patterson had yet to begin building his literary empire and was seeking a freelance advertising consultant. Karp was working long hours in Hollywood, he said, when a headhunter called him out of the blue asking if he would like to do freelance advertising for Patterson. Karp remembers saying, Whos James Patterson?

Today, Patterson needs no introduction and routinely has countless titles on the top of various bestsellers lists, produced under his own name as well as with collaborators, and all released by a team at his longtime publisher, Little, Brown. Karp and Pattersons working relationship developed into a friendship, and one day Patterson called Karp, asking, Want to write a book with me?

Karp agreed, and, like many authors working with Patterson, received an outline, a 75,000-word quota, and a deadline. Writers dont pitch, Karp said. Patterson gives out the assignments.

After finishing Kill Me If You Can, Karp found himself with the opportunity to pitch the idea behind NYPD Red. It involved a special task force in New York City hired to investigate crimes happening to the rich and famous, he said. Patterson liked the concept and tasked Karp with writing the outline. Just like that, they became cocreators.

NYPD Red follows the investigative adventures of detectives Zach Jordan and Kylie MacDonald as they work the eponymous NYPD Red task force, hired to protect the wealthy and the rich in the city that never sleeps. After approximately nine years and six books in the series, Karp and Patterson hit a snag. He got really busy with other commitments, Karp said, explaining that any new NYPD Red title wound up in the same pipeline of countless books Patterson produced with different collaborators. It became the biggest challenge and change for the series and for Karp.

You write a book and its going to take up close to a year before it could be released, Karp said. He explained that after a book was finished, it became increasingly likely that the NYPD Red series would wind up in the queue, behind books Patterson produces with figures such as Dolly Parton and Bill Clinton.

Eventually, Karp and Patterson had a meeting, which resulted in Patterson giving Karp his blessing to take over the series. I was able to work out an arrangement to own the series, Karp said.

The first Karp-led effort is the seventh installment, The Murder Sorority, set to be released in November by Blackstone Publishing. The biggest change readers will notice will be on the coverrather than Karp and Patterson being listed as coauthors, Patterson provides a blurb for Karps solo effort.

Karp promised that despite the absence of Patterson as a NYPD Red contributor, readers will find familiar characters. I dont think theres going to be any dramatic change to the series, he said, noting that fans can expect more adventures with Jordan and MacDonald and even some different formats. A TV series and a YA entry might even be in the works.

I feel better about being able to get the next book out faster, Karp said. Now I can get NYPD Red to the fans front and center.
When Sonali Dev was a child growing up in Mumbai, her father would tuck her in at night and, like so many parents, offer to tell her a story. I was like, No, Papa. Can I tell you a story?  she recounts via Zoom, seated in front of a row of bookshelves at her home in Naperville, Ill., a day after returning from a weeklong writers retreat in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Somehow I had to always be expressing my opinion. A piece of paper and pencil was the best way to do that always. I think I might have written before I read, simply because I love telling stories.

Dev, known for her Bollywood series (including A Bollywood Affair and A Distant Heart) and her Rajes series (BollywoodJane Austen mash-ups including Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors and The Emma Project), will release her ninth novel, The Vibrant Years, in December as the first offering from Mindys Book Studio, Mindy Kalings imprint with Amazon. In the novel, Dev turns her romantic-comedic eye to three generations of women, weaving their stories together in a novel that addresses the bonds of family, life-altering love, finding the agency to fight for ones dreams, and realizing and expressing ones true self.

The star of The Vibrant Years is 65-year-old Bindu Desai, who, in the novels propulsive first sentence, receives a million dollars without so much as a warning and no way to give it back, no matter how much you wanted to. She uses the money to move to a nearby fancy retirement community in Florida, leaving the home shes shared with her daughter-in-law, Aly. (Bindu had stayed with Aly even after her and Bindus sons divorce.)

Aly, meanwhile, has her own challenges. She works at a TV news station and dreams of anchoring a weekend segment but, for 10 years, has been relegated to spot reporting on diversity stories.

Then theres Cullie, Alys daughter (and Bindus granddaughter), a 20-year-old genius app developer who pitches a dating app, and then realizes she needs field experience in order to create it. Maybe her mother and grandmother can help? (Its easy to picture the movie, and, as luck would have it, Amazon Studios has first-look rights to adapt the material to film, though Dev says she is not at liberty to discuss that.)

The stories Dev grew up on ranged from Indian mythology to British classics with almost no female protagonists who ever got what they wanted, she says. Thats my whole tie-in to Jane Austen and why she was so important.

When she got a bit older, Dev filched Sidney Sheldon and Jackie Collins novels from her mom. She was also a huge film buff, especially loving the Bollywood films of the time, which were about nothing but hope and love winning, she says. She adds that she was a fan of very serious, gritty cinema. She wanted her own stories to have everything: The Sidney Sheldon, Jackie Collins, Jeffrey Archer drama characterizations. The exploding romantic emotion that almost pushes the melodrama envelope that Bollywood films had, but also, the grit of real storieswhat is beautiful about life, and how it exists even in the ugliest circumstances.

For much of her life, Dev didnt think shed be a novelist; her dream job was to write a culture column for the New York Times. But her best friend was a Bollywood movie producer who, lamenting the lack of good material, recruited Dev to write something for her. The screenwriter career didnt pan out, but when she realized that her stories could be told in book form, she knew she wanted to write novels.

Dev, whod moved with her husband to the Chicago area, enrolled in creative writing classes at the University of Chicago. She finished literally a word-vomit first draft of The Bollywood Bride in April 2010 and started shopping it in 2011. Though it was rejected over and over and over and over, she kept going. I kept fixing it, but I also jumped on my next book and wrote that, she says. In 2013 she sold both novels to Kensington, with her second, A Bollywood Affair, coming out as her debut in 2014.

In the years that followed Dev published seven more novels, and the industry embarked on some massive shifts. When I started, there was no market, she says. There was no shelf space for me; there were no comps. The world has completely changed this past decade from a place where an editor could look you straight in the eyes, without being a bad person or meaning ill, and tell you, We cannot sell a book that has two Indian characters in it, to a place where, absolutely, without a doubt, that editor would lose her job for doing that.

This doesnt mean the industry doesnt have further to go. There are still people who will look you in the face and say, Oh, of course, youre going to get everything because now all anyone wants is diversity,  she notes. Yet, when you look at the numbers, it is a laughable thing. When Im comping myself with white authors, the comp shouldnt be completely negated because Indian culture is involved. Thats the thing that I think is changing. Today I have a lot of comps that are Indian, that are Black, that are Asian, and that are white. Of the subtle, important changes, I think that is one: that we are not being shelved separately.

In all four books of her Bollywood series, Dev explores how women can grow into themselves given that sexuality doesnt die even as women become invisible with middle age. In two days I turn 50, she says. When you hit middle age, you actually start to understand what that means, because we are, up until that point, identified so much as our bodies. And yet age does not dictate what you can and cannot do sexually and relationship-wise.

All this is a part of The Vibrant Years, which Dev describes as a feminine power story, spun from the idea of three generations being on the dating scene at the exact same time. That seed had been in my head for, I think, five yearsit was sitting there ripe for it to happen, says Dev, who has been married for 26 years and has two children in their 20s.

I have very dear single friends, she adds. Man, the dating scene... She sighs. The tightrope walk between personal freedom and social expectations is a walk that every woman I know, regardless of age, and color, and culture, goes through. Wanting love and wanting to be able to do with your life what you want to do. Its the most basic of things.

Despite a seeming cultural preoccupation with being unhappyWe are pulled up if were happy as being delusional, or full of ourselves, or arrogantDev considers it one of her greatest gifts to be a happy person. Whatever happiness I have in my life today, Im incredibly grateful for it, she says. By telling stories in which happiness wins (and the exact details of the steps that one needs to take, or needs to be comfortable with, for that to happen), she puts forth a life path that can also lead to something joyful for others. Along the way, shes forging her own authentic life pathand her own happinessas well. It is not a path without bumps, she says. But to accept yourself wholly is the true journey.

Jen Doll is the author of the YA novels Unclaimed Baggage and Thats Debatable.
Married team Michelle Lewis and Charles Hannah own and operate Third Eye Books, a Portland, Ore., store focused on titles dealing with anti-racism and social justice. While there might be other Black, brown, Indigenous, and people of color that sell books in Portland, we are the only bricks-and-mortar, Lewis said.

Lewis calls Third Eye Books her Meskhenet, alluding to the Egyptian goddess of household and destiny. Several years ago, when her work as a therapist and contractor for prison mental health services became unsustainable for her own health, she and Hannah mobilized their shared passion for community literacy. They began trading and selling books from multiuse community spaces, including free libraries, and they incorporated as Third Eye Books in 2019. During the pandemic, we kept people connected with books when they couldnt go to the library or the community center, Hannah said.

Once people saw Third Eye Books as a channel for movement titles like Lucas Burke and Judson Jeffriess The Portland Black Panthers and Ibram X. Kendis How to Be an Antiracist, they began frequenting its online store. Hannah and Lewis were surprised by the steady chiming of their e-commerce app, notifying them of sales. This success convinced them to seek a bricks-and-mortar commercial space.

Lewis hesitated to fund-raise for essential startup costs, because of how money and communities of color are viewed through the lens of white body supremacy, she said. I didnt want to answer to someone who didnt trust the business model, she explaineda sentiment that can stop people of color from seeking necessary donations.

Nevertheless, Hannah and Lewiss community came together to seed the startup, and they signed a lease in February 2021. The well-attended grand opening in June of that year featured Olympic gold medalist Tianna Bartoletta, author of the memoir Survive and Advance. Third Eye Books is now fund-raising for a bookmobile and a ramp for improved accessibility into the store.

As part of their mission, Lewis and Hannah work with the foster care nonprofit Friends of the Children and host a Prose Before Bros book club for women of color. They held an off-site launch for The Quaking of America with anti-racist educator and trauma specialist Resmaa Menakem, and received a grant so that 100 attendees could be given copies of the book.

Hannah and Lewis keep in touch with Black-owned bookstores across the country, including Mahogany Books (Washington, D.C.), Harrietts Bookshop (Philadelphia), and Loving Room: Diaspora Books + Salon (Seattle). Hannah visited Oakland, Calif.s Marcus Books, founded in 1960, for a backroom tour and history of the family business and talked with owner Karen Johnson about running an independent bookstore. While independent signals staunch freedom, it also seems as though youre by yourself, Hannah reflected. He has a long-term vision of a consortium of Black-owned bookstores.

Hannah also looks for ways to move beyond business-as-usual approaches. If there was a convention for Black writers and other industry professionals, who would attend and sponsor it? he asked. Do we have to have a Jason Reynolds keynote?

Lewis added that a gathering to address unique concerns of Black-owned businesses could complement a general bookselling get-together: Why reinvent the wheel? It doesnt have to be separate.

On the immediate horizon, Third Eye Books plans to open an apothecary and gift shop this fall, across from the store. Third Eye Wholistic Wellness will enable Lewis to practice the healing arts associated with her mental health training and will serve Portlands diverse community. We are unapologetically Black and proud, Lewis said. I love me, and I love my people, and this project is bigger than me and my husband.
On November 16, the National Book Foundation will hold its first in-person ceremony for the National Book Awards since 2019, black-tie attire and all, so dust off that black tux, as executive director Ruth Dickey said in an interview at PWs office. Its the first time the foundation has held its flagship event live at Cipriani Wall Street in Manhattan since Dickey took the reins from Lisa Lucas in 2021. Last years plans for an in-person ceremony were called off less than two months in advance of the big day, as yet another wave of Covid-19 forced the organization to pivot back to a virtual show. Its taught Dickey and her team to be resourceful, and to turn past misfortune into future advantage.

All the people in the literary community were so generous and kind as we had to make that pivot and figure out how to still make the awards special and make our goals, because the event fuels the work we do through the rest of the year, Dickey said, referring to the fund-raising aspect of the ceremony. One of the big wins with the online event is that so many people from around the country were able to participate in a really meaningful way. Were definitely maintaining that strong online presence and have adjusted the run of show to make it a better experience for people in the room and viewers at home.

That means condensing the events programming into one block from two, pushing dinner up to earlier in the evening, and holding an uninterrupted ceremony beginning at 8 p.m. ET, which will once again be produced by the foundations partner, Really Useful Media. The NBF is also continuing to explore ways for the event to engage a broader audience, including reaching out to bookstores and libraries to hold streamed viewing parties. At the moment, theres no cap for head count other than Ciprianis general capacity guidelines; any Covid-related policies and requirements, Dickey said, will be announced later in October.

Going back to in-person events is a big deal for the NBF. While people have been very generous in donating to the foundation throughout the pandemic, Dickey said, its not the same as an in-person event, so the revenue has been lower, and that has been a challenge.

The awards ceremony should help with that, though donations are not the organizations only source of income. It really is a blend of individuals, corporations, foundations, and government support, Dickey said, which includes corporate sponsorships from publishers and grants from the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment of the Arts, and the city and state of New York, among others. The NBF will also launch a leadership circlea giving program aimed at individuals who care about reaching readers to allow them to be part of our work in our plans in a meaningful way.

The funding supports the awards ceremony and other prizes, including the NBFs 5 Under 35 program spotlighting exceptionally talented writers under the age of 35, and it supports a staff of 10: Dickey; director of technology and special projects Meredith Andrews; director of programs Natalie Green; administration and operations coordinator Anja Kuipers; programs coordinator Emily Lovett; education programs manager Julianna Lee Marino; communications and marketing manager Ale Romero; awards and honors manager Madeleine Shelton; deputy director Jordan Smith; and director of development Meg Tansey. (Seven of them, including Dickey herself, are new to the foundation, with three joining this year.)

The funding also finances a robust set of reading-focused public initiatives that the NBF either runs or directly supports, and Dickey estimated that the foundations programs reach two million people annually. Among its initiatives are the Book Rich Environments programwhich, Dickey said, distributed 192,328 free books to children and families living in public housing authorities in 50 communities across 30 states and Washington, D.C.and Literature for Justice, a nationwide, book-based campaign that seeks to contextualize and humanize the experiences of incarcerated people in the United States.

The foundation also hosts public readings and book-based discussions nationwide as part of its NBF Presents program, which has employed a hybrid live-virtual model throughout 2022. Among the NBFs events this year was one held late last month, during Banned Books Week, at the D.C. Public Library, in collaboration with the library, Loyalty Bookstores, and PEN America. During a panel discussion titled Lets Get Organized: Fighting Book Bans, Together, the foundation held a giveaway of banned books by NBAhonored authors. (Among the honorees at this years awards ceremony is Art Spiegelman, the pioneering graphic novelist whose Maus has been a perennial censorship target.)

Recently, the NBFs board of directors approved a new strategic plan, developed over the past 16 months by the board and foundation staff after more than 100 interviews and a survey completed by more than 1,300 participants. The plan is aimed, Dickey said, at taking the organization to the 75th Anniversary of the National Book Awards in 2024 and beyond, and will include, among other things, expanding the broadcast element for the NBAs, engaging readers in all 50 states over a five-year cycle, launching a teacher fellowship program, and expanding Book Rich Environments into a total of 60 public housing communities throughout the U.S. Dickey also hopes to expand the NBFs role as an advocate for the importance of literature and literary organizations.

As the foundation prepares for this years big event, it is also eyeing its 75th anniversary, and the different ways it plans to mark the milestone. 2024 might seem a long way off if youre not the one planning it, but as far as Dickey is concerned, she said, its practically tomorrow.
Childrens book publisher Levine Querido is launching its own Spanish-language imprint, Ediciones Levine Querido, this fall, translating several of its own authors works. The inaugural list features three titles: La Ultima Cuentista (The Last Cuentista) by Donna Barba Higuera, translated by Aurora Humaran (the English edition was a Newbery Medalist and Pura Belpre Award winner); Buenos espiritus (High Spirits) by Camille Gomera-Tavarez, translated by Lorraine Avila; and La timida Willow (Shy Willow) by Cat Min, translated by Alexis Romay and Valerie Block.

The plan is to publish three titles per season. In spring 2023, Levine Querido will release Noche antigua (Ancient Night) by David Alvarez and David Bowles; La forma de un hogar (The Shape of Home) by Rashin Kheriyeh; and Lo que le conto el jajguar (What the Jaguar Told Her) by Alexandra V. Mendez.

The Spanish-language market continues to be underserved by mainstream publishers, especially in Texas, California, and Florida, says Antonio Gonzalez Cerna, marketing director of Levine Querido. At the Texas Library Association meeting, many librarians approached our booth specifically asking for Spanish-language and bilingual books to share with their classrooms.

The company has a strong connection with the Spanish language, with three of its six staff members having grown up reading in Spanish, as well as with the market, having used its Em Querido imprint to offer translations from Spanish into English.

Weve also found that for many of the U.S.-based Latinx authors we publish, having their books accessible in Spanish is invaluable, says Irene Vazquez, assistant editor and publicist. Not only are they able to connect with more readers across the country but now their familieswho may not always speak or read Englishcan share their works as well. It means that they can visit Spanish classrooms or ESL classrooms around the country and share their stories.

Vazquez offers assurances that care will be taken to translate the books using authentic, colloquial Spanish from the country of origin of each author. The Spanish-language market is not a monolithfar from it, Vazquez says. With each book, we do our best to work with translators who are right for each project and can capture the nuances and cultural specificity of Mexican, or Colombian, or Dominican Spanish, and everything in between. We Spanish readers occupy the same digital and media spaces as English readers. You just have to speak our languageboth figuratively and literally.

Levine Querido president and editor-in-chief Arthur A. Levine and Cerna are attending the Guadalajara International Book Fair at the end of November to begin promoting the books abroad, and the company is working with Al Dia News and digital content creators like TikTok and Instagram influencer Carmen Alvarez of @tomesandtextiles for promotion at home.

Levine says, When I chose the word Querido as half of our company name it was to signal many things: a tribute to Emanuel Querido, the great Dutch publisher whose bravery and taste continue to inspire us; a desire that the books we make become beloved to those who read them; and as a testament to our ambition to introduce a new wave of great writers in translation from the Spanish, as well as our commitment to Latine authors in the United States. With the launch of Ediciones Levine Querido, we are taking another step in furtherance of these ideals.
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 09/30/2022



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alums Clayton Echard and Susie Evans have broken their silence following their recent announcement that they've split up and ended their relationship.Nearly a week after announcing their split , Clayton and Susie both took to social media and gave fans some insight into how they're doing.Clayton, 29, posted a series of photos on Thursday showing himself attending a friend's wedding solo and posing with a large group of children."Spent the past weekend doing the things I love with some of the people that mean the world to me," Clayton captioned the slideshow."First, I had the privilege of speaking to 400 middle and high school students in Missouri about anxiety, depression, cyber-bullying, body dysmorphia and the power of belief in one's self. Seeing and hearing the response afterwards made me realize I'm doing exactly what I need to be doing."He continued, "Also was able to celebrate one of my best friend's wedding and of course I busted out the dance moves (swipe).""I want to say thank you to everyone that has reached out to check-in on me," Clayton wrote."The support (both on and offline) means more than y'all know and reminds me that I have so much to be thankful for; even when times are tough and thereas a world of unknown ahead. Here's to the next chapter of life."Meanwhile, Susie, 29, is apparently focusing on her own well-being and mental health.In a cryptic TikTok post on Wednesday, Susie wrote on a video of herself doing a facemask and staring into a journal, "Me to every self-care ritual I've picked up this week."Susie then mouthed the following audio: "You better fix my entire life, you little sh-t."She captioned the clip, "But really."And then on Thursday, Susie uploaded another TikTok video of herself resting in bed.Susie wrote, "How I'm handling this week," before mouthing, "No more questions because I'm a little mad and I'm tired. Thank you."26 winner captioned the second clip, "Okay so this is how I will handle things from now on... 'thank you.'"In the pair's September 23 breakup statement, they wrote, "With incredibly heavy hearts, we wanted to share that we have decided to go our separate ways. For anyone who has ever loved, knows this was a painful decision to make and not one taken lightly.""We understand that there will likely be a lot of questions about this decision -- social media is definitely a highlight reel and much of our experiences together we have kept private as I'm sure most can understand. But we will share this -- although this last year together has brought us so much joy and so many laughs, there has also been a significant amount of pain."Susie and Clayton said it was "not an easy time" for either of them, adding, "But we stand in support of each other and hope to see the other go on to find happiness and healing. Although Claysie is no more, we hope that our communities can support us individually as we move forward with love and respect for each other.""Thank you to all of you that supported our relationship. It means so much more than you will ever know," they concluded.Susie and Clayton broke up at the end of 's 26th season, which aired earlier this year, but they reunited and reconciled after filming ended. By the time the show's After the Final Rose special aired in March, Susie and Clayton were dating and in love.But couple's fans began to suspect Clayton and Susie's relationship may be in trouble when Clayton suddenly revealed he and Susie had decided to stop living together and would be moving to separate states during an appearance on the August 16 episode of Amanda Hirsch's "Not Skinny But Not Fat" podcast.Susie and Clayton had been living in Virginia Beach together, but Clayton chose to move to Scottsdale, AZ, and the wedding videographer relocated to Los Angeles, CA.However Clayton -- who had moved to Susie's Virginia Beach, VA hometown to live with her shortly after the finale of his season aired on ABC -- insisted the couple was not splitting up and would continue dating long-distance.Clayton had said they both wanted to chase their dreams but it was actually Susie's idea to live apart."People might like at it like, 'Oh, they're separating,' but this past weekend she went to film a wedding and I missed the hell out of her. When she came back, it was like 'Distance makes the heart grow fonder,'" Clayton said on the podcast."I mean we haven't been able to keep our hands off each other, we've just been like attached to each other's side. And so I think a little distance never hurts."Clayton had also shared how both he and Susie would be willing to move to the other person if their new arrangement wasn't working out for them.However earlier in the interview, Clayton had also acknowledged neither he or Susie were fully confident their relationship would last."Susie and I are like any other humans, we can't see into the future," he said. "We've had this conversation many times, like 'Are we each other's person? And what if we're not?'""And ultimately we came to this decision, like we don't need to be in a relationship for anybody other than ourselves. We're not doing this for Bachelor Nation, or anything like that. We both came to the conclusion that we're like, you know what, no matter what happens we'll forever be thankful for being part of each other's live. Because we both made each other better human beings."Clayton had even suggested couple's relationship could possibly end in a month."We don't know if this relationship, we're like, 'We don't know if it's going to be a month-long [more] from here or if it's gonna be lifetime but, like, there's no pressure,'" he said."Like, let's just love each other and be thankful -- and we are thankful we're in each other's lives. So whatever that looks like, we're very, very happy right now and in a really great spot. But yeah, man, we really went through it. Together though, thankfully. She's been on my side and that's the only reason why I can sit here with so much positivity is because of her."Going back to Clayton's journey that aired from January through March on ABC, he was heavily scrutinized and criticized for how he had treated his bachelorettes.Clayton faced backlash for telling all of his Final 3 women that he loved them and for sleeping with both Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia before his last Fantasy Suite date with the bachelorette he was supposedly the "most in love" with, Susie.But Clayton's spirit-breaking experience on ultimately had a happy ending.Susie -- who quit after she learned Clayton had slept with Gabby and Rachel before his Fantasy Suite date with her -- ultimately returned to the show and made an appearance at the Final Rose Ceremony, but she dumped the Bachelor instead of accepting his final rose.Susie said at the time that Clayton wasn't her person and they didn't seem meant to be.However, Susie reached out to Clayton post-filming seeking some answers, and the pair got back together, resulting in Clayton moving to Virginia Beach to live with Susie.In July, Clayton told The Virginian-Pilot newspaper he was "disgusted" with how he was portrayed on and "would never, ever" do the show again.Interested in more news? 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Nairobi  Kenyan health officials are investigating a suspected case of Ebola in the country's west near Uganda, where an outbreak of the deadly virus has been blamed for at least 35 cases and seven deaths.

Kenya is on high alert after one patient suspected to have Ebola is being treated at St. Mary's Hospital in western Kenya.

St. Mary's Hospital administrator Hildah Apwao told reporters the man recently traveled to Uganda and visited a health facility there for treatment of a cut. The man is now in an isolation unit at St. Mary's hospital located in Mumias, Kakamega County awaiting laboratory results.

Kenya's neighbor, Uganda, has recorded 35 Ebola cases and seven deaths since the first case was confirmed last week.

The current outbreak of Ebola is attributed to the Ebola Sudan strain and is believed to have started in the Mubende district in central Uganda.

Last week, Kenya issued health guidelines -- like screening travelers from Uganda -- following the outbreak. East African health experts advised against closing the border to deal with the virus.

Health officials in Kenya called for more awareness about the disease and better follow-up if symptoms are witnessed. Ebola is a disease spread through contact with an infected person's body fluids. Symptoms include body aches, vomiting and internal bleeding.

Uganda recorded the presence of a different strain of the virus in 2019 and the Sudan strain was found in 2012.
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According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, methadone is used to treat opioid use disorder by reducing opioid cravings and the side effects of withdrawal. For Athens-Clarke and surrounding counties, there are three opioid treatment centers that offer methadone: Alliance Recovery Center and DM & ADR which are in Athens, and The Genesis Center of Winder, in Barrow County.
Khartoum  55 resistance committees and revolutionary bodies signedthenew Revolutionary Charter for the Establishment of the People's Authorityon Wednesdayas a political vision for the resistance committees.

The resistance committees have been working for a while to unify two different charters presented by the resistance committees of Wad Madani and Khartoum.

The Technical Committee of the Charter explained in a press statement that the goals and issues raised by the resistance committees will be the basic building blocks for the formation of a unified body that will include all the revolutionary forces.

The unification attempts came after various calls for unity amongst Sudan's opposition.

The charter provides for the abolition of the 2019 Constitutional Document, the inclusion of the Juba Peace Agreement protocols, and the establishment of a transitional constitution based on the resistance committees' revolutionary charter. It also stipulates that the (civilian) prime minister is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

The charter adopted a decentralised system of government in the transitional period.

The signatories also affirmed their rejection of any calls for direct or indirect negotiations with the coup plotters and called for the continuation of peaceful resistance.

The charter stipulates the overthrow of the October 25 coup elements and demands accountability of all those involved from both civil and military forces.

Different visions

The unification of the charters comes in a period of great political turmoil in Sudan. Following the coup, Sudan has been in a political crisis and different groups are pulling in different directions to determine the course of Sudan's political future.

The mainstream Forces for Freedom and Change-Central Council (the coalition split earlier this year) has proposed their vision for Sudan's political transition and so have various other groups, including supporters of the coup.

Recently, the SBA drafted a constitutional framework for the transitional period that received broad support, but also criticism. A group of Sudanese women also presented a new unified gender-responsive constitutional vision.
Brattleboro Museum & Art Center held its 15th Annual Domino Toppling Extravaganza on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022. Veteran domino toppler and YouTube superstar Lily Hevesh returned with her team to assemble over 25,000 dominos in two and half days that covered the museums Wolf Kahn & Emil
The Bennington Police Department and other law enforcement agencies raid 546 Main St. in Bennington in July 2022. The state's attorney is suing the landlord for his tacit approval of drug activity on the property.
Khartoum / Wad Madani / Dongola / Nyala / Atbara  Thousands of protesterstook to the streets inthe cities ofKhartoum,WadMadani, Nyala, Dongola,and Atbarayesterdayin response to the calls of the resistance committees to demand the overthrow of the coupregimeand retribution for the martyrsin new Marches of the Millions.

The Marches of the Millions in Khartoum moved from the Bashdar gathering point in El Deyoum El Shargiya towards the Republican Palace and the participants carried banners.

The regular forces prevented the demonstrators from reaching El Gasr (Palace) Street, close to the Republican Palace, by heavily firing tear gas and using excessive violence. They also tried to run over some demonstrators with security vehicles.

The protesters closed several main roads using barricades and the protests continued until late and turned into a hit and run with the police.

The Socialist Doctors Association (SDA) reported 49 injuries amongst the protesters, including 29 injuries from teargas cannisters.

'There is no choice for the military but to leave the political scene in order to form a Sudan that enjoys freedom and democracy'

The joint Platform of the Revolutionary Forces in Nyala, capital of South Darfur, organised a march to demand retribution for the martyrs of the glorious December revolution, the departure of the military from power, and a purely civilian government.

Abdelazim Abdallah, spokesperson for the platform, said that the protest in Nyala confirms the Sudanese people's adherence to their chosen democratic path and their rejection of all attempts to dishonour the legacy of the martyrs. He added that there is no choice for the military but to leave the political scene in order to form a Sudan that enjoys freedom and democracy.

In El Gezira's capital Wad Madani, the resistance committees organised a procession from El Khair Pharmacy in the market to the house of detainee Mohammed El Fateh, nicknamed 'El Nana', demanding retribution for the martyrs and the overthrow of the coup regime.

In Northern state capital Dongola, the resistance committees marched in a four-point convoy that gathered at the military hospital to demand the overthrow of the coup and in solidarity with the doctors' strike that has been going on for weeks.

Atbara, in the Nile River State, witnessed a similar processions.
Lawyer says the decision is unjust because she is not a flight risk and does not pose a security threat.

A picture of Theary Seng distributed on Facebook the day of her arrest in June 2022 shows her in a prisoner's uniform.

Cambodias Supreme Court on Friday upheld a lower courts decision to deny bail to Cambodian American Theary Seng, who is serving a six-year sentence for conspiracy to plot against the government.

The lawyer and activist was sentenced on June 14 along with 50 other activists for their association with the banned Cambodia National Rescue Party, once the main opposition in the country before it was dissolved by the Supreme Court in 2017.

The Supreme Court said Theary Seng was a flight risk and a threat to the countrys social fabric in its decision to uphold the appeals court decision to reject a motion to release her on bail.

Theary Sengs lawyer Choung Chou Ngy told RFAs Khmer Service that the decision was unjust. His client never avoided a trial before her arrest and has made it clear that she has no intention to leave Cambodia, he said.

He also disputed the courts contention that Theary Seng presented some risk to society.

It isnt right to cite social security as a reason to deny her release, Choung Chou Ngy said. This means the court assumes that upon her release, she would cause social disorder. This is a guilty presumption, so I as a lawyer cant accept it.

He said the court has no right to continue to detain Theary Seng because he filed an appeal for her, he said.

Even though the court convicted her to six years in jail, the verdict is not completed yet because of an appeal, Choung Chou Ngy said.

He plans to travel to remote Preah Vihear prison, where Theary Seng is being held, to brief her about the verdict and discuss further legal options.

Theary Seng did not commit any crime, she simply exercised her freedom, Ros Sotha, executive director of the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee.

If the government doesnt open up to accept democratic culture, it will be difficult to lead a country, he said, adding that Theary Sengs conviction was for expressing her views against Cambodias authorities.

Earlier this month, the New York-based Clooney Foundation for Justice called Theary Sengs June 14 trial a travesty of justice and gave it a grade of F, calling for her immediate release.

Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and Interpol are commonly used to pursue political opponents overseas.

Authoritarian regimes are increasingly making use of regional cooperation organizations like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to bolster each others' regime security in the name of counter-terrorism, experts told a recent seminar.

In an Orion Policy Institute online seminar held days after Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping returned from a leadership summit of the regional Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), experts said authoritarian regimes are increasingly bolstering each other's domestic security in the name of pursuing "terrorists", "separatists" and "extremists."

Edward Lemon, assistant professor of international affairs at Texas A&M University, said authoritarian regimes rarely act alone, often relying on bilateral cooperation with local governments and regional organizations like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

"Authoritarian regional organizations are built around the codification of authoritarian norms," Lemon told an online seminar run by the Institute on Sept. 28. "They bypass human rights, facilitate swift extraditions and bolster regime protections."

"In some cases [they actually grant] extraterritorial powers to law enforcement to physically go into the jurisdiction of members of an international organization ... and extradite or ... render and take back members of the diaspora," he said.

He said such groupings often form platforms for sharing information about overseas activists and run joint investigations into individuals who are seen as a threat to a regime.

"[This] privileges ... regime security over any concerns over individual human rights or the countries' obligations to international human rights law or norms," Lemon said.

He said the top priority of the SCO is to combat "terrorism", "extremism" and "separatism," which are all terms derived from China's national security framework.

Once an organization is listed as a terrorist organization by one of the member states, it will be labelled a terrorist organization by all member states, he said.

Members and other leaders attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Sept. 16, 2022. Credit: Kremlin Pool Photo via AP Criminalizing opponents

Mathieu Deflem, sociology professor at the University of South Carolina, said authoritarian regimes often use existing global structures to pursue activists overseas, particularly Interpol.

"Interpol is one of the instruments of that embeddedness, and a very practical and ... effective instrument as well," Deflem said. "It is nowadays well known that Interpol has been abused by authoritarian regimes."

"They take advantage of international communications systems to track down political opponents and to target them as criminals, so we have the criminalization of political dissent," he said.

"The members [and] the leadership of Interpol are not doing nearly enough to counter that, and to hold onto the principles of their own organization," Deflem said.

He called on U.S. law enforcement agencies to put pressure on Interpol to set up an external review watchdog, rather than relying solely on current internal oversight mechanisms.

Meanwhile, digital technology is an important part of all forms of transnational repression, according to Marcus Michaelsen, a researcher at the Free University of Brussels.

Phishing and commercial spyware can effectively infiltrate dissidents' phones and computers to collect information and spy on dissidents for repressive regimes, he said.

"Regimes perceive these external influences as a threat, and in response they try to control the activities of their populations abroad," Marcus Michaelsen, independent researcher into transnational repression, told the seminar.

He said digital technologies are an essential component of all forms of transnational repression.

"The very same technologies that allow exiles and diasporas to stay involved in their home country's affairs also help regimes to reach across borders."

Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress, was subject to a Interpol Red Notice from China for almost 20 years before it was deleted in 2018. Credit: AFP Open targets

Transnational activists rely heavily on social media to stay in touch with their home countries, and this makes them more vulnerable to being targeted by their home governments for monitoring, he added.

"In the more aggressive forms of targeted surveillance, regime agents try to gain access to the accounts and devices of activists, for their correspondence and confidential data," Michaelsen said, adding that regime-backed hackers often use phishing messages to gain access to accounts and devices.

Sometimes, social engineering is also used, based on openly available social media information, to "lure targets" into clicking on compromised links, he said, citing invitations to seminars, interview requests as possible forms of phishing to deliver malware to users' devices, sometimes using sophisticated spyware.

Michaelsen said major overseas social media platforms are sometimes infiltrated or subjected to political pressure to delete accounts and posts that are critical of the regimes.

"Another form of digital transnational repression is online harassment, smear campaigns and trolling," Michelson said. "These regime agents will use false and distorted information, verbal threats and abuse against activists to intimidate them, to put them under pressure, or taint their reputation."

Dana Moss, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame, agreed, but said online monitoring can also lead to violent outcomes.

"Regimes' attempts to control and coerce and punish their diasporas is a growing global threat," she told the seminar, adding that the threat isn't just a digital one.

"[Their] repertoire also includes assassinations, violent attacks. We've seen a lot of kidnappings, forced renditions and coerced return back home," Moss said.

Loved ones back home are also used as leverage, she said.

"People might be threatened that something will happen to their families if they don't return home for persecution or trial or detention," Moss said.

"For women, these tend to be very sexualized and very scary."

Smear campaigns

Moss said smear campaigns are often very effective if overseas activists are accused of "terrorism," she said.

"This perks up the ears of security agencies in their host societies, and often puts them under suspicion for doing something wrong when they haven't done," she said.

The CCP's law enforcement agencies routinely track, harass, threaten and repatriate people who flee the country, many of them Turkic-speaking Uyghurs, under its SkyNet surveillance program that reaches far beyond China's borders, using a variety of means to have them forcibly repatriated, according to the rights group Safeguard Defenders.

The number of Chinese nationals seeking political asylum overseas has skyrocketed under Xi Jinping, whose administration has set up a coordinated international operation called "Operation Foxhunt" to force Chinese nationals to return home.

Figures released by the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR showed that while around 12,000 Chinese nationals sought asylum overseas in 2012, the year that Xi took office as CCP general secretary, that number had risen to nearly 120,000 by 2021.

Washington-based non profit Freedom House called on governments in a February 2022 report to start systematically recording cases of transnational repression, based on an internationally agreed definition of the term, then ensure that law enforcement officials, personnel at key agencies, and those working with refugees and asylum seekers are trained to recognize the targeting of exiles and diasporas.

Governments should also start screening applicants for diplomatic visas for a history of engaging in transnational repression and expel diplomats who are known to be involved in these practices.

They should also use their influence to bolster respect for the asylum system and stop processing applications in third countries, the report said, calling for an international response to the problem.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
This handout photo from the state-run Myanmar News Agency (MNA) taken on July 28, 2021 and received on July 29 shows Sean Turnell, a detained Australian adviser to Myanmar's deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, getting vaccinated against the Covid-19 coronavirus in Insein prison in Yangon.

Sean Turnell, an Australian citizen who served as an economic advisor to deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and was given a three-year jail sentence this week, have been infected with COVID-19 in prison, sources familiar with their case told RFA.

Turnell, Aung San Suu Kyi, and three ministers from the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government were given three year sentences Thursday under the Myanmar Government Secrets Act.

Turnell, 58, and former Deputy Minister of Planning, Finance and Industry Set Aung were quarantined for COVID-19 infections their transfer Friday from Naypyidaw Prison in the capital to Yamethin prison, court sources told RFA.

The other two former ministers prosecuted Thursday, Myanmar Government Planning and Finance Minister Soe Win, and Minister of Planning and Finance Kyaw Win, were also transferred to Yamethin, in the central Mandalay region.

Turnell was also sentenced to a further three years under the Immigration Law but the two charges will be served concurrently.

Suu Kyi, who has now been sentenced to a total of 23 years in prison for 12 cases, is still being held in Naypyidaw Prison because there are still other pending cases.

The junta has yet to release a statement regarding the transfer of Turnell to Yamethin Prison and the circumstances of his COVID-19 infection.

The Australian government issued a statement Thursday saying that Turnell had been unjustly arrested and that Canberra has objected to the military court's sentence against him and demanded his immediate release. The statement also said Australian diplomats were barred from attending the trial.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong told the Australian newspaper The Canberra Times that she will continue to do everything she can so that he can return to his family in Australia.

Turnell had worked as an economic advisor to Suu Kyi since 2017 under the NLD-led government that was ousted in last year's military coup. He is the first foreigner close to the NLD to be detained since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup.

Turnell had worked at the Myanmar Development Institute of the Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, and is an honorary professor of that university. He had also worked at the Reserve Bank of Australia as an economics expert.

Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written by Paul Eckert.
Following discussions held between Bea Mountain Mining Company and Laar Clan, in Cape Mount County, the company has approved several projects in three communities in the clan totaling US$69,400(sixty-nine thousand four hundred united states dollars).

The amount is part of the Clan Development Fund of US$150,000(One hundred and fifty thousand united states dollars) earlier given to the clan this year.

BMMC GM, Mr. Reza Karimiyan, far right listened to citizens of Laar clan speak

This was agreed on Wednesday, September 28, 2022 at a mass meeting held in Kinjor .

During the meeting, the Projects Management Committee(PMC) of Laar Clan presented a PowerPoint presentation, in which they showcased four projects that they intend to implement.

The projects are; Renovation of Beh-Gondor Clinic with additional units and have it functional $31,500USD, provision of drugs to the clinic of US$4,000 and Renovation of Gold Camp Town Hall and extension of additional facilities $9,000USD.

Also, the Construction of Jennema Town Hall $20,000USD, and scholarships for University Students $8,500USD. In the same meeting, the PMC of Laar Clan also stressed the need to have its members capacitated in order to monitor pending projects. The PMC Chairman Charles Cooper named mobility, computers, office space and stipends as major challenges to enhancing their work effectively.

Senator Simeon Taylor makes a point at the meeting

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Also speaking during the meeting, the General Manager of BMMC Mr. Reza Karimiyan thanked Laar Clan Development Committee for being the first to present their planned priority projects to top Management. The General Manager emphasized the need for the Clan to give more attention to the Health and Education sectors in awarding scholarships.

Mr. Reza Karimiyan further indicated that the PMC must ensure that the amount stipulated for the four projects are actualized without any lapses for the full completion of said projects.

For their part, the Community Representative Superintendent Mr. Henry Vincent, and CR Supervisor Mr. Isaac Sasraku thanked the PMC of Laar Clan for coming and sharing with top Management their priority projects pending approval by BMMC.

In a related development, the citizens of Weajui apologized to the management of BMMC for holding some staff members hostage this week. The citizens at a meeting held with the senator of the county, Hon. Simeon Taylor expressed their regret for the activity carried out by the youths and promised to cooperate with management.

They however appealed to the company to construct a waterway for the free passage of water so as to avoid the future flow of water in their communities.

Bea Mountain managers and Laar clan citizens at the meeting

Also, a resolution was given to the senator in which they asked for relocation and renovation of houses as well as provision of food for them.-
At least seven civilians were killed in three separate shootings involving the military or anti-junta forces in Myanmars commercial capital Yangon on Thursday evening, according to witnesses.

The incidents took place in Yangons Pabedan and southern Dagon Myothit townships and left six men and a woman dead, sources told RFA Burmese.

In one of the shootings, a rickshaw driver and two young men were killed when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a junta soldier on duty near the Maha Thein Dawgyi Ordination Hall in Pabedan at around 3:30 p.m., according to a resident of the township, who declined to be named for security reasons.

[The soldier] was shot near a betel nut stall on a side street near Ordination Hall. I didn't hear anything for a while, and then a [military truck] arrived on the scene. The soldiers were yelling and cursing, the resident said.

Then I heard [around 10] gunshots continuously. The rickshaw man and two other young men who were hit died on the spot. I feel sad that these men were shot for no fault of their own.

The resident said the bodies of the three victims were taken away by a Red Cross ambulance around 30 minutes later.

Other residents of Pabedan told RFA that authorities closed Maha Bandoola and Sule Pagoda roads, which run through the center of the township, following the shooting, but reopened them this morning. Meanwhile, the security force presence inside the Maha Thein Dawgyi Ordination Hall has been doubled, they said.

Posts on a Telegram social media network channel used by junta supporters said the two young men had carried out an attack on the soldier at the betel nut stall and were killed when security forces returned fire.

However, a spokesman for an anti-junta armed group known as the Yangon UG Association rejected the claims.

We will attack and flee with motorcycles or cars. We will even attack on foot and run when we have an escape route. But it doesn't make sense to attack [a military post] with a rickshaw, said the spokesman.

[The military] might be trying to protect themselves. Or they might just be lying to cover up the act. These urban guerrillas are young people in an age of globalization, they arent morons. Everyone knows you can't launch an attack from a rickshaw.

The spokesman added that urban guerrillas dont carry weapons in Yangon because junta troops carry out strict security checks in the city.

Southern Dagon Myothit shootings

Also on Thursday, a resident of southern Dagon Myothits Ward 53 said junta soldiers shot and killed a man in his 40s and a woman in her 30s inside their home.

When we found them, they were already dead. The man had gunshot wounds on his chest and stomach, the resident said.

They were shot in their own house. When we checked with people nearby, they said the two who had been killed were peaceful people. We don't know exactly who shot them.

Later the same night, the anti-junta South Dagon Urban Guerrilla Group said that its members had killed the deputy administrator of Ward 71 and an office worker from Ward 25s General Administration Department, who it claimed were military informers.

RFA was unable to independently confirm the killings in southern Dagon Myothit township.

The military has yet to release any information about the killings, and further details about the incidents were not immediately available.

Nan Lin, a member of the Yangon-based anti-junta group University Old Students' Association, told RFA that urban guerrilla units have attacked bunkers, police posts and local administration offices, leaving authorities on edge and ready to fire at anything they deem suspicious.

More and more people have lost their lives because of the military's indiscriminate shootings, he said.

Urban guerrilla forces are staging all kinds of different attacks. Because of this, the soldiers feel they arent safe anywhere, Nan Lin said. There are quite a lot of cases now where [troops] open fire at anything suspicious, sometimes even at their own people.

In Yangon, authorities are regularly arresting people at their homes during checks of guest lists and shooting at anyone they suspect of being members of anti-junta groups, residents told RFA.

According to Thailands Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), authorities have killed at least 2,327 civilians and arrested 15,691 others in the nearly 20 months since Myanmars military seized power in a Feb 1, 2021, coup  mostly during peaceful anti-junta protests.

Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
A man tends to the body of a child after Myanmar junta helicopters fired on a school in the Maha Dhammaranthi monastery compound near Let Yet Kone village, Sagaing region, Sept. 16, 2022.

On Sept. 16, 2022, at least seven minors were killed when military aircraft fired on a village school in Sagaing region in what appeared to be the deadliest attack on children in Myanmar since last years coup. UNICEF condemned the attack in Tabayin townships Let Yet Kone village and put the death toll even higher, saying at least 11 children died in an airstrike and indiscriminate fire in civilian areas. It said at least 15 other children from the same school were still missing.

Residents of Tabayin township told RFA Burmese after the attack that the helicopters fired on the school for nearly an hour before junta foot soldiers let loose with guns. They claimed the nearly 80 troops who raided the school belonged to Light Infantry Battalion 368, under the 10th Military Operations Command based in Kyi Kone village, in Sagaings Kale township.

Two weeks later, a schoolteacher who survived the raid told RFA Burmese reporter Nayrein Kyaw of the terrifying incident she witnessed that day. Now in hiding, her name has been withheld due to security concerns.







RFA: Can you describe the events that took place on Sept. 16?

Schoolteacher: It must have been about 12:50 p.m. Ko Aung Saw Htway, who helped us with the computer at our school, told me planes were coming our way, so I yelled out a warning to the young teachers at the primary classes and  herded the children to the ground floor of the [nearby] monastery to hide. The moment we got there, a teacher said [a boy] was hit in the leg. A young teacher then brought some children over to me and told me she had been hit by a bullet in the thigh. I saw her face was covered in blood. Just then, a child who was crouching near me was hit in the neck by shrapnel. All her hair was cut off.

The shooting went on for an hour or so. The place was hit by heavy weapons as well as machine gun fire. And then soldiers, with bamboo baskets on their backs, entered the compound and reached the place where we were hiding. Then they fired their weapons towards the small [stupa] in the compound. Some soldiers ordered us to come out and said we must come out with heads bowed. If you look at us, youre dead, one of them said.

I glanced towards the primary classrooms and saw children coming out. It was heart wrenching to see small kids covered in blood, some with head wounds, others with leg wounds, some hit in the back, and one hit in the eye. I tried to look for my children. I have three attending this school. I saw my eldest [daughter] and youngest [son], but I couldnt find my middle child. My daughter's clothes were completely soaked in blood, and I asked her if she was OK. She said her friend Win Win Khine was hit in the belly and all of her intestines were falling out. She said there were many dead in the classroom. And then my son, the middle child, ran to me crying. He was crying out his friends name, Maung Hpone. The boy was one of our neighbors.

A school bag lies next to dried blood stains on the floor of a school in Let Yet Kone village in Tabayin township in the Sagaing region of Myanmar on Sept. 17, 2022, the day after an airstrike hit the school. Very soon the boys mother arrived crying. The soldiers asked her why she was coming this way and she said her son was hit and she wanted to find him. I heard one of the soldiers saying into his radio, Stop it, thats enough, and the firing stopped. We asked them to let us give water to the children and treat Maung Hpone. When I saw him, his arm was missing and there were holes in his feet. His face was all black. He was saying over and over, Mother, I am in so much pain, please kill me now. I remembered a wounded girl I hid under a huge bed. She was also badly wounded. I told the soldiers to pull her out. She was laid on the bed and I could see all the blood on her face and body. She was half conscious. She had been hit in the head and legs.

The soldiers said, If you dont want these children to die, we want two people who can drive to come forward. One of the volunteer teachers came forward and said he could drive. The soldiers also asked the head monk for some [big plastic] bags and I saw them putting the bodies and body parts of those killed into them. They also took the seriously wounded children with them. On the way out, they shot all the men they saw in the village in the heads.

RFA: What kind of aircraft were they using? Jet fighters or helicopters?

Schoolteacher: People said there were both. Two helicopters were dropping soldiers while the two fighters opened fire on the village.

A damaged roof and ceiling are seen at a school in Let Yet Kone village in Tabayin township in the Sagaing region of Myanmar on Sept. 17, 2022, the day after an airstrike hit the school. Credit: Associated Press They should investigate first

RFA: So how many children and how many adults were killed in the attack?

Schoolteacher: Four students died instantly and another one died in the hospital, so altogether five students. And then two teenagers were killed outside the school which makes a total of seven students. Six [adult] villagers were killed too. So the death toll was 13.

RFA: How many were taken away by the soldiers?

Schoolteacher: Altogether 11 students and teachers were taken away. Two men who drove the cars and another four villagers were also abducted.

RFA: Has anyone been released yet?

Schoolteacher: No, none of them have been released yet.

RFA: One of those killed as they left was your computer teacher, Aung Saw Htway, right?

Schoolteacher: Yes, thats right.

The school at the Maha Dhammaranthi monastery near Let Yet Kone village, Sagaing region, was damaged in an attack by Myanmar junta helicopters, Sept. 16, 2022. Credit: Screenshot from social media/Reuters

RFA: The military has said they carried out a surprise attack because they received reports that PDFs [Peoples Defense Force fighters] were transporting weapons and ammunition through the village. Did they find any?

Schoolteacher: Yes, I want to talk about that. If they receive this kind of report, they should investigate first. This is a small village. They have drones and things. Why didnt they look? Why didnt they see children playing in the school compound? There are no weapons here, not even needles. We had assigned night watchmen because we were scared. Some people said that before Aung Saw Htway was killed the soldiers placed some things they brought in front of him and took pictures. It was meant to put out fake stories.

What we need in our country is democracy. We are deprived of human rights. Children in other countries are pursuing their studies in peace while the children in our country are risking their lives just to go to school.

Translation by Khin Maung Nyane.
Bosnia-Herzegovina's 3.4 million registered voters can choose from a huge slate of more than 100 parties and coalitions when they go to the polls on October 2.

But the beleaguered Balkan state's postelection landscape will almost certainly be dominated by many of the same personalities that have thrived on existential crisis and patronage for years, and even amplified their ethnic vitriol in campaigning ahead of this weekend.

And once the ballots are tallied, experts warn that there are few obvious incentives for increased interethnic cooperation on overdue reforms despite threats by an international overseer to unilaterally and fundamentally change one of the bedrocks of Bosnia's postwar democracy.

"I don't expect these elections to be transformative," says Toby Vogel, a Western Balkans analyst and senior associate of the Democratization Policy Council who has been critical of Western failures in Bosnia. "At the end of today, the problems in Bosnia are not linked to who's in power and who's in opposition, but to how power is structured and the exercise of power structure. These are structural problems that go back to the Dayton peace accords and the constitutional setup that they contain."

But that doesn't mean there's nothing to see.

There are potentially tight races among the tripartite federal presidency's ethnically apportioned seats, including an unprecedented challenge for the majority Bosniaks' seat. A handful of races in the upper house of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina -- whose seats are chosen indirectly, after the elections -- could dramatically affect obstruction efforts that have paralyzed government for years. And the results could go a long way toward answering whether Bosnia is fated, at least for the near future, to remain one of Europe's most vulnerable hotspots.

What's In Play?

Bosnia remains sharply divided along ethnic lines drawn up in the mid-1990s to coax its "constituent peoples" -- Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats -- out of the bloodiest of the conflicts that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia.

The country is organized into a multiethnic national government formally in charge of foreign and fiscal policy but with many powers devolved to a majority Bosniak and Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina that's further divided into 10 cantons, a Serb-dominated Republika Srpska, and a tiny self-governed district called Brcko.

Efforts to introduce alternatives to the 1995 Dayton agreement have never taken hold and Bosnia's government on the national, entity, and local levels has been rendered largely ineffective as each of its three main ethnic groups seeks advantage where it can.

Meanwhile, Bosnian Serbs have accelerated their secessionist efforts for Republika Srpska. Ethnic Croats, badly outnumbered in their shared constituency with Bosniaks, have demanded electoral reforms and kept up obstructionist tactics to press for greater representation in elected posts. And Bosniaks have doubled down on their majority advantage by opposing compromise that could water down their grip on the federation.

The resulting dysfunction and frustration have eroded public confidence and fueled an exodus that is among the worst in the world as tens of thousands of Bosnians leave each year to seek jobs and stability abroad.

Who's Being Elected To What?

Bosnia's eighth general elections include races to fill the tripartite national presidency and the national parliament, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's legislature and the assembly of its 10 cantons, and the Republika Srpska's presidency and its legislature.

The Bosnian presidency's three seats are earmarked for the three constituent ethnicities but are elected based on a single Republika Srpska constituency and a dual federation constituency that leaves Croats vulnerable to being outvoted by majority Bosniaks.

The election of the Croatian member has been particularly contentious since three of the past four federation-wide votes have elected moderate Croat Zeljko Komsic over rivals supported by the strongest Croatian party, the nationalist Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

This time, Komsic's only challenger is HDZ candidate Borjana Kristo. One analyst speculated that the HDZ did not appear to be campaigning aggressively for Kristo and that her loss to Komsic could help further that party's "victimization narrative...because postelection reforms are the ultimate goal."

The Bosniak seat in the presidency looks to be among the most tightly contested, with Bakir Izetbegovic, a two-term holder and son of a signatory to the Dayton agreement, facing a challenge for his third term led by a university professor, Denis Becirovic, who is backed by an unprecedented alliance of 11 political parties.

The race for the presidency's Serbian seat pits front-runner Zeljka Cvijanovic, a close ally of the Bosnian Serbs' mostly unrivaled leader, Milorad Dodik, against three political veterans.

Dodik is himself running for a return as Republika Srpska's president, one of the many leadership posts he has occupied in the past.

Tight races for either Dodik or his hand-picked successor for the national presidency could signal an emerging movement among Bosnian Serbs away from Dodik's divisiveness and the ongoing threat of secession by Republika Srpska.

Elsewhere, analysts will be closely watching the outcome of key races in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's upper house.

"Federation polls are particularly fraught because control of the federation hinges on one or two swing seats in the entity's upper legislative chamber, the House of Peoples," the International Crisis Group (ICG) observed in a recent analysis.

Majority Bosniak parties have allied with Croatian politicians in the past in the House of Peoples, and flipping a handful of seats this time could allow them to block -- or prevent Croats from blocking -- appointments to top government posts on the national and entity levels.

"Competition for those extra swing seats is fierce," the ICG said.

After EU- and U.S.-mediated talks on electoral reforms collapsed in the spring, no deal was implemented and disputes over the outcome of the October 2 voting may well be challenged by Croats if Bosniaks manage to win control of the House of Peoples.

What's Different About These Elections?

One of the most notable aspects of these elections is that much of the real action will kick off only after the votes are counted.

The international community's high representative to Bosnia, currently German Christian Schmidt, threatened to impose sweeping electoral changes over the objections of the leaders of all three constituent ethnic groups before the voting.

But in the end, he settled for stopgap measures and the threat of postelection pressure on many of the same leaders and parties who've resisted reforms for decades.

Schmidt is expected to pressure parliamentary parties after the vote to agree on some version of reforms to address Croats' grievance of underrepresentation due to their minority status within the federation and to make it harder for parties to block legislation and appointments at the federation level.

The ICG noted that the high representative could afford to wait until the federation's 10 cantonal assemblies first gather a month or so after the election. But as the ICG warned in its analysis, "once the preliminary results become public a day or two after the vote, it will be clear which side has carried the day, and any intervention will look like trying to change the result after the fact."

Pushback from local leaders and Schmidt's restraint didn't prevent change. In late July, he imposed what's variously been described as a "transparency package" or an "integrity package" to shore up some aspects of the vote. It was the least controversial of three widely speculated proposals from Schmidt, as it appeared designed to avoid conferring any advantages to any one side.

There have been other minor, largely technical, changes aimed at cleaning up the vote. Ballot papers will have to be stamped and signed by polling-station-committee members to avoid the hoarding of unmarked ballots. Training and accrediting of election-day observers was improved. Voting booths will face observers and polling-station workers to guard against individuals submitting multiple ballots or photographing their ballots in order to prove how they voted to party organizers. And an e-portal was created in an attempt to prevent mail-in ballot fraud.

Don't Look For Young People To Save Bosnia

With so many familiar faces atop ballots and following a campaign of intense ethnic nationalism that some observers say is nearly unprecedented since Bosnia's violence of the 1990s, experts warn against placing too much faith in young voters' pushback against the status quo.

Hundreds of thousands of young Bosnians have emigrated over the past decade, chipping away at national resiliency and optimism.

But it's not just emigration that's the problem.

Analyst Vogel says that 10, 20, even 30 years of dominance by ethnically divisive leaders has spawned some cynicism, voter abstention, and anger.

"So I can see a generational dimension. But the problem is also that these are kids who have been schooled, literally, in ethnically, largely segregated schools with little interaction with other kids from other communities, and who have been exposed to this toxic propaganda coming from the very top of the government and their party landscape down to them for decades," Vogel said. "So I'm not necessarily terribly optimistic about the newer generations."

And he's not alone.

Samir Bechari, a longtime activist against ethnic segregation within Bosnia's school system and a research officer at the Balkan Forum, an NGO, said recently that not all of the country's young people were "virtuous," thanks to toxic ethnic divides.

"When it comes to young people, we are too idealistic about young people," he said. "Young people are also nationalistically oriented, they are also corrupt, they also engage in nepotism. And I don't know how we expect for young people to be any different -- for young politicians especially -- to be any different from their political mothers and fathers, if those young people have been educated in schools that preach nationalism and that preach segregation. In some cases they not only preach it, they do it."

Are There International Implications?

All of those are only the internal forces weighing on Bosnia's elections.

U.S., EU, Russian, Turkish, Serbian, Hungarian, and Croatian geopolitical rivalries are compounding the pressures, especially as the diplomatic stakes have risen along with tensions since Russia invaded Ukraine in February in Europe's biggest conflict since the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

The war in Ukraine has exacerbated fears of violence if breakaway efforts continue to tear at Bosnian statehood. It has also fed Moscow's willingness to gamble more heavily on allies like Dodik to disrupt European integration efforts in the Balkans.

Meanwhile, the international high representative to Bosnia holds broad authority to safeguard civilian aspects of Dayton. But his post is heavily reliant on international support that has splintered as what was intended to be a transitional system nears the end of its third decade in existence.

Ahead of these elections, the United States and the European Union reportedly pressed for Schmidt to force electoral reforms on Bosnia, but the international community is far from united over the extent to which it would like him to impose solutions on Bosnia through his so-called "Bonn powers."

Russia has long championed secessionist Dodik, and more recently Moscow has allied with Beijing to threaten to strip the high representative's powers.

In the absence of a tentative alternative to Dayton, critics fear that the fate of Bosnia is inextricably tied to the fate of the high representative, its main bulwark against the forces of disintegration.
SOFIA -- A far-right party is shaking up Bulgarian politics ahead of snap parliamentary elections, promising to get the country out of the EU and NATO, and advancing policies friendly to the Kremlin.

The Revival party, which already has seats in the National Assembly, Bulgaria's unicameral parliament, has vowed to renegotiate Bulgaria's membership in the European Union. If Brussels doesn't cave to its demands, Revival has said it will push for a referendum on whether Bulgaria should exit the EU. The party also wants a vote on the country's membership in NATO.

Revival is one of several parties -- albeit the most prominent -- vying for seats in Bulgaria's October 2 parliamentary elections with a clear pro-Kremlin agenda.

Polls from Gallup and Alpha Research predict that Revival will come in fourth place with 11-13 percent of the vote, well past the 4 percent threshold for entering parliament.

While many experts dismiss the anti-Western rhetoric of the Revival party as little more than campaign bluster, they do caution that the party is doing the bidding of the Kremlin.

"In my opinion, hidden behind these positions of Revival, is an agenda to set as large a part of Bulgarian society as possible against the EU, to separate Bulgaria from a united Europe and the free world; to turn us into a peripheral authoritarian state of the repressive Russian regime," Hristo Hristev, a professor of EU law at Sofia University, told RFE/RL's Bulgarian Service.

Political Turmoil

Bulgarians are going to the polls for the fourth parliamentary elections in less than two years.

The elections come after recent gains by far-right parties in Italy and Sweden amid economic fears and uncertainty first stoked by the COVID-19 pandemic and now Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Bulgaria has been plagued by political gridlock since 2020 when the Southeast European country of nearly 7 million people was rocked by nationwide protests, as public anger over years of corruption boiled over. Much of the ire was directed at longtime leader Boyko Borisov and his center-right Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party.

The latest government, led by Kiril Petkov, collapsed in June after just six months when one of its coalition partners quit. Petkov, who heads the pro-reform We Continue the Change (PP) party, has struggled to deliver on his pledge to stamp out corruption.

He has also backed Ukraine in its fight against Russia in a country traditionally friendly toward Moscow.

Petkov fired Defense Minister Stefan Yanev for his reluctance to describe the Russian invasion as a war. In June, Petkov expelled 70 Russian diplomatic staff, accusing them of working against Sofia's interests.

Moscow Calling

In the latest elections in November 2021, the Revival party won 13 seats in the 240-member National Assembly after campaigning against COVID-19 restrictions and vaccines even though Bulgaria was plagued by the highest infection rates in Europe. (It later emerged that many top Revival members had actually been vaccinated.)

The party's leader, Kostadin Kostadinov, has long operated on Bulgaria's political fringes, once calling for "Russophobic garbage" to be "exterminated like pests." He was arrested years ago for involvement in an attack on a Romany community.

The United States is another of Revival's perennial targets, accused of pulling the strings in Sofia. Kostadinov has often said "everything is determined by Kozyak," the street in the Bulgarian capital where the U.S. Embassy is located.

Ahead of the November 2021 elections, Kostadinov was accused of pilfering state money meant for his party to buy himself real estate and a luxury car. Kostadinov, who also made a failed run in Bulgaria's November 14 presidential election -- held concurrently with the parliamentary poll -- denied the charges or that he's a shill for the Kremlin.

However, his and his party's rhetoric have long been in tune with the Kremlin. Ahead of the October 2 polls, Kostadinov said Revival was mulling whether to recognize Russia's recent referendums in Ukraine, which have been rejected as a sham by Ukraine, the United States, and the United Nations.

Elsewhere, Kostadinov has promised a "normalization of relations with Russia," which has been hit by sanctions and international isolation after launching its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

In attempting to justify a referendum on Bulgaria's NATO membership, Kostadinov has claimed, without providing any proof, that being a part of the Western military alliance has weakened Bulgaria.

According to Kostadinov, warmer ties with Russia are crucial to Bulgaria's economic future, not the EU, which has provided Sofia with billions of euros in funding over the years.

"That's why we are talking about renegotiating the conditions for Bulgaria's membership in the EU," Kostadinov told Bulgarian National Television on September 10.

As elsewhere, energy has been the cudgel wielded by Russia in Bulgaria.

Not only did Bulgaria rely on Russia for most of its natural gas, but its only oil refinery -- the largest in the Balkans -- is owned by Russia's LUKoil. However, in recent months, Sofia has made key infrastructure moves to wean itself off Russian gas and oil, including new pipelines and opportunities offered by liquified natural gas.

'Abracadabra Renegotiation'

Talk of renegotiating the terms of Bulgaria's EU membership was also raised by Tsoncho Ganchev, another leading figure of the Revival party. "That's what we plan to do. And when Revival governs, this is exactly what we will do first -- renegotiate the conditions with the EU," Ganev told bTV on September 10.

Experts, however, have quickly dismissed the proposal as lacking credibility.

"This abracadabra 'renegotiation' of the terms of Bulgaria's membership in the EU is not credible and does not correspond to law or reality. Rather, it's an attempt at propaganda and communication hocus pocus," explained professor Hristev, adding this was the modus operandi of extremist parties across Europe.

"The extreme right or the extreme left in Europe prey on naive voters or try to package their anti-European politics in a more acceptable way," Hristev said.

RFE/RL reached out to the Revival party's press department to request an interview to discuss its policies and positions on the EU, NATO, and Russia. No response was forthcoming.

Building Support

In the recent past, Revival has proved itself cyber-savvy in whipping up opposition to COVID-19 restrictions and vaccines, ultimately propelling the party into parliament last November.

With the pandemic behind it, the party "is now using the same channels to propagate pro-Russian propaganda," the Bulgarian news site Kapital Insights wrote in May.

The party is arguably the most active political group on the Internet in Bulgaria right now. It uses Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok to disseminate propaganda to its growing group of supporters.

"We monitor the pages, set up by their regional branches and the profiles of their leaders. The number of people who engage with their content is astounding," Nikola Tulechki, co-founder of the nonprofit Data for Good and part of a team running a Bulgarian fact-checking platform, was quoted as saying. "They hold close to 60 percent of the online engagement with content from political figures online."

But even in Bulgaria, once a staunch ally of the Soviet Union under communism and still with close cultural, historical, and economic ties with Russia, Putin's popularity has dropped since he sent troops into Ukraine at the end of February.

An opinion poll released in April by Alpha Research found 61 percent of respondents did not trust Putin and that 63 percent supported Bulgaria's membership in the EU and NATO, with 15 percent in favor of stronger ties with Russia.

Those figures mirror trends elsewhere in Europe, especially among supporters of right-wing populist parties, who traditionally hold more positive views of Putin and Russia.

"While that is generally still the case today, favorable opinions of Russia and Putin have declined sharply among Europe's populists following Russia's military invasion of Ukraine," a fresh survey by the Pew Research Center has found.

The survey found that trend was "especially pronounced" among populists in Italy, where the far-fight Brothers of Italy party came out on top of parliamentary elections on September 25. Brothers of Italy party leader Giorgia Meloni, who had spoken in the past favorably of Putin, has recently changed her tune. Meloni has slammed Russia's invasion of Ukraine, backed sanctions against Russia, and even been in favor of sending arms to Kyiv -- something that Italians in general have been split on.

In Sweden's September 11 elections, the Sweden Democrats, a party founded in the 1980s by far-right extremists, won enough seats to become the country's second-largest in parliament. The ruling Social Democrats in Sweden have called the party a "security risk" due to its leader's ambivalent statements on Putin.

In Bulgaria, the goals of Revival are in tune with Kremlin goals of undermining European institutions in the country, Hristev argues. "There is a clear connection with the agenda, goals, and actions of the Putin regime and [Revival] are an instrument of the impact of the new Russian dictatorship in Bulgaria," he said.

Juliana Nikolova, a Bulgarian analyst and head of the Europe.bg website, says Revival preys on ill-informed voters. "I just want to ask the question: What if we leave the EU? When we leave NATO, what? Who guards our skies when we leave NATO?" Nikolova asked.

"To deny the positive effect of EU membership is a refusal to reflect reality as it is," Hristev noted.
Four people were killed in a blaze at a notorious prison in the Iranian capital that houses political prisoners and anti-government protesters, the Iranian judiciary said on October 16.

Irans President Ebrahim Raisi accused his U.S. counterpart of inciting chaos after President Joe Biden for voicing support for the protests that have rocked Iran since a young woman was killed in police custody.

Flames and smoke rising from Tehran's Evin prison had been widely visible in the evening on October 15, as nationwide anti-government protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini entered a fifth week. In online videos, gunshots and explosions could be heard in the area of the prison.

State media originally reported nine people were injured but the judiciary website Mizan.news on October 16 said four inmates died of smoke inhalation and 61 others were injured. It said all four who died were in prison on robbery convictions.

Mizan added that 10 inmates were hospitalized, with four in serious condition. Some prisoners had tried to escape but failed, the website said.

A reporter from Radio Farda was told a riot began on October 15 in Ward 7 of the prison, which is famous for holding political prisoners and was blacklisted by the U.S. government in 2018 for being a place with "serious rights abuses." The ward is next to another area where those detained during the unrest over the death of Amini are being held.

On October 16, state-run TV aired video of what it said was the fire's aftermath, showing scorched walls and ceilings in a room it said was the upper floor of a sewing workshop at the prison.

Tehran Governor Mohsen Mansouri said the fire was caused by a "fight between some prisoners in a sewing workshop."

But many Iranian social media posts challenged state media claims over the cause of the fire and apparent explosions at the prison.

The European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrell expressed the "most serious concern" and called for "maximum transparency on the situation" following the prison blaze.

Borrell said in a tweet on October 16 that Iranian authorities are responsible for the lives of "all detainees, including human rights defenders and EU nationals.

Some prisoners had called their families on October 16, relatives and lawyers said.

Prominent filmmaker Jafar Panahi on October 16 managed to call his wife from Evin to let her know that he and fellow filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof are fine and that authorities had used tear gas during the unrest, Radio Farda reported.

A lawyer representing Siamak Namazi, an American-Iranian held at Evin said on October 16 that Namazi had contacted his family.

Namazi "is safe and has been moved to a secure area of Evin prison," lawyer Jared Genser said in a tweet.

Namazi has been sentenced for more seven years on espionage-related charges rejected by Washington as baseless.

Several other dual-national Iranians and foreign citizens are held in Evin prison mostly for dubious security-related charges.

Families of inmates gathered on October 16 near the prison hoping for news of their loved ones inside.

Former inmate of Evin and rights activist Atena Daemi said relatives of prisoners in the women's section had gone to Evin for visiting hours, but authorities denied them access, resulting in a standoff.

According to Daemi, the relatives were told that prisoners were "fine, but the phones are broken."

Protests Continue

Speaking in the western U.S. state of Oregon on October 15, Biden said he was surprised by the courage of the people taking to the streets in protest in Iran.

Biden said the Iranian "government is so oppressive" and that he had an "enormous amount of respect for people marching in the streets."

Tehran said the remarks amounted to interference in Irans internal affairs.

Raisi accused Biden of "inciting chaos, terror, and the destruction of another country."

"The enemy's plot must be countered by effective measures to resolve people's problems," Raisi added, according to a presidency statement released on October 16.

Iran has been rocked by nationwide protests -- one of the most serious challenges to the Islamic government since the 1979 revolution -- sparked by Mahsa Amini's death on September 16.

The 22-year-old Amini was detained by morality police for "inappropriate attire" with regard to her headscarf, or hijab. Eyewitnesses say Amini, who comes from the country's Kurdish region, was beaten while in custody, but the authorities gave the official cause of death as "underlying diseases."

On October 16, Iran's parliament published a statement claiming Amini did not die from any physical blow but that she fell and police waited too long to get treatment for her. It urged police to offer an apology and provide more training to its staff. It suggested police wear cameras on their uniforms and install them in cars used to transfer detainees.

Human rights organizations have said at least 201 people have been killed in the crackdown by security forces.

The unrest has continued despite what Amnesty International called an "unrelenting brutal crackdown" that included an "all-out attack on child protesters" -- leading to the deaths of at least 23 minors.

Demonstrations took place at several universities on October 16, including in the cities of Tabriz and Rasht. Riot police were deployed nearby.

Videos posted on social media purportedly showed students at a Tehran university chanting: "Iran has turned into a big prison. Evin prison has become a slaughterhouse."

The authenticity of the footage cannot be independently verified.

The Iranian authorities repressive response to the protesters has drawn international condemnation and sanctions on Iran from Britain, Canada and the United States.

With reporting by IRNA, Reuters, AFP, and AP
Iranians and their supporters around the globe are holding rallies on October 1 to show solidarity with protests inside Iran sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, who was detained by the morality police for allegedly wearing her headscarf too loosely.

Rallies were being held in 159 cities around the world, including Auckland, New York, Seoul, and Zurich, the Iranians for Justice and Human Rights nongovernmental organization said in a statement.

In Brisbane, Australia, thousands from the Iranian diaspora protested under the slogan "Be our voice." In Tokyo, demonstrators carried photographs of Iranian women burning their headscarves and cutting their hair.

Inside Iran, protests continued for the 15th straight day on September 30, despite a brutal crackdown by authorities that Iranians for Justice and Human Rights claims has taken more than 80 lives.

Security forces reportedly fired live ammunition toward demonstrators in several towns and cities on September 30.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said two of its colonels had been killed in the violence, claiming that 20 IRGC troops in all had been killed.

Riot police were massing in Tehran on October 1 amid reports that university students were planning protests to call for the release of students detained at earlier rallies.

Iran has blamed outside forces for the unrest. On September 28, Iranian drone and missile strikes killed 14 people in Iraqs autonomous Kurdish region after Tehran accused rebel groups there of fueling the protests.

Amini died on September 16. Activists and relatives say she was killed by blows to the head suffered while in police custody and rejected the authorities claim that the 22-year-old had suffered a heart attack.

News of her death struck a nerve in a country already wracked by social unrest over poor living conditions and economic hardships exacerbated by crippling U.S. economic sanctions in response to Iran's nuclear program.

Protests have erupted in more than 80 cities to denounce state violence against women and demand greater rights, freedom, and justice for women. Many of the protesters have also called for an end to the Islamic republic.

With reporting by AFP
An Iranian-American previously barred from leaving Iran is now allowed to depart and his imprisoned son was released on a furlough, the United Nations and the men's lawyer said.

The UN said in a statement on October 1 that following appeals by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to the Iranian president, Tehran has agreed to allow Baquer Namazi to leave the country for medical treatment and that his son, Siamak Namazi, has been granted a furlough.

Siamak Namazi, a 50-year-old Iranian-American who has been imprisoned for nearly seven years, has been allowed out of Tehran's Evin prison on a one-week, renewable furlough, lawyer Jared Genser said in a statement.

Baquer Namazi, 85, a former UNICEF official who reportedly suffers from a heart condition, had earlier been released from prison on a medical furlough but was barred from leaving Iran.

We are delighted to share the news as announced by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Baquer Namazi's travel ban has been lifted and that, for the first time in seven years, Siamak Namazi is at home with his parents in Tehran," said Genser, who is listed as a pro bono counsel to the two men.

"While these are critical first steps, we will not rest until the Namazis can all return to the United States and their long nightmare has finally come to an end," he added.

It was not immediately clear if the moves were related to a separate announcement in which Iran's Nournews said that a regional country had mediated between Iran and the United States for the "simultaneous release of prisoners."

"In recent weeks, intensive talks, with the mediation of a regional country were held for the release of Iranian and American prisoners," the semiofficial news agency said.

It also said that "billions of dollars of Iran's frozen assets because of the U.S. sanctions will be released soon."

The two Namazi men received 10-year prison sentences in 2015 for "collaborating with the hostile American government" -- charges they both denied.

Washington also rejected the allegations and called for their immediate release.

Siamak Namazi was based in Dubai with the Crescent Petroleum Company and was detained while visiting family in Tehran in 2015.



Baquer Namazi was arrested at the Tehran airport. He served two years of his sentence before being placed on a medical furlough but was forced to remain in Iran until the latest announcement.

He suffers from a heart condition and was hospitalized several times while in prison.

With reporting by Reuters
Iran has threatened retaliation against the United States if it targets drones that Tehran has been using to attack Iraq's northern Kurdish region.

Since September 23, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has been using drones in deadly attacks targeting the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, Irbil, and the eastern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah.

Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff for the Iranian armed forces, was quoted as saying that Iran would consider any U.S. response to Iranian drones as a "hostile action" and reserved the right to respond.

U.S. Central Command said on September 28 that it downed an Iranian drone on its way to Irbil, adding that the drone appeared to pose a threat to U.S. personnel in the region.

Washington confirmed on September 30 that an American was killed in the attacks the day before.

"We can confirm that a U.S. citizen was killed as a result of a rocket attack in the Iraqi Kurdistan region" on September 29, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said, declining to provide further details but reiterating U.S. denunciations of the strikes.

"We continue to condemn Iran's violations of Iraq's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Patel told reporters.

Iraq's state news agency said the attacks had killed least 13 people and wounded 58 others.

The attacks have been carried out against Kurdish political parties, as well as an Iranian Kurdish refugee camp, while a senior member of Komala, an exiled Iranian Kurdish opposition party, told Reuters that several of its offices had been struck as well.

The attacks come amid massive protests in Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini, who died while in custody after being arrested by the so-called morality police for allegedly wearing an Islamic headscarf, or hijab, improperly.

The protests started in Amini's hometown of Saghez in Iran's Kurdistan Province and quickly spread to dozens of cities and towns across Iran.

The IRGC attacks started after security forces in the city of Oshnavieh in West Azarbaijan Province temporarily lost control of the city and the soldiers stationed there were on the defensive.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry said it would summon the Iranian ambassador to voice Iraq's opposition to the attacks, which Baghdad considers to be a violation of its sovereignty.

The IRGC said in a statement that it would continue to target "terrorists" in the region.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda
DAMASCUS, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. plundering of Syrian oil resources, together with the suffocating unilateral sanctions imposed by Washington, has caused most Syrians to fall under the poverty line, experts have said.

Syrians have realized that the real purpose of U.S. presence here has never been about fighting terrorism, but stealing resources and imposing its own vision of the future on the Arab country.

"The U.S. role in Syria has been destructive, to say the least," political expert Osama Danura has said.

SYSTEMATIC STEALING OF SYRIAN OIL

Syria's state news agency SANA reported on Sunday that over the past week alone, U.S. forces stole a total of 79 tankers of oil from Syrian oil fields in the northeastern province of Hasakah to U.S. bases in neighboring Iraq.

"The United States of America is literally stealing Syrian oil," Danura said to Xinhua.

"One of the ugliest images of the U.S. violations of human rights in Syria was stealing oil derivatives from the national resources in Syria," said Muhammad al-Omari, another political expert.

After entering Syria in 2014, U.S. forces, under the pretext of fighting terrorist groups, were quick to seize oil-rich areas in northern and northeastern parts of the country, experts said.

They and their "mercenaries" were stealing an average of 66,000 barrels of oil per day in Syria whose average daily oil production is estimated to have reached 80,000 barrels in the first half of 2022, Syria's oil ministry said in a statement last month.

According to the ministry, U.S. practices in Syria have so far cost Syria's oil and gas sectors about 107.1 billion U.S. dollars in direct and indirect losses.

UNILATERAL SANCTIONS AGGRAVATE CRISIS

Apart from the loss of oil resources, the suffocating economic sanctions are an extra burden Syrians have to endure and live with amid a lack of most basic necessities.

In Danura's view, the U.S. sanctions are the main drive behind Syrians' falling into poverty.

"The unilateral sanctions are a U.S. practice that largely damaged the Syrian state. The Syrian people were deprived of their oil and food resources and in turn, the economic circle in Syria has been damaged by such unilateral measures," the analyst said.

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said earlier this month that his country deserves international support and the removal of U.S. economic sanctions.

Mekdad told a UN meeting via a video conference call from Damascus that the Syrian people are subject to an economic siege imposed by the United States and its Western allies.

The foreign minister urged the international community to help end the coercive economic sanctions and expel the illegal foreign forces in Syria.

SYRIANS LACK FOOD, FUEL

The United Nations said in March that 90 percent of Syrians lived below the poverty line and more than 80 percent were food insecure.

Syrian families say they are eating less, cutting meals and going into debt to meet their basic needs.

According to Muhammad al-Omari, the U.S. forces "use the starvation tactic through stealing agricultural harvest or even burning the harvests or preventing the farmers from having access to their lands and thus this had posed a violation of human rights."

"The United States of America wanted to use the starvation tactic and to steal the Syrian resources, thus starving the Syrian people," he said.

Fuel is also in shortage, at a time when most Syrians are preparing for winter. They would have to live without enough heating and even with long hours of power cuts in the winter as a result of a scarcity of fuel. Industrialists also don't have enough fuel to run their factories, which is causing a steep decline in their production. 
A man who calls on nearly all talk shows in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, is involved in an illegal logging business with at least one villager and the proprietor of the port city's most famous woodshops, an investigation by The DayLight has found.

Othello Teah, the regular caller, produces timber, commonly called "kpokolo," a form of illegal logging that is ravaging Liberia's forests and undermining authorities' quest to increase logging revenues.

This reporter saw 25 pieces of thick, square woods by the roadside in Boyeah's Town in Compound Number Two ripped by Teah. Joe Jarvis Boyeah, a villager who he hired, told The DayLight the deal was between Teah and an unnamed farmer.

That information was corroborated by other townspeople we interviewed, including Joshua Gbar.

"The town doesn't have a share in it," Gbar said, adding that was the first of such operation in that area.

Teah admitted he runs the operation without a permit and first conducted it in 2019. However, he argued that he did not need FDA's approval to produce the timber, which he wrongly considered planks.

"Any log that is placed in a dimension is pit-sawing. Two by two is a dimension. Two by five is a dimension. I know," Teah, revered for his strong stance on issues in Grand Bassa's radioland, said.

Chanda Cole, Teah's partner who is the proprietor of the Cole Joe Wood Work Shop in Buchanan--one of the oldest in the city--backs him. He said the timber was dahoma wood, a durable hardwood used in construction and boatbuilding.

"We don't do permits from the government to buy and sell wood. We get a thing called business registration from [the Ministry] of Commerce," Cole wrongly claimed. The ministry does not issue business certificates, the Liberia Business Registry does.

But apart from that, the operation of Teach and Cole violates forestry laws and regulations in several ways.

First, there is a difference between timber, which the pair is producing, and planks, which they falsely claim to be making, according to the Regulation on Establishing a Chain of Custody System. It sets the standard for sourcing, transporting, and exporting wood. It defines "timber is a sawn wood or log," while planks or lumbers are the "products" of pit-sawn or chain-sawn woods.

Second, chainsaw millers are only permitted to produce planks, which are way lighter and smaller than the timber Teah had produced in Boyeah Town.

Third, chain-sawn woods can only be sourced from a concession area, authorized private forestland, and an approved community forest, not from an ordinary farmer.

And, in fact, chainsaw milling is illegal, as there is no current regulation for it after a previous one was dropped years back. It is being permitted to support construction works in Liberia since logging companies do not supply the local market. A regulation for the subsector has been drafted and is being reviewed by the Board of Directors of the FDA.

Inconsistency

Both Teah and Cole contradicted themselves on why they are harvesting the timber in Boyeah Town.

When we initially phoned Teah, he claimed that the woods were meant for the construction of a bridge in Compound Number Three. That was exactly what Joe Jarvis Boyeah told us. Later in an interview, Teah flipped that he was supplying a company. But when quizzed further, he said he was actually supplying Cole's woodshop. That was the first time in days of discussions that he mentioned he had a business partner other than the farmer and Boyeah.

Cole continued Teah's inconsistency. Teah had called him to convince this reporter that their business was not illegal. He, too, first claimed that the woods were meant for a company.

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"We use it on the bridge, we use it on the machine to balance on it to work," Cole said in an interview at his workshop. But he somersaulted as the interview progressed, claiming they were meant for his shop. One of the practices in chainsaw milling is that the wood must be sawn into planks in the forest, not elsewhere.

"Don't change anything here, it's pit-sawing," Cole said. "Anything from two-inch up is timber." This investigation comes less than two weeks after The DayLight exposed a similar illegal operation in the Compound Number One area, conducted by a woman named Binta Bility. That report came after leaked videos and pictures of Varney Marshall, an FDA ranger showed he ran well-organized kpokolo operations, believed to be in Gbarpolu County.

Zahn Dehydugar contributed to this report.

The story was originally published by The DayLight and is being republished here by permission. The story was produced by the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists (CoFEJ).
New York  The Honorable Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State of the United States invited H.E. Amb. Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah, Sr., Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Liberia to participate in the "Feed the Future Forum" organized by the Government of the United States on the sidelines of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Feed the Future is the United States Government's Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative in response to the growing global food security crisis and malnutrition due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine; and the impacts of Covid-19 Pandemic, climate change, increased conflicts, high prices for fuel and fertilizer.

The Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States, on Wednesday, September 21, 2022 announced at the 77th UNGA over $2.9 billion in addition to the U.S. Government $6.9 billion initial commitment to expand the Feed the Future Initiative and include new target countries. Liberia was for the first time admitted to the Feed the Future Initiative as part of the Eight (8) new beneficiary countries in Africa.

The Honorable Jose W. Fernandez, United States Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment moderated the "Feed the Future Forum". Also in attendance were Amb. Isobel Coleman, Deputy Administrator for Policy and Programming at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Ms. Dina Esposito, USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance; and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Delegations of the Feed the Future new target countries, including Liberia, which was represented by H.E. Amb. Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah, Sr., Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Madagascar and Malawi; respectively.

In his opening remarks, United States Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment, The Honorable Jose W. Fernandez said that he was representing U.S. Secretary of State Blinken, adding that the "Feed the Future Forum" provides a platform to discuss food security priorities and strengthen partnership between the new target countries; including Liberia and the United States. United States Under Secretary Fernandez asserted that Liberia was prioritized because of the agriculture potential of the country to tackle food insecurity, hunger and malnutrition, as well as the strong commitment on the part of the Government of Liberia to partner with the United States to combat poverty and spur rapid economic growth.

Speaking at the "Feed the Future Forum" in New York, United States of America organized by the Government of the United States, H.E. Amb. Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah, Sr., Minister of Foreign Affairs thanked the United States Secretary of State, The Honorable Anthony Blinken for the invitation extended him to attend the "Feed the Future Forum" held with the new Feed the Future Partners.

Ambassador Kemayah added that considering the impacts of climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic, and conflicts on global food security and nutrition, the world cannot overlyemphasize the significance of the Feed the Future Initiative; and its potential of contributing immensely to the fight to end global hunger, food insecurity, malnutrition and by extension poverty.

Foreign Minister Kemayah stated that the ongoing war in Ukraine and its devastating consequences including disruptions in supply chains, increased hunger, and the constraints on the ability of countries, particularly developing and Least Developed Countries to mitigate these impacts, further lends to the very significant role the Feed the Future Initiative can play in the global efforts to address food insecurity and nutrition challenges.

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Foreign Minister Kemayah on behalf of His Excellency Dr. George Manneh Weah, President of the Republic of Liberia commended United States Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken, and the Government and People of the United States of America for such worthwhile initiative.

Ambassador Kemayah also underscored that the Feed the Future Initiative further highlights how forging meaningful partnerships, and multistakeholders approach can facilitate and serve as vehicle for achieving desired objectives, not just country specific, but also in the global context.

Foreign Minister Kemayah said in accordance with the Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development (PAPD), the Government of Liberia remains committed to lifting its people out of poverty, tackling hunger and food insecurity. This commitment can take a great leap towards actualization with opportunities provided by programs such as the Feed the Future Initiative.
The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) is saddened by and condemns in the strongest terms the death of journalist Ahmed Mohamed Shukur, a reporter for Somali National Television (SNTV), who was killed today at around 11:30am, in a landmine blast in the Basro neighbourhood of Bal'ad district.

According to preliminary reports, Shukur, a young and courageous war correspondent, was on assignment to cover the counter-terrorism operations by the Somali security forces, aimed at dislodging elements of the Al-Shabaab militias from the area. Banadir Region Police Commander, General Farhan Mohamoud Adan (Karole), was also killed in the same incident.

"We are saddened and mourn the needless death of yet another young and brave journalist in the line of duty. Shukur was the victim of a blind weapon that should not be used anywhere in modern warfare. We condemn this cruel attack that claimed the life of a promising journalist who sacrificed his personal safety to bring details of this operation to the people of Somalia and the world in general," said NUSOJ Secretary General Omar Faruk Osman.

"Shukur's death is all the more painful because it comes after a welcome break, which had given us the false hope that Somalia was finally turning its back on the dubious reputation of being among the deadliest places to be a journalist in the world," Osman added.

NUSOJ expresses its deepest condolences to the journalist's family. He was a dedicated journalist, who often assumed great personal risk, to factually report on what was going on in the Middle Shabelle Shabelle region despite previous threats by Al-Shabaab because of his affiliation with government media.

Born in the year 2000, he becomes the first journalist to be killed in Somalia this year. He represents the irrepressible desire of a growing number of young journalists who are joining the journalism profession despite the dangers associated with being a journalist in Somalia. His death underscores the safety and security challenge that journalists in Somalia face on a daily basis.
Islamist militants from al-Shabab on Friday killed 12 people drilling a well in drought-ravaged southern Somalia, a local resident and official said.

The conflict between the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab, which wants to implement a strict implementation of sharia, or Islamic law, and the central government has killed thousands of people since 2006.

Somali security forces say they have made gains on the battlefield in recent weeks while fighting alongside local self-defense groups, but al-Shabab has continued to conduct deadly raids.

The latest attack happened in the town of Gariley in the southern Gedo region when the militants attacked the crew at its work site, burning their bodies and drilling equipment, said Mahad Abdi, a local resident who visited the scene and counted the bodies.

The area is suffering from the Horn of Africa's worst drought in 40 years, leading the United Nations to warn of a looming famine.

"I am very sorry that al-Shabab is causing such trouble for us while we are suffering from drought and lack of water in our area and we don't want water 100 km away from us," Abdi told Reuters.

Mahmoud Abdel Warsame, the mayor of Gariley, confirmed the death toll and said security forces also killed six al-Shabab fighters.

Al-Shabab has in recent weeks burned houses, destroyed wells and beheaded civilians in other parts of central and southern Somalia, residents say.

The attacks, and the group's demands for tax payments despite the drought, have pushed some residents to take up arms against al-Shabab.

In a separate incident in the capital Mogadishu, al-Shabab fighters killed Mogadishu's head of police, his two bodyguards and a police-based journalist, President Hassan sheik Mohamud was reported as saying on Somali National News Agency.
Pre-recorded one-hour program to highlight announcement of 2022-23 San Diego County Teachers of the Year with inspirational moments and student performances
The restaurant group responsible for delivering Dunkin Donuts to San Diego County is also bringing back a beloved bakery to Lemon Grove.

Burton Restaurants, LLC will open the Lemon Grove Bakery on Friday. The bakery used to be called Grove Pastry Shop and has been closed since November 2015.

Helen Ofield, president of the Lemon Grove Historical Society, said there will be a soft opening of the bakery from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. Friday, 3308 Main St..

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People are really straining at the leash for this, Ofield said. Theres a poster on the door that says you can already order cakes (at lemongrovebakery@burtonfoods.biz). It will be so wonderful to have it back.

The bakery, housed in a historic 105-year-old Mission-style building near the giant lemon downtown, has been a Lemon Grove tradition for nearly 70 years.

The Grove Pastry Shop opened in 1947 on Broadway. The Ohlund family, immigrants from Sweden, bought it in 1955.

The Ohlunds owned and operated the shop from 1955 to 2002. In 1980, they moved the bakery into the citys former 1912-built General Store at Main and Pacific streets, where it has remained since. The Ohlunds sold the bakery to Rick Rehan in 2002; Teresa Johnson bought it in 2005.

Interim manager Kimberly Harrison said when she was cleaning on Sunday and had the door open, several people walked up and asked when the bakery would be ready for business.

When I told them Friday, one guy said, What time on Friday? I want 3 dozen donuts! Harrison said.

Harrison said Jen McCurdy would be stepping in to manage the store once it was up and running.

Jen plans to keep the lemon shortcake and strawberry whipped cream cakes and keep it as close as we can as far as cake goes to what people remember, Harrison said.

The store will serve cakes, cupcakes, danishes, croissants and a variety of donuts.

Burton Restaurants last December opened Dunkin Donuts on East Plaza Boulevard in National City. It also has a store downtown San Diego at the Embassy Suites and has a presence on three local military sites.
12:00 | Lima, Sep. 30.

Gonzalo Gutierrez Reinel





Via Supreme Resolution No. 132-2022-RE, the duties of Gonzalo Gutierrez Reinel as Peruvian Ambassador to the European Union were ended, thanking him for the services rendered to the Nation.





The aforementioned diplomat also served Ambassador of Peru to Belgium and Luxembourg duties that have also been concluded, as indicated in the aforementioned document.





The date of termination of functions will be set by Ministerial Resolution, the document added.





David Malaga Ego Aguirre





According to Supreme Resolution No. 131-2022-RE, David Malaga Ego Aguirre was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Peru to Trinidad and Tobago, thus extending him the corresponding credentials and full powers.





The diplomat will also represent Peru before the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)





Maria de Fatima Trigoso





Via Supreme Resolution No. 129-2022-RE, it was provided that Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Peru to El Salvador, Maria de Fatima Trigoso, will simultaneously take up duties before the Government of Belize.





Her residence will remain in the city of San Salvador, El Salvador.





Luis Alberto Campana





According to Supreme Resolution No. 130-2022-RE, the Foreign Affairs Ministry provides that Peruvian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Austria, Luis Alberto Campana, will simultaneously perform a similar function before the Republic of Slovenia.





The aforementioned diplomatic representative will remain based in the Austrian city of Vienna.





The four aforementioned Supreme Resolutions were published in the Official Gazette El Peruano on Friday.
U.S. News rankings: UofSC retains top spot in international business, first-year student experience

The University of South Carolina has retained its ranking as the top first-year student experience of any public college in the country and the best international business program, according to U.S. News & World Reports annual undergraduate rankings released Monday (Sept. 12).

This is the fourth consecutive year South Carolina has been ranked as the No. 1 public institution in the first-year experience category and the 24th straight year for the top ranking in international business.

Being ranked No. 1 for the 24th consecutive year reflects the bright, ambitious students, world-class faculty and the comprehensive global curriculum our undergraduate international business program has become known for across the country, says Darla Moore School of Business Dean Peter Brews. The Moore School is proud of the comprehensive education its undergraduate international business students receive, which includes unmatched coverage of the complexities of global business, significant coursework in a second functional major and mastery of a second language. This outstanding preparation equips graduates for business careers at leading organizations, wherever they may be based.

The undergraduate business program moved up to the 26th best program among public universities and to No. 39 overall.

The first-year student experience ranking comes at the same time as the core class, University 101, celebrates its 50th year. The first-year seminar helps students adjust to college life, thrive on campus and discover all of the universitys offerings. U-101 is the largest single course offering at USC, with 295 sections of the course being taught to first-year students this fall.

In another facet of the student experience, the universitys living and learning communities moved up on this years U.S. News rankings to No. 6 among the nations public institutions and to No. 16 overall. The university has 13 living and learning communities, including nine that are led by faculty, offering students the chance to pursue academic and personal interests, engage with their peers and interact with faculty.

Continued recognition of our excellence at the national level demonstrates the extraordinary commitment that our world-class faculty and staff have for our talented students, says Donna Arnett, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. Our leading first-year student experience and innovative learning communities show our commitment to providing students with a transformational on-campus experience. Our No. 1 ranked international business program is preparing leaders for the workforce of tomorrow. I look forward to continuing to strengthen our educational offerings to students in the years to come.

Other ranking highlights:

The Columbia campus is ranked No. 53 among public universities and No. 115 overall.

The university ranked No. 16 among public institutions and No. 54 nationally in the Best Undergraduate Teaching Among National Universities category.

The universitys undergraduate nursing program ranked No. 37 among public institutions and No. 51 overall.

The College of Engineering and Computings computer science programs improved to No. 56 among public institutions and No. 94 overall.

The business schools marketing program improved to No. 20 among public institutions and No. 33 overall.

The university was included in the Best Colleges for Veterans, Best Value Schools and Social Mobility categories.

South Carolina's comprehensive universities also were recognized in the new guide. Having expanded its graduate-level offerings, USC Aiken moved from a college to a university category this year. It was ranked No. 20 among public regional universities in the South and No. 49 among all regional universities in the South. It also was included as a Best Value School and a Top Performer on Social Mobility among regional universities.

Upstate ranked as the No. 2 public regional college in the South, while USC Beaufort is the No. 16 public regional college in the South.

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The Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question: Briefing and Consultations

Tomorrow (28 September), the Security Council will convene for an open briefing, followed by closed consultations, on: The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland is the anticipated briefer.

Wennesland is expected to provide an oral report on the implementation of resolution 2334 of 23 December 2016. In this resolution, the Security Council stated that Israeli settlements constitute a flagrant violation under international law and demanded an end to all settlement activities. In September, Israeli authorities advanced plans for two settlements located south of East Jerusalem, Har Gilo Maarav (Mount Gilo West) and Givat HaShaked. Tomorrow, Wennesland and several members are likely to reiterate that settlements erode the possibility of achieving a two-state solution and may call on Israel to stop evictions and demolitions of Palestinian structures. A recent article by Israeli news outlet Haaretz illustrates how daily life in the cluster of Palestinian villages in the West Bank known as Masafer Yatta has worsened, less than six months after the Israeli High Court of Justice rejected appeals against eviction orders issued to the residents of this area. This area was designated by Israel as a firing zone for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the 1980s.

Tomorrow, Council members are likely to express concern at the increasingly volatile security situation in the West Bank, including in light of frequent clashes between the IDF and Palestinian factions during IDF raids in various West Bank locations, such as Nablus and Jenin. (Israeli security forces have intensified their operations in the West Bank since earlier this year after a string of terror attacks in Israel.) During the 25 August meeting on The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, China and Mexico criticised the excessive use of force by Israel during these operations. Ireland expressed concern at the alarming increase in Palestinian civilian fatalities resulting from the use of live ammunition by Israeli forces and called on Israel to refrain from using excessive force. The UK urged Israel to show restraint in its use of live ammunition. Tomorrow, these members may reiterate similar concerns.

Resolution 2334 also called for immediate steps to prevent violence against civilians, including acts of terror, and called on both parties to refrain from provocative actions, incitement and inflammatory rhetoric. Tomorrow, members are likely to reiterate their condemnation of all acts of terror and violence against civilians on all sides, including incidents of settler-related violence. Wennesland may warn about the potential for tensions during the Jewish High Holidays (25 September-17 October) and emphasise the importance of maintaining calm. In this regard, Council members may be interested in an update from Wennesland on the recent tensions at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount site and in East Jerusalem. According to media reports, clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli security forces on 25 and 26 September after large numbers of Jewish worshippers entered the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount site in Jerusalem to perform religious rituals and prayers on the occasion of the Jewish new year. (Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount is the holiest place in Judaism and the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest in Islam. Under an agreement reached after the 1967 Six-Day War, only Muslims are allowed to pray at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount site.)

Amid the ongoing risk of an escalation of violence, Wennesland and Council members are likely to underscore the urgent need to address the underlying causes of the conflict and to reinvigorate a meaningful political process. Wennesland and Council members may reference some of the statements delivered at the high-level segment of the 77th session of the General Assembly, including by Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, as well as those delivered by Council members which referenced the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, such as China, Ireland, Norway, the United Arab Emirates and the US. On 22 September, Lapid expressed support for the two-state solution on condition that the future Palestinian state will be a peaceful one and does not become another terror base from which to threaten the well-being and the very existence of Israel. On 23 September, Abbas said that Israel has undermined the Oslo Accords and reiterated his request for full UN membership for the State of Palestine. He added that the true test for the credibility of Lapids stance on the two-state solution would be for Israel to go back to negotiations immediately.

Wennesland and some members may refer to the recent meeting of the Ad-Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), which took place on the sidelines of the General Assemblys high-level segment on 22 September. (The AHLC is a 15-member committee that coordinates development assistance to the Palestinian people at policy level and is chaired by Council member Norway.) In his statement at the meeting, Wennesland highlighted the four recommendations contained in the report submitted by the UN Office of the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) ahead of the meeting. These are:

Addressing the conflicts drivers, which requires the parties to reduce tensions and violence across the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), stopping militant activity in Gaza and the West Bank and unilateral steps such as settlement advancements, demolitions, and displacement, among other steps;

Strengthening Palestinian institutions, including by reinforcing both the fiscal health of the Palestinian Authority and its political accountability and legitimacy;

Improving access, movement, and trade to create space for the Palestinian economy to grow;

For the parties to start re-envisioning their economic and administrative relationship.

On 22 September, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini called for sustainable funding for the Agency during a meeting on the sidelines of the General Assemblys high-level segment. Tomorrow, members may express concern about the funding shortages UNRWA faces and call for financial support for the Agency.
"Such actions constitute a serious threat to international peace and security, as well as violate international law and the specific mandates established by the United Nations Security Council ," the government agency indicated in a statement on Friday evening.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 1, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sent a congratulatory message to the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, on the occasion of Independence Day. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister, the message reads as follows,

"Your Excellency,

I convey my warmest congratulations and best wishes on the Independence Day of the Republic of Cyprus. I wish prosperity, progress and peace to always accompany the fraternal people of Cyprus.

The Armenian-Cypriot interstate relations, anchored on strong traditional ties, historical, cultural and value system commonalities, are distinguished by their allied nature and willingness to show solidarity and support to each other.

I am confident that the fruitful and ever-developing cooperation between Armenia and Cyprus will continue to be strengthened and expanded at both bilateral and multilateral levels, including in the context of Armenia-EU cooperation and within the framework of the Armenia-Greece-Cyprus trilateral format."
Page Content

As a result of Gov. Gavin Newsom's signature on new legislation, California will soon join a growing list of states and local jurisdictions that require job postings to include pay scale information.

With the enactment of Senate Bill 1162, which will become effective Jan. 1, 2023, California will join Colorado, Washington, New York City and other local jurisdictions that have already adopted such requirements. Statewide legislation is pending in New York, as well. SB 1162 also makes significant changes to California's pay data reporting requirements.

California currently prohibits employers from asking applicants about their salary history, including compensation and benefits, during the hiring process. It also requires employers to provide the pay scale for a position upon reasonable request by an applicant.

However, SB 1162 increases these transparency requirements in several new ways. Not only can job applicants request the pay scale for the position that they are applying for, but now employers must provide workers the pay scale for the position that they are currently filling upon request. In addition, employers with 15 or more employees must include the pay scale for a position in any job posting. A pay scale is defined as the salary or hourly wage range that the employer reasonably expects to pay for the position.

If you use a third party to announce, post, publish, or otherwise make known a job posting, you must provide the pay scale to the third party, and it must include the pay scale in the job posting. You must maintain records of job titles and wage rate history for each employee for the duration of their employment plus three years after the end of employment. The state can inspect these records to see if there is a pattern of wage discrepancy.

SB 1162 comes with some teeth. If you do not abide by any of these requirements, an employee or applicant may file a written complaint with the state Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) within one year after the date they learned of the violation. An employee or applicant also may file a civil action for injunctive relief or any other relief that a court deems appropriate.

If you are found to have committed a violation of these requirements, the DLSE may order you to pay a civil penalty between $100 and $10,000 per violation. Importantly, DLSE will not assess a penalty for the first violation if you can demonstrate that all job postings for open positions have been updated to include the required pay scale information. Finally, if you fail to keep records in violation of SB 1162, there will a rebuttable presumption in favor of the employee's claim.

The job posting requirements of SB 1162 will pose unique challenges to employers that hire nationally or may hire workers who work remotely. Employers will need to evaluate whether they can maintain separate job postings and processes in different jurisdictions or whether it makes sense to adopt a uniform national process.

Moreover, the increased use of remote work may create challenges. Take, for example, an employer that may not be based in California, but may he hiring from a pool of applicants who could be working remotely from California.

Pay Data Reports

SB 1162 makes a number of significant changes to California's existing law that require large employers to submit pay data reports, including modifying the timing of when such reports must be submitted, beginning in 2023.

Many employers with 100 or more employees are familiar with their federal reporting obligation to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) through the standardized form known as the Employer Information Report EEO-1. Covered employers are required to annually submit the EEO-1 form to provide data about the representation of men and women of different ethnic groups in nine distinct occupational classifications or job categories.

California upped the ante in 2020 by requiring California employers with 100 or more employees to submit pay data reports to the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) that contained specified wage information. SB 1162 modifies some of the requirements for these pay data reports and the timing of providing this information to the CRD.

Current law requires such reports to be submitted each March. SB 1162 now requires all private employers of 100 or more employees by the second Wednesday of May 2023, and on or before the second Wednesday of each May thereafter, to submit specific pay data to the CRD covering the prior year.



The report must include the number of employees by race, ethnicity, and sex for 10 job categories. This is established by providing a snapshot that counts all employees in each job category by race, ethnicity, and sex, employed during a single pay period of your choice between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31 of the reporting year. The 10 job categories are:

Executive or senior level officials and managers.

First or mid-level officials and managers.

Professionals.

Technicians.

Sales workers.

Administrative support workers.

Craft workers.

Operatives.

Laborers and helpers.

Service workers.



The report must include the number of employees by race, ethnicity, and sex, whose earnings fall within each of the pay bands used by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in its Occupational Employment Statistics Survey. This is established by calculating the total earnings shown on the IRS Form W-2 for each employee in the snapshot for the entire reporting year, regardless of whether an employee worked the full calendar year.

With each job category listed above, the report must include the median and mean hourly rate for each combination of race, ethnicity, and sex. This is a new data element added to the required information by SB 1162.

The report also must include your North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and the

total number of hours worked by each employee counted in each pay band during the reporting year.

California law will require employers with 100 or more employees hired through labor contractors to submit a separate pay data report to the CRD, covering the employees hired through labor contractors in the prior calendar year. A labor contractor must supply all necessary pay data to the employer for the report, and the employer must disclose in the pay data report the ownership of all labor contractors used to supply employees.

All employers subject to the law must submit the required data in a format that allows the CRD to search and sort the information using readily available software.

SB 1162 eliminates language that requires employers with more than one establishment to file a consolidated report that includes all employees. Employers with multiple establishments must submit a report that covers each establishment. It appears that this still allows for filing of one report that lists all of the establishments separately, but further clarification from the CRD is needed here.



Consequences for Noncompliance



The law authorizes the CRD to seek a court order requiring the employer to comply with all requirements and entitles the department to recover costs associated with seeking compliance.

SB 1162 significantly raises the stakes for noncompliance by authorizing the CRD to request a civil penalty for the failure to file the required report, up to $100 per employee for the first violation and up to $200 per employee for each subsequent violation.

Importantly, if the employer is not able to submit a complete and accurate report because a labor contractor has not provided the required pay data, the court can apportion the penalty amount to any labor contractor that has failed to provide the required pay data.

As SB 1162 creates additional hefty burdens on covered employers' data reporting obligations, job posting requirements, and records maintenance duties, you are strongly encouraged to take action now. You should partner with counsel to conduct a proactive pay equity audit of your workforce to ensure legal compliance. Working with counsel will ensure that the work is conducted under attorney-client privilege and thus not discoverable in litigation.

You should make sure that all job postings, including those on third-party boards or websites, include the required pay scale information for all open positions. Taking care of this now will provide you time to correct and avoid disparities and missing job posting information. By taking these invaluable actions now, you may avoid the prying eyes of a CRD or DLSE investigation, the large fines associated with noncompliance, and the onerous costs of a potential lawsuit.

Drew Tate, William T. Okamoto and Benjamin M. Ebbink are attorneys with Fisher Phillips in Sacramento, Calif.  2022. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.
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North Korea fired two ballistic missiles towards the Sea of Japan, the Yonhap news agency reported on Saturday, citing the South Korean military.

October 1, 2022, 10:23 North Korea fires two ballistic missiles  agency

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 1, ARTSAKHPRESS: Japanese Deputy Defense Minister Toshiro Ino, in turn, told reporters that "for the first time ever, North Korea conducted four missile tests in a week." "Such an escalation threatens the security of Japan, the region and the international community, therefore we protested through our embassy in Beijing," he added.

According to Ino, one of the missiles fired on Saturday flew for up to 400 kilometers and the second one flew for about 350 kilometers, both presumably falling into the sea outside Japans exclusive economic zone.

US Vice President Kamala Harris made a one-day trip to South Korea on Thursday. She visited the demilitarized zone on the border with North Korea, reiterated Washingtons commitment to protecting its ally and lambasted Pyongyang for violating human rights. The parties also expressed concern about North Koreas missile and nuclear program.
Golshevsky said babies born close together often occur in couples who have experienced infertility and assume theyll struggle to fall pregnant again, or rely on breastfeeding as a contraceptive, not realising its ineffective once you stop feeding through the night. Jerome Luai introducing his new baby Halo Luai to family. Beauty therapist and nursing student Jessica Baguley, 35, had her second son Charlie two days before her eldest Henrys first birthday, and will never forget seeing the two lines on a pregnancy test when Henry was only three months old. I didnt know whether to laugh or cry, she said. I was in complete shock and felt a bit guilty to Henry  I was only just getting to know him and I wondered how I was going to divide my time between my first baby and a newborn. When [my husband] Mark got home and I showed him the test he was like, Its awesome!

Henry got to meet his two-day-old brother in hospital on his first birthday. It was so beautiful, he was looking up at me and smiling then looking down at the baby, she said. Jessica Baguley and her family Mark (husband) with sons Henry and Charlie. I knew Charlie was meant to be here and having them so close together, in the long run, would be amazing. The first weeks home from hospital were intense, with each baby setting the other off and sleeping at different times.

Both wanted to be on me and I didnt have enough hands  when Mark was at work, Id almost want to go and get a neighbour, she said. When I was really struggling [on maternity leave], I thought to myself, Jess, this is your full-time job at the moment. It changed my mindset so I could accept [the challenges]. Thankfully my parents and Marks were super helpful too, dropping off meals and looking after one of the babies to give me a break. Now 18 months in, Baguley said memories are a little hazy of the early days but the hard work was starting to pay off. I loved the night feeds with Charlie because it was our time together, she recalls. Now theyre starting to play and laugh together and it brings me so much joy.

UK mum Lynette Pickard said the first few months of having her children Eliza and Holden, who are 11 months apart, were a blur of night feeds and nappies. I remember sitting in the playroom and they were both screaming their heads off and taking a minute, saying [to myself], Just take two minutes to sit there and go Its not going to be like this forever, she said. Henry and Charlie are siblings less than a year apart. The bit when they were both teething was awful. Pickard credits her double pram as a lifesaver, enabling her to get out of the house each day to catch up with friends, and allowing each baby to nap when needed.

Routine was key, and while one slept, Id get time with the other, she recalls. The dynamics change, theyre now six and five and the fact they have similar interests and do everything together, makes it a little bit easier. Its rewarding in the long term. Falling pregnant before your body has recovered from a previous pregnancy is incredibly taxing, and Golshevsky said loved ones should help the mum get rest. The physiological challenge on a womans body to not have time to rest and recover before going again, and to also go through the newborn period while pregnant is unbelievable, he said. There is nothing more important than sleep for the mother to help her body recover, and the more rested and present parents can feel, the better  and more confidently  theyll be able to parent.

As for parents themselves, Golshevsky suggested always accepting help when its offered. As a society, were not very good at accepting help, but you need to put pride aside and just say, What were doing is really incredible and magical but unbelievably hard, he says. If someone asks Can I do anything for you? Say, Yes! Bake meals and help with the washing! And on the tough days, Golshevsky said you can take heart that the future is bright for both parents and siblings. Theyve got an instant friend whos very similarly matched physically and emotionally  its wonderful for kids to be able to live with a friend, he says.
If that is true, it has big implications both for individuals and for society at large. There are about 400,000 Australians already living with dementia  and that number is projected to swell to about 850,000 by 2058. Even a small increase in dementia risk could mean tens of thousands more Australians living with the disease  terrible for them and their families, and overwhelming for the countrys health system. These are massive numbers, says Woodward. But other experts say the data is being misread. Im very sceptical of these findings, says Associate Professor Stephen Macfarlane, head of clinical services at the Dementia Centre. The data In August, medical journal the Lancet published the results of a two-year study of 1.4 million people. Measured two years after contracting COVID-19, 4.5 per cent of people over 65 had been diagnosed with dementia  compared to 3.3 per cent in the control group of people who had other respiratory infections.

A second paper, published in Nature in March, revealed reductions in brain matter in regions linked to decision-making and memory in people who had contracted COVID. It would be reasonable to suspect that contributes to reduced cognitive function they observe in these patients, says Professor Bryce Vissel, head of the Centre for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine at St Vincents Hospital. A third line of evidence comes from COVIDs link with known risk factors for dementia. A slowdown and fuzziness in thinking over many years often predates a dementia diagnosis. Data from China tracking 1438 older COVID-19 survivors found they scored lower on a cognitive telephone test six and 12 months after diagnosis. Professor Bryce Vissel. Credit:Nick Moir

We dont yet know if its going to increase the rates of dementia. But we do know its having long-term effects on subpopulations on memory function, and we do know its increasing the rate of dementia in the elderly after they have had a COVID infection, says Vissel. And we know falling into a state of delirium is a strong risk factor for later being diagnosed with dementia. But that raises other scientists scepticism. Is it possible COVID-19 is causing delirium in those already vulnerable  and therefore making doctors more alert to signs of dementia? Any infection can unmask dementia in a cognitively vulnerable older person, says the Dementia Centres Macfarlane. And patients with undiagnosed dementia may be less likely to take actions to prevent themselves catching the virus. They are more likely to catch the virus, more likely to be seen by a doctor, and therefore more likely to be diagnosed with dementia.

Possible mechanisms Why would an infection of the airways cause dementia? Possibly because the brain is vulnerable to the very symptoms it causes  inflammation and oxygen deprivation. Inflammation is the bodys natural response to infection. It should go away after the virus is beaten  but in some people it hangs around for far too long. COVID-19 is also known to infect the nerves of the nose, which run directly into the brain  and there is evidence of tissue-damage in brain regions that connect to these nerves. Loading Its very clear inflammation is bad for your brain. Low levels of oxygen are bad for the brain. Thats undisputable, says the Mercy Hospitals Lange.
It is a dinner time more in step with the Shady Pines retirement village, or the early-to-bed, early-to-cardio superficiality of the Gold Coast.

But Melbourne, once the exemplar of late night sophistication, has embraced the early dinner. The 6pm time slot is the new peak, but some restaurants are starting evening meal covers at  gasp  4pm.

Smith & Daughters restaurant owner Shannon Martinez serving pre dinner aperitvo. Credit:Chris Hopkins

Melbourne, this is no joke. Undoubtedly, everyones reaction to COVID-19 and the desire for an early night is a key cause.

I love this time, it is like a late lunch/early dinner, said Hannah Green, co-owner of the cosy bar/restaurant Etta in Brunswick East, which The Ages Good Food Guide said would certainly be near the top of a list of the most Melbourne restaurants in Melbourne.
A 19-year-old Perth man has been arrested by police after he allegedly approached a number of children under 13 and tried to entice them into his car.

On September 21 between 2.40pm and 3pm, the Ellenbrook man approached a number of children on three separate occasions as they were walking home from school.

He then attempted to get them to enter his grey Toyota Corolla.

None of the children went with the man, and the incidents were reported to police.

Detectives from the Child Abuse Squad are now investigating further, after the man was taken into custody after being arrested at an address in Ellenbrook.
Cyber Security Minister Clare ONeil has opened the door to compelling companies to report data breaches and reconnect services after a hack, declaring the current laws were bloody useless in dealing with the Optus attack.

The Albanese government is frustrated at the previous governments much-hyped critical infrastructure laws in responding to the Optus breach of 9.8 million Australians by an anonymous hacker.

Cyber security Minister Clare ONeil says the current laws were not useful in dealing with an emergency like the Optus hack. Credit:James Brickwood

ONeil, who is also Home Affairs Minister, said the laws  which were passed in 2018 but were significantly overhauled earlier this year were important and would over time do a lot to help Australia prevent successful cyberattacks in critical sectors.

But in trying to use this law to help us manage an emergency cyber incident - which it is absolutely meant to do - it was completely bloody useless, she said.
Buyers agent Simon Cohen has had plenty of memorable and high-profile clients but the only one hell discuss was a well-dressed woman with mousy blonde hair in her 40s who came highly recommended from a banker to buy a home worthy of her $30 million budget.

She fully signed up, signed our agreement, rocked up in an Audi and promptly name-dropped the dealership from where she had just bought matching black and white Porsches, said Cohen.

I didnt know it then, but I later found out the dealer had never heard of her and shed already conned the banker who referred her.

Conman Hamish McLaren (inset), jailed in 2019, posed as a buyer of James Packers Bondi Beach bachelor pad before his fake investment scheme was uncovered. Credit:

Before her ruse was exposed, Cohen presented her with five potential houses, and she fell in love with one of them, a waterfront house in Mosman.
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso: More than a dozen soldiers seized control of Burkina Fasos state television late on Friday, declaring the countrys coup leader-turned-president, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba, had been overthrown after only nine months in power.

A statement read by a junta spokesman said Captain Ibrahim Traore is the new military leader of Burkina Faso, a volatile West African country that is battling a mounting Islamic insurgency.

Coup spokesman Captain Kiswendsida Farouk Azaria Sorgho reads a statement in a studio in Ougadougou on Friday. Credit:AP

Burkina Fasos new military leaders said the countrys borders had been closed and a curfew would be in effect from 9pm to 5am. The transitional government and national assembly were ordered dissolved.

Damiba and his allies overthrew the democratically elected president, coming to power with promises of making the country more secure. However, violence has continued unabated and frustration with his leadership has grown in recent months.
Seoul, South Korea: North Korea on Saturday fired two short-range ballistic missiles towards its eastern waters, South Korean and Japanese officials said, making it the fourth round of weapons launches this week that are seen as a response to military drills among its rivals.

South Koreas military said in a statement that it detected the two North Korean missile launches on Saturday morning from its capital region.

A TV screen shows a news program reporting on North Koreas missile launch with file footage at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, on Saturday. Credit:AP

It said South Korea has bolstered its surveillance posture and maintains a military readiness in close co-ordination with the United States.

Japans Defence Ministry said it also spotted the ballistic missile launches by North Korea.
In the UN Security Council, 10 of 15 nations voted on Friday in favour of a US-Albania resolution condemning Moscows actions, but Russia exercised the veto power it holds as a permanent member. Putins sometime allies, China and India, which have expressed growing uneasiness with his war on Ukraine, were among four nations that abstained; only Russia voted against the resolution. Ukraines government has rebuffed Putins claims and vowed to retake territory captured by Russia in the east and south. Everything will be Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Friday on the Telegram social network. Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraines president, on a monitor during the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month. Credit:Bloomberg photo by Jeenah Moon. In a video, Zelensky accused the Kremlin of trying to steal something that does not belong to it, adding: Ukraine will not allow that. He also announced that he was fast-tracking his countrys application to join NATO  a move that Russia vehemently opposes and that faces steep hurdles, given that admission to the alliance requires unanimous consent from all 30 member nations.

Putin insisted that Russias position on annexing the four territories was non-negotiable, adding that it would defend them with all the forces and means at our disposal. I call on the Kyiv regime to immediately cease fire and all military action, he said, and to return to the negotiating table. People gather at a concert to celebrate the incorporation of regions of Ukraine to join Russia, at the Red Square in Moscow on Friday. Credit:AP But we will not discuss the decision of the people of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, he went on, referring to the four Ukrainian regions being annexed. It has been made. Russia will not betray it. Earlier on Friday, Russia unleashed one of the deadliest attacks against Ukrainian civilians in weeks with a strike in the Zaporizhzhia region. The attack killed 25 people and injured 66 others, Ukraines prosecutor general said. It was part of a flurry of strikes against Ukrainian towns just hours before Putin spoke.

Speaking at the White House, Biden said: America and its allies are not going be intimidated by Putin and his reckless words and threats. But for Washington and its European allies, Putins decision to escalate his rhetoric, while insisting he was ready to negotiate, sets up difficult choices about how much direct confrontation they are willing to risk with Moscow. The military draft that Putin declared last week means he will soon have more men to send to the front line, while his claims of an existential conflict appeared designed to prepare his populace for more trying times ahead. Loading The West has to think what is the final price it is ready to pay for Ukraine, said Alexander Baunov, a Russian international policy expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. And it is a very serious question because we dont know the further appetites of Putins Russia. But Putin faces monumental challenges of his own. Conscription has proved so unpopular that on Thursday he took the rare step of acknowledging on national television mistakes by his government in how it was carried out.

Tens of thousands of young men are fleeing Russia and the draft, braving miles-long lines at the borders with Georgia and Kazakhstan, a signal that many Russians are not buying Putins arguments for the invasion of Ukraine. And the chaos of the draft has dealt another setback to Russias sanctions-scarred economy. Putins answer on Friday was to respond with threats, jingoism and conspiracy theories. In the evening, he appeared at a concert and rally in Red Square and, standing before St Basils Cathedral, led the crowd in a chant of Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! People gather in the Red Square in Moscow on Friday. Credit:AP The truth is behind us, and in truth there is strength, which means victory! Putin said at the end of his brief address at the rally, borrowing a catchphrase from a 2000 Russian crime film. Victory will be ours! In his speech at the Kremlin, Putin cast the conflict with the West in even more severe terms than he had previously, reeling off centuries of Western military actions to denounce the US-led world order as fundamentally evil, corrupt and set on Russias destruction.

The repression of freedom is taking on the outlines of a reverse religion, of real satanism, Putin said, asserting that liberal Western values on matters like gender identity amounted to a denial of man. But Putin offered few new details on the matter that is now perhaps of greatest concern in Western capitals  whether, and at what point, he might use weapons of mass destruction to force Ukraine to capitulate. His spokesperson said earlier in the day that after the annexation of the four regions  a move that virtually no other country is expected to recognise  an attack on those regions would be treated as an attack on Russia. Loading Without saying so directly, Putin hinted that the role of nuclear weapons in war is on his mind. Describing the West as deceitful and hypocritical through and through, Putin noted that the United States was the only country to have used nuclear weapons in war. He then added, By the way, they created a precedent. Putin was appealing to three key audiences. To Russians, he sought to justify the expanding hardship his war has been causing by insisting they were fighting for their survival. To the West, he worked to telegraph his determination that he was unbowed by sanctions or arms deliveries to Ukraine, and would keep fighting  with the veiled threat of Russias enormous nuclear arsenal in the background.

And to the rest of the world, Putin sought to cast himself as the leader of a global movement against the Western racists he claimed were imposing American hegemony. The West, he claimed, had not changed from the centuries past in which it brutally colonised other countries and fought wars to gain economic advantage. Western countries, he insisted, had no moral right to condemn the annexation of parts of Ukraine. The Western elites remain colonisers as they always were, Putin said. They have divided the world into their vassals  the so-called civilised countries  and everyone else. As Putin spoke, a crowd gathered on Red Square for the concert and rally. Russian media reported that Moscow universities had directed students to attend. Pro-Kremlin pop music performers belted out nationalist songs from a stage that said Russia! and was flanked with banners reading Choice of the people! and Together forever! At one point, a young woman in an orange sweatshirt took the stage, describing herself as a volunteer helping people in Russian-occupied Ukraine. Her husband had been drafted a week ago, she said.
The British government will make a new commitment to bring public spending under control following a week of financial turmoil, British Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng said in an op-ed in The Telegraph London on Friday (UK time).

Kwarteng vowed to publish a credible plan in November to reduce debt. He also doubled down on his mini-budget, writing that while some measures may not be universally popular we had no other choice.

British chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng. Credit:AP

Kwarteng unveiled a string of lower taxes last week that were, unusually, not accompanied by forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Sterling fell to a record low against the US dollar and the sell-off led the Bank of England to intervene with emergency bond-buying to protect pension funds from partial collapse.

In his article in the newspaper, Kwarteng wrote: The Medium-Term Fiscal Plan will set out a credible plan to get debt falling as a share of GDP in the medium term, with new fiscal rules and a commitment to spending discipline. And this will be alongside a full forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility.
The MOU will facilitate mutual market facilitation between both jurisdictions

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Labuan IBFC Incorporated Sdn Bhd (Labuan IBFC Inc.), the official marketing agency for the Labuan International Business and Financial Centre, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Kamar Dagang dan Industri Indonesia (KADIN) of West Java, Indonesia's pre-eminent trade association.

MoU Signing between Labuan IBFC Inc. and Kamar Dagang dan Industri Indonesia (KADIN)

KADIN or Kamar Dagang dan Industri Indonesia is an association comprising business organisations in Indonesia. KADIN is mainly responsible for ensuring all trade and industry relating to Indonesia is carried out in a systematic and organised manner that benefits all parties involved. The 8-million strong KADIN West Java chapter consists of entrepreneurs and a combination of national businesses from various sectors, both privately-owned enterprises, cooperatives, SMEs, as well as government-owned enterprises.

The MoU aims to support Labuan IBFC Inc.'s market development activities in Indonesia and to enable the members of KADIN West Java to leverage on Labuan IBFC's suite of products and services according to their business requirements. The agreement leverages on Labuan IBFC Inc.'s earlier business trip to West Java which was aimed expanding both parties' collaboration opportunities.

The MoU was signed by Datuk Iskandar Mohd Nuli, Executive Chairman cum CEO of Labuan IBFC Inc., and Mr. Raditya Indrajaya, Chairman of KADIN West Java. The signing was witnessed by Yang Berusaha En. Rizlan Mokhtar, Director of Corporate Communication & Registry at Labuan Financial Services Authority.

Commenting after the signing ceremony, Datuk Iskandar Mohd Nuli said, "We are honoured to partner with KADIN West Java as we seek to make further inroads into the Indonesian market, particularly West Java which has a population of 50 million. To this end, we are confident that Labuan IBFC's products, services and structures as well as its progressive regulatory framework and simplified tax structure are well-suited to meet the requirements of our target audience, as evidenced by the 300 Indonesian companies currently present in the jurisdiction."

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In addition, Mr. Raditya Indrajaya said, "KADIN West Java is very pleased that our discussions with Labuan IBFC have culminated in the signing of this meaningful MoU. It is my personal dream to work with a very powerful entity in the Asia Pacific economic network. KADIN West Java hopes to deepen our collaboration with the Labuan jurisdiction in all aspects to promote economic, trade exchanges and sustainable development between Indonesia and Malaysia."As Malaysia's international business and financial centre, Labuan IBFC currently houses and supports more than 880 licensed institutions and more than 17,000 companies. These include international organisations in banking, leasing, capital markets, insurance, reinsurance, risk management and wealth management.

For more information on Labuan IBFC, please refer to www.labuanibfc.com.

SOURCE Labuan IBFC
The protests that have shaken Iran for nearly two weeks have continued across the country, including in the capital, Tehran, even as the government expands its crackdown to detain not just protesters on the streets but also public figures who have expressed solidarity with them.

In Zahedan, a city in the southeast with an ethnic Baluch population, tensions erupted on Friday (local time) with security forces firing at a crowd, and protesters attacking a police station with rocks and setting fire to a supermarket, according to videos posted on social media. Baluch activists claimed that security forces fired from a helicopter at a crowd gathered at the Maki mosque.

Iranian nationals protest against the death of Iranian Mahsa Amini, in front of the Chilean Human Rights Institute building in Santiago, Chile, on Friday. Credit:AP

Dozens were killed and injured in the unrest. Nineteen were killed and 20 injured, including security forces, in Zahedan, the provincial governor said late on Friday. The news site Haalvsh, focused on news from Baluch areas, put the numbers at 36 dead and 50 injured. Irans state media called the unrest at the police station in Zahedan a terrorist attack that had forced security forces to fire back.

On Thursday night, crowds marched in the northwestern city of Sanandaj, in Kurdistan province, and in Mashhad, a city in the northeast, raising their fists and chanting, Death to the dictator. Elsewhere, women marched without hijabs in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, and protesters clashed with authorities in Qom, south of Tehran, and fled bullets fired by security forces in the southeastern city of Kerman, according to videos posted on social media.
Coverage of the 2022 elections for control of US Congress. See all 22 stories .

Washington: Its an unlikely alliance, born out of disaster.

Just a few weeks ago, US President Joe Biden and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis were trading blows over immigration policy.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and US President Joe Biden. Credit:AP

In the latest of DeSantis many stunts, the brash Republican sent a group of chartered planes filled with migrants to Marthas Vineyard to antagonise Biden over the crisis at the US-Mexico border.

Biden was furious, accusing the Florida governor  a disciple of Donald Trump and potential candidate for the 2024 presidential election  of playing politics with human beings.
Charleston, South Carolina: Rescuers searched for survivors among the ruins of Floridas flooded homes from Hurricane Ian while authorities in South Carolina waited for daylight to assess damage from the storms second strike as the remnants of one of the strongest and costliest disasters to ever hit the US continued to push north.

The powerful storm terrorised millions of people for most of the week, battering western Cuba before raking across Florida from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, where it mustered enough strength for a final assault on South Carolina. It has since weakened to a still-dangerous post-tropical cyclone and was crossing North Carolina towards Virginia overnight, pushing heavy rains towards the Mid-Atlantic states.

At least 30 people were confirmed dead, including 27 people in Florida mostly from drowning but others from the storms tragic after-effects. An elderly couple died after their oxygen machines shut off when they lost power, authorities said. Meanwhile, distraught residents waded through knee-high water on Friday, salvaging what possessions they could from their flooded homes and loading them onto rafts and canoes.

I want to sit in the corner and cry. I dont know what else to do, Stevie Scuderi said after shuffling through her mostly destroyed Fort Myers apartment, the mud in her kitchen clinging to her purple sandals.
Washington: President Joe Biden condemned Russias claimed annexation of captured Ukrainian territory on Friday (US time), responding to Moscows latest escalation with a range of sanctions and a warning to President Vladimir Putin that the United States would defend every single inch of NATO territory from a potential attack.

Hours after Putin gave a speech asserting Russian control over four eastern Ukrainian regions, Biden called the action a fraudulent violation of international law that showed contempt for peaceful nations everywhere.

US President Joe Biden speaks about Russia from the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington on Friday, September 30. Credit:AP

The United States is never going to recognise this, and quite frankly, the world is not going to recognise it either, Biden said from the White House. He cant seize his neighbours territory and get away with it. It is as simple as that.

World leaders rallied around Biden in a forceful collective denunciation of Russias invasion of Ukraine.
Crypto Oasis Hosts 3 pivotal Web3-related Sessions at the Inaugural Dubai Metaverse Assembly

DUBAI, Sept 30, 2022  (ACN Newswire)  The inaugural Dubai Metaverse Assembly first announced by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai and organised by the Dubai Future Foundation, took place on September 28 and 29. The Crypto Oasis, the fastest growing blockchain and Web3 ecosystem in the world, hosted the three sessions at the event that brought together regional and international experts in Dubai to shape the future of the metaverse.

The first session featured Meta Decrypt discussing \Design Thinking  Digital Economy in the Metaverse\. This was an enriching and engaging talk about creating a more participatory economy and also discussed a broad range of metaverse use cases from strategy through execution. It is expected that a fully realised metaverse won\-t just be a part of the digital economy, but its own quasi-independent economy that may end up reweaving the fabric of the digital world.

The second session was a panel discussion on Venture Capital in the Metaverse. The participants included:

 Valerie Hawley  True Global Ventures

 Jawad Ashraf  Virtua

 Domenik Maier _ iBLOXX

 Saqr Ereiqat  Crypto Oasis

The metaverse is a venture capitalist\-s dream. The metaverse represents a real opportunity for cutting-edge innovation and significant startup returns. VCs around the world acknowledge that it has the potential to be a multi-trillion dollar market. With advances made in bandwidth, chips, software, and new (hardware) platforms, metaverse adoption is expected to rise, which is why there is an abundance of capital in this space.

The final session was a thought leadership talk by Crypto Oasis Co-Founder Saqr Ereiqat titled \Web2 is Silicon Valley, Web3 is Crypto Oasis\.

Speaking about the event and the Crypto Oasis sessions, Ereiqat said, \The Dubai Metaverse Assembly is another step towards the United Arab Emirates being the leading digital economy. The \-Digital Economy Strategy\- aims to double the contribution of the digital economy to the UAE\-s gross domestic product (GDP) from 9.7 percent as of April 2022 to 20 percent by 2031. It also seeks to enhance the position of the UAE as a hub for the digital economy in the region and globally as we are already witnessing and supporting an influx of intellectual resources into the UAE.

\We believe an ecosystem consists of Talent, Capital, and Infrastructure, with the UAE bringing those three together. We have therefore coined the MENA region as Crypto Oasis. At the Dubai Metaverse Assembly, we proudly hosted three sessions to educate, inspire, and contribute. Today, the Crypto Oasis, with the UAE at the heart of it, is pushing the frontier in the Web 3 space. While Web 2 was primarily based out of Silicon Valley, events like the Dubai Metaverse Assembly and others will ensure that Web 3 is the Crypto Oasis.\

The metaverse assembly cements Dubai\-s position as the world\-s metaverse capital as it looks to leverage Dubai\-s digital infrastructure and support global transformations and disruptions. The flagship event explores the digital economy and identifies opportunities to help startups, entrepreneurs, communities, investors, and governments unlock the unlimited potential of the metaverse to create a bolder future. The Crypto Oasis is delighted to be part of this first of its kind event that sees the world\-s leading metaverse experts converge in Dubai.

About Crypto Oasis

The Crypto Oasis is a Middle East-focused blockchain ecosystem supported by initiators of the Crypto Valley Switzerland. The core elements needed for its development are Talent, Capital, and Infrastructure. The Ecosystems stakeholders include Investors & Collectors, Start-Ups & Projects, Corporates, Education & Research Institutions, Service Providers and Government Entities & Associations. Crypto Oasis\- vision is to be one of the leading blockchain ecosystems in the world. Today it is the fastest growing, with more than 1,100 organisations in the UAE alone. The forecast is to identify over 1,500 established organisations across the region by the end of 2022. www.cryptooasis.ae

For more information contact:

Faisal Zaidi

Crypto Oasis

faisal@cryptooasis.ae

+971552000840
World Blockchain Summit back in Dubai at Atlantis The Palm under the Patronage of HH Sheikh Juma Ahmed Juma Al Maktoum

DUBAI, Sept 30, 2022  (ACN Newswire)  World Blockchain Summit (WBS), the largest global series of blockchain, crypto and web3 events, is coming back to Dubai on October 17-18 at the Atlantis the Palm.

Held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Juma Ahmed Juma Al Maktoum, member of the ruling family of Dubai, WBS Dubai is hosting the most influential thought leaders on blockchain, Crypto, NFT, Web 3.0, and the metaverse to explore the market\-s effects on commerce, banking, gaming, culture, and community development.

Dubai is known for its welcoming stance on crypto and blockchain technology. This is evident in its ease of regulations for crypto and blockchain technologies making it great for foreign companies looking to set up shop. This is further backed by the recent approval of the Dubai Virtual Asset Regulation Law providing for a more \Crypto-friendly\ structure that fosters investment and growth in blockchain adoption. With over 6000 millionaire residents, the country\-s private wealth has risen to over $40 billion making it a hotspot for investments too.

\Dubai is the right place for innovation in the blockchain space. We are happy to be working with WBS to achieve the vision set by the government of Dubai on its Blockchain and Metaverse Strategy,\ Commented Furqan Rassul, CEO of Elite Partner Investment.

WBS will bring enlightening sessions discussing the blockchain and crypto space in response to some of today\-s most pressing questions in the current industry. It will also feature panel discussions, industry highlights, use-case-studies, fireside chats and more.

Mohammed Saleem, Founder and CEO of WBS noted, \Dubai has positioned itself perfectly as one of the most crypto and blockchain friendly destinations in the world. With all the recent announcements around new crypto licenses being issued, Dubai Metaverse Strategy and more, we are super excited to be bringing WBS back to Dubai this October as we host some of the world\-s leading experts to share their insights and showcase the latest innovations in the space.\

Speakers in focus include:

 FURQAN RASSUL, CEO, Elite partner Investment LLC.

 DR MARWAN ALZAROUNI, CEO, Dubai, Blockchain Center

 RALF GLABISCHNIG, Founder, Crypto Oasis, CV VC

 TALAL TABBAA, Chief Executive Officer, CoinMENA

 PAUL VERADITTAKIT, Partner, Pantera Capital

 DR JEMMA GREEN Co-Founder & Executive Chairman Powerledger

 SABINIJE VON GAFFKE Founder, IMPACTFULNESS Ventures Head of Sustainability, Nibiru Software AB

 SHERAZ AHMED, Co-Executive Director | Head of Business Development, Crypto Valley Association

\The landscape of trust is changing and blockchain is arriving to fill the gaps,\ added Dr Jemma Green, Cofounder and Chairman of Powerledger.

Luna PR is WBS\- official PR Partner, whilst some of the global blockchain and web3 experts sponsoring the event are DIG (Decentralised Investment Group) as Headline Sponsor, Coinstore and Aura Dogs as Silver Sponsors and Dreamster as Exhibitor. Crypto Oasis is the Ecosystem Partner, whilst Media Partners at the event include Bitcoin World, BinBits, Coinspeaker, CoinTelegraph MENA, Cointelegram, Coinveestasi, Crypto-Academy, Regtech Times, Security Middle East, The Cryptonomist and The Jordan Times.

About Elite Partner Investment

Elite Partner Investment is a UAE-based Investment Management company with interests in technology, mining, energy, and real estate chaired by HH Sheikh Juma Ahmed Juma Al Maktoum. Areas of the group\-s interest include early-stage technology and creating value through innovation and synergies. His Highness enables the company and its partners to access and work at the highest level with government and leading multinationals around the globe; enabling them to grow, expand and access new markets.

About World Blockchain Summit

World Blockchain Summit (WBS) is a global series of blockchain, crypto, web3 and metaverse focused events that has brought together over 20,000 industry influencers, investors, enterprise decision makers and Government stakeholders through physical events hosted in over 16 countries.

WBS is dedicated to fostering the growth of the decentralised economy through community development, boosting technological innovation with access to capital, and enabling enterprise and Government adoption of web3 technologies through deal facilitation. Each summit features enterprise and government use-cases, inspirational keynotes, panel discussions, tech-talks, a blockchain exhibition, startup pitch competitions, and a host of networking opportunities.

Other upcoming platforms organised by WBS Events in 2022 include the World Metaverse Show taking place on October 5-6 in Dubai, the World Blockchain Summit Toronto, taking place in November, and the World Blockchain Summit Bangkok in December.

For more information and tickets, visit www.worldblockchainsummit.com

Contact details:

Elisha Patel, Luna PR

elisha@lunapr.io
In 2018, when then-Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., was running for governor of Florida, he proudly distanced himself from the science of climate change. I am not in the pews of the church of the global warming leftists, he said while campaigning. I am not a global warming person. I dont want that label on me.

But with warmer ocean temperatures increasing the power of hurricanes and higher sea levels exacerbating storm surges, DeSantis, like many other Florida residents, may no longer have the luxury of ignoring climate change. This week, portions of the states Gulf Coast were devastated by Hurricane Ian, a Category 4 hurricane that caused 10-foot storm surges, obliterated homes and businesses and left hundreds of residents stranded.

The Associated Press reported that Ians rapid intensification occurred after it traveled over Caribbean waters that are about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius) warmer than normal, largely because of climate change. That warmer water creates a lot more rocket fuel for the storm, Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach told the AP.

Despite the firmly established science linking climate change to more powerful hurricanes, as well as sea level rise that helps worsen their impact, many Florida Republican politicians, including the governor and both of its U.S. senators, have resisted government action to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing warmer temperatures. Yet even while they avoid any admission that burning fossil fuels is the underlying cause of climate change, they must also try to manage growing risks in the state that scientists have linked to the warming world.

Wind gusts blow across Sarasota Bay as Hurricane Ian churns to the south on Sept. 28 in Sarasota, Fla. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

DeSantis has embraced spending for the restoration of the Everglades wetlands and resilience for coastal cities, such as improved drainage and raising sea walls. In May last year, he said his state must tackle the challenges posed by flooding, intensified storm events [and] sea level rise. Without labeling the issue a climate change problem, the DeSantis administration estimates that sea level rise will put $26 billion in Florida residential property at risk of regular flooding by 2045.

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The governor has steered clear of venturing an explanation as to why sea levels are rising and storms are intensifying, explaining that he fears that admitting that human activities cause climate change would accept the premise that people should change their ways to reduce its severity.

What Ive found is, people when they start talking about things like global warming, they typically use that as a pretext to do a bunch of left-wing things that they would want to do anyways, DeSantis said at an event about sea level rise last year. Were not doing any left-wing stuff.

DeSantiss record on climate change has been less hard-line than his pugilistic comments might suggest. He appointed the states first resilience officer, but after the appointee left the job a few months later, did not bother to find a replacement. He also created a position of chief science officer. Environmentalists were disappointed when he appointed Michael La Rosa, Florida chairman of the American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization known for advocating fossil fuel-friendly policies, to the Florida Public Service Commission, which oversees the states utilities.

DeSantis also supported buying 20,000 acres in the Everglades to prevent oil development, and the state is spending money on electric vehicle-charging stations. He even vetoed a utility-backed bill that would have hamstrung the rooftop solar market.

But Florida remains a laggard in utility-scale renewable energy, being among the minority of states with no legal requirement that its utilities increase the production of renewable energy. And this summer, DeSantis proposed prohibiting state pension funds from considering climate-change vulnerabilities and carbon emissions in its investments.

DeSantiss office did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

After Hurricane Irma on Sept. 12, 2017, a canal in a trailer park in Marathon, Fla., in the Florida Keys is filled with debris and campers. (Marc Serota/Getty Images)

The impacts of climate change routinely pose challenges for coastal communities in Florida. Rising sea levels cause flooding on even sunny days in waterfront communities from St. Petersburg to Miami, and studies suggest the problem will get worse in the years to come.

In many recent years, the state has experienced stronger storms due to warmer water temperatures and more evaporation in the hotter air.

The state has also seen no shortage of devastating storms that coincide with the steep temperature increases witnessed over recent decades. Hurricane Irma hit Florida and its northern neighbors in 2017, causing 129 deaths and $54 billion in damages. The next year, Hurricane Michael made landfall in the Florida Panhandle as a Category 5 storm, killing 59 people in the U.S., where it racked up another $25.1 billion in damages. Numerous studies have shown that hurricanes have become stronger because of climate change, and many scientists say that effect was apparent in Irma and Michael.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis holds a press conference at Anna Maria Oyster Bar Landside in Bradenton, Fla. (Thomas Simonetti for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

DeSantis, of course, is not alone among Florida elected officials in wanting to steer clear of that discussion. In 2015, when Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., was governor of the state, the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting reported that Floridas Department of Environmental Protection employees were ordered not to use the term climate change or global warming in any official communications, emails, or reports, according to former DEP employees, consultants, volunteers and records. The Scott administration denied that such a prohibition was ever issued.

Scotts public statements, however, often cast doubt on climate science. Clearly, our environment changes all the time, and whether thats cycles were going through or whether thats man-made, I wouldnt be able to tell you which one it is, Scott said after Hurricane Irma.

As a senator, Scott has more recently shifted to acknowledging climate changes existence, but opposing actions to address it. The weather is always changing, Scott said in the 11-point Plan for America, a political roadmap he released this year in his capacity as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. We take climate change seriously but not hysterically. We will not adopt nutty policies that harm our economy or our jobs.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks outside the White House at a news conference on Sept. 15. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., acknowledges that the Earth is warming, but he has claimed that many scientists would debate what percentage is attributable to man versus normal fluctuations.

Leading climate scientists, however, note that there is a remarkable unanimity in their community regarding the long-held findings that greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation are the leading causes of global warming. In fact, 99.9% of peer-reviewed scientific papers find that climate change is primarily caused by humans, according to a 2021 survey of 88,125 climate studies.

Rubio has joined the Senate Climate Solutions Caucus and endorsed bills to deal with some of the effects of climate change, such as measures to restore both the Everglades and coastal reefs. But he opposes actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and supports increased production of fossil fuels, whose combustion has caused the problem in the first place.

Americans, particularly Floridians, are right to be concerned about the changing climate, he wrote in a 2019 USA Today op-ed. But they are also right to be concerned about a regressive overreaction. He added that the good news is [climate change] problems are manageable.

Rubio and Scott both have lifetime voting scorecards from the League of Conservation Voters, an American environmental advocacy group, of 7%.

Florida Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio speak to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House on Jan. 22, 2019. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Florida Republicans were not always so leery of environmental protection. Republican Gov. Jeb Bush established a conservation program to set aside $100 million in state funding for environmental protection projects, which continued under his GOP successor Charlie Crist. Scott cut it to less than $28 million. Crist is now a Democratic member of Congress who is running against DeSantis for governor.

Former President Donald Trump, another Florida resident, has also made known his feelings about climate change, calling it a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese government designed to weaken the U.S. economy.

The political polarization exacerbated under Trump has pushed Florida Republicans even further toward an anti-environmental position, as the states economy comes under increasing assault by the effects of climate change.

Climate scientists say, though, that climate science denial wont be a tenable position in the long run, as the threat to Florida is existential. Peter Gleick, a climate scientist who has received the MacArthur Fellowship referred to as the genius grant, puts it this way: A future Hurricane Ian, with the three feet of sea-level rise that is coming, will irreparably wipe out Central and Southern Florida.

How is climate change leading to worse hurricanes? Check out this explainer from Yahoo Immersive to find out.




It is clear from this episode that Todd is the black sheep of the family, which has put him at odds with his mother, Margaret (played by Academy Award winner Marcia Gay Harden) and we learn that the two have not spoken in two years. While Todd is flexible and willing to take risks even if it means breaking the law, Margaret is the polar opposite. She is rigid, judgmental and a successful attorney. Margaret loves her family and although she means well, it seems all of her children have difficulty managing her black and white personality. There is a lot of backstory unpacked in this pilot episode. Viewers learn that Todds father has passed away and he is still dealing with the trauma of that event including feeling abandoned by his mother. Alison is clearly having issues in her marriage but continues to play the successful, doting daughter because as she tells Todd, it is easier to let their mother have her way.





Aside from the family drama, Margaret and Todd are forced to put their differences aside to solve two mysteries that the writers have done a great job of weaving together. The first mystery is the disappearance of Margarets husband, Harry, who goes missing while Margaret is at work, and the second mystery involves Margarets work as a defence attorney. Her client is charged with murder, but Margaret knows she is innocent and is working to find the real culprit. Todds skills as a Private Investigator are on full display, as he inserts himself into both situations eager to solve them. Viewers learn that Harry has Parkinsons disease and because his father died by suicide, Margaret fears that he may be headed for the same fate. However, Todd manages to track down Harry on a plane on his way to Iceland and we learn that he was never dying of Parkinsons disease, he simply could not handle Margaret anymore. While looking into Harrys disappearance, Todd comes across a surprise witness in Margarets murder case who he presumes is the real culprit. With both mysteries being solved by Todd, albeit awkwardly and not always by the book, Margaret realizes that her son is actually good at his job and offers him a position at her firm, taking over for her investigator who has conveniently gone on maternity leave.









Despite a lot of information being thrown at viewers in the first episode, it is clear that this show has a lot of potential. Not only is the mystery portion intriguing and entertaining, the family drama is plentiful and it will be interesting to see how the characters manage their issues throughout the series as their story arcs are developed.





A few thoughts that I am left with after the pilot:

-The introduction of Todds brother, despite any casting information available for his character, is odd to say the least. If Lawrence is only going to be referred to but never seen, I have to wonder why the writers included this character in the series?





-How will Margaret and Todds opposing personalities affect their ability to work together?





-Viewers were introduced to the character of Susan, an ex-girlfriend of Todds that works at his mothers firm. Although she is engaged, the mere introduction of her character makes it apparent that a potential rekindling lies in the works.





-The already playful tete-a-tete between the firms licenced investigator Lyle and Todd will make for an interesting dynamic as these two officially become investigative partners.





What did you think of the pilot? Did it live up to your expectations? Will you tune in for episode 2? Let me know your thoughts. Comment below and engage with me on Twitter @miss_c_almeida.

Todds sister is played by Madeline Wise, who is perhaps best known for her role in Single Drunk Female. Unlike Todd, Alison is a successful ER trauma surgeon and their brother, Lawrence, works in politics. Lawrence was oddly absent from this episode with no cast information available to be found for his character. Instead, we are introduced to Lawrences partner, Chet, and their young daughter when they attend a family dinner with the Wrights. Information about Lawrence is provided through the other characters over dinner conversation.


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An Auburn man was killed in a three-car crash Friday afternoon in the town of Brutus.

The crash occurred on Route 34 at Tanner Road, according to Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck. A 2016 Toyota Highlander driven by David Dygert, 81, was heading south on Route 34 and slowed to turn left onto Tanner Road when it was rear-ended by a 2016 Honda CRV driven by Penny Adams, 76. The CRV then entered the northbound lane and hit another vehicle, a 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Darlene Dolphy, 57.

David Adams, 78, of Auburn, was a backseat passenger in the CRV. He was transported to Auburn Community Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Penny Adams and another passenger in the CRV, Richard Farr, 76, were taken to Auburn hospital for treatment. Dygert and the passenger in his vehicle, Deborah Supple, 70, were also transported to ACH.

Dolphy was evaluated at the scene but was not sent to the hospital.

Schenck said his office was assisted by the New York State Police, Cayuga County 911 and the Cayuga County Coroner's Office. The Jordan and Weedsport fire departments, along with AMR and Jordan ambulances, responded to the scene.

The investigation was still ongoing SAturday. The sheriff's office thanked individuals who stopped to assist following the crash.
His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel marked 15 years since his enthronement as Patriarch of Romania on Friday, September 30.

Divine Liturgy and Te Deum

On this important event in the life of the Romanian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude presided over the Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest, according to basilica.ro.

After a Te Deum service officiated by Metropolitan Iosif of Western and Southern Europe, the Patriarch of Romania gave a speech in which he thanked God and those who have supported and continue to support the activities of the Church.

Collaboration and co-responsibility

We thank God for this day and all the blessings he has poured upon the Romanian Orthodox Church, on the hierarchs of the Holy Synod, the clergy and the faithful. We also thank His Eminence Metropolitan Iosif, who extensively presented our Churchs activity in the last 15 years.

All these achievements are made together with the fellow-hierarchs of the Holy Synod, together with the clergy, with all the theological, social, cultural institutions of our Church and with the help of local and central state authorities.

This collaboration and co-responsibility is a dominant feature of Romanian Orthodoxy. Thats why you can see gratifying results when working in communion and co-responsibility, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel stressed.

Romanian diaspora

The Patriarch of Romania also spoke about his concerns in the near future: the diaspora and the low birth rate.

We always look at the past only to thank God and the people through whom God worked. But when we look at the present and the future, the needs and works of the Church, we see how much more there is to do. That is, many activities are in progress, but new ones are also needed.

Thats why we draw inspiration from the life of other Churches, but also the life of our dioceses and parishes abroad because here in Romania, we are the majority, but the Orthodox from the Romanian diaspora are a minority, and they are under more pressure than us to seek pastoral methods, to look for support, to look for local solutions for the multitude of problems faced by those who left Romania and are in the Romanian diaspora.

Romanias demography

Some, few, have returned to the country, but there are still many Romanian Orthodox believers abroad. Last year was dedicated especially to the pastoral care of Romanians abroad, and we observed how many activities these dioceses developed. One thing that contrasts with what is in Romania is the demographic growth of Romanians in the diaspora.

The number of baptisms and weddings in the Romanian diaspora is much higher in proportion to the number of people compared to Romania because in some Western countries there are more favourable conditions for the development and support of families.

Therefore, an immediate and long-term preoccupation is encouraging families to have more children and to educate them in faith and love for the country, His Beatitude said on September 30.

Good ties with religious denominations

Patriarch Daniel also underlined the good relations we have in the country with all religious denominations  thats why we established the Consultative Council of Religious Denominations. They matter a lot for Romanians outside the countrys borders.

The act by which the Italian state will provide constant financial aid to our Diocese in Italy is now being finalized. This cooperation is necessary because the contribution of Romanians to the economic and social development of Italy is recognized.

Continuous training of priests

We have a close connection between activities in the country and abroad. Also, we have a growing need for continuous training of priests in the diaspora and in the country. That is why we have training and improvement courses and degrees to evaluate the clergys training and refresh their knowledge. All these activities and priorities concern all pastors in our Church.

We are glad that we often received help from the central authorities, especially since we are going through a difficult period in terms of prices. We are glad that some representatives of the religious denominations wanted to be present. We are happy that we are encouraged, and in turn, we want to encourage all those who want to do good in favour of the Church and the Romanian people.

We wish you all many years of health and joy! Patriarch Daniel concluded.

The festive event continued in the Europa Christiana Hall of the Palace of the Patriarchate, where the representatives of the central and local State authorities and other public institutions presented their messages of congratulation.

Patriarch Daniel was enthroned as Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest on September 30, 2007.
His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel marks Friday the 15th anniversary of his enthronement as Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church. September 30 is the official celebration of the Patriarch of Romania.

These years will be remembered for the Romanian Orthodox Church because of the efforts made to adapt to a rapidly changing environment while upholding its salvific principles. The actual head of the Romanian Orthodox has orchestrated all of this with pastoral wisdom.

While many of the Patriarchs actions go unnoticed, the effects are still there, according to basilica.ro.

Basilica Media Centre

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel considered it essential for the Orthodox Church to be represented in the Romanian media in this age of information overload.

His Beatitude founded the Basilica Media Centre on October 27, 2007, less than a month after being installed as patriarch. It is made up of five departments: Radio Trinitas, Trinitas TV, the Lumina publications, the Basilica News Agency, and the Press and Public Relations Office.

Basilica Pilgrimage & Travel Agency

The creation of a pilgrimage agency was another novelty within the Romanian Orthodox Churchs administration. It satiated the faithfuls need to be more than just tourists in Christian sacred sites.

The Romanian Orthodox Church now arranges trips that are led by its priests. The inauguration of the Basilica Travel Agency took place in 2007.

Romanian Saints canonised

Athanasius Todoran of Bichigiu, Basil of Mocod, Gregory of Zagra, and Basil of Telciu were formally declared as Holy Martyrs and Confessors of Nasaud in May 2008, less than a year after Patriarch Daniels enthronement. Thereafter, 30 more Saints were canonised. Saint Theophano Basarab is the most recent.

In 2025, additional canonisations will take place when the Romanian Orthodox Church marks 140 years of autocephaly and 100 years of patriarchal status. The majority of the priests being considered for sainthood were victims of communist regime persecution or martyrdom.

Renovation of the Patriarchal Palace

On December 6, 2010, the state ceded ownership of the structure now known as the Patriarchal Palace to the Romanian Patriarchate. The building was then converted into a conference centre. On property owned by the former Metropolis of Wallachia, the organisational forerunner of the Romanian Patriarchate, the Palace was built by the Romanian state at the start of the 20th century.

On January 24, 1859, the Electoral Assembly of Wallachia, presided over by Metropolitan Nifon, voted for the union of Wallachia and Moldavia by electing Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, who had already been elected as Prince of Moldavia.

The historical monument was subjected to extensive consolidation and restoration works between March 2014 and December 2015, which were funded by the European Union, the Romanian Government, and the Romanian Patriarchate. Today, guided tours of the palace are available to the general public.

Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church

The contribution of Patriarch Daniel to the Holy and Great Council of Crete (2016) has been recognised and appreciated throughout Orthodoxy. The Council did not provide dogmatic decisions but rather practical pastoral and missionary guidance that can be amended or improved by a future Orthodox Church Council.

Romanias National Cathedral

Patriarch Daniel fulfilled a mandate from his ancestors by constructing a National Cathedral on the centennial anniversary of the Great Union of 1918, which created the state of Greater Romania.

On November 25, 2018, the Cathedral was consecrated by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople and His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel.

Social ministry

Although the National Cathedral remains a symbol of Patriarch Daniels leadership, even greater efforts were made to assist those in need.

The Romanian Orthodox Church has invested more than double the cost of the National Cathedral in social-philanthropic work over the last 15 years.

Hundreds of social institutions and programmes were established in collaboration with the authorities, benefiting thousands of Romanians. Only in 2021, the Church spent 44 million Euros on philanthropy.

Visits of the leaders of Autocephalous Churches

Many leaders of Autocephalous Churches have visited Romania in the last 15 years, demonstrating both good relations with sister Churches and Patriarch Daniels authority within the Orthodox world.

Among them were visits made by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in 2010 and 2018, Patriarch Theodoros of Alexandria in 2011, Patriarch John of Antioch in 2016, Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem in 2011 and 2018, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, Archbishop Anastasios of Albania and Metropolitan Rastislav of the Czech Lands and Slovakia in 2017.

Pope Francis pilgrimage to Romanias National Cathedral on May 31, 2019, is another significant moment of Patriarch Daniels first 15 years in office as patriarch. Pope Francis reminded Romanians of their great patriarch in an interview while leaving the country.

Improving the Statute of the Romanian Orthodox Church

The Holy Synod worked on numerous amendments to the Statute for the Organization and Functioning of the Romanian Orthodox Church between 2011 and 2019 under the direction of Patriarch Daniel. On February 10, 2020, they were printed in the Official Gazette. The main changes are shown here.

New dioceses and parishes in the diaspora

The Romanian Orthodox Church has decided to accompany its adherents abroad as a result of the widespread emigration of Romanians to Western Europe and other regions of the world.

In 2007, Patriarch Daniel founded three new dioceses: the Diocese of Northern Europe, the Diocese of Spain and Portugal, and the Diocese of Australia and New Zealand.

Wherever Romanians are more numerous, Romanian Orthodox parishes have recently been established abroad, such as in Japan, Syria, Southern Africa, and the United Arab Emirates (Dubai).

Bishops for the vacant sees of the Metropolis of Bessarabia

The concern for the Romanian diaspora and the Romanians who had historically resided near the current borders of the Romanian state coexisted.

The election of Bishop Antonie of Balti and Bishop Veniamin of Southern Bessarabia to the previously vacant sees within the Metropolis of Bessarabia in 2018 was a significant move.

Promoting and supporting natural family

Protecting the Christian faithful and values from modern ideologies contradicting Christian morals has been the Churchs outstanding achievement in recent years.

Patriarch Daniel frequently urged society to save the natural family and frequently gives guidance to parents and young people in his homilies.

The Church has inspired and helped families in need through different social and educational programmes.

The Church had the chance to assess the level of the secularisation of Romanian society, as well as the major social positions regarding the affirmation and protection of moral values based on religious belief and the bimillennial Christian history of the Romanian people, through the Referendum for Marriage organised by a lay initiative and held in 2018.

The referendums results, which were overwhelmingly in favour of natural marriage, were not able to be legally upheld, but the Romanian Patriarchate declared that an incomplete success calls upon more hope and more labour.

Church during the Pandemic

Over the past 15 years, the Romanian Orthodox Church has consistently faced new difficulties. However, it persisted despite these difficulties, even before the Covid-19 health catastrophe.

People arriving from Italy were quarantined in facilities graciously provided by Romanian monastics in March 2020. There were numerous church-sponsored fundraising events that were held to support the isolated and purchase medical equipment. Prayer was offered in addition to the material assistance to foster community from a distance through the help of technology.

Isolation, fear, denial, or even revolt gradually gave way to taking charge in communities. Romanian Christians once again discovered that suffering helps us better appreciate lifes greater purpose despite having to deal with limitations, illness, and death.

The clergy have had the greatest exposure to the new virus since they have been fighting the pandemics effects. Numerous abbots, clerics, and spiritual fathers joined the Heavenly Triumphant Church after Archbishop Pimen of Suceava and Radauti.

Solemn and Commemorative Years

The Romanian Patriarchate provides a Christian subject of solemnity and remembrance to each year, beginning with 2008, a Solemn Year of the Holy Scriptures and the Divine Liturgy.

All dioceses host artistic, educational, missionary, and social-philanthropic events under the aegis of these topics.

The year 2022 is a Solemn Year of Prayer in the Churchs life and the Christians life, as well as a Commemorative Year of the Hesychast Saints Paisius (Velichkovsky) of Neamt, Gregory Palamas and Symeon the New Theologian.
Romania has the necessary quantities of gas, our country will not suffer the lack of gas in the winter of 2022-2023, on Saturday said Prime minister Nicolae Ciuca, who was in Sofia to attend the launch event of the commercial exploitation of the Greece - Bulgaria Interconnector.

"It is an activity that we have been waiting for a long time, because the operationalization of this interconnector, in practice, highlights the steps we have taken to identify new energy sources and, of course, to diversify the gas transport networks, so that the Southern Corridor can ensure connectivity on the project we started and implemented together with Bulgaria, Hungary and Austria, we are talking about the BRUA project. Through this interconnector, practically, the BRUA project's value is realized and it also helps us to be able to support the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine through the quantities of gas that can be transported through this corridor," Nicolae Ciuca said in a statement given to the press at the headquarters of the Romanian Embassy in Sofia.

Nicolae Ciuca added that, in the context of his trip to Sofia, he had a meeting with the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic's government, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, with whom he discussed the aspects related to the operationalization of this interconnector.

"As such, at this moment, I can give assurances that we have the necessary quantities of gas, and our country will not suffer in the winter of 2022-2023 from the lack of gas," he pointed out.

The Premier said that he also had a meeting with the President of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev, with whom he talked about the steps to be taken to increase the gas transit capacity.

"We discussed this topic because together we came to the conclusion that it is necessary for the national gas transport companies to be able to work together better and use European funds, because increasing the gas transport capacity is not only for the benefit of our country, but it is for the benefit of all the countries in the region and we also ensure a greater transport capacity for Central Europe," PM Ciuca explained.

The prime minister added that he also discussed with the Bulgarian president about the projects for ensuring navigability on the Danube, but also about the construction of a second Giurgiu - Ruse bridge. AGERPRES
Arturo Massol-Deya, the executive director of Casa Pueblo de Adjuntas, visited Northern Arizona University (NAU) on Tuesday as part of its presidential speaker series and explained how Casa Pueblo is working to increase energy security in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico, through a solar microgrid, a need only made more urgent by climate change.

Last week, Hurricane Fiona moved through Puerto Rico, leaving thousands without electricity or running water.

Rima Brusi, an anthropology professor at NAU who is also from Puerto Rico, said access to electricity helps with mental health as well as physical safety after a storm or other natural disaster.

A hurricane in Puerto Rico can be a very demoralizing experience, she said. People are tired, a lot of people are poor, they already went through a hurricane not too long ago. The government is ineffective, so it's easy to lose hope.

When the entire island is dark, but theres light in Adjuntas, and you can go there and you can charge your device and you can store your grandpas insulin. Those things make a huge difference, not only in practical terms in saving lives, but also in emotional terms.

Massol-Deya said Fiona served as a test of sorts for Casa Pueblos work on solar energy systems in Adjuntas, one that validated that the steps we are taking is the right way and we have to hurry.

Its not like we can bounce back immediately, and theres a lot of inequality that not everyone has access to energy security, but after another power outage in Puerto Rico, 100% of the island was without power for more than a week and still today, 40% of the island is still without power, he said Tuesday. Having that infrastructure in place is not only challenging the centralized fossil fuel infrastructure, but its creating well-being for the local community, and its becoming a reference of an alternative future.

Casa Pueblo is a community-based organization that has worked on forest protection, cultural promotion and education in central Puerto Rico, work Massol-Deya said helped them realize we need to break the fossil fuel energy dependency that Puerto Rico is trapped in right now.

Its current focus is promoting solar energy generation to encourage local development and climate adaptation, a bottom-up approach he called the energy insurrection.

Rather than the academic and theoretical work on sustainability common in the U.S., Massol-Deya said Adjuntas was an example of working in the real world.

In Adjuntas, its like its happening with all the variables and conflicts and difficulties, and still it is becoming a positive reference, he said. Its an opposite to the failures.

After Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in September of 2017, the organization was running on solar power, so it was able to reopen quickly and function as a community energy oasis.

Casa Pueblos leaders then decide to focus their sustainability work on energy systems, with the hope that these models could be used in other contexts.

It has now installed around 2,000 solar panels on two microgrids in the town, which has a population of a little over 4,000 people.

Among the services now running on Adjuntass solar microgrid are a radio station, firehouse, elementary school, grocery stores, more than 100 homes and a downtown area known as Adjuntas Puerto Solar. Tree-shaped chargers with solar panel branches serve as functional artwork that people can use during power outages or to learn more about solar power. The town even has a solar cinema, offering free films for kids.

The microgrid is about to be completed, Massol-Deya said, with the installation of a one-megawatt battery system.

Its hard to overestimate the importance of energy, Brusi said, noting that many of the 3,000 to 5,000 deaths from Hurricane Maria were due to a lack of electricity. Medical equipment (ventilators, for example) require electricity, and some medication needs refrigeration.

Energys more than just having power in your house, its more than turning the lights on, she said. Its sometimes a matter of life and death.

Massol-Deya agreed: We talk about a water crisis and a health crisis and communication crisis in Puerto Rico after Fiona, but it's not actually a water crisis, it's not a health crisis -- it is an energy crisis. ... At this point, its because the energy infrastructure is obsolete and the government still wants to keep the same centralized mentality of running fossil fuel power plants. These have to have the same transmission and distribution lines.

"[It's] about creating a scenario of more justice to democratize energy generation for people to participate in instead of consumers and paying for the fuels to others is to create self-sufficiency to break the model of dependency and everything we have done is without a single cent from the local government or the federal government. These are community-driven.

'The real disaster'

The real disaster of hurricanes, both Massol-Deya and Brusi said, was their continuing effects after the storms had passed. This impact also grows depending on the areas affected -- neighborhoods with fewer resources will feel the effects more intensely and take longer to recover.

I think [Fiona] should help us reconsider the way we describe disasters and talk about them, Brusi said.  ... A fire can be a threat, a hurricane can be a threat, but the real disaster is their impact. The disaster is bigger when the vulnerability of the people it hits is bigger. This hurricane was category one, but the way it affected Puerto Ricans was huge. It felt like a much bigger number because we were so vulnerable, because the electric grid was so weak, because there was so much inequality, because the government hadnt taken necessary steps to protect people.

Northern Arizona can take similar lessons, she said, thinking about who was affected by recent flooding, for example, and ways to act to help out.

In addition to the global dimension of realizing the Caribbean and U.S. are connected by climate change and by our activities, locally I think we can learn some lessons in terms of where the fragilities lie and the actions that need to be taken," Brusi said.

She said she saw two lessons people in northern Arizona could take from Casa Pueblos work: thinking about sustainability in addition to immediate disaster relief and increasing community engagement in this work.

One of the fantastic things about Casa Pueblo is that the communitys engaged in every step, she said. It can sometimes get messy, but it makes it so much better and so much more effective.

Massol-Deya similarly referred to climate change as a global problem that needs global action to address.

The kind of climate change that makes hurricanes in the Caribbean worse and worse is not due to the activities of the people in the Caribbean. Its due to the activities of people all over the world, Brusi said. When we think of climate change, we need to stop feeling safe in distance. What we do here matters.

Massol-Deya mentioned that Honnold Foundation in Utah had taken interest in helping with Casa Pueblo, as had the Department of Energy, which named it one of 10 study sites on microgrid interactions.

Its a collateral outcome that was not intended, but because this is happening and is real, now you have something going on that is allowing others to learn and generate knowledge and technology to be used in other locations, he said. Were very proud of that -- not only solving an issue on the local level, but having a broader impact.

 ... Were motivating others, were creating a reference that is a bridge: that its doable, that it works, that its good on a regular basis on good days, and youre better prepared for emergencies. If something happens in one installation, it doesnt compromise the town and it can be easily fixed, not like what were repeating right now.

A recording of Massol-Deyas presentation is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGTNes7KnRw. To learn more or donate to Casa Pueblo, visit casapueblo.org.
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP)  Nigerians celebrated the 62nd anniversary of their independence Saturday with the country's leader acknowledging the economic and security hardships citizens are facing as they prepare to vote for a new president in four months.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari rode a wave of goodwill to power in 2015 after promising to overcome the obstacles stifling the country's progress despite being Africa's most populous nation and largest economy.

Buhari, who will not be running for office again, said his government has made appreciable progress on security, the economy and fighting corruption, but conceded that we are not yet at our destination.

Nigeria's 33% unemployment and 40% poverty rates are the worst in decades, government estimates show. Moreover thousands have been killed during the last year in attacks by armed groups in the nations troubled northern region and by Islamic extremist rebels in the northeast.

I share the pains Nigerians are going through and I assure you that your resilience and patience would not be in vain, Buhari said.

In the commercial hub of the capital Lagos and in other parts of the country, thousands of people marched amid a heavy police presence in support for Peter Obi, one of the leading contenders February's presidential election.

The Nigerian government worries more about people with placards than it worries about people with weapons, Ayo Sogunro, a Nigerian human rights lawyer said of the heavy security presence.

Campaigning for the highly anticipated presidential election began this week, with 18 candidates vying for the country's top political job.

Leading candidates include the Bola Tinubu from the ruling All Progressives Congress and a former governor of Lagos state, former vice-president Atiku Abubakar from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Obi who is seeking to break the 23-year grip on power shared by those two parties.
HARRISONVILLE, Mo. - A northwest Missouri man pleaded guilty Friday to killing two brothers from Wisconsin after they came to his farm in 2019 to collect a debt from a cattle contract.

Garland Nelson, of Braymer, pleaded guilty to two counts of firstdegree murder in the deaths of 24-year-old Justin Diemel and 35-year-old Nicholas Diemel, of Shawano County, Wisconsin.

He was given two life sentences without parole, which will run consecutively.

In exchange for his plea, charges of abandonment of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, armed criminal action and tampering with a motor vehicle were dropped.

In 2020, one of Nelson's defense attorneys said the state planned to seek the death penalty if Nelson was convicted in the killings.

The brothers' father reported them missing July 21, 2019, after they didn't return from a visit to Nelson's farm, where they had gone to collect a $250,000 debt. Nelson was supposed to be caring for cattle for the brothers, according to court records.

The Diemel family sent livestock to Nelson's farm to be cared for and sold between 2018 and 2019. The animals were neglected and many died, but Nelson charged the family full price, according to court documents.

When the Diemels asked for their money back, Nelson intentionally sent a damaged check to Nicholas Diemel, which prompted the brothers' visit to his farm.

Prosecutors said Nelson shot the brothers and drove their pickup truck off of his farm. He told authorities he put the men's bodies in 55-gallon barrels and burned them. Nelson told investigators he dumped the remains on a manure pile and hid the barrels on his property, about 70 miles northeast of Kansas City.

The remains were later found in Missouri and in a livestock trailer in Lincoln County, Nebraska, that had been purchased in Missouri.

In 2020, the families of the victims reached a $2 million settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Nelson, his mother, Tomme Feil, and the family's cattle business, J4S Enterprises.

At the time of the brothers' deaths, Nelson was on parole after serving 17 months in federal prison for an October 2016 conviction for cattle and insurance fraud. Prosecutors said he sold more than 600 head of cattle that did not belong to him, causing more than $262,000 in losses.
Bill McClellan Bill McClellan is a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Bill McClellan Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

When Katrina devastated New Orleans, we invited refugees to come here. We are sister cities, we said. Mother River runs through us both.

Hardly anybody came. Most refugees went to Texas.

More recently, we have invited Afghan refugees here. We have offered all sorts of programs for them. We have promised to establish an Afghan newspaper and an Afghan Chamber of Commerce. You will be welcome here, we have said.

So far, just a few hundred have arrived.

Meanwhile, the governors of Texas and Florida are sending refugees to Chicago and New York and Washington and even Marthas Vineyard. None of these places wants them.

Are you thinking what Im thinking?

There is, of course, an obvious difference between the refugees we have invited and the ones from our southern border. The refugees from our southern border do not have proper papers. Theyre more like the people who sailed here on the Mayflower. They just decided to come.

Fortunately, their illegal status is a temporary thing. At least it could be. Citizenship might take a while, but I bet work permits could be expedited. These are people who want to work. Some of them have walked hundreds of miles to the border. We could use people with that kind of drive.

Im only being a little facetious there.

We have always been a city of immigrants, and few of them were welcomed. At the turn of the last century, the Irish came and the Jews and the Italians. The Germans had arrived earlier and though they looked like the English, there was a whiff of revolution and and anarchy to them. Around the middle of the last century, Blacks came to St. Louis in large numbers as part of the great migration north.

For some reason, St. Louis missed out on much of the Latino migration to this country.

The city has been shrinking for decades. The region is not growing. Our economy is stagnant.

We could use an infusion of immigrants.

When I arrived here in 1980, the Catholic Church seemed to provide a certain moral and intellectual center to the place. Lawyers and judges most often came from St. Louis University. (Washington University was the big dog academically even then, but its graduates didnt stay here.) When people defined each other by what high schools they had attended, they were most often talking about Catholic high schools. It was too nuanced for an outsider to understand.

The Catholic church plays a diminished role in St. Louis society today, but it could play a large role in helping refugees from the southern border. In fact, the religious community in general could take the lead in welcoming immigrants.

There would be challenges for sure, but nothing more challenging than what our ancestors faced when they left home.

Woke people sometimes reference their pronouns. My name is Bill, and I use he and him. I think it might be helpful if we used dates. My name is Bill and my people came to this country in 1903. My name is Mark, and my people came to this country in 1914. My name is Jose Alberto, but I am called Albert, and I came here in 1996. It would be illuminating to realize that many of the people with the most seniority were brought here on slave ships. My name is James and according to family lore, my people were brought here around 1820.

However and whenever we got here, we came from someplace else.

As I mentioned, I think the churches would have to take a lead on bringing refugees here. Politicians arent up to the task. They have been unable to even have a rational discussion about immigration reform or the ongoing crisis at the southern border.

Perhaps local politicians, far removed from the border, could play a role, but a minor role. This is too emotionally loaded for politicians to handle.

Not that its too complicated. It isnt. The city and the region need to grow. In the city, were closing schools for lack of students. Churches are closing or merging for lack of parishioners. All over the region businesses are looking for workers. You see signs everywhere.

Meanwhile, politicians are sending buses of refugees to places that dont want them.

The Gateway City is missing an opportunity.
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

It seemed like a simple request.

In July, I asked the city of St. Louis to provide 18 months of jail statistics for the Justice Center. The request followed a tip that administrative segregation  a bureaucratic phrase for solitary confinement  was on the rise at the jail.

At the time, there had been five deaths  it has now climbed to six  at the jail, and both detainees and attorneys were raising a stink about conditions there.

So I asked for the numbers to guide my reporting. The information I sought used to be publicly available without a request. It was posted online on the citys website  a monthly report showing use of force incidents, segregation, mental health needs and other statistics that nearly every jail in the country keeps on a regular basis.

They should be able to immediately produce those records. Any facility that is responsibly managed should be tracking those statistics, and theres no reason why those arent readily available, says attorney Elad Gross, an expert on the Missouri Sunshine Law. With the delays the city continues to impose, the strategy sure seems to be to make the records you requested less relevant by the time they are finally released.

Indeed, Ive made similar requests in other cities and received the information quickly, often the same day.

Its been more than two months since I made my request to St. Louis. All Ive received are delay notices from the citys Sunshine Law coordinator, Joseph Sims, pushing out the dates by which my records might be available. Such notices from Sims are becoming infamous among the circles of folks  especially reporters and attorneys  who regularly file requests for open records with the city.

Thats why Gross filed a 273-page lawsuit earlier this month alleging dozens of Sunshine Law violations in the city. His request also started by seeking information on the citys Corrections Department, only to encounter delay after delay. The lawsuit names Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, City Counselor Sheena Hamilton and Sims as defendants.

It was filed shortly before criminal justice reform advocates held a rally focusing on the tragedy of six detainees dying in the city jail in the past year. That Sunshine Law failures and bad news involve the same city department should not be a surprise. All too often, government obfuscation occurs when the news sought in public records sheds light on government failures.

So it was in the previous mayoral administration, when the city denied my request for bidding information related to the airport privatization effort, which has since been scuttled. Attorney Mark Pedroli later filed a lawsuit alleging violations of the Sunshine Law in that process, and the lawsuit is ongoing. To date, Pedroli has uncovered a trail of secrecy directed by the very city counselors office responsible for making sure the city is following the Sunshine Law.

Instead, that office, under two successive administrations, seems to work to obscure the inner workings of city government. In 2015, for example, Deputy City Counselor Michael Garvin directed his underlings to write a consulting contract with former mayoral chief of staff Jeff Rainford in a way that would ensure Rainfords communications with the city wouldnt be considered open records.

This is to ensure that our communications with him become privileged even though hes no longer employed by the city, Garvin wrote in an email uncovered by Pedroli in his lawsuit.

The contract with Rainford, who became a major player in the failed airport privatization scheme, was never produced, according to the citys recent response to my Sunshine Law request. (They responded to that one quickly).

Garvin still works for the city counselors office. And the Jones administration hasnt yet settled the airport privatization lawsuit, while it continues to struggle to follow the same Sunshine Law that the previous administration tried to avoid.

The citys failure to follow the Sunshine Law is system-wide and goes well beyond just my document request and covers a wide range of topics, Gross says. Any Missourian requesting any records from the City of St. Louis will likely have to make a substantial effort to access public records, which is not how the Sunshine Law is supposed to work at all.

Indeed, when detainees are dying at the jail, the Sunshine Law is supposed to ensure that their families and the public can see documentation that might reveal an explanation  bad conditions, too much use of force, too much solitary confinement or lack of mental health care.

According to Sims latest email, the earliest my records would be available was Sept. 23.

That date has come and gone. The records that could help explain an unacceptable spike in deaths are still nowhere to be found.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP)  Greece has the right to take all defensive measures to protect its easternmost islands amid threats by neighboring Turkey that dispute Greek sovereignty rights and raise the specter of war, the Greek defense minister said Saturday.

Speaking after Cyprus independence day military parade, Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos said Turkeys revisionist and destabilizing behavior also undermines security in the wider eastern Mediterranean region.

Panagiotopoulos dismissed Turkeys demands to demilitarize the islands as if theyre not being threatened and as if we dont have the right to take all defensive measures for them as baseless and unacceptable.

Earlier this week, Turkey summoned the Greek ambassador to protest the alleged deployment of dozens of U.S.-made armored vehicles to the Aegean islands of Samos and Lesbos, which Ankara says should remain demilitarized in line with international treaties.

Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also warned that his country wouldnt hold back on defending its rights and interests against NATO ally Greece, further ratcheting up tensions between the historic rivals.

Prompted by a coup aimed at union with Greece, Turkey's invasion of Cyprus in 1974 split the east Mediterranean island along ethnic lines. Numerous U.N. mediated efforts at reunification failed. Turkey is now calling for the recognition of the islands breakaway Turkish Cypriot northern third that the European Union and others say is contrary to established U.N. parameters for a peace deal.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said even though the islands National Guard is being bolstered with new equipment, he said the government wont be drawn into actions to furnish Turkey the excuse to further bolster its 40,000 troops in the north.
A recent campaign video for Eric Schmitt, Missouris Republican U.S. Senate nominee, takes an approach you dont see in politics every day. It could be titled: Im scared to talk to the media, because look at all these negative headlines about me.

The video, which Schmitt promoted on his campaign Twitter feed recently, is presented as a response to mainstream media requests for interviews, which Schmitt courageously refuses to do. It singles out the editorial boards of the Post-Dispatch (of which I am a member) and The Kansas City Star, along with individual opinion writers at both papers.

The liberal Editorial Boards and the fake news media have lost all credibility, tweeted the man who, as Missouris attorney general, filed a nationally mocked lawsuit against China and multiple lawsuits against Missouri school districts in which he made demonstrably counter-scientific claims about pandemic mask policies.

Villainizing the free press is nothing new. As any aspiring autocrat could tell you, thats always good demagoguery.

The interesting part is that the video shows a series of negative headlines about Schmitt, all backed by the unintentionally apt lyrics of Kanye West (I know I got to be right now / cause I cant get much wronger). Squint, and it looks like an ad from a Schmitt opponent.

The fact that Schmitts own campaign is displaying damning assessments of him by the states two largest newspapers illustrates one the most disturbing aspects of todays conservative-populist movement: Even the most valid criticism becomes a bragging point if it comes from the mainstream media.

That trick is easier to pull off if the criticism is just vaguely outlined in headlines, rather than explained in detail. So lets fix that, by looking more closely at some of the headlines featured in Schmitts video:

Missouri AG Eric Schmitt bobs his head as Tucker Carlson spouts dangerous nonsense.

This Star editorial headline, as shown in Schmitts video, references a Schmitt appearance on Fox News in which host Carlson declares  with the glowering certainty that only being wrong about almost everything can bring  that The boosters arent working. Theres evidence that people who get the boosters are more likely to get the latest variant of the coronavirus.

The sight of Missouris top legal official offering silent acquiesce to such plainly false and dangerous flotsam might well have convinced some Missourians not to get the boosters, potentially risking lives. But then, confronting Foxs favorite fabulist with, yknow, facts could have the far more dangerous consequence of denying Schmitt future Fox appearances to rally his base for the Senate election. Priorities.

This is fascism. Not semi-fascism. Just fascism.

This tweet from Post-Dispatch Metro columnist Tony Messenger, circled in red in Schmitts video, is linked to a Post-Dispatch story about Schmitts outrageous attempt to use the states Sunshine Law to obtain emails between journalists at the Columbia Missourian newspaper and PolitiFact, the respected fact-checking site. Its clearly a brazen attempt to harass the fact-checkers who Schmitt thinks might pose a problem for his Senate campaign.

That harassment was conducted in Schmitts official capacity as attorney general. As a Post-Dispatch editorial put it in a headline that, sadly, didnt make Schmitts video, his use of his office to hound journalists is a dangerous new low.

Fear-mongering must end: Does Missouri AG Eric Schmitt ever listen to himself?

Good question. Schmitts fear-mongering comment was in reference to school mask policies  as if those medically sound requirements were based on urban myth or something. But as Toriano Porter, columnist for The Star, lays out in the above-headlined piece, the real fear-mongering was from Schmitt himself, in the form of threatening and legally dubious letters to schools districts, and his call for parents to act as state government informants against their own schools. Seriously  does he listen to himself?

Letter: Missouri can do better than Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt

Yes, Schmitts video uses a Post-Dispatch letter to the editor as evidence of the newspapers bias  never mind that it was written by a reader, or that the newspaper routinely runs letters critical of Democrats, and of the paper itself.

The main point of the letter was that Schmitts quixotic lawsuits  against China for the coronavirus, against California for its tough automobile emissions standards, against Missouri schools for their pandemic policies  all funded by Missouri taxpayers, were essentially campaign stunts for Schmitts Senate bid. Thats an opinion, but its one with reams of evidence behind it.

Near the end of Schmitts video, audio comes in that appears to be a genuine voicemail message from someone with The Kansas City Star Editorial Board, who politely notes that there has been no response from the campaign to the boards invitation for an interview.

Ponder that: Upon receiving the Stars invitation, Schmitts campaign neither agreed to an interview so he could confront what he claims is unfair treatment and make his case, nor returned the call to decline the interview and explain why. No, the response was to intentionally leave the invitation unanswered  like some churlish schoolgirl  and then brag about that petulant unprofessionalism in a press-bashing campaign video.

And then Schmitt whines about negative headlines. Wronger, indeed.

Kevin McDermott is a Post-Dispatch columnist and Editorial Board member. On Twitter: @kevinmcdermott Email: kmcdermott@post-dispatch.com
Regarding the editorial Would-be lawmaker named Schmitt argues against upholding the law (Sept. 28): Missouri Attorney General and GOP Senate candidate Eric Schmitt, a man with legal training, signed an amicus brief to defend former President Donald Trump against the removal of classified documents from his home, calling them privileged and potentially privileged. What the amicus neglects to mention is that many of the documents were marked classified, and their protected contents were vital to national security.

The documents were stored in unlocked rooms and drawers in Trumps home. He refused to return them for months. Under subpoena, Trumps lawyers swore that the same documents had been returned three months earlier. Plus, Trump claimed to have declassified the documents without consulting anyone but himself.

I believe for a state attorney general like Schmitt to sign on to such a brief shows a casual contempt for the law that disgraces his office and disqualifies him as a Senate candidate. To use the word privileged to describe the documents Trump withheld from the National Archives reveals that Schmitt truly believes some citizens are above the law. No one who believes that should hold a public office in the U.S.

William Tucker  Chesterfield
WASHINGTON  Former President Harry Truman liked to walk. He used a walking cane to keep track of his strides and would start walking around Washington, D.C., and later Independence, Missouri, doing his best to keep a pace of 120 steps a minute.

Now the former Jackson County judge, U.S. senator, vice president and president is caught midstride in the U.S. Capitol.

At a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda on Thursday, with the sun shining through the windows in the grandest room in the building, Truman's family members and a long list of politicians pulled a string and showed off a bronze likeness of a Truman captured in motion.

"It's great for us today to see him now in the building he loved, in a democracy that he cherished and a world that he did so much to design and create and make what it is today," said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.

Truman's statue now stands in the cradle of American democracy, between statues of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

The statue was designed and sculpted by Tom Corbin, who is based in Kansas City. Corbin did extensive research while creating Truman's likeness and made multiple trips to the Truman Library Institute. He got access to Truman's suits, shirts, socks, ties, shoes and glasses. He studied pictures of the former president to see how his clothes fi t on him and how he folded his pocket square. He made sure the statue included Truman's World War I service pin and that his 33rd degree Mason's ring was on the correct finger.

The result was a bronze statue in a permanent stride, a reference to Truman's frequent walks throughout his hometown and the U.S. Capitol. He's wearing a double-breasted suit, hands swinging by his side as he walks down two steps.

Corbin told the Truman Library Institute that he wanted to make a statue that was more approachable than the others in the U.S. Capitol and one that represented motion.

Alex Burden, the executive director of the Truman Library Institute, said the statue embodies the former president.

"He wasn't ostentatious. He wasn't flamboyant. He wasn't kind of a media hound," Burden said. "He just rolled up his sleeves and went to work and did his business and did it in a way that he didn't need the attention that a lot of presidents needed or wanted or enjoyed during their moment in the sun."

Truman was born in Lamar but mostly grew up in Independence. Truman was the last president without a college degree. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she met Truman when he campaigned for her father, Baltimore Mayor and Congressman Thomas D'Alesandro, and that the former president emphasized the importance of education.

Along with serving as a captain in World War I, Truman held a number of jobs  farmer, timekeeper, bank clerk, Kansas City Star mail room worker, haberdasher  before Tom Pendergast's political machine helped him get elected as a judge in Jackson County. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1934 as part of a wave of New Deal Democrats.

"The story of Harry Truman is really the story of Missouri," said Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas. "Moderation, common sense. And I think that's why you see so many people smiling today that wanted to be a part of it."

When he was in his second term in the Senate, Truman won the nomination for vice president at the 1944 Democratic National Convention. He served as vice president for just 82 days before ascending to the presidency with Franklin Roosevelt's death.

Speakers at the unveiling took turns lauding Truman's accomplishments from ending World War II, the Truman Doctrine (in which he declared that the U.S. would support countries under threat of authoritarian forces) and the Berlin Airlifts (when the U.S. and United Kingdom airlifted food and supplies to Berlin when the Soviet Union blockaded access to the Western part of the city).

None directly mentioned one of his most consequential decisions  to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to bring an end to Pacific front in World War II.

Burden said he hopes the statue will help draw out discussions about the decision and that people will inspire people to research and learn more about the reasons Truman felt it was necessary.
Flagstaff City Council on Thursday discussed Northern Arizona Healthcares (NAH) plans for the new Flagstaff Medical Center (FMC) campus during a retreat.

NAH first submitted applications to build a new FMC campus near Fort Tuthill County Park in April of 2021. The plans would include a hospital, ambulatory care center (ACC), and larger health and wellness village to be built in stages.

NAH has over the last year hosted a variety of community meetings on the project as it has developed its plans and worked with the city to get them approved. Most recently, it submitted development review applications to the city, with a 60-day agency review of the specific plan beginning June 3.

According to the proposed timeline NAH presented Thursday, the project will be brought to the citys planning and zoning commission for a work session on Oct. 26. The commission then plans to have two public hearings on Nov. 9 and either Nov. 16 or 23 before bringing it to the city council for two hearings currently set for Dec. 6 and Dec. 13.

NAH is also planning another neighborhood meeting on the project for Monday, Oct. 10. It can be accessed here.

City of Flagstaff senior planner Tiffany Antol presented on the plan at the retreat, explaining the timeline of the citys work with NAH on the project.

Applications need to go through both a completeness and substantive review before being approved by the city.

After five rounds of comments and submitted, she said, the application finished the completeness review on Feb. 25 of this year.

The substantive review began the same day and the application has been moving through that process for about seven months, with NAH and the city exchanging work on the document.

Antols presentation covered current progress on the plan, amendments that would need to be made to the city plan and areas with outstanding issues.

City amendments

Antol mentioned four minor amendments that would need to be made to the regional plan: changing the activity centers area type to a regional rather than neighborhood scale to reflect the proposed villages anticipated regional draw, moving the center of a future suburban activity center over the hospitals location, rather than the road intersection of a former planned development, designating the center and the area to its south as employment area, and -- the big one -- to realign Beulah Boulevard's future corridor.

The regional plan currently moves Beulah to the west of its current alignment to allow for a future underpass of Interstate 17.

Antol said leaving Beulah at its current location would still allow for the proposed intersection, though the location of the intersection will be depressed once it is built.

The project would also require amendments to the specific plan for the new campuss location. Amendments include building placement (setting the hospital farther back from I-17 to avoid noise), landscaping standards, bike parking (which would increase), the layout and design of parking spaces, and parking lots and definitions.

An amendment to the specific plan would also be needed for building height, as the proposed hospital building is proposed at 160 feet, exceeding the maximum building height allowed in any zoning category by 100 feet.

Antol noted that the site plan lists the tallest part of the hospital building standing at 142 feet. The majority of the hospital building is 112 feet tall and the parking garage would be 65 feet tall. The tallest section is also the elevator penthouse, she said -- which is usually not considered in zoning height determinations.

We generally allow those elevator bulk heights to go about 15 feet above what the normal height would be, but no matter what, were going to be over that height, she said.

The zoning map would also need changes, as the 172.6-acre property is currently zoned as a mixture of rural residential, estate residential and single-family residential. The majority (109.7 acres) would be rezoned to highway commercial, with 27.8 acres being rezoned to research and development, and 35.2 acres being rezoned to public facilities.

Continuing concerns

Antol described the outstanding issues listed in her presentation as places where we need to overcome, get direction, things we need to resolve in order to move forward.

Many of these had to do with traffic and transportation, though she also mentioned fires, the existing hospital and the hospitals height as needing more consideration.

Items in the transportation impact analysis that need further consideration include analysis of internal roadways and intersections, roundabouts, the airport bridge over I-17 and special-event scenarios.

Antol also discussed roadway design for the four main roads in the project: Beulah Boulevard, Healthcare Boulevard, Purple Sage Trail and Wellness Loop.

Beulah is anticipated to widen for the project, with a rural lane on the side bordering I-17 and bike lanes and a multimodal path on the other side. Healthcare will eventually connect to Woody Mountain Road, and Purple Sage will be improved and relocated.

Wellness Loop is missing a connection off of NAH's property.

This has been one of the continuing conversations between staff and [NAH], Antol said. "Right now, the planning documents have included roundabouts at the end of healthcare and at the end of wellness loop. Staff would still urge that these roadways be completed or that we reach some kind of agreement as utilities also need to be extended at least within one corridor. Setting those utilities right in conjunction with what will be a future roadway bed will be extremely important to not place an additional burden on an adjacent development as they should move forward.

She also mentioned concerns that the signalized intersections planned for Beulah's intersections with Purple Sage and Healthcare might be too close together. Roundabouts have been proposed as one potential solution.

The proposed transportation mitigation currently in the plan prioritizes impacts to areas nearest the new campus. This includes completing improvements to Beulah before the hospital or ACC is occupied. NAH will also support the city with future grant funding opportunities and will complete a second traffic impact analysis after the first buildings are occupied.

According to the presentation, NAH is also proposing to provide transit services along with the hospital and ACC development. In the development agreement, this will include paratransit services, no-cost transportation for ambulatory discharge patients and access to public transportation or point to point transportation services.

The project represents significant increases to the citys fire protection and service delivery demands, Antol said of the outstanding issues relating to fire service. Essentially, were taking what is an urban facility today and moving it further out from our urban core, an area where we had not anticipated maybe the expansion or intensity of use, but also the increase in building height. Enhancement to current capabilities are necessary to support the rezoning of the property.

NAH and the city have both agreed to work through a standards of cover analysis for the city that has not yet been completed. Waiting to receive the information, Antol said, would mean going past the deadline NAH has requested to move the application forward.

As for the current location, Antol said her work is more focused on plans for the health and wellness village, but that there have been conversations about including language in the development agreement for this current entitlement project, and there are ongoing efforts.

In his presentation of NAH's plans, Steve Eiss, vice president of construction and real estate development, said the organization is in the process of establishing a redevelopment council that includes both city and community leaders.

NAH is under contract with Progressive Urban Management Associates (PUMA) to help with this work.

"We feel over the next few years that we'll be able to put together what we feel will be a very prosperous community development process with the existing campus," he said.

Antol's presentation also included suggestions a variety of city staff would like to see included in the project, including a transportation demand management (TDM) program, active recreation amenities and provisions to respond to the climate and housing emergencies.

You're moving a major employer from the center of town out to the outskirts. This is a great opportunity for NAH to move forward with encouraging active modes of transportation, she said when explaining the TDM suggestion.

We know that most patients will not be using those active modes of transportation when visiting this hospital. There are a lot of staff that work here, there are a lot of administrative workers, there are a lot of people who can use alternative modes. Maybe not the ER doctor, we get that, but we still think it's important that transportation demand management be included in this project.

A recording of the meeting, which also includes discussion of the project and a presentation from NAH, can be viewed here.

Correction:

An earlier version of this story mentioned NAH's updated timeline for construction on the hospital and ACC, which was not discussed in the presentations.
Humana also puts in place assistance for members, patients and the community at large, including access to crisis hotline with free counseling

LOUISVILLE, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Humana Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM), is donating $1 million towards relief and recovery efforts for those impacted by Hurricane Ian in Florida and Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico. Humana has also taken steps to aid communities in each storms path, including opening access to a crisis hotline with free counseling available.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220930005651/en/

Hurricane Ian made landfall along Floridas southwest coast on Sept. 28, causing widespread destruction, power outages, and a yet unknown impact in loss of life and property damage. The storm is now affecting other parts of the Southeast, including Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Hurricane Fiona struck Puerto Rico in mid-September, and even days after the storm, many there are still without power. As residents of both areas begin the recovery process, affected communities need assistance meeting basic needs including food, water, medical care and shelter.

Given the widespread impact of these storms, The Humana Foundation is donating an initial $1 million to help meet immediate relief and recovery needs. The contribution is part of the Foundations commitment to supporting communities in crisis through Disaster Philanthropy. Organizations receiving funding include Florida Disaster Fund, Community Foundation of Collier County, Collaboratory, Community Foundation of Sarasota County, GiveWell Community Foundation, and Center for Disaster Philanthropy. Also, The Humana Foundation announced it will match disaster relief contributions from Humana employees up to $500 per employee. The Humana Foundation will continue to monitor Hurricane Ian and evaluate additional recovery needs.

Caring for people and making communities more equitable is our purpose, and were committed to securing help and the vital resources needed for the people and communities impacted by these horrific storms, said The Humana Foundation CEO Tiffany Benjamin. During this difficult time and in the challenging days ahead, we'll partner with organizations in Florida, among other areas, who sit at the focal point of delivering the care needed most.

Beyond this donation, Humana has established a crisis intervention hotline through LifeWorks, with free counseling services for anyone  Humana members and non-members alike  who may need help and support to cope with the disaster and its consequences. The LifeWorks Crisis Support Line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and can be reached at 1-877-757-7587 in the United States and Puerto Rico.

In addition, Humana is in the process of checking on the safety and well-being of its employees, health plan members and the patients it serves through its primary care centers and home health operations.

We know theres a huge job ahead of us to recover from the hurricanes devastation, and all of us at Humana  including our more than 10,000 employees in Florida  are ready to support our friends and neighbors in that recovery effort, said Caraline Coats, president of Humanas Medicare business in Florida. Coats resides in South Florida.

For those of us who live on the Gulf Coast, this was a scary week, and it means a great deal to us to be working with the Humana Foundation to now help the people who suffered the most as the hurricane crossed our state, added Jocelyn Chisholm Carter, president of Humana Healthy Horizons, Humanas Medicaid business in Florida. Carter resides in Tampa. Our message to the people we are fortunate to serve is that we will be there for you in the days ahead.

In Puerto Rico, many remain without power, and there is a great deal of recovery work still to be done, said Luis Torres Olivera, president of Humana in Puerto Rico. Humana is committed to helping our community through these tough times, and weve taken important actions to care for our members, employees, friends and neighbors.

Prior to each storm, Humana also took the following steps for its health plan members in declared disaster areas:

Waived all requirements for primary care physician (PCP) referrals and prior authorizations for members

Provided members with the same cost sharing they would receive from an in-network facility even if receiving care outside the network

For members with a pharmacy benefit, suspended restrictions on refills to allow for travel difficulties and evacuations

Humana members with questions about services available to them should call the toll-free phone number on the back of their Humana ID card. (Some of the above benefit adjustments may not apply to commercial self-funded group members.)

About Humana

Humana Inc. is committed to helping our millions of medical and specialty members achieve their best health. Our successful history in care delivery and health plan administration is helping us create a new kind of integrated care with the power to improve health and well-being and lower costs. Our efforts are leading to a better quality of life for people with Medicare, families, individuals, military service personnel, and communities at large.

To accomplish that, we support physicians and other healthcare professionals as they work to deliver the right care in the right place for their patients, our members. Our range of clinical capabilities, resources and tools  such as in-home care, behavioral health, pharmacy services, data analytics and wellness solutions  combine to produce a simplified experience that makes healthcare easier to navigate and more effective.

More information regarding Humana is available to investors via the Investor Relations page of the companys web site at www.humana.com, including copies of:

Annual reports to stockholders

Securities and Exchange Commission filings

Most recent investor conference presentations

Quarterly earnings news releases and conference calls

Calendar of events

Corporate Governance information

About The Humana Foundation

The Humana Foundation was established in 1981 as the philanthropic arm of Humana Inc. and is focused on health equity, working to eliminate unjust, avoidable and unnecessary barriers in health and healthcare. The Foundation fosters evidence-based collaborations and investments that help people in underserved communities live connected, healthy lives. As a steward of good health, the Foundation creates healthy emotional connections for people and communities and is shaping a healthier approach to nutrition to support lifelong well-being. For more information, visit humanafoundation.org.

Humana Inc. and The Humana Foundation believe everyone should have access to the tools and support needed to have a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. Our commitment to improving health outcomes for all  our members and patients, employees, the communities we serve, the healthcare system, and the environment - is the foundation of our Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) impact platform.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220930005651/en/

Mark Mathis

Humana Corporate Communications

312-441-5010

[email protected]

Source: Humana Inc.
Agreement Expands UC San Diegos Sanford Stem Cell Institute into an Earth-Space Research Complex Aboard Orbital Reef Space Station

LOUISVILLE, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Sierra Space, a leading commercial space company at the forefront of building the future of space transportation and infrastructure for low-Earth orbit (LEO) commercialization, and University of California San Diego, one of the worlds top 15 research universities and a leader in microgravity research, have formed a new agreement with the goal of defining the future of human health care research in space.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220929005222/en/

Brain organoids in a petri dish, representative of research from Sierra Space and UC San Diego partnership to develop the first stem cell research institute in space. Photo credit: UC San Diego Health Sciences. (Photo: Business Wire)

In a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two organizations, Sierra Space and UC San Diego agreed to collaborate on Orbital Reef, the first commercial space station in LEO, to expand the universitys Integrated Space Stem Cell Orbital Research (ISSCOR) program, which is currently operational on the International Space Station (ISS). Together they will help define and shape the future of biotech and biopharma research and development in microgravity.

This agreement with UC San Diego is a major breakthrough in human health care research conducted in space and signals the beginning of a new era of discovery, said Tom Vice, Sierra Space CEO. Through our collaboration, the highly impactful work that researchers are already doing on the International Space Station today can expand and deliver even greater impact for humanity. As the ISS completes its time in service, UC San Diego will now have a place to grow and expand its vital research in biotech and biopharma with full, on-orbit biomanufacturing and biofabrication centers to foster breakthrough advancements and products in medical science that will benefit all life on Earth.

Microgravity and radiation exposure in low-Earth orbit offers a unique opportunity to study stem cell aging and pre-cancer development in a compressed time frame in a manner that is unavailable on Earth, said Catriona Jamieson, MD, PhD, a stem cell biologist, hematologist and director of the new UC San Diego Sanford Stem Cell Institute, funded with a $150 million gift from philanthropist T. Denny Sanford.

In collaboration with NASA, our Integrated Space Stem Cell Orbital Research team has launched six missions carrying stem cells and stem cell-derived organoids into LEO. We are learning things that we never could under normal gravity; knowledge that can elevate the search for new pre-cancer diagnostics and therapeutics that eradicate cancer at its earliest stages into addition to a broad array of degenerative diseases that arise as a result of stem cell dysfunction.

UC San Diego will provide input to Sierra Space on the design and concept of operations for providing new, state-of-the-art biomanufacturing, biofabrication and related in-space laboratory capabilities and services to industry, academia and government researchers. The university will also participate in a Sierra Space-led in-space biomanufacturing research consortium of industry, academia, philanthropic and government researchers that will focus on R&D objectives, priorities and technical requirements.

Sierra Space will lead the development, launch and deployment of space habitats to establish the necessary infrastructure for UC San Diego and other partners to conduct microgravity research and in-space manufacturing. The companys Dream Chaser spacecraft, the worlds only winged commercial spaceplane, will provide transportation to LEO, while its Large Integrated Flexible Environment (LIFE) modules will offer ample habitable spaces in which to live and work on orbit.

Sierra Space recently made two key appointments to lead development of research capabilities for future LEO commercialization. Dr. Jonathan Volk, Senior Manager of In-Space Manufacturing and Advanced Materials joined the company from Space Commerce Matters where he was the Director of Commercialization Strategies. Prior to this role, Volk was the Commercial Innovation Manager for Physical and Materials Science at the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), which managed the U.S. National Laboratory on the ISS. Dr. Marc Giulianotti takes on the role of Senior Manager, In-Space Biomanufacturing, joining Sierra Space from his role as Director of Science and Technology with the ISS U.S. National Laboratory. Dr. Giulianotti also has more than 20 years working in early drug discovery efforts at the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies. Both Volk and Giulianotti will focus on advancing the transformative research and technologies in the commercial space destinations of the future.

About Sierra Space

Sierra Space (www.sierraspace.com) is a leading commercial space company at the forefront of innovation and the commercialization of space. Sierra Space is building platforms in space to benefit life on Earth. The company is in the latter stages of doubling its headcount, with large presences in Colorado, Florida and Wisconsin. Significant investors in Sierra Space include General Atlantic, Coatue, and Moore Strategic Ventures.

With more than 30 years and 500 missions of space flight heritage, Sierra Space is enabling the future of space transportation with Dream Chaser, the worlds only winged commercial spaceplane. Under construction at its Colorado headquarters and expected to launch in 2023 on the first of a series of NASA missions to the International Space Station, Dream Chaser can safely carry cargo - and eventually crew - to on-orbit destinations, returning to land on compatible commercial airport runways worldwide. Sierra Space is also building an array of in-space destinations for low-Earth orbit (LEO) commercialization including the LIFE (Large Integrated Flexible Environment) habitat at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a three-story commercial habitation and science platform designed for LEO. Both Dream Chaser and LIFE are central components to Orbital Reef, a mixed-use business park in LEO being developed by principal partners Sierra Space and Blue Origin, which is expected to be operational by 2027.

About UC San Diegos Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center

Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center (Sanford Center) is among the Universitys most highly visible and top priority interdisciplinary and multi-institutional programs. Sanford Center provides essential physical and human resources needed to leverage stem cell research currently being conducted at UC San Diego. Due to the complexity of regenerative medicine projects and substantial institutional investment, on a daily basis Sanford Center personnel works with a large variety of departments in Health Sciences, Health System, and the school of engineering.

As part of UC San Diego Health, Sanford Center motivates University-wide change and sustainability, focusing on creating the structure under which various innovative regenerative medicine units and initiatives are developed. Sanford Center has led several successful and highly visible interdisciplinary faculty recruitments, committing to over $48M towards faculty start-up, retention, and research funds for over 25 faculty members. Sanford Center also played a pivotal role in securing over $77M of grants from California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), awarded respectively to dept. of Bioengineering, Pediatrics, Cellular & Molecular Medicine, Medicine, Neurosciences, and Sanford Center.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220929005222/en/

Alex Walker

Sierra Space

(303) 803-2297

[email protected]

Eric Becker

ICR for Sierra Space

(303) 638-3469

[email protected]

Scott LaFee

UC San Diego

(858) 249-0456

[email protected]

Source: Sierra Space
MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The MolinaCares Accord (MolinaCares), in collaboration with Molina Healthcare of Florida (Molina), is donating $300,000 to the Florida Disaster Fund, Farm Share, Harry Chapin Food Bank, and Latino Leadership in the aftermath of Hurricane Ians devastating impact on Florida communities.

Our hearts go out to all Floridians displaced or affected by Hurricane Ians catastrophic damage on our state, said Mike Jones, plan president of Molina Healthcare of Florida. Molina is supporting its longstanding Florida non-profit partners by boosting their capacity to deliver food, water, and other resources desperately needed during this critical recovery period.

MolinaCares will distribute its $300,000 donation to the following organizations:

The Florida Disaster Fund, activated by First Lady Casey DeSantis, is Floridas official private fund established to assist communities as they respond to and recover during times of emergency or disaster.

Farm Share is Floridas largest independent food bank and has been serving the states food insecure communities for over 30 years.

Harry Chapin Food Bank is the largest hunger-relief nonprofit and the only Feeding America member in Southwest Florida, serving Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry, and Lee Counties.

Latino Leadership is dedicated to the advancement of Floridas Latino community through resources designed to improve their quality of life.

Earlier this week, Molina announced its support for members, providers, and employees impacted by Hurricane Ian.

About The MolinaCares Accord:

Established by Molina Healthcare, Inc., The MolinaCares Accord oversees a community investment platform created to improve the health and well-being of disadvantaged populations by funding meaningful, measurable, and innovative programs and solutions that improve health, life, and living in local communities. The MolinaCares Accord funds such measures through The Molina Healthcare Charitable Foundation, a 501(c)(3) established in 2020 by Molina Healthcare, Inc.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220930005659/en/

Caroline Zubieta, [email protected], (562) 951-1588

Source: The MolinaCares Accord
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Vagaro, the leading comprehensive business management platform for the beauty, fitness, and wellness industries, celebrated a successful close to the companys inaugural conference, iconic.22, in San Francisco on Monday.

Over 400 guests registered for the event, headlined by celebrity speakers Venus Williams and Tabatha Coffey.

The two-day conference allowed small business owners to network, learn business growth strategies from industry leaders, and hear directly from Vagaro CEO Fred Helou.

Contributions from key sponsors were vital to the events success.

VP of Marketing, Charity Hudnall said, Our sponsors are a huge part of the Vagaro family. Together, we are always looking for ways to innovate and create opportunities for the businesses we serve.

I am so grateful that our sponsors were there to help make our very first conference a memorable one. Thanks to them, we created an inspirational event in an inclusive environment, making every attendee feel special.

iconic.22 sponsors included: American Express, a globally integrated payments company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success.

Chase for Business, which offers various business banking solutions including loans, credit cards, and lines of credit.

Certegy, a leading provider of payment & risk management technology for retailers and financial institutions across North America. Backed by more than 60 years of experience in payments, Certegy incorporates AI, machine learning and other innovations into its platform to securely serve todays growing digital payment demand.

Liberis, a leading global embedded finance platform with a mission to provide small businesses with accessible and responsible finance, based on the belief that funding should always be a positive force for small businesses. Liberis provides partners with the technology platform and financial solutions to offer hyper-personalized and accessible funding, empowering their small business customers to grow their revenues.

Gusto, a modern, online people platform that helps businesses take care of their teams. In addition to full-service payroll, Gusto offers health insurance, 401(k)s, expert HR, employee self-onboarding, and team management tools. The company serves over 200,000 businesses in the United States and has offices in Denver, New York City, and San Francisco.

Thrivo, which empowers salons with omnichannel capabilities through technology that seals customized salon hair color, to serve the entire hair color market sustainably.

SalonEVO, a leading industry magazine for hair, nail and beauty professionals in UK, Ireland, and North America.

iconic.23 sponsorship opportunities available soon.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220930005614/en/

[email protected]

Source: Vagaro
PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Western Alliance Bancorporation, one of the countrys top-performing banking companies, today released its 2022 Corporate Responsibility Report. The report highlights the strategies of the bank and its divisions to forward its people-centered mission and details its activities during 2021.

At Western Alliance, our culture and values revolve around strong relationships with all of our stakeholders  our clients, colleagues, investors and communities, said Kenneth Vecchione, chief executive officer, Western Alliance Bancorporation. Corporate responsibility is part of everything we do  including how we manage and develop our people, the products and services we offer, and the investments we make in our communities. Were pleased to share our 2022 Corporate Responsibility Report, which focuses on our comprehensive efforts through this lens.

Western Alliance Bancorporation is one of the largest banking companies in the country with a market capitalization of $7.6 billion at quarter-end 2Q 2022.

About Western Alliance Bancorporation

With more than $66 billion in assets, Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE: WAL) is one of the countrys top-performing banking companies. Through its primary subsidiary, Western Alliance Bank, business clients benefit from a full spectrum of tailored banking solutions and outstanding service delivered by industry experts who put customers first. Major accolades include #1 top-performing bank with $50 billion or more of assets in 2021 per American Banker, #1 Best Bank ($50 billion and above) in 2021 by Bank Director and 2022 All-America Executive Team by Institutional Investor (including #1 Best CEO and #1 Best CFO). Serving clients across the country wherever business happens, Western Alliance Bank operates individual, full-service banking and financial brands with offices in key markets nationwide.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements that relate to expectations, beliefs, future plans and strategies, anticipated events or trends and similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding our expectations with regard to our business, future economic performance, growth and success, and the quotations from Kenneth Vecchione. The forward-looking statements contained herein reflect our current views about future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and changes in circumstances that may cause our actual results to differ significantly from historical results and those expressed in any forward-looking statement. Some factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical or expected results include, among others: the risk factors discussed in the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 and the Companys subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, each as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission; the potential adverse effects of unusual and infrequently occurring events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and any governmental or societal responses thereto; changes in general economic conditions, either nationally or locally in the areas in which we conduct or will conduct our business; the execution of our business plan; and other factors affecting the financial services industry generally or the banking industry in particular.

Any forward-looking statement made by us in this press release is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. We do not intend and disclaim any duty or obligation to update or revise any industry information or forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, set forth in this press release to reflect new information, future events or otherwise.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220930005639/en/

Media Contact:

Stephanie Whitlow

Senior Marketing Director

480.998.6547

[email protected]

Investors:

Miles Pondelik

Director, Investor Relations & Corporate Development

602.346.7462

[email protected]

Source: Western Alliance Bancorporation
TORONTO, Sept. 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Immutable Holdings Inc. (NEO: HOLD) (Immutable Holdings or the Corporation), a publicly-traded blockchain holding company, is pleased to announce the voting results of the Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders of the Corporation that was held on September 30, 2022 (the Meeting).

Election of Directors

Each of the nominees for election as directors listed in the Corporations management information circular dated August 26, 2022 (the Circular) were elected as directors of the Corporation for the ensuing year or until their successors are elected or appointed.

Other Items of Business Considered at the Meeting

Each of the following resolutions voted on at the Meeting were also passed:

A resolution fixing the number of directors of the Corporation elected at the Meeting at five.

The reappointment of BF Borgers CPA PC as auditors of the Corporation for the ensuing year and the authorization of the directors of the Corporation to fix their remuneration and the terms of their engagement.

A resolution ratifying, confirming and approving the renewal of the Corporations rolling stock option plan, as such plan and such resolution are set forth in the Circular.

For further details regarding the matters considered at the Meeting, please refer to the Circular, which can be found under the Corporations profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

About Immutable Holdings Inc.

Immutable Holdings Inc. (NEO: HOLD) is on a mission to democratize access to Web3 and blockchain-based products and services. Founded by Jordan Fried, a founding team member of multi-billion dollar Hedera Hashgraph network, Immutable Holdings already boasts tens of millions under management and a portfolio of businesses and brands built on the blockchain ecosystem, including NFT.com, Immutable Asset Management, and 1-800-Bitcoin. For further information regarding Immutable Holdings, visit https://immutableholdings.com/ and see the Corporations disclosure documents on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

For media inquiries and further information, contact:

Billy Baxter, Head of Corporate Development & OperationsEmail: [email protected]

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION:

This news release contains certain statements which constitute forward-looking statements or information under applicable Canadian securities laws. Such forward-looking statements are subject to numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond the Companys control, which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those stated, anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, changes to applicable laws or the regulatory sphere in which the Company operates, general economic and capital markets conditions, stock market volatility and the other risks disclosed in the Companys annual information form dated March 31, 2022 and other disclosure documents available on the Companys profile at www.sedar.com. The foregoing is not an exhaustive list of factors that may affect the Companys forward-looking statements. Other risks and uncertainties not presently known to the Company and/or not specifically referenced herein could also cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed in its forward-looking statements.

Although the Company believes that the forward-looking statements in this news release are reasonable, they are based on factors and assumptions, based on currently available information, concerning future events, which may prove to be inaccurate. As such, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, as no assurance can be provided as to future plans, operations, results, levels of activity or achievements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and, except as required by applicable law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or to revise any of the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Source: Immutable Holdings Inc.
HEFEI, China, Oct. 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lakesemi announced that it has developed a new generation silicon carbide full bridge with rectifier module  LSCT30PV120B9G.

This new module has a very low on-resistance. In addition, it also has the characteristics of low capacitance, high-speed switching, and high switching frequency, which is helpful to improve the rapid response of equipment and energy saving. Therefore, it has a wide range of applications, such as motor drives, switching mode power supply, and UPS.

LSCT30PV120B9G is superior in silicon carbide full bridge with rectifier module. Its VDSS index reached 1200V. The model has On State Resistance of 88m and a Total Gate Charge of 347nc. Thermal engineers might get benefit from its ultra-low transient thermal impedance of 0.28C/W at 1ms for thermal shock.

Regarding the rectifier, its Repetitive Peak Reverse Voltage reaches 1800V, the Maximum RMS Forward Current is 50A, and Surge Current (@tp=10 ms) is 315A. The rectifier can maintain good stability in complex working environments.

This module's operating temperature range (Ta) is -40 C to +125 C, ensuring the use in industry and harsh thermal environments. Meantime, it uses advanced packaging technology, its size just 62.8 mm 56.7 mm  16.5 mm, allowing it to be used where space is tight.

The LSCT30PV120B9G has officially gone on sale. For more information, please visit:http://www.lakesemi.com/index.php?case=archive&act=show&aid=572

Lakesemi, a Hefei, China-based startup company, focuses on power semiconductors. Lakesemi is a pioneer of wide-bandgap semiconductor products, such as GaN or SiC-based MOSFET. It is also providing silicon-based shielded gate transistors, IGBTs, IGBT modules, IPM, etc.

Contact Information: Rentai Xiao General Office DirectorLakesemi [email protected] (+86)15874257525 Hongwei Zhang Deputy General ManagerLakesemi [email protected] (+86)13901948268

Related Images

Image 1: silicon carbide full bridge with rectifier moduleLSCT30PV120B9G The industry-first 1200V SiC Full Bridge and Rectifier Module

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

Attachment

silicon carbide full bridge with rectifier moduleLSCT30PV120B9G silicon carbide full bridge with rectifier moduleLSCT30PV120B9G

Source: Lakesemi
CRANBURY, N.J., Oct. 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pharmacy Times, the leading media resource for pharmacists, and Parata Systems, the leading provider of pharmacy automation, today announced the 2022 Next-Generation Pharmacist award winners. Ten category winners were recognized for their remarkable achievements in the pharmacy profession at a gala event last night at Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland in Kansas City, Mo. Matthew Pruitt, Pharm.D., a Walgreens pharmacist in the Phoenix area, received the top honor as the 2022 Next-Generation Pharmacist of the Year.

Pruitt, winner of the awards Civic Leader category, is a site director for a micro-fulfillment facility that services more than 400 pharmacy locations. The facility, a Walgreens first, was built with a vision of taking work out of stores to allow pharmacists more time to elevate the patient experience.

An instructor and mentor for numerous students as an adjunct assistant pharmacy professor and pharmacy preceptor, Pruitt spearheaded the first COVID-19 mass vaccination site in Arizona, at the Arizona Cardinals State Farm Stadium in Glendale, and served on the states Vaccine Equity Task Force and Arizona Vaccine and Antiviral Prioritization Committee. He also works closely with industry leaders in the state to shine a light on health injustice in underserved areas, including issues dealing with substance abuse and access to health care.

Matthew Pruitt is a perfect example that building a career as a pharmacist can be both extremely rewarding and exceptionally impactful, said Mike Hennessy Jr., president and CEO of MJH Life Sciences, parent company of Pharmacy Times. Through dogged determination and a ceaseless commitment to helping the people of his state  no matter their economic background, he has helped save and improve the lives of so many Arizonans. We congratulate Dr. Pruitt on being named the 2022 Pharmacist of the Year and thank all our category winners for the outstanding example they are setting within the pharmacy industry.

Each 2022 Next-Generation Pharmacist category represents one of the many roles that exist within the pharmacy industry. The category winners are as follows:

Civic Leader: Matthew Pruitt, Pharm.D., Walgreens

Future Pharmacist: Alyssa B. Reese, Pharm.D., May 2022 Graduate of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore School of Pharmacy, Central Virginia VA Health Care System

Health System Pharmacist: Michelle R. Locke, Pharm.D., BCACP, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium/US Public Health Service

Lifetime Leadership: Glen Pietrandoni, R.Ph., AAHIVE, Avita Pharmacy

Patient Care Provider:

Christy M. Ware , Pharm.D., R.Ph., Walgreens

, Pharm.D., R.Ph., Walgreens Victoryn S. Williams, Pharm.D., MBA, BCPS, VillageMD

Pharmacy Educator: Renee Robinson, Pharm.D., MPH, M.S.Pharm., MBA, Idaho State University

Rising Star: Farah Jalloul, B.S., Pharm.D., MBA, Michigan Pharmacists Association

Specialty Pharmacist: Brandon Salke, Pharm.D., CSP, Optime Care

Technician: Shayla Smith, CPhT, Avita Pharmacy

Visionary Pioneer: David Medvedeff, Pharm.D., MBA, Aspen RxHealth

Year after year, our team at Parata Systems is awed by the outstanding nominations we receive for these awards, so we could not be prouder to participate and help celebrate this industry, said Karen Thomas-Smith, senior vice president of marketing at Parata. There are so many exceptional people working in the pharmacy industry across all these categories. We offer our most sincere congratulations to Dr. Pruitt and the other winners, and we thank them for their far-reaching contributions to the field.

All winners will be featured in the September issue of Pharmacy Times and on https://www.nextgenpharmacist.com. For more information on the Next-Generation Pharmacist awards program, please visit the website.

Pharmacy Times and Parata Systems would like to thank the following program sponsors: embecta, National Healthcareer Association, Pharmacy Development Services, NCPA and Americorp Financial LLC.

About Pharmacy TimesPharmacy Times is the industry-leading multimedia pharmacy network of community, health system, oncology and specialty pharmacy platforms, providing practical clinical and professional information pharmacists can use in their everyday practices when counseling patients and interacting with other health care providers. Each issue and the website contain articles and features covering industry trends, drug interactions, patient education, disease state management, patient counseling, product news, pharmacy law and more. Additionally, Pharmacy Times Continuing Education is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education as a provider of continuing pharmacy education. Pharmacy Times is a brand of MJH Life Sciences, the largest privately held, independent, full-service medical media company in North America dedicated to delivering trusted health care news across multiple channels.

About Parata SystemsParata, a BD company, is the leader in pharmacy automation. Our comprehensive solutions for multiple markets range from vial filling, pouch and blister packaging to central fill, providing a single source for your complex needs. With over 6,000 units installed nationwide, we power pharmacies to help people lead healthier lives.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3d444c17-6408-482c-92d1-93104d92264c.

Press Contact: Kelsey BaRoss RoseComm for MJH Life Sciences [email protected]

Matthew Pruitt, Pharm.D., named Next-Generation Pharmacist 2022 Pharmacist of the Year Pharmacy Times and Parata Systems honored Matthew Pruitt, Pharm.D., a Phoenix-area Walgreens pharmacist, as the 2022 Pharmacist of the Year at the 2022 Next-Generation Pharmacist award gala event on Sept. 30.

Source: Pharmacy Times
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2022) - Idaho Champion (CSE: ITKO) (OTCQB: GLDRF) (FSE: 1QB1) ("Idaho Champion" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has closed the first tranche of its recently announced private placement offering. As part of the closing of the first tranche, the Company issued 11,700,000 shares for gross proceeds of $585,000*.

*All amounts expressed are in Canadian dollars.

Idaho Champion opened a non-brokered private placement of up to 20,000,000 units at a price of $0.05 per unit for gross proceeds of up to $1,000,000. Each unit will consist of one (1) common share. The proceeds of the financing will be used for the acquisition of the two prospective lithium pegmatite projects in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay territory of Quebec, preliminary field work on the Projects and for general working capital purposes.

Completion of the private placement remains subject to the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE").

The participation by the director of the Company in the financing constitutes a "related party transaction" pursuant to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company intends to rely on the exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 contained in Section 5.5(b) and Section 5.7(1)(b) of MI 61-101, respectively, on the basis that (i) no securities of the Company are listed or quoted on any of the markets specified in Section 5.5(b) of MI 61-101 and (ii) the fair market value of the securities issued to related parties pursuant to the financing does not exceed $2,500,000, along with the other applicable circumstances contained in section 5.7(1)(b) of MI 61-101.

In accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws, all securities issued pursuant to the private placement with be legended with a hold period of four months and one day from the date of issuance.

About Idaho Champion Gold Mines Inc.

Idaho Champion is a discovery-focused exploration company that is committed to advancing its highly prospective mineral properties located in Idaho, United States and shortly, Quebec, Canada. The Company's shares trade on the CSE under the trading symbol "ITKO", on the OTCQB under the trading symbol "GLDRF", and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol "1QB1". Idaho Champion is vested in Idaho with four cobalt properties in Lemhi County in the Idaho Cobalt Belt. In addition, the Company has been advancing the Baner gold project in Idaho County and the Champagne polymetallic project located in Butte County near Arco. Idaho Champion strives to be a responsible environmental steward, stakeholder and contributing citizen to the local communities where it operates. Idaho Champion takes its social license seriously, employing local community members and service providers at its operations whenever possible.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF IDAHO CHAMPION

"Jonathan Buick"

Jonathan Buick, President and CEO

For further information, please visit the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com or the Company's corporate website at www.idahochamp.com.

For further information, please contact:

Nicholas Konkin, Marketing and Communications, Idaho Champion

Phone: (416) 567- 9087

Email: [email protected]

THIS PRESS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY ANY SECURITIES IN ANY JURISDICTION, NOR SHALL THERE BE ANY OFFER, SALE, OR SOLICITATION OF SECURITIES IN ANY STATE IN THE UNITED STATES IN WHICH SUCH OFFER, SALE, OR SOLICITATION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL.

Cautionary Statements

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulation services provider has reviewed or accepted responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release This press release may include forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, concerning the business of the Company. Forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the management of the Company, including suggested strike extension. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based on are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws.

NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/139164
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Creating opportunities and bridging gaps

BOCA RATON, Fla., Sept. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Azull Capital and SouLA are coming together with their backbone partner Image Source who will commit their dollars to underserved communities in a meaningful way. They as a collective will produce two very distinct and very signature, unlike any other event to date. These events will celebrate community and commerce while also setting a foundation for building blocks of whole communities.

Azull Capital supports & partners with SouLA to create a community where equal opportunities are provided for every business ownership, career advancement, affordable credit and many more. Business loans these companies are providing are designed with the business in mind and are customizable to work with unique business model. They are dedicated to helping businesses grow on their personalized terms. Until now, small businesses had to rely on the banks and their strict lending criteria to get business funding to grow. Azull Capital and SouLA says no more would there need to be such restrictions in place.

Stay tuned for further details on the Kairos Summit Week of May 25th Tied to All Africa Day and the Kingdom Day Celebration January 2023.

About Azull Capital is a business finance company that provides alternative funding to small and medium sized businesses. Azull Capital was founded by a team of entrepreneurs who understand the challenges of getting a bank loan and how traditional lenders are overburdening small business owners. Azull simplified everything by accepting and approving business loan requests in as little as 3 steps. They help not only in the matter of giving loans but also organize financial trainings.

About SouLA- SouLA partners with major corporations to increase their revenue streams by delivering consumers that have been largely ignored due to systems of racism, sexism, gender bias, ageism, or poverty. Both groups also have an international reach and are able to leverage relationships in India & Africa to help fulfill the Global Compact requirements of the United Nations in the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA).

Contact information[email protected]

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/azull-capital-partners-with-soula-301638305.html

SOURCE Azull Capital
YIWU, China, Oct. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Yiwu is the world's capital of commodities, Yiwugo.com is the official website of the Yiwu Commodity Market, which is the largest commodity wholesale market in the world. Yiwugo hosts 50,000 merchants and 10 million registered buyers, 10% of whom are overseas buyers. It has 800,000 daily average visits and a daily average PV of 15 million. According to the latest statistics from Yiwugo and the feedback from merchants, the number of European buyers purchasing hot-water bags has grown significantly, with the regular water injection type is the mainly-purchased product.

Sales doubled from the previous year at the beginning of the peak season.

Jingyang Daily Necessities is an established international trade enterprise with a history of more than 30 years. 12 years ago, Chen Jianping took the business over from her parents. For enterprises in Yiwugo, there are usually two peak seasons every year. The first begins from July and lasts till October as boosted by buyers from the northern hemisphere, and the second from the end of the year till next spring, as boosted by buyers from South America. This year is unusual. Although the first peak season has just been halfway through, enterprises' sales volume has already doubled from last year.

Chen explained that, due to the impact of repeated Covid-19 outbreaks at home and abroad, most orders were placed by long-time buyers instead of new ones in the past two years. This year, however, the number of new customers, particularly end customers, has suddenly surged. Most of them are from Europe, looking for water injection hot-water bags. As electric heating hot-water bags were previously popular exports to countries such as India, it is unusual to see water injection type gaining popularity in Europe.

In fact, this is closely attributed to the rising energy price in Europe. The natural gas price in Europe has reportedly reached more than 10 times that of the same period last year; the anthracite price has been three times that of the same period last year; the electricity price has increased by 12 folds from the previous year. The German government announced that it would levy a "natural gas surcharge" from October, and Italy has shortened the heating period by 15 days for this winter.

The surging energy price this year has driven up the heating cost, especially for European people living in frigid high-latitude regions. As such, the traditional affordable water injection hot-water bags have suddenly become their favourite choice. Even though European people have also started to use water injection hot-water bags, they have never lost their aesthetic sense and pride. According to Chen, European consumers favour fashionable, high-quality hot-water bags with high rubber content and European architectural style of decorative imprints.

The popularity of hot-water bags in Italy and other European countries aroused Chen's curiosity. She later figured that a significant number of buyers had come around by searching the English site of Yiwugo. Although many orders placed were small or medium ones, they were still "fresh blood", and all the buyers were overseas wholesalers. This encouraged Chen and made her confident about her decision last year to launch new products continuously and establish an international site on Yiwugo.

Some of the new customers were referred to Chen by merchants of home textiles, quilts and other warm-keeping products in Yiwu market. There are also merchants in other lines of business who are entrusted by customers to make purchases, or those who recommend Jingyang Daily Necessities to buyers after they found the company on Yiwugo. The buyers will then have intermediaries such as international trade companies to make purchases directly from Jingyang.

Chen explained that there had been signs of this purchase frenzy since the first half of the year. From April to May, some well-established buyers, including those from European countries such as Italy, already stocked a large quantity of water injection hot-water bags. But this was not common practice at the time, so it did not attract much attention of merchants.

Domestic-oriented enterprises generated more export sales than domestic sales this year.

Yu Fengchao, owner of Yiwu Junma Hot Water Bottle Factory, is running an established international trade factory of water injection hot-water bags. The factory was established over 30 years ago, receiving orders mainly from Spain.

As a second-generation business executive, Yu took the business over exactly ten years ago. To date, his factory has been a member store on Yiwugo for five years. A Spanish new customer contacted Yu on Yiwugo this July. After they communicated with each other for a while, the customer, without meeting Yu in person, placed an order of more than RMB 100,000 for high-quality hot-water bags, mostly in the shape of cartoon characters and covered with insulating cloth.

Yu explained that the water injection hot-water bag, which is a home-grown product, used to be sold domestically. Since July, however, many new buyers have emerged from European countries such as Spain and Italy. Driven by the recent trend towards original design, new models are launched in the second half of each year. In this peak season, export sales have surpassed domestic sales.

It is mutual trust that has led an overseas new customer to place his very first order for more than RMB 100,000. Besides faithful communication between the two sides, Yiwugo, a third-party platform, has also played a vital role as a guarantor for them to build trust. As enterprises divert more resources into Yiwugo in recent years, the platform has also yielded better results for them, thus forming a virtuous circle of win-win cooperation.

2022 marks the 40th anniversary of Yiwu market, as well as the 10th anniversary of Yiwugo as the largest e-commerce platform in China. As the market enters the second generation in the past decade, more and more young merchants are choosing Yiwugo as their partner. Likewise, Yiwugo will join hands with them to embrace a brighter future.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chinese-hot-water-bags-sweep-europe-merchants-from-yiwugo-get-busy-with-orders-301638328.html

SOURCE Yiwugo; Yiwubuy.com
VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Copper Mountain Mining Corporation (TSX: CMMC) (ASX: C6C) (the "Company" or "Copper Mountain") announces that it has filed a technical report (the "2022 Technical Report") for its Copper Mountain Mine prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101  Standards for Disclosure of Mineral Projects. The 2022 Technical Report corresponds to the Company's September 28, 2022 news release entitled "Copper Mountain Mining Announces a 57% Increase in Copper Mineral Reserves at the Copper Mountain Mine and Updated Life of Mine Plan."

The full technical report is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.CuMtn.com.

About Copper Mountain Mining CorporationCopper Mountain's flagship asset is the 75% owned Copper Mountain Mine located in southern British Columbia near the town of Princeton. The Copper Mountain Mine currently produces approximately 90 million pounds of copper equivalent. Copper Mountain also has the development-stage Eva Copper Project in Queensland, Australia and an extensive 2,100 km2 highly prospective land package in the Mount Isa area. Copper Mountain trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "CMMC" and Australian Stock Exchange under the symbol "C6C".

Additional information is available on the Company's web page at www.CuMtn.com.

On behalf of the Board of

COPPER MOUNTAIN MINING CORPORATION"Gil Clausen"

Gil Clausen, P.Eng.President and Chief Executive Officer

Website: www.CuMtn.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking StatementsThis news release may contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (together, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as "plans", "expects", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "occur" or "be achieved". In this news release, certain forward-looking statements are identified, including anticipated production at the Copper Mountain Mine. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance and opportunities to differ materially from those implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include the risks set out in Copper Mountain's public documents, including in each management's discussion and analysis, filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although Copper Mountain believes that the information and assumptions used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply 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. Except where required by applicable law, Copper Mountain disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/copper-mountain-mining-files-ni-43-101-technical-report-for-its-copper-mountain-mine-301638319.html

SOURCE Copper Mountain Mining Corporation
Seed-stage commercialization realizes value in the Province's health research and intellectual property

TORONTO, Sept. 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - FACIT congratulates Ontario-based start-ups Hyivy Health and HDAX Therapeutics as the latest recipients of capital through its Prospects Oncology Fund. Selected among a top-tier pool of applicants, these Ontario-based innovations illustrate excellent potential to benefit patients with cancer.

Former Falcons' Fortunes pitch competition finalist Hyivy Health is developing a remote patient monitoring, pelvic rehab system for gynecological and colorectal cancer patients and their clinicians. Prospects funding will support a clinical trial currently in protocol development at Grand River Regional Cancer Centre in Kitchener, Ontario. A spin-off from the University of Toronto, HDAX Therapeutics is developing potentially first-in-class, blood-brain barrier permeable HDAC6 selective inhibitors for CNS cancers. Prospects funding will accelerate CTA/IND enabling research and preparation for clinical studies.

FACIT's Prospects Oncology Fund fuels a pipeline of innovations and addresses the early-stage seed gap in Ontario's life sciences sector. FACIT's Ontario-focused capital helps de-risk innovations through local development, ultimately driving greater value for Ontario intellectual property (IP) and attracting follow-on investment into the Province. The Prospects Oncology Fund provides a deal-flow of novel breakthrough discoveries that feed FACIT's Compass Rose Oncology Fund.

Leaders in healthcare commercialization, FACIT has turned $46 million of publicly-supported dollars into $1.4 billion in fully leveraged capital for some of Ontario's most high profile life sciences companies. Investing Ontario First seed capital in the Province's rich talent and innovation pool brings economic benefits to Ontario's biotech ecosystem. With support from the Government of Ontario, FACIT continues to make strong, positive impacts in the commercialization of Ontario innovations, ultimately ensuring great science has a translational pathway to Ontario patients.

"The FACIT team is pleased to provide these entrepreneurs with a commercial financing pathway in our own community to advance their technologies closer to impacting patients with cancer," said Dr. David O'Neill, President of FACIT. "With these compelling innovations and partners, seed stage commercialization demonstrates its capacity for anchoring companies, jobs and talent in Ontario."

"Congratulations to Hyivy Health and HDAX Therapeutics for these incredible innovations," said Jill Dunlop, Minister of Colleges and Universities. "Ontario is proud that its investments in the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and FACIT are supporting ground-breaking cancer research. Investing in promising ventures from local start-ups is a key way that FACIT is capturing more value from Ontario-funded discoveries and intellectual property. Investments like these are essential for moving oncology innovations to real world application that can benefit cancer patients and our province's economy."

About FACIT

FACIT is an award-winning commercialization venture firm that builds companies with entrepreneurs to accelerate oncology innovation, with a portfolio that has attracted more than $1 billion in investment to Ontario. Blending industry experience, capital and the unsurpassed clinician-scientist network of its strategic partner the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR), FACIT capitalizes on the province's investment in research and healthcare to the benefit of the local economy and patients worldwide. FACIT's commercialization portfolio includes Turnstone Biologics, Fusion Pharmaceuticals, Triphase Accelerator and other biotechnology organizations. Cancer Breakthroughs. Realized. facit.ca.

About Hyivy Health Inc.

Created after the founder's recent fight with cervical cancer, she wanted to change the way 1 in 3 women worldwide who will experience a pelvic health complication in their lifetime are treated given that the current standard of care is an over 84 year old technology. Hyivy Health provides a data driven pelvic rehabilitation system for the over 60M women in North America with hypertonic, painful pelvic floor conditions. Our system provides the first quantifiable data set on the pelvic floor by using our Floora device to conduct 3 different therapies, which are tracked using multiple biosensors helping patients and their clinicians treat, track and predict pelvic floor and gynecological conditions and symptoms.

About HDAX Therapeutics

HDAX Therapeutics, a spin-out from the University of Toronto, is developing first-in-class, blood-brain barrier permeable HDAC6 selective inhibitors for CNS cancers and cancer-associated neuropathies.

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SOURCE FACIT Inc.
ORLANDO, Fla., Sept. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Lug, the popular lifestyle brand of handbags and accessories, is pleased to announce its 3-year commitment to the SickKids Foundation in support of The Hospital for Sick Children. Through our Lug Cares Program, Lug is committed to supporting and sponsoring kids' health and education initiatives. Starting Today, all proceeds from purchasing a $25 Lug Pumpkin Tote will support ground-breaking research, education, and world-class patient care at SickKids.

Lug is pleased to announce its 3-year commitment to the SickKids Foundation in support of The Hospital for Sick Children.

Between Sunday, October 2nd and October 9th, tune in to Lug's mobile shopping app, LugLive, or visit www.shopluglive.com for special live shows supporting Child Life programs at SickKids. The show week kicks off with a special 7 pm ET show on Sunday, October 2nd, with Lug co-founder and designer Ami Richter. All proceeds from these live shows will go directly to the SickKids Foundation.

In addition, Lug has also donated hundreds of Pumpkin Totes to The Hospital for Sick Children so that each patient will have this special tote for their in-hospital Reversed Trick-or-Treating event later this month.

"We are honored to support the SickKids Foundation and the world-class care that The Hospital for SickKids provides to these amazing children. The energy, resources and care that is shown throughout these facilities go above and beyond and can be seen in every staff member, nurse and doctor." - Jason and Ami Richter, Lug Founders

About Lug

Founded in 2005 by Ami and Jason Richter, Lug's unique silhouettes and thoughtful designs keep you organized throughout your day. Featuring fashionable bags and accessories in brilliant colors and novelty patterns, Lug provides solutions to everyday life with both function and fashion in mind.

The following year, Lug's Puddle Jumper bag caught Oprah's attention and it was featured on the "O List" in O Magazine, popularizing the brand among female travelers.

In 2015, Lug launched on QVC to great success, where its products are featured in broadcasts that reach over 100 million American households. Lug received the QVC Star Award for Customer Experience in 2016 and the QVC Star Award for Customer Experience in 2017.

Lug was chosen as the official bag of the 2018, 2019 and 2020 SAG Awards Gala Gift Bags.

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SOURCE The Lug Companies
PARIS, Oct. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Last night, Victoria Beckham and Mytheresa hosted an intimate dinner in Paris to celebrate their successful ongoing relationship and Victoria Beckham's Spring Summer 2023 show and Paris Fashion Week debut.

The event took place at the scenic marine brewery Girafe, where guests enjoyed traditional French fare and sipped on Don Julio infused cocktails, whilst enjoying breathtaking views of the iconic Eiffel tower.

Please credit all images: Victoria Beckham x Mytheresa Photographer: Darren Gerrish Where: Girafe, Paris Link to event imagery: https://we.tl/t-ViDurafOE3

Guests included:

David BeckhamRomeo BeckhamCruz BeckhamHarper BeckhamGigi HadidEdward EnninfulEva LongoriaKarlie KlossJuergen TellerImran AmedPernille TeisbaekLeia SfezCamille CharriereIsabela GrutmanDerek BlasbergTylynn NguyenJo EllisonAnders Christian MadsenMarie-Pierre LannelongueBeka Gvishiani

Victoria Beckham, Creative Director Victoria BeckhamMarie LeBlanc, CEO Victoria BeckhamMichael Kliger, CEO MytheresaTiffany Hsu, VP Womenswear & Kidswear Buying Mytheresa

About Victoria Beckham

Victoria Beckham founded her eponymous fashion label in 2008. Developed at her London atelier, the brand launched with a series of form-fitting dresses and has expanded to include a ready-to-wear, footwear and eyewear line. The designs are an adaptation of Victoria's own personal style to the needs and desires of the global audience. A true wardrobe, the distinctive pieces are bold, refined and effortlessly versatile, featuring the finest craftsmanship and materials.

In 2019 the first Victoria Beckham collection in collaboration with fitness and lifestyle brand Reebok launched and later that year Victoria Beckham Beauty was established, featuring clean formulations and high-performance solutions for dynamic individuals everywhere.

With offices in London and New York and a flagship store in Mayfair, the brand has won critical acclaim alongside multiple industry awards including Best Designer Brand and Brand of the Year at the BFC's Fashion Awards. In addition to victoriabeckham.com, the Victoria Beckham brand is carried in more than 250 stores in 52 countries worldwide.

About Mytheresa

Mytheresa is one of the leading global luxury fashion e-commerce platforms shipping to over 130 countries. Founded as a boutique in 1987, Mytheresa launched online in 2006 and offers ready-to-wear, shoes, bags and accessories for womenswear, menswear and kidswear. In 2022, Mytheresa expanded its luxury offering to home decor and lifestyle products with the launch of the category "Life". The highly curated edit of over 200 brands focuses on true luxury brands such as Bottega Veneta, Burberry, Dolce&Gabbana, Gucci, Loewe, Loro Piana, Moncler, Prada, Saint Laurent, Valentino, and many more. Mytheresa's unique digital experience is based on a sharp focus on high-end luxury shoppers, exclusive product and content offerings, leading technology and analytical platforms as well as high quality service operations. The NYSE listed company reported 747.3 million GMV in fiscal year 2022 (+21.3% vs. FY21). (https://investors.mytheresa.com).

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/victoria-beckham-and-mytheresa-host-an-intimate-dinner-at-girafe-to-celebrate-paris-fashion-week-301638387.html

SOURCE Mytheresa
Milestone Event Named Two New Expedition Ships and Featured All Classes of Viking Ships in the Same Place for the First Time

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Viking (www.viking.com) today marked the company's 25th anniversary with a historic celebration in Amsterdam. To commemorate the milestone, for the first time ever, three classes of Viking shipsa river ship, an ocean ship and the company's newest expedition vessel, the Viking Polarismet in Amsterdam and sailed in a special convoy to IJmuiden, Netherlands. Participating in the convoy with the Viking Polaris were the Viking Longship, the Viking Mani, and the ocean vessel, the Viking Mars.

During the Amsterdam event, Viking also named the Viking Polaris and her identical sister ship, the Viking Octantis, which is currently sailing her inaugural season in the Great Lakes. Both ships will spend the Austral summer in Antarctica, before traveling north to the Great Lakes for a series of voyages during spring and summer.

"Today is historic for Vikingto celebrate our 25th anniversary, to have all classes of our ships sailing together for the first time, and to name our phenomenal new expedition vessels. We are very grateful to their godmothers, Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft, for honoring us. As renowned explorers who became the first women to ski across Antarctica, they are the perfect choice for ships that are designed for expeditions," said Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking. "I am very proud of what we have accomplished in our first 25 years. And in our view, we are just getting started. Where do we go next? Onwards."

Renowned explorers and educators Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft, the respective ceremonial godmothers of the Viking Octantis and the Viking Polaris, were in attendance in Amsterdam and offered a blessing of good fortune and safe sailing for the new shipswith Arnesen offering her blessing remotely via video to the Viking Octantis in the Great Lakes. In keeping with the naming tradition, Arnesen and Bancroft assisted in breaking a bottle of Norwegian aquavit on each of the ship's hull. During the ceremony, guests enjoyed performances from Sissel Kyrkjeb, one of the world's leading crossover sopranos and godmother of the Viking Jupiter, and violinist Tor Jaran Apold. Guests on all three Viking ships in Amsterdam were able to join in the naming ceremony, as well as witness the historic convoy, from their ships' respective outdoor viewing areas.

Viking's 25th anniversary celebration in Amsterdam is the most recent event during a milestone year in which the company has also welcomed to its fleet eight new Viking Longships on the rivers of Europe and new purpose-built vessels on the Mekong, Nile and Mississippi rivers. By the end of 2022, two new, identical ocean ships will have also joined Viking's fleet. Earlier this year, Viking was named the #1 Ocean Line and #1 River Line in Travel + Leisure's 2022 "World's Best" Awards, in which the company became the first cruise line ever to top both categories in the same year. Viking is also rated #1 for both rivers and oceans by Conde Nast Traveler, making it the first cruise line to ever simultaneously earn #1 in its categories from both publications. Additionally, Viking has published a new video about the company's history and some of the key partners who have contributed to its success, which was shared on board all Viking ships today as part of the 25th anniversary celebration.

Liv Arnesen, Godmother of the Viking Octantis

Liv Arnesen is a native Norwegian, educator, cross-country skier, explorer and lecturer. Arnesen led the first unsupported women's crossing of the Greenland Ice Cap in 1992. The Viking Octantis is named after Sigma Octantis, the south star; Arnesen was chosen as godmother specifically because of her accomplishment as the first woman in the world to ski solo and unsupported to the South Pole. As the godmother of the Viking Octantis, Arnesen will periodically serve as a member of the Viking Expedition Team when sailing in Antarctica and beyond.

"It is an honor to be the godmother of the new Viking Octantis. I have spent significant time in Antarctica and recently had the privilege to return on one of the ship's first voyages. The region is a special destination for scientists and adventurers, and sailing with Viking is the perfect way to get there," said Liv.

Ann Bancroft, Godmother of the Viking Polaris

Ann Bancroft, an American polar explorer, educator and author from Minnesota, became the first woman to successfully ski to both poles in 1993. Bancroft also led the first American women's east to west crossing of Greenland and dogsled 1,000 miles from the Northwest Territories in Canada to the North Pole. The Viking Polaris is named after Polaris, the north star; Bancroft was chosen as godmother specifically because of her accomplishment as the first woman to reach the North Pole by sled and foot. In addition to being the godmother of the Viking Polaris, she is the founder of the Ann Bancroft Foundation to inspire girls and build confidence.

"Growing up in the Minnesota region, the Great Lakes are where I spent my early years becoming an explorer. I am proud to be the godmother of an expedition vessel like the Viking Polaris that will allow guests to visit, not only the Great Lakes, but also Antarctica, two regions that played a pivotal role in my life," said Ann.

Liv Arnesen & Ann Bancroft Partnership

For more than 20 years, Arnesen and Bancroft have worked together and in 2001, they became the first women to ski across Antarctica. Together they co-founded Bancroft Arnesen Explore / Access Water, an initiative that aims to engage and empower more than 60 million minds to create a sustainable tomorrow.

Viking Expedition Ships

The new Polar Class Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris host 378 guests in 189 staterooms. The vessels are purpose-built for expeditions, at an ideal size for safety and comfort in remote destinations. With more indoor and outdoor viewing areas than other expedition vessels, guests are as close as possible to the most magnificent scenery on earth. Highlights include:

The Aula: A stunning panoramic auditorium inspired by the University of Oslo's famed ceremonial hall, the former venue for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Used for lectures, daily briefings, documentaries and films, this spectacular venue features a 4k laser-projected screen that retracts to expose floor-to-ceiling windows and 270 views.

A stunning panoramic auditorium inspired by the University of Oslo's famed ceremonial hall, the former venue for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Used for lectures, daily briefings, documentaries and films, this spectacular venue features a 4k laser-projected screen that retracts to expose floor-to-ceiling windows and 270 views. Finse Terrace: An outdoor lounge area just above sea level with recessed, heated seating and lava rock "firepits," the Finse Terrace was designed to allow guests the comforts of the ship al fresco while enjoying the dramatic scenery. Named after the Finse Plateau in Norway, where some of the greatest polar explorers, including Nansen and Amundsen, did their expedition training in preparation for their North and South Pole expeditions.

An outdoor lounge area just above sea level with recessed, heated seating and lava rock "firepits," the Finse Terrace was designed to allow guests the comforts of the ship al fresco while enjoying the dramatic scenery. Named after the Finse Plateau in Norway, where some of the greatest polar explorers, including Nansen and Amundsen, did their expedition training in preparation for their North and South Pole expeditions. The Hangar: A state-of-the-art, industry-first in-ship marina providing ease of embarkation and disembarkation of Special Operations Boats and other equipment while sheltered from the elements.

A state-of-the-art, industry-first in-ship marina providing ease of embarkation and disembarkation of Special Operations Boats and other equipment while sheltered from the elements. The Bow: An important forward-viewing platform. And in the case of inclement weather, The Shelter is a comfortable, partially enclosed space for guests to warm up with a hot drink before going back out into the elements.

An important forward-viewing platform. And in the case of inclement weather, is a comfortable, partially enclosed space for guests to warm up with a hot drink before going back out into the elements. The Science Lab: Developed in partnership with the University of Cambridge and Akvaplan-Niva, The Science Lab, at 380 sq. ft., is designed to support a broad range of research activities and is equipped with wet and dry laboratory facilities. Guests have supervised access to The Science Lab to learn from and participate in undertaking meaningful research with scientists.

Developed in partnership with the University of Cambridge and Akvaplan-Niva, The Science Lab, at 380 sq. ft., is designed to support a broad range of research activities and is equipped with wet and dry laboratory facilities. Guests have supervised access to The Science Lab to learn from and participate in undertaking meaningful research with scientists. Expedition Central: The hub for the expedition team to consult with guests on their expedition activities and share knowledge about the destinations on a one-on-one basis, with the aid of 3D printed maps, digital screens, and a state-of-the-art spatial data visualization chart table.

The hub for the expedition team to consult with guests on their expedition activities and share knowledge about the destinations on a one-on-one basis, with the aid of 3D printed maps, digital screens, and a state-of-the-art spatial data visualization chart table. Dining Choices: The Restaurant offers fine dining featuring regional cuisine and always-available classics; the casual World Cafe offers an open kitchen, bakery, grill and premium seafood and sushi choices, as well as a wide range of international flavors; Mamsen's, named for the Hagen family matriarch, serves Scandinavian-inspired fare; and Manfredi's offers the best of Italian cuisine.

The Restaurant offers fine dining featuring regional cuisine and always-available classics; the casual World Cafe offers an open kitchen, bakery, grill and premium seafood and sushi choices, as well as a wide range of international flavors; Mamsen's, named for the Hagen family matriarch, serves Scandinavian-inspired fare; and Manfredi's offers the best of Italian cuisine. The Nordic Spa: Following a day of exploration, The Nordic Spa offers guests opportunities to experience the ultimate healthy Nordic traditions, with an indoor heated pool set against expansive windows and a badestamp (wood-sided hot tub) that is open to the outside.

Following a day of exploration, The Nordic Spa offers guests opportunities to experience the ultimate healthy Nordic traditions, with an indoor heated pool set against expansive windows and a (wood-sided hot tub) that is open to the outside. Explorers' Lounge: Located high on the ship with floor-to-ceiling windows, the Explorers' Lounge provides guests an ideal space to take in the magnificent scenery, share discoveries with fellow travelers or to enjoy a drink.

Located high on the ship with floor-to-ceiling windows, the Explorers' Lounge provides guests an ideal space to take in the magnificent scenery, share discoveries with fellow travelers or to enjoy a drink. The Living Room: On the Viking Octantis and the Viking Polaris , The Living Room is located to maximize views of the surroundings through floor-to-ceiling windows and a library that informs even the best-read explorers. The Library is curated by acclaimed London bookshop Heywood Hill, as on all Viking vessels, as well as Cambridge University's Scott Polar Research Institute.

On the and the , The Living Room is located to maximize views of the surroundings through floor-to-ceiling windows and a library that informs even the best-read explorers. The Library is curated by acclaimed London bookshop Heywood Hill, as on all Viking vessels, as well as Cambridge University's Scott Polar Research Institute. Nordic Balcony: A first for polar expedition vessels, all staterooms on board Viking's expedition ships feature a Nordic Balcony, a sunroom that converts into an al fresco viewing platform with an observation shelf at elbow level to stabilize binoculars or a camera. Guests can choose from six stateroom categories that range from 222 sq. ft. to 1,223 sq. ft.all with a Nordic Balcony, as well as a king-size bed and large bathroom with spacious glass-enclosed shower, heated bathroom floor and anti-fog mirror. Every stateroom is also equipped with a unique floor-to-ceiling drying closet that circulates warm air to dry and store clothing and expedition gear.

A first for polar expedition vessels, all staterooms on board Viking's expedition ships feature a Nordic Balcony, a sunroom that converts into an al fresco viewing platform with an observation shelf at elbow level to stabilize binoculars or a camera. Guests can choose from six stateroom categories that range from 222 sq. ft. to 1,223 sq. ft.all with a Nordic Balcony, as well as a king-size bed and large bathroom with spacious glass-enclosed shower, heated bathroom floor and anti-fog mirror. Every stateroom is also equipped with a unique floor-to-ceiling drying closet that circulates warm air to dry and store clothing and expedition gear. Expedition Ship Suites: Nordic Junior Suites (322 sq. ft.) and Explorer Suites (580 sq. ft.) on the Viking Octantis and the Viking Polaris are similar to those on Viking's fleet of ocean ships, with wood detailing and amenities that include additional storage and seating, an expanded bathroom with extended shower and double sinks, welcome champagne, a fully-stocked mini-bar replenished daily, complimentary laundry, priority restaurant reservations and more. Explorer Suites feature two separate rooms, a Nordic Balcony and a full outdoor veranda. Additionally, each ship features one Owner's Suite (1,223 sq. ft.) that has three rooms  a living room, a board/dining room and a bedroomas well as a 792 sq. ft. private deck with a traditional Norwegian badestamp open to the invigorating outdoors.

Nordic Junior Suites (322 sq. ft.) and Explorer Suites (580 sq. ft.) on the and the are similar to those on Viking's fleet of ocean ships, with wood detailing and amenities that include additional storage and seating, an expanded bathroom with extended shower and double sinks, welcome champagne, a fully-stocked mini-bar replenished daily, complimentary laundry, priority restaurant reservations and more. Explorer Suites feature two separate rooms, a Nordic Balcony and a full outdoor veranda. Additionally, each ship features one Owner's Suite (1,223 sq. ft.) that has three rooms  a living room, a board/dining room and a bedroomas well as a 792 sq. ft. private deck with a traditional Norwegian open to the invigorating outdoors. Enrichment On Board and On Shore: Viking has created the world's leading scientific enrichment environment in an expedition setting. Exclusive partnerships with the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge University, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)as well as other prestigious scientific institutions match leading researchers and educators with each expedition. Thirty-six experts accompany each journey as part of the Viking Expedition Team, including an Expedition Leader and support staff, photographer, field research scientists, general naturalists, mountain guides, kayak guides, submarine pilots and specialists (ornithology, geology, higher predator biology and history). On board, guests will enjoy daily briefings and world-class lectures about their destination. On shore, they can assist in fieldwork or interact through experiential activities during landingssuch as monitoring birds to help identify migratory patterns; accompanying scientists to collect samples; or taking their cameras ashore alongside a professional photographer to learn how best to capture scenic landscapes.

Viking has created the world's leading scientific enrichment environment in an expedition setting. Exclusive partnerships with the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge University, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)as well as other prestigious scientific institutions match leading researchers and educators with each expedition. Thirty-six experts accompany each journey as part of the Viking Expedition Team, including an Expedition Leader and support staff, photographer, field research scientists, general naturalists, mountain guides, kayak guides, submarine pilots and specialists (ornithology, geology, higher predator biology and history). On board, guests will enjoy daily briefings and world-class lectures about their destination. On shore, they can assist in fieldwork or interact through experiential activities during landingssuch as monitoring birds to help identify migratory patterns; accompanying scientists to collect samples; or taking their cameras ashore alongside a professional photographer to learn how best to capture scenic landscapes. Environmentally Considerate: Viking's expedition ships have set a new standard for responsible travel with an energy-efficient design that exceeds the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) requirements by nearly 38%. In addition to an integrated bow that creates a longer waterline for the ships, engines with heat recovery systems and Azipod Electric Propulsion, the Viking Octantis and the Viking Polaris have received one of the industry's first SILENT-E notationsthe highest-level certification for quiet ship propulsion, minimizing underwater noise pollution.

About Viking

Viking was founded in 1997 and provides destination-focused journeys on rivers, oceans, and lakes around the world. Designed for experienced travelers with interests in science, history, culture and cuisine, Chairman Torstein Hagen often says Viking offers guests travel experiences for The Thinking PersonSM. Viking has more than 250 awards to its name, including being the first cruise line to ever be named both the #1 Ocean Line and the #1 River Line in a single year in Travel + Leisure's 2022 "World's Best" Awards. Viking was also rated the #1 River Cruise Line and #1 Ocean Cruise Line by Conde Nast Traveler in the publication's 2021 Readers' Choice Awards. For additional information, contact Viking at 1-800-2-VIKING (1-800-284-5464) or visit www.viking.com. For Viking's award-winning enrichment channel, visit www.viking.tv.

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SOURCE Viking
FILE PHOTO: Rex Tillerson, former chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil and former U.S. Secretary of State, leaves New York State Supreme Court in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S., October 30, 2019. REUTERS/Jefferson Siegel

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Former U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will be called as a witness by federal prosecutors in the trial of Tom Barrack, a one-time fundraiser for former President Donald Trump, on charges of illegally acting as a foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates, a court filing showed on Saturday.

Barrack's defense revealed the plans in a letter to U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in which it requested that Tillerson take the stand on Monday. The defense said prosecutors had confirmed that they would be calling Tillerson, but informed the defense he would be unavailable after Oct. 4 due to "personal plans."

Having Tillerson testify on Monday would ensure that the defense has enough time to cross-examine him, Barrack's lawyers said.

Barrack's lawyers have said the U.S. State Department, and Trump himself, knew of his contacts with Middle East officials, showing that Barrack did not intend to be a foreign agent.

Tillerson could not immediately be reached for comment.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn, where Barrack is being tried, declined to comment.

Barrack has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers have said his interactions with Emirati officials were part of his role running private equity firm Colony Capital, now known as DigitalBridge Group Inc (NYSE: DBRG), and that there was no evidence he agreed to act at the UAE's direction.

Tillerson, the former chief executive of ExxonMobil, served as Trump's secretary of state for slightly more than a year from 2017 to 2018.

The trial began with jury selection on Sept. 19. During the first week, prosecutors presented emails and text messages from Barrack and an associate that showed UAE officials provided input on what then-candidate Trump should say in a 2016 energy policy speech.

Prosecutors have said Barrack never told the U.S. attorney general he was acting as UAE agents, as required under federal law.

In opening statements, Barrack's lawyer Michael Schachter said there was no evidence that Barrack agreed to act under the UAE's direction. The defense has not yet had the chance to cross-examine the FBI agent who read the emails and texts to the jury.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Richard Chang)
(Tribune News Service)  Soldiers, electric linemen and non-profit organizations from the Meridian area are headed to Florida to help the disaster recovery efforts following Hurricane Ian. Ian made landfall Wednesday as one of the most powerful storms to strike the U.S., causing massive flooding and destruction.

In a press release Thursday, the Mississippi National Guard announced soldiers with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 111th Aviation Regiment in Meridian were heading to Brooksville-Tampa Bay Regional Airport to support the recovery effort.

While there, the guardsmen will deliver critical supplies to affected areas on two CH-47 Chinook helicopters.

Additional guardsmen from the 255th Air Control Squadron out of Gulfport were headed to Gainesville, Florida to provide technical communication support. In total, the Mississippi National Guard said about 20 soldiers would be deployed to help the disaster recovery effort.

Our Soldiers and Airmen are always training for emergency response missions along with their military readiness training. The talented Soldiers and Airmen of the Mississippi National Guard are ready to support our neighbors in Florida with lifesaving communication and heavy lift aviation logistical support, said Maj. Gen. Janson D. Boyles, the adjutant general of Mississippi.

The National Guard, however, was not the only organization to send help. Julie Boles, Director of Marketing and Communication for East Mississippi Electric Power Association said the power company was sending 19 employees to help restore needed electric power to devastated Florida communities.

EMEPA linemen, servicemen and engineers were traveling to Wauchula, Florida to lend manpower to Peace River Electric Cooperative, Boles said.

 Peace River Electrics service territory experienced some of its worst weather to date in Ian, which made landfall in Florida on Wednesday afternoon as a category 4 storm, Boles said.  Peace River Electric reported on Thursday morning that 88 percent of its more than 55,200 members were currently without power.

Mississippi Power also announced it was sending personnel to help out. In a news release the utility provider said a storm team of 100 people were heading to Valdosta, Georgia to join the recovery effort.

Mississippi Power Storm Director Melvin Roland said the team was ready to help in any capacity they could.

Fortunately, weve had a quiet storm season so far in 2022, he said. But we know it only takes one storm to impact lives across the southeast. Our storm-tested team is prepared and ready to help whoever needs it.

Mississippi chapters of The Salvation Army were also staging to lend aid to the disaster recovery effort. In a news release, Lt. Roy Fisher, Commanding Officer of The Salvation Army Meridian, said mobile feeding units and emergency disaster teams from Mississippi and Texas were on the ground to provide relief to evacuees and responders.

Prior to landfall two warehouses in Tampa, Florida and McDonough, Georgia were being packed with food, water, hygiene items and more to be distributed to displaced Floridians during the recovery period, Fisher said.

(c)2022 The Meridian Star (Meridian, Miss.)

Visit The Meridian Star at meridianstar.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
MIAMI (Tribune News Service)  Residents stranded on Sanibel Island by Hurricane Ian flew to the mainland by U.S. Army helicopters after Miami-Dade County rescuers reached them, according to footage released by the agency.

Footage provided by Miami-Dade's Fire Rescue department shows one firefighter on Thursday carrying a woman to a an all-terrain vehicle in Sanibel, which then shuttled the person to the waiting Army helicopter.

"Fortunately we were able to find a suitable landing zone, and we started to evacuate people," Miami-Dade Lt. Alex Acosta said in a county-produced video from the Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers. "We ended up transporting approximately 42 individuals and several pets from that area."

The airlift operations in Sanibel were needed after Hurricane Ian destroyed part of the only bridge connecting the island to the mainland.

Acosta said county firefighters used chairs to double as stretchers to transport people unable to move on their own. No fatalities were reported, and Acosta, part of a nearly 100-person county deployment, said everyone they encountered on Sanibel was flown to the mainland.

Both Miami and Miami-Dade dispatched Urban Search and Rescue teams to Southwest Florida as part of a broad deployment by local agencies to the disaster zone, operations typically funded by the federal government.

The Miami's USAR Florida Task Force 2 released video footage showing rescue operations. A Miami Fire Rescue release said the team rescued more than 60 people trapped by flood waters and debris. The team's rescue squad has been working in Marco Island, Punta Gorda, Island Park and Fort Myers.

In one clip, Miami paramedics working at night are transferring several elderly people from a transport truck to an awaiting ambulance. "It's going to be tight quarters, guy," one paramedic says off camera.

Erika Benitez, a spokesperson for Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, said the county team, USAR Florida Task Force 1, was conducting rescue operations again in Sanibel on Friday.

Miami Herald staff writer Tess Riski contributed to this report.

2022 Miami Herald.

Visit miamiherald.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.




(Global Times) The first US-Pacific Island Country Summit was held in Washington on September 28 and 29 with leaders and representatives from 14 Pacific Island countries taking part in it. This is the first time that Pacific Island countries have received an invitation from Washington collectively. The US has carried out high-profile propaganda, repeatedly hyping the summit as a "milestone." However, public opinion generally believes that this is an "unprecedented diplomatic effort" made by the US to counter China, while at the same time, some island countries are already worried about being forced to take sides.

Washington exaggerated the significance of this summit. This is a new move of a series of actions taken by the US to win over the region since last year after Washington began to take the friendly exchanges between China and the Pacific Island countries as a thorn. According to Kurt Campbell, coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs of the National Security Council, "the purpose [of the summit] is not just to listen to Pacific leaders, but to put tremendous resources on the table." At the summit, US President Joe Biden announced $810 million in new funding for Pacific Island countries to "meet priorities."

It's a good thing if Washington can really deliver on its promises. But based on past experiences, the US has too low international reputation for honoring commitments. What's more worthy of vigilance is that various political conditions have always been attached to the US aid commitments. It's known to all that the US' sudden attention paid to the Pacific Island countries is not out of conscience. The US has its own strategic purpose. In recent years, the rapid development of mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Pacific Island countries has become a thorn in the side of the US and it's eager to remove it.

In other words, getting assistance from the US is always at the expense of a country's dignity and part of its sovereignty. On the eve of the summit, a think tank funded by the US Congress released a report. It said the Pacific Islands "are an important strategic buffer between US defense assets in Guam and Hawaii and East Asian littoral waters." According to the report, if Beijing were to "succeed in bringing one of these states into its sphere, it would imperil US military capabilities in a strategically vital geographic command area." The US wants to make Pacific Island countries be deeply grateful for its "kindness," bow to it and serve as pawns in its Indo-Pacific Strategy by offering them petty favors, which is the greatest disrespect for the Pacific Island countries.

Perhaps, in Washington's view, the "privilege" of "getting invited to the White House for the first time," the reception involving the red carpet and limelight, and "big dollar" aid are enough to make the Pacific Island countries feel extremely flattered and be obedient to the US. But Pacific Island nations enjoy independence and sovereignty, so they want genuine respect from the US, not letting it use a symbolic one with high-profile ceremonies that practice interventionism or use flamboyant new concepts to revive the model of hegemony based on the subordination of small states.

Similar examples can be found everywhere during the summit. For example, some media revealed that the Pacific Island states deleted a reference to the need for them to "consult with one another closely on security decisions with regional impacts" from a draft of the joint declaration, which was seen as a response to the security agreement signed by China and the Solomon Islands. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Wednesday that the US will provide $4.8 million in funding to support activities like sustainable fisheries. He also said Pacific Island leaders were invited to US Coast Guard headquarters to discuss how to improve maritime domain awareness and combat illegal fishing activities. All of these are said to be for the livelihood of the Pacific Island people, but these moves label China as "a threat to fishery" at the same time. In reality, they are used as a grip to monitor and "smear" China, attempting to undermine normal and legitimate fishery cooperation of Pacific Island countries with other countries. This, in turn, harms the interests of people from Pacific Island countries.

For the Pacific Island countries, their core demand is regional prosperity and stability, as they hope that the US will accept their 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent to address climate change and promote sustainable development in the region. At the summit, although Washington claimed to take "urgent action" on issues, including the climate crisis, Pacific Island people have serious concerns, since the US is well-known as a straight F student in terms of addressing climate change. What's more, Washington's motives are not pure. The Western media does not hide the fact that the US has made an "unprecedented" effort to rope in Pacific Island countries to "counterbalance China's influence."

The US' attitude toward Pacific Island countries has changed from the long-time neglect for nearly 80 years after World War II to the sudden attention aimed at containing China's influence. What hasn't changed is the mindset of treating the region as its "backyard," and what has continued is its hegemonic logic. Such "pride and prejudice" cannot be covered up by a few new missions, visits by senior officials, and declarations of big dollar aid. It is hoped that the US can truly change the way it views the world and other countries and treat Pacific Island countries with sincere respect and equality. This is not only the proper demeanor that a major power should have, but also the minimum responsibility it should assume for regional peace and stability.
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DAKAR  First there were reports of gunfire near the presidential palace. Then state television service was briefly cut. By nightfall, a military officer in camouflage was reading an announcement: For the sake of Burkina Faso's national security, he said, officers had seized power.

The coup d'etat that unfolded Friday in Burkina Faso in many ways mirrored the one just eight months ago, when Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba ousted its democratically elected president, Roch Marc Kabore, in what the military said was an attempt to "get back on the right track" amid increasing violence. But this time, it was another military leader ousting Damiba - and again blaming the deteriorating security situation.

"It feels like deja vu," said Constantin Gouvy, a Burkina Faso researcher in Ouagadougou with the Clingendael Institute who focuses on conflict in the Sahel. "It was pretty much the same story as in January - except the only difference is that this was a coup-within-a-coup."

The soldiers who orchestrated the takeover on Friday - led by Capt. Ibrahim Traore - said in a statement broadcast on local television that Damiba had begun to focus more on politics than on addressing the security issues that drove the January coup. Since Islamist extremists gained a foothold in the West African nation seven years ago, thousands have been killed and nearly 1 in 10 people have been displaced by violence.

Last year, Burkina Faso became the epicenter of the growing security crisis in the Sahel, with its death toll from insurgent attacks surpassing that in Mali. Violence only intensified after Damiba took power, including an attack that left 79 civilians dead over the summer, a bomb that killed 35 last month and an attack on a convoy Monday by Islamist militants that the government said killed 11 soldiers and left 50 civilians missing.

Gouvy said that frustration within the military about Damiba's handling of the security situation had been brewing for months, with factions of the army hoping to see Damiba employ new counteroffensive strategies and create new alliances with international partners - especially Russia, whose help governments in West Africa have increasingly sought. At demonstrations in support of the coup Friday, some young men came carrying Russian flags.

Burkina Faso is the most recent country in the region to experience a coup, following Mali, Chad, Guinea and Sudan. The heads of the Economic Community of West African States, a 15-nation bloc known as ECOWAS, condemned the coup in a statement Friday, reiterating the importance of a transition to civilian rule.

Damiba's location was not known as of Saturday, and a spokesman for his government did not respond to requests for comment.

Rinaldo Depagne, the West Africa project director at the International Crisis Group, said he was struck by the apparent ease with which the soldiers ousted Damiba.

"If there was a second coup, why not a third?" he said. "It's a sign of the extreme fragility of the Burkinabe state."

In Ouagadougou, Honorine Ouedraogo woke up early on the morning of the coup to go to church. When another woman on the street warned her there might be trouble, Ouedraogo said she ignored her - she was tired of all the rumors of coups that had been swirling and determined to make it to early morning prayer.

By the time she left the Catholic church, roads were blocked and state television had been cut off.

"It's an eternal restart," said Ouedraogo, 40, and said she had never seen or heard of Traore but had been disappointed with Damiba's failure to gain control of the violence.

Tenkodogo Isma, who runs a market in the capital, said he supported the coup because it was clear that Damiba - despite his claims to be better than Kabore - could not manage the growing insecurity.

"We don't want someone we like, but rather someone who can manage and calm the jihadist situation in Burkina," he said, adding that much about Traore and his intentions are still uncertain.

"We just want the country to be at peace again," he said, "to stand together and help each other."

The Washington Post's Daniel Gnienhoun in Ouagadougou contributed to this report.
North Korea carried out its fourth round of weapons testing in less than a week on Saturday, firing what the Souths military said were two short-range ballistic missiles off its eastern coast.

South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were fired eight minutes apart starting at 6:45 am from Sunan, an area just north of Pyongyang, the countrys capital.

They reached a speed of up to Mach 6 and flew 217 miles at a peak altitude of 18 miles, according to the Souths military.

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said it was consulting closely with its allies and partners about the launch.

While we have assessed that this event does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to our allies, the missile launch highlights the destabilizing impact of [North Koreas] unlawful [weapons of mass destruction] and ballistic missile programs, a command statement said. The U.S. commitments to the defense of [South Korea] and Japan remain ironclad.

North Korea had last carried out a launch on Thursday, firing two short-range ballistic missiles hours after Vice President Kamala Harris departed Osan Air Base south of Seoul. She had spent the day in South Korea visiting the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas and meeting with President Yoon Suk Yeoul in the capital.

The North also fired two short-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday, not long after Harris wrapped up a speech aboard the destroyer USS Howard at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan.

It launched one missile before the vice president departed Washington for Asia on Sunday.
(Tribune News Service)  After months of being hammered on Ukraines battlefields by U.S. kamikaze drones and longer range rocket systems, Russia is striking back with a new capability if its own, attacking the southern port city of Odesa almost daily with winged missiles from Iran.

Thats leading some Ukrainians to begin to flee Odesa again for the first time since before the summer. Russia has hit the port and the militarys Southern Command, both in the center of the city of 1 million, plus an ammunition depot and other targets outside the city.

The threat has hurt already struggling local businesses and created issues at the port, where crews and dockers feel unsafe loading ships with the Iranian Shahed-136 drones flying overhead, Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov told Bloomberg in an interview. Russia is allowing ships in and out of Ukraines Black Sea ports under a limited grain export deal that, Trukhanov calculates, has seen 228 ships pass through Odesa to date.

Yet theres another reason Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ejected Irans ambassador and in a meeting this week with his top commanders focused on the new threat: The drones are inexpensive, hard to shoot down and hitting logistics and command and control centers behind Ukrainian lines.

These drones are quite slow, but they also carry a powerful charge, so a hit from them is equivalent from a hit from a missile, said Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa region military administration. Even if it takes several drones in a group to achieve that, they are so much cheaper it doesnt matter.

It can have a psychological impact on the population, Bratchuk said, interviewed outside Odesas regional administration. Its an act of terrorism. They are just trying to find something new in their tactics.

The use of the Iranian drones is drawing comparisons among some pro-Russian military bloggers to the HIMARS rocket systems the U.S. supplied to Ukraine. The HIMARS did much to disrupt Russias ability to bring artillery munitions to the front, changing the course of the war.

The new weapons also have been used at the front, with some Russian military bloggers publishing images of Ukrainian armored personnel carriers and artillery pieces they said were destroyed by the Shaheds, a scenario supported in a report by the Wall Street Journal.

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian Armed Forces Facebook page said a further three Shahed drones had been shot down in Odesas neighboring Mykolayiv region, bringing the number destroyed to date to 20.

Just to cover Odessa, said Legitimate, a pro-Russia military blogger with 718,000 subscribers, you need air defense for billions of dollars, and hundreds of millions more for maintenance. There is no such money.

Theres excitement on pro-Russia sites, too, that the drones could be used in swarms to destroy Ukrainian anti-aircraft batteries and give Russia the air superiority it has lacked throughout the war.

Those hopes are unlikely to be realized, according to Western military analysts. Yet for now the Iranian munitions present a new threat to Odesa, Trukhanov said.

We will now find a way to combat the drones effectively, Trukhanov said on Tuesday, shortly after another air raid siren forced him to interrupt an interview and move to the citys halls bomb shelter  a basement movie theater.

The Ukrainian Air Force later identified the threat as having come from a Russian SU-25 jet, which it said was shot down. In the afternoon three drones, as yet unidentified, were also destroyed, the air force said. That information could not be independently verified.

Trukhanov pointed to the possibility of buying anti-drone systems from Israel, which has been dealing with Iranian loitering munitions for decades. Ukraines defense forces and technicians were also on the case, he said.

Russia took delivery of 1,000 drones from Iran at the end of August, according to the U.S. A Ukrainian defense official showed Bloomberg an image of drone fragments with the Shaheds Russian Geran-2 marking, found after one of the strikes.

The Shahed-136 can be used in numbers, forcing Ukraine to defend against them with anti-aircraft missiles that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars each. That doesnt make the Shahed a super weapon that can change the wars outcome, according to Justin Bronk, Senior Research Fellow for Airpower and Military Technology at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank.

In a twitter thread on the weapons, Bronk described the Shahed-136 as from a family of slow, low flying, propeller driven missiles that have been around since the 1980s and, in the Iranian case, have been upgraded primarily by the inclusion of commercial GPS systems available on Alibaba.

They should be vulnerable to electronic jamming and old fashioned anti-aircraft cannons, such as the mobile Gepard system, according to Bronk. Germany has given Ukraine at least 26 Gepards, with more budgeted. Israel has a near perfect record in shooting down even more sophisticated Iranian drones.

The difficulty, in a country larger than France, comes in deciding where to place limited stocks of air defenses. The Shahed can fly hundreds of kilometers (Iran claims in excess of 2,000 km. or 1,243 miles) and loiter for hours before locking onto a target. Western partners should increase deliveries of short-and-medium-range air defenses to help, Bronk wrote.

Trukhanov echoed that request and thanked Ukraines partners for the air defenses they already sent. For Odesa, though, the new threat has ended a months-long period of relative calm that saw roughly half of the 200,000 people at the start of the war return, he said.

Like his city, Trukhanov has since February shed a pro-Russia reputation. The Ukrainian flag has been painted onto the walls of most houses. An iconic statue of the Russian empress Catherine the Great has been splashed with red paint and wrapped in Ukrainian colors.

Yes, I can say they make us nervous here, Trukhanov said of the Shahed drones, because although they arent fast they fly lower and its difficult for air defenses to spot them. Once over the city, even if shot down before hitting their target, the shrapnel can hit civilians.

Ukraine is using HIMARS only to defend itself and not to attack another country, Trukhanov said. There have been no reports, he added, of HIMARS missing their targets and hitting civilians.

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ATLANTA  U.S. service members were working around the clock Friday to clear debris and rescue stranded people in at least 20 Florida counties hit by Hurricane Ian, military officials said as the storm made its second landfall in South Carolina.

The military closed bases in coastal Georgia and across the Carolinas on Friday as Ian, which left a path of destruction this week from southwest to northeast Florida, struck South Carolina about 60 miles northwest of Charleston. About 90 South Carolina National Guard members were already on state active-duty Friday to respond rapidly with high-water vehicles once the storm passed, Guard officials in that state said.

In Florida, Guard troops from across the nation joined in response efforts that spanned from the peninsulas southwest to its northeast coast, after Ian slowly moved across the state flooding the region with rain and seawater. The storm struck initially just south of Floridas Fort Myers on Wednesday before moving into the Atlantic Ocean as a tropical storm and reforming into a hurricane late Thursday.

The National Guard response grew to nearly 7,000 troops Friday, as Guard members from at least 10 states flowed into the peninsula joining about 5,000 Florida Guard members in their storm efforts, the military said. Those troops were working across the state on missions including route clearance, search-and-rescue, and security operations, according to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis office.

Guard troops were flying 16 helicopters, manning seven boats and operating some 1,640 high-wheeled vehicles on constant operations day and night to help in the recovery effort, the Guard said. Florida Guard members were also conducting curfew enforcement in Sarasota County, check point and access control in Pinellas County and site security in Lee County, according to DeSantis office.

Guard troops were working together in many cases with Coast Guard responders on search and rescue operations on the ground and in the air, said Vice Adm. Peter Gautier, the Coast Guards deputy commander for operations.

By Friday afternoon, Coast Guard troops had rescued some 117 individuals in Florida largely via helicopter and the use of shallow water boats, he said. A number of pets had also been recovered in the hours since Ians arrival, Gautier said.

Coast Guard responders continue around the clock operations, he told reporters Friday at the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington. Those operations are going to continue for as long as it takes to rescue everyone.

The admiral also said Coast Guard members in South Carolina were already staged to respond quickly with search and rescue operations in that state once the storm passed.

South Carolina officials reported at least 200,000 people there without power Friday evening. In Florida, some 1.9 million people remained without power Friday, and state officials reported at least 21 deaths related to Hurricane Ian.

The National Hurricane Center warned that record river flooding would continue through next week across several areas of central Florida. Despite downgrading the storm Friday evening to a post-tropical cyclone in the hours after Ian struck South Carolina, the hurricane center said more flooding was likely in parts of coastal South Carolina, coastal and northwest North Carolina and southern Virginia into the weekend.




On Monday, Danish and Swedish officials said that leaks had been identified in two natural gas pipelines  Nord Stream 1 and its twin, Nord Stream 2  under the Baltic Sea off the coast of Denmark's Bornholm island, near the exclusive economic zones of Denmark and Sweden.

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Tuesday the leaks clearly were caused by deliberate actions and could not have been a result of accidents.

"There is no information yet to indicate who may be behind this action," she said at a press briefing in Copenhagen, adding that authorities do not see the incidents as a direct military threat against Denmark.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council failed on Friday to adopt a draft resolution, which "condemns" the referendums held in four Ukrainian regions.

The draft resolution titled "Illegal So-Called Referenda in Ukraine," submitted by Albania and the US, was vetoed by Russia, one of the five permanent members of the council. China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstained.
(Tribune News Service)  Pennsylvanias Supreme Court has been in the eye of the storm in recent years as it decided a series of hot-button issues that ranged from covid responses, reapportionment and election reform.

At its center was Chief Justice Max Baer.

Baer, 74, died Friday night at his home near Pittsburgh.

This is a tremendous loss for the court and all of Pennsylvania, said Justice Debra Todd, who as the longest tenured member of the court is poised to become its chief justice.  Pennsylvania has lost a jurist who served the court and the citizens of the commonwealth with distinction. Chief Justice Baer was an influential and intellectual jurist whose unwavering focus was on administering fair and balanced justice.

He was a tireless champion for children, devoted to protecting and providing for our youngest and most vulnerable citizens.

Baer grew up in Dormont and attended high school at what was then called Linsly Military Academy in Wheeling, W.Va.

He earned his bachelors degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1971 and his law degree from Duquesne University School of Law in 1975. According his biography on the state courts website, Baer served as a deputy in the state Attorney Generals Office from 1975 to 1980 and then worked as a private practice lawyer until he was elected as an Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge in 1989. Baer was named the Family Court Division administrative judge in 1993.

He was elected to the states Supreme Court in 2003 and was sworn in as the high courts chief justice at the start of 2021.

Allegheny County President Court Judge Kim Berkeley Clark said Baers impact on both the county and states highest courts will continue to be felt.

He ran the Supreme Court with grace and with deference but did what was necessary to do to change the system, Clark said.

Allegheny County court officials named a conference room in the courts Family Court Division after Baer.

Im just shocked, Clark said. Im happy he got his kudos before he passed away.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf ordered the states flags be lowered until Baers internment, which has not been scheduled.

Im extremely saddened to learn that Chief Justice Baer passed away, Wolf said. He was a respected and esteemed jurist with decades of service to our courts and our commonwealth. I am grateful for his contributions and leadership in the Supreme Court.

Wolf is expected to nominate a replacement for Baer that will require confirmation from two-thirds of the state Senate. Voters will elect a permanent replacement next year.

Democrats, including Baer, held a 5-2 majority on the court.

I was saddened this morning to hear of Chief Justice Baers death, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said in a statement released Saturday. He had such a significant, positive impact on the judiciary, first as a Common Pleas Court judge, and then as a member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and then as the Chief Justice. His loss will be greatly felt.

Tributes to Baer came from both sides of the political aisle.

On behalf of the Pennsylvania House Republican Caucus, I offer my deepest condolences and sympathies to the family, friends, colleagues and loved ones of Chief Justice Max Baer, said state House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, R- Centre County. Of note, his admirable work in the area of foster care, adoption and child advocacy is something that has had a monumental impact on the lives of countless Pennsylvania children and made the dream of becoming a family a reality for many.

It has been a joy to call him a friend for the past 30 years as he has served Allegheny County and the entire commonwealth of Pennsylvania, said state Sen. Jay Costa, the Senate minority leader. A fellow Duquesne Law School graduate and lifelong yinzer, Justice Baer leaves an accomplished legacy of moral clarity, justice, and care for our democracy. I will miss him greatly and am holding his family in my prayers today.

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(Tribune News Service)  Pasco, a young black Labrador retriever on his first search and rescue mission, quickly picked up the scent on Anchorage Street. He led a Miami firefighter to the top of a rubble pile and jumped down the other side.

Confirmed! the firefighter shouted over the din of a helicopter passing overhead. One deceased.

Pasco is trained to find live humans. Other dogs are trained to find human remains. But 48 hours after Hurricane Ian attacked this mellow beach town, emergency crews were discovering more dead people than they were saving trapped people.

As bright sunshine lit up the clear blue sky Friday, the firefighter grabbed a rain-soaked maroon bedspread and covered the body slumped on lumber from what used to be a bedroom or kitchen or bathroom. It was impossible to tell where in the house the victim may have tried to seek shelter when an 8- to 10-foot storm surge submerged the barrier island on Wednesday afternoon.

The firefighters of Squad 6, Florida Task Force 2, radioed a medical unit to pick up the fourth body theyd found on their second day of searching, tied pink plastic tape around a palm tree and walked down the block to probe more ruins.

Most of Fort Myers Beach, a town on Estero Island that swells to four times its year-round population of 5,600 during snowbird and tourist season, was razed when Ian crashed ashore packing 150 mph winds.

Although Ian made first landfall at Cayo Costa and hit the mainland south of Punta Gorda, both just to the north, Gov. Ron DeSantis referred to Fort Myers Beach as ground zero because of the graphically surreal damage and potential loss of life.

The death toll from Ian, which flooded not only Floridas Gulf Coast communities but rural DeSoto County and the Orlando area, rose on Friday to 50 across eight counties, according to the states emergency manager. Its expected to rise as crews continue search efforts up and down the coast.

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno announced 16 storm-related deaths. But thousands remained unaccounted for, the airborne rescue operation on Sanibel and Captiva islands was accelerating, and President Joe Biden warned that Ian could be Floridas deadliest hurricane ever. The number of drowned victims may not be apparent for days.

Weve seen bodies everywhere

In Fort Myers Beach, there were multiple eyewitness accounts of horrifying fates.

Weve seen bodies everywhere, said John Galatro, who rode out the storm in the Leonardo Arms condo. We counted 10 people in our building who died trying to climb to the roof during the height of the surge. That water was raging and swept some away. I personally covered one with a blanket. We made Deceased signs so the helicopters could see them.

Galatro, his girlfriend and his daughter were resting with a tearful woman from their condo under the roof of a hotel. They were pushing luggage carts filled with their belongings toward the Matanzas Pass bridge to the mainland.

Everyone on this island is going to need a lot of therapy, he said. We rescued an old couple who had to tread water for hours. We pulled them out of a flooded laundromat where they said they were holding onto whatever they could to keep afloat.

Pastor Forrest Critser wept as he recounted what happened to his church and his neighbors.

We found a dead lady with her two dogs by her side. They were dead, too, he said. The paramedics found a dead couple. Im sure more are going to turn up under all this debris and on the other islands.

Critser and his co-pastor son Kevin Shawn said their Beach Baptist Church was totaled. Two white crosses were intact but the interior was a mess. Also destroyed, the adjacent food pantry that provided 1,200 meals per week and a 62-bed retreat. And Critsers home.

My house is completely gone, he said, breaking into tears. He was wearing a T-shirt that said Blessed and Highly Caffeinated. See these stakes and concrete slab? Thats my 3-bedroom house. See that bunch of sticks down the street? Thats my house. Ive got nothing but the clothes Im wearing.

Yet Critser was most concerned about my people  his ministry for the towns homeless people. He was trying to find transportation for three dozen to a downtown Fort Myers shelter.

Matthew Stohr saw a corpse in the wreckage of Times Square, the towns core of quaint or kitschy  depending on personal taste  beachwear shops, bars, fried fish joints, souvenir stands, tatoo and ice cream parlors.

Im going to have nightmares

Im going to have nightmares, Stohr said. He worked at the Tropical Grill. His girlfriend MacKenzie Hood worked at the Lighthouse resort, where they and other employees took refuge on the second floor during the storm.

The storm was so nasty and the water was so high were lucky we survived, Hood said. It was scary. We drank a lot.

Along the towns main drag, Estero Boulevard, dazed residents trudged through slippery gray muck, dragging suitcases or pushing shopping carts full of whatever they could salvage. They were making an exodus  police closed off the island to visitors and cars  and werent sure when or if they were coming back to their slice of heaven known for its sunsets, seashells and Rum Runners. Business owners assessed damage and debated whether to rebuild. No one ventured a guess as to when power, water and cell service would be restored.

Scattered around the apocalyptic landscape was the flotsam of their everyday lives turned upside down  ovens, air conditioners, stairways to nowhere, beer kegs, mattresses, toilets, a Peloton, a wedding album, a lawnmower, cars with shattered windshields, lonely sandals missing their mates.

All that remains of the popular pier are skeletal slats and pilings.

Most stunning was the sight of houses washed inland. Like a supersized tide driven by Category 4 winds, the water ripped buildings off their foundations and carried them 50, 100 even 300 yards as they were moved around like Monopoly pieces. Picturesque old wood-frame cottages were particularly vulnerable.

The destructive power of the surge made this hurricane equivalent to 200 mph winds, said Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who was in Fort Myers Beach on Friday. How would Miami deal with 10 feet of storm surge? Is any city on the planet capable of dealing with it? When you consider the loss of life and the billions of dollars at stake, our priority needs to be investing in methods for blunting storm surge.

Surge moved homes blocks away

The disorienting displacement complicates the job of rescuers. Addresses and maps become useless. Theyre not only searching for people but for remnants of the places where those people lived.

The difference between flooding is that during surge, structures slam into each other, said Iggy Carroll, executive director of Miamis Fire Rescue department, describing the bowling ball effect of storm surge. At the location where wed expect to see a house there is no house. We have to follow the debris path to find it. Conversely, heres a house that wasnt here before.

Miami Lt. Peter Darley said first responders have to act as detectives when time is of the essence.

We received a heads up that a neighbor was missing. Fourth house down on Anchorage. But there is no house here. They told us to look for a blue roof. But there is no blue roof here. We found it on the next block, he said. We were looking for two bodies on Andre-Mar Boulevard. We had to hunt for clues  the color of the paint, a house number, the make of the car that used to be in the driveway. We found them 200 yards from where the house had stood.

During their first 24 hours in the area, Florida Task Force 2 members  among 1,000 rescue personnel dispatched across the state  rescued 60 people. They will transition to the next phase of their operation, which entails rigorous searches.

First were doing a primary search of rubble and conditions, and were looking for people who are in distress and need help, Lt. Jennifer Arguello said. That gives us a game plan on where to concentrate searches for human remains. We rely a lot on neighbors, friends and relatives to track who is where.

Searchers were at Surfside

Through years of experience with disasters, including last years Surfside condo collapse that killed 98, Task Force 2 has developed specialists in search and rescue, structural engineering, hazardous materials, medicine and canine. Theyve modified vehicles to maneuver through deep water and challenging terrain.

Carroll was driving one of the citys jacked-up SUVs down Estero Boulevard, navigating past a growing fleet of ambulances, earth movers and dump trucks, when he was stopped by an 84-year-old man who was trying to walk off the island but had become exhausted. Carroll called a ride for him.

Later, Cigar Hut owner Steven Light flagged Carroll down, and Carroll drove him to his girlfriends apartment on Lovers Key, where they were reunited. He also made sure an elderly man in a wheelchair received treatment and touched base with paramedics who rescued four immobile people from the Pointe Estero condo.

Back with Squad 6 on Anchorage Drive, Carroll, Darley and Arguello checked on Emiliano Emmy Crespo, who was splattered with mud and wore bandages on his legs. He was relieved to see the Miami crew.

I survived Andrew, too, from Perrine, Crespo said of the 1992 hurricane that devastated south Miami-Dade County. Half my house was destroyed and my car was found 13 blocks away. Youd think Id have learned my lesson and evacuated.

The waters what did it this time. I didnt think the water would come that high, he said, pointing to a 9-foot tall water line in his garage. Andrew was a lot of wind and plain old rain. This was like a tidal wave.

Brad Evans and wife Regiane are also complacent hurricane veterans who regretted not evacuating. Ian squatted over Southwest Florida and pounded it for hours.

Its the most frightening thing weve been through. Weve done Category 5 whitewater rafting and it was way worse than that. It looked like the inside of a washing machine, Evans said. It came up to 8 or 9 feet very fast, peaked at 4:45 p.m. and receded within 90 minutes.

We went through all the hurricanes when we lived in South Florida and we thought 3 to 4 feet of storm surge, yeah, yeah, we can handle that. We were wrong. This is what were going to get from now on with climate change.

After their traumatic experience, Matthew Stohr and MacKenzie Hood remained shaken. They have mixed feelings about leaving the beloved island. Theyve heard nothing about their restaurant and hotel jobs, service jobs that are the lifeblood of the local economy. .

Stohr struggled to find the right words to describe nothingness.

Its gone. Its all gone. Just gone, he said.

Then he raised a fist.

We f***ing made it, he whooped. We made it out alive.

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Garda Sergeant Tony Flanagan said, in his experience, the accused could come under the category of people who could be targeted by those in the drug trade.

Patrick Coyne, of Summerhill Parade, Dublin was charged with possession of cannabis with intent to sell or supply.

AN elderly man caught with 11,000 worth of cannabis in his home may have been targeted by sinister individuals in the drug trade, a court has heard.

Patrick Coyne (64) could have been selected to store drugs because he would not draw garda attention.

The case against him was adjourned when he appeared in Dublin District Court.

Coyne, of Summerhill Parade, Dublin, pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis with intent to sell or supply.

The court heard a search was carried out at Coynes home on April 18, 2020 and herbal cannabis with a value of 11,000 was seized by gardai.

Coyne was fully co-operative, made admissions during the investigation and was charged.

The DPP directed that the case could be dealt with in the district court if the Judge Bryan Smyth accepted jurisdiction.

The accused had no previous convictions and was not at risk of reoffending, his lawyer said, urging the judge to accept jurisdiction.

Garda Sergeant Tony Flanagan said in his experience the accused could come under the category of people who could be targeted by those in the drug trade.

Elderly men who lived on their own had been approached by more sinister individuals as they would not normally come to garda attention, he said.

The sergeant said he suspected the accused came into contact with people in that situation.

The judge said the court would usually refuse jurisdiction for that valuation with no question about it, but in the circumstances he accepted it, allowing the case to be dealt with at district court level.

Coyne was seeking time to get medical certificates and other documents in order and his lawyer requested that the judge defer finalisation of the case.

The judge adjourned the case to a date later this month and remanded the accused on continuing bail.
The Kinahans put the gang boss up in one of their Dublin safe houses after he fled the Netherlands

Two men have been resentenced in Amsterdam for a hit attempt on Kinahan ally Naoufal Buik Fassih.

Mimoun B (36) and Tony Ita D (39) were sentenced to nine and seven years behind bars for attempting to take out the crime boss in Berlin, Germany.

The pair were previously sentenced to seven years each behind bars, but after appealing their sentence, Mimoun Bs was increased by two years. Despite wanting to increase the sentence for Tony Ita D, the judge could not as he already had a prison sentence of 23 years for murder and attempted murder in another case.

The two other men involved in the failed hit on the criminal dubbed Buik or The Belly in English, were handed down four and five years behind bars, but did not appeal their sentences.

The group travelled to Berlin in 2015 where they had three Kalashnikov rifles and two Glock pistols at their disposal.

Their plan was to ride a motorcycle into the centre of Berlin where they planned to shoot the Moroccan-born gang boss on a busy shopping street.

Mimoun B was tasked with locating Fassih and informing the others of his location via an encrypted mobile phone.

However, he failed to locate Fassih as he had fled to the country, seemingly to Ireland.

Their plans were uncovered after police cracked messages sent via the encrypted phones.

It came as Fassih was suspected of paying hitmen to take out his rival Peter Rapp in the Netherlands in November 2015. Rapp was shot seven times but survived the ordeal.

Fassihs close pal, Cartel boss Daniel Kinahan looked after him, putting him up in an expensive safe house on Baggot Street in south Dublin as he lay low.

Noufal Fassih was arrested during a raid on the apartment in 2016 as part of Operation Thistle.

The criminal answered the door to Gardai who did not know who he was as he was using a fake name.

His fingerprints were then matched to his real name through Interpol.

83,000 worth of designer watches and more than 12,000 in cash were seized during the raid.

After his arrest, he was housed at Mountjoy and then Portlaoise prison where he mingled with the Dundon brothers, John, Dessie and Wayne.

He was extradited back to Holland in February 2017 via helicopter. The following year he was given 18 years behind bars for his part in the plot to kill Rapp.
Food writer Kevin Dundon, food critic Alan Kelly and wine expert Jean Smullen have all been nominated for the upcoming awards

Sunday Worlds Magazine+ is raising a glass after its talented food and wine writing team was recognised by the Irish Food Writing Awards this week.

Food writer Kevin Dundon, food critic Alan Kelly and wine expert Jean Smullen have all been nominated for the upcoming awards for their mouth-watering weekly offerings in this paper.

The prestigious awards reward excellence in writing and content production on Irish food across a host of categories including Investigate Writing, Cookbook of the Year and Writing on Specialist and Ethnic cuisines in Ireland.

Acknowledging the role played by social media within the industry during lockdown, for the first time this year, there will also be a gong for the best Food & Drink TikTok/Instagram.

Since joining Magazine+ in 2011, celebrity chef Kevin Dundon - nominated for best Cookery Writing - has built a loyal fanbase with his easy-to-follow and tasty recipes for dishes including molten chocolate and blueberry pudding and todays Asian prawn and noodle soup, as well as special recipe booklets such as Noshtalgia.

Grape Spy Jean Smullen, who joined the awards-nominated team in 2012, is up for Wine Writing Award for her accessible and affordable recommendations and wine pairing tips.

While Alan Kelly, better known as Grub Spy for the past decade, got the nod in the Restaurant Writing category thanks to his lively and honest restaurant reviews of eateries from farmers markets to five-star restaurants all over the country.

Speaking about the honour, Kevin, who runs Dunbrody House hotel in Wexford, said: Im over the moon to be nominated for the Irish Food Writing Awards for my work in Magazine+.

Its a joy just to share some of my favourite family recipes with readers each week.

Danish chef Rene Redzepi of three-Michelin-star restaurant Noma in Copenhagen, British food writer Tom Parker Bowles and wine critic Fiona Beckett are among the judges set to crown the winners at the finals in Fallon and Byrne in Dublin on October 13.

Read Kevin, Alan and Jean every week in Magazine+.
Toxic | Man who raped his ex-partner threatening to cut off her fingers jailed for ten years
The Tainaiste posed with the Ballymena actor backstage at the massive event

The Tainaiste met the Ballymena man backstage at Irelands Future conference which took place in Dublins 3Arena on Saturday.

Taking to Instagram stories, the Fine Gael leader posted a picture of the pair smiling down the camera.

Jimmy Nesbitt, who comes from a unionist background, is just one of the many keynote speakers at the event organised by Irelands Future, a non-profit group who are advocating for a border poll.

Ahead of the event, Nesbitt told Belfast Telegraph that he was not jumping on any bandwagon.

I think people are imagining that Im jumping or joining some bandwagon, and Im certainly not.

I come from a particular background, of which I am particularly proud of, and I dont refute or shy away from that.

He conceded however that there needs to be a public debate on the issue.

Im going down to give my perspective because there needs to be change and there needs to be public debate, he said.

Things like this can only increase that public debate. For too long this has all been left in the hands of politicians.

Leo Varadkar also gave an address at the conference.

He told the crowd of 5,000 attendees: We need to acknowledge that cross-community engagement in Northern Ireland and between the north and the south remains far short of where it needs to be if we want to build a new Ireland."

Sinn Feins Mary Lou McDonald also took to the stage, however, Taoiseach Micheal Martin was notably absent from the event. He instead attended the Fianna Fail Ard Fheis.

Dublin actor Colm Meaney also gave an address at the event, prior to which he told Irish Independent he would like to see a Sinn Fein government.

I would certainly like to see a Sinn Fein government. I think their policies generally, not just in relation to a united Ireland, are a lot more progressive than either Fianna Fail or Fine Gael, he said.

Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have been in power for the entire existence of the State.

They have had more than ample opportunity to put into practice their policies. They havent worked, either economically or in terms of the issue of the Border.

Its time for change, and young people are aware of that. Young people arent afraid of that, he added.
The 39-year-old personal trainer was caught with 10,000 worth of cocaine following a doomed chase on foot across the fields of a farm

A muscle-bound coke dealer with links to the UDA is blaming ex-UVF boss Paul Gray for setting him up with the cops.

Chris Djorjani was due to be sentenced last Friday at Antrim Crown Court but the case was adjourned until next month.

The court was told they are awaiting results of hair follicle tests aimed at proving he has not been taking drugs in a bid to mitigate his sentence.

The 39-year-old personal trainer was caught with 10,000 worth of cocaine following a doomed chase on foot across the fields of a farm on the outskirts of Ballymena.

The dopey dealer tried to hide his drug stash in a dry wall after cops stopped him and were just about to carry out a search of him and his car.

Cops say they had reason to stop him but Djorjani is convinced he was set up to be caught. And Paul Gray has been raising suspicions with the criminal underworld ever since he was arrested last year but released without charge yet again.

Chris Djorjani is absolutely furious because he was caught bang-to-rights and had no chance of getting out of it, says a well-placed source.

And hes pointing the finger straight at Paul Gray. He says hes certain Gray grassed him up to the police to get himself out of trouble.

The cops were basically waiting for him. The police made out in court they caught him by pure fluke because they had a reason to stop his car. That usually means they suspect hes driving drunk or driving erratically or something but he wasnt doing anything out of the ordinary.

They knew he was carrying a large amount of drugs. He says when he drove down this laneway he could see this unmarked car and he knew something was wrong but there was nothing to do.

Paul Gray

In June, Djorjani admitted having the class A drug with intent to supply on November 12 last year, while a second count of simple possession of cocaine was left on the books.

When Djorjani was originally charged in November last year, the court heard that at around 4.30pm police had occasion to stop a blue Skoda Octavia on the Carnlough Road in Ballymena.

Although the car was owned by Djorjani, who is originally from Ballymena but who had been bailed to live on the Skeagh Road in Dromara, the tattooed dealer was in the passenger seat and when cops told him to stand to one side, he ran off through a field.

A police constable told the court that as Djorjani fled, he dropped a package, which he immediately picked up and, taking to his heels again, he ran through the yard of a nearby farm, jumping over a stone boundary wall into a field, where he was eventually arrested.

The officer told the court that as officers at the scene noticed some stones in the wall appeared to have been disturbed, a drugs dog was brought into the field and the cocaine package was discovered.

Describing how 250 1/4 kilo was written on the wrapping, the officer said it had clearly been pressed into a block, a technique which takes an amount of expertise and equipment to do, adding that police estimate the seizure is worth around 10,000.

notorious

And cops went one step further  stating Djorjani was involved with the notorious breakaway South East Antrim Brigade of the UDA run by increasingly under-pressure leader Gary Fisher.

Chris Djorjani

We have assessed that he is part of a drugs organised crime gang and has links to the South East Antrim UDA, said the officer in court, who suggested that, with a clear record, Djorjani was a perfect candidate for supplying.

That clear record has now been stained and, following his confession, Judge Patricia Smyth said that before she could pass sentence we will need a pre-sentence report.

Its not the first-time drug dealers in the bible-belt town have pointed the finger at Gray who tried to claim to the Sunday World last year that hed turned his back on crime.

In April we revealed how Gray has been left isolated since cops raided his home and seized a number of electronic devices as well as his car.

Officers from the Paramilitary Crime Task Force raided his Ballymena home and business premises last October.

Criminals were already reluctant to trade with Gray because they fear hes done a deal with the cops in the wake of the death of Ballymena drug lord Noel Johnston.

He publicly told us after the raids that hed turned his back on crime and was trying to make an honest living but, according to sources, hes still heavily involved in the drugs trade.

Heavily armed cops raided Grays home in the Knockkeen Road area as well as two businesses linked to him in the Co Antrim town.

They seized Grays grey Jeep and two mobile phones. For the first time, the police admitted the raid on Grays home was connected to ongoing drug-related criminality.

He was not charged with anything as a result which has raised eyebrows in the criminal underworld.

He has even been abandoned by his best pal, former Mount Vernon UVF thug Darren Moore, who has refused to deal with him in fear he has become a police tout.

The arrest and conviction of Chris Djorjani was the final nail in his coffin, as far as major players in Ballymena are concerned, a source told us.

Nobody is prepared to do business with him now. And Djorjani has been singing it loud and proud that hes facing jail because he was set up by Gray.

The raids on Gray came after the death of drug kingpin Noel Johnston, who fell 50ft from a flat when cops were bursting through the front door last October.

Gray said of the raids: What can I do about it? I just leave it in the hands of my lawyer. Everyone has a past  especially in a place like this. But Im just trying to survive.

Former UVF commander Gray was once one of the UVFs blue-eyed boys.

But the relationship with headquarters soon soured. The axe finally fell when UVF investigators allegedly discovered thousands of pounds missing from a special Somme Commemoration account which had been under the control of Gray.
It was so surprising the girls were born healthy, she said.

CONJOINED twins who survived being separated faced being killed by Covid hours after they were born.

Against-the-odds youngsters Annabelle and Isabelle Bateson last week lived through surgery after being born in March attached from their chests to the pelvis.

Because they had separate hearts, the one-in-two-and-a-half-million kids were able to survive being separated  despite sharing a liver, bladder, bowel and a fused leg.

Their NHS worker mum Hannah, from Toomebridge, Co Antrim, has told how the tiny girls faced being killed by Covid just after they were brought home from Londons University College Hospital.

It was so surprising the girls were born healthy, she said.

Once we heard those cries in the operating theatre it just changed the whole tone of it all, and we really werent prepared for it to go so well.

But as soon as we all came home we all got Covid. The surgery had been planned for the end of May and it had all been delayed, so we were waiting for those plans to be finalised.

Conjoined twins Annabelle and Isabelle Bateman before their successful separation

Because of the girls delicate condition, their immune systems were massively more vulnerable to being ravaged by Covid than newborns delivered healthy who contracted the devastating virus.

The twins parents Hannah and fruit stall owner Dan had already been left amazed their babies had survived being born conjoined before they also lived through separation surgery.

Up to 60 per cent of conjoined twins arrive stillborn and only around 35 per cent survive one day.

Their longer-term survival depends on where they are conjoined and what organs they share  with chances of survival massively increased if they have separate hearts.

Relieved mum Hannah said before their separation procedure: There was a lot of very smart people involved and there was a lot of very detailed imaging done with the girls and models created.

We just had to have faith it would go well, but theyre very determined wee girls.

The delighted parents say the girls looked like a heart when they were conjoined.

But they are realistic the girls have a long and challenging road to recovery ahead.

Hannah said: One girl may have some issues, and the other wee girl may have a different set of issues, and they may be going for surgeries for the rest of their lives.

But the rest of their lives should be good  its going to be more challenging for us.

If were sitting in the hospital in 16 years with them its good news. Its funny how your perspectives shift.

Annabelle and Isabelle Bateman

The couple found out at their 12-week scan they were expecting conjoined twins  but Hannah predicted it before it was confirmed by medics.

When we were doing the scan I was watching and it just dawned on both of us, she said.

I said, Are they conjoined? and they said, Yes, I think they are.

Hannah and Dan said the months of travelling between Northern Ireland and London for check-ups and last weeks surgery has placed a huge financial burden on them.

But they were backed by friends and customers of Dans, along with contributors to a Just Giving page they set up online.

It had aimed to raise 5,000 to raised funds for the costs theyll face along this journey, but has ended up gaining to date nearly 22,000 in donations.

The support has been amazing. Our Just Giving page and our church was fundraising  we just cant get over the generosity from people, Hannah said.

Weve never had to rely on that type of generosity but these wee girls have worked their way into so many peoples hearts and well need that support into the coming years.

The couple announced their girls had successfully been separated in a Facebook post that said: Annie and Issie have been separated. It was a very long day, their surgery lasted until the early hours of Tuesday morning but our wee girlies did so well.

There is a long recovery in front of them and we expect there to be some bumps along the way but they are strong wee ladies and are being well cared for.

I just want to say THANK YOU, the love we have been shown has been completely overwhelming and the prayers that have been said for them have carried us through. The team that carried out the girls surgery are just amazing and we are very grateful.

Please continue to pray for their recovery, for healing and for them to be as comfortable as possible.

Thank you God for having your hand on our daughters. Lots of love Annie, Issie, Dan & Hannah.

One of a flood of comments in response to the news said: Wee pets. So glad they have got through the op. Praying for strength, healing and comfort for them both over the next few weeks and months, also not forgetting mummy, daddy and family as they help these wee miracles along the way.

Another fan of the family added: This is the best news. My thoughts have been with you all especially over the past few days. Two very precious brave little girls with the most amazing mum and dad.
She didnt like her nose being touched, I found out. She kicked me in the knee. But that was my fault. I got too close to her

Colin Farrell has revealed he got a kick from his co-star - a donkey named Jenny - while filming his latest movie.

Farrell told how he fell foul of his scene-stealing co-star while filming The Banshees of Inisherin in the Aran Islands last summer.

The movie sees Farrell team up again with Brendan Gleeson and their In Bruges writer-director Martin McDonagh.

Ah, Jenny was tricky, the actor told Empire Magazine.

It was her first film, but she acted like it was her 100th. She was kind of over it. Kind of jaded, he laughed. She didnt like her nose being touched, I found out. She kicked me in the knee. But that was my fault. I got too close to her.

The star later revealed that he also fell foul of the canine who played co-star Brendan Gleesons dog in the movie. I f***ing got bitten by your f***ing dog! He said to Gleeson in the interview. I still have the scar. The donkey kicked me, the dog bit me.

The Banshees of Inisherin tells the story of two lifelong friends, Padraic (Farrell) and Colm (Gleeson), who find themselves at an impasse when Colm abruptly decides to end their friendship. With the support of his sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon), who along with the local policemans son Dominic (Barry Keoghan) has her own qualms within the small island community, a confused and devastated Padraic attempts to reignite their relationship. But when Colm delivers a shocking ultimatum, events start to escalate.

Early reviews for the movie, released here on October 21st, have been raves, with both Farrell and Gleeson generating early awards-season buzz.

Farrell is now regarded as a contender for next springs Oscars after winning best actor at the prestigious Venice Film Festival for his performance in the movie.
Instead Stephen Teap, whose wife Irene died of cervical cancer, and fellow campaigner Lorraine Walsh, appeared

Vicky Phelan was unable to appear on The Late Late Show last night to discuss a new documentary about her life.

Host Ryan Tubridy told viewers that although Vicky had hoped to appear, she wasnt well enough to make the trip.

I'm sorry she's not well enough at this time and of course we are thinking of her, her kids and family.

But with us are two people who know Vicky and continue to fight alongside her, said Tubridy.

He then introduced Stephen Teap, whose wife Irene died of cervical cancer, and fellow campaigner Lorraine Walsh.

We all know what she's been going through the past few years with this terminal illness. Like anybody out there you have good days and bad days, said Teap.

She has just been through a rough time as of recent. She started a new chemotherapy session last week which has been pretty tough on her.

She wanted me to share that with everybody because thats why shes not here today. She has already improved in the last two days which is great.

Simply titled Vicky, the documentary - which is released in Irish cinemas next weekend - highlights how Phelan exposed the cervical cancer scandal, one of the worst womens health scandals in Irish history.

It also highlights her personal efforts to stay alive by accessing the latest treatments for the disease.

This weekend, a portrait of Phelan was projected onto the GPO in advance of the films release.
A North Island electoral official says they're getting dozens of queries every day from people who still haven't got their voting papers for the local elections.

She says people are finding the system confusing and some will be put off from voting.

Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta revealed on Thursday she also hadn't received her papers and says there may be a review of how the elections are run.

The official, who RNZ has agreed not to identify, says the number of people complaining they haven't got their voting pack is growing as Tuesday's deadline for posting ballots gets closer.

She's getting about 40 queries a day.

"So some of them they didn't get their papers, they had not updated their details, so the responsibility for that's with them, but I'd say maybe a third of people were convinced that they'd updated their details.

"Then there were some people whose details were correct in the system but no envelope had ever landed in their letterbox."

The official says everyone should have received their voting papers by Wednesday last week.

"We've had quite a few people coming in the door saying 'My husband got it, we live together, we've lived in this house for a while, but I didn't get papers' and so they've had to come in specially to see us, and that's an effort that not everyone's going to make."

She worries that the confusion will mean even fewer people voting and says the system should be run nationally by the Electoral Commission, just as it is for the general elections.

Currently most councils hire one of two private companies to manage their elections.

The Postal Workers Union also wants change.

Union president John Maynard says NZ Post does not have enough staff to deal with business as usual, let alone a postal election.

The union has been warning about short staffing and a lack of post boxes since 2016.

"A key thing is to have adequate staffing for postie branches and then of course focusing on getting those important things out like the postal envelopes and having places for people to return the ballot."

NZ Post says it has delivered 3.5 million voter packs and is checking all its depots for any stray envelopes.

But that won't help people like Terry in Waikanae - he says he has not received his voting papers because he doesn't live at a recognised postal address.

"I'll probably go down to the Kapiti Coast District Council on Saturday morning and see whether they're open and see if I can vote there."

Local Government chief executive Susan Freeman-Greene says it's not too late for those who haven't got their voting papers.

"You can check whether you're enrolled by going online at the Electoral Commission, see if you're enrolled, and then get in touch with your council and cast a special vote," she says.

"We really encourage people to do that this weekend as an absolute priority."

Voting closes at midday on October 8.

-RNZ.
Bridge players from across the country have travelled to Mount Maunganui for the New Zealand Bridge Congress starting today.

This years National Congress  being held from Saturday October 1 to October 8  is particularly special as it is the first time in 36 years that it is being hosted at Mount Maunganui.

We played online last year so this is the first year its going to be played at Baypark and its very exciting, says Mount Maunganui Bridge Club president Diane Rodger.

With Mount Maunganui Bridge Clubs new facilities operational, some of the congress events will be held there too.

Were thrilled about that, says Diane.

The congress games will be open to all player levels from across New Zealand, and international players from Australia and Sweden will attend as well.

An experienced bridge enthusiast, Diane has been playing since 1995 and will compete in teams, pairs and Swiss pairs bridge sessions.

Swiss pairs is where you play and the higher you get, you move up a table, so the idea is to get to the top table, says Diane.

The National Congress event runs for eight days and is both a chance to socialise and get competitive.

Everyones competitive and we all want to do well, but if you dont do well there always tomorrow or the next day.

Best of luck making it to the top table Diane!
A lucky Lotto player from Horowhenua will be enjoying a boost to their bank account after winning $1 million with Lotto First Division in Saturday night's live Lotto draw.

The winning ticket was sold on MyLotto.

Powerball was not struck on Saturday and has rolled over to Wednesday night, where the jackpot will be $6 million.

Meanwhile, a lucky Strike player from Auckland will also be celebrating after winning $200,000 with Strike Four. The winning Strike Four ticket was sold on MyLotto to a player from Auckland City.

Six lucky Lotto players will be celebrating after each winning $41,063 with Lotto Second Division in Saturdays live Lotto draw.

The winning Second Division tickets were sold at the following stores:

Store Location MyLotto Auckland Bellbird Dairy & Lotto Auckland MyLotto Waikato Andrew Spence Pharmacy Napier Countdown Carlyle Napier St Martins New World Supermarket Christchurch

Anyone who bought their ticket from MyLotto should check their ticket as soon as possible online at mylotto.co.nz, or through the Lotto NZ App.

With 100 per cent of Lotto NZs profits supporting thousands of great causes each year, every time you play one of Lotto NZs games, youre a Kiwi helping other Kiwis.
New SUU Alumni Leadership Certificate Program Lifts the Leader Within

Published: September 30, 2022 | Author: Susie Knudsen | Category: Community Outreach

Cedar City, UT  In conjunction with homecoming, Southern Utah University (SUU) announces a new professional leadership program designed for alumni, friends and community members. Beginning mid October, the new Alumni Leadership Academy (ALA) is an online, six-week certificate designed to develop technical and transformational skills. Participants will have the opportunity to learn with SUU President Mindy Benson, campus administrators and esteemed alumni who exemplify leadership across the country in their chosen field of work.

Offered in partnership with the SUU Alumni and the Community and Professional Development offices, ALA is one of four leadership programs comprising the universitys professional SUU Leadership Institute. The institute was established in 2018 for further developing and elevating individuals in their careers.

Great leaders seek out opportunities to learn, grow and improve, and help their teams do the same, said President Benson, regarding the ALA.

Central to the course will be the opportunity to develop individual leadership identity. Other content will include: teambuilding, engaging in difficult conversations, fostering a culture of creativity, enhancing diversity and building healthy organizations. Additionally, participants will be presented with networking opportunities and chances to engage with fellow SUU alumni.

The launch of this program is dynamically aligned with President Benson's inauguration, SUU Homecoming, and the university's 125th Anniversary Celebration. Members also have the opportunity to attend the One Utah Summit, held Oct. 11-13, providing them a chance to learn and network with other established and emerging leaders in the state.

SUUs Community and Professional Development department offers opportunities for adults to elevate their careers, stay competitive in the workforce and further develop as leaders. Located in the worlds best backyard, Southern Utah University is known as the University of the Parks thanks to its close proximity to several national monuments, outdoor recreational areas and educational partnerships with the National Park Service. Reach your next career peak with SUU by visiting suu.edu/prodev.

Tags: Alumni Community and Professional Development

Contact Information:

Susie Knudsen

435-865-7759

susieknudsen@suu.edu


In the high-stakes labor talks at Kaleida Health, the unions representing 6,300 workers continue to bargain long hours and hope to avoid issuing a 10-day notice of strike to Western New York's largest health system.

But if that notice is delivered, the possibility of a labor strike capable of rattling Western New York's health care industry would start to feel very real.

Kaleida would spend millions to secure temporary workers.

Union workers would prepare to trade their scrubs for signs on the picket line.

And community officials would scramble to figure out whether patients will need to be transferred outside of Western New York for treatment.

"I struggle coming up with words to even be able to describe how devastating a strike across Kaleida Health will be to this community," Kaleida President and CEO Don Boyd said Sept. 19. "I think about it, and I can't even come up with the way to be able to explain it."

The unions, Communications Workers of America Local 1168 and 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, have said and continue to say that a strike remains a last resort. "They are all really busy with bargaining, working 12-hour days and plan to work through the weekend in hopes of reaching an agreement," 1199SEIU spokesperson April Ezzell said.

Votes are in: Kaleida Health union workers authorize a strike if contract can't be reached About 75% of roughly 6,300 eligible Kaleida union workers cast a vote between Tuesday and Thursday and, of those who voted, 96% voted in favor of authorizing a strike, union officials announced about 10:30 p.m. Thursday.

The unions have given no indication publicly if and when the 10-day notice will be issued, planning to fully exhaust the bargaining process before action is taken.

But if a notice does hit, here's what to expect.

The notice is issued

Under the National Labor Relations Act, a union must give at least 10 days of notice to a health care employer prior to engaging in picketing or strike activity. And that notice would include the date, time and location of the planned labor action.

And the unions have a lot of options of where to strike.

Unlike an agreement at Catholic Health System that limited last fall's labor strike to just Mercy Hospital in South Buffalo, Kaleida has no such assurances  that means a strike could happen across the Kaleida system.

What's at stake as contract talks for 6,300 Kaleida workers enter next phase About 6,300 Kaleida union workers will vote Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday on whether to give their bargaining committee the authority to call a strike if negotiations stall or tensions escalate.

But that doesn't mean the strike has to be systemwide.

Larry Zielinski, a health care administration expert at University at Buffalo and a former Buffalo General president, would expect a potential strike to hit highly visible Kaleida sites, such as Buffalo General Medical Center and Gates Vascular Institute, and/or profitable sites such as Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital.

He would not expect, however, the unions to strike at Oishei Children's Hospital, which he believes could hurt the community support for the labor action.

"I think it will be surgical," Zielinski said of the unions' strategy. "I don't think it will be a systemwide strike."

The costs set in

If and when Kaleida receives notice, the costs for the financially pinched health system will start to kick in.

"Once a 10-day notice hits, it's probably costing money because they're likely investing in the strike-breaking workers and other preparations for the strike, and they are not going to be able to get all that money back even if they reach an agreement," said Rebecca Kolins Givan, an associate professor of labor studies and employment relations at Rutgers University. "So then the costs start to become real."

Kaleida has engaged Michigan crisis staffing firm Huffmaster as part of its contingency plans should a strike occur. Huffmaster was the same firm that Catholic Health used during the Mercy strike.

Kaleida has not said how much the initial payment to Huffmaster would be, but it has estimated that a strike would cost the health system $23 million a week in replacement staff.

$25 million in state aid couldn't come at a better time for Kaleida State officials no doubt hope the funding will provide a boost to WNY's largest health care system, which has posted more than $200 million in pandemic-related losses since 2020.

So for comparison's sake, that $25 million that Kaleida is due to receive this year from the state's Vital Access Provider Program? The equivalent of that would be gone in a week during a strike.

Not all hope is lost

If a notice gets issued, that doesn't mean all hope is lost toward reaching an agreement.

It could, in fact, be the impetus for reaching a deal. At minimum, it provides a hard deadline by which a deal must be reached to avoid a strike, effectively turning up the heat in the bargaining room.

"There are many instances where an agreement is reached after the 10-day notice is issued," said Cathy Creighton, a former labor attorney and the director of the Cornell University Industrial and Labor Relations School's Buffalo office.

To get there, however, compromise may be needed.

For those who study labor relations, the theory is strikes occur when one side, or both, is overly optimistic about what they can get in the negotiation, noted Harry Katz, the Jack Sheinkman professor of collective bargaining at Cornell. To reach a deal, he said, that might mean management has to raise its offer or the unions need to lower their offer to bring the two sides closer together.

In the Kaleida talks, the hot items are staffing and wages. And Kaleida, for its part, has said its economic offer, which includes wages, benefits and clinical staffing commitments, totals $200 million over three years, while it has costed out the union's proposal at nearly $500 million over three years.

Kaleida has said it knows it needs to address staffing needs and boost wages to recruit and retain workers, but it's also concerned the union's proposal could jeopardize the future viability of the health system.

Kaleida Health union workers vote to authorize strike amid wave of labor action nationally. Is more on the way? Cornell University researchers documented 180 strikes across the country, involving 78,000 workers, through the first half of 2022, up from 102 walkouts with 26,500 employees through the first six months of last year.

Katz noted it's common to see difficult negotiations in health care right now, with health systems and workers dealing with the lingering after-effects of the pandemic. And given the tight labor market, especially in health care, Katz noted labor has more bargaining power than it did in previous years when the unemployment rate was higher.

"I don't know the details of the inside story of the negotiations going on in Buffalo, but I wouldn't be surprised if, again, there's some element of sluggishness in management coming to grips with the fact that bargaining power shifted somewhat more toward labor than it had been in the past," Katz said.

What if the clock runs out

If the clock does run out after a 10-day notice is issued, a strike at Kaleida would have a major effect on Western New York.

For one, it would put more pressure on the area's other health care providers, such as Erie County Medical Center and Catholic Health's facilities.

During last fall's strike at Mercy, Kaleida CEO Boyd said the reshuffling of patients across the region meant Kaleida facilities could no longer accept transfers from rural hospitals that often work with hospitals such as Buffalo General and Oishei.

Aside from the costs for Huffmaster workers, Kaleida also would lose additional patient revenue from canceled surgeries and other procedures that would need to be delayed amid the strike.

By comparison, the nearly six-week strike at Mercy last fall cost Catholic Health about $89 million: Roughly $37 million in lost revenues from reduced capacity and deferred or transferred procedures, and about $52 million in additional labor costs related to temporary staffing.

And a strike also could further erode relationships between Kaleida and its workers, bonds that would take a long time to heal.

"It would be devastating for this community," Boyd said, "and I don't think it's the type of thing that you recover from."
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PHOENIX (AP)  An Arizona judge on Friday declined to put her order that allowed enforcement of a pre-statehood law making it a crime to provide an abortion on hold, saying abortion rights groups that asked her to block the order are not likely to prevail on appeal.

The ruling from Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson means the state's abortion providers will not be able to restart procedures. Abortions were halted on Sept. 23 when Johnson ruled that a 1973 injunction must be lifted so that the Civil War-era law could be enforced.

Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich sought the order lifting the injunction. Attorneys with his office told the judge that, since the U.S. Supreme Court's June 24 decision said women do not have a constitutional right to obtain an abortion, there was no legal reason to block the old law.

Planned Parenthood and its Arizona affiliate had urged Johnson to keep the injunction issued shortly after Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973. They argued that laws enacted by the state Legislature in the ensuing 50 years should take precedence.

Planned Parenthood's lawyers on Monday asked Johnson to put her ruling on hold to allow an appeal.

Before last Fridays ruling allowing enforcement of the old law, abortions were legal in Arizona until the fetus was viable, usually at about 24 weeks of pregnancy. But on Saturday, a law enacted by the state Legislature last spring banning abortion at 15 weeks took effect.

Gov. Doug Ducey has said that law takes precedence, but his lawyers did not seek to argue that position in court. Brnovich and some Republican lawmakers insist the old law is in force.

Brittany Fonteno, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Arizona, said she was outraged by the ruling.

It is impermissible that Arizonans are waking up each morning to their elected officials making conflicting statements about which laws are in effect or claiming that they do not know, and yet the court has refused to provide any clarity or relief, Fonteno said.

Some clinics in Arizona have been referring patients to providers in California and New Mexico since Johnson lifted the injunction on the old law, and they were prepared to restart abortions. The pre-statehood law carries a sentence of two to five years in prison for doctors or anyone else who assists in an abortion. Last year, the Legislature repealed a law allowing charges against women who seek abortions

Ashleigh Feiring, a nurse at abortion provider Camelback Family Planning in Phoenix, said her office will keep looking for ways to serve patients.

Were trying to think of everything we can to get loopholes in the law, Feiring said Friday, adding that the facility would be willing to once again provide the procedure.

Feiring said her office continues to do post-miscarriage care and provide patients with ultrasounds so they know how many weeks pregnant they may be. That's important, because abortion pills can only be used in the first 10-12 weeks of a pregnancy.

Feiring said some patients are able to get an abortion pill prescription from a provider in Sweden and get it filled through the mail by a pharmacy in India, but that takes about three weeks. Arizona law bans delivery of the abortion pill through the mail, and U.S. providers generally will not take that risk.

Since Roe was overturned, Arizona and 13 other states have banned abortions at any stage of pregnancy. About 13,000 people in Arizona get an abortion each year, according to Arizona Department of Health Services reports.
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The state Board of Elections has fined the campaign committee of former State Sen. George D. Maziarz $2,500 for a minor finance violation that reflects a decade-long feud within Niagara County politics that has no apparent end in sight.

In a Tuesday civil settlement agreement obtained by The Buffalo News, the Committee to Elect Maziarz State Senate admitted no guilt in a probe launched by the Board of Elections. But it acknowledges several technical violations in financing 2020 primary campaign literature that discouraged votes for Caroline A. Wojtaszek, the former Niagara County district attorney who won her bid for Niagara County judge.

Though Maziarz and Wojtaszek's husband  former Niagara County Republican Chairman Henry F. Wojtaszek  at one time were close friends forming the nucleus of a powerful Niagara County GOP machine, the new development represents the latest chapter in the region's longest and most bitter political blood feud. Maziarz says letters financed by the independent expenditure committee he formed against Caroline Wojtaszek called the Committee to Reform Niagara stem from his outspoken criticism of the Western Regional Off Track Betting Corp., headed by Henry Wojtaszek and at one time employing much of Maziarz's estranged inner circle from Niagara County.

"I did a whole lot to make WROTB a success, but not so with the executives and board members filling their pockets with taxpayer money," the former senator said Friday. "They keep trying to silence me. I'm sure they're behind this complaint."

Henry Wojtaszek refuted Maziarz's latest allegation, labeling the OTB claim "preposterous" and referred to a Maziarz history of election law problems.

It all points to a smoldering feud reignited.

"Once again George Maziarz doesn't think the rules apply to him and for the third time in his career, he is guilty of serious campaign violations," Wojtaszek said Friday. "It shows how unhinged he's become and proves no one should take him seriously. He is simply carrying out a personal vendetta against me by attacking my wife Caroline.

Former state senator files lawsuit against OTB, criticizes officials' inaction Former State Sen. George Maziarz announced Thursday a civil lawsuit accusing leadership of Western Regional Off-Track Betting, a public benefit corporation that offers legal online betting on horse racing, of misappropriating public funds for personal use.

"How pathetic," he added. "Worse, he consistently breaks the law to do it."

Elections officials say the confidential nature of Chief Enforcement Officer Michael J. Johnson's probe prohibits disclosing the origin of the complaint. But The News obtained the September 2020 affidavit that brought the matter to the Board of Elections. It was submitted by Caroline Wojtaszek in her capacity as district attorney after a citizen requested an investigation, with the affidavit indicating referral to the board would avoid any conflict of interest.

Though Henry Wojtaszek once was a Maziarz protege and heir apparent to his influence in Niagara County, it all disintegrated during a series of federal and state investigations that resulted in several minor guilty pleas and ongoing acrimony.

In 2018, for example, Maziarz pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor election law violation before an Albany County judge and paid a $1,000 fine after facing five felony election law violations brought by then-state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman. The plea deal headed off a scheduled trial that was expected to expose much of Niagara County's inside politics, and followed immunity granted to a host of major Niagara County figures.

Henry Wojtaszek has encountered his own problems with the Board of Elections, pleading guilty in 2017 to a misdemeanor election law violation.

But the latest rupture in the once solid GOP organization stems from the Maziarz committee that sponsored mailings in 2020 that labeled Caroline Wojtaszek a "pro-abortion, pro-gun control Democrat" during the Republican primary election she won.

"She literally rode the Barack Obama campaign bus to Ohio to get out the vote on his behalf," Maziarz told voters in one letter. "She campaigned for Hillary Clinton against President Trump, too  even as 57% of Niagara County's citizens voted to Make America Great Again."

Also in 2020, after an 18-month investigation by Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley acting as a special prosecutor, Maziarz failed to obtain bid rigging charges against his old friend. Maziarz had claimed Henry Wojtaszek pressured county officials in 2014 to deliver a grant writing contract to Four Points Communications, headed by a former aide.

Special prosecutor clears Wojtaszek of Maziarz's charges More than a year and a half of investigation by a special prosecutor has resulted in exonera

"Although I believe that the company's consulting practices were suspect," Doorley said then, "they do not rise to the level to warrant criminal prosecution."

The former senator also failed to spur Bar Association disciplinary action against Henry Wojtaszek in connection with the Four Points probe. Since then Maziarz has been outspoken in in criticism of the public benefit corporation that Wojtaszek serves as president, noting Friday he met with investigators from the Attorney General's Office in mid-September who are probing his complains.

And in July, he withdrew a civil lawsuit accusing OTB leadership of misappropriating public funds for personal use.

This week's Board of Elections agreement also included Leslie Stolzenfels, treasurer of the Maziarz Senate account, which has more than $583,000 remaining almost eight years after Maziarz retired. The agreement signed by all parties acknowledges the Maziarz Senate account paid $11,532 to produce and circulate the Maziarz letter against Caroline Wojtaszek. But the violation occurred because the Committee to Reform Niagara failed to register as an independent expenditure committee and failed to file proper financial disclosure statements.

The stipulation admits no criminal or civil liability, and agrees there was no coordination with any other candidate.

Maziarz said Friday he agreed to the settlement and amended past campaign finance reports because he would have otherwise faced at least $10,000 in legal fees.
After Hurricane Ian affected areas in Floria that caused flash floods and damages, different carriers responded with different measures for their customers based on a report by 9To5Mac.

(Photo : Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

BONITA SPRINGS, FL - SEPTEMBER 29: A storm damaged building after Hurricane Ian on September 29, 2022 in Bonita Springs, Florida. Hurricane Ian brought high winds, storm surge and rain to the area causing severe damage.

AT&T's Response

For AT&T, the carrier announced on their website that customers and non-customers will be automatically connected when roaming begins and even after the storm.

They added, "To assist in the recovery, we're now welcoming other carriers' customers to roam on our networks so they can connect, even if their carrier's service isn't available after the storm. Once this roaming begins, customers will automatically be connected to our network."

Several charges were also waived by the company for residential and business wireline orders until the end of October.

These include the service charge for installation at the customer's location, wiring fees, activation fees for remote calls, and the monthly rate for a whole month for remote calls.

Verizon's Response

Verizon also released an announcement that they are in the works to refuel the generators to the carrier's cell sites for customers to have cell service anytime. Unlimited calls, texts, and data will also be given to them until October 4.

Adding to this, Verizon also launched its Verizon Frontline Crisis Response Team in Florida for them to conduct support for mission-critical communications to different public safety agencies.

As per the company, three Satelite Picocells on Trailers have been released by the mentioned team for responders' operation in Florida.

T-Mobile's Response

Unlimited connections to all of its customers will be given by T-Mobile as a response to the hurricane. This started on September 28 and will last until October 3.

The company stated that the majority of its customers are already subscribed to unlimited calls, texts, and data. However, this service will also be available to those who are unsubscribed to this plan.

The list below are the areas scoping for these services:

For Florida: Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Brevard, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, Collier, Columbia, Desoto, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, Glades, Hamilton, Hardee, Hendry, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Lee, Leon, Levy, Madison, Manatee, Marion, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Nassau, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Saint Johns, Sarasota, Seminole, Sumter, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, Volusia, and Wakulla.

For Georgia: Brantley, Camden, Charlton, Clinch, Echols, Glynn, Lanier, Lowndes, and Ware.

Also Read: T-Mobile Subscribers Will Now Experience Free Wi-Fi for United Airlines Flights

Hurricane Ian

As per USA Today, the hurricane's heavy rains and strong winds caused increasing death counts. Hurricane Ian was described as one of the "most devastating storms" in United States history.

As per Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, different Coast Guard helicopters have been deployed to rescue trapped residents from roofs of their houses as the state was swamped by floods.

He stated, "The impacts of this storm are historic and the damage that has been done is historic. We've never seen a flood event like this, we've never seen a storm surge of this magnitude."

Related Article: NASA's ISS Captures Hurricane Ian Swirling Towards Florida

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Written by Inno Flores

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Scientists have developed miniature organs similar to the human brain.

The so-called organoids are all lab-grown and these models are said to be an important part of discovering more findings in neuroscience such as mental disorders and their development.

Mini-Brain Models in Neuroscience

(Photo : Robina Weermeijer from Unsplash)

These cultured miniature models of the brain can help neuroscientists in the study of mental disorders.

The organoids perfectly resemble the exact design of the human brain yet not all of them look like that. It's very important to create mini models of this central organ so scientists could explore more studies on how diseases affect the nervous system.

Per Neuroscience News, the study's senior author Bennet Novitch said that scientists are struggling to find a conventional method that could generate organoids.

Producing these mini-brain models often poses challenges to the experts in terms of their sizes and quality. They still continue to figure out how these miniature organs will thrive given that they are unique to one another.

Momoko Watabe, who is also currently teaching neurobiology and anatomy at UC Irvine mentioned that different outcomes will likely appear if his lab and the other lab conduct some screening for these organoids from the same disease.

"We won't know whose findings are correct because the differences we're seeing could be reflections of how our models differ rather than reflections of the disease," the study's author added.

Watanabe said that developing organoids come with two tricky issues: the first is the structure and the second one is its uniformity.

The study of autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia is associated with the involvement of organoids because they are capable of recreating the cellular structure of the human brain.

With this, Novitch knew that identifying the differences when it comes to the patient's brain function is a huge chore to overcome. This is because organoids are subject to "grossly irregular structure," according to the UCLA Brain Research Institute's Integrated Center for Neural Repair director.

Related Article: Scientists Create A 'Mini 3D Brain' Derived from Human Cells With Electrodes Caps

How Researchers Preserve the Maturity of Organoids

News Medical reported that organoids could be made as small as 5 millimeters in diameter. Using stem cells, the experts take a sample of human skin that will later transform into pluripotent stem cells. These particular cells can detect if a human cell is distinct from the rest of the existing cells in the body.

According to UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center experts Amander Clark and Kathrin Plath, the maturity of the cells lie within preserving their fresh quality.

In early trials, the researchers decided to put the stem cells inside a dish together with mouse skin cells. The latter cells are believed to be an effective preserving element for immature cells.

However, the study found that organoids could not go well with mouse cells because they are incapable of replacing damaged neural tissues.

As a result, the researchers shift to another technique known as RNA sequencing to determine if a specific stem cell is suited for organoid production.

They combined the four molecules in a dish and cultured them in the stem cells. Surprisingly, they discovered that this method could preserve organoids of their top quality.

To view the study entitled "TGF superfamily signaling regulates the state of human stem cell pluripotency and capacity to create well-structured telencephalic organoids," visit Stem Cell Reports.

Read Also: Scientists Grow Tiny Brain 'Organoids' In A Dish To Study Autism

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Written by Joseph Henry

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Li Auto Inc. just launched today the L8, a six-seater SUV as reported by South China Morning Post. This model will be the automaker's bet to outsell its international competitors like Audio, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW.

(Photo : JADE GAO/AFP via Getty Images)

A man walks past a retail store of Chinese electric car Li Auto at a shopping mall in Beijing on August 12, 2021.

L8 will be available in two trim levels which are the Pro and Max. These models will provide users a "flexible choices of smartness" as it offers almost a hundred features that prioritize the driver's and passenger's comfort, sumptuousness, and safety.

Pre-orders have started already and its base model's price will start from $50,730. As per Li's press release on their website, customers will be expecting to receive their EVs later this year as the deliveries will start in November.

This vehicle will measure 5090mm long, 1995mm wide, and 1800 high with a 3005mm wheelbase. Along with its size, it also features an extended range electric system through its wheels, Magic Carpet suspension, and 7.3.4 Dolby panoramic audio-visual system.

Li L8 Pro Model

For the Pro models, it will provide an intelligent driving AD Pro, which will be the first to support the Journey 5 chip in the world. These chips are developed by Horizon Robotics. Along with this, an intelligent console SS Pro will also be provided that will also be supported a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8115 chip and two front-facing LCD screens of 15.7 inches.

Li L8 Max Model

Max models will be providing AD Max that adopts NVIDIA's dual Orin X chips and lidars. A complete set of automated driving safety redundancy systems will also be included in these models. Just like the Pro models, SS Max will also be supported by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chips but will be having three front-facing with 15.7 inches.

EVs in China

According to UBS Analyst Paul Gong, 30% will be topping up China's electric vehicle production rates for the next few months, a much higher rate than the 25% last August. This only proves that the adoption of the country on electric vehicles has been growing fastly. Because of this, Li Auto Founder Phate Zhang stated that the company will be targeting Chinese consumers of BMW, Audi, and Benz.

Also Read: Tesla Chinese Rivals Li Auto and Xpeng Motor EVs Explode After US IPO Debut; Quality Concerns Raised

A report from PanDaily revealed that as of the moment, the delivery volume of the company has already reached 199,484. However, the delivery volume has been declining for two months as it decreases from 13,024 in June and 10,422 in July to 4,751 in August. The sales were lowered by these numbers to approximately 56.1%.

This is the second time that the company experienced low monthly sales, which they first experienced when lockdowns were implemented last April because of a splurge of Covid-19 cases in the location of their supply chain.

Related Article: China's 'Elon Musk' Li Xiang to Dominate the Electric Vehicle Industry with His Li Auto





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The United States is forming an alliance with East Asian countries to answer the chip shortage present in the entire industry, as well as center on supply chain resilience for the future of the business. It includes countries like Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan which also center on delivering and manufacturing the semiconductors needed in the market.

The US dubbed this group the "Chip 4," all with a common goal to answer the chip supply chain problems in the present.

US Chip 4 Discuss Supply Chain Resilience

(Photo : Photo by David Silverman/Getty Images)

An Intel chip is seen in a circuit board being built at an ECI Telecom high-tech plant January 15, 2003 in Petah Tikva which is located in central Israel. ECI Telecom, which specializes in telecommunication networking solutions, is placed amongst the 10 leading companies in Israel with its sales in excess of US$1.2 billion last year and employs over 3,500 employess worldwide.

Taiwan Economy Minister Wang Mei-Hua Wang revealed that there was a preliminary meeting regarding a future collaboration to create semiconductors and supply the world in the future. According to Reuters report, Wang told reporters that this initiative was led by the United States and invited several world leaders in chip production.

The meeting aims to ensure cooperation among these powerhouse countries regarding chips, as well as ensure supply chain resilience in the world.

This collective will ensure that future chip manufacturing will be enough to supply everyone with what it needs, especially for the growing technological advancements in the world.

Read Also: Nintendo Switch Sales Plunge to 3.4 Milion Units in Latest Quarter - Chip Shortage to Blame?

Chip 4 Consists of International Partners

The United States dubbed this group the "Chip 4" and it includes East Asian countries working together towards one goal, and it is to answer the chip shortage. The likes of Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan complete the quartet.

Massive companies from each country will also focus to deliver on this venture, including that Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. from South Korea, and SK Hynix from Japan.

Chip Shortage in the World

Chip production is one of the most sought-after industries in the world now, aside from gas shortage, as it centers on the massive shortage that most production and manufacturing get delays due to its issues. Many companies already claim that there are fewer chip problems present now, but it is not entirely applicable to all manufacturers.

There was a plan made by the United States to answer the chip issues present in the world now, and it aims to center on an in-country solution to produce the semiconductors needed across many industries. However, it faces many obstacles and offices that need its approval before it heads to the President for final deliberation.

The initiative is to create more chips in the long run and answer the shortage and problems which affect the supply chain and manufacturing of these chips for the world. Chip 4 will soon deliver on solutions to answer this modern problem, particularly with its future plans to deliver on many technology needs to progress and develop.

Related Article: Intel Needs 7,000 Workers to Build $20B Chip Facility in Ohio

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A new AI-powered laser system has been developed specifically to kill cockroaches.

(Photo : Photo credit should read WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images)

This picture taken on March 25, 2019 shows a cockroach at a roach farm in Yibin, China's southwestern Sichuan province. - As farmer Li Bingcai opened the door to his cockroach farm in southwest China, an insect the size of a dart flew into his face. Picking the critter off his forehead.

If this turret-based technology is proven effective, then it could definitely help prevent these pests from overpopulating.

However, is it really safe for public use?

Ildar Rakhmatulin, a research associate at the Heriot-Watt University in the U.K., led the new study titled "Selective neutralization and deterring of cockroaches with laser automated by machine vision."

He and his colleagues published their new research in the Oriental Insects journal on Sept. 21.

New AI-Powered Laser System as Cockroach Pest Control!

According to Interesting Engineering's latest report, the new turret-based laser system can take people's cockroach pest problems.

(Photo : Photo credit should read ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images)

A picture taken on March 29, 2018 shows cockroaches locked in a container at the laboratory of the centre of research on infectious diseases of the University Hospital Institute (IHU) Mediterranean Infection, in Marseille. Marseille has inaugurated a research centre on infectious diseases, complete with insect breeding.

Related Article: This AI Aims to Prevent the Death of Endangered Whales From Ship Collisions

Rakhmatulin said that they used a small computer developed by NVIDIA called Jetson Nano. This tech allowed them to try different applications via multiple neural networks.

These include speech processing, image classification, and object detection. On the other hand, Ildar connected two cameras and a galvanometer to their Jetson Nano.

Since they have complete control over their AI-based laser tech, he and his team can adjust the power settings of their turret-based system.

Lower power levels could trigger the flight response of cockroaches, preventing them from sheltering in one area. On the other hand, higher power levels can kill these insects.

Is It Safe for Public Use

The new anti-cockroach of Rakhmatulin and his colleagues still need further observations if they want to mass produce their AI-based laser system.

On the other hand, the lead researcher said they only used cheap hardware and other components to develop their cockroach-killing turret.

This means that there's a chance it can malfunction if not used properly.

"If it can damage cockroaches, it can also damage other pests in agriculture," said Ildar via The Vice.

In other stories, scientists claimed that a super-intelligent AI could become uncontrollable.

Meanwhile, 36% of AI experts said that artificial intelligence could cause nuclear war-like catastrophic events.

For more news updates about AIs and other related tech topics, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Students Are Using AI Programs to Finish Their Assignments - Is it Considered Ethical?

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The small city of Warrnambool in southwest Victoria is set to launch the biggest floating array of solar panels in all of Australia, according to a report by ABC News.

As part of a $1.4 million pontoon project revealed by water authority Wannon Water, more than 1,200 double-sided solar panels will be permanently stationed in the middle of the Brierly Basin.

Green Energy Breakthrough

Although it is unclear whether the green energy breakthrough will become a tourist draw, it does promise at least two substantial changes - a huge decrease in greenhouse gas emissions and significant electricity bill savings.

The new solar energy system will float on pontoons constructed of high-density polyethylene, the same material used to construct water pipes.

The solar farm, according to Wannon Water, would produce more than 600,000 kilowatt hours of renewable energy annually and cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 600 tonnes. That amounts to financial savings for the company of more than $500,000, as per ABC News.

Pumps are used to bring water into the basin from the Otways, collect it from neighboring roofs, treat it, and then pump it to residences in Warrnambool, Allansford, and Koroit.

In Gippsland's Lardner Park, close to Drouin, the state government has contributed more than $200,000 for a similar floating system. The system is anticipated to power the park and act as a solar display at Farm World events held in the area.

The initiative has been completely sponsored by Wannon Water and was initiated by the state government as part of its effort for water utilities to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

More than 400 floating solar panel systems, according to the government, have been built across the world, but Warrnambool's will be the first of its kind for the Australian water industry.

Read also: 'Solar Rooftops:' Farmers Are Using Distributed Solar Panels On Walls and Roofs To Promote Green Farming

Floating Solar in the North Sea

In the North Sea, a new project to install floating solar panels has been launched as well. The project is a component of a partnership to develop "floating solar parks," where the German energy giant RWE will invest in a trial run of floating solar technology.

SolarDuck will gain valuable first-hand experience from Merganser in one of the most difficult offshore settings in the world. The most recent development will open up new solar energy options despite the harsh North Sea environment.

Offshore floating solar technology from SolarDuck offers a solution to produce green energy, given the present scarcity of land. Incorporating offshore floating solar into offshore wind farms will create synergies for the construction and upkeep of the multi-source renewable energy plant.

Read also: 'Solar Facade': These Embedded Solar Panels Produce 50 Times More Power Than Standard Panels!

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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla

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Google appears to have stopped access to Google Translate in some regions of China, sending users to a site in Hong Kong inaccessible from the Chinese mainland, as reported first by TechCrunch.

The search giant replaced the Google Translate interface at translate.google.cn with a standard Google Search page at some point during the previous 24 hours, according to Reddit users and site archives viewed by TechCrunch.

"Low Usage"

According to reports, the modification affects Chrome's integrated translation capability as well as the translation capabilities of apps like the document viewer KOReader for users in China.

A company representative confirmed to TechCrunch via email that Google Translate has been discontinued in mainland China, citing "low usage." It's possible that there were other reasons for the decision, but there might be some truth to the claim that Google services are not used frequently in China as it competes with local tech giants Baidu and Alibaba.

Read also: Microsoft, Google, Apple, and More Ups Security this Month: What You Need to Know

Google and China's History

It is worth noting that Google and the Chinese government have had a protracted and difficult relationship. The business first entered the Chinese market in 2006 using a search engine that the government censored.

Google has once shut down Google Search on the mainland and momentarily switched searches to its unfiltered Hong Kong domain after state-backed cyberattacks, and the government ordered blocks on Google services after a YouTube video was released showing Chinese security forces beating Tibetans.

TechCrunch noted that Google considered relaunching Google Search in China in 2018 and 2019 as part of a project code-named Dragonfly, which would have limited results and tracked users' whereabouts and web browsing histories.

However, those plans were ultimately upended as a result of disputes within Google, which were instigated by the firm's privacy team, as per The Intercept's report.

In 2020, Google announced that it would not directly respond to data requests from Hong Kong law enforcement and would instead require them to go through a mutual legal assistance treaty with the U.S.

This was in response to the passage of national security law in Hong Kong that gave local authorities significantly increased surveillance powers.

Related Article: Google Search: What's New? Discussions and Forum, New Shopping Experience, Visuals, and MORE

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Since 2010 when Erie County Republicans elected a 29-year-old political operative as chairman, Nicholas A. Langworthy or his top lieutenants have overseen upstate New York's biggest GOP organization.

Now another young but seasoned veteran of campaigns around the state will take over following the Saturday election of Michael A. Kracker of Williamsville as new Erie County Republican chairman.

The new chairman had to overcome a rare intraparty challenge from Boston Chairman Mitch Martin, who engineered a major Republican victory last year as manager of John Garcia's successful campaign for sheriff. He noted other successes while running the Cheektowaga GOP for several years, and is closely associated with State Sen. Patrick M. Gallivan as a former staffer.

Gallivan backed Martin before Saturday's reorganization meeting, but Kracker prevailed with support from most of the party establishment.

"Its an honor to be elected to serve as Chairman of the @ERIECOUNTYGOP!" he tweeted midday Saturday. "Thank you to my wife, my fellow officers and the men and women of the committee for the strong show of support. On to victory in November!"

Kracker, 34, represents a new chapter for the local party as Langworthy campaigns for the 23rd Congressional District in a contest where he is heavily favored. Though Langworthy has headed the Republican State Committee since 2019, most observers note he worked closely with outgoing Erie County Chairman Karl J. Simmeth Jr., even sharing offices in the local party's downtown headquarters.

But those same observers say they expect Langworthy to leave his state party post and concentrate on congressional duties if he defeats Democrat Max Della Pia on Nov. 8, paving the way for Kracker to initiate a new chapter in the party's long local history. It now appears Kracker is ready to run his own show.

"I think Nick is excited to have someone there to act independently," Kracker said, "but I expect to be the decider within this organization and to lead this party forward. Both of us believe it is time for someone else to take over."

Langworthy appears ready to pass the torch.

"Michael was the first guy I hired (as party executive director) when I became chairman in 2010 and I have been so proud to watch him and his career," Langworthy said. "He has the work ethic and broad-based experience to take this to a new level and to a new generation."

Kracker is already deeply steeped in GOP politics at a young age. A graduate of Williamsville South High School and SUNY Geneseo who now lives with his wife, Erin, in Kenmore, he started the usual climb up the party ladder as a headquarters staffer, Board of Elections employee, and executive director at headquarters.

But he began gaining attention as campaign manager for former Rep. Chris Collins and then as his deputy chief of staff. He left Collins in 2018 to take over the Unshackle Upstate business advocacy group, before joining State Senate Minority Leader Robert G. Ortt's staff in 2020, where he has carved out a niche as senior adviser and key figure in GOP campaigns across the state.

"I didn't really expect to do this, but I've spent the vast majority of my career in service to the Republican Party in one form or another," he said in an interview. "I have a very close relationship with Nick Langworthy, and statewide exposure to Senate Republicans will be a benefit to the people of Erie County.

"I want to bring those relationships back home to help the Erie County GOP," he added.

Kracker faces a tough assignment. Democrats outnumber Republicans in Erie County by 132,575 voters, and even unaffiliated now register a slight registration advantage. The party's control of the county executive's post has eluded it since Democrat Mark C. Poloncarz's first victory in 2011 and has won only the sheriff's position in recent years, also ceding control of the County Legislature.

But Kracker thinks Garcia's victory in 2021 bodes well for the party, and expresses confidence for 2023, though he won't hint at who might emerge as the candidate for county executive.

"I come from the Senate Republicans, and we have Democratic districts around the state where we win," he said.

The new chairman expects Langworthy to concentrate on Washington if he succeeds in winning his November congressional campaign, much like another former GOP chairman  former Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds of Clarence. Reynolds relinquished his party duties when elected to Congress (while maintaining an active advisory role), and sees Langworthy following the same path.

He thinks Kracker is ready to take over.

"My hope is that we will have a new chairman who is young and has the ability to rebuild," Reynolds said. "Brining people together and getting them involved is just as important as having a technological skill set.

"We've proven time and time again that the right candidate with the right message and the right financing wins," he added.
Former president and candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said today that South America wants to see him win the October 2 elections in Brazil to reorganize the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) once again.

"You have the whole of South America wanting Brazil to win to see if we can once again coordinate a multilateral institution such as Unasur and try to discuss development projects," Lula told the press in Rio de Janeiro, accompanied by political allies such as Marcelo Freixo, candidate for governor, and Andre Ceciliano, candidate for senator.

The presidential aspirant of the Workers' Party explained that "you cannot have in Brazil a president (alluding to Jair Bolsonaro) who makes fun of Argentina every day."

Argentina, he stressed, "is our main trading partner. You know? It's a stupid government. So we are going to have a hard time recovering a lot of things where the dismantling was done here," he admitted.

Lula called it stupid for a Brazilian ruler to provoke Argentina and added that, if elected, he would seek to talk to the region's leaders.

Bolsonaro, a Liberal Party candidate seeking re-election, frequently criticizes Argentine President Alberto Fernandez, a political ally of Lula.

During the elections in the neighboring country, the former military officer defended the re-election of Mauricio Macri, who ended up defeated by Fernandez.

In his speech, the former labor leader also advanced that at least eight European countries expressed interest in having a conversation by telephone on Monday, one day after the elections, to establish a new diplomatic relationship.

He warned that there is a prevailing uneasiness abroad about what could happen in Brazil after the polarized consultation and the possibility that Bolsonaro, seeing himself defeated, may try to create "confusion in the transition."

"There are many people worried about what could happen in Brazil. They don't know the number of calls we are receiving, the number of people who are signing up to come here to accompany the electoral process", remarked the favorite candidate to win at the polls on Sunday.

During the heated last presidential debate with the participation of seven candidates (out of 11) broadcast the previous night by TV Globo, Bolsonaro evaded and gave another answer when Senator Soraya Thronicke (Union Brazil) asked if he would stage a coup d'etat and respect the result of the vote. The former Army captain resorted to blackmail by stating that he helped her to elect her as a congresswoman and that she even asked for positions in the federal government for allies during her administration, without referring to the question posed by the senator.
The "camping fever" continued in autumn and winter, and regulations were introduced in many places to help standardize the development of business formats
The chefs of Canitas Maite take their cuisine of essence and product to Cebo, the Michelin star of Urban that reopens today in Madrid
Each time we have a heavy snowstorm here in Buffalo my twice-removed cousin Maheen from Tehran, whom I have never met, calls to check if we are OK.

My family and I came to Buffalo from Iran in the late '70s and settled here. I consider and introduce myself as an American with Iranian heritage and values. My precious mom, who passed in 2016, told us that America is our mother by choice. But Iran remains our mother by birth. One remains connected, and it gives you heartache when it is on fire.

Now that Iran is in civil unrest, I called to check on my twice-removed cousin, Maheen. There was no answer and I learned quickly from another cousin that Maheen has been hospitalized and is in critical condition. What happened, I asked? We are in defiance of the government. We are having a revolution. A revolution?" I asked. Our conversation was abruptly cut short. I have not been able to reconnect through the phone.

My cousin whom I never met died of severe injuries resulting from being beaten by a sharp metal object by the morality police. I owe it to her and countless others who are sacrificing their lives for freedom, not to let their deaths go in vain.

I am writing this on behalf of my Iranian American community here in Western New York, asking our representatives to officially support the citizens of Iran in their recent efforts to gain freedom from the oppressive and totalitarian regime in Iran. We are asking our representatives, as well as Buffalonians, to publicly condemn the government's brutal and violent reprisal against its own people, which has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of unarmed citizens and counting.

We are asking Congress to stand in solidarity with Iranian women and men who are fighting for justice for Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman who was beaten to death over the improper wearing of the compulsory head cover. I did not know Mahsa nor had I met my cousin Maheen and humanity does not require that. I stand with the oppressed  whether in Afghanistan, Ukraine or Iran  irrespective of their religion, race, or nationality.

The Iranian people and especially young women have been the victims of endless human rights violations at the hands of a corrupt dictatorship and their Morality Police, for the past four decades. The time has come, and the Iranian people have chosen to fight and die in order to gain their freedom. We as Americans must support this battle against tyranny. In addition, we are asking our government to back any measures being taken to restore communications and/or expand internet access to the population of Iran, who are being systematically silenced through technology.

Finally, we are asking that this human rights violation take precedence over any nuclear deal being negotiated with this corrupt regime. All deals must come off the table. In closing we implore you to stand with the people and take constructive action against the dictatorship government of Iran, now.

Nadia Shahram, esq. is an attorney and matrimonial mediator.
It took two months and five letters, but Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation president Henry Wojtaszek has  at last  agreed to take questions from Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick. Wojtaszek has invited Hardwick and the other comptrollers or fiscal officers from the OTBs 15 member counties to an Oct 5 meeting at Batavia Downs.

Up until last week, Wojtaszek had no interest in cooperating with the efforts of the Erie County comptroller, whose well grounded concern is that the OTB operation revels in a lack of transparency. Instead, he suggested Hardwick file a Freedom of Information request to get answers about the OTBs Batavia Down hotel buyback deal, its expenditures on outside lawyers and lobbyists, the comprehensive health benefits of OTB board members and other issues that have been of long-running concern.

Then there are the recent audits by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapolis office, which show that OTB spent nearly $1.3 million on tickets, suites and various other inducements for games of the Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres and Rochester Americans, in addition to concerts, without routinely maintaining accurate records. When the audits were released last year, OTBs response indicated that it knew of these discrepancies and was trying to improve its record-keeping. Its concerning that an agency overseeing gambling operations in 15 New York counties would be brushing off unprofessional accounting practices in such an offhand manner.

Finally, it looks as though at least some of these issues will be aired.

Wisely, Wojtaszek has decided to agree with board member Francis Warthling, Erie Countys appointee, that the Western Regional OTB has nothing to hide and shouldnt put up needless barriers to information. Everythings on the up-and-up, Warthling said.

Maybe it is. But given the track record of this agency, its wisest to withhold judgment until the results of next weeks meeting are known. Its private, but the attendees are free to share whatever they hear from OTB compliance consultant and former Buffalo FBI Agent Paul Moskal, Chief Financial Officer Jackie Leach and David Hart, president of Hart Hotels, which operates the Batavia Downs hotel operation.

If OTB has resolved its deficiencies, as Warthling implies, then full transparency at this meeting should demonstrate that there really is nothing to hide.

In the meantime, State Sen. Tim Kennedy, D-Buffalo still has the right idea. Hes proposed legislation that would strip OTB employees of take-home vehicles, limit gifts to insiders at $15 and appoint a new board of directors to account for the size of the 15 Western New York counties that comprise the regional OTB. That change would allow Democrats to dominate the board. The existing system has long benefited Republicans. The measure stalled in the Assembly this year, but a spokeswoman from Kennedys office says he plans to reintroduce it in January. He should.

  

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.
This week, President Joe Biden laid out an ambitious goal at the White Houses first food conference in 50 years, committing $8 billion to address food insecurity with the aim to end hunger in the U.S. by 2030.

Globally, the path to tackling the growing issue remains much direr, thanks to ongoing conflict and the ever-growing climate crisis.

According to a new study from the United Nations World Food Program, the number of hunger hotspots has increased 10-fold in just five years. A record 970,000 people face catastrophic levels of hunger in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia, and Yemen.

A man reacts at a fruit stall at the street market in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on August 25, 2022. (Photo by Miguel SCHINCARIOL/AFP)

Food insecurity means an individual is not having a daily meal. Currently, 345 million people around the world are already approaching starvation, and those numbers will likely only worsen.

For 345 million people, that's because their food is being washed away by climate crises, like in Pakistan," International Rescue Coalition (IRC) CEO David Milibrand told Yahoo Finance Live (video above). "Access to food is being blocked because of conflicts, like in places like Yemen. And also, because they can't afford to buy food, which is the situation in Afghanistan.

An unfolding food crisis

Miibands warning comes as the world faces its largest food crisis in modern history, putting millions of people at risk.

The unfolding humanitarian disaster has intensified this year, in part because of the fighting between Russia and Ukraine. The countries collectively account for 30% of globally traded wheat, 20% of maize, and 70% of sunflower supplies, while Russia remains a critical supplier of fertilizer.

A shortage of exports from the two nations has pushed prices higher at a time when global energy prices have added to the cost pressures with sanctions limiting Russian oil and natural gas exports.

Rice farmers in Indonesia are facing difficulties due to the continued increase in fertilizer prices following the Russia-Ukraine war. (Photo by Surya Fachrizal Aprianus/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Miliband argued that the outsized attention on Russia and Ukraine has masked a crisis that has been unraveling for years.

We shouldn't be mistaken for thinking that it's actually caused [the food crisis], Miliband said. The cause is more fundamental. And it's to do with the conflict, the climate crisis, and the maldistribution of resources.

Story continues

Livelihoods 'literally being washed away'

The impacts of climate change have particularly weighed heavily on the Global South, including the worlds poorest nations.

Record monsoon rains killed more than 1,500 people in Pakistan last month, and wiped out nearly 15% of Pakistans rice crop and 40% of its cotton crop, destroying livelihoods along with them. In Somalia, a country faced with its worst drought in 40 years, more than a million people have been displaced.

With the prospect of a fifth straight year of drought, international organizations have warned about a famine breaking out if livestock and crops continue to die. The last famine that plagued the country in 2011 killed roughly a quarter million people.

What we see around the world is a structural crisis because so much of the agriculture is not climate resilient, Milliband said. The livelihoods that people depend on are literally being washed away. Their seeds are not able to be resistant to the kind of shift in temperatures that we're seeing.

Displaced women carry water pots as children take bath amid floodwater, while they take refuge in a camp, following rains and floods during the monsoon season in Sehwan, Pakistan, September 16, 2022. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro

'No doubt' the richest countries caused the climate crisis

Soaring inflation driven largely by high energy costs and a surging dollar have only made the situation worse, putting the most indebted countries further in a financial hole and stripping funds away from humanitarian aid.

In the face of those challenges, the calls for the worlds richest nations to increase their financial contributions have grown louder. Developing countries argue that the worlds largest greenhouse gas emitters, including the U.S. and China, are responsible for the impacts of climate change that have disproportionately affected the poorest countries.

At UN Climate Week in New York in September, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on developed nations to consider a windfall tax on oil and gas companies to provide the cash needed for climate-related disasters and mitigation efforts, saying all polluters must pay.

The truth is that it is rich countries that have created the climate crisis," Miliband said. "There's no doubt about that. In terms of what we need to do, I'm afraid we have to do both. We have to mitigate future climate change by decarbonizing, changing, taking the carbon out of energy systems in the rich world "

Milibrand also highlighted the importance of mitigating "future danger by helping the poorest countries develop in a way that doesn't repeat our mistakes."

Akiko Fujita is an anchor and reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @AkikoFujita

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Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size This story is part of the October 2 edition of Sunday Life. See all 15 stories . When Allegra Spender swapped her life in the family business for a world of politics, she left behind her role as managing director of the fashion empire founded by her late mother, Carla Zampatti. Elected as the member for Wentworth, in Sydneys eastern suburbs, Allegra is part of a new wave of politicians who put climate, government integrity and womens issues high on the agenda. Although she follows in the footsteps of her father, John Spender, a shadow minister under Andrew Peacock and John Howard, and her late grandfather, Percy, who was a cabinet minister in the Menzies era, the mother of three is on her own political mission. Just a few months into her parliamentary role, she tells Sunday Life about her new life. Who was the first person you told about your ambition to enter politics? My brother Alex, because he used to work in politics. He was very surprised and is still a card-carrying member of the Liberal party, but family always comes first. The success of the teal candidates is an indication of changing times. Could you have ever predicted such a swing yourself? It was intimidating standing for this seat, but the biggest thing, the thing that made all the difference, were the people who got behind me. When I was thinking about running, I talked to a wide range of people in the community and realised we all felt the same way. I never thought we were definitely going to win but I did think, Well give this a really good shot. I made my final decision to run around the time of COP26 [November 2021]  when it became clear the [Morrison] government was not going to do anything meaningful on climate. I felt a strong moral obligation to do something myself. Bianca Spender Rocha top. Louise Olsen jewellery from Dinosaur Designs Credit:Hugh Stewart How have you adapted to your new role in politics? Its been a huge shift. As a member of parliament, I have two jobs  representing my constituents and helping the local community with their issues, and getting the people

of Wentworths perspectives heard on national issues. I am in the middle of a great balancing act and its all about re-arranging life to try to make it work. I still have young children [aged six, eight and nine]. I am not quite the deer in the headlights but I feel like I am on a vertical learning curve. What are the most important issues you want to address? Climate change is an important one: local action on fuel efficiency so we can increase electric vehicles, plus the end of fossil fuel subsidies. I also want to increase integrity in public life and look at political donation reform. I have a strong business background and studied economics, so for me its also about how you make it easier for businesses and entrepreneurs. Its about helping women in the workforce via paid parental leave.

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I also want to bring the kindness and decency of community values into politics  issues like refugees, the Uluru Statement from the Heart. I want to be hard-headed but warm-hearted. I always say I am just one out of 151 [members of parliament], and not everything is going to go my way. How did seeing the legacy created by your mother, Carla Zampatti, inspire what you do and what you advocate for as an MP? I thought a lot about Mum when I was deciding to run for the seat. She wanted women to stand up and lead. If she was still around, she would have told me to go for it, girl and been 100 per cent behind me. Your family always influences your values. Mum was passionate about supporting women, migrants and the arts and those values are very strong in my community and matter to me personally. Loading We have spent a long time waiting for women to be represented in the Coalition. Frankly, they have to sort out their female representation at a federal level. Mum brought her own migrant values and experiences to me, so advocating for refugees matters. The importance of a strong migration policy to Australia stems from Mums experience. She came to Australia after World War II and didnt have a rally of people behind her or any money to get started in life. But to arrive in a country where people can thrive and succeed without advantages, that is what Australia should be about. How are you juggling motherhood and politics, and what sort of advice have other people given you about striking this balance? Its not easy, and I am really grateful for Mums example. She made it easier for me to not feel guilty about not being at every school event. When we were children, she tried to make us really independent. We get our kids to make their lunches at home, too. Its about knowing they can pack their bags when Mum or Dad cant. I am partly trying to empower them to be independent, and that was a big lesson from Mum. We have a nanny and I know many people dont have that option. But I dont have my mother, my husband works full-time and we have to find ways to make that work for us. Im very good at freezing food, too. Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello jacket, shirt and jeans. Louise Olsen bangles. Credit:Hugh Stewart

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If you could have a conversation with your grandfather about his time in politics, what would you discuss? My grandfather, Percy Spender, had enormous foresight in foreign affairs. He thought Australia needed to pivot to Asia and also to the US, and those were fundamental shifts he anticipated and drove through via the Colombo Plan and ANZUS Treaty. Id ask him advice about the changing world and how Australia can set itself up for the new phase. What I admire about my grandfather and father is that when they disagreed with their party, they werent afraid to speak up. They maintained their independence. Loading What advice has your father given you about life in parliament? Dad crossed the floor on issues and was unpopular within his party about various things, but in retrospect I think he is very proud that he spoke up when he thought it was right. I take a lot of solace from that. I also remember vividly when he lost his seat. The important thing you need to do is maintain perspective and your relationships. Keep your feet on the ground because youre only one election away from not having a job any more. He taught me to make up my own mind, to not be afraid to speak up because that is what youre there for. Can you describe your personality? I am very curious and love learning, and I really like people but I can be quite shy. I have a lot of energy and have always been like that. How do you unwind? I like going for a run in Centennial Park with my friends and I love reading books to kids. I also love jumping into the sea  there is an old expression that you never regret a swim.

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Bianca Spender Edith waistcoat and Libretto jeans. Louise Olsen jewellery from Dinosaur Designs Credit:Hugh Stewart Are they any books that changed your life or have inspired you?

Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century [by Jonathan Glover] because it examined some of the greatest atrocities of the 20th century and what should be our great lessons from them. I love The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia [compiled by Anita Heiss]  50 disparate experiences that give great insight. Do you miss working at the Carla Zampatti label? I resigned as managing director in 2016. And I resigned as a director during the election campaign because I dont want the company to be dragged into my career in politics. In some ways it feels strange to be so disconnected from it on a day-to-day basis, but I am too busy to notice. The fun bit is seeing women in parliament wearing Carla Zampatti. I had women come to me at the Midwinter Ball recently saying they were wearing a dress made by Mum, or by [my sister] Bianca Spender. How would you describe your personal style? I wore hoodies and caps growing up, much to Mums annoyance. I guess I was rebelling against my parents. Ive learnt the power of a great suit and I love a great jacket and trousers  simple and pared-back, but elegant. Loading Do you feel your mums presence? I have a photo of Mum on my computer home screen. I think of her a lot. When she wrote her autobiography, I helped her with it and have an 80-minute audio interview I did with her to get some of the other stories that werent in the book. We were just sitting there talking to each other, and I listen to that from time to time when I need to feel her around me.

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An advertising campaign that calls out tobacco companies for their tactics to make products seem less harmful launches on Sunday amid fears that smoking is on the rise for the first time since records began.

The television and online ads, which call cigarettes the con that kills, will hit screens as early signs indicate vaping and e-cigarettes have opened a gateway for more young people to smoke cigarettes and rollies.

A new Quit campaign called the con that kills will launch on Sunday, calling out manipulative methods of tobacco companies.

One in 10 Victorians smoke and smoking has declined since the 1970s for men and women.

We are potentially going to see with 18-to-24 year-olds and teens, an uptick in smoking prevalence, Quit Victoria director Dr Sarah White said. That will be the first time since records began.
Women symbolically cut off parts of their hair as Melbournes Iranian community gathered in their thousands at Federation Square as part of worldwide protests against the Iranian government over the death of 22-year-old woman Mahsa Amini.

Iran has been gripped by violent unrest for two weeks following the death of Amini in Tehran while in the custody of the Islamic regimes morality police. She had been accused of violating Irans mandatory headscarf law.

Protestors gathered at Federation Square on Saturday to rally against the Iranian government. Credit:Jason South

On Saturday in Federation Square, women with red-stained hands used scissors to cut off their hair in a symbolic act of defiance against Irans compulsory hijab laws.

The crowd chanted woman, life, freedom, what do we want: regime change and say her name: Mahsa Amini as they spilled on to Flinders Street.
The revelation that medical device companies based overseas are receiving more in Australian government subsidies than they pay in tax, according to private heath insurers, further strengthens the case for the governments planned crackdown on multinational companies.

Private Healthcare Australia says the companies, which supply devices like hip joints, screws and pacemakers, receive about $625 million a year in subsidies through the private health insurance rebate. And they only pay about $310 million a year in tax.

According to Private Healthcare Australia, medical device suppliers receive more subsidies than they pay in tax. Credit:Nic Walker

The body representing the multinational companies told The Sunday Age its members always comply with Australias taxation laws. But the question is whether those laws are fit for purpose.

Labor went to the federal election promising to overhaul the multinational tax system and raise an extra $1.9 billion in the process. Given Australias growing debt and deficit, more revenue is clearly needed, and targeting companies that are not paying their fair share of tax is a good way to get it.
Kabul, Afghanistan: A suicide bomber struck an education centre in a Shiite area of the Afghan capital on Friday, killing 19 people and wounding 27, including teenagers who were taking university practice entry exams, a Taliban spokesman said.

The family of a 19-year-old girl who was victim of a suicide bomber mourns, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Friday, September 30. Credit:AP

The morning explosion at the centre took place in Kabuls Dashti Barchi neighbourhood, an area populated mostly by ethnic Hazaras, who belong to Afghanistans minority Shiite community. The Islamic State group has carried out repeated, horrific attacks on schools, hospitals and mosques in Dashti Barchi and other Shiite areas in recent years.

About 300 recent high school graduates, boys and girls, had come to the Kaaj Higher Educational Centre at 6.30am (local time) to take practise exams, said one survivor, 19-year-old Shafi Akbary. The facility helps students prepare and study for the entrance exams, among other activities.

About an hour into the session, the blast went off.
Lidl ordered to destroy copycat chocolate bunnies after Swiss court ruled they were too similar to Lindt's

Lidl was ordered to destroy its chocolate bunnies after a lawsuit from Lindt.

Switzerland's supreme court said it was likely that customers could confuse the two items.

The court suggested Lidl could melt down the chocolate and reuse it in other products.

Lidl has been ordered to destroy its chocolate bunnies after the German supermarket lost a copyright suit brought by chocolate maker Lindt.

The Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland said Lindt deserved protection from copycat products, including the one sold by Lidl, Reuters first reported.

Lindt is well known for its chocolate bunnies. The company says it produces 150 million golden, red-ribbon rabbits every year that are sold in 50 countries.

Lidl, meanwhile, is popular for offering cheaper alternatives to branded items. The supermarket has retailer about 175 stores in the US as well as thousands across Europe.

Lindt argued that its bunny was well known to consumers and told the court its product was likely to be confused with the Lidl version even though there were some differences. Lindt has held a trademark on the shape of its bunny since 2001.

The court suggested the chocolate used in Lidl's bunnies could be melted down and used for other products.

"Destruction is proportionate, especially as it does not necessarily mean that the chocolate as such would have to be destroyed," the court said in a summary of its verdict, The Guardian reported.

Fellow German retailer Aldi got into a similar feud with UK retailer Marks and Spencer over a Cuthbert the Caterpillar chocolate cake that bore a clear resemblance to M&S's Colin the Caterpillar cake.

Legal action initiated by M&S was settled in February, with Cuthbert returning to Aldi's shelves in June.

Court cases over chocolate bunnies are also familiar territory to Lindt. In July last year, Germany's federal court ruled the bunnies' gold tone had legal protection.

Lidl didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
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GATINEAU, QC, Oct. 1, 2022 /CNW/ - Media are invited to join the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion, Paul Chiang, Parliamentary Secretary of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion and Member of Parliament for Markham - Unionville, and Arielle Kayabaga, Member of Parliament for London West.

Media availability will follow the announcement.

Please note that all details are subject to change. All times are local.

Date: Monday, October 3, 2022



Time: 9:30 a.m. EDT

To register, contact arevig.afarian@infc.gc.ca with your name and media outlet before 8:30 a.m. EDT on Monday, October 3, 2022. The zoom link will be provided upon registration.

Follow us on Twitter

SOURCE Employment and Social Development Canada

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View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/October2022/01/c7059.html
Osino Resources Corp.

Figure 1

Omaruru Lithium Project location relative to the Twin Hills Gold Projet and other mines and deposits in the area

Highlights



Osino signs Earn-In Agreement on its wholly owned exploration license EPL5533 hosting historic lithium prospects and small-scale mines to be explored and advanced by ASX-listed Prospect Resources Limited (Prospect).

The Agreement allows Osino shareholders to benefit from the potential upside of advancing the non-core lithium potential by a competent and well-financed lithium developer at no cost to Osino.

Prospect can earn up to 51% interest upon spending a total of US$1.56M, and up to 85% through additional equity contributions.

Osino has the option to retain a 49% interest in the project through pro-rata equity contributions and regardless will be carried as a 15% holder in the event of non-funding, until DFS.

Prospect will be the operator of the project with support from Osinos well-established in-country infrastructure.



VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Osino Resources Corp. (TSXV:OSI) (FSE:RSR1) (OTCQX:OSIIF) ("Osino or the Company) is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into an Earn-In and Shareholder Agreement (the Agreement) with Prospect Resources Limited (ASX:PSC)(FRA:5E8) (Prospect) to allow Prospect to earn up to 51% and potentially up to 85% interest in the Omaruru Lithium Project (the Project) in Namibia.

The Omaruru Lithium Project, which is wholly owned by Osinos subsidiary Richwing Exploration (Pty) Ltd., comprises Exclusive Prospecting License (EPL) 5533 located east of Karibib and spans 175km2 (see Figure 1). The tenement is situated near several historical and current lithium mining operations, including Lepidicos Karibib Lithium Project located about 10km to the southwest. The Project is situated 20km southeast of the Twin Hills Project. EPL 5533 is accessible by road from the sealed B2 National Highway which links the capital Windhoek, 130km the southeast, to the port at Walvis Bay, about 240km further southwest.

Heye Daun, Osinos co-founder, President & CEO commented: We are delighted to be partnering with Prospect Resources to further develop the lithium potential on our EPL 5533 in Namibia via this earn-in arrangement. Under the terms of the agreement Osino has the option of participating significantly in the potential future upside of the project which may be unlocked through the active exploration and technical advancement of the project by Prospect Resources. Prospect is an ASX-listed, highly credible and successful group of lithium developers who previously advanced their Arcadia lithium project in Zimbabwe and ultimately divested Prospects 87% interest in Arcadia to Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt in early 2022 for approximately US$378M in cash. Prospect is a credible and motivated partner who will advance this lithium project whilst Osino can focus on the continued and fast-tracked development of our Twin Hills Gold project. Osino had previously conducted gold and preliminary lithium exploration on EPL 5533 and pursuant to that we concluded that the gold upside on this license was limited, whilst the lithium potential required a focused and specialist effort from a competent lithium operator. We are thus very pleased to reach this mutually beneficial agreement with Prospect and we look forward to working with Prospects competent and energetic team.

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Transaction Details

Under the Shareholder Agreement, Prospect may earn-in to up to 40% interest in the project with a US$1M investment (Phase 1) and a further 11% interest through a US$560,000 investment (Phase 2), totaling a 51% ownership in the Project. The contemplated transaction with Prospect is an Exempt Transaction under policies of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Phase 1 consists of a US$560,000 cash payment to acquire 20%, and a commitment to spend a further US$440,000 on the Project with a 12-month period, to earn an additional 20%. Upon the completion of Phase 1, Prospect may commit to a further US$560,000 within a 12-month period for in-ground exploration to reach 51% ownership.

Upon the completion of Phase 2 and having earned 51%, development funds are to be contributed on a pro-rata basis. If one party fails to contribute their pro rata share, their shareholding will be diluted. The minority shareholder will be diluted down to 15%, at which point their interest shall be free carried until the completion of the DFS.

If Prospect chooses not to proceed after Phase 1 or does not reach more than 50% by the end of a 24-month period (or as extended by mutual consent) Osino will have the right to repurchase Prospects interest for an agreed sum.

During the next phase of the Agreement (Phase 3"), if Prospects spending does not reach a minimum of US$500,000 within the 12-month period following Phase 2, either party will have the option to purchase the other partys interest for an agreed sum.

Background to Project

The Omaruru Project contains more than 65 known and mostly zoned pegmatites which belong to the Lithium-Caesium-Tantalum (LCT) family of rare-element pegmatites. These pegmatites occur within an area known as the Karibib Pegmatite Belt, one of five major pegmatite districts in the Damara Belt.

Figure 1: Omaruru Lithium Project location relative to the Twin Hills Gold Projet and other mines and deposits in the area

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4ee3a316-cbd7-413d-8882-dc0921ff652f

A number of pegmatites within the Karibib Pegmatite Belt have produced lithium in the past, including Lepidicos Karibib Lithium Project which is focused on the Rubicon and Helikon pegmatites (see Figure 1).

Historically, small-scale production from the Karlsbrunn and Brockmanns pegmatites located on the Project produced lithium minerals (mainly lepidolite, petalite, amblygonite and spodumene), as well as beryl. Very little information is available on historical mining grades and tonnages, but it is believed that most of the production occurred in the first half of the 20th century. Exploration in the vicinity of the Project has generally been for gold, and companies such as Anglo American and Helio Resources Corp. explored the area intermittently prior to 2015. Osino carried out gold exploration in the area between 2017 and 2021.

Osino undertook an initial evaluation of the lithium potential of the Project from 2019. This work included mapping, rock grab sampling and a 16 hole (1,942m) reverse circulation drill program in 2020. The drilling highlighted remaining potential at the Karlsbrunn pegmatite in particular, with a number of intersections of 5m or more at grades in the range of 1-1.2% of Li 2 O and a best intersection of 23m at 0.99% Li 2 O (from 130m in hole number KBR007). Other drilling and surface sampling indicated lithium mineralisation associated with most of the other pegmatites on the project.

Osinos focus on gold exploration elsewhere in the Damara Belt, and in particular on the discovery at Twin Hills, has prevented further evaluation of the lithium potential of the Project. Consequently, an experienced lithium explorer was sought to advance the Project, culminating in the Agreement with Prospect.

About Prospect Resources

Prospect is an ASX listed company focused on the exploration and development of opportunities in battery and electrification metals in the sub-Saharan African region. The team at Prospect has a proven track record of value creation and systematic de-risking of early-stage projects. Prospect successfully advanced its flagship Arcadia Lithium Mine Project in Zimbabwe from exploration through to resource definition, early-stage economic valuation, definitive studies, offtake agreements and strategic project financing process. Arcadia was discovered by Prospect in 2016 and was ultimately sold to Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt in early 2022, for approximately US$378M in cash.

Qualified Persons Statement

David Underwood, BSc. (Hons) is Vice President Exploration of Osino Resources Corp. and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release and is a registered Professional Natural Scientist with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (Pr. Sci. Nat. No.400323/11) and a Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101.

About Osino Resources

Osino is a Canadian gold exploration and development company focused on the fast-tracked development of our Twin Hills Gold Project (Twin Hills) in central Namibia. Twin Hills is at an advanced stage of exploration and development with more than 220,000m of drilling completed on the project since its grassroots discovery by Osino with various advanced development studies underway.

Osino has a large ground position of approximately 6,900km2 located within Namibias prospective Damara sedimentary mineral belt, mostly in proximity to and along strike of the producing Navachab and Otjikoto Gold Mines. The Company is actively exploring a range of gold prospects and targets along the belt by utilizing a portfolio approach geared towards discovery, targeting gold mineralization that fits the broad orogenic gold model.

Our core projects are favorably located north and north-west of Namibias capital city Windhoek. By virtue of their location, the projects benefit significantly from Namibias well-established infrastructure with paved highways, railway, power and water in close proximity. Namibia is mining-friendly and lauded as one of the continents most politically and socially stable jurisdictions. Osino continues to evaluate new ground with a view to expanding our Namibian portfolio.

Further details are available on the Company's website at https://osinoresources.com/

On Behalf of The Board of Directors

"Heye Daun"

Heye Daun

Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director

CONTACT INFORMATION

Osino Resources Corp.

Julia Becker: Investor Relations Manager

Tel: +1 (604) 785 0850

jbecker@osinoresources.com

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, without limitation, statements regarding the use of proceeds from the Company's future plans or prospects of the Company, including prospects for economic recoverability of mineral resources. 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". Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to business, market and economic risks, uncertainties and contingencies that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by 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. 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 which is available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

Not for distribution to U.S. Newswire Services or for dissemination in the United States. Any failure to comply with this restriction may constitute a violation of U.S. securities laws.




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Partly to mostly cloudy. A shower of rain or wet snow possible. Low near 35F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.
Alex Turner has theorised that Arctic Monkeys might have picked a different name if theyd known they would still be doing this 20 years later.

The Sheffield rock band recently announced that their new album The Car would be released in October featuring 10 new songs.

In a recent interview, frontman Turner suggested that the bands success was not seen as inevitable, as proven by their name.

The name of the band seems to allude to how limited the expectations were, Turner told The Guardian.

If you realised you were gonna be doing this 20 years later, you mightve had another hour in that meeting.

The songs on The Car will be written by Turner and made with the bands regular producer James Ford.

Turner said that he was  interested in switching the rock band bit on and off while discussing the new album.

This week, the Arctic Monkeys dropped the second single from the album entitled Body Paint, with fans calling it the best song since AM.

It comes as they announced their 2023 UK and Ireland tour, which will take place throughout May and June and include two homecoming shows at Hillsborough Park in Sheffield.

You can find out how to get tickets here.

During the interview, Turner hinted at embarrassment of old lyrics, suggesting that cryptic ideologies are more suited to his current style.

I like the idea that Im getting better at the I sort of want to say distillation, he said. I think Im better at picking the moment to expose the idea behind the song. But you have to be comfortable with the idea that things dont have to be a pop song.

The Car is released on 21 October.
7 Hong Kong Doctors Arrested for Issuing COVID-19 Jab Exemption Certs, 20,000 Certs Become Invalid

Seven Hong Kong doctors are suspected of issuing false jab-free certs, the COVID-19 vaccination medical exemption certificates. Some patient organizations worry that the incident will have a chilling effect, making it more difficult for those who really meet the requirements to find a doctor to issue the certificate in the future.

Alex C.Y. Lam, the chairman of the Hong Kong Patients Voices, said on a radio program on Sept. 28 that more than 20,000 jab-free certs were issued by the seven arrested doctors, and some jab-free certs cost thousands of Hong Kong Dollars (approx. US$ 400).

He described the numbers as mind-boggling, reflecting the need for the jab-free cert, and it is difficult for the public to find a doctor to issue a jab-free cert.

He pointed out that patients with chronic diseases or immune system problems think that their health condition is not suitable for injections, but they cannot find a doctor to issue a jab-free cert.

Some doctors refused to issue jab-free cert without knowing the patients health condition.

Some doctors in public hospitals even confirmed that some patients should not get vaccinated, but they stated that they would not issue the exemption certificate.

Lam said that there are very few doctors who are willing to issue a jab-free cert. This incident will also make doctors worry about the consequences of issuing the certificates.

He also worried about the chilling effect, which makes it more difficult for people in need to find a doctor to issue the certificate.

It was difficult in the past, but it is even more difficult now. He also mentioned that the governments Vaccine Allergy Safety Clinic is now booked until 2028, and he considered the services useless.

He pointed out that the world is gradually easing the pandemic prevention measures, and Hong Kong has also changed the quarantine requirement for arrival to 0+3 days. The Hong Kong government should consider whether it still needs to tighten the Vaccine Pass.

Judgment of Borderline Cases

Leung Hon-fai, president of the Hong Kong Doctors Union, attended the same radio program and said that doctors need time to assess the patients condition, and some patients even need examinations. For example, an examination is needed for heart disease or other acute diseases when a patient claims he feels chest pain.

On average, more than 100 jab-free certs were issued every day by the arrested seven doctors, Leung believed that the patients had not been examined before they were issued the certificates.

But he also believed that less than 10 percent of the 20,000 jab-free certs are in real need.

Leung agreed that this incident will bring pressure on other doctors and affect the judgment of borderline cases, but he believed that it would not be too difficult to issue such certificates as long as it is handled in accordance with the guidelines of the Department of Health of Hong Kong.

He said that since there is a two-week buffer period before the relevant jab-free certs expire, there is enough time for affected patients in need to get re-evaluated by another doctor and get a new jab-free cert.
Pro-life demonstrators are seen at a rally in Dallas, Texas, on Jan. 15, 2022. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Arizona Judge Stands By Pro-Life Ruling

An Arizona judge on Friday rejected a bid by abortion advocates to freeze her earlier order that allowed enforcement of a Civil-War-era law that made it a crime to provide an abortion unless the mothers life is in danger.

Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson on Sept. 30 declined to put on hold her Sept. 22 ruling that lifted a 1973 injunction and, by allowing the pre-statehood law to take effect, imposed a near-total abortion ban.

Johnson said in her ruling (pdf) that pro-abortion groups led by Planned Parenthood and its Arizona affiliatewho had urged the judge to reverse her decisionwere unlikely to succeed on appeal. The judge also said that Planned Parenthood was unable to prove that denying the organizations request would cause irreparable harm.

Her ruling means Arizonas abortion providers wont be able to resume performing the procedures except if the mothers life is in danger.

Abortion Advocates Outraged

Social justice advocacy group the National Council of Jewish Women Arizona decried the judges decision in a post on Twitter.

Quite simply, policymakers here are completely out of touch with average Arizonans who want abortion to remain legal and oppose forced birthing by the legislature and courts, the group said.

Arizonas Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, whos running for governor, took to social media to call Johnsons ruling a bleak new reality that she vowed to fight tirelessly.

Brittany Fonteno, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Arizona, told The Associated Press she was outraged by the ruling.

In a statement to local media outlet 3TV/CBS 5, Fonteno said that the fight to restore abortion access to Arizonans is far from over as we will continue to appeal the courts ruling.

Failed Balance of Hardship Test

Planned Parenthood Arizona (PPAZ) filed a motion on Sept. 26 seeking to put Johnsons Sept. 22 ruling on hold, arguing that there was confusion between the pre-statehood anti-abortion law and a 15-week ban that was passed this year.

In her ruling denying Planned Parenthoods motion, the judge said that the procedural flaws in the abortion advocates request mean that the court did not address whether theres a conflict between the old law and the newer one.

But the judge made clear that even if there are serious questions about confusion between the two laws, Planned Parenthood failed to show that it would suffer harm, as is required for the group to succeed in getting a stay that would open the door to abortion.

Having considered all potential hardships raised in the briefs, the Court finds the balance of hardships does not tip sharply in PPAZs favor, Johnson wrote.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who after the Supreme Courts Roe v Wade ruling in June vowed to ask the court to restore the abortion ban, hailed Johnsons Sept. 22 decision.

We applaud the court for upholding the will of the legislature and providing clarity and uniformity on this important issue. I have and will continue to protect the most vulnerable Arizonans, he wrote on Twitter.

In her Sept. 22 ruling (pdf) in the case of Planned Parenthood v. Brnovich, Johnson sided with Brnovich, finding that the 1973 injunction should be entirely vacated because it was based solely on Roe v Wade, which has since been overturned.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Cars destroyed by a missile strike that hit a convoy of civilian vehicles in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Sept. 30, 2022. (Stringer/Reuters)

At Least 30 Civilians Killed in Russian Strike on Convoy, Ukraine Says

ZAPORIZHZHIA, UkraineAt least 30 civilians were killed and almost 100 wounded in what Kyiv said was a cynical Russian missile strike on a convoy of civilian cars in southern Ukraine on Friday.

The convoy had been assembling at a car market on the edge of the city of Zaporizhzhia, preparing to leave Ukrainian territory controlled by Ukraine to visit relatives and deliver supplies in an area occupied by Russia, officials said.

The enemy started this day with a deliberate and absolutely calculated murder of Ukrainians  the Russian military knew where their missiles would hit, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address, giving the latest casualty figures.

This was done by non-humans  they will answer before the law without fail.

Car windows were blown out by the impact of the missile strike, and their sides were sprayed by shrapnel, a Reuters witness said.

The attack was carried out hours before President Vladimir Putin proclaimed Russian rule over Zaporizhzhia and three other provinces where Moscow has seized territory.

Authorities later held a concert on Moscows central Red Square to mark the occasion.

They sang in the square, they were talking about Zaporizhzhia, when they themselves did this in Zaporizhzhia. They are non-humans, said Zelenskyy.

Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians. Vladimir Rogov, an official in the Russian-installed administration in the Zaporizhzhia region, blamed the attack on Ukrainian forces.
TORONTO, September 30, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Following the discovery of numerous unmarked graves at former residential school sites across Canada in 2021, there has been an increased focus on efforts toward truth and reconciliation with the Indigenous community across the country. While education and awareness of the tragedies that the Indigenous community has faced throughout history are very important, it is also essential to understand that there are still many obstacles and barriers that the community faces to this day.

Key highlights include the following:

Canadian banks and credit unions can bridge some of the gaps in providing basic financial services to the Indigenous community.

The Indigenous population in Canada is younger and growing faster than Canada's non-Indigenous population, creating opportunities for financial institutions to broaden their customer bases.

"When it comes to access to basic financial services, there are several systemic challenges that many Indigenous people face, including lack of access to bank branches, lack of reliable and affordable internet access in some communities, and legislation that has deterred many mainstream financial institutions from lending to the Indigenous community; however, there are also opportunities for Canada's financial institutions to build strong relationships with this underserved community and work toward economic reconciliation," said Cheryl Saldanha, Assistant Vice President, Global Financial Institutions Group.

To read the full report and access the data, click here: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/403246/indigenous-communities-and-canadian-financial-institutions-more-work-can-be-done-toward-economic-reconciliation

The DBRS Morningstar group of companies consists of DBRS, Inc. (Delaware, U.S.)(NRSRO, DRO affiliate); DBRS Limited (Ontario, Canada)(DRO, NRSRO affiliate); DBRS Ratings GmbH (Frankfurt, Germany)(EU CRA, NRSRO affiliate, DRO affiliate); and DBRS Ratings Limited (England and Wales)(UK CRA, NRSRO affiliate, DRO affiliate). DBRS Morningstar does not hold an Australian financial services license. DBRS Morningstar credit ratings, and other types of credit opinions and reports, are no intended for Australian residents or entities. DBRS Morningstar does not authorize their distribution to Australian resident individuals or entities, and accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever for the actions of third parties in this respect. For more information on regulatory registrations, recognitions and approvals of the DBRS Morningstar group of companies, please see: https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/225752/highlights.pdf.

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The DBRS Morningstar group of companies are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Morningstar, Inc.

 2022 DBRS Morningstar. All Rights Reserved. The information upon which DBRS Morningstar credit ratings and other types of credit opinions and reports are based is obtained by DBRS Morningstar from sources DBRS Morningstar believes to be reliable. DBRS Morningstar does not audit the information it receives in connection with the analytical process, and it does not and cannot independently verify that information in every instance. The extent of any factual investigation or independent verification depends on facts and circumstances. DBRS Morningstar credit ratings, other types of credit opinions, reports and any other information provided by DBRS Morningstar are provided "as is" and without representation or warranty of any kind and DBRS Morningstar assumes no obligation to update any such ratings, opinions, reports or other information. DBRS Morningstar hereby disclaims any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, timeliness, completeness, merchantability, fitness for any particular purpose or non-infringement of any of such information. In no event shall DBRS Morningstar or its directors, officers, employees, independent contractors, agents, affiliates and representatives (collectively, DBRS Morningstar Representatives) be liable (1) for any inaccuracy, delay, loss of data, interruption in service, error or omission or for any damages resulting therefrom, or (2) for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, compensatory or consequential damages arising from any use of credit ratings, other types of credit opinions and reports or arising from any error (negligent or otherwise) or other circumstance or contingency within or outside the control of DBRS Morningstar or any DBRS Morningstar Representative, in connection with or related to obtaining, collecting, compiling, analyzing, interpreting, communicating, publishing or delivering any such information. IN ANY EVENT, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF DBRS MORNINGSTAR AND THE DBRS MORNINGSTAR REPRESENTATIVES FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID BY THE USER FOR SERVICES PROVIDED BY DBRS MORNINGSTAR DURING THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO LIABILITY, AND (B) U.S. $100. DBRS Morningstar does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor. DBRS Morningstar does not provide investment, financial or other advice. Credit ratings, other types of credit opinions and other analysis and research issued by DBRS Morningstar (a) are, and must be construed solely as, statements of opinion and not statements of fact as to credit worthiness, investment, financial or other advice or recommendations to purchase, sell or hold any securities; (b) do not take into account your personal objectives, financial situations or needs; (c) should be weighed, if at all, solely as one factor in any investment or credit decision; (d) are not intended for use by retail investors; and (e) address only credit risk and do not address other investment risks, such as liquidity risk or market volatility risk. Accordingly, credit ratings, other types of credit opinions and other analysis and research issued by DBRS Morningstar are not a substitute for due care and the study and evaluation of each investment decision, security or credit that one may consider making, purchasing, holding, selling, or providing, as applicable. A report with respect to a DBRS Morningstar credit rating or other credit opinion is neither a prospectus nor a substitute for the information assembled, verified and presented to investors by the issuer and its agents in connection with the sale of the securities. DBRS Morningstar may receive compensation for its credit ratings and other credit opinions from, among others, issuers, insurers, guarantors and/or underwriters of debt securities. This publication may not be reproduced, retransmitted or distributed in any form without the prior written consent of DBRS Morningstar. ALL DBRS MORNINGSTAR CREDIT RATINGS AND OTHER TYPES OF CREDIT OPINIONS ARE SUBJECT TO DEFINITIONS, LIMITATIONS, POLICIES AND METHODOLOGIES THAT ARE AVAILABLE ON https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com. Users may, through hypertext or other computer links, gain access to or from websites operated by persons other than DBRS Morningstar. Such hyperlinks or other computer links are provided for convenience only. DBRS Morningstar does not endorse the content, the operator or operations of third party websites. DBRS Morningstar is not responsible for the content or operation of such third party websites and DBRS Morningstar shall have no liability to you or any other person or entity for the use of third party websites.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220930005414/en/

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Media:

Scott Anderson

Vice President, Communications  Canadian Operations

+1 416 597 7407

Scott.anderson@dbrsmorningstar.com
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen delivers remarks during a press conference at the Treasury Department in Washington, on July 28, 2022. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Biden Admin Imposes Swift and Severe Sanctions on Russia, Citing Putins Move to Annex Ukrainian Territories

The Biden administration on Friday imposed what it called swift and severe sanctions on Russia in response to Russian President Vladimir Putins move earlier in the day to annex four territories of Ukraine.

The wide-ranging sanctions by the Treasury, State, and Commerce departments target more than 1,000 Russian people and companies, in retaliation for Putins annexation of the disputed regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia into the Russian Federation.

Putins Friday declaration marked the biggest annexation in Europe since World War Two. The four regions represent some 15 percent of Ukrainian territory. Starting about a week ago, residents of those four Ukrainian regions held referendums, although U.S. and European Union officials claimed it was a sham.

The Treasury Department designated hundreds of members of Russias parliament, leaders of the countrys financial and military infrastructure, and suppliers, for sanctions designations that include asset freezes and bans business dealings with Americans.

In particular, it imposed sanctions on 14 people in Russias military-industrial complex, two leaders of the central bank, family members of top officials, and 278 members of the legislature for enabling Russias sham referenda and attempt to annex sovereign Ukrainian territory. Among those designated for U.S. sanctions were Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak; 109 State Duma members; the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of Russia and 169 of its members; and the governor of the Central Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina.

We will not stand by as Putin fraudulently attempts to annex parts of Ukraine, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement Friday. The Treasury Department and U.S. government are taking sweeping action today to further weaken Russias already degraded military industrial complex and undermine its ability to wage its illegal war.

The Commerce Department added 57 companies located in Russia and the Crimea region of Ukraine to its list of export control violators.

The State Department added 910 people to its visa ban list, making them ineligible for travel to the United States. They include members of the Russian Federation military, Belarusian military officials, and Russias proxies for violating Ukraines sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence.

The latest U.S. sanctions come on top of sweeping measures the Biden administration and allies have already imposed against Russia since it invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

President Joe Biden told reporters that Putin cant get away with seizing Ukrainian land. America and its allies are not going to be intimidated by Putin and his reckless words and threats, Biden added.

Jack Phillips and Reuters contributed to this report.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the federal government's response to Hurricane Ian in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington on Sept. 30, 2022. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Biden Says Nord Stream Pipeline Damage Was Deliberate Act of Sabotage

President Joe Biden labeled the damage to Gazprom-led Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines under the Baltic Sea as an intentional act of sabotage, telling Russian President Vladimir Putin that the United States and its allies wont be intimidated by his words or threats.

Let me say this: It was a deliberate act of sabotage, and now the Russians are pumping out disinformation and lies, Biden told reporters at the White House on Friday. His latest remark rebukes Putins claim that the West is responsible for blowing up the pipelines, which carry Russian natural gas to Germany.

Were going to work with our allies to get to the bottom of exactly whatprecisely what happened. And at my direction, Ive already begun to help our allies enhance the protection of this critical infrastructure, the president added. And at the appropriate moment when things calm down, were going to be sending divers down to find out exactly what happened.

Biden accusing Moscow of spreading disinformation and lies likely refers to the Kremlins claim that Washington had a motive to blow up the pipelines to sell more liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe.

Vassily Nebenzia, Russias ambassador to the United Nations, told the Security Council on Friday that the United States would undoubtedly gain from the destruction of the pipelines, though he stopped short of blaming Washington for this weeks explosions.

Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, speaks to the media at the United Nations headquarters in N.Y.C., on April 4, 2022. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

American liquefied natural gas suppliers should be celebrating the manifold increase in LNG supplies to Europe, Nebenzia said.

Also on Friday, Putin directly accused the West of blowing up the Gazprom-led pipelines.

The sanctions were not enough for the Anglo-Saxons: they moved onto sabotage, Putin said. The United States and other countries have imposed several rounds of sanctions against Russia since Putin sent his forces to attack Ukraine earlier this year.

The White House has dismissed all Kremlin accusations over the West being responsible for the damage, labeling Moscows claims not true.

Just dont listen to what Putin is saying, Biden told the White House briefing. What hes saying, we know is not true.

Biden has declined to directly blame anyone for the deliberate act of sabotage. Instead, he said the United States needs to further investigate the incident and collect more evidence. However, the presidents latest remark is the strongest yet about allegations that sabotage was involved in the incident.

Earlier this week, researchers with seismology agencies in Denmark and Sweden found that the damage to the pipelines was most likely caused by explosions and ruled out the possibility of natural cases.

The gas leak in the Baltic Sea from Nord Stream photographed from the Coast Guards aircraft on Sept. 27, 2022. (Swedish Coast Guard via AP)

According to data released by a team of seismologists, the blasts occurred in the vicinity of the location of the pipelines. Both Danish and Swedish seismic agencies picked up the alleged explosions on Monday.

Were not spot on, but were fairly close to the area of the leakage, Bjorn Lund, director of the Swedish National Seismic Network at Uppsala University, told NPR on Wednesday, adding, Theres nothing I could come up with that would produce this.

Meanwhile, Biden also said on Friday that the United States will continue to provide military equipment to Ukraine so the country can defend itself and its territory.

[Putin] cant seize his neighbors territory and get away with it, Biden said, adding that the United States and its allies are fully prepared to defend.

America is fully  prepared with our NATO Allies to defend every single inch of NATO territoryevery single inch, the president said. So, Mr. Putin, dont misunderstand what Im saying: every inch.

From NTD News
Police in Australia are investigating after a 10-year-old boy died and two people were injured when a car reportedly hit a tree on a rural road in the NSW Hunter region.

About 11 a.m. Saturday, emergency services responded to reports a vehicle left the road and hit a tree before it rolled a number of times on Flaggs Rd in Merriwa, about two hours northwest of Mudgee.

The boy, a passenger in the car, was treated by paramedics but died at the scene.

A 15-year-old girl was taken to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle in a stable condition.

The male driver, 46, was flown to the same hospital in a critical condition.

Hunter Valley Police are investigating the crash and have urged anyone with dash cam footage to come forward.

A report will be prepared for the coroner.
Canadas Economy Could Increase by $200 Billion Yearly If Internal Trade Barriers Were Removed: Study

Canada could boost its economy by $200 billion a year if it removes internal trade barriers and considers adopting mutual recognition policies, says a recent study by think tank Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI).

The report, titled Liberalizing Internal Trade Through Mutual Recognition: A Legal and Economic Analysis, argues that Canadas economy has been losing billions of dollars of productivity every year due to a web of rules, regulations, and restrictions between provinces.

A web of regulations makes it more difficult for businesses to operate across provincial lines, increasing delays and administrative costs which meaningfully effect productivity, MLI said in a news release on Sept. 20.

However, if Canada decides to adopt mutual recognition policies, which means the regulatory requirements met for one provincial and territorial government automatically satisfies requirements for another, the potential economic benefits are large.

We find that Canadas economy could increase by between 4.4 and 7.9 percenta significant gain of between $110 and $200 billion per yearif internal trade barriers are eliminated by mutual recognition policies, authors Ryan Manucha and Trevor Tombe wrote.

The report, which examines a wide range of industries based on their influences on the overall economy and their trade flows between provinces and territories using data from Statistics Canada, estimated that a one percentage point reduction in trade costs for professional and scientific services would increase Canadas real GDP by 0.027 percent.

While this may sound small, it represents an increase of over $713 million annually, given Canadas over $2.6 trillion economy in 2022, the report said. Similarly, the authors estimated that the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector would produce a $1 billion increase yearly with an equivalent drop in trade costs.

Stubborn Problem

Despite the potential benefits of doing away with the barriers, solving Canadas internal trade woes has remained a stubborn problem, the report said.

Manucha, an interprovincial trade expert, said the need for absolute consensus between the provinces has been challenging as it involves many ministries at once, which may not always be aligned in terms of what they want, what their ideal outcomes are.

It comes down to political willpower, [which] a little bit has to do with protecting stakeholders both inside and outside of government, he told MLI host Aaron Wudrick at a webinar on Sept. 29. He was asked why previous efforts toward internal trade liberalization in Canada had failed.

In 1995, Canada adopted the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT), an intergovernmental agreement in which the federal government, provinces, and territories agreed to reduce and remove barriers hindering the free movement of people, goods, services, and investments within the country.

The report argued that the AIT did not offer an explicit framework for arriving at mutual recognition, which led to its eventual termination and replacement by the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) in 2017. According to the authors, the CFTA introduced an institutionalized method to resolve trade barriers.

The improved agreement, however, was soon neutralized when the federal government and provinces started filing hundreds of exceptions under the CFTA, Manucha noted.

No Concentrated Political Benefit

Albertas outgoing Premier Jason Kenney, who also spoke the webinar, said the issue with many politicians is that they see no concentrated political benefit in advocating mutual recognition policies, which as a result get crowded out.

Kenney cited the contrasting example of his province and Saskatchewan securing a regulatory exemption from Ottawa last month that will allow oil service rigs to move freely between their provinces. But the effort to reduce the red tape took over two years, something he said many of his peers may not wish to undertake.

When you are in a job like mine, youre dealing with a million issues concurrently. Most of your attention is sucked up by the most urgent matters or the short-term gains that you can get, Kenney said.

So a boring, technical grind where you see remote and long-term benefits does not work in the political calculus really to become a real priority.

Tombe, a professor of economics at the University of Calgary, said the gains in internal trade liberalization are harder to see and more defuse than from protectionist measures.

The benefits of protectionist measures are often very concentrated and visible and so it creates a very strong incentive for the beneficiary of those protectionist measures to push politically, he said at the webinar.

Trade-Offs

The report stressed that even though removing internal trade barriers may reap huge economic benefits, important trade-offs, such as the shifting of resources, production, and employment across sectors and even across regions, have to be considered.

Sectors in one province that may not survive competition with lower-cost imports may shrink while sectors that see an increase in export volumes may expand. The same is true across regions, the report said.

Manucha said if Canada is to proceed with a mutual recognition agreement, what it needs is to have the infrastructure and mechanisms in place that spell out the process for the movement of labour.

What is the expectation of a new entrant to a new province? What is the process that theyre supposed to go through? What are the appeal mechanisms in place for them to say I dont like the way that you assess my credentials. I think Im actually fit to practice here.

Manucha said Canada can look to Australia as a model as its version of mutual recognition policies have worked so well, and that the two countries have many things in common.

What are the ingredients for success in Australia? Many of them exist in Canada, he said. Youve got the same language, and broadly speaking [the] same sort of culture, same regulatory framework, same legal framework.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Friday it has moderate confidence that daily monkeypox cases in the United States will plateau or decline in the coming weeks but an increase is possible.

In its third technical report on the monkeypox outbreak, the CDC said cases likely peaked in August and that going forward, the outbreak could plateau, decline, or exponentially rise slowly or rapidly.

Among these scenarios, we assess daily cases in the United States will most likely continue to decline or plateau over the next two to four weeks. We have moderate confidence in this assessment but note the possibility, as described above, that incidence could increase again, the technical report states.

Since the first U.S. case in Massachusetts in May, there have been 24,841 monkeypox cases reported to the CDC. The median age of cases is 34. As far as the CDC is aware, there have been 29 confirmed and around 50 probable pediatric cases, which are defined as people younger than 18.

The agency noted that data is voluntarily reported to the agency and that of the total cases to date, 84 percent included age data.

Since August, monkeypox cases have trended down, averaging 144 per day on a rolling average. However, the CDC noted that cases are not declining across all jurisdictions.

The CDC noted in its report that there is still a large uncertainty around the long-term trajectory of the outbreak owing to not knowing what behavior change may or may not occur within the sexual networks of the LGBT community.

Outbreak Update

Around half of the monkeypox cases reported male-to-male sexual activity in the three weeks preceding symptom onset. Men who have sex with men have been the primary vector of transmission of the virus in the 2022 outbreak.

The decrease in case number has largely been attributed by health officials to a change in behavior among men who have sex with men.

The CDC noted that while its first two technical reports included data on sexual orientation, going forward this data wont be nationally reported and is not included in the latest report.

The report did not say why, but throughout the outbreak health officials and LGBT advocates have cautioned against and expressed concern about stigmatizing the gay and bisexual community.

While vaccines have been available, the CDC noted that they werent likely the primary factor for the drop in cases because jab rates were still low at the time. Demand has consistently outpaced supply for monkeypox vaccine amid the outbreak.

The virus is unlikely to be eliminated in the United States, but the CDC expressed some confidence that cases wont go up.

While unlikely, elimination could occur if monkeypox is and remains concentrated in a high-risk subset of MSM, and vaccination efforts are focused on this exposure group and are effective in preventing infection, both factors which would cause faster declines in transmission, the technical report states, referring to men who have sex with men as MSM.

However, we view this scenario as unlikely due to the possibility of continued introductions and onward transmission.

The CDC only had data about symptoms for less than half of the total cases. But in the data the agency does have, nearly all cases reported rashes and a majority had a fever, malaise, chills, pruritus, headache, lymphadenopathy, and myalgia.

Half of the cases the agency has data for also reported rectal pain.

The majority of the cases by race are around 34 percent black, 29 percent white, 29 percent Hispanic, 3 percent Asian, and 1 percent reported as other. Less than 1 percent reported as native American, native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander.
GENEVACholera cases have surged this year, especially in places of poverty and conflict, with outbreaks reported in 26 countries, and fatality rates rising sharply, a World Health Organization official said on Friday.

In a typical year, fewer than 20 countries report outbreaks of the disease which is spread by the ingestion of contaminated food or water and can cause acute diarrhea.

After years of declining numbers, we are seeing a very worrying upsurge of cholera outbreaks around the globe over the past year, Philippe Barboza, WHO Team Lead for Cholera, told a press briefing in Geneva.

The average fatality rate so far this year has almost tripled compared with the five-year average and is currently around 3 percent in Africa, he added.

While most of those affected will have mild or no symptoms, cholera can kill within hours if untreated.

A cholera outbreak in Syria has already killed at least 33 people, posing a danger across the frontlines of the countrys 11-year-long war and stirring fears in crowded camps for the displaced.

Barboza also expressed concern about outbreaks in the Horn of Africa and parts of Asia, including Pakistan, where some regions are flooded.

He said only a few million doses of vaccines were available for use before the end of this year, citing a shortage of manufacturers among the problems.

WHO maintains an emergency stockpile of cholera vaccines.

There was no overall estimate of the number of cholera cases across the world because of differences in countries surveillance systems, he said.

By Emma Farge
Cincinnati Ex-Councilmans Convictions Should Be Thrown Out, Legal Scholar Says

A former Ohio politician is seeking to have his two federal corruption-related convictions thrown outa challenge that ought to prevail, according to a legal scholar who has followed the case closely.

Lawyers for Alexander P.G. Sittenfeld, a former Cincinnati city council member who was convicted in July of bribery and attempted extortion, filed motions for acquittal and a new trial on Sept. 30 in the U.S. District Court in Cincinnati.

Ken Katkin, professor of law at Northern Kentucky University. (Courtesy of Northern Kentucky University Chase School of Law)

While such post-trial motions are common, they rarely succeed. But Ken Katkin, a professor of law at Northern Kentucky University near Cincinnati, opined that Sittenfelds main argument is valid.

I dont think there was any crime here at all, Katkin told The Epoch Times, predicting that Sittenfeld will eventually win a reversal. He thinks the prosecution of Sittenfeld was an overreach, resulting from the FBI making corruption cases a top priority.

Federal prosecutors didnt immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.

Juror Misconduct Claim

The latest actions in the case came days after a federal appeals court refused to allow Sittenfelds lawyers to dig into the cellphone of Juror X, who had repeatedly posted on Facebook about her jury experience during Sittenfelds trial.

After questioning Juror X and three other jurors, judges ruled they found no evidence that her actions tainted the verdict.

While jurors convicted Sittenfeld on two charges, they acquitted him of four similar countsa sign of the jurys obvious confusion because the allegations related to the same patterns of conduct, his attorneys wrote.

Bogus Developers

Events leading to Sittenfelds prosecution began in 2018. Undercover FBI agents, posing as would-be real-estate developers, approached Sittenfeld and began discussing a project to redevelop a blighted area. They secretly recorded their conversations and also worked with an actual developer, who served as an informant.

The agents tried to bait Sittenfeld into violating campaign-finance laws, his lawyers wrote. But Sittenfeld repeatedly declined non-compliant campaign contributions, including cash, money orders, and trips to Miami, Las Vegas, and Nashville.

However, Sittenfeld did pledge to support the project that the fake developers, known as Rob, Vinny, and Brian, described. The men eventually gave Sittenfeld a total of $40,000, which went to Sittenfelds political action committee, officials said.

If that pattern of conduct constitutes bribery, it means that substantially all campaign fundraising in this country would fit that definition, Katkin said.

But that cant be so, according to three U.S. Supreme Court cases, Katkin said. To violate federal corruption laws, the court has ruled that an official must make an explicit promise to take a specific action, contingent upon payment or contributions, Katkin said.

Katkin, who attended Sittenfelds trial every day, said those conditions werent met in Sittenfelds case. And because the project proposal was phony, there was never any vote or official action taken.

The Supreme Court is seen in Washington on July 14, 2022. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

Incorrect Jury Instructions?

Katkin thinks U.S. District Judge Douglas Cole erred when he, in essence, instructed jurors that Sittenfeld violated the law if he accepted funds from developers who could benefit from that some way, somehow.

However, Katkin thinks its unlikely that Cole will rule that he was mistaken. Therefore, Sittenfeld will probably need to appeal to a higher court to rule on whether the jury instructions conflicted with the U.S. Supreme Courts rulings in corruption cases, he said.

At age 27, Sittenfeld had become the youngest councilman in the citys history; he took office in 2011 and served until 2020, when he was suspended following his indictment.

Sittenfelds supporters, decrying false and unjust allegations against him, established a webpage called Friends of PG Legal Support Effort. They wrote: We have absolute faith in PGs character, his honesty, his ethics, his commitment to public service, and his love of Cincinnati, which he has served with excellence for a decade.

Sittenfeld was one of three Cincinnati council members to face corruption charges in separate scandals in 2020.

Former Councilwoman Tamaya Dennard, who pleaded guilty to taking $15,000 in bribes, was recently released from prison and has been working for a nonprofit that helps find employment for ex-convicts, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer.

No trial date has been set for another former Cincinnati councilman, Jeff Pastor.
A pharmacy technician poses for a picture with hydrocodone and acetaminophen tablets, also known as Vicodin, at the Oklahoma Hospital Discount Pharmacy in Edmond, Okla., Aug. 5, 2010. (Sue Ogrocki/AP Photo)

CVS and Walmart Facing Lawsuits for Selling Painkillers Blamed for Causing Autism

Retailers of pain relievers acetaminophen (APAP), popularly known as paracetamol, are facing a slew of lawsuits alleging that women who took the drug during pregnancies ended up giving birth to children with neurological issues like autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

According to one lawsuit, filed by plaintiff Tiffany Rutledge against Walmart, the plaintiff took APAP products from August or September 2008 and April 2009 when she was pregnant with her first child, referred to as Plaintiff C.R., as well as between December 2010 or January 2011 to September 2011 when she was pregnant with her second child, referred to as Plaintiff L.R.

During the time, she believed it was safe to take APAP products during the pregnancies. There was no warning on the products addressing the risk of potential ADHD or ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) if a pregnant woman were to ingest APAP. If she had been informed about this, Rutledge would not have consumed APAP products, the lawsuit states.

Plaintiff C.R. was born in April 2009, was diagnosed with ADHD in 2014, and is currently on medication. The child had to leave school and be home-schooled due to her condition.

Plaintiff L.R. was born in September 2011 and was diagnosed with ADHD at 5 years old. She is unable to finish meals, cannot sit still, and has issues with sleeping. Like her elder sibling, Plaintiff L.R. is also taking medication for ADHD. Rutledge believes her second child also has ASD and is presently awaiting an evaluation.

Walmart has concealed the prenatal APAP exposure-neurodevelopmental link from consumers, like Plaintiff Mother, in part by not reporting the link to the FDA, which relies on drug manufacturers to bring new information about a drug to the agencys attention, the lawsuit states.

CVS Lawsuit, Combining Claims

Another lawsuit, filed by plaintiff Aunesty Janssen against CVS and Walgreens Boots Alliance, also alleges that the defendants failed to warn that prenatal exposure to APAP could result in ASD in children.

Pregnant women take the drug as the Defendants have marketed APAP as a safe pain reliever for such women, the lawsuit argues, while stating that over 65 percent of women in the United States take APAP during their pregnancy.

Women have filed 87 lawsuits against sellers of store-brand pain relievers in seven states, according to Bloomberg.

Some of the plaintiffs lawyers have asked a panel of federal judges to consolidate the multiple lawsuits into a single multi-district litigation (MDL) case. This is expected to allow for easier sharing of information and schedule test trials.

Conflicting Views

There are conflicting views about the link between APAP and neurological issues like ADHD or ADS.

A study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology found a 20 percent rise in autism risk among children if the mother consumes high rates of APAP during her pregnancy, Bloomberg reported.

In support of the drugs use, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) called APAP one of the only safe pain relievers for pregnant individuals during pregnancy in a September 2021 article.

It insisted that there were no studies showing clear evidence of a direct relationship between the prudent use of acetaminophen during any trimester and fetal developmental issues.

An analysis of data from 11 American states estimated that one in 44 children aged 8 years had been diagnosed with ASD or had received a special education classification of the disorder in 2018.

The Epoch Times reached out to Wallgreens and CVS for comment.
Sixteen U.S. diplomats and their family members are reportedly being held in Chinese quarantine camps against their will. Two congressmen are pushing to find out whats being done to free them.

Mass student protests broke out in a Chinese city. Local authorities there are blaming Western countries for the unrest.

Joint naval drills are kicking off between the United States, South Korea, and Japan for the first time in five years. We look at the significance.

Chinese currency is devaluing to a new low. Whats causing it? And is the Chinese regime concerned? A senior financial analyst breaks it down.

Topics in this episode:

Detainment of U.S. Diplomats in Chinese COVID-19 Camps Must End: Congressmen Students Reportedly Detained for Leading Protests China Wont Let Up on Aggressive Diplomacy: Official U.S., S. Korea, Japan Hold Naval Drills Amid Tensions with N. Korea Japan Calls for Constructive Relations with China U.S. Pledges $810 Million Aid to Pacific Nations China Schizophrenic About Weak Yuan: Analyst How Xis 3rd Term Could Affect U.S.-China Relations

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BUY Jan 6 DVD: The Real Story of Jan. 6 Documentary102 Minutes, Color) , Promo Code [Tiffany] for 20% off.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk looks up as he addresses guests at the Offshore Northern Seas 2022 (ONS) meeting in Stavanger, Norway, on Aug. 29, 2022. (Carina Johansen/NTB/AFP via Getty Images)

Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey Private Text Messages Expose Reasoning Behind Twitter Takeover

In the weeks leading up to Elon Musks announcement to purchase Twitter, the billionaire CEO was bombarded with text messages from business leaders, media personalities, and celebrities, a new court filing revealed (pdf).

The text messages provide insight into the many private conversations involving Musk and other prominent individuals during his quest to purchase the social media giant. From seeking advice on what to do to improve the website to potentially obtaining financial assistance for his takeover bid, the exchanges showcase the excitement and frenzy leading up to where Musk and Twitter are today.

On Mar. 24, Musk asked his millions of followers if the Twitter algorithm should be open source. The Twitter poll received 82.7 percent of votes in favor of altering the algorithm.

Jack Dorsey, Twitter cofounder and former CEO, responded to the poll through text, saying that a new platform is needed. Musk then inquired about what the social network should look like.

I believe it must be an open source protocol, funded by a foundation of sorts that doesnt own the protocol, only advances it. A bit like what Signal has done. It cant have an advertising model. Otherwise you have surface area that governments and advertisers will try to influence and control. If it has a centralized entity behind it, it will be attacked, Dorsey wrote. This isnt complicated work, it just has to be done right so its resilient to what has happened to twitter [sic].

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey addresses students during a town hall at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi, India, on Nov. 12, 2018. (Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters)

He noted that turning Twitter into a corporation was its original sin.

Two days later, Dorsey told Musk that the companys board of directors was uninterested in giving him a seat, telling him that the board is just super risk averse and saw adding you as more risk. Of course, one week later, Musk announced his intentions to join the board, although he later changed his mind and decided to acquire the business for $44 billion.

Dorsey also noted that the boards approach to Musk was completely stupid and backward, noting that he couldnt do much since he only possessed one vote, owned 3 percent of the firm, and didnt have any dual-class shares.

Parag Agrawal

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal got in touch with Musk in an April 3 text, congratulating him for joining Twitters board. He wrote that he was super excited about the opportunity to work together and that he was looking forward to working closely and finding ways to use your time as effectively as possible.

Agrawal requested that Musk treat him like an engineer instead of a chief executive, as he used to be the chief technical officer and spent a long time in Twitters codebase.

But the text messages quickly turned sour following an April 9 Twitter post where Musk asked, Is Twitter dying?

Agrawal reached out to Musk, informing him that while he was free to tweet Is Twitter dying?' or anything about Twitter, it wasnt helping [Agrawal to] make Twitter better in the current context.

Id like the company to get to a place where we are more resilient and dont get distracted, but we arent there right now, Agrawal wrote.

What did you get done this week? Musk responded. Im not joining the board. This is a waste of time.

A few days later, Musk contacted Agrawal and confirmed that he would make an offer to take Twitter private.

Mathias Dopfner

Mathias Dopfner, CEO of German digital publishing house Axel Springer, urged Musk to buy Twitter and let his firm manage the website.

We run it for you. And establish a true platform of free speech. Would be a real contribution to democracy, Dopfner wrote in a text message.

Musk called it an interesting idea, to which Dopfner responded that he was serious and that it was doable.

Will be fun, Dopfner wrote.

He followed up on his proposal on Apr. 6, offering a more detailed plan for the social media outlet. He agreed that it is the de facto public town square and that it would be the global backbone of free speech. Dopfner suggested making Twitter censorship-FREE by radically reducing Terms of Services to just three things: prohibited from sending spam or scamming users, promoting violence, or posting illegal pornography.

The next step, according to Dopfner, is to Make Twitter censorship-RESISTANT.

Ensure censorship resistance by implementing measures that warrant that Twitter cant be censored long term, regardless of which government and management, he wrote.

How? Keep pushing projects at Twitter that have been working on developing a decentralized social network protocol (e.g., BlueSky). Its not easy but the backend must run on decentralized infrastructure, APIs should become open (back to the roots! Twitter started and became big with open APIs).

According to Dopfner, this would manufacture a marketplace for algorithms, so if youre a snowflake and dont want content that offends you pick another algorithm.

After his discussion of a Solve Share Price strategy, the messages were cut off in the documents without any noted response from Musk.

Larry Ellison

Musk reached out to Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle and former Tesla board member, on Apr. 20. He inquired if Ellison had any interest in participating in the Twitter deal. He responded that he would be interested.

Roughly what dollar size? Not holding you to anything, but the deal is oversubscribed, so I have to reduce or kick out some participants, Musk said.

Ellison answered with a billion  or whatever you recommend.

Whatever works for you. Id recommend maybe $2B or more, Musk wrote. This has very high potential and Id rather have you than anyone else.

Ellison responded, I agree that it has huge potential  and it would be a lot of fun.

Joe Rogan, Gayle King, and Justin Roiland

Musk has appeared a couple of times on podcaster Joe Rogans show. On Apr. 4, Rogan sent a text message asking if Musk was going to liberate Twitter from the censorship happy mob? The Tesla Motors CEO replied, I will provide advice, which they may or may not choose to follow.

CBS anchor Gayle King asked if he would sit down for an interview to talk about the deal.

Have you missed me, she wrote in an April 6 message. Are you ready to do a proper sit down with me? So much to discuss! Especially with your Twitter play.  What do I need to do???

Musk dismissed the entire situation as getting blown out of proportion, later noting that a Twitter edit button is coming.

One week later, she made another request for a one-on-one interview.

ELON! You buying Twitter or offering to buy Twitter, she wrote. Wow! Now dont you think we should sit down together face to face? This is, as the kids of today say, a gangsta move.

Justin Roiland, co-creator of the hit television series Rick and Morty, recommended that Musk use his friends technology to verify users real identities and confirm that theyre not a troll farm. This would have been relevant since Musks reasoning behind abandoning his acquisition is that he thinks the number of fake and spam accounts is much higher than what Twitter is officially reporting.

Developments in the TwitterMusk Saga

Twitter and Musk will now settle the corporate dispute in court. The tech firm will try to force Musk to complete his acquisition of Twitter, while he attempts to end the takeover bid. Musk had failed to get the trial delayed until early next year. Instead, the two sides are scheduled to appear in a Delaware Chancery Court on Oct. 17.

This comes weeks after Twitter shareholders voted to approve Musks proposal to buy the business for $44 billion. The Twitter stock posted a September gain of 13.52 percent, rising to $43.84 shares. Year-to-date, the company is up by 2.77 percent.
RTHK: North Korea fires two ballistic missiles

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea off the east coast on Saturday, South Korea's military said, marking Pyongyang's fourth launch in a week as it ratchets up tension around the Korean peninsula.

The launch comes after the navies of South Korea, the United States and Japan staged trilateral anti-submarine exercises on Friday for the first time in five years, and follows a visit by US Vice President Kamala Harris to the region this week.

The two short-range missiles were launched from Sunan, north of the North Korean capital Pyongyang, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. It estimated the range at 350 km at 30 km altitude and speed of Mach 6.

Japan's coast guard reported at least two suspected ballistic missile tests by Pyongyang. The missiles flew 400 km and 350 km, reaching an altitude of 50 km, said Toshiro Ino, state minister of defence.

Tokyo has lodged a protest against the North through diplomatic channels, Ino said, adding the missiles possibly flew an "irregular trajectory" designed to evade missile defence.

The US Indo-Pacific Command said it is aware of the ballistic missile launches and has assessed they do not pose an immediate threat to US personnel or territory or to its allies.

North Korea fired missiles before and after Harris' visit to South Korea, extending a record pace in weapons testing this year as it increases the threat of a credible nuclear power that can strike the United States and its allies.

Pyongyang also conducted the first intercontinental ballistic missile test since 2017.

Analysts see the increased pace of testing as an effort to build operational weapons, as well as to take advantage of a world distracted by the Ukraine conflict and other crises to normalise its tests.

Despite North Koreas internal weaknesses and international isolation, it is rapidly modernising weapons and taking advantage of a world divided by US-China rivalry and Russias annexation of more Ukrainian territory, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international politics at Ewha University in Seoul.

The Kim regime is also playing hardball with the Yoon administration while South Korean politics are hobbled by infighting, referring to South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.

Japan's Defence Ministry said in a report in July the North had been launching short-range missiles that fly low and irregular trajectories, characteristics observed since May 2019 that are likely designed for higher war-fighting effectiveness.

Marking South Korea's 74th Armed Forces Day, President Yoon condemned what he called recent military provocations by the North and vowed to strengthen joint military drills with the United States.

"Going forward, the government will further strengthen the Korea-US joint exercises, will respond strongly to North Korean provocations and threats by showing them the 'Alliance in Action'," Yoon said in a televised speech.

South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, Kim Gunn, had telephone calls with his US and Japanese counterparts, in which he said they jointly condemned Pyongyang's missile tests. He said Saturday's launch poses a "serious threat to the international community."

The United Nations Security Council has imposed sanctions against the North for its ballistic missile and nuclear tests. Pyongyang rejects such moves as infringement of its sovereign right to self-defence and space exploration.

The North has completed preparations for a nuclear test, a window which could open between China's Communist Party congress in October and the U.S. mid-term elections in November, South Korean lawmakers said on Wednesday. (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2022-10-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Glasgow was the starting point for the longest, non-stop, baton relay ever attempted as the city passes hosting duties to Egypt for Cop27, having hosted Cop 26 last year.

The weather affected plans to hold the event at Glasgow Green after heavy rain and wind battered the city on Friday.

Children at Sunnyside Primary School in Craigend, Glasgow, were on hand to ensure the baton left smoothly on Friday as three pupils read out a message that was then placed inside the baton.

Thousands of runners, cyclists and sailors will work together to pass the baton hand-to-hand from Glasgow across more than 4,800 miles (7,800km) to Sharm el-Sheikh as part of Running Out of Time relay.

Children at Sunnyside Primary School join the opening stage of the Cop27 baton relay (Hamish Frost/PA)

It is expected the baton will take 38 days to reach Sharm el-Sheikh and the journey will be completed in 732 stages of about 6.2 miles (10km) each.

The baton, which has been designed by Glasgow-based company 4c Design, will pass through 18 countries via land and sea, including Scotland, Wales, England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Cyprus and Israel, before arriving in Egypt.

During its route through Scotland, the baton will visit special projects such as the Glasgow Food Policy Partnership and the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve in Langholm, Dumfries and Galloway.

Running Out of Time co-founder Jamie Hay said: Its taken a huge collaborative effort to get this ambitious project to the start line.

Volunteer from Running Out of Time holds the baton which has been designed by 4c Design (Hamish Frost/PA)

Our aim is to deliver a powerful message to the decision makers at Cop27 with so much support that it is impossible to ignore if were to have a hope of securing a transition to a safe climate future.

Running Out of Time symbolises the very essence of climate action  its an extraordinary, bold, ambitious plan that will only succeed because everyone has worked together. I know we can do it.

Leader of Glasgow City Council, councillor Susan Aitken, said: Cop26 shone a light on just how dire the situation facing our planet is and that collective and accelerated action is the only option to save humanity from a global catastrophe.

Story continues

While nation states make pledges, it is cities, like Glasgow, that are delivering on a low carbon and climate resilient future and must remain central to future policy decisions and action.

Runners with Running Out of Time at Sunnyside Primary School in Glasgow for the opening stage of the Cop 27 baton relay (Hamish Frost/PA)

Now we must keep up the pressure on world leaders and governments to make sure that commitments of the Glasgow Climate Pact are delivered.

The message contained within the relay baton will, Im sure, continue to convey that strength of feeling that we saw here in Glasgow last year.

Participating in the Running Out of Time relay to Cop27 is another opportunity for Glaswegians to have their voices heard and to show their continued commitment to fighting climate change.

Susan Aitken, leader of Glasgow City Council (Jane Barlow/PA)

Mr Hay said: This is our most critical mission yet. Our aim is to deliver a powerful message to the decision makers at Cop27 with so much support that it is impossible to ignore if were to have a hope of securing a transition to a safe climate future.

Running Out of Time symbolises the very essence of climate action  its an extraordinary, bold, ambitious plan that will only succeed because everyone has worked together. I know we can do it.
Elon Musk to Provide Florida With Starlink Satellites in Response to Hurricane Ian

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk agreed to provide the companys satellite internet service, Starlink, for help in response to Hurricane Ian in areas of Southwest Florida still without connectivity.

We are working with Elon Musk and Starlink satellite. They are positioning those Starlink satellites to provide good coverage in Southwest Florida and other affected areas, DeSantis told reporters on Saturday. We are expecting 120 additional large Starlink units to deploy to Southwest Florida.

Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina faced a massive cleanup on Saturday from the destruction wrought by Hurricane Ian, after one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the U.S. mainland caused tens of billions of dollars in damage and killed dozens.

New images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) showed several beach cottages and a motel building that lined the shores of Floridas Sanibel Island HAD been wiped away by Ians storm surge. Even though most homes were still standing, they appeared to have roof damage, the images showed.

Ian, now a post-tropical cyclone, continued to weaken on Saturday but was still forecast to bring treacherous conditions to parts of the Central Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic, according to the National Hurricane Center, which added that flood watches were in effect across southwestern Virginia and southern West Virginia.

Major to record river flooding will continue across central Florida through next week. Limited flash, urban and small stream flooding is possible across the central Appalachians and the southern Mid-Atlantic this weekend, with minor river flooding expected over the coastal Carolinas, the center said.

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster told reporters on Saturday there were no storm-related deaths in the state and that most electricity had been restored. However, he added: We know we have much cleaning up and rebuilding to do.

The storm struck Floridas Gulf Coast on Wednesday, turning beach towns into disaster areas. On Friday, it pummeled waterfront Georgetown, South Carolina, north of the historic city of Charleston, with wind speeds of 85 miles per hour.

Roads were flooded and blocked by trees while a number of piers were damaged.

About 1.5 million homes and businesses were without power in the Carolinas, Virginia, and Florida at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday, according to website PowerOutage.us. About 1.2 million of those outages were in Florida.

Both the number of casualties and repair costs remained unclear, but the extent of the damage was becoming apparent as Florida entered its third day after Ian first hit.

A destroyed gas station after Hurricane Ian caused widespread destruction in Fort Myers, Fla., on Sept. 30, 2022. (Marco Bello/Reuters)

There were at least 35 deaths in Floridas Lee County alone that were attributable to the hurricane, the county sheriffs office said in a Facebook Post on Saturday morning. Many of the dead across Florida were elderly people, including a 92-year-old man, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said earlier.

In North Carolina, four people died in storm-related incidents, state officials said on Saturday.

Thousands of people were still unaccounted for in Florida, officials said, but many of them were likely in shelters or without power.

We suffered more flood damage than wind damage, DeSantis said Saturday. That is going to require a lot of flood claims being filed.

Insurers braced for a hit of between $28 billion and $47 billion, in what could be the costliest Florida storm since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, according to U.S. property data and analytics company CoreLogic.

President Joe Biden has approved a disaster declaration, making federal resources available to counties affected by the storm. The president said Ian was likely to rank among the worst [storms]  in the nations history. On Saturday, he declared an emergency in North Carolina.

Devastating

The Florida city of Fort Myers, close to where the eye of the storm first came ashore, absorbed a major blow, with numerous houses destroyed.

Stranded shrimp boats in a marina after Hurricane Ian caused widespread destruction in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., on Sept. 30, 2022. (Marco Bello/Reuters)

Offshore, Sanibel Island, a popular destination for vacationers and retirees, was cut off when a causeway was rendered impassable.

Ricky Anderson, 57, a cashier who lived on Sanibel Island, said he lost everything in the hurricane, including his life savings and asked the government for help. Anderson said he only recently moved to Sanibel Island from Illinois in June.

Where are all those people supposed to go that have no home anymore? Anderson said.

Robert Hartman, 81, who has lived in Fort Myers for 50 years, said he needed the governments help in the cleanup and repair of his residence from the damage caused by the storm. We have no power, no phone service, nothing. We would just like a little help to get my home back in shape because I have nowhere to go, he added, his voice choking.

At a mobile home park on San Carlos Island in Fort Myers Beach, the wind and water pushed trailers together. A boat lay on its side at a local marina, where another boat had come to rest in a tree.

Hundreds of miles north in Georgetown, residents were also trying to put their lives back together.

With a population of about 10,000, the town is a tourist destination known for its oak tree-lined streets and more than 50 sites on the National Registry of Historic Places. It was heavily damaged by Hurricane Hugo in 1989.
The European Union (EU) representative addressed a speech at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) meeting on Sept. 26, in which he specifically mentioned the human rights situation in Hong Kong, including the statement mentioning Cardinal Zen, four other trustees and fund secretary, who were arrested in connection with the 612 case. (Sung Pi-lung/The Epoch Times)

EU Statement | HK Human Rights Eroded, National Security Law Suppress Democracy and New Electoral System Lost Political Plurality

The EU representative, in his address to the UNHRC meeting on Sept. 26, specifically mentioned the human rights situation in Hong Kong, expressing their grave concern about the Hong Kong National Security Law (NSL) and the renewed use of the Sedition Law, and mentioned the arrest of Cardinal Joseph Zen, the chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) and the conviction of members of the General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists for sedition relating to the Childrens Book Case. He described that all of the above constitute deterioration of freedoms.

This UNHRC meeting was held in Geneva, Switzerland. The EU representative issued a statement on Sept. 26 expressing concern about the human rights situation in many countries and regions, including China, Hong Kong, Russia, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Belarus (Belarus), Eritrea, Turkey, Palestine, Myanmar, and Nicaragua. Among them, he made Hong Kong a separate paragraph.

The EUs statement stated that they remain gravely concerned about the repressive National Security Law (NSL), the renewed use of the Sedition Law, and the sweeping changes in the electoral system that constitute a violation of democratic principles and political pluralism. The legitimate exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms, in particular freedom of peaceful assembly and association, freedom of expression including media freedom, has been substantially eroded.

Cardinal Zen, former bishop of Hong Kong, was arrested for alleged collusion with foreign forces by the Hong Kong authority in May 2022 because of being a trustee of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund. The Fund aimed to provide humanitarian and relevant financial support to persons who are injured, arrested, attacked, or threatened with violence during Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill protests.

The chairman of the HKJA, Ronson Chan, was stopped by the police for inquiry on his way to a news interview in June this year and asked to hand over his Identity card. He complied but then was arrested for obstructing police officers and disorder in a public place.

Five members of the General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists have been sentenced to 19 months imprisonment for publishing what prosecutors said were anti-government seditious childrens books. One defendant, Lorie Lai Man-ling, former chairperson of the Great Union said, I am willing to pay the price for exercising my freedom of speech. Even if I lose, I still stand and be counted. She believes that there are restrictions on freedom of speech, which should not be a political red line.

The statement mentioned Cardinal Zen, four other trustees, and the fund secretary, who was arrested in connection with the 612 cases, Ronson Chan, the chairman of the HKJA, who was recently arrested and the five members of the General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists have been sentenced to imprisonment for publishing childrens books. They constitute deterioration of the freedoms guaranteed in the Hong Kong Basic Law. The statement also mentioned the independence of the judiciary is under immense pressure and that the lengthy pre-trial detention in NSL cases is a source of concern, as well as the closure of numerous civil society groups.

The EU urges China and the Hong Kong authorities to restore full respect for the rule of law, democracy, and human rights, including freedom of association and freedom of expression, guarantee the independence of the judiciary, and preserve Hong Kongs high degree of autonomy under the one country, two systems principle, in compliance with Hong Kongs Basic Law and Chinas domestic and international commitments.

As for China, the EU agreed with the release of the assessment report of human rights concerns in Xinjiang by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The report underscores the serious human rights violations occurring in Xinjiang and finds that these may constitute crimes against humanity.

The EU reiterates its persistent and serious concerns about the existence of a large network of political re-education camps, mass arbitrary detentions, widespread surveillance, tracking and control measures, systemic and severe restrictions on the exercise of fundamental freedoms, including freedom of religion or belief, as well as the use of forced labour, torture, forced abortion and sterilisation. All of the above is proved by reports.

The EU urges the CCP to respect, protect and fulfill human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, including Uighurs and persons belonging to ethnic, religious, and linguistic minorities across China, especially in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia.
FDA Withholding COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Data Is Illegal: Lawmakers

Rep. Gregory Steube (R-Fla.) and other U.S. lawmakers are asserting that the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) refusal to provide records to The Epoch Times is illegal.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) states that, with exceptions, agencies that receive satisfactory records requests shall make the records promptly available to the requester. However, the FDA recently refused to provide the results of COVID-19 vaccine safety monitoring analysis to The Epoch Times, claiming that it couldnt separate the results from inter-agency and intra-agency communications, which are allowed to be withheld.

Steube and colleagues told FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf, a Biden appointee, that they were concerned after reading about the FDAs refusal to provide the records, telling Califf that his agency is obligated to disclose the materials under FOIA.

The requested analysis was performed on reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). Anybody can submit reports to VAERS, but most reports are submitted by health care workers, who are required to report adverse events following COVID-19 vaccinations.

It is unacceptable that the FDA would withhold such important material from the public eye. Americans depend on the information provided in VAERS to be able to make conscious decisions about their health and well-being, the lawmakers told Califf in a letter dated Sept. 23. It is critical that the FDA be transparent and release important sets of data to the public.

They described the FDA as being noncompliant in releasing COVID-19 vaccine safety data, referring to how the agency denied a request to quickly produce all the data and information for Pfizers vaccine. The agency later stated that it would take 75 years to produce the information, but a judge ordered the agency to take no longer than eight months.

The FDA didnt respond to a request for comment on the letter. The agency previously declined to comment on the decision to not provide the records, citing that The Epoch Times has appealed the decision.

It isnt clear why the agency cant comment while an appeal is pending.

The lawmakers asked the agency for answers within 30 days.

Reps. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) and Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) also signed the letter.

After the letter was sent, the FDA denied another FOIA request related to COVID-19 vaccine safety. The agency refused to provide the results of autopsies performed on people who received COVID-19 vaccines and whose deaths were reported to VAERS. The Epoch Times has also appealed that determination.
Voters turn in their ballots at Irvine City Hall in Irvine, Calif., on June 7, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Finance Commissioner Runs for City Council to Grow Reserves, Preserve Irvines Master Plan

Irvine finance commissioner John Park is running for city council in the Nov. 8 election to maintain what he calls the citys unique village culture.

I want people to hold me accountable, Park told The Epoch Times.

Park said public safety will always be his top priority, if elected.

He likened public safety to that of a homes foundation, where pillarssuch as grade schools and quality of lifewould eventually collapse if the base is faulty.

The city of over 300,000 is renowned for being one of the safest of its size. But Park said he is concerned that as its population growstransitioning from mid-sized into a large citythere could be an increase in crimes like petty theft, robberies, and vandalism.

We need to refocus our efforts on public safety and make sure its first and foremost, he said.

(Courtesy of John Park)

Part of the citys allure, he said, is that each neighborhood of Irvine has everything you need, with its own schools, retail, and parks and trails.

He said this is because Irvine is built upon a master plan that started in the 1970s and has not deviated much since.

Park said hed like to keep it that way.

As we continue to grow exponentially, its very important that we maintain that and we dont forgo that for the sake of growth, he said.

In his role as the citys finance commissioner, Park said he looks at the citys revenues not just as numbers, but as the result of families who worked hard to pay these tax dollars, so we have to protect every penny and be wise about how we spend that money.

Park said during the pandemic, he saw how city governments suffered financially, with certain revenue channels disappearing overnight.

Irvine is very strong financially, he said, and my goal is to keep it that way, and grow the citys reserves.

Park also said, if elected, he would like to work with the citys fire department to better prevent a disaster like the Silverado fire of 2020 that scorched over 12,000 acres just north of Irvine.

That was a really big wake-up call, he said.

He said he also wants to alleviate traffic congestion by working to build pedestrian bridges on some of the citys main roadways.

He also mentioned using caution lights instead of traffic signals in some areas and better synchronizing signals in other areas to ease traffic.

Park additionally said, if elected, he plans to work toward building a retail center at the Great Park to give nearby residents a closer option for their shopping needs.

Were building giant neighborhoods over there, [but] they have no shopping. They have no retail. They have no local grocery store, he said.

He said many residents that live near the park shop in Lake Foresttaking our sales tax revenues right out of the cityor at the already packed Woodbury shopping center in Irvine.

During his campaign, he said he has met with the city manager, police, and other city departments.

He said winning the seat is not a stepping ladder to higher office, but only his desire to serve the citys residents.

I have no political ambitions besides the city council, he said. Thats really all I care about.

Park, who owns an advertising agency, moved with his wife to Irvine 22 years ago from Newport Coast. Their three children attend public schools, one of whom goes to UCIrvine.

He ran for council unsuccessfully in 2018 and 2020, receiving nearly 33,000 votesor 11 percentin the latter race.

He is running against incumbent councilmen Larry Agran and Anthony Kuo, climate scientist Kathleen Treseder, Irvine commissioner and technologist Scott Hansen, and college student Navid Sadigh.
Sen. Don Meredith is seen during an interview in Toronto on March 16, 2017. (The Canadian Press/Colin Perkel)

Former Senator Don Meredith Charged With Three Counts of Sexual Assault

OTTAWAA former senator who resigned from the upper chamber amid a sexual misconduct scandal is now facing criminal charges.

Don Meredith, 58, has been charged with three counts of sexual assault and one count of criminal harassment, Ottawa police said Saturday.

A source confirmed to The Canadian Press that the man in question was the former Conservative senator.

The charges relate to incidents that allegedly took place in 2013 and 2014 and were reported by an adult woman, police said, offering no other details.

Meredith has been released on a promise to appear in court.

A lawyer who represented him in the past did not immediately respond to request for comment on the charges. Alison Korn, a spokeswoman for the Senates Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration, declined to comment on the matter as it is now before the courts.

Meredith  an ordained minister  was appointed to the senate on the advice of former prime minister Stephen Harper in 2010, but resigned in 2017 after a scathing report from the Senates ethics officer.

The report from Lyse Ricard, who held the position at the time, concluded Meredith had violated the chambers code of ethics by engaging in a relationship with a girl when she was just 16 and recommended the upper house take the unprecedented step of expelling him.

Meredith resigned from the Senate weeks later just as the upper chamber was believed ready to expel him over the relationship. He also acknowledged the sexual relations outlined in the report but said nothing took place until she turned 18.

A second Senate investigation, released in 2019, found Meredith had repeatedly bullied, threatened and intimidated his staff, as well as touched, kissed and propositioned some of them.

Saturdays announcement marks the first time Meredith has faced criminal charges related to sexual misconduct.
Chicks are seen at a poultry farm in Pruille-le-Chetif near Le Mans, France, on March 4, 2020. (Stephane Mahe/Reuters)

France Raises Bird Flu Alert Level After Resurgence of Virus

PARISFrance will tighten measures to contain bird flu after a resurgence of the virus that swept through poultry flocks last winter, said the agriculture ministry, adding that the nationwide alert level on bird flu had been raised to moderate from low.

France experienced its worst-ever bird flu crisis between November and May, with over 19 million animals being culled to stem a severe strain of the disease that spread in major poultry breeding regions in western France.

The government scaled back restrictions in June after a lull in outbreaks, before an unusual upturn in cases during the summer that affected large numbers of wild birds in coastal areas as well as some farm flocks inland.

Other European countries have also reported renewed outbreaks of bird flu since the summer.
Pipe systems and shut-off devices at the gas receiving station of the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline and the transfer station of the OPAL long-distance gas pipeline in Lubmin, Germany, on June 21, 2022. (Stefan Sauer/file/AP)

Gas Starts Flowing to Poland Via New Baltic Pipe From Norway

WARSAWNatural gas started flowing to Poland through the new Baltic Pipe pipeline from Norway via the Baltic Sea on the morning of Oct. 1, Polish gas pipeline operator Gaz-System said.

Promises made over six years ago have been kept, Gaz-System said, according to a translation of its Oct. 1 statement.

Gas started flowing at 6:10 a.m. on Oct. 1 via the Baltic Pipe pipeline, with nominationsor requests for sending gas through the pipelinetotaled 62.4 million kilowatt-hours (kwh), the company added.

This is a historic moment and one that weve been awaiting for many years, Anna Moskwa, Polands minister for climate and the environment, said in a statement.

The pipeline is at the center of Polands long-standing strategy to diversify its gas supplies away from Russia.

Construction of the Baltic Pipe system, which has an annual capacity of 10 billion cubic meters, resumed in March after a 33-month hiatus over environmental concerns.

Russias invasion of Ukraine at the end of February not only forced European countries to rethink their reliance on Russian energy but also added impetus to completing the construction of the Baltic Pipeline linking Poland to Norwegian gas fields.

Construction of the pipeline was completed on Sept. 27, with Polish President Andrzej Duda calling it one of the most significant days since 1989, referring to the toppling of communism in the Eastern European country.

This is a great day. A great day for Poland, for Denmark, Norway, and the entire European Union. Its a great day for our part of Europe, for building security, peace, and for strengthening our sovereignty, he said, according to the Office of the President.

Moskwa said in a statement that by diversifying gas supplies, Poland has become energy secure and that completion of Baltic Pipe is a symbol of Polands energy sovereignty.

Russia cut gas supplies to Poland in April when it refused to pay in roubles.

Baltic Pipe was officially inaugurated a day after leaks were detected in the subsea Nord Stream gas pipelines linking Russia to Europe.

Earlier this week, researchers with seismology agencies in Denmark and Sweden found that the damage to the Nord Stream pipelines was most likely caused by explosions and ruled out the possibility of natural causes.

The gas leak in the Baltic Sea from Nord Stream photographed from the Coast Guards aircraft on Sept. 27, 2022. (Swedish Coast Guard via AP)

According to data released by a team of seismologists, the blasts occurred in the vicinity of the location of the pipelines. Both Danish and Swedish seismic agencies picked up the alleged explosions on Sept. 26.
Hong Kong residents singing "Glory to Hong Kong" in New Town Plaza in Shatin on Sept. 11, 2019. The unofficial anthem of the anti-extradition movement has been marked by the regime as an anti-government song. Various street performers have been repeatedly arrested and taken to court for playing the song. The arrests show that speech and music can be a crime in Hong Kong. (Wong Hiu-cheung/The Epoch Times)

Glory to Hong KongWhen Playing a Song Is Sedition

HK police suppress street performances

If Hongkongers had to choose one thing to represent their time of fighting for freedom, it would be singing Glory to Hong Kong during the anti-extradition movement.

Since then, the unofficial Hong Kong anthem has been characterized as an anti-government song. On multiple occasions, performers who played the song have been arrested and charged by Hong Kong police.

At first, the charges were playing an instrument without a license and misconduct in a public place but have morphed to suspected of committing inciting acts. The change reflects that the public can be found guilty, of not just what they say but also what they sing.

Li Jiexin, 68, has gone to court three times for playing Glory to Hong Kong since 2020.

Li Jiexin was charged for playing Glory to Hong Kong on the erhu at Tung Chung Bus Terminal on April 29, 2022. (HK Situation Report/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

The most recent charges were on Aug. 3, Aug. 18, and Sept. 9, 2021. Li played Glory to Hong Kong on his erhu (a Chinese two-stringed musical instrument played with a bow) outside the Mongkok MTR station. Without permits issued by the Commissioner of Police or legal rights or explanations, the Hong Kong Police issued Li three summonses.

If found guilty, Li could be penalized a maximum of 2,000 HKD (about $255) or three months imprisonment.

Since 2019, Li has been playing Glory to Hong Kong in public and has been interrupted by the police a number of times. In May 2020, when he was playing his erhu on a street corner in Yuen Long, some passersby accused Li of making noise and called the police.

When police arrived, they gave Li a ticket and charged him with playing an instrument without a permit. Li went to Tuen Mun Magistrates Court on Sept. 1, 2020.

Li was adamant about not pleading guilty. He thought the police ticketed and charged him only because they wanted to suppress his playing of Glory to Hong Kong.

Li said, It is my right to play erhu. I will defend myself with the International Covenant On Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

However, by March 2022, the prosecutors stated they would no longer provide evidence on the summons against Li. The magistrate eventually revoked the warrant.

Isnt Hong Kong Under One Country, Two Systems?

The 68-year-old was again given a ticket and summoned to court for playing an instrument without a permit.

This time he was accused of playing Glory to Hong Kong at Tung Chung Bus Terminal on April 29, 2022.

When the court inquired about the case in July, Li denied the charges. He also pointed out, I used to play in the UK, Thailand, even on the streets of mainland China. Why cant I play on the streets of Hong Kong? Isnt Hong Kong supposed to be one country, two systems? So why cant I play freely in Hong Kong?

At the time, the provisional magistrate Tsang Hing-tung responded, No, you cant.

The erhu player says he had gone to the police station twice to apply for a permit to perform, but the officers refused to issue it, citing the pandemic as the reason.

The case resumed in August. When the police officers testified, they said they arrived at the scene after receiving a noise complaint. They found Li playing his music amplified with a loudspeaker, and it was audible 20 meters (65.6 ft.) from where Li was seated.

The police officers then said they asked Li to show his identity card. Li planned to pack up and leave and stated that if the police wanted to summon him, he would continue playing his erhu.

As Li did not have a legal representative, he defended himself in Mandarin. Li asked the specific officers about the nature of Glory to Hong Kong. Provisional Magistrate Tam Lap-fung said it was irrelevant to the case. The key is whether the defendant was playing an instrument with a permit.

Ultimately, the court decided that the prosecutors did not provide all indicted elements to prove the charges.

The magistrate thought that the evidence only proved that the defendant was playing the erhu at the time in question, but not whether he had a permit. Hence Tam ruled insufficient evidence and revoked the charges. Li was also granted 500 Hong Kong Dollars (about $ 64) for his litigation fees.

Li expressed his satisfaction with the ruling outside the court and said he would perform on the street again. Li thought that summons issuance was a waste of time. He emphasized, The truth will also be on our side. Glory will always belong to Hong Kong.

However, the closed case took a strange turn. Provisional Magistrate Tam Lap-fung overturned his verdict four days later.

The case was heard on Sept. 2. Tam claimed that upon reviewing the regulations, he found the charges involved in Lis case did not require the prosecution to submit evidence. The court asked Li to defend against the established evidence and revoked his litigation fee.

Li said that playing his erhu was nothing political. I was only performing notes on a music sheet.

The case was adjourned until Oct. 3.

A Street Performer With Multiple Summonses

Li was dealing with multiple summons tickets for playing music on the street. In another case, he was summoned three times by the Hong Kong Police on Aug. 3, Aug. 18, and Sept. 9, for playing an instrument in public without a permit. He was playing Glory to Hong Kong in all cases.

The court delayed his case, so the prosecutors said they would wait to hear the verdict Li would receive on Oct. 3 for the same charge.

The case adjourned once again, pending clarification of legal issues.

Li opposed the prosecutions delay, saying the case had been dragging on for too long. It not only exhausted him, but also wasted a lot of government resources.

The magistrate eventually sided with the prosecution and claimed that it was beneficial to both parties to delay the case to weigh the grounds and the responsibilities of presenting evidence. It can also make good use of the legal world, Tam added.

Police Arrest and Suppress Street Performers

Lis prosecution isnt the first time police targeted street performers, particularly those who sang about social issues.

In July and August 2020, Olive Ma, a Filipino-Chinese street performer, was arrested twice after the National Security Law was implemented for singing the English version of Glory to Hong Kong. The police confiscated Mas instruments and stopped him from playing. Initially, the police charged Ma with obstructing a police officers work and possessing offensive weapons.

However, the police amended the charges to noise disturbance caused by a musical instrument and noise disturbance caused by a loudspeaker.

On May 21, 2021, Ma performed in Central. The police immediately arrested him for disturbing public order. They also confiscated Mas guitar, speakers, and microphone stand.

Music Related to Social Movement is a Crime

Although the song Glory to Hong Kong was never characterized by Hong Kong law as violating national security or dividing the country, the government officials have already classified it as seditious and closely related to illegal events.

On the evening of Sept. 19, 2022, the day of Queen Elizabeth IIs state funeral, Hong Kong residents flocked to the British Consulate General to pay tribute to the late Queen.

That night, outside the consulate, a man played Glory to Hong Kong and the British anthem, God Save The Queen on his harmonica. The police arrested him on suspicion of committing acts with seditious intent. He was detained overnight and granted bail later but had to report to the police at the end of November.

Social Anthem Banned at All Schools

On July 8, 2020, former Secretary for Education Kelvin Yeung Yun-hung stated in his response to a Legislative Council question, The song Glory to Hong Kong stemmed from the social incidents of June 2019. The song carries a strong political message and is tightly knitted to social and political events, violence, and illegal acts for many months. Schools in Hong Kong should never allow their students to sing or broadcast such songs on campus.
A school administrator confirms student health check data on a laptop computer as students and parents wait in line to enter school at Grant Elementary School in Los Angeles on Aug. 16, 2021. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

Hackers Set Oct. 3 Deadline for LA Unified to Meet Ransom Demand

LOS ANGELESAn international hacking syndicate claiming responsibility for a cyberattack that forced a shutdown of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) computer systems has set a Monday, Oct. 3, deadline for the district to pay a ransom or the organization will publish undisclosed information it claims it obtained in the hack.

In a dark web post detected and reprinted by Brett Callow of the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft, the hacking syndicate Vice Society listed the LAUSD as one of our partners, and stated, The papers will be published by London time on October 4, 2022 at 12:00 a.m.

The post did not give any indication of what information had been obtained or what would be published.

LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho acknowledged last week the district has received a ransom demand from the group responsible for the Labor Day weekend hackwhich he declined to name.

We can acknowledge  that there has been communication from this actor [hacker] and we have been responsive without engaging in any type of negotiations, he told reporters. With that said, we can acknowledge at this point  that a financial demand has been made by this entity. We have not responded to that demand.

He did not provide specifics of the demand.

Alberto Carvalho, then Miami-Dade Schools superintendent, is seen during a school board meeting in Miami, Fla., on March 1, 2018. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Carvalho told the Los Angeles Times on Sept. 30 that the district will not pay the ransom demand or negotiate with the hackers.

What I can tell you is that the demandany demandwould be absurd, he told the L.A. Times. But this level of demand was, quite frankly, insulting. And were not about to enter into negotiations with that type of entity.

The district issued a statement Sept. 30 afternoon acknowledging the threatened information dump, and indicated it is diligently working with investigators and law enforcement to determine what information was impacted and to whom it belongs.

After discovering the hack, LAUSD officials took the extraordinary step of shutting down most of its computer systems while they worked to assess the full extent of the cyber intrusion. Systems were then slowly brought back online.

Carvalho said earlier the hackers appeared to have planted a series of digital tripwires that could have disabled more systems, so the district was being cautious about bringing computers back online.

No classes or other district operations have been impacted by the cyberattack, officials said. Students and staff, however, have been forced to reset their district passwordsa monumental task for the nations second-largest school district.

A Los Angeles Unified School District bus in Los Angeles on Sept. 29, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

District officials said earlier that the attack temporarily interfered with the LAUSD website and email system. But officials said employee health care and payroll were not affected, nor did the hack impact safety and emergency mechanisms in place at schools.

It was unclear if the receipt of a ransom demand weeks after the initial attack was an indication that the hackers obtained or could potentially obtain more sensitive information. Carvalho said last week that officials do not believe any highly sensitive information was accessed.

This entity did touch our MiSiS [My Integrated Student Information] System, which contains student information, Carvalho said. To the best of our knowledge at this point  we believe that some of the data that was accessed may have some students names, may have some degree of attendance data, but more than likely lacks personally identifiable information or very sensitive health information or Social Security number information.

He said there is no sign that any sensitive employee information was accessed.

This is the sad but new reality we are facing, Carvalho told reporters. We are on one hand attempting to understand how the breach took placewas it human error, meaning someone unknowingly responded to a phishing email that allowed unauthorized access, or was it a systemic failure on the part of a third-party entity that is connected to our system that opened the door?

In its Sept. 30 statement, district officials said, To our school community and partners, we will update you when we have relevant information and notify you if your personal information is impacted, as appropriate. We also expect to provide credit monitoring services, as appropriate, to impacted individuals.

 Los Angeles Unified remains firm that dollars must be used to fund students and education. Paying ransom never guarantees the full recovery of data, and Los Angeles Unified believes public dollars are better spent on our students rather than capitulating to a nefarious and illicit crime syndicate. We continue to make progress toward full operational stability for several core information technology services.

Following the hack, the district contacted federal officials, prompting the White House to mobilize a response from the U.S. Department of Education, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Securitys Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, according to the LAUSD.
The exterior of the JP Morgan Chase & Co. corporate headquarters in New York on May 20, 2015. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

JPMorgan to Hire About 2,000 Engineers Even as Economy Softens

PLANO, TexasJPMorgan Chase & Co. plans to hire about 2,000 engineers worldwide through the end of the year despite a worsening economy, its global chief information officer, Lori Beer, said on Wednesday.

The biggest U.S. lender added a net more than 5,000 software developers and data scientists last year and aims to attract a couple thousand more at a time when technology giants have stopped hiring or are cutting jobs. Tech workers comprise about 20 percent of the banks roughly 278,000-strong global workforce.

Were definitely still hiring, Beer said in an interview at the banks office in Plano, Texas, at DevUp, an internal JPMorgan conference gathering 500 of the companys top engineers. The investment signals JPMorgan is a safe place through the uncertain economic times.  When youre going into a tough economic time and things are very volatile, it does play into our favor, Beer said.

The roles will be across the bank, including in general software engineering, data science, cybersecurity, and cloud computing, among other areas.

Competition in hot technology job markets such as Silicon Valley, Seattle, Texas, and India has abated slightly, with fewer candidates weighing multiple job offers at the same time, Beer said. Some technology companies, crypto exchanges and financial firms are cutting jobs and slowing hiring as global economic growth slows. JPMorgans Plano campus, built on a former horse farm, more closely resembles the tech offices of Silicon Valley than its imposing headquarters on New Yorks Madison Avenue. The new buildings are filled with natural light and meeting spaces populated with couches and white boards. There are other typical tech-company fixtures: large cafeterias offering a variety of cuisines, and Ping-pong and pool tables. There are also local touches, including a smoke house serving barbecue.

In recent years, banks have faced fierce competition for workers from tech companies that paid large chunks of compensation in company stock. Engineers were also attracted to tech companies that built novel products and services at speed, with casual cultures and abundant perks.

By contrast, banks were sometimes seen as stuffy businesses running on older technology where innovation was stifled by strict regulations.

JPMorgan aims to debunk that perception, Beer said.

How do we bust the myth and help people understand the innovation thats happening here, the complex problems? Beer said, highlighting opportunities to work on projects that affect millions of customers or move trillions of dollars. For example, engineers could join teams moving applications to the cloud, bolster the banks cyber defenses, or help automate back-office processes.

Analysts have questioned JPMorgans plan to spend $14.1 billion on technology this year. At its investor day in May, JPMorgan executives outlined some initiatives, such as personalization for its mobile app, improving payments offerings for e-commerce, and modernizing infrastructure. Many U.S. banks have made it a priority in recent years to beef up investment in their own technology.

In Texas this week, the three-day event saw Beer and Sandhya Sridharan, head of core engineering and JPMorgans development platform, alongside technology leaders from the banks major divisions, greet a group that consisted mainly of vice presidents and associates who write the code that underpins JPMorgan systems.

A lot of this is about human interactionthe networking, the collaboration, the trust that you build you cant do that over Zoom, Sridharan said. We want practitioners to come and learn from each other.

By Lananh Nguyen
Franqui Flores and Efrain Antonio Campo Flores - nephews of Venezuela's first lady - were arrested in 2015

Venezuela has freed seven jailed Americans in exchange for the release of two relatives of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the two countries have confirmed.

The swap included five American oil executives, US officials said.

The Americans were exchanged for two of Mr Maduro's wife's nephews, who were serving 18-year sentences in the US on drug charges, the officials said.

Venezuela said two men "unjustly" held in the US were freed.

It added that a group of US citizens were released for "humanitarian reasons".

The swap included executives of Venezuela's US-based oil company, Citgo, in addition to US Marine veteran Matthew Heath and another American citizen named Osman Khan, US officials said.

The oil executives - Tomeu Vadell, Jose Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, Jorge Toledo and Jose Pereira - were jailed five years ago, after being summoned to a meeting in Caracas, where they were charged with terrorism.

President Joe Biden said in a statement that the "wrongfully detained" Americans would soon be reunited with their relatives.

"Today, we celebrate that seven families will be whole once more. To all the families who are still suffering and separated from their loved ones who are wrongfully detained - know that we remain dedicated to securing their release," he added.

In exchange for their freedom, Mr Biden agreed to release two nephews of Venezuela's first lady, Cilia Flores.

Franqui Flores and Efrain Antonio Campo Flores were arrested in Haiti in 2015, then taken to New York where they were convicted of drug charges.

The Venezuelan government said in a statement that the "release of two young Venezuelans unjustly imprisoned in that country has been achieved".

A US official said the swap happened at an airport in an unspecified third country.

For many years, the US has accused Mr Maduro of leading a left-wing dictatorship.

But the Biden administration has recently sent envoys to reopen dialogue with Venezuela. Critics say the change of policy was triggered by the invasion of Ukraine and the US determination to reduce dependence on Russian oil.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams speaks to the media during a press conference at the Israel Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 24, 2022. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Judge Throws Out Lawsuit by Stacey Abramss PAC Over 2018 Georgia Governors Election

A federal judge threw out a lawsuit on Sept. 30 filed by Stacey Abrams challenging Georgias election system after she lost the 2018 gubernatorial race to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

The lawsuit, which sought to change how the state administers elections, was filed about four years ago by Fair Fight Georgia, a political action committee established by Abrams after her election defeat. Earlier this year, the judge pared the lawsuit by dismissing many of its original complaints.

Abrams alleged that there was misconduct, fraud, or irregularities in the voting process. She took legal action to stop counties from throwing out some rejected provisional and absentee ballots when updated vote totals affirmed that Kemp, a Republican, was the likely winner.

When she eventually conceded on Nov. 16, 2018, Abrams vowed to take legal action to continue fighting the outcome.

Although Georgias election system is not perfect, the challenged practices violate neither the constitution nor the [Voting Rights Amendment], U.S. District Judge Steven Jones said in his ruling.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was the lead defendant in the case, hailed the ruling.

This ruling allows local officials to focus on the task at hand this yearrunning a safe, secure, and accessible election, he wrote on Twitter. Stolen election and voter suppression claims by Stacey Abrams were nothing but poll-tested rhetoric not supported by facts and evidence.

Response

In a Sept. 30 statement, Abrams said that despite the loss, the case had measurable results, including the reinstatement of over 22,000 ballots, substantive changes to voting laws, and a platform for voters of color to demand greater equity in our state.

During this suit, more than 3,000 voters shared their stories, creating an unprecedented and lasting record of voter testimony, which highlighted the suppressive effects of the Secretary of States actions on vulnerable voters, she wrote on Twitter.

Abrams vowed to expand the right to vote for minorities if she wins election in November.

After losing in 2018, lawyers for Abramss campaign and the Democratic Party of Georgia asked the court to order that provisional ballots that were rejected because of missing or incorrect information be restored. Her lawsuit also demanded that counties that had already certified vote returns correct their totals and recertify the results.

The complaint specifically demanded to restore the votes of 1,095 Gwinnett County voters whose absentee ballots were rejected.

Abramss campaign contacted voters in Georgia asking if they experienced issues casting a vote.

Kemps campaign accused Abrams of trying to steal the election by filing legal challenges and desperately trying to create more votes for Stacey Abrams.
Los Angeles Homeless Agencies Fail to Spend $150 Million Federal Funding

The three main homeless service and housing agencies in Los Angeles failed to spend almost $150 million in federal housing grants between 2015 and 2020, according to a newspaper report.

The unused funds were returned to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

The Los Angeles Housing Services Authority (LAHSA)the lead agency servicing both the County and City of Los Angeless homeless populationreturned more than $29 million to the department over six years, the Los Angeles Times reported Sept. 24. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles County Development Authority returned roughly $38 million, and the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles returned more than $82 million.

In a climate where the rental market is so hard to access, it makes it very challenging to use all these resources, LAHSA spokesperson Ahmad Chapman told the newspaper.

Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority workers join the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department in assisting homeless individuals in Malibu, Calif., on Sept. 24, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Chief Programs Officer Molly Rysman said the federal housing departments rigid and complex funding structure makes it difficult to disperse funds quickly, and if they are not spent, reallocating presents additional hurdles.

Weve said this to HUD over and over again, Rysman said in the report. We need a lot more flexibility.

The report comes on the heels of the L.A. City Councils homeless committees discussion on whether the city should split from LAHSA and start dealing with the homeless more directly as questions mount over the accuracy of the agencys homeless count.

LAHSA came under criticism from residents of the Venice neighborhood after it reported no homeless population in the northwest quarter of Venicean area known for its homeless encampments. The agency cited lack of training and poor internet connection as reasons for the errors.

Women walk past homeless encampments in Venice Beach, Calif., on June 8, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Last week, city council President Nury Martinez and three other councilors called for an assessment of LAHSAs response to the homeless crisis. In two new motions, Martinez requested a third party conduct the annual point-in-time counts and a review of LAHSAs previous counts over several years.

A LAHSA spokesperson told The Epoch Times that despite these errors, we are confident in the accuracy of this years homeless count because LAHSA and its partners took several steps to account for what was happening in the field.

Efforts to combat these errors were put in place, according to the agency, such as a geolocation feature that can flag errors when volunteers recorded counts for the wrong location or when multiple volunteers were covering the same area.

For locations where no data was recorded, LAHSA staff conducted a separate count to ensure all necessary data was collected.

[W]e can say with high confidence that we secured the data necessary to report an accurate picture of the number of people experiencing homelessness on any given night within the [Los Angeles area], LAHSAs statement read.

Volunteers Mike Murase (L), Jessica Margraf (C), and Kimberly Briggs look over a map of the neighborhood while walking the streets of downtown Los Angeles during the third night of the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count in Los Angeles on Feb. 24, 2022. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

According to a local news report on the Westside Current, a member of a Venice group conducting its own count disagrees with LAHSAs methodology.

Ultimately our service providers must transparently collect high-quality, real-time, by-name data to make sure all unhoused people get the right kind of help based on their actual needs, Connie Brooks told the news outlet. Our unhoused population is not invisible. And they dont appear on only one day every year.

LAHSA estimates that more than 54,000 homeless people are in the area, but the agency excludes homeless people in Long Beach, Pasadena, and Glendale from its count.

LAHSA was founded in 1993 after extensive back-and-forth dialogue between the city of Los Angeles and the county about who was responsible for aiding the homeless on the streets. For the last several years, both the Board of Supervisors and the city council have suggested the agency may need reforms.

Volunteers wait in line to register before heading into the first night of the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count in Covina, Calif., on Feb. 22, 2022. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin, who oversees the citys finances, did not respond to a request for comment by press deadline.

On Sept. 8, after LAHSAs point-in-time count showed a 1.7 percent increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness in the city and a 4.1 percent jump countywide, Galperin said the results were deeply frustrating.

Taxpayers have opted to invest billions of dollars to address the homelessness crisis, only to be disappointed as benchmarks for progress continue to go unmet, Galperin said.
Man Arrested in Fatal Stabbing of New York City EMS Worker

NEW YORKA man has been arrested in the fatal stabbing of a veteran emergency medical worker with New York Citys fire department, police said Friday.

Police announced Friday that Peter Zisopoulos, 34, was being charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon in the fatal stabbing of Russo-Elling, a nearly 25-year veteran of the citys fire department who was among the first responders to the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Russo-Elling was on duty when she was stabbed Thursday afternoon near her station in the Astoria section of Queens, authorities said.

The 61-year-old Russo-Elling was heading to a corner store to get something to eat when Zisopoulos allegedly stabbed her multiple times, police said. She was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Zisopoulos ran to his apartment and locked himself inside, police said. He was arrested after he was eventually talked into coming out. It wasnt clear if he had an attorney who could comment on the charges against him.

The motive for the stabbing is under investigation.

Russo-Elling was about six or seven months away from retirement, Vincent Variale, president of the uniformed EMS officers union, told reporters outside the hospital where Russo-Elling died of her injuries.

Russo-Elling joined the fire department as an EMT in March 1998 and was promoted to paramedic in 2002 before becoming a lieutenant in 2016.

A mother and grandmother, Russo-Elling lived in Huntington on Long Island and had volunteered with the local ambulance corps there, according to the Daily News.

Variale, the union president, told the New York Post that he had just spoken to Russo-Elling last week. Alison was the sweetest, kindest person youve ever met, Variale said. She was also very brave.

Another colleague, EMS Capt. Mike Dadonna, told the Post that Russo-Elling always greeted you with a smile. No matter what was going on, she had a smile.

Acting Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh, who joined Mayor Eric Adams and other officials at a news conference Thursday, said Russo-Elling was cited multiple times for bravery and life-saving work.

And she was absolutely beloved on this job, Kavanagh said.

Adams, a former police officer whose service in uniform overlapped with Russo-Ellings, said he is very familiar with the work that EMS workers perform.

Every day, they do their job in a manner in which many of us dont realize how dangerous it is, Adams said. She was working for this city. She paid the ultimate sacrifice because of that.
Man Pleads Guilty to Throwing Rocks at Santa Ana Churches

SANTA ANA, Calif.A 34-year-old man pleaded guilty to throwing rocks through the windows of two Santa Ana churches and was sentenced to 208 days in jail and freed from custody because he had already served that much time behind bars awaiting trial, according to court records obtained Sept. 30.

Omar Rico Olivares pleaded guilty Sept. 29 to two counts of vandalism and two counts of vandalism of religious property, all felonies.

Olivares accepted a plea deal from Orange County Superior Court Judge Cheri Pham, who ordered him to stay away from the churches as well as the Gospel Church of God, 3155 W. Warner Avenue and the Salvation Army at 1710 W. Edinger Avenue.

Olivares pleaded guilty to hurling rocks through the windows of Templo Sinai Church, 2030 S. Flower Street, and Iglesia Bautista at 929 S. Birch Street, both in Santa Ana, according to court records.
A decade after the first states legalized marijuana for recreational use, its become a thriving industry.

Today, recreational use is allowed in 19 states plus Washington, D.C., with another five states voting on legalization in November. A total of 37 states allow the medical use of marijuana.

Clearly, acceptability is on the rise. At the same time, cannabis has gotten much, much more potent, with THC levels now as high as 100 percent in some products, compared to less than 2 percent for most weed smoked in the 1960s.

We speak with Ben Cort, author of Weed, Inc.: The Truth About the Pot Lobby, THC, and the Commercial Marijuana Industry. He explains how weve been down this road before, with Big Marijuana being no different from Big Tobacco and Big Pharma.

Next, in America Q&A, we ask: If you could give President Joe Biden one piece of advice, what would it be?

Then we look at marijuanas medical impact. Is it the dream drug it was billed as, or are there unintended side effects? Dr. Ken Finn, president of the American Board of Pain Medicine, and co-Vice President of the International Academy on the Science and Impacts of Cannabis (IASIC), has some surprising answers.

Finally, in our second America Q&A, we ask: Whats your concept of a fruitful day?

* Click the Save button below the video to access it later on My List.

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Newsom Signs Legislation Allowing Doctors in California to Face Discipline for Misinformation

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation into law on Sept. 30 that allows the state medical board to discipline physicians for misinformation or disinformation related to COVID-19.

According to the law, misinformation means false information that is contradicted by contemporary scientific consensus contrary to the standard of care, while disinformation is misinformation that the licensee deliberately disseminated with malicious intent or an intent to mislead.

Newsom gave his reasoning for signing the legislation, AB 2098, which was introduced by Democratic Assemblyman Evan Low.

I am signing this bill because it is narrowly tailored to apply only to those egregious instances in which a licensee is acting with malicious intent or clearly deviating from the required standard of care while interacting directly with a patient under their care, he wrote in his signing message.

Newsom said the law only applies to physicians speech with patients during discussions directly related to COVID-19 treatment.

I am concerned about the chilling effect other potential laws may have on physicians and surgeons who need to be able to effectively talk to their patients about the risks and benefits of treatments for a disease that appeared in just the last few years, he wrote. However, I am confident that discussing emerging ideas or treatments including the subsequent risks and benefits does not constitute misinformation or disinformation under this bills criteria.

The California State Capitol building in Sacramento, Calif., on April 18, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Opposition to the Legislation

At noon on Sept. 30, a group of doctors, patients, and civil rights attorneys had gathered at the Capitol building in Sacramento, California, to ask Newsom to veto the legislation.

Dr. Len Saputo, president of the organization Physicians and Patients Reclaiming Medicine, hosted a press conference at the Capitol. He said the law will fundamentally alter how physicians practice medicine in California.

If [Newsom] doesnt veto [SB] 2098, medicine will be changed forever.  We will not have the right to counsel our patients in certain areas, because it will be prohibited by law, said Saputo, whos based in Walnut Creek, California.

Another California doctor in attendance was Dr. Michael Huang, who said the situation in California for many doctors has already become overly restrictive and that the new law would only make things worse.

He spoke to the group about one of his patients, a San Jose firefighter who was required to get vaccinated for COVID-19 and afterward lost 50 percent of his exercise capacity, according to Huang. The firefighter was put on unpaid leave, but he was then required to get a booster vaccine dose. He said the firefighter came to see him for a medical exemption.

Please help me. I dont want to get hurt again, the firefighter said, according to Huang.

He said he has been able to help thousands of patients like these who had a valid medical reason to skip the COVID-19 vaccine, and they were able to keep their jobs or go to school even though the vaccine was required.

Im here to protect your health, Huang said. Im here to make sure that you will not be hurt.

Hes now under investigation and in jeopardy of losing his medical license for alleged unprofessional conduct. This followed guidance issued by the medical board in August 2021 that physicians could be subject to disciplinary action for granting mask exemptions or other exemptions inappropriately.

However, Huang contends that he hasnt acted inappropriately and that his exemptions were valid.

There are very few medical professionals that are willing to give medical exemptions because they are afraid, he told The Epoch Times in December.

No Absolute Truth

According to a previous interview with Los Angeles-based Dr. Syed Haider, the new law is also expected to target doctors who recommend or prescribe off-label medications, such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, to their patients for COVID-19.

Myself and other doctors from all over the world have had incredible results with off-label protocols, including ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, budesonide, and a number of other protocols, Haider told The Epoch Times in May.

Because of this, hes been reported to four state medical boards by pharmacists that he says dont like filling ivermectin prescriptions. He was forced to hire a lawyer to help protect his medical license.

In any scientific field or endeavor, there is no absolute truth, Haider said. Were always getting closer to the truth, but we have never arrived at a final truth in medicine. There always has to be room for debate.

Patricia Tolson contributed to this report.
A TV screen shows a file image of a North Korean missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, on Sept. 28, 2022. (Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo)

North Korea Launches Fourth Missile Test in a Week

North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the east sea on Saturday, South Koreas military said, the fourth launch in a week as Pyongyang continues its provocative streak on the Korean Peninsula.

South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said that North Korea fired the two short-range ballistic missiles between 6.45 a.m. and 7.03 a.m. (local time) from the Sunan area of Pyongyang, Yonhap News Agency reported.

Japans Defense Ministry said the missiles flew about 350 to 400 kilometers (217 to 249 miles) at an altitude of 60 kilometers (37 miles) before landing outside Japans exclusive economic zone.

Japanese senior vice defense minister, Toshiro Ino, told reporters that Japan had protested against North Koreas missile testing through the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, Kyodo News reported.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said that while the launches did not pose an immediate threat to the United States or its allies, they highlighted the destabilizing impact of North Koreas unlawful ballistic missile programs.

We are aware of the two ballistic missile launches and are consulting closely with our allies and partners, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement. The U.S. commitments to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan remain ironclad.

Kamala Harris Visit

It was North Koreas fourth missile launch this week, following earlier launches on Sept. 25, Sept. 28, and Sept. 29 in an apparent show of defiance against U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visit to South Korea this week.

Harris also visited the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas and reaffirmed the U.S. ironclad commitment to defending its allies in the region. North Korea launched two ballistic missiles hours after Harris departed South Korea on Thursday.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and South Koreas President Yoon Suk Yeol pose for a photo as they hold a bilateral meeting in Seoul, South Korea, on Sept. 29, 2022. (Leah Millis/Pool Photo via AP)

North Koreas latest launch came after the United States, South Korea, and Japan launched their first trilateral anti-submarine drills in five years near the Korean Peninsula on Friday.

The drills involved the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, Japans Asahi-class destroyer, and South Koreas Munmu the Great destroyer, among others.

South Korean commander Capt. Cho Choong Ho said the drills were designed to enhance their combined capabilities against enemy submarine threats.

We will continue such realistic high-intensity exercises so that we can react decisively and overwhelmingly against any form of provocations, Cho said.

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.

Washington said it has attempted to engage North Korea in dialogue for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, but the Kim Jong Un regime has responded only with provocations.
Orange Countys Sen. Pat Bates Runs for Supervisor

Sen. Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel), who is terming out this year, is running for Orange County supervisor in the Nov. 8 election to be a significant voice for District 5 residents.

Bates, who previously served as a county supervisor for seven years, said her understanding of how state issues impact local government will help her better represent residents.

They say the government closest to the people is the best government and thats because you, as a local resident, get to relate directly to your decision makers who implement policies that affect your life, Bates told The Epoch Times.

(Courtesy of Patricia Bates)

Bates said many local issues impacting communities reach the state level including the increase in homelessness, drug addiction, and mental health issues.

As a former social worker in the 1970s, Bates said she saw firsthand how drugs harmed peoples liveswhich back then were mostly LSD, heroin, and alcohol. But it was not as bad as todays mass mental health crisis, often rooted in addiction, that has led to homelessness, she said.

She said shes concerned that the state has spent billions to eradicate homelessness, but more, in the state, are living on the street.

Bates said she is heartened state officials are now paying more attention to the main causes of homelessnessnamely drug addiction and mental illnessand moving away from the so-called housing first model, which prioritizes shelter for the homeless.

Notably, she said, the state has approved what is known as Care Court, a bipartisan law that will go into effect next year, where loved ones or associates can refer homeless people into court-ordered treatment.

Bates said to get the county ready to implement the new law, it will need to hire more behavioral health specialists who understand drug addiction  and how you help people actually get clean.

Brandons Law

Bates authored legislation, signed by the governor last year, called Brandons Law, which penalizes rehab or sober living homes for false advertising.

She named the bill after Brandon Nelson, who took his life in 2018 at age 26 in a rehab home.

The facility did not have personnel who could administer medication the man needed when he had a psychotic break, she said.

[The law] was something that made me feel that Brandons life taken was not in vain because it really helps all the others who have been scammed by some of these facilities, she said.

Sounding the Alarm on Fentanyl

Regarding the prevalence of fentanyl in the state, she said Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes sounded the alarm on the growing number of deaths caused by the drug by bringing a measure to her desk a couple of years back that would increase penalties for importing large quantities of the drug into the state.

Bates authored the bill. But each time it went to the Legislature, it would not pass through committee because it includes a sentence enhancement for those who manufacture, import, and distribute the drug, she said.

Now people are starting to see the effects of doing nothing, she said.

With the news of fentanyl-related deaths now getting national attention, Bates said she thinks the bill will get more support.

Its time has come, she said. Were going to finally get something done about this.

Incorporating Laguna Niguel

Bates said her most satisfying adventure was working to incorporate Laguna Niguel, which became a city in 1989 after a three-year battle.

She moved to the area in 1978.

Bates said she and a group of about 50 residents walked precincts to explain the importance of incorporation.

She said it brought dramatic changes to the community by increasing parkland, youth activities, and increasing business opportunities.

People revere their local government, and staunchly defend it, she said. We incorporated for that very purpose in Laguna Niguel so that we would have local control and be able to determine the goals and the objectives for the growth of our community.

The year Laguna Niguel became a city, Bates was elected its first mayor.

Since then she has served as a California state assemblywoman, Orange County supervisor, and has been a state senator since 2014, representing the 36th District, which consists of the southern coastal region of Orange County and parts of San Diego County.

Toll Road Fiasco

One of the most controversial issues Bates said shes dealt with as senator was the idea to extend the 241 toll road to the 5 Freeway in San Clementea contentious topic among cities and county officials.

The project had gone through legal and political battles for years.

Bates authored a bill to halt the extension.

That lit the fire, she said.

She said she worked with county toll road and transportation officials, and the areas County Supervisor Lisa Barlett in 2020 to ease traffic congestion by instead extending a free road, called Los Patrones Parkway, to reach San Clemente.

Everybody finally came together and said, Aha, this is going to work, she said.

Policymaker: A Noble Profession

Bates said she considers being an elected official a noble profession, as such sets policies that impact people.

It affects us in the present and affects our children and our grandchildren, she said. Its a very, very important position and it works very well if the elected official remembers that they are representative of the people.

She said local officials can make the most impact in terms of what maintains residents quality of life and keeps the country free, safe, and opportunistic.

I hope people feel that I have represented them to the best of my ability, she said.

Her opponent for District 5a mostly coastal district spanning from Costa Mesa to San Clementeis current Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley.
Parks in the Clear Over Sacred Kakadu Site

The Commonwealth is immune from criminal prosecution after allegedly illegally disturbing an Aboriginal sacred site at a former movie set in Kakadu National Park, a court has determined.

The Northern Territorys Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority filed a criminal charge against the director of Parks Australia in 2020 for carrying out uncertified work at Gunlom  a cascading waterfall that appeared in the movie Crocodile Dundee.

It alleges Parks built a walking track in 2019 to Gunloms top pools without permission from the Indigenous custodians.

Parks agreed to remove the offending section of track and apologised to traditional owners for the distress the work caused but pleaded not guilty to the charge.

It told a full bench of the NT Supreme Court in March it cannot be prosecuted for carrying out the unauthorised work because its a corporate entity, and the criminal offence and penalty in section 34 of the NTs Aboriginal Sacred Sites Act does not apply.

On Friday, the court agreed, saying the director of Parks has the same legal status as the executive government of the Commonwealth in relation to the imposition of criminal liability and is generally immune from prosecution.

The case was never about the walking track but rather to find out if the Parks director could be prosecuted under NT law.

Director of National Parks Jody Swirepik referred to them as constitutional issues saying the case did not turn on the particular facts of the Gunlom walking track matter.

Irrespective of the outcome of the court case, I will continue to work with all parties in the future to ensure that there is a robust framework for protecting sacred sites, she said in a statement.

AAPA previously alleged the track was constructed close to a restricted ceremonial feature against the wishes of the World Heritage-listed parks traditional owners and without an authority certificate, which is issued after consultation.

Parks has since obtained a certificate and negotiated with traditional owners about the realignment of the track.

Swirepik said that remedial work was well underway with two Indigenous cultural advisers representing the Gunlom Land Trust onsite to supervise work.

Part of the track has now been removed, and work commenced this week on the new segment of track, she said.

I take the concerns raised by traditional owners about the Gunlom matter very seriously, and Parks Australia has taken steps to ensure (they) are properly consulted on infrastructure work in Kakadu.

Swirepik previously said Parks was ordered to plead not guilty by the commonwealth attorney-general so the constitutional issues could be addressed.

The maximum penalty under NT law for carrying out work on a sacred site without a certificate is $314,000.

AAPA has been contacted for comment.
Pennsylvania Counties Can Help Voters Fix Issues With Mail-In Ballots: Judge

Pennsylvania counties can help voters cure mail-in ballots to fix defects, a judge in the state has ruled, rejecting an attempt to block counties from doing so in the upcoming midterm election.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) and other parties, which filed a petition over the matter on Sept. 1, have not proven that there is a clear violation of the Election Code or the law interpreting the Election Code, Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Judge Ellen Ceisler ruled on Sept. 29.

The petition pointed to a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling in 2020 that found that the state election code enables voters to vote by mail but does not provide for the notice and opportunity to cure procedure that was sought by Democrats.

The task of setting rules on fixing ballots is one best suited for the Legislature, according to Ceisler.

The Legislature has addressed the issue of when Boards may provide notice and an opportunity to cure a noncompliant mail-in or absentee ballot, Republicans stated in the petition. The Election Code currently provides a cure procedure in only a limited circumstance: for those absentee ballots or mail-in ballots for which proof of identification has not been received or could not be verified. And even in that circumstance, the voter may cure only the lack of proof of identification and not any other defect.

That means that the county boards that have been issuing procedures to cure ballots are in violation of the ruling, the Republicans stated.

But Ceisler, a Democrat, said the Republicans havent proven that theyre likely to succeed or that the counties are violating the election code or the law interpreting the code.

A review of relevant and recent case law indicates that notice and opportunity to cure procedures implemented by County Boards have generally been accepted in order to fulfill the longstanding and overriding policy in this Commonwealth to protect the elective franchise. The courts have held that any doubt about whether the Election Code authorizes County Boards to implement notice and cure procedures must be resolved in favor of preventing the inadvertent forfeiture of electors right to vote, Ceisler wrote.

She also said Section 302 of the code lets county boards implement curing procedures at their discretion to ensure that the electoral franchise is protected.

Blocking the procedures already in place would clearly cause greater injury than refusing the injunction, the judge wrote, since voting in the midterm election is underway.

Republicans have appealed the decision to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Voters in Pittsburgh should have the same election rules as voters in Philadelphia, and Pennsylvanias Constitution is clear that voting laws should be set by the legislature, not unelected bureaucrats, Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel said in a statement to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Allowing some counties to operate differently than others undermines the rule of law. Republicans will continue fighting to ensure that Pennsylvanias voters are treated equally regardless of where they live.
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela on Friday welcomed home a dozen flight crew members detained in Argentina since June after their plane was held for suspected terrorism ties, according to state television.

"We are celebrating (their) arrival," Venezuelan Transportation Minister Ramon Velasquez told Telesur from Maiquetia Airport, near the capital of Caracas, praising the crew as "an example of revolutionary struggle."

An Argentine judicial chamber on Tuesday authorized the departure of 12 of 19 crew members.

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

Its arrival caused a diplomatic stir for Argentina. The country was accused of supporting Iran and Venezuela, which are both under U.S. sanctions. Argentina grounded the plane then seized it in August after a request from a U.S. court.

Of the 12 released crew members, 11 are Venezuelan and one Iranian. A further three Venezuelan and four Iranian crew are still not allowed to leave Argentina.

Velazquez said this was "illegal" detention.

The detentions sparked protests in Venezuela, with several marches in Caracas urging the crew's return.

Iran and Venezuela maintain close ties in sectors like oil and industry and signed a 20-year cooperation plan in June.

(Reporting by Mayela Armas; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a ceremony to declare the annexation of the Russian-controlled territories of four Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the Georgievsky Hall of the Great Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia, Sept. 30, 2022. (Dmitry Astakhov/Sputnik/Pool via Reuters)

Putin Blames West for Blowing Up Pipelines as Europe Steps Up Vigilance

TBILISI/LONDONRussian President Vladimir Putin on Friday blamed the United States and its allies for blowing up the undersea Nord Stream pipelines, raising the temperature in a crisis that has left Europe racing to secure its energy infrastructure and supplies.

The sanctions were not enough for the Anglo-Saxons: they moved onto sabotage, Putin said. It is hard to believe but it is a fact that they organised the blasts on the Nord Stream international gas pipelines.

They began to destroy the pan-European energy infrastructure, Putin said. It is clear to everyone who benefits from this. Of course, he who benefits did it.

The United States has dismissed talk it was responsible.

European Union states, once heavily reliant on Russia and now trying to find alternative gas supplies, say they believe leaks were caused by sabotage, but have stopped short of naming anyone.

The Nord Stream pipelines, which were not pumping gas to Europe when the leaks were found but had gas in them, have been flashpoints in an energy standoff between the West and Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.

The EU is still investigating how Russias Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines burst this week, draining gas into the Baltic Sea off the coast of Denmark and Sweden. Seismologists registered explosions in the area.

The ruptures might mark the biggest single release of methane ever recorded, the United Nations Environment Programme said on Friday, as researchers detected a huge plume of methane in satellite imagery this week.

Gas will continue to pour out of Nord Stream 1 until Sunday, the Danish energy agency said on Friday, though the leak on Nord Stream 2 is expected to cease on Saturday.

A gas leak from Nord Stream 1 in the Swedish economic zone in the Baltic Sea in this picture taken from the Swedish Coast Guard aircraft on Sept. 28, 2022. (Swedish Coast Guard/Handout via TT News Agency/via Reuters)

Wider Conflict

The pipeline incident has prompted European countries to step up vigilance over other critical infrastructure, which looks suddenly much more vulnerable.

Italy, which was an early starter in weaning off Russian supplies, has strengthened naval surveillance and controls on pipelines bringing gas to the country from the south and east, senior officials told Reuters.

That includes the TransMed pipeline, which connects Algeria to Sicily, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) running from Azerbaijan to Apulia, and the GreenStream connection between Libya and Sicily.

Rome also raised its alert on the Trans Austria Gas (TAG) pipeline that brings fuel from the Nordics to the north-east of Italy.

Polands electricity grid operator on Friday meanwhile announced checks on an undersea cable carrying power from Sweden that crosses the damaged Nord Stream pipelines.

There is also heightened focus on the Baltic Pipe, a project that was unveiled this week. The Baltic Pipe will transport gas to the Danish and Polish markets and end-users in neighboring countries from Oct. 1.

The risk to near-term gas flows has risen sharply on fears that further sabotage could occur on critical gas import pipelines, Fitch Solutions said in a note, citing the Baltic Pipeline.

The possibility of additional acts of sabotage on critical infrastructure is a growing risk that would raise the risk of tipping the war into a wider regional conflict.

Norway, a major Russian rival on gas supplies, will deploy its military to protect oil and gas installations against possible sabotage after warnings of unidentified drone sightings in September. Britain, France, and Germany will also help.

Germanys energy regulator called in a Reuters interview for more protection for critical energy infrastructure.

With no gas flowing through Nord Stream for the foreseeable future, European countries are racing to secure more energy supplies and trying to cushion households from an explosion in prices since last year.

European Union countries on Friday agreed to impose emergency levies on energy firms windfall profits and began more fraught talks on imposing a bloc-wide gas price cap.

In the Netherlands, citizens have started stockpiling wood and coal to save on rocketing gas bills.

Poland and the Czech Republic have asked the European Commission to revive a stalled gas pipeline project connecting the two countries.

The gas network operators of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia have also proposed shipping additional natural gas supply pledged by Azerbaijan to Europe.

By Jake Cordell and Nina Chestney
Quebec Election: CAQ Leader Defends Millions to US Consulting Firm During Pandemic

The political opponents of Coalition Avenir Quebec Leader Francois Legault took aim at him on Friday after it was revealed his government awarded a major American consulting firm $35,000 a day for strategies on managing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Legault said McKinsey & Company advised the government on best practices from around the world as Quebec faced a pandemic for the first time in a century. The advice from the company saved lives, the CAQ leader said.

A Radio-Canada investigation published Friday revealed McKinsey billed the Quebec government $6.6 millionor $35,000 a dayand played a key role in the Quebec governments pandemic response, conducting strategy meetings and advising the government on the purchase of personal protective equipment.

The leaders of the four other main parties say the decision to award millions in sole-source contracts to the global consulting firmand the lack of clarity about the influence the company had on the Legault cabinetreflects a broader lack of transparency in the CAQ government.

Conservative Leader Eric Duhaime said he wants a public inquiry into the contracts given to McKinsey.

Its very concerning. How is it that a firm like this onea foreign firmwas able to play such a large role in such a major crisis? he told reporters outside his campaign office near Quebec City. We have the right to know what happened.

Radio-Canada reported that Quebec agreed that McKinsey wouldnt reveal its other clients to the provincial governmenta contract stipulation Duhaime said creates serious conflict of interest concerns. The report, for instance, said McKinsey was a client of COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer Pfizer and that the consulting firm was involved in planning Quebecs COVID-19 vaccination strategy and its strategic communications.

Legault defended the contracts, saying that McKinsey is widely used by other governments and in the private sector.

Its expensive, McKinsey, but, obviously, thats in line with the service they provide, Legault told reporters in Amos, Que., around 600 kilometres northwest of Montreal. The decision to award the contracts to the company came from the public servicenot the cabinetLegault said, adding that the urgency of the situation justified awarding consulting contracts without a public procurement process.

Ultimately, it was up to me and my team to make decisions, but I think the recommendations that we received from McKinsey helped us save lives, he said.

Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade, a former McKinsey consultant, said the contracts are a sign of the Legault governments lack of transparency. The fundamental question for me is why, as Quebecers, we were not informed about this, she told reporters in Longueuil, Que., near Montreal.

Anglade and Quebec solidaire spokesman Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois said the McKinsey contracts are more reasons to hold a public inquiry into the provinces overall management of the pandemic. Nadeau-Dubois also accused Legault of privatizing part of the provinces management of the pandemic and listening to a foreign multinational instead of Quebec health-care workers.

Earlier this year, the French Senate issued a report questioning the role played by consulting firms, including McKinsey, in the countrys pandemic response and warning that the contracts create the possibility of conflicts of interest. In April, French prosecutors opened an investigation into tax fraud allegations against McKinsey contained in the Senate report.

In the United States, McKinsey has faced a conflict of interest investigation in both houses of Congress because of its role advising health regulators while also working for opioid drugmakers on boosting sales of painkillers.

By Jacob Serebrin
Undated file photo of the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office in London. (PA Media)

Russian Ambassador Summoned as UK Imposes New Sanctions on Moscow

Britain has ramped up sanctions against Russia, with new measures targeting vulnerable sectors of the economy, in response to President Vladimir Putins illegal annexation of parts of Ukraine.

The Russian ambassador to London, Andrey Kelin, was summoned to the Foreign Office to be told of the UKs objections to the Kremlins actions in the strongest possible terms.

Earlier, Prime Minister Liz Truss condemned the move by Russias leader, saying Britain will never accept his claim to the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia and said they amount to a violation of international law.

Under the new sanctions, Russia will lose access to UK services including IT consultancy, architectural services, engineering services, and transactional legal advisory services for certain commercial activities.

Britain is also banning the export of nearly 700 goods crucial to Russias industrial and technological sectors, while the governor of the Russian central bank, Elvira Nabiullina, joins the list of senior figures subject to travel bans and asset freezes.

Announcing the move, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said: The Russian regime must be held to account for this abhorrent violation of international law.

Thats why we are working with our international partners to ramp up the economic pressure through new targeted services bans.

What happens in Ukraine matters to us all and the UK will do everything possible to assist their fight for freedom.

Britains Foreign Secretary James Cleverly leaves 10 Downing Street in central London on Sept. 7, 2022. (Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)

The Foreign Office said Russia is highly dependent on Western countries for legal services, with 85 percent of all its legal services imported from G7 countries, with the UK accounting for 59 percent.

Denying Russian firms access would hamper their ability to operate internationally.

Following the estimated flight of more than 170,000 IT specialists from Russia since the invasion of Ukraine, the ban on IT consultancies is expected to further erode Russias ability to keep up with technological developments.

In a statement, Truss said: Vladimir Putin has, once again, acted in violation of international law with clear disregard for the lives of the Ukrainian people he claims to represent.

The UK will never ignore the sovereign will of those people and we will never accept the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia as anything other than Ukrainian territory.

Putin cannot be allowed to alter international borders using brute force. We will ensure he loses this illegal war.

The latest move by Russia, currently under pressure after a series of Ukrainian successes on the battlefield, has prompted condemnation globally and has been rejected by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Since becoming Prime Minister, Truss has vowed to follow the lead of Boris Johnson in providing as much support as is needed to Ukraine.

In a call with Zelensky this week, she said the UK will not accept the annexations.
Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands Manasseh Sogavare (C) arrives for the opening remarks of Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Suva on July 12, 2022. (William West/AFP via Getty Images)

Solomon Islands Joins 13 Pacific Nations in Partnership Declaration With United States

The Solomon Islands has joined 13 other Pacific nations in signing an 11-point partnership declaration with the United States, despite initially refusing and requesting more time to review it.

A total of 15 nations and regions, including the United States, signed the partnership declaration on the final day of their first-ever summit in Washington, according to a statement issued by the White House.

It was great to welcome the leaders of the Pacific Islands to Washington for the first U.S.-Pacific Island Country Summit. We honored the history and values that our nations share and expanded our cooperation on key areas that will benefit our people for years to come. pic.twitter.com/Cg07HyJyI9  President Biden (@POTUS) September 30, 2022

The declaration covers their cooperation in addressing climate change, advancing economic and sustainable development, responding to natural disasters and COVID-19, and maintaining the security of the Pacific region.

Pacific leaders welcome the United States commitment to enhance its engagement, including by expanding its diplomatic presence, the ties between our peoples, and U.S. development cooperation across the region, it states.

Australias ABC News reported earlier that the draft of the declaration appeared to be similar in intent to a China-proposed trade and security deal with the Pacific that was shelved in May due to a lack of consensus.

Prior to signing the U.S.-Pacific declaration, the Solomon Islands reportedly notified other Pacific Island nations that it would not sign the declaration at the summit as its Parliament needed more time to review it.

The Solomon Islands signed a security deal with Beijing in April, which other nations feared would allow China to establish a military base 1,700 kilometers off the Australian coast and destabilize the Indo-Pacific region.

A U.S. coast guard vessel was denied permission for a scheduled port call in the Solomon Islands in late August, amid mounting concerns about the influence of the Chinese Communist Party in the region.

Bidens Pacific Partnership Strategy

Australian and U.S. leaders have taken steps to counteract Beijings push into the region, including launching the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity to bolster trade and economic exchange between nations.

The Biden administration on Sept. 29 released a strategic framework for ties with Pacific Island nations, the first document of its kind, aiming to increase engagement and prosperity in the region, as well as undergirding national security interests.

The Pacific Partnership Strategy (pdf) notes the increasing activity of the Chinese regime in the region.

Pressure and economic coercion by the Peoples Republic of China  risks undermining the peace, prosperity, and security of the region, and by extension, of the United States, it states.

However, the new strategic framework underscores that it isnt focused on any adversary but seeks to positively develop the region by shoring up alliances and increasing trade and cooperation.

The release of the plan occurred on the final day of the U.S.-Pacific summit in Washington, during which the White House affirmed that it would dedicate more than $810 million in expanded programs to aid the island nations.

The United States has provided more than $1.5 billion to support the Pacific Islands over the past decade, according to a senior administration official.

Andrew Thornebrooke contributed to this report.
Suspected Chinese Hackers Tampered With Widely Used Customer Chat Program: Researchers

Suspected Chinese hackers tampered with widely used software distributed by a small Canadian customer service company, another example of a supply chain compromise made infamous by the hack on U.S. networking company SolarWinds.

U.S. cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said in a blog post it had discovered malicious software being distributed by Vancouver-based Comm100, which provides customer service products, such as chat bots and social media management tools, to a range of clients around the globe.

The scope and scale of the hack was not immediately clear. In a message, Comm100 said it had fixed its software earlier Thursday and that more details would soon be forthcoming. The company did not immediately respond to follow-up requests for information.

CrowdStrike researchers believe the malicious software was in circulation for a couple of days but would not say how many companies had been affected, divulging only that entities across a range of industries were hit. A person familiar with the matter cited a dozen known victims, although the actual figure could be much higher.

Comm100 on its website said it had more than 15,000 customers in some 80 countries.

CrowdStrike executive Adam Meyers said in a telephone interview that the hackers were suspected to be Chinese, citing their patterns of behaviour, language in the code, and the fact that one victim had repeatedly been targeted by Chinese hackers in the past.

The Chinese government rejected the claim. In an email, Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said officials in Beijing firmly oppose and crack down on all forms of cyber hacking in accordance with the law and that the United States has been loudly active in fabricating and spreading lies about so-called Chinese hackers.'

Supply chain compromiseswhich work by tampering with widely used enterprise software to hack its clients downstream have been of increasing concern since alleged Russian hackers broke into Texas IT management firm SolarWinds Corp and used it as a springboard to hack U.S. government agencies and a host of private firms.

Meyers, whose firm was among those that responded to the SolarWinds hack, said the Comm100 find was a reminder that other nations used the same techniques.

China is engaging in supply chain attacks, he said.
A child has a swab taken for nucleic acid test for COVID-19 in Xiamen, Fujian Province, on March 15, 2022. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Taiwanese Businessmans Death in China Allegedly Due to Delay in Medical Treatment

Chinas draconian zero-COVID policies have resulted in delayed medical treatment, and caused many deaths across the country since the COVID-19 outbreak.

A Taiwanese businessman working in China was reported to have died on Sept. 18 in Xiamen, a city in Chinas eastern coastal province of Fujian, after he was isolated in a quarantine facility near the Xiamen Xiangan International Airport.

According to Taiwans Central News Agency (CNA), Mr. Chen Xin, worked for a Taiwanese energy technology enterprise in Chinas Kunshan City, about 43 miles west of Shanghai. Chen had earlier returned to Taiwan to see a doctor due to a chronic health issue.

On Sept. 17, Chen flew from Taiwan to China, and was quarantined at the Xiamen International Health Station, an isolation facility 20 minutes from the airport.

Xiamen, a city in Fujian Province, China, is close to Taiwan. (Google Maps)

On Sept. 18, Chen died of a massive hemorrhage.

The 34-acre Xiamen International Health Station, that cost 2.2 billion yuan ($309 million) to build, is exclusively for the quarantine of inbound passengers, according to Xiamen Daily, a state-run local mouthpiece, on March 30.

Xiamen Daily said that the health station has its own medical center that offers onsite medical services to meet one-stop health management requirements of inbound travelers isolated in the facility. The health station, upon its completion, will have nine buildings with 6001 rooms as quarantine facilities for inbound international travelers and four dormitory buildings with 1624 rooms for staffers working in the complex.

Chen called for help seven times, and it took over an hour for an ambulance to arrive at the health station, according to the CNA, citing a Taiwanese businessman, by then, Chen had vomited a lot of blood. He was taken to a hospital in Xiamen, but didnt survive, the CNA reported.

At a regular press conference of the Chinese regimes Taiwan Affairs Office on Sept. 28, a reporter with Taiwans UDN (United Daily News Group) queried the spokeswoman about what effective help the Taiwan Affairs Office offers Taiwanese when they encounter problems after entering China. He also asked the spokeswoman to explain whether Chens death was due to the pandemic control measures delaying his medical treatment.

Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman of the Taiwan Affairs Office, replied that Xiamens local medical emergency personnel arrived in time and that Chen died despite efforts to save [Chen]. She said that both the isolation facility and the hospital did their best to rescue Chen, adding that Chens family members expressed their recognition. She asked that Taiwanese people fully understand various requirements [of entry to China] before their departure.

Zhus explanation of Chens death was removed from the Taiwan Affairs Office official website, but the full transcript of her answers at the press conference is still available on Netease, a news portal in China, and on the Taiwan channel of the state-run Peoples Daily of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Deaths Reported in Shanghai and Xinjiang

In April, when Shanghai was under stringent lockdown measures, residents were confined to their homes, and hospitals mandated PCR tests had to be done before any medical treatment would be given to patients.

A city street during a COVID-19 lockdown in the Pudong district of Shanghai, China, on May 30, 2022. (Liu Jin/AFP via Getty Images)

Larry Hsien Ping Lang, a well-known Hong Kong-based economist and commentator, wrote a post on his Weibo account on April 11, saying that his mother had to wait for a PCR test result before she could be treated for kidney failure. She waited in the Emergency Department for four hours and died there without seeing a physician or getting any medical treatment.

Lang had to spend a lot of time communicating with relevant departments before he was allowed to go to the hospital, as Shanghai strictly banned its residents from leaving their homes. He could not get any transportation, as all public transport systems and taxis were suspended. His mother passed away before he got to the hospital.

Lang wrote that he was deeply shocked by the long time taken to complete PCR tests and that he hoped this tragedy would not happen again.

A 17-month-old toddler died in August in Yining city, Xinjiang. The boy became sick, but his father couldnt leave their house, which had been locked from the outside by the local authorities. In the end, the desperate father called the police and forced a government car to take the child to a nearby hospital. But it was too late. Doctors told the father that if he had come ten minutes earlier, the baby might have been saved.

The fathers online posts were removed from Chinas social media platforms.

Li Jing contributed to the article.
Tennessee Think Tank Charts Federal Relief Funds Incentivizing Hospital Treatment Protocols for COVID-19

A think tank in Tennessee is charting federal COVID-19 relief funds in an investigation into what is driving controversial treatment protocols for COVID-19 in health care.

The TN Liberty Network (TLN), an independent organization started by AJ DePriest and comprised of 28 researchers who live in Tennessee, has released several papers examining how lucrative payoffs from the federal government may have influenced previously trusted medical institutions to exchange their Hippocratic oath for a darker agenda.

Over a million people are reported to have died from COVID in hospitals, DePriest told The Epoch Times. But they didnt die from COVID; they died from the hospital protocols.

In its most recent report: Follow the Money: Blood Money in U.S. Healthcare Financial Incentives: The Use of Covered Countermeasures, TLN examines how financial incentives have fueled hospital treatment protocols for COVID-19 that TLN said have done more harm than good.

The full report can be found here.

We started looking at money coming in from the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act because thats where we had been involved in advocating for people whose loved ones or themselves were being kidnapped and isolated in hospitals, DePriest said. We wanted to know why this was happening because we were seeing too many commonalities in all of the stories we were hearing.

TLN formed The Adam Group to advocate for patients in hospitals being treated with protocols handed down by the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

We called it The Adam Group because the first person we tried to help was a man named Adam Rodriguez who was a young father of three, and the hospital here murdered him, DePriest said. It was a horrific experience.

The Adam Group has a 100 percent survival rate for people with COVID that it keeps out of the hospital, DePriest said.

Death Protocols

Some have called them the Death Protocols, which typically begin with the use of the antiviral drug remdesivir without informed consent, being put on a BiPap machine at a rate that damages the lungs, and being kept malnourished and sedated.

Ultimately, the patient is intubated and dies, according to statements from families.

A 2019 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found remdesivir to be the least effective and deadliest drug in a trial of Ebola patients. It was suspended after 53 percent of the patients who took the drug died.

It was the first drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat COVID-19.

On its reasoning for approving a drug that is known to have negative side effects, the FDA didnt immediately respond to The Epoch Times request for comment.

By mid-2022, numerous people had reported to The Epoch Times the deaths of family members in federally funded hospitals.

If the patient is unvaccinated, a new form of discrimination commences on the behalf of hospital staff, families have reported.

Drugs such as monoclonal antibodies are not made available, and staff tell families that they are required to follow protocols from which they cant deviate.

We looked at how trillions came out of the CARES Act and went into different agencies, starting with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and then flowing down into the NIH, CDC, and the CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), DePriest said.

According to the report, HHS distributed $30 billion of the CARES Act money to hospitals based on Medicare revenue, not the number of COVID cases in each state.

The COVID relief funds are a blood-price for strict compliance to requirements dictated by the NIH, the report states.

American hospitals are making money off Covid diagnoses and deadly treatment protocols, and they are immune from all liability if they employ deadly protocols recommended by the CDC and the NIH, the report states. Therefore, hospitals tell patients and their families there is only one treatment protocol available for Covid. No other off-label treatments, despite their effectiveness and safety, pay dividends for every patient. No other treatment offers immunity from liability in case of injury or death. Since early 2020, covered countermeasures are the hospitals ruleno exceptions.

The CDC and NIH didnt immediately respond to The Epoch Times request for comment.

Patients Bill of Rights Waived

When patients enter the hospitals, they become prisoners, isolated from families, the report states.

Hospitals ignore powers of attorney and explicit written and verbal insistences from patients and families not to administer decision-altering sedatives and deadly Remdesivir and not to put patients on ventilators, the report states.

Under the Public Health Emergency (PHE) deployed during former President Donald Trumps administration in 2020 and perpetuated by President Joe Biden, patients rights are waived under the CMS COVID waiver program in conjunction with the PREP (Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness) and CARES Act, giving hospitals legal immunity.

TLNs next paper is specifically on the CMSs waiver program, DePriest said.

They have a long list of waivers that CMS issued to hospitals that allow hospitals to violate patients rights, DePriest said.

The waiver allows hospitals to remove the patients bill of rights from their website, she said.

These bills support rights such as the right to respect, the right to informed consent, and the right to refuse treatment.

It would have been unheard of before COVID to tell people that they dont have a right to a patient bill of rights, she said.

There is also a waiver that allows patients to be left alone for up to 48 hours without any personal care, including food and water, she said. Weve gotten so many complaints and pictures of patients lying in their own feces for up to two days because nurses just let them alone, and theyre allowed to do this because the CMS waiver states that because COVID is a drain on resources, the requirements to check on patients within the usual regulated standards are waived.

Another waiver allows hospitals to have physicians who arent licensed in the hospital where they are practicing, physicians who have expired licenses, and physicians from other countries, she said.

CMS didnt immediately respond to The Epoch Times request for comment.

Covered Countermeasures

The PREP Act, which will be the subject of another TLN paper, provides total liability to physicians, hospitals, pharmacies, and clinics that provide covered countermeasures that fall in line with the NIH protocols, she said.

If they use these protocols, they cant be sued for any reason, including injury and death, DePriest said. And the PREP Act stays in effect until the PHE ends.

Patients and families have reported being told by physicians, nurses, and administrators that they are required to follow the protocol; however, TLN reported that this isnt accurate because the protocols are optional.

Pleas to use alternative therapeutics like ivermectin and vitamins recommended by the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance have been ignored by doctors who declare their ineffectiveness and how they arent a part of the protocol; however, when those therapeutics are used to treat people at home, they survive.

You dont hear about people dying from COVID at home, DePriest said.

The NIH COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines (pdf) state that its recommendations for treatments such as remdesivir should not be considered mandates, the report highlights.

Even though hospitals tell patients and families they are bound to strict protocols dictated by the CDC and NIH, it seems they are only bound to those protocols that reimburse the most, the report states.

Hospitals arent reimbursed if they use ivermectin on patients; however, theyre incentivized to vaccinate, test, diagnose, and admit Covid patients and report Covid-related deaths using add-on bonuses to use treatments such as Remdesivir, dialysis, ventilators, and new covered countermeasures approved for Covid.

According to the report, remdesivir, also known by its brand name as Veklury, topped hospital drug spending in 2021, with Gilead, the drug company that makes remdesivir, earning $4.2 billion in sales in the first nine months.

Veklurys average in-hospital price is $2,400 to $3,200, which the report states is a clear financial incentive for a hospital to administer the drug.

CMS established various systems that provide layers of bonuses to each COVID patients hospital bill to encourage the use of remdesivir and other emergency use authorization-approved, high-cost, patented medications, the report states.

It Drives Everything

What makes all of this possible is the perpetuation of the PHE, DePriest said.

Thats the crux of every single problem were having in America right now thats connected to COVID, DePriest said. The money flowing through these different agencies is carrying out a tyranny that is perpetuated by this federal level public health emergency.

Despite Bidens announcement in September that the pandemic is over, the PHE remains in place, DePriest said.

Its driving everything, she said.
Humming has measurable physiological effects that can be healing and health-promoting

Making a simple, self-created sound for just five minutes might help to reduce blood pressure and stress, and keep nasal passages and sinuses healthy.

Humming requires no musical ability. Its a sound that everyone with a voice can make. Its something babies do. Its something elderly people do.

Yet, the benefits of humming go beyond just the fun of humming a favorite tune. Research suggests that humming can be an important, portable self-help tool that can be used to reduce stress, relax, perhaps improve the health of nasal and sinus passages, and more.

The Basics of Humming

Sit up straight, close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths, then hum from your mouth up through your nose with your lips closed. You can hum for 10 seconds and longer. For an extended session, you can hum for five minutes followed by five minutes of silence to ground yourself afterward.

Jonathan Goldman, an authority on sound healing, has worked with all sorts of sounds for 40 years. He and his wife, Andi Goldman, a licensed psychotherapist, have worked in the field of sound healing for the past 20 years. Theyd been looking for an accessible form of sound healing for the masses. When they considered the simple act of humming and looked at the research on its benefits, they were amazed by what they found and compiled the information in their book The Humming Effect: Sound Healing for Health and Happiness.

Key Points to Know About Humming

There are two ways that sound affects the body:

Through psycho-acoustics: through hearing or listening, which affects the nervous system. Through vibro-acoustics: by making the sound, and the sound literally vibrates the bodyall the way down to the cellular level.

Humming is, from my perspective, the most powerful vibro-acoustic sound we can make, Jonathan Goldman said.

Keep in mind that there are many pitches of hums, and each person is a unique vibratory being. What works for one person doesnt necessarily work for another. As a unique vibratory being, play with the pitch, and hum in the manner that seems best suited to you, the Goldmans recommend.

In addition, to reap the most benefits from humming, Jonathan Goldman says that silence is mandatory. After you hum for five minutes, then go into stillness and silence for a few minutes.

Silence is the yin to the yang of sound. Silence is the place where the sound can create the shifts and changes on a vibrational level, on a physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual level, he said.

The following lines of research point to several important health benefits of humming, including reduced blood pressure, heart rate, and stress, and increased levels of nitric oxide, which plays an important role in keeping the nasal cavity and sinuses healthy.

Blood Pressure and Heart Rate

In a 2010 study, participants practiced a specific type of humming combined with deep breathinga yogic practice called bhramari pranayamafor five minutes. The slow-paced humming caused both the systolic and diastolic blood pressures of participants to decrease significantly, accompanied by a slight decrease in their heart rates.

The authors concluded that this type of humming induced parasympathetic dominance on the cardiovascular system, which is beneficial, as the parasympathetic nervous system is sometimes thought of as the system that erases stress and puts the body back into a state of balance. Five minutes seems to be the minimum time necessary for sound to create this beneficial effect on the body.

The Goldmans have experienced this reduction in blood pressure and heartbeat.

Andi and I have found that if were about to go into a meeting or do some task that may be challenging and we find that were nervous, all thats necessary is for us to spend a couple of minutes taking some nice deep breaths and humming, Jonathan Goldman said. Our heartbeat and blood pressure most usually will drop quite amazinglyto about the level that pharmaceuticals might achieve.

Chanting Om Can Reduce the Stress Response

A study in the International Journal of Yoga in 2011 found that when participants of the study chanted Omwhich is often considered to be essentially the same sound as hummingthere was deactivation of the limbic system.

The limbic system is the part of the brain that regulates autonomic and hormonal functions, particularly in response to the intense emotions of fear or anger. When the limbic system is activated, we often experience the fight or flight phenomenon. When the limbic system is deactivated, we experience a reduction in stress and enhanced calmness.

More Nitric Oxide in the Nasal Passages

Additional research on humming shows that it greatly increases nitric oxide in a localized area of the bodythe nasal passages. Nitric oxide is a neural transmitter fundamental to health and well-being. It plays many important roles in the body: It enhances the immune system, cardiovascular system, and respiratory system. In particular, it causes vasodilation, or widening of the blood vessels, which increases blood flow and decreases blood pressure. Nitric oxide production in nasal passages is part of the defense system against bacterial and viral infections, and nitric oxide plays a significant role in developing the innate immune response to many bacterial and viral infections.

A study in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine shows that humming causes a 15-fold increase in nasal nitric oxide levels compared with quiet exhalation. The authors explained that this effect is likely due to increased contribution of nitric oxide from the paranasal sinuses, which are small, hollow, mucus-lined spaces around the nose. Humming causes the air to oscillate, which, in turn, seems to increase the exchange of air between the sinuses and the nasal cavity.

Humming May Keep the Sinuses Healthy

Sinusitis is a common but painful condition that affects more than 16 percent of the U.S. population. It occurs when the paranasal sinuses become inflamed, causing symptoms such as headaches, pain, and nasal congestion. A reduced nitric oxide production may increase susceptibility to sinus infections.

Research suggests humming may help to keep sinuses healthy. A 2008 research article by Jon O. Lundberg of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, explained:

A more provocative view on humming is that it might by itself help to prevent or resolve sinusitis. The mechanism would simply be that humming speeds up the gas exchange in the sinuses enormously so that fresh air can enter, thereby preventing the pathological processes associated with reduced oxygen levels.

In other words, humming can improve ventilation in the sinuses. During silent nasal breathing, the time it takes to exchange all sinus gases is between five and 30 minutes. With humming, this occurs in one single exhalation, they wrote.

So, the next time you have a stuffy nose or congested sinuses, the Goldmans suggest trying humming to create the maximum amount of nitric oxide. Simply take a few deep breaths, hum for four or five times, and sit in silence for three minutes. You can repeat this one more time if desired.

They also recommend not to strain yourself and not to hum extra loudly or for an extra-long time. Just hum at a tone that is comfortable, most likely at the volume and tone of the sound of your voice when youre in a normal conversation.

Can Projected Humming Benefit Other Areas in the Body?

A hum is a sound that creates a vibration in the body. If you have any question about that, do a soft hum and press your fingers lightly in your ears. You will feel the vibration in your nasal cavity.

Research by John Beaulieu found that soundvibrationstimulates cells in a petri dish to release nitric oxide. Furthermore, in a 2003 review article on sound therapy-induced relaxation, Beaulieu and his colleagues explained that nitric oxide is responsible for the health effects of music in inducing positive emotions and relaxing effects in the body.

Putting this information together, the Goldmans believe that its not only possible but relatively easy, with the use of intent and a slight variation of pitch, to project a humming sound to different parts of the body, such as other parts of the skull and the chest. By causing different parts of the body to feel that vibration, is it possible to cause those parts to release nitric oxide and open up blood flow in those areas? The Goldmans believe so, as some others do, and think that humming can act as an internal sonic (vibrational) massage that benefits how we feel.

Try experimenting with different humming tones and see if you notice the feeling resonating more or less in different parts of the body.

As we have delved deeper and deeper into the subject, we have seen, time and again, the evidence: humming can improve not only your health but also the quality of your life, contributing greatly to your happiness, the Goldmans write in their book.

Melissa Diane Smith is a holistic nutrition counselor and journalist who has been writing about health topics for more than 25 years. She is the author of several nutrition books, including Syndrome X, Going Against the Grain, Gluten Free Throughout the Year, and Going Against GMOs.
The Politicization of the Department of Justice

The following is adapted from a speech delivered on Sept. 16, 2022, in Washington at Hillsdale Colleges Constitution Day Celebration.

The seal of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reads, Qui Pro Domina Justitia SequiturWho prosecutes for Lady Justice. Depictions of Lady Justice are as familiar as they are instructive: she stands blindfolded while holding the scales of justice, representing her unyielding devotion to equal justice under the law.

Contrary to this ideal, the DOJ today appears to be increasingly motivated by partisanship. Compounding the problem, it has access to the powers of the modern surveillance state. As someone passionate about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, I believe there is no higher priority than addressing this danger.

The tragic events of 9/11 marked a turning point in our nations recent civil rights history. First, the terrorists attacked usand then, in the name of national security, we began to attack ourselves. It has become almost cliche to say that we live in a surveillance state, but we do. Ever since Congress, on a fully bipartisan basis, enacted the Patriot Act six weeks after the attacks on 9/11, the ever-present eye of the government has been searching for new and creative ways to spy on American citizens. The government has the technology to monitor all of our electronic devices, listen to our phone calls, and read our emails and text messagesall under the auspices of national security.

This special law designed for an emergency has become a permanent addition to the governments investigatory toolbox. The unfortunate reality is that the bulk of the actions taken by law enforcement under the Patriot Act have almost nothing to do with combating terrorism. Once-rare applications for surveillance warrants to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court have multiplied many times in relative peacetime. Most of the spying conducted under the Patriot Act is for run-of-the-mill crimes that weve long expected law enforcement to address without special surveillance authority.

Now, it is bad enough to have a politically-neutral surveillance state controlled by the national security crowd and their DOJ cousins. But take that panopticon and put it in the hands of an executive branch willing to weaponize its reams of information against its perceived political enemies, and weve got a frightening problem on our hands.

Laws such as the Patriot Act were designed to fight the unique problem of terrorism. But they quickly morphed into a mechanism by which the government keeps constant tabs on law-abiding Americans and threatens to disrupt their lives if they dare act contrary to those in power. And its within this world of omnipotent oversight and control that the U.S. Department of Justice now operates. They have all the tools of the surveillance state at their disposal, and the only thing standing in their way is an independent judiciary willing to enforce our constitutional rights.

But we all saw how easy it is to spy on Americanswith virtually no judicial oversightfrom the disgraceful episodes of broad surveillance applications, on flimsy and sometimes falsified pretexts, against citizens such as Carter Page.

* * *

Let me discuss three recent examples that illustrate the threats we face from a politicized DOJ: the DOJ raid on Project Veritas journalists, the DOJ raid on Mar-a-Lago, and the DOJs efforts to undermine election integrity and chill free speech.

Project Veritas Raid

In July 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo forbidding federal prosecutors from seizing journalists records. He did this with much fanfare, hauteur, and virtue signaling. But even as Mr. Garland was decrying the seizure of journalists records as a wrong his department would not let  happen, the DOJ was in the midst of a year-long campaign of spying on Project Veritasa campaign that involved no fewer than 19 clandestine subpoenas, orders, and warrants obtained from nine magistrate judges. The secrecy of this spying campaign was maintained through the use of wide-ranging gag orders, including at least two that were obtained without notice to the judge overseeing the Project Veritas case.

Through this spying campaign, we now know that the DOJ obtained approximately 200,000 Project Veritas emails from Microsoft and countless text messages (and heaven knows what else) from Apple, Google, Uber, and other still unknown companies.

Only six months after Mr. Garlands memo was issued, the DOJ raided the homes of three Project Veritas journalists, seizing 47 electronic devices. And how did the world learn about this? Conveniently, someone leaked information about the raids to The New York Timeswhich Project Veritas happens to be suing. Indeed, The New York Times called Project Veritas for comment as the raids were still in progress.

What was the pretext for the raids? In the fall of 2020, confidential sources had approached Project Veritas journalists with a diary and other materials supposedly belonging to Ashley Biden, the presidents daughter. The sources said that the materials had been in their possession prior to contacting Project Veritas. The Project Veritas journalists proceeded to investigate whether the materials were authentic and whether the allegations they contained against Joe Biden were true. Ultimately, Project Veritas decided it could not sufficiently verify the allegations and that it would not publish the diarys contents. It then turned the items over to local law enforcement in Florida.

The DOJ claims that Ashley Bidens belongings were stolen. Project Veritas was told they werent, but even this is legally irrelevant. In the 2001 case Bartnicki v. Vopper, the U.S. Supreme Court held unequivocally that as long as journalists did not commit an alleged theft themselves, they were entitled to receive, investigate, and publish (or not publish) supposedly stolen materials. In the more recent case DNC v. Russian Federation, a federal court made it clear that the reporter could even ask for the stolen materials. This is not a crimeits called journalism.

Compare the DOJs treatment of Project Veritas to the DOJs inaction earlier this year when a Politico reporter was given a U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. The Politico reporter behaved precisely with this purloined document as the Project Veritas reporters had behaved with the diary, except that the Politico reporter did decide to publish the draft opinion.

The different reactions on the part of the DOJ seemed to hinge entirely on whose ox was being gored.

But to repeat, the Garland DOJ was rifling through the emails and phone messages of Project Veritas journalists before Project Veritas even knew of Ashley Bidens diary. These documents contain donor information, source communicationsincluding communications from whistleblowers within the federal governmentand attorney-client communications. In its actions, the DOJ was not only ignoring court decisions and its own policies, it was violating the Privacy Protection Act, the common law Reporters Privilege, and the First and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution.

The Project Veritas matter is ongoing. Thanks to the DOJs leaks to The New York Times, which themselves violate federal law, Judge Analisa Torres overruled the DOJs objections and ordered the appointment of a special master to review the seized materials for various privileges. Its a hollow victory, because Project Veritas has to pay tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege, so to speak, of being able to protect its own privileged documents.

Mar-a-Lago Raid

Although I have represented and continue to represent President Trump in several matters, I do not represent him on the matter of the DOJs raid on his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago. But that raid is significant and worth some attention.

Consider first the raids timing. President Bidens approval ratings have been abysmal, and it is a midterm election year. Bloomberg reports that the DOJ will likely delay charging Trump with anything arising from the raid on his home until after the midterms. The effect of this is to create a cloud of perceived guilt running up to Nov. 8 and use that as a political tool to smear pro-Trump voters and candidates.

The DOJ hides behind its longstanding policy of not taking politically portentous actions close to an electionbut how could the raid itself be construed as anything but such a portentous action?

President Trump and his lawyers were engaged in a cooperative dialogue with both the DOJ and National Archives representatives on the issue of storing and archiving confidential documents. He went as far as to invite the DOJ to survey the documents he had on his property, and the DOJ seemed to have expressed little urgency in pursuing the matter.

This latest episode of G-men gone wild is not all that different from the FBI strategy before and after Trumps election in 2016, when the FBI was weaponized to investigate claims of Russian collusion that ultimately proved to have been made up by Democrat operatives. But more importantly, the raid raises serious constitutional objections.

The Fourth Amendment provides that the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The American Founders were intensely concerned about government intrusion. Breaking into the homes of political opponents and depriving them of their possessions was common practice under the rule of the British king in colonial America. The use of general warrants and writs of assistance by the Crown was the ultimate interference with the colonists right to political and personal autonomy. Such invasions were so pervasive, and so universally despised, that the Founders saw fit to ensure that the Constitution expressly forbids such practices.

For over 180 years after the Founding, the Supreme Court applied the Fourth Amendments protections largely to places and things. Unsurprisingly, this meant that dwellings were given a heightened sense of protection against government intrusion. The Supreme Court has reiterated, in the 1980 case Payton v. New York, that the physical entry of the home is the chief evil against which the wording of the Fourth Amendment is directed.

In addition to where and what receives Fourth Amendment protection is the question of how the government can conduct searches and seizures without offending the Constitution. Searches are only permitted if they are reasonable, and a search is generally considered reasonable only when the government first obtains a properly issued warrant. Properly issued means the warrant must describe with specificity the places to be searched and the things to be seized, must be supported by probable cause, and must be issued by a neutral and detached magistrate.

Taken together, this is colloquially known as the warrant requirementand it is central to any honest analysis of the Mar-a-Lago raid.

At its core, the problem with the FBIs search of President Trumps home is its inconsistency with the letter and the spirit of the Fourth Amendment. The shroud of secrecy surrounding the probable-cause affidavit used by the FBI to obtain the warrant prevents the public from judging whether the government had a valid reason for this unprecedented search.

Even more, the list of places to be searched and things to be seized contained in the warrant application comprised a blanket sweep of the former presidents entire private residence and offices, targeting any evidence supporting a potential violation of a handful of federal statutes that are the usual suspects when it comes to politicized prosecutions.

While this alone doesnt make the warrant defective, the Justice Departments just trust us approach to support the raid makes it nearly impossible to determine the legitimacy of the governments unprecedented actions. This leaves us no choice but to speculate. And based on the information publicly available, the DOJs actions have all the trappings and appearances of a vindictive and politically-motivated fishing expedition.

As in the Project Veritas case, the judge in the Mar-a-Lago case has issued an order appointing a special master. In doing so, the judge pointedly observed that some of the resultant delay the government complains of is caused by the governments cutting corners, suggesting implicitly that the government abused the warrant process.

Election Integrity and Free Speech

As has been widely reported, the DOJ is currently issuing subpoenas to individuals who have dared to question the 2020 election results. This is occurring against the backdrop of President Bidens vendetta against what he calls ultra MAGA Republicans. This is the type of behavior youd expect in a third-world dictatorship.

Included in the DOJs crosshairs are those who participated in the political process as alternate electors; those in Congress who voted against certifying the election results; those who organized or peacefully attended a permitted rally on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, even if they had nothing to do with the activities at the Capitol on that day; and those who have raised funds from donors with a promise to investigate and challenge election fraud.

All of these activities have long historical precedents in our country and are protected by the First Amendment. Indeed, it was Democrats who challenged the presidential election results in 2000, 2004, and 2016. Lets review the evidence.

In 2000, 15 House Democrats objected to counting Floridas electoral votes. Several members of Congress called the 2000 election fraudulent, and Texas Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson vowed that there would be no peace because of the allegedly stolen election.

In 2004, Democrats in Congress forced a vote to recess the joint session of Congress counting electoral votes in order to debate perceived election irregularities in Ohio. Thirty-one House Democrats voted to reject Ohios electoral votes and were applauded for doing so by Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, among others.

In 2016, several Democrats objected to the certification of Trump electors, based on overwhelming evidence of Russian interference in the election. Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin objected to 10 of Floridas electors based on a Florida statute that prohibits state legislators from being electors. Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee proclaimed, If in that voting, you have glaring matters that speak to the failure of the electoral system, then it should be challenged.

No DOJ action was taken in any of these previous years. What has changed, if not the politicization of the Justice Department?

Elections are the engine of our republic. They ensure the peaceful transfer of power and are the primary method for the people to influence their government. And our Constitutions elections clauseArticle I, Section 4, Clause 1gives states the primary duty of regulating the time, places, and manner of elections for federal office. The DOJs role is very limited in this regard. It has the power to administer the Voting Rights Act, a power that was once necessary to push back on Jim Crow laws.

But the era of Jim Crow is long gone, and it shouldnt be up to a politicized DOJ to dictate what election integrity looks like.

The 2020 election was rampant with reports of irregularities. Some of these reports were more accurate than others. But states were right to take appropriate steps to increase the security of their elections in the wake of such reports. And yet, from its first days, the Biden administration has been bent on waging an intimidation campaign against states attempting to bolster election integrity.

Consider Georgia. The midnight ballot dump that pushed Biden ahead of Trump had all the appearances of manipulative ballot stuffing. That was followed by days of uncertainty about who won. Reports soon surfaced of massive ballot harvestingillegal in Georgiaas well as deeply concerning evidence that Mark Zuckerberg-funded nonprofits had placed personnel in election operations in blue counties with the effect of decreasing signature-matching efforts.

Given the backdrop in which the 2020 election took placewith new and expansive vote-by-mail proceduresits not surprising that alarms went off and that many citizens questioned the final vote tally. So rather than allow this scenario to repeat itself in future elections, Georgias Legislature took action, enacting a package of election-reform legislation designed to bolster ballot security.

President Biden denounced these reformswhich, as many commentators noted, made voting easier than in Bidens home state of Delawareas Jim Crow 2.0. The DOJ sued Georgia to block the new law and issued two new guidance documents intended to put states including Georgia on notice of potential violations of federal election laws. It has used similar tactics in Arizona and Texas.

* * *

It is not just political activists who are subject to DOJ intimidation. Attorney General Garland recently issued a guidance document prohibiting DOJ employees from speaking directly to members of Congress. This was plainly in response to at least 14 FBI whistleblowers reaching out to members of Congressincluding Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassleyabout misconduct within the DOJ. Garlands action was highly improper, but it pales in comparison to the intimidation of concerned parents at local school board meetings.

On Oct. 4, 2021, Garland issued a memorandum directing the FBI to address threats at local school board meetings. This was in response to a request from the National School Boards Association that the DOJ leverage the Patriot Act and other counterterrorism tools to investigate moms and dads who were voicing their displeasure with school policies at local school board meetings.

Despite Garlands sworn testimony denying the use of counterterrorism tools to investigate concerned parents, whistleblower evidence tells a different story.

On Oct. 20, 2021, Carlton Peeples, the deputy assistant director for the FBIs Criminal Investigation Division, sent an email directing FBI personnel to use the tag EDUOFFICIALS for all school board-related investigations. Whistleblowers say that the FBI opened investigations into parents in every region of the country. These included an investigation of a right-wing mom based on her participation in a Moms for Liberty group and personal ownership of a gun. Another investigation was opened when a dad was deemed to fit the profile of an insurrectionist after complaining about school mask mandates.

It is time to wake up to the danger.

On Nov. 11, 1762, King Georges men had a warrant when they stormed and raided the home of pamphleteer John Entick. They broke open locked doors, boxes, chests, and drawers and seized his private papers and booksall because the Crown suspected Entick of fomenting political opposition against the king. If the FBIs raid on Project Veritas journalists homes or President Trumps home at Mar-a-Lago teaches us anything, its that the political oppression of the 18th century remains a threat today. But today, in addition to brute force, our government has the power of the modern surveillance state.

As a graduate of the University of Virginia Law School, I would be remiss in speaking about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights without quoting Thomas Jefferson, who wrote: The most sacred of the duties of a government [is] to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens.

We must find a way to return our Department of Justice to that central principle of American constitutionalism, as it carries out its duties in the name of Lady Liberty.

Reprinted by permission from Imprimis, a publication of Hillsdale College.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Two-Thirds of American Adults Dont Plan on Getting Updated COVID-19 Boosters Soon: Poll

A majority of U.S. adults will not get the updated COVID-19 booster shots soon, according to a new survey.

Just 5 percent of those surveyed said theyve already received a booster and 27 percent said they will get one as soon as possible.

The rest said they will wait and see, only get one if required, definitely not get one, or cannot get one because they have not received a primary series.

Thats according to a survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation that was carried out from Sept. 1526 among 1,534 U.S. adults. The margin of error was plus/minus 3 percent.

Older adults were more likely to have received or plan to receive an updated booster. Forty-five percent of those 65 and older fall into one of those categories. Just three percent of respondents aged 18 to 29 have received an updated booster, and just 23 percent said they will get one as soon as possible.

Updated Boosters

The updated boosters are made by Moderna and Pfizer. The old boosters, which are no longer available, only contained the Wuhan strain of the COVID-19 virus. The new ones add a spike protein component with elements of BA.4 and BA.5 to the Wuhan component, making it a bivalent.

The bivalents are unproven; results for tests in humans werent available before the Food and Drug Administration authorized the shots on Aug. 31, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended them for virtually all Americans aged 12 and up who have received a primary regimen, regardless of how many prior boosters a person has received.

Approximately 7.5 million of the bivalent shots have been administered through Sept. 29, according to the CDC. Before the rollout, the CDC said that some 209 million Americans were eligible to get an updated booster.

People should not get a booster if at least two months have elapsed since their last dose of a vaccine, according to the CDC. Authorities have generally recommended not getting another shot within three months of a COVID-19 infection. Recovering from COVID-19 gives a person strong protection; studies have shown that protection from natural immunity is superior to that conferred by vaccination.

Little Knowledge

Many adults know little about the new boosters, including 66 percent of adults aged 18 to 29, according to the Kaiser survey.

Half of adults said they know a little or nothing at all about them, with older Americans being most likely to answer they know some or a lot.

Democrats were most likely to say they knew some or a lot, while Republicans were least likely and independents were in the middle, when the results were broken down by party affiliation. That pattern also manifested when people answered about their intention or opposition to getting a booster. A fifth of Republican respondents said they definitely will not get an updated booster, versus 8 percent of independents and 6 percent of Democrats.

Further, the vaccinated were more likely to answer they knew some or a lot, though 19 percent of unvaccinated persons said they knew a lot, compared to 16 percent of the vaccinated respondents.
BARRIE, ON, Sept. 30, 2022 /CNW/ - Forests Ontario is expanding its Reconciliation Community Tree Plant program thanks to a generous contribution of $450,000 over three years from TD Bank Group. In collaboration with Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities and organizations across the province, the Reconciliation Community Tree Plant program is rooted in the belief that meaningful engagement and shared experiences are crucial steps forward in the journey towards Truth and Reconciliation.

Forest Ontario Logo (CNW Group/Forests Ontario)

The Reconciliation Community Tree Plant program builds upon the success of the first Healing Place that was opened in 2020 on the traditional territories of the Algonquin and Mohawk Nations in eastern Ontario. A permanent community space inspired by reflection and recovery among nature, The Healing Place was designed to reflect and represent practices recognized by both Western science and Indigenous knowledge systems.

"When we put trees in the ground, we create more than just a physical forest that we see. We create an environment in which the mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual are all cultivated  they are all honoured, they are all part of that experience," Larry McDermott, Algonquin from Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation and Executive Director of Plenty Canada, says.

Plenty Canada and Forests Ontario are part of The Healing Place Working Group that is tasked with creating new locations that meet the needs of local communities.



"The continued support by TD ensures these important, inclusive, and accessible spaces of reflection and healing can thrive," Rob Keen, Chief Executive Officer of Forests Ontario, and Registered Professional Forester, says. "Healing Places pay homage to the historical, medicinal, and traditional uses of tree, shrubs, and other plant species while highlighting the integral role our natural environment plays in our daily lives."

To find out more about Forests Ontario's Reconciliation Community Tree Plant program, please visit www.forestsontario.ca

Story continues

About The Healing Place Working Group

The inaugural partners of The Healing Place, now called The Healing Place Working Group, include: Plenty Canada, Algonquins of Pikwakanagan, Assembly of First Nations, Mohawks of Akwesasne, Ontario Power Generation, Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation, South Nation Conservation, and Forests Ontario.

About Forests Ontario & Forest Recovery Canada

Forests Ontario is the province's leading charity dedicated to the creation, preservation, and maintenance of forest and grassland habitats. Our ambitious, large-scale tree planting initiatives, extensive educational programs, and decades of community outreach result in millions of trees being planted each year.

Together with our national division, Forest Recovery Canada, we work with our many partners across the country to plant native trees and ensure our efforts today thrive and grow into tomorrow's diverse, healthy, and resilient forests.

Forests Ontario is the voice for our forests.

Visit www.forestsontario.ca or follow us @Forests_Ontario to find out more.

Larry McDermott  Photo by Forests Ontario (CNW Group/Forests Ontario)

CEO Rob Keen  Photo by Forests Ontario (CNW Group/Forests Ontario)

SOURCE Forests Ontario

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/September2022/30/c4168.html
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, and Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk pose with a request for fast-track membership in the NATO military alliance in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Sept. 30, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)

Ukraine Applies for NATO Membership, Rules Out Talks With Putin

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday announced that he had applied for his country to join the NATO military alliance under what he called an accelerated procedure.

Zelenskyy, his prime minister, and the speaker of parliament signed the paperwork in an online video after Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the annexation of four partially occupied Ukrainian regions as Russian land.

In the video, Zelenskyy, who wore combat fatigues, said Ukraine was taking a decisive step by applying for a fast-tracked accession to shift the current alliance from being de facto to de jure, or legally recognized.

We are de facto allies. This has already been achieved. De facto, we have already completed our path to NATO. De facto, we have already proven interoperability with the alliances standards, Zelenskyy said in the video on the Telegram app.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine is already demonstrating NATOs standards for membership on the battlefield and in all aspects of the countrys current interactions with member countries.

We trust each other, we help each other, and we protect each other. This is what the alliance is: de facto. Today, Ukraine is applying to make it de jure under a procedure consistent with our significance for the protection of our entire community, under an accelerated procedure, he added.

It was not immediately clear what an accelerated application means, as ascension to NATO requires the unanimous support of all members.

Ukraines admittance to the NATO alliance is something Putin in February demanded never happen. Putin views NATO as hostile to Russias interests.

Zelenskyy Rules Out Talks With Putin

Zelenskyy ruled out talks with Putin saying that while Kyiv remained committed to co-existing with Russia on equal, honest, dignified, and fair conditions, it would need to be under a different Russian president.

Clearly, with this Russian president [that] is impossible. He does not know what dignity and honesty are. Therefore, we are ready for a dialogue with Russia, but with another president of Russia, Zelenskyy said.

In his video speech, Zelenskyy vowed to liberate all of Ukraines regions from Russia and said Putin is not just an enemy of Ukraine but of life itself, of humanity.

Russia knows this. Russia feels our power, Zelenskyy said, adding Putin is in a hurry to declare victory in the four Ukrainian regions because he sees that Ukraine is proving the strength of our values.

It is staging this farce annexation. It is trying to steal that which does not belong to it. It wants to kill, to torture, to blackmail, and lie in order to rewrite history and redraw borders. Ukraine will not allow this, Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian president suggested NATO take up his proposed Kyiv Security Compact while the country waits for consensus among NATO member states over Ukraines admittance.

We understand that this requires the consensus of all the alliances members  and therefore, while this is happening, we propose the realization of our proposals regarding security guarantees for Ukraine and all of Europe according to the Kyiv Security Compact, he said.
Passengers carry their luggage at John F. Kennedy International Airport during the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant in Queens, New York, on Dec. 26, 2021. (Jeenah Moon/Reuters)

United Airlines to Halt Service at New Yorks JFK Airport in October

WASHINGTONUnited Airlines said on Friday it will suspend service in late October to New Yorks John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK).

Earlier this month, United had threatened to take the action if the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) did not grant the air carrier additional flights.

United has been flying just twice daily to San Francisco and Los Angeles from JFK, the busiest New York-area airport, after resuming service in 2021.

Given our current, too-small-to-be-competitive schedule out of JFK  coupled with the start of the Winter season where more airlines will operate their slots as they resume JFK flying  United has made the difficult decision to temporarily suspend service at JFK, United said in a memo seen by Reuters. The airline did not specify when it might resume service.

United said its discussions with FAA have been constructive but added its also clear that process to add additional capacity at JFK will take some time.

United said the decision would impact 100 employees who work at JFK but emphasized that no one is losing their job and employees will transition to other nearby stations.

United has been working to pursue additional slotswhich are takeoff and landing authorizationsthrough the FAA and by seeking commercial agreements to acquire slots from other airlines.

The FAA said Friday it is dedicated to doing its part to safely expand New York City airports and airspace capacity. We will follow our fair and well-established process to award future slots to increase competition.

United said without permanent slots it cannot serve JFK effectively compared to the larger schedules and more attractive flight times flown by JetBlue Airways and American Airlines.

United in 2015 struck a long-term deal to lease 24 year-round slots at JFK to Delta Air Lines as it ended JFK service to concentrate at its nearby Newark hub in northern New Jersey.

United argues there is room to grow at JFK, the 13th-busiest U.S. airport, because the FAA and the Port Authority since 2008 have made significant infrastructure investments, including the widening of runways, construction of multi-entrance taxiways, and the creation of aligned high-speed turnoffs.

By David Shepardson
Iranian and U.S. flags printed on paper in this illustration taken on Jan. 27, 2022. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)

US Imposes New Sanctions on Iran Oil Exports, Targets Chinese Firms

WASHINGTONThe United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on companies it accused of involvement in Irans petrochemical and petroleum trade, including five based in China, pressuring Tehran as it seeks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Washington has increasingly targeted Chinese companies over the export of Irans petrochemicals as the prospects of reviving the nuclear pact have dimmed. Indirect talks on the accord, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), have broken down.

So long as Iran refuses a mutual return to full implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the United States will continue to enforce its sanctions on the sale of Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products, the Treasurys Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement.

The Iranian mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a separate statement that the State Department designated two China-based companies, Zhonggu Storage and Transportation Co. Ltd. and WS Shipping Co. Ltd..

Blinken accused Zhonggu Storage and Transportation Co. Ltd. of operating a commercial crude oil storage facility for Iranian petroleum and WS Shipping Co. Ltd. of being a ship manager for a vessel that has transported Iranian petroleum products.

Reuters could not immediately reach the two companies for comment.

The U.S. Treasury Department also slapped sanctions on a network of companies involved in what it said was the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian petrochemical and petroleum products to South and East Asia.

The action targeted Iranian brokers and front companies in the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and India, the Treasury said.

Washington warned that it would continue to accelerate enforcement of sanctions on Irans petroleum and petrochemical sales so long as Tehran continues to accelerate its nuclear program.

Crippled Economy

The 2015 nuclear agreement limited Irans uranium enrichment activity to make it harder for Tehran to develop nuclear arms, in return for lifting international sanctions.

But then-U.S. President Donald Trump ditched the deal in 2018, saying it did not do enough to curb Irans nuclear activities, ballistic missile program and regional influence, and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Irans economy.

These enforcement actions will continue on a regular basis, with an aim to severely restrict Irans oil and petrochemical exports, Blinken said.

Anyone involved in such sales and transactions should stop immediately if they wish to avoid being subjected to U.S. sanctions, he said.

As part of Thursdays action, the Treasury targeted several companies it accused of dealing with Hong Kong-based Triliance Petrochemical Co. Ltd., which has previously been sanctioned by the United States.

It said India-based petrochemical company Tibalaji Petrochem Private Limited purchased millions of dollars worth of Triliance-brokered products for onward shipment to China.

The Treasury also accused UAE-based Clara Shipping LLC of being paid millions of dollars by Triliancethrough front companiesin freight charges for the shipment of Iranian petrochemical and petroleum products to East Asia.

Also designated over dealings with Triliance was Iran-based Iran Chemical Industries Investment Company and Middle East Kimiya Pars Co., Hong Kong-based Sierra Vista Trading Limited, and UAE-based Virgo Marine.

Hong Kong-based Sophychem HK Limited and ML Holding Group Limited were designated for dealings with U.S.-designated Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Commercial Company, including the purchase of Iranian petrochemicals for shipment to China and Singapore.

Reuters was unable to immediately reach the companies for comment.

By Daphne Psaledakis
Filipino soldiers stand at attention near a Philippine flag at Thitu island in the disputed South China Sea, on April 21, 2017. (Erik De Castro/Reuters)

US, Philippine Defense Chiefs Discuss Military Alliance Amid ChinaTaiwan Tension

Top defense officials of the United States and the Philippines have pledged to bolster military cooperation to tackle regional challenges amid growing tensions between China and Taiwan.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Philippine counterpart Jose Faustino in Hawaii on Sept. 30 to discuss reinforcing the U.S.Philippines mutual defense treaty and improving maritime cooperation.

By deepening our cooperation and modernizing our alliance, we can help secure the Philippines future, tackle regional challenges and promote peace and security in the Indo-Pacific, Austin said at a joint press conference.

Defense and security engagement remains a key pillar of PhilippinesU.S. bilateral relations, Faustino said while expressing his gratitude to Washington for its willingness to work with the Philippines as an equal, sovereign partner.

Faustino said the Philippines is concerned about the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) ongoing military drills near Taiwan, since more than 130,000 Filipino workers in Taiwan could be in danger if Taiwan is attacked.

While the Philippines adheres to the One China Policy, we urge all concern parties to exercise restraint and that diplomacy and dialogue must prevail, he said.

Faustino said the Philippines would continue to update and enhance its contingency plans to ensure the safety of Filipino citizens living in Taiwan.

China increased its military drills around Taiwan following U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosis (D-Calif.) visit to Taiwan in August. The CCP claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to conquer it by force if necessary.

The Philippines earlier said that it would allow U.S. forces access to its military bases during a Taiwan conflict if it was deemed important to Philippine security.

Any attack on Taiwan could threaten Philippine security because of its proximity to Taiwan, which sits on the north side of the Luzon Strait.

Volatile Situation in South China Sea

Faustino said that his government would continue to engage in diplomacy with China to address the volatile situation in the South China Sea, citing the territorial dispute as the Philippines foremost security concern.

We continue to engage with like-minded countries and make sure that the rule of law and the rules-based international order will prevail in the West Philippine Sea and the South China Sea, he added.

China has increased its influence in the South China Sea through its artificial islands and military buildup. The CCP claims the majority of the South China Sea under its so-called nine-dash line despite competing claims with other nations.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier vowed to uphold The Hagues 2016 ruling in favor of the Philippines in the South China Sea dispute, saying that he wouldnt allow China to encroach on a single square millimeter of our maritime coast.

Aside from the Philippines and China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei all have made overlapping claims in the South China Sea.
Uvalde School District, Others Face First Lawsuit Over Mass Shooting

Parents of three children who survived the Uvalde, Texas school shooting have sued the school district, several former officials, the company that manufactured the gun used in the rampage and others.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in Del Rio, Texas, appeared to be the first over the shooting, in which 19 children and two teachers were killed in May. The plaintiffs are parents of three children, one of whom was shot and injured and two who were present during the shooting at Robb Elementary School.

The horrors at Robb Elementary School were only possible because so many in positions of power were negligent, careless, and reckless, said Stephanie Sherman, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, in a statement.

Defendants named in the lawsuit are the city of Uvalde; former police chief Pete Arredondo, who was fired in August amid harsh criticism of the law enforcement response to the shooting; school principal Mandy Gutierrez; Daniel Defense, the manufacturer of the gun used by the shooter; and Motorola Solutions, which allegedly made communications devices used by first responders that failed to work as intended.

The city of Uvalde declined comment and other defendants could not immediately be reached for comment.

The complaint includes claims for negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. It seeks unspecified money damages from the individual defendants and the companies.

Uvalde officials faced harsh criticism after nearly 400 law enforcement officers waited outside school classrooms for more than an hour before confronting and killing the shooter. A report from the state legislature blamed systemic failures and poor leadership for the response, which it found may have contributed to the death toll.

By Brendan Pierson
(LR) CITGO oil executives Jose Angel Pereira, Gustavo Cardenas, Jorge Toledo, Jose Luis Zambrano, Tomeu Vadell, and Alirio Jose Zambrano stand outside the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service in Caracas, Venezuela, in a file photo. (Posted on Twitter by Jorge Arreaza/Venezuela's Foreign Ministry via AP)

Venezuela Releases 7 Jailed Americans; US Frees 2 Maduro Relatives in Prisoner Swap

WASHINGTONVenezuela has freed seven imprisoned Americans in exchange for the United States releasing two nephews of regime leader Nicolas Maduros wife who had been jailed for years on drug smuggling conspiracy convictions, the White House said Saturday.

The swap of the Americans, including five oil executives held for nearly five years, follows months of back channel diplomacy by Washingtons top hostage negotiator and other U.S. officials.

I cant believe it, Cristina Vadell, the daughter of Tomeu Vadell, one of the freed Americans, said when contacted by The Associated Press on Saturday. Holding back tears of joy on her 31st birthday, she said: This is the best birthday present ever. Im just so happy.

The transfer took place Saturday in an unspecified country between the United States and Venezuela after the men in the deal arrived from their respective locations in separate planes, the Biden administration said.

These individuals will soon be reunited with their families and back in the arms of their loved ones where they belong, President Joe Biden said in a statement. Today, after years of being wrongfully detained in Venezuela, we are bringing home the seven men, whom the president cited by name. We celebrate that seven families will be whole once more.

Maduros regime said in a statement that it was releasing the American citizens as a humanitarian gesture. It praised the diplomacy that resulted in the freeing of the two unjustly imprisoned Venezuelans imprisoned in the United States and said it hopes for the preservation of peace and harmony with all the nations of our region and the world.

Those freed include five employees of Houston-based CitgoVadell, Jose Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, Jorge Toledo, and Jose Pereirawho were lured to Venezuela right before Thanksgiving in 2017 to attend a meeting at the headquarters of the companys parent, state-run-oil giant PDVSA. Once there, they were hauled away by masked security agents who busted into a Caracas conference room.

Also released was Matthew Heath, a former U.S. Marine corporal from Tennessee who was arrested in 2020 at a roadblock in Venezuela on what the State Department has called specious weapons charges, and Florida man, Osman Khan, who was arrested in January.

The United States freed Franqui Flores and his cousin Efrain Campo, nephews of First Combatant Cilia Flores, as Maduro has called his wife. The men were arrested in Haiti in a Drug Enforcement Administration sting in 2015 and immediately taken to New York to face trial. They were convicted the following year of conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the United States, a highly charged case that cast a hard look at U.S. accusations of drug trafficking at the highest levels of Maduros administration.

Both men were granted clemency by Biden before the release.

The Biden administration has been under pressure to do more to bring home the roughly 60 Americans it believes are held hostage abroad or wrongfully detained by hostile foreign governments. While much of the focus is on Russia, where the United States has so far tried unsuccessfully to secure the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner and another American, Paul Whelan, Venezuela has been holding the largest contingent of Americans suspected of being used as bargaining chips.

At least four other Americans remain detained in Venezuela, including two former Green Berets involved in a slapdash attempt to oust Maduro in 2019, and two men who, like Khan, were detained for allegedly entering the country illegally from neighboring Colombia.

To all the families who are still suffering and separated from their loved ones who are wrongfully detainedknow that we remain dedicated to securing their release, Biden said in his statement.

The administration also pointed to an executive order from this summer that sought to impose new costs on countries that jail Americans without proper cause, as well a new warning indicator designed to caution U.S. citizens against traveling to countrieslike Venezuelathat have a pattern of wrongful detentions.

The administration did not release another prisoner long sought by Maduro: Alex Saab, an insider businessman who Venezuela considers a diplomat and U.S. prosecutors a corrupt regime enabler. Saab fought extradition from Cape Verde, where he was arrested last year during a stopover en route to Iran, and is now awaiting trial in Miami federal court on charges of siphoning off millions in state contracts.

The oil executives were convicted of embezzlement last year in a trial marred by delays and irregularities. They were sentenced to between eight years and 13 years in prison for a never-executed proposal to refinance billions in the oil companys bonds. Maduro at the time accused them of treason, and Venezuelas supreme court upheld their long sentences earlier this year.

The men have all pleaded not guilty and the State Department has regarded themand the two other Americans freed on Saturdayas wrongfully detained.
Virgin Atlantic Faces Criticism and Boycotts Over New Gender Policy

Virgin Atlantic is facing mounting criticism over its newly introduced gender identity policy, which will allow staff to wear gender-neutral uniforms and pronoun badges.

Male crew members, pilots and ground staff will have access to the female red skirt suit, while female staff will be able to wear the burgundy trousers designed for males.

The UK-based airline has also changed its ticketing system, which will allow people whose passports have gender-neutral markersavailable in the US, India and Pakistanto select U or X gender codes on their booking.

Virgin Atlantic also noted that passengers could use the gender-neutral title, Mx and pronoun badges, which they can request at the check-in desk.

Its so important that we enable our people to embrace their individuality and be their true selves at work, said Juha Jarvinen, Virgin Atlantics chief commercial officer said.

It is for that reason that we want to allow our people to wear the uniform that best suits them and how they identify and ensure our customers are addressed by their preferred pronouns.

The advertisement for the new policy shows a male cabin crew wearing the Vivienne Westwood-designed skirt with red high heels walking on an airport runway.

In a media update on Wednesday, Virgin Atlantic dubbed itself as the most inclusive airline in the skies and called the new policy a fluid approach.

Criticism and Calls for a Boycott of Airline Are Mounting

However, the move has attracted a slew of criticism in the media and on social media, with many critics threatening to boycott the airline.

I will never fly this airline, said Sydney Watson, Australian political commentator, on Sep. 30

Woke stupidity from Virgin Atlantic, American foreign policy analyst Nile Gardiner tweeted on Sep. 30, A sure way to lose customers who will go elsewhere.

British media personality Darren Grimes argued Virgin Atlantics gender identity policy is nothing more than corporate virtue signalling and attention seeking.

I highly doubt there was significant demand for this change to happen, he noted in a Twitter post on Sep. 29.

Meanwhile, British social commentator Frank Furedi told the GBNews, that Virgin was calling into question thousands of years of traditional social norms.

Whats really happening here is that the PR companies and the advertising agencies that advise Virgin are telling them to be edgy and to indicate how virtuous [they are]  to make these noises to make these noises about essentially destroying the boundary between men and women, he said.

If they were genuinely interested in making their staff feel comfortable, they would just simply say everyone wears trouser suits, then there really isnt any kind of distinction that people might feel unhappy about.

He also said he believed that the policy was simply a new kind of branding exercise, carried out principally by the PR and advertising industry, and he warned that the new ad announcing the policy had an insidious message behind it all.

I think what theyre doing is calling into question everything that people have lived by for thousands of years, and they turn that into a joke, he said.

Virgins History of LGBTQ+ Activism

This is not the first time Virgin has been known to be involved in LGBTQ+ activism.

Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin group, bought Heaven nightclub in London in the 1980s which has a long association with Londons LGBTQ+ scene and hosts the long-running gay night G-A-Y.

On its website, the airline said it has sponsored Pride festivals, supported the pro-gay publication Attitude Magazine and actively promoted pro-LGBTQ+ laws.
What Is Man That Science Art Mindful of Him?

Commentary

The past few years have witnessed a reconfiguring of concepts of human rights, of real and unreal, right and wrong, and also the absence of any such distinctions. We have witnessed the wealthiest increase their wealth by rallying against inequity, and democratic governments manipulating their people through fear and intimidation.

We have watched as elderly are abandoned, children isolated, and societies locked down, impoverishing hundreds of millions in the name of protecting their health. Those driving these events can explain their actions as logical, rational, and purposeful. They are dealing with opposition from a completely incompatible world view, and cannot be expected to engage with or respect it.

A Rational View of Us

To consider any action to be intrinsically wrong would require an acceptance of fundamental good and bad. However, if human thought is no more than chemical signaling and electron transfer, then such views can be reconfigured like any other software and cannot be absolute. What if the movement to reinvent humanity, the fourth industrial revolution, the melding of biology and machines makes sense? If we humans are indeed just chemistry, a construct of physical laws, then any apparent contradictions are acceptable, as are lies, manipulation and the denigration of others that define our changing world.

A potential chemical reaction proceeds to a product, or it does not, with implications concerning the arrangement of atoms. This arrangement cannot be good or bad, if there is nothing but further chemistry impacted by it. One arrangement may result in an electrical potential in a cell membrane, resulting in a neuron signaling to cells nearby. For this product to have worth, there would have to be something external and non-physical perceiving it. Otherwise, the reaction could have run in any other direction and that would simply be reality. This reality cannot be good or bad, just a change in the properties of some physical thing.

Humans are a complex conglomeration of chemical structure and interaction, resulting from a process of chemical replication patterned on strings of nucleic acids. This DNA codes for the construction of complex proteins from more simple, common molecules. The process is partially derived from some single-celled construct eons ago, partly from other simple bacteria that happened to replicate more consistently when enveloped within these cells. A mass of cells that are in themselves just packets of chemicals, combined to make a structure in some ways more complex, but in essence just the same as each cell that forms it.

When equilibrium ceases to be sustainable due to transcription errors or invasion of incompatible organisms, the structure falls apart. A chemical soup produced by molds, bacteria, or reactions no longer suppressed. No more maintenance of membrane potentials, no more chemical signaling to distant receptors. The personality, memory, fears, and pride that were themselves merely a manifestation of chemistry and electrical impulses are no more. The thing is dead, though never really alive, as this is really just rearrangement of atoms.

Whatever it was, it was not conscious, just a passing self-awareness that could only have been a chemical process that promoted the likelihood of replication. It was worth nothing, and of no consequence. The blankness of the chemical soup soaked into the ground has no further perception of anything. It may as well never have existed. Worthless, because in such a transient world there can be no such thing as worth. One day the sun will become a supernova, swallow up whatever organic material remains on this particular planet, and all these unnoticed and unnoticeable eventslife on earthwill be no more.

So rationally, if one particular biological lump is programmed to increase its persistence through feedback loops manifested as positive feelingssomething that drives its probability of replicationso be it. If this chemical drive engulfs other biological masses, or triggers their pain receptors, or causes tens of millions to disintegrate, nothing is really lost. Those disintegrated biological constructs had no more meaning or worth than a lump of rock.

Dying is not actually sad if there is no sadness, no happiness, no value. Even striving to replicate the DNAthe selfish gene conceptcannot be selfish. Genes are, after all, just arrangements of matter. A strand of nucleic acids cannot thinkit cannot store charge or excite receptors until a new chemical structure assembles according to its code. Even love and protection of families must be ridiculous, if this logic is followed, as each member is a spiritless transient mass of matter, unrelated once physically separated from another.

So if a portion of the population is killed by a pharmaceutical, designated to be carted off in railroad cars, fried with napalm on a distant roadside, disappeared the day before its due in court, or excluded from food and shelter in order to make another feel more positive, how can that actually be wrong? How can rights be allocated to chemical constructs? Lumps of biology that formed cows are carved up and cooked, lumps of biology that formed humans are taken off to islands and used and consumed because this is where chemistry leads. Its just what stuff does. No slave, no free, just chemicals reacting to form a product. If there is no view external to this chemistry, then none of it can have worth.

On this basis, it becomes rational to buy shares in companies that kill, lie to anyone incessantly, and denigrate and mock whenever useful to oneself. Consciousness becomes just a temporary state of matter. We are just empty shells of vacuousness. A life is a transient flow of a stream after rain.

The Only Alternative

For a view of humanity limited to the physical to be wrong, it would have to be absolutely and fundamentally wrong. Any view that accommodated worth, right and wrong, would have to accommodate a shared experience that lasts beyond, and so predates, a physical self. Right and wrong cannot exist for only a period of time. If they are merely transient and tied to a biological mass, then they are mere impressions due to transfers of electrical charge, and not subject to shared experience.

Perceptions of love and empathy are then no different than hate or disgust. They are not a sign of worth, and dont exist beyond each neuronal structure. Consciousness and shared fundamental values could not pass through the nexus of sperm and egg. If they exist, they must relate to components beyond the physical. So there is no right or wrong, or there is right and wrong. But if there is, then everything about life is different.

If we are more than constructs of atoms, then the universe, including time, is a totally different place. If we accept that consciousness is not purely biological, then we exist in a reality beyond the purely physical. This changes the relationship with other life forms completely.

If the consciousness of the biological construct is somehow separate from the body killed in the concentration camp, or killed by malaria when resources were diverted to a vaccine, or starved when the price of diesel increased, then there are new implications. They who drove these actions would have to deal with whatever it is beyond the biology they disrupted.

If reality beyond the physical is true, there must be glimpses of it somewhere. If something in us was deeper than organic chemistry, then we would have some sense of it, a sort of conscience. We would have a reluctance to do some things despite them being physically advantageoussuch as murder an old lady for her assets or abuse a child. It would be illogical to have such qualms if these acts did not bear non-physical implications.

An existence beyond our immediate biological construct (our body) would, rationally, demand more attention than the maintenance of this body. Our physical body will, after all, exist for a ridiculously short period of time. If the other human entities around us are thinking like us, have a conscience like us, can see beauty, feel pain, and love like us, then their worth would seem similarly important, and abusing them becomes untenable. There could be consequences beyond the physical, sometime, somewhere, for such abuse. This could include internal suffering for debasing something immeasurably valuable by harming their sense of love and beauty.

Choosing Where to Stand

People have laughed, loved, and danced for millennia. Stories have been told, plays acted, music played through wars, plagues, revolutions, and oppression. When certain leaders forced closure of theaters and pubs in early 2020, this was in many places the first time such communal sharing had ceased in thousands of years. It was the first time ordinary families were banned en-masse from providing their elderly with care and companionship, and mourning them when they died. In previous crises, people recognized value beyond themselves.

When they charged the beaches of Normandy, or fought the Romans back across the Rhine, ordinary people were not staying safe, but risking their physical bodies in the belief that something of worth existed beyond themselves. They were opposing those who rejected such values. It is not new that some humans reject these values, but the current scale and power of this rejection is unusual.

The people who orchestrated isolation in nursing homes in 2020, who enforced malnutrition on hundreds of millions, who condemned millions of girls to servitude, are not doing so with right or wrong in mind. They dont accept that such fixed concepts exist. If there is nothing beyond the physical, then their actions are rational and cannot be wrong.

The problem here is that this reality seems incompatible with the reality of dying for unrelated others. It seems incompatible with climbing a rock face unroped, rafting a river, spending a night alone under the stars to see the beauty of the universe. Their approach may seem rational to them, but it is incompatible with the world.

There are two incompatible views of existence. The reality of loving another despite knowing one might never meet again, or giving ones life for an unknown other, suggests that existence beyond the immediate and physical is real. That beauty, and love, and truth exist even when our bodies cease to exist. In this reality, harm to others through intent or neglect, must have consequences. So must the act of doing nothing in the face of it. There is no middle ground where these views meetthese realities cannot coexist. One, at least, must be completely wrong,

The only way society could move forward and function is to recognize this incompatibility, ignore those who see no value in others, and reject their self-promoting interventions. If these humans are not the empty husks they think they are, then they will need something greater than rational discussion to find their way back to truly communing with the rest of us. While we can hope they find that, we need to rebuild society based on values that are centered not on ourselves, but on a far more exhilarating reality.

From the Brownstone Institute

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Widowers Allege COVID-19 Treatment Protocols Led to Their Wives Deaths

Between the induced labor and the COVID-19 treatment protocols that ultimately ended in her death on Dec. 1, 2021, 33-year-old Christy Cresto was only allowed by hospital staff to hold her baby for 10 minutes before he was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

When she was admitted into a hospital in Pennsylvania on Oct. 9, 2021, she was 36 weeks pregnant and due Nov. 16; however, staff performed an ultrasound and decided she was at 38 weeks, with the baby at 9 pounds and 8 ounces.

This would become the first of many lies from the hospital staff, Matthew Cresto told The Epoch Times. It became apparent to me that they purposely overestimated because he was born 6 pounds 5 ounces.

Lie number two, Cresto said, was the assurance that they wouldnt take the baby away from Christy since she contracted COVID while pregnant.

According to a January 2021 study in the Journal of American Medical Association, a baby in the womb of a mother who contracts COVID acquires natural immunity from the mother.

The study states in its abstract, Maternally derived antibodies are a key element in neonatal immunity.

With the assurance of the hospital that the baby wouldnt be separated from them, they agreed to induce labor so that Christy could proceed with COVID treatment, Cresto said.

After he was born, they laid the baby in a bassinet, where Cresto said he stayed for two hours before a pediatrician entered to give him a newborn exam.

Lie number three, Cresto said, was hospital staff saying Christy could breastfeed if she wore a mask. But the baby never returned for feedings; instead, nurses brought Christy a breast pump, and she was given one dose of remdesivir, with discussion around putting her on a ventilator already having begun.

According to medical records, Cresto said, subsequent doses of remdesivir were marked not appropriate at this time.

Cresto continuously asked about the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance treatment protocols that included ivermectin, he said, to which staff responded by stating that they dont work.

He asked about monoclonal antibody treatment, to which staff responded by telling him they didnt have it.

What he later found, he said, was thatsimilar to others storiesthe hospital did have monoclonal antibody treatment, but it wasnt offered to the unvaccinated.

In many of these testimonies, some report that they were prohibited from visiting their loved ones, and others report they were permitted visits.

Crestos case was an exception, because after he protested he was allowed to stay.

Despite being told that he couldnt see his son for 14 days, staff told him two days later that he was ready to be discharged from the NICU and that Cresto could take him home, he said.

This, even though two days prior they said I couldnt see him because I was exposed to my wife, Cresto said. There was absolutely no consistency in policies.

Before Christys mother picked him up, Cresto was able to hold his son, he said.

Its important to point out here that I was able to go and hold him after leaving Christys ICU room, Cresto said, where Christy had at that point been taken off high-flow oxygen and put on a BiPAP machine, which he called the last step before the ventilator.

At one point, Cresto received a photo from Christy he said she took of the call button in her room that was out of reach.

As described in a September lawsuit filed against three California hospitals for their use of remdesivir on patients allegedly without informed consent, call buttons are typically placed beyond the reach of patients who are going through these protocols.

Follow The Money

The TN Liberty Network (TLN), an independent think tank started by AJ DePriest and comprised of 28 Tennessee researchers, charted the financial incentives TLN said are driving the protocols.

In its Follow the Money Series, Blood Money in U.S. Healthcare Financial Incentives: The Use of Covered Countermeasures, TLN examines how the trillions that came from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act flowed into multiple three-letter agencies such as the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), andalong with the perpetuation of the federal public health emergencyhas created medical tyranny.

Hospitals are incentivized to vaccinate, test, diagnose, and admit Covid patients and report COVID-related deaths using add-on bonuses to push treatments such as remdesivir, dialysis, ventilators, and new covered countermeasures approved for Covid, the report (pdf) states.

In addition to the incentives, a patients bill of rights is waived under the CMS COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Blanket Waivers for Health Care Providers.

This waiver allows healthcare workers to ignore a patients rights, such as the right to respect, the right to informed consent, and the right to refuse treatment, according to DePriest.

There is also a waiver that allows patients to be left alone for up to 48 hours without any care, DePriest reported.

The waivers state that because COVID is a drain on resources, the requirements to check on patients within the usual regulated standards are waived, DePriest explained.

NIH, the CDC, and CMS didnt immediately respond to The Epoch Times request for comment.

My Heart Sank

On Oct. 26, Cresto said he awoke to three missed calls from the hospital.

Christy had been put on the ventilator, he said.

My heart sank, he said. They said she had an anxiety attack, started hyperventilating, and went into hypoxia.

Staff told him she went on it willingly under the agreement that she be fully sedated, Cresto said, though Christy had told him earlier that she would refuse if offered.

The night before, Cresto said, Christy appeared healthy, responsive, and even talkative in a video chat, which was one of the last few times he spoke with her.

In 2018, President Donald Trump signed the Right to Try Act into law, which allowed patients with life-threatening diseases who have exhausted all other options to try certain unapproved treatments.

He cited this act when in another discussion with his doctor on trying high-dose vitamin and ivermectin therapeutics.

He said the doctor told him, That was written for a different era.

According to TLNs report, hospitals have the option of using alternative treatments; however, the use of drugs like ivermectin isnt federally reimbursed.

The vice president of medical affairs denied Crestos attempt to get another doctor or to have her transferred to another hospital within that hospitals system, he said.

A Brief Communication

On Nov. 19, Cresto was able to communicate with Christy, who responded to him with eyebrow movement.

I asked her if she could hear me, and if she could move her toes, Cresto said. No response. I asked her if she could move her eyebrows, and she did. I was blown away.

He went on to ask a few more yes or no questions, and she moved her eyebrows again, he said.

A wave of joy and happiness rushed over my entire being and I started crying and telling her how much I loved her, assuring her Ive been here the whole time and that I miss her so much, he said.

He retrieved a nurse who asked her to move her eyebrows, like you did for your husband, and Cresto said they moved again.

It was a beautiful moment while it lasted, Cresto said.

Christys condition improved, Cresto said, and on Nov. 25, she got to hold her baby one last time, though Cresto said she was still heavily sedated and mostly paralyzed.

He was fussy until I laid him in her arms, then he calmed right down and fell asleep laying on her, he said.

On Nov. 26, Christys health began to decline, Cresto said, and on Nov. 29, Cresto said he found out that her oxygen had dropped so low that her heart stopped for 15 minutes, though he hadnt been notified.

Her condition only got worse, he said, and on Dec. 1, Christy died surrounded by family.

The official cause of death, according to Cresto, was COVID-19, with multiple organ failure.

Cresto maintains the belief that his wife was murdered by the hospital protocols.

Looking back, there are so many things they did wrong, he said.

According to Cresto, staff are required to reposition a patient on a ventilator every two hours. The only thing they did was reposition her head, Cresto said.

Youre supposed to flip them between being on their back and their stomach at most every 16 hours, he said. They left my wife on her stomach for nine days straight, resulting in large sores on her feet, hands, and especially her chest, where the skin was missing from her chest because they left her in one position so long it created a pressure ulcer where it just rotted away.

Cresto describes in more detail multiple incidents of neglect that he said left Christy despondent on the FormerFedsGroup Freedom Foundations (FFFF) COVID-19 Humanity Betrayal Memory Project, for which Cresto became the director of information technology.

The FFFF has published over 240 of these stories with over 100 more waiting to be interviewed.

Josh and Nicole Charlotte Hardison. (Courtesy of Josh Hardison).

It Was Like She Was a Medical Prisoner

When Josh Hardison brought his wife Nicole Charlotte Hardison, who was 31 weeks pregnant, to a hospital in North Carolina to be admitted for COVID treatment on Dec. 5, 2021, hospital staff didnt even want him to get out of the car.

They came to get her, and from there, it was like she was a medical prisoner, he told The Epoch Times.

As Hardison waited in the car, Nicole reported to him through text that staff were asking her why she didnt get vaccinated, and that she needed to reach out to her friends on social media to encourage them to get jabbed, he said.

The plan was to get her on monoclonal antibodies, but what Hardison said he later found was that she was put on remdesivir.

Both Hardison and Nicole were aware of its emergency use authorization and risks, so they refused, telling staff they didnt want it used on her, to which Hardison said staff resisted.

It was psychological warfare the whole way, he said.

During visitation, the obstetrician came into Nicoles room and said, We could have avoided all of this if she had just taken the shot five months ago when I offered it.

In 2021, the medical community, along with media outlets, acted in a coordinated effort to push the vaccine that they said was safe and effective, despite the fact that it had only been released that year.

A September 2022 study found a significant increase in 14 serious side effects, including fetal malformation, fetal cardiac arrest, and stillbirth for women who took the COVID-19 vaccine compared to the influenza vaccination.

The study called for a moratorium on the use of COVID-19 vaccines in pregnancy.

Before they were done debating the safety, efficacy, and basic logic of taking a vaccine that had only been out for a few months, Hardison said the obstetrician pointed to his wife and told him, My job here is to keep the incubator oxygenated until the baby comes.

I was blown away, Hardison said.

They Did it Anyway

At 31 weeks, it was eventually decided that it would be best to perform a C-section to help with Nicoles breathing, Hardison said, to which he agreed.

Nicoles breathing and overall health improved after the C-section, Hardison said.

However, on Dec. 13, she was put on a ventilator, he said.

Nicole was also put on the drug Precedex for anxiety, as well as the opioid morphine.

Petitions for ivermectin and other alternative treatments were met with contempt, he said.

They told me it was junk science, he said.

She was taken back off the ventilator on Dec. 18, and was breathing on her own, Hardison said.

She was given an albuterol nebulizer to decrease her respiratory rate, along with a drug called Diamox, Hardison said.

She had been prescribed that over a year ago for increased spinal pressure and never could take it because it didnt agree with her body, he said. It also has contraindications with a lot of other drugs she was on.

After her albuterol treatment, her breathing rate went up and her heart rate went down, which he said was the opposite of what the drug is supposed to do.

Nicole was later reintubated, he said, and she later contracted a condition called edema, which is a swelling in the body because of a buildup of fluid in the tissue.

One physician admitted that Diamox was a bad idea, he said, and apologized.

Hardison continued to engage physicians and nurses in debates over the treatment, but to no avail, he said.

It was almost like they knew what the protocols were doing, but they did it anyway, he said. I actually had someone there tell me, Everybody has a mortgage to pay.

A Goodbye Prayer

Among multiple problems, Nicole was put on dialysis due to her failing kidneys, Hardison said.

Eventually, a doctor told Hardison there was nothing else they could do for her.

When asked if he wanted them to give her comforting drugs, Josh responded in anger, saying, Youre asking me if I want you to euthanize her like a dog, before telling them to get out and let him be with his wife in those final hours.

Hardison held Nicole and prayed until she passed on Dec. 22.

Nuremberg 2.0

A babys cry interrupts Hardisons story he recounts over the phone, and Hardison stops to tell her, Its OK, and the baby quiets.

According to Nicoles medical records, she died of sepsis, acute respiratory distress, and COVID pneumonia.

It wasnt the first time Hardison had told this story, he said.

Hardison felt the response to his and stories like his has been slow, given the nature of what he describes as murder for money.

When asked what he believes should be done about what he alleged happened to his wife and to others, Hardison answered, Nuremberg 2.0.
Officials investigate the scene of a fatal fire in Worcester, Mass., on May 17, 2022. (Rick Cinclair/Worcester Telegram & Gazette via AP)

Woman Charged With Setting Fire at Apartment That Killed 4

WORCESTER, Mass.A former tenant charged with setting a fire at a Massachusetts apartment building that claimed the lives of four people pleaded not guilty at her arraignment Friday and was held without bail.

Yvonne Ngoiri, 36, faces four counts of second-degree murder as well as arson and assault charges in connection with the May 14 blaze in Worcester. Among the victims was a man who in 2018 had sued right-wing radio host Alex Jones  Infowars website.

Ngoiri, who once lived in the building, was taken into custody on Thursday, the office of Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. said in a statement.

A telephone message seeking comment was left with the suspects attorney.

The cause of the fire at the three-story, six-unit building in the early morning hours of May 14 was determined to be incendiary, according to the district attorneys office, but no motive was disclosed in court. She is scheduled back in court Nov. 29.

The victims have previously been identified as Joseph Garchali, 47; Christopher Lozeau, 53; Vincent Page, 41; and Marcel Fontaine, 29.

The cause of their deaths involved smoke inhalation and thermal injuries, the district attorneys statement said.

In addition, several residents were injured, including one who jumped from a third-story window and two who suffered from smoke inhalation. The building had about 20 tenants. Two nearby buildings were also damaged.

Fontaine sued Infowars in Texas in 2018. The complaint, seeking unspecified damages, said Infowars posted his photograph on its website the day of the shooting in Parkland, Florida, depicting him as the gunman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people died.

Lawyers for Infowars countered that Fontaine failed to show any evidence of malice or any injury because of his photos publication.

Fontaines lawyer has said that the case will continue on behalf of his estate. That case is pending, according to Texas court records.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers an update on Hurricane Ian, in St. Augustine, Fla., on Sept. 30, 2022. (Florida Governor's Office via Reuters/Screenshot via NTD)

You Loot, We Shoot: DeSantis Warns Criminals Not to Target Hurricane Victims

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has warned opportunistic thieves not to target residents or ransack homes in the wake of Hurricane Ian, telling a press conference that Floridians are well-aware of their Second Amendment rights while noting a boarded-up business sign reading you loot, we shoot.

DeSantis issued the stark warning during multiple press conferences on Friday, including one in Fort Myers, where he remarked about seeing the sign directed at would-be looters displayed at a business in nearby Punta Gorda.

They boarded up all the businesses, and there are people that wrote on their plywood, you loot, we shoot, DeSantis said. At the end of the day, we are not going to allow lawlessness to take advantage of this situation.

We are a law-and-order state, and this is a law-and-order community, so do not think that youre going to go take advantage of people whove suffered misfortune, the governor added.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Surfside, Fla., on July 03, 2021. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

During a press conference in St. Augustine later in the day, DeSantis reminded reporters that Florida is a Second Amendment state and that thieves looking to ransack peoples homes should beware.

You never know what may be lurking behind somebodys home, the Republican governor said starkly. And I would not want to chance that if I were yougiven that were a Second Amendment state.

Florida has so-called stand-your-ground and castle doctrine laws on its books, which allow people who feel a reasonable threat of death or bodily injury or who confront home invaders to respond with force rather than retreat.

Florida Will Not Tolerate Looters

In a post on Twitter, Floridas Attorney General Ashley Moody shared a video showing a group of people being arrested for looting.

Florida will not tolerate looters taking advantage of [Hurricane Ian] to prey on vulnerable Floridians. They will be arrested and I have asked state attorneys to seek the longest pretrial detention possible to keep them locked up so they cannot commit new crimes, Moody said in a comment.

Separately, a senior Florida official warned that scammers and con artists often try to take advantage of desperate people following major natural disasters and called on residents to be vigilant in the wake of Hurricane Ians destruction.

You have these predators that will come in, and they will go door-to-door canvassing neighborhoods that they see the damage and they will sign over their [insurance] claims to contractors or they will have unscrupulous public adjusters  that are going to damage your ability to get made whole any faster, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis told Newsmax Friday.

After natural disasters like Ian, bad actors show up in droves, Patronis warned. If you are a policyholder and suffered damage, call your agent, call your carrier, or call my office, he added.

This will be the best way to ensure that your claim is being handled properly, and my office, we love handling peoples claims, we do a great job at it, he continued.

Hurricane Ian made landfall near Sanibel Island and Fort Meyers on Wednesday as a powerful Category 4 storm with winds in excess of 150 mph.

Over 10 feet of storm surge inundated those areas, leveling entire neighborhoods and even destroying a large causeway bridge that connects Sanibel to the mainland, photos show.

The head of Floridas Division of Emergency Management said Hurricane Ian left at least 21 people dead in the state, although that figure is expected to climb as search and rescue efforts continue.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
Ordinarily, when a country celebrates 62 years of Independence, it is a matter of celebrations. But as Nigerians, we should certainly ask ourselves whether our country is headed in the right direction.

Without any scintilla of hyperbole, Nigeria was founded as a Republic with the qualities of being democratic, secular, and treating all its citizens equally. Our freedom fighters struggled for several decades to bequeath Nigeria with what was considered to be the most valuable gift at the time of independence. They held protest marches, fasts, and even voluntarily courted arrests for a cause they believed in. One of the main goals of our founders was for Nigeria to reclaim its place on the world stage, and historians told us that there was a general consensus among our political class to achieve that goal.

To achieve this purpose, over the years, our political leaders have taken several strides particularly as priority was misplaced by focusing on exploration and marketing of oil instead of agriculture, leading Nigeria to fewer successes and several failures, even as the economy has persistently been mismanaged. Our leaders have since on the day the British declared Nigeria an Independent state been positioning the country as an object of mockery on the world stage, and in the same vein pushing millions of people into abject poverty. Without resort to sound unpatriotic, there are several more failures we achieved since we attained independence on October 1, 1960.

Unpretentiously speaking, our leaders should hide their faces in shame, particularly today which marks Nigerias 62 Independence Day, and which invariably calls for sober reflection. As the man on the street would say, Dem nor try at all. There is no basis for us to be jubilant at all as nothing have being achieved since our country attained Independence from the British.

There is no doubt that bad leadership has remained a significant socio-economic and political crisis of our times since Nigeria attained Independence. Its effects on corporate and governmental balance sheets have been devastating. It has destroyed employment, and businesses in the organized private sector, and compromised the well-being of millions of people.

Expectedly, today, if observations from previous years are things to go by, is the day when our leaders would one after the other, with cheek in tongues, mount the soap box, and begin to wax poetic as they would tell the people, in a consolatory manner, that despite the disruptions in the global economy and internal troubles that Nigerian economy has continued to be resilient and maintain an upward trajectory. They would tell us that the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the loss of substantial volumes of oil have had negative impacts on the Nigerian economy. Who will blame them? After all, it is idiomatically said that A bad workman blames his tools.

They will hide under the facade of the fact that with COVID-19 and now the conflict in Ukraine that the past three years have been turbulent ones for the global economy, and Nigeria is not exempted. They will add that global interdependence has become more apparent as we have had to deal with volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. The foregoing excuses have become perennial so much so that by each passing year, speeches made by our leaders on Independence Day are usually embellished with consolatory words to the extent that they will blame anything blamable to exempt themselves from being part of the leaders that are destroying Nigerias economy.

To my view, irrespective of how they would try to exempt themselves from being responsible for the parlous state of the economy and insecurity, the fact remains that the World Bank, early this year in one of its Reports asserted that Nigerias economy under Buharis rudderless leadership was worse than it was 10 years ago. The forgoing fact was conveyed by the Global Banks flagship Report for 2022, titled Global Economic prospect, Nor be me talk am.

It added that The pandemic has reversed at least a decade of gains in per capita income in some countries, in almost a third of the regions economies, including Angola, Nigeria, and South Africa, per capita incomes are forecast to be lower in 2022 than a decade ago, the report said.

It is expedient to say in this context that yearly, the lead-up to Independent Day is usually marked with pomp and pageantry in the face of a poor Report Card to justify the celebrations. Without any iota of exaggeration, a dispassionate look at our leaders collective Report Card reveals that it is faltering on several fronts. As is often the case, Buharis government has run yet another successful marketing campaign that will today strike a chord with many citizens. But there is very little to celebrate about Nigeria at 62.
President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated Nigerians as the country celebrates its 62nd independence anniversary, today, 1st of October 2022.

In his speech to mark the anniversary, the president, who is on the last year of his tenure, expressed gratitude to God and Nigerians for giving him the privilege to lead the country.

The President itemized some of his achievements across different sectors of the economy, even as he called on the Academic Staff Union of Universities to return to the classroom.

He said he had resolved to bequeath to Nigerians a sustainable democratic culture which would remain lasting, noting that he shared in the pain people were going through.

While highlighting some of his achievements in the last seven years of ruling, President Buhari stated, One of the areas where we have made significant progress is in the eradication of deeply entrenched corruption that permeates all facets of our national development.

In order to address insecurity, we worked methodically in reducing insurgency in the North East, Militancy in the Niger Delta, Ethnic and Religious Tensions in some sections of Nigeria along with other problems threatening our country.

Our efforts in re-setting the economy manifested in Nigeria exiting two economic recessions by the very practical and realistic monetary and fiscal measures to ensure effective public financial management. In addition, the effective implementation of the Treasury Single Account and cutting down on the cost of governance also facilitated early exits from recessions.

I must confess that I am very pained by the recurring disruption to our tertiary education system and I am using this Independence Day celebration to reiterate my call for the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities to return to the classroom while assuring them to deal with their contending issues within the limits of the scarce resources available.

This administration has made appreciable progress in redressing these issues that have been lingering for over eleven years.

The President said he saw an opportunity to create a better Nigeria which we have done with the support of Nigerians.

The President added that as the government continued to de-escalate the security challenges that confronted the nation at the inception of his administration, newer forms alien to the country began to manifest, especially in the areas of kidnappings, molestations/killings of innocent citizens, banditry, all of which were being addressed by the security forces.

He added, I share the pains Nigerians are going through and I assure you that your resilience and patience would not be in vain as this administration continues to reposition as well as strengthen the security agencies to enable them to deal with all forms of security challenges.

At the inception of this administration in 2015, I provided the funding requirements of the security agencies which was also improved in my second tenure in 2019 to enable them to surmount security challenges. We will continue on this path until our efforts yield the desired results.
Activists call for major anti-Prayut rally

BANGKOK: Pro-democracy protest leaders have called for people to wear black for seven days and to rally at Victory Monument on Saturday (Oct 1) to express their rejection of the Constitutional Court ruling that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-chas term has not reached its eight-year limit.

politics

By Bangkok Post

Saturday 1 October 2022, 10:10AM

Anti-government groups plan to stage a major demonstration on all roads leading to Victory Monument starting from 4pm on Saturday. Photo: Nutthawat Wicheanbut / Bangkok Post

Black-clad members of the Ratsadon protest network gathered at the Pathumwan Skywalk in front of the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre on Friday afternoon to listen to the ruling, reports the Bangkok Post.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/politics/2404370/activists-call-for-major-anti-prayut-rally-on-saturday

Led by Thatchapong Kaedam, the crowd jeered upon hearing the decision in favour of Gen Prayut.

Mr Thatchapong said the group would not accept the conclusion, calling it a slap to the face of the nation.

Thanaporn Wichan, an activist with the Labour Network for Peoples Rights, read a declaration from the protesters claiming they would not accept the ruling. They believe Gen Prayuts tenure ended on Aug 24, rendering his activities after that date unconstitutional and his administration illegitimate.

They urged citizens to mourn the regime under a rogue prime minister by dressing in black from Oct 1 to 7.

Others from groups such as 24 June Democracy and Talu Fah called on political parties, especially those in the opposition, to join the public in taking to the streets to lend more weight to demands for change.

They expressed confidence that support would surge, while saying that protesters should prepare saline solution if they must face tear gas. Nonetheless, the groups asked the military to not take advantage of the situation to carry out a coup.

Talu Fah leader Thanapat Kapeng announced a major demonstration on all roads leading to Victory Monument starting from 4pm on Saturday with the intent of ousting Gen Prayut.



Calling the protest a last resort for the public, he said participants should prepare to face tear gas, noting vehicles could also join in a car mob.

The opposition Move Forward Party expressed disappointment with the court ruling, saying it showed the court is helping prolong the coup plotters rule. Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat noted in a tweet that it was the third time the charter court had saved Gen Prayut.

Mr Pita has called for a public referendum on a new constitution, to be held concurrently with the next general election, arguing that the current charter is the legacy of the 2014 coup led by Gen Prayut.

The Kana Lomruam Prachachon (Melting Pot) group, meanwhile, gathered at the Ratchaprasong intersection to listen to the court ruling. Led by former red-shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan and lawyer Nitithorn Lamlua, the crowd listened to music and speeches into the night.

In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the pro-democracy movement staged some rallies that drew thousands. On a handful of occasions, police used teargas and water cannons to disperse crowds.

The pandemic seriously curbed the momentum of the movement, as did dozens of royal defamation charges against movement leaders under Section 112 of the Criminal Code, the lese majeste law, that are still making their way through the courts.
Phuket has more than 6,000 taxis ready to serve tourists

PHUKET: Phuket has more than 6,000 registered taxis and more than 370 buses registered ready to serve tourists, a provincial-level meeting was told yesterday (Sept 30).

tourismtransporteconomics

By The Phuket News

Saturday 1 October 2022, 10:00AM

The numbers were announced at a meeting of the Joint Public-Private Sector Committee on Developing and Solving Economic Problems in Phuket Province, chaired by Phuket Vice Governor Amnuay Pinsuwan.

Joining the meeting were heads of local government agencies, including Nanthasiri Ronnasiri, Chief of the Phuket branch of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).

Also present was Asst Prof Dr Chayanon Phucharoen, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies under the Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism at Prince of Songkla University Phuket Campus.

The objective of the meeting was for attendees to be updated on the tourism situation in Phuket and preparations for receiving tourists during the high season, said a report by the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department (PR Phuket).

At the meeting it was confirmed that there were currently 11,351 public transport vehicles in Phuket.

Of those were 378 buses, 518 minibuses (vans) and 518 tuk-tuks.

The remainder were described as 6,342 non-buses and 277 metered taxis.

The meeting resolved for a public relations campaign to be launched for tourists to use the correct and legal vehicles, the report said.

The public relations materials will be in English, the report added.

Among the other key issues raised at the meeting, this time by a representative from the private sector, was the labour shortage problem currently being experienced in Phukets tourism sector.

Phuket hoteliers have long warned of a dire hospitality skills shortage on the island, and have been investigating  and enacting  their own strategies to prepare their staff for the return of tourists in numbers. (See stories here and here.)

Therefore, I would like to ask the Phuket Provincial Employment Office to hold employment promotion activities and meetings to attract workers from other provinces to work in the Phuket area to support job vacancies that will increase during the tourist season, the representative said.

Ketwadee Piyamethinruj, marketing representative for the Southern Regional Office of the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) asked for the Phuket Provincial Government to expedite the budget of B1.411 billion for the project to upgrade Phuket health tourism to a world-class health tourism city by developing a medical plaza in Mai Khao, said the report.

If the budget is received, the project will be progressed accordingly, Ms Ketwadee said.
Phuket Health Office: Follow COVID measures despite easing of measures

PHUKET: Dr Mueanprae Boonlom, Deputy Chief of the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO), has called on people to continue practicing personal protection measures to prevent contracting COVID-19.

COVID-19healthtourism

By The Phuket News

Saturday 1 October 2022, 09:00AM

The current status of the mass vaccination campaign in Phuket, Image: PPHO

The number of new COVID infections in Phuket reported yesterday (Sept 30). Image: Phuket Info Center

The call comes as the disease is removed from the list of dangerous diseases and entry requirements for tourists are eased, both effective today (Oct 1).

Speaking during a radio broadcast yesterday (Sept 30), Dr Mueanprae urged people to continue to observe DMHTT* measures.

Dr Mueanprae warned that people can still be infected with COVID-19 despite the very low number of infections being reported in Phuket.

There has definitely been a fall in the number of infections, but infections can still occur, she said.

This is even though the rate of severe morbidity and mortality is low, and the fact that more than 92% of the population [of Phuket] has been immunised by both regular and booster vaccination injections, she said.

But if an infection still occurs, symptomatic care is required, Dr Mueanprae cautioned.

According to the PPHO, of the recognised population of 593,183 people living in Phuket, 514,882 people (95.49%) have received one vaccination injection, and 493,115 people (91.46%) have received two vaccination injections.

Of those who have received two injections, 337,325 (68.41%) have received a third, and of those who have received three injections, 134,945 (40%) have received a fourth injection.

Despite the adjustments for COVID-19 [the easing of restrictions that also come into effect today], it is a contagious disease. People still need to act in order to prevent the disease from spreading just as they did before, Dr Mueanprae said.

They are also asked to focus on compliance with DMHTT measures, especially wearing masks and cleansing their hands with sanitiser often, she added.

And people can still get a booster vaccination every four to six months voluntarily, and still get free treatment according to their rights, in order to join together to restore the economy to be as strong as before, Dr Mueanprae concluded.

* The DMHTT measures as defined by the Ministry of Public Health are: Distancing, Mask-wearing, Hand-washing, Testing (temperature check), and ThaiChana application use (an app used for checking into and out of public places).
Putin annexes Ukraine territories, Kyiv vows to fight back

RUSSIA: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday (Sept 30) annexed four parts of Ukraine occupied by his army, staging a grand ceremony in Moscow as Kyiv vowed to battle on and pushed for expedited NATO membership.

RussianUkraine

By AFP

Saturday 1 October 2022, 09:52AM

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Moscow-backed leaders in Ukraine celebrate after signing treaties annexing their regions. Photo: AFP

The event at the Kremlin  a turning point in post-Soviet history  came hours after shelling killed 30 people in Ukraines southern region of Zaporizhzhia in one of the worst attacks against civilians in months.

I want to say this to the Kyiv regime and its masters in the West: People living in Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are becoming our citizens forever, Putin said.

The packed hall erupted into chants of Russia! Russia! after the four leaders inked the deal.

Washington announced severe new sanctions against Russian officials and the countrys defence industry, and said G7 allies support imposing costs on any nation that backs the annexation.

BIDEN SAYS PUTIN STRUGGLING

We will negotiate with the new president, Zelensky said.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg slammed the annexation as illegal and illegitimate but remained non-committal after Ukraine said it was applying to join the Western alliance.

Despite warnings from Putin prior to the annexation that he could use nuclear weapons to defend the captured territories, Ukraines Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kyiv would continue liberating our land and our people.

Sullivan also said that while there is a risk of Putin using nuclear weapons, there is no indication that he would do so imminently.

Bodies clothed in civilian wear were strewn across the ground after the attack and windows of cars blown out.

The waitress gave it to me. And there was a bang. She got scared and left the cafe. A few minutes later, there was another explosion. Now she is on the floor, he said.

LAND CORRIDOR

Im happy if they want to join Russia, Natalya Bodner, a 37-year-old lawyer told AFP. They have more hope than we do.

Together, all five regions including Crimea, make up around 20% of Ukraine, whose forces in recent weeks have been clawing back territory.

Ukrainian forces were on the doorstep of Lyman in Donetsk, which Moscows forces pummelled for weeks to capture this summer.

The four regions Kremlin-installed leaders formally requested annexation after claiming residents backed the move in hastily organised referendums that were dismissed by Kyiv and the West as fraudulent.
The least known, certainly least understood, and most interesting North American wildlife species is the pronghorn antelope. It is an icon of our American wildlife inventory of what remains of the old west.

The first Euro-Americans probably thought what a weird, strange, timid, reclusive and yet elusive big game animal. Common in some locations in the west, they are much reduced from earlier pioneer days. Nebraska even has a hunt-able population in the western part of the state. Many hunters dispute their palatability, but I contend they are excellent eating, if properly cleaned and the right recipe used.

It was said the antelope reminded early settlers of a goat- a very speedy goat. The antelope proved to be a vanguard of the great American west, which consisted of vast, unchartered and a highly challenging landscapes for the early pioneers. Antelope and early Native Americans formed a nexus that was nearly extirpated in a period of less than 250 years. A nexus that had evolved since pronghorn and Native Americans, the first people, lived in the same shrub and grasslands and deserts for a span of almost 10,000 years.

Pronghorn are super interesting animals. They have the longest land migration in the continental United States, which can be up to 150 miles, one-way in some cases. Only the caribou migrate farther. They also are the fastest land animal in North America. Pronghorn can run up to 60 miles an hour and for very long times doing it. Although pronghorn are not as fast as cheetahs, they can run almost as fast, much longer.

Pronghorn have large eyes and incredible vision, and will see you long before you see them. Their large eyes can view predators from long distances, which is helpful in their grassland habitat types. Pronghorn are about 4.5 feet long, three and half feet tall, and weigh between 65 and 145 pounds.

North Americas grasslands are some of the most threatened habitats on the planet. The World Wildlife Fund in a summary report found the losses that from 2018-2019 alone an estimated 2.6 million acres of grassland. This loss includes both the US and Canadian Great Plains, were to be used for row crop agriculture. This is an area bigger than some of our eastern states.

Grasslands account for nearly 40% of land-based ecosystems, providing habitat for a wide diversity of wildlife that includes our remaining pronghorn. Grasslands biodiversity and resilience to disturbances such as fire, heat and drought is the result of a slow and dynamic process taking hundreds of years to complete recent research found. In the journal Science, an article focusing on grasslands, contradicts historical assumptions that grasslands develop and recover rapidly, posing new challenges to restoration efforts.

We have worked on Standing Rock Indian Reservation and other reservations for over a decade and observed these animals in the wild and have seen first-hand they prefer higher quality habitats with ecosystems that have taken hundreds, if not thousands of years to develop. It is interesting to note how landscapes have changed in just a few short years due to the emergence of new plant species from other continents invading disturbed and poorly managed lands.

Historically, pronghorn were challenged by predators and cold weather. Today the threats are cars, impassable 4, 5 and 6 strand barb wire fences, numerous roads, and remote developments that dont consider wildlife movement and presence. Wildlife biologists and entities like the National Wildlife Federation are working hard to create safe passages or wildlife corridors for pronghorn and other migratory wildlife and reduce conflicts between animals and people.

This past summer we wrote an America the Beautiful grant application for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. One of the last remaining eco-regions with large prairie dog town complexes, Standing Rock tribal land is undergoing a transition from undisturbed native expressions to degraded grasslands by overgrazing, drought, invasive species and incremental impacts of losses of native flora expression on many of their pasture parcels.

Range condition and rapid assessment on overall habitat condition and resultant recommendations for restoration/improvement was the thrust of this application for upland grasslands. Our goal is to also inventory and prioritize existing wetlands and surface waters for future management that can allude to the most appropriate restoration opportunities for big game sustainability, humans, ecotourism and biodiversity.

Hoopes (1975) stated the age-old battle between wilderness and civilization was waged anew on the western plains, with age-old results: the disappearance of the wilderness, the depletion and degradation of its aboriginal population, and the virtual extinction of its characteristic fauna.

I hope our human fauna can find ways to evolve and harmonize with age-old battles of the future or we may be next.

Michael P. Gutzmer, PhD is principal and owner of New Century Environmental LLC and provides environmental consulting services in the Great Plains. NCE works with water, wetlands, habitat development threatened and endangered species and pollution problems. Please email me at mgutzmer@newcenturyenvironmental.com.
Two monkeypox cases confirmed in Phuket

PHUKET: Two more cases of monkeypox in Phuket have been confirmed, bringing the total number of cases identified in the country to 10, Department of Disease Control (DDC) Director-General Opas Karnkawinpong said yesterday (Sept 30).

health

By The Phuket News

Saturday 1 October 2022, 02:43PM

Department of Disease Control (DDC) Director-General Opas Karnkawinpong. Photo: via Phuket Info Center

Dr Opas announced the news late yesterday afternoon. The Phuket Info Center relayed the announcement early this morning (Oct 1).

One of the cases was a 37-year-old Thai woman. Her occupation was given as a service worker.

The woman developed a fever, sore throat and muscle pain on Sept 16. The next day she bought medicine to treat her symptoms, Dr Opas said.

The woman told DDC officers that she had close contact with a 54-year-old German man on Sept 17. She later noticed a rash on her buttocks and blisters on other areas of her body, he said

The woman, now concerned for her condition, presented herself at a hospital for treatment. The woman explained that he had not had close contact with any person other than the German man. She had not been in contact with anyone she knew to have a rash or blisters, she said.

She also had not travelled abroad during the 21 days before she started experiencing signs of infection, Dr Opas said.

The hospital doctors sent samples for laboratory tests, which on Monday (Sept 26, nine days after the woman started exhibiting signs of infection) confirmed the woman had contracted monkeypox, he added.

A team of DDC officers from the Ministry of Public Health Region 11 branch in Nakhon Si Thammarat were dispatched to investigate the infection, assisted by officers from the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO) and local hospitals, Dr Opas said.

The German later also tested positive for monkeypox, he added.

Dr Opas, speaking yesterday, five days after the woman had been confirmed as infected, did not confirm at which hospital the woman had presented herself or the general area where she lived or worked.

He also gave no details of when or where the German man had tested positive.

Despite an incessant monkeypox-awareness campaign for months by national health figures, relayed daily by local government agencies, neither the DDC nor the PPHO publicly revealed any confirmation that any person had been infected with monkeypox in Phuket in the past five days since the woman was confirmed as infected.
The Sentinel

The new community health centers 21,800-square-foot space in Hampden Township is expected to open early next summer, a news release said.

Projected services include primary care for pediatric and adult patients, behavioral health services, dental care and womens health, Sadler said. The facility will also incorporate an in-house pharmacy, vision center, insurance enrollment and medication opioid use disorder for substance use, as well as a separate entrance for emergency health care needs. Additionally, the new location will provide testing, treatment and immunizations as a COVID-19 response site.

Sadler anticipates serving 4,000 patients in its first year of operation at the new facility and 8,000 in following years, the release said.

The center, a federally qualified health center, offers primary care, dental care and behavior health services in downtown Carlisle as well as dental care out of its location in Loysville in Perry County. Sadlers mission is to provide integrated, high-quality and compassionate care, the release said. According to its website, Sadler serves all patients, including those who have government-sponsored insurance, and those who are underinsured or uninsured.

As we continue to serve patients at our health centers in Perry County and Carlisle, the new site in Mechanicsburg will offer those in need on the West Shore an option to obtain affordable, high quality care while meeting additional need in our region, said Manal El Harrak, chief executive officer of Sadler Health Center.

During Fridays event, El Harrak said planning for this project began in 2019 with a strategic plan from the centers board of directors as well as a needs assessment that identified eastern Cumberland County as an area of high need for affordable and high-quality health care services.

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified health care disparities. The needs of the growing underserved, uninsured and immigrant populations within Cumberland County substantiates the need for Sadler Health Center to open a site in Mechanicsburg that will offer comprehensive and culturally competent care, she said.

El Harrak said 88% of the 25,000 low-income residents in eastern Cumberland County have no access to preventative and routine health care services and more than 9,000 are uninsured.

These numbers spoke and our board not only listened, but took the first step in addressing this dire need, El Harrak said Friday.

Wendy Braund, state deputy secretary for health preparedness and community protection, also spoke during the groundbreaking.

She said the COVID-19 pandemic shined a bright and painful light on disparities in the health care system, and demonstrated a need to make changes in the system to prevent the most vulnerable from being left behind.

Many individuals are choosing between paying for health care and other necessities such as food and shelter, Braund said. Sadler helps provide that ounce of prevention for thousands of local residents. Access to needed health care should be a human right, not a privilege. It should not depend on your income, where you live, your race or ethnicity, social status, education level or anything else. The opportunity to come to a health center like Sadler is life changing for individuals and families who could not otherwise access affordable health care and not only do you ensure that they are treated regardless of their ability to pay, but you also make sure they receive the same quality care and attention that all people deserve.

Sadler staff members and local government officials broke ground at the event before opening the new facility for attendees to tour.

Funds for the new location will be derived from federal, state and county grants as well as community support, Sadler said. The center initiated a 2021 capital campaign to generate funds for the new centers opening, and $1.8 million dollars has been committed toward the $4 million goal, the release said.

The work you do here will impact countless lives as you serve your neighbors, meeting some of their most basic needs, Braund said. I am really excited about the efforts we are currently undertaking to eliminate health inequities across Pennsylvania and your efforts here in the Cumberland Valley. Thank you for all that you do in the community and all that you will do with this new facility.
Montreal, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

Showers in the morning, then partly cloudy in the afternoon. High 53F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

A few clouds from time to time. Low 38F. Winds light and variable.
ORESTE P. DARCONTE is a former publisher of The Sun Chronicle. Reach him at opd999@gmail.com .
A very small car belonging to one of the country's biggest motorsport icons will go under the hammer in November, and the winning bid is expected to be relatively large in contrast to the vehicle's dinky dimensions.

The motor in question is a 1957 BMW Isetta 600 - better known as the 'bubble car'.

It was previously owned by the late F1 legend, Sir Stirling Moss, who used it for nipping around London and even taught his son, Elliot, to drive in it.

The comically small model will be offered to collectors at a classic car event in Birmingham and is predicted to make a big impression, with the auction house placing its estimate at 50,000 to 60,000.

Moss' motor: It's not often you can say you own a car previously belonging to a motor racing legend, but that is the case with this particular vehicle, which was in Stirling Moss' collection

The tiny BMW Isetta 600 will be sold as part of the NEC Classic Motor Show event during the Silverstone Auctions sale on 12-13 November.

The motor recently featured as part of display of Moss' greatest racing cars at the 2021 Goodwood Revival to celebrate the life of the Mille Miglia winner and 16-time F1 race winner who died at the age of 90 in April 2020.

The Italian-designed Isetta microcar was built under licence in a number of different countries, including Spain, Belgium, France, Brazil, Germany, and here in the UK and famous for its incredibly small dimensions, three wheels and frontward opening door.

Italian brand Iso debuted the vehicle at the 1953. The Isetta measures in at 2.29 metres (7.5ft) long and 1.37m (4.5ft) wide, making it one of the smallest road legal cars of all time.

The tiny car will be sold as part of the NEC Classic Motor Show event during the Silverstone Auctions sale on 12-13 November and is estimated to sell for 50,000 to 60,000

The car recently featured as part of display of Moss' greatest racing cars at the 2021 Goodwood Revival to celebrate his life, Sir Stirling died at the age of 90 in April 2020

The fifties Isetta 'Bubble Car' was designed in Italy and is famous for its incredibly small dimensions, three wheels and frontward opening door

With the tiny 9.5bhp 236cc two-stroke engine slotted behind the bench seat, there was no need for a bonnet - though that's never a good thing if you're unfortunately enough to be involved in a head-on collision.

Produced in the post-World War II era, it was perfect for motorists wanting cheap transportation for regular - but short - distances, and went on to become one of the most successful and influential city cars ever created.

Because of its egg shape and bubble-like windows, it became known as a 'bubble car', a term later used to encompass a wide variety of similar vehicles.

However, because it had only had room for the driver and one passenger it wasn't suitable for all customers, particularly those in Germany.

As a result, BMW went about extending the Isetta to create the 600.

The three-wheel original only had a single bench for a driver and passenger, which wasn't suitable for many customers in 1950s Germany. That's why BMW created their own

As a result, BMW went about extending the Isetta's chassis and bodywork to create the 600

BMW Isetta 600s were powered by a 700cc 'boxer' engine from the BMW R67 motorcycle that was relocated to the rear of the vehicle. Moss fitted an even more potent motor to his car

It was powered by a bigger 700cc 'boxer' engine from the BMW R67 motorcycle that was relocated to the rear of the vehicle thanks to a redesigned chassis that allowed for a second row of seats and the addition of a conventional fourth wheel.

The longer body - extended to 2.9metres (9.5ft) - also meant BMW could install a right-hand side door in addition to the now-iconic one at the very front, though the steering wheel was always on the left, to the frustration of UK buyers.

With its bigger engine and extra wheel, performance was a major upgrade on the tripod Iso Isetta, though the reproduction costs were extremely high - and made the BMW version more expensive new than a comparatively larger Volkswagen Beetle at the time.

As a result, it sold in limited numbers until it was replaced in 1959 by the 700.

The redesigned and elongated chassis allowed for a second bench seat and the addition of a conventional fourth wheel, which instantly transformed its road handling

From inside, you can see just how small the car is. As was the case for all BMW Isettas, this is a left-hand-drive version

While the original Isetta only had a bench up front, the BMW versions had a second bench at the rear to seat another two passengers

The former Sir Stirling Moss example is one of the earlier BMW Isettas, which he bought at a Beaulieu auction in a rather sorry state.

The racing legend set about a restoration with an Isetta specialist, which included a number of performance and practical upgrades to make the car unique - something Moss often liked to do with his road cars.

He installed a more powerful BMW motorcycle engine with 30bhp, with letters accompanying the history file sold with the car showing his back and forth with the German car and motorcycle maker to negotiate the replacement powerplant.

It has 88,432km on the odometer, suggesting it has covered 54,949 miles in its lifetime, though how many of those are with the current engine have not been disclosed

The car going to auction even has Moss' signature on the rear emblem, which also says the logo 'MOSS 600'

The BMW Isetta 600 is 2.9metres (9.5ft) in length, which is 61cm longer than the original three-wheeler

Once the rebuild was complete, Sir Stirling used the diminutive silver car to get around Central London where he lived.

It even has Moss' signature on the rear emblem, which also says the logo 'MOSS 600'.

Incredibly, this is also the car that his son, Elliot, learned how to drive in, with the father and son moment captured in the accompanying photographs that are part of the auction lot.

Once the rebuild was complete, Sir Stirling used the diminutive silver car to get around Central London where he lived (pictured with son Elliot, right)

Incredibly, this is also the car that his son, Elliot Moss, learned how to drive in

Moss was a big fan on owning ultra-small cars for getting around the heavily-congested roads of Central London, where he grew up and lived until his death two years ago

'We understand that over 30,000 has been invested over the years on its restoration which we wouldn't doubt given the sheer quality of the result,' Silverstone Auctions says.

Sir Stirling Moss pictured in 2015 with his bespoke Renault Twizy

It has 88,432km on the odometer, suggesting it has covered 54,949 miles in its lifetime, though how many of those are with the current engine have not been disclosed.

Earlier this year, this very car also made an appearance on ITV television show 'The Car Years', in which it was selected to argue the case for the best city car in 1957 against a rival Fiat 500.

Sir Stirling's love for tiny cars for getting around London continued into his latter years, with the former racer owning an electric Renault Twizy to nip around Central London.

In fact, in 2015 This is Money visited his home to take a spin in the car, which he had also converted with better handling, windows and an internal heater - features that were never available as standard with the Twizy.
Making money from emerging markets is not easy. Even veteran investor Terry Smith, hailed as Britain's Warren Buffett, has announced he is winding up his fund that operates in the region, because it has 'underperformed expectations'.

Smith's Fundsmith Emerging Equities Trust is the third emerging markets fund to shut within just a few months, following on the heels of Jupiter Emerging & Frontier Income and ScotGems.

But these fund disappointments do not mean that emerging markets are lacking in investment opportunities. Many experts believe they have the potential to outperform developed markets over the next few years.

High risk? Skyscrapers in Mumbai, India, whose growing middle-class makes it an emerging market favoured by investment experts

However, investors may have to accept a lot of stomach-lurching volatility along the way  and be prepared to work to seek out the best opportunities.

So what exactly are emerging markets?

That is the name given to fast-growing economies yet to reach their full potential. Like many labels put on our investments, the term is one of convenience that conceals a huge spectrum of markets.

There are as many as 24 countries in the main index of emerging markets  as diverse as South Korea, China, Brazil, Mexico, Thailand, Vietnam, India and South Africa.

Should investors follow Smith out of the door?

Investing in emerging markets is generally seen as riskier than in so-called developed markets. In many cases, the accountancy and governance may be less reliable. Therefore, while there is often opportunity for rapid growth, there is plenty of volatility along the way.

Emerging markets have had a very difficult year, with stock markets falling in value by 25 per cent overall in the past year. By comparison the S&P 500 Index (a barometer of the health of big US companies) fell by 11 per cent.

Funds that contained Russian investments have been particularly hard hit after global sanctions rendered them all but worthless. These include Fidelity Emerging and Baring Emerging Europe, which has refocused on Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

A ripple effect from the war has affected other markets, by pumping up the cost of energy and food. 'It has driven Sri Lanka to the point of bankruptcy,' says James Carthew, investment trust expert at data group QuotedData.

China is the largest component of many emerging market funds and rich with investment opportunities. However, UK investors are shunning the Chinese stock market in droves, as a result of its appalling treatment of the Uighurs in the north-western region of Xinjiang, together with its intimidation of near neighbour Taiwan and refusal to denounce Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine.

What about the opportunities?

Investing in emerging markets requires a strong stomach and a long time horizon. Younger investors who have decades to ride out the ups and downs could reap rewards. Others who are likely to need their money within a few years may find it too risky.

Jason Hollands, managing director at wealth manager Evelyn Partners, is optimistic about emerging market funds. 'My belief is that emerging markets will outperform developed market equities over the next year and a half,' he says.

Hollands adds that the issues with Smith's emerging market fund were to do with the way it was structured, rather than any systemic problem with investing in emerging markets.

Dzmitry Lipski, head of funds research at investment platform Interactive Investor, agrees that Smith's exodus does not necessarily mean that emerging markets no longer present opportunities. 'We wouldn't take this as a broader 'sell sign',' he says.

Move: Terry Smith shut his emerging markets trust last month

Could they be about to turn a corner?

Emerging markets are ripe for a recovery, says Carlos Hardenberg, founding partner of Mobius Capital Partners and manager of Mobius Investment Trust.

'They have suffered through one of the longest and most difficult economic downturns in decades,' he says. 'As a result, they look stronger than ever before. This is not the time to sell. It's time to buy.' There are plenty of reasons to be excited by many of these markets. Many have a growing middle-class, who have more money to spend and an appetite for consumerism.

Emerging markets are also generating more than half of global economic growth, despite the recent challenges. Chetan Sehgal, who runs the Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust, is particularly excited by technological innovation in the sector.

'Emerging markets are home to companies with exposure to new technologies driving future sustainable economic growth,' he says. 'From solar and electric vehicle battery producers to semi-conductor designers and manufacturers, the acceleration of innovation is driving our confidence.'

A sprawling area... so fortunes vary

Emerging markets cover a huge global area, with many divergent economies. As a result, emerging market funds vary wildly.

Matthias Siller, co-manager of Barings Emerging EMEA Opportunities, is excited by South Africa, because of its access to a broad range of metals. Charles Jillings, who runs the Utilico Emerging Markets Trust, has 22 per cent of his fund in Brazil, which is looking cheaper than for some months. Others are excited by India, a favourite of Darius McDermott, managing director at wealth platform Chelsea Financial Services. 'The demographics are great, and the politics are business friendly,' he says.

Don't pile in... but drip-feed investment

Even if you are confident about the potential for emerging markets, it makes sense to keep your investments small and diverse.

McDermott recommends investing slowly. 'I wouldn't be piling in a lot of money right now, but drip-feeding a little might pay off over the long term,' he says.

Lipski suggests that these markets should not make up more than 10 per cent of your portfolio, due to their volatility.

Study closely the funds you pick

Emerging market funds vary wildly, so it is important to check what you're buying.

John Moore, senior investment manager at wealth manager Brewer Dolphin, suggests JP Morgan Emerging Markets. It invests across different markets, with India its top holding, followed by China, Taiwan and South Korea. It has risen 5.6 per cent over three years and fallen 22 per cent over one.

He also likes BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust, which invests beyond the traditional emerging markets. It has risen 14 per cent over three years and 0.4 per cent over one.

'Its largest exposure is to Saudi Arabia, then Indonesia, Thailand, Kazakhstan and the UAE,' he says.

For those wanting something more traditional, McDermott recommends FSSA Global Emerging Markets Focus which, he says, 'invests in 40 to 45 large and medium-sized quality companies that can demonstrate sustainable and predictable growth'.

It has risen 0.4 per cent over one year and 10 per cent over three.

Meanwhile, Hollands, Lipski and Moore all mention the Utilico Emerging Markets Trust.

Moore says that the fund focuses on infrastructure, which makes it less prone to violent swings in value. This is because governments tend to invest in infrastructure through all stages of an economic cycle, so it may perform well even in tough times.

The fund is down 0.5 per cent this year, but up 0.6 per cent over three years.
Power: Morfydd Clark in the TV version of The Lord Of The Rings

The family behind The Lord Of The Rings has picked up 10million in dividends, documents show.

The record payout by the Tolkien Estate is more than double last year's and emerges as a big budget version of the fantasy novels hits TV screens. It takes the total paid out to over 50million in the past decade.

The bulk of intellectual property rights were sold to Hollywood producer Saul Zaentz in the 1970s, meaning heirs to author JRR Tolkien largely missed out on the vast sums generated by the hugely successful Peter Jackson film trilogy.

The estate primarily controls publishing rights, and the films have seen book sales soar with more than 150million copies of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy sold. But the Zaentz deal did not cover TV rights. So the new series, The Rings Of Power, was negotiated with the estate.

The budget for the Amazon production is believed to be $1billion (900million). The latest accounts do not yet appear to show the financial fruits of the agreement.

Accounts for the estate have been filed amid uncertainty over who has inherited a chunk of the family shares. Priscilla Tolkien, the author's youngest child, who had no children, died earlier this year. The academic fiercely guarded her father's legacy before her death at the age of 92.
The boss of banking giant Credit Suisse has sent a memo to staff reassuring them of its financial stability after a slide in its share price.

Chief executive Ulrich Koerner said the bank had a 'strong capital base and liquidity position'.

He urged employees not to confuse the 'day to day stock price' with the company's underlying performance.

Reassurance: Chief executive Ulrich Koerner said the bank had a 'strong capital base and liquidity position'

Credit Suisse shares have lost 25 per cent of their value in the past three weeks.

The emergence of the memo comes less than a week after the bank released a statement to investors that it is 'well on track with its comprehensive strategic review'.

It said it aims 'to create a more focused, agile group' and will release details of a 'transformation' plan on October 27.

But Koerner said in the memo, first reported on Reuters and seen by The Mail on Sunday, the bank is at a 'critical moment'.

'I am conscious that there is lots of uncertainty and speculation both outside and within the company.'

He said he wanted 'to make sure that you hear from me directly during this challenging period. I will therefore be sending a regular update to you all until then'.

Koerner was promoted to the top job in July. The bank aims to cut costs by more than $1billion (897million) and sell parts of the business amid reports that it could slash 5,000 jobs.

The restructuring plans are part of strenuous efforts to draw a line under a string of scandals linked to the Swiss lender.

It became embroiled in the collapse of controversial lender Greensill Capital and the US hedge fund Archegos Capital in 2021. It also admitted last year it had defrauded investors as part of the historical Mozambique 'tuna bonds' loan scandal, leaving it with a fine of more than 350million.

But the board are keen to fend off a further negative spiral that could affect their recovery plans.

Koerner said in the memo: 'No doubt there will be more noise in the markets and the press between now and the end of October. All I can tell you is to remain disciplined and stay as close as ever to your clients and colleagues.'

'I know it's not easy to remain focused amid the many stories you read in the media  in particular, given the many factually inaccurate statements being made.

'That said, I trust that you are not confusing our day-to-day stock price performance with the strong capital base and liquidity position of the bank.'
One of the world's oldest energy consultants could be sold for up to 2.5billion.

Private equity firms including The Carlyle Group, CVC and BC Partners are said to be interested in acquiring Aberdeen-based Wood Mackenzie, City sources said. The consultancy  also known as WoodMac  was established in the 19th Century as a stockbroker.

Sell-off: Private equity firms including The Carlyle Group, CVC and BC Partners are said to be interested in acquiring Wood Mackenzie

Oil and gas markets, where WoodMac makes most of its revenue, have been contracting in recent years as demand for renewable energy rises.

But the company may find new impetus after a sudden increase in the price of oil and gas following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

WoodMac is owned by New York-listed information giant owner Verisk Analytics, which bought it in 2015 for 1.85billion. The sale has been under way since the summer, The Mail on Sunday has learned.

The consultancy produces data and research on the energy and commodities industries. WoodMac is considered attractive because its business model is based on recurring revenue from subscription services.

The sale plan follows a campaign by American activist investor DE Shaw which has publicly urged Verisk's board to sell assets and focus more on insurance.

Sources said bids have been tabled at between 2billion and 2.5billion. All parties were contacted for comment.
Actors Equity has endorsed Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnocks re-election bid, marking the first time the unions National Council has voted to endorse a political candidate in the state. Warnock, a Democrat, is facing Republican challenger Herschel Walker in the November 8 midterm election.

Reverend Warnock is focused on lowering costs for hardworking families and holding corporations accountable for price-gouging, from the gas pump to the pharmacy counter, which will benefit arts workers across Georgia, said Al Vincent Jr., executive director of Actors Equity Association. We are excited to make sure Equity members across the Peach State know that Reverend Warnock will also be an advocate for tax fairness for arts workers and that they should vote to return him to the Senate this fall.

More from Deadline

Equitys endorsement is another sign that the 51,000-member union is becoming more politically engaged. On Wednesday, Equity endorsed L.A. mayoral candidate Karen Bass over Rick Caruso, marking the first time its ever endorsed a Los Angeles mayoral candidate.

Equity says that its public policy priorities include defending and protecting the right to collectively bargain, a prevailing wage in the arts, racial justice, a strong minimum wage, stronger federal and state arts funding, gun violence prevention, universal federal health care, tax fairness and LGBTQ non-discrimination protections.

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The unofficial Mississippi district and school accountability grades for 2021-2022 have been released, with DeSoto County School District receiving an A and 772 points.

The grades are based on how students performed during the 2021-2022 school year and the academic growth they have made since the 2020-2021 school year. A performance rating of A ,B, C, D and F is assigned for each school and district, based in part on statewide assessments and end-of-course subject assessments in Algebra I, English II, Biology and U.S. History.

This is the first time letter grades for districts and schools have been given since before the pandemic. The 2020-2021 accountability measures did not include new letter grades, due to assessments not being administered in 2019-2020. DeSoto County scored an A with 675 points in the 2018-2019 accountability results, the last time a grade was given.

On a school level, elementary and middle schools can earn up to 700 points. High schools and districts as a whole can earn up to 1,000 points. Each school is also given a letter grade.

Half of the eight DeSoto County High Schools received A's this year. Two DeSoto high schools, Lewisburg High School and Hernando High School, were in the top 10 highest performing 1000-point schools, with 814 and 813 points out of 1000, respectively. The lowest performing DeSoto County high school is Horn Lake High School, which scored a C with 615 points.

Teacher of the Year:Memphis educator Melissa Collins named Tennessees 2022-23 Teacher of the Year

Education newsMemo: Tennessee halts assignment of A-F letter grades to schools

Lewisburg Primary, a DeSoto County kindergarten and first grade school, is the second highest scoring 700 school in the state, scoring 622 points and an A. Lewisburg Elementary School also scored high, ranking fourth in the state with 616 points and an A.

Accountability grades will become official Thursday, when the Mississippi State Board of Education approves the results during its monthly board meeting.

Gina Butkovich covers DeSoto County, storytelling and general news. She can reached at 901/232-6714 or gina.butkovich@commercialappeal.com

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Unofficial Mississippi district and school accountability grades released
North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea off its east coast on Saturday, hours before South Korea staged a large military show, displaying stealth fighters and its own missiles.

Pyongyangs fourth launch in a week comes amid a flurry of military muscle-flexing by countries in the region, including joint anti-submarine exercises on Friday by the navies of South Korea, the United States and Japan.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visited the region this week, meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in Seoul on Thursday.

The rival Koreas are in a regional arms race that has seen a major increase of weapons and military spending.

Marking South Koreas 74th Armed Forces Day, Yoon condemned what he called recent military provocations by the North and vowed to strengthen joint military drills with the United States.

The government will further strengthen the Korea-U.S. joint exercises, will respond strongly to North Korean provocations and threats by showing them the Alliance in Action, Yoon said in a televised speech.

He and military officials observed a major show of advanced weaponry, including multiple rocket launchers, ballistic missiles, main battle tanks, drones and F-35 fighter aircraft, among other systems.

The U.S. military demonstrated fighter jets and attack aircraft. Images of the event showed Yoon saluting from the back of a convertible car while driving by rows of tanks and other weapons.

He has said his countrys conventional weapons are key to deterring the North, and Seoul has also been seeking more major arms sales around the world.

Japans Defense Ministry said in a report in July the North had been launching short-range missiles that fly low and irregular trajectories, characteristics observed since May 2019 that are likely designed for higher war-fighting effectiveness.

The United Nations Security Council has imposed sanctions on the North for its ballistic missile and nuclear tests. Pyongyang rejects such moves as infringement of its sovereign right to self-defence and space exploration.

The North has completed preparations for a nuclear test, a window which could open between Chinas Communist Party Congress this month and U.S. mid-term elections in November, South Korean lawmakers said on Wednesday.

MISSILE RACE

Saturdays two short-range missiles were launched from Sunan, north of the capital Pyongyang, South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. It estimated the range at 350 km (220 miles) at 30 km (20 miles) altitude and speed of Mach 6.

Japans coast guard reported at least two suspected ballistic missile tests by Pyongyang. The missiles flew 400 km and 350 km, reaching an altitude of 50 km, said Toshiro Ino, state minister of defence.

Tokyo has lodged a protest against the North through diplomatic channels, Ino said, adding the missiles possibly flew an irregular trajectory designed to evade missile defence.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said it is aware of the ballistic missile launches and has assessed they do not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory or to its allies.

North Korea fired missiles before and after Harris visit to South Korea, extending a record pace in weapons testing this year as it increases the threat of a credible nuclear power that can strike the United States and its allies.

Pyongyang also conducted the first intercontinental ballistic missile test since 2017.

Analysts see the increased pace of testing as an effort to build operational weapons, as well as to take advantage of a world distracted by the Ukraine conflict and other crises to normalise its tests.

Despite North Koreas internal weaknesses and international isolation, it is rapidly modernising weapons and taking advantage of a world divided by U.S.-China rivalry and Russias annexation of more Ukrainian territory, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international politics at Ewha University in Seoul.

The Kim regime is also playing hardball with the Yoon administration while South Korean politics are hobbled by infighting, he said.

SOURCE: REUTERS
Councillor Seamus Morris raised concerns about sewage going into local rivers from wastewater treatment plants.

Speaking at a recent sitting of Nenagh Municipal District Council, he said some treatment plants in Tipperary are over capacity and asked the council if an alarm system was in place.

Cllr Morris said this was not good enough, and local people are concerned.

I cant rely on people on Facebook to put up messages that sewage has gone into the river, said Cllr Morris.

Cllr Morris was referring to a recent incident in Borrisokane.

An official from Tipperary County Council said that incident was a once-off.

They said there is no alarm system in place, but crews visit the plants daily and do phenomenal work.

Our caretakers visit the site everyday of the year. If something happens, something happens, and they will deal with it, they said.

Cllr Morris said he was shocked that there was no alarm in place.

Shannon Pipeline

Cllr Morris also raised concerns about funding for the Shannon pipeline project.

He said the funding had been diverted by Irish Water. This project is in real trouble now, said Cllr Morris.

An official from Tipperary County Council said the pipeline was part of the National Development plan.

They said there was no point in asking for it to be removed as it had only just been added.
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By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Baku and Warsaw have discussed the possibility of holding an Azerbaijani-Polish business forum, Azernews reports.

The discussion took place during a meeting between Azerbaijani Export and Investment Promotion Agency Head Yusif Abdullayev and Polish Ambassador Rafal Poborski.

During the meeting, Yusif Abdullayev informed him about the main directions of the agency's activities. The parties also exchanged views on the expansion of relations between business circles of the two countries.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on February 21, 1992. The embassy of Azerbaijan in Poland was opened on August 30, 2004, while the embassy of Poland in Azerbaijan on August 23, 2001. Azerbaijan and Poland are actively cooperating in various political, economic, and cultural spheres. The trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $111 million in 2021.
It is meant to catch up Grade 7 and 8 students who missed routine immunizations due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Toronto police charge teenagers in series of alleged violent pharmacy robberies

Robberies spanned three pharmacies in a single day and involved use of a stolen vehicle, Toronto police allege
Around 55,000 education workers in Ontario will be in a legal strike position in 17 days, the Canadian Union of Public Employees announced.
All that Marvin Joel Rivera-Guevara seemed to want was a better life, a life that came to a violent end by Moore's Creek when he was just 24 years old.

Now, prosecutors say they've finally gotten justice for the young Salvadoran immigrant, as the gang leader who ordered the 2017 slaying has been sentenced to life in prison.

Andy Tovar, age 33, of White Post, received his sentence Wednesday after pleading guilty to multiple charges stemming from Rivera-Guevara's death and two attempted killings, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria.

"Tovar is considered to be one of the highest-ranking MS-13 members in the United States," the government said in a release.

At the time of the hit he ordered on Rivera-Guevara, Tovar may have seemed ordinary. He lived in a trailer park beside Dinosaur Land near Front Royal and drove a 1996 Honda Civic with 175,000 miles on the odometer. He earned $25,000 to $33,000 a year assembling traffic signals for a manufacturer in Manassas.

At home, he had a girlfriend and a one-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son. Rent in the trailer park was just $250 a month. But by his own admission he was spending more than that, $360 a month, on phone, cable, and internet and had rung up a $1,500 balance with T-Mobile. Federal prosecutors say he had sidelines: selling cocaine and enforcing discipline by ordering minions to kill.

Government files say that Tovar led an MS-13 clique called "Guanacos Lil Cycos Salvatruchas," which roughly translates to "silly little psycho gangsters." But there was nothing silly about what happened five years ago in Charlottesville.

According to court files in Alexandria and Albemarle County, Rivera-Guevara had been working at two restaurant jobs. He and his brothers had fled the violent streets of their native El Salvador, according to the GoFundMe appeal organized in the aftermath of his death, and he would send money to his wife, still in El Salvador.

Unfortunately for Rivera-Guevara, two of his co-workers at Fabio's NY Pizza at the corner of East High and Long Streets were members of MS-13, according to prosecutors.

He allegedly remarked that MS-13 did not make the rules in the U.S., a comment that made its way back to Tovar in Northern Virginia. Prosecutors say Tovar interpreted the comment as disrespect for the gang and decided to kill him.

On the night of July 3, 2017, after work, a 17-year-old co-worker climbed into Rivera-Guevara's car under the pretense of smoking pot or meeting women and suggested a drive into the Woolen Mills neighborhood. Unknown to Rivera-Guevara, according to court evidence, another car filled with four gang members from Northern Virginia was following his vehicle away from the pizzeria.

Once at the end of Market Street, Rivera-Guevara's car was blocked, and he was ordered out at gunpoint and forced to walk into a wooded area. There the gangsters rained machete strikes onto his body and his head. By the coroner's count, there were at least 144 blows, so many that the handle of the machete broke.

The government says machete attacks are a hallmark of MS-13 violence and the sharp blows mutilated Rivera-Guevara so badly that family members could not identify his body, which had been dumped into Moore's Creek.

The Virginia Medical Examiner identified him using DNA, according to its report.

The five gang members then drove Rivera-Guevara's vehicle to Ingleridge Farm Road in Albemarle County, where, according to previous testimony, they set it on fire.

In 2018 and 2019, Albemarle County prosecutors got guilty pleas from four of the participants on charges including "murder by mob.

Juan Carlos Argueta was 17 when he led his Fabio's co-worker into the ambush. He got 25 years in prison.

Jose Luis Escobar-Umana was 23 when he forced Rivera-Guevara toward Moore's Creek at gunpoint. He got 30 years.

Walter Antonio Argueta Amaya was 20 when he traveled from Northern Virginia for the killing. He got 30 years.

Eduardo Zelaya was 17 and living in Manassas at the time of his participation. He got 25 years.

A fifth alleged conspirator, Omar Antonio Villalta-Vasquez was 22. Nicknamed "Anticristo," he also worked at Fabio's. He was brought into custody in Charlottesville just 10 days after Rivera-Guevara's slaying on federal charges stemming from another case, a three months-earlier quadruple killing on New York's Long Island.

The government accuses him of commanding the plot against Rivera-Guevara by falsely telling Tovar that Rivera-Guevara was a member of a rival gang, choosing the murder location, and wielding a .380 pistol during the ambush. His case remains pending.

After the slaying, Tovar received a gory photograph of the aftermath, expressed gratitude to Escobar-Umana and Zelaya, and told them they would be promoted to "homeboys," according to Tovar's sentencing report.

As the leader of his so-called "clique," Tovar proudly relayed the news to MS-13 members back in El Salvador and then told his team that the El Salvadoran gang members were also proud.

In 2019, as the government's case against him was advancing, a wiretap showed that Tovar stated, we are going to kill the snitches," according to his sentencing report. That earned him a punishment upgrade, as did his use of juveniles to carry out crimes.

His actions include two attempted killings in Northern Virginia that resulted in devastating, permanent injuries to the victims, according to prosecutors.

"Tovar is not a victim of circumstance," wrote Jessica D. Aber, the lead federal prosecutor. "He has chosen to lead a criminal and violent lifestyle as a longtime leader of MS-13."

"Tovars choices, actions, and commands have led to destruction and carnage, and destroyed families and communities," she continued. "Based on all of these factors, a sentence of life imprisonment is warranted and appropriate."

During the Albemarle prosecutions, then Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Tracci would summarize the Rivera-Guevara family's feelings because their written victim impact statements had been placed under seal for fear of inflaming retribution-minded gangsters. Those statements are still under seal.
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Hi, my name is Scott C. Waring and I wrote a few books and am currently a ESL School Owner in Taiwan. I have had my own UFO sighting up close and personal, but that's how it works right? A non believer becomes a believer when they experience their first sighting. You witnessed it, your perceptual field changes, so now you need to share it.





I created this site to help the UFO community get a little bit organized. I noticed that there was a lot of chaos when searching for UFO sighting reports, so I hope this site helps. I wanted to support those eyewitnesses who have tried to tell others about what they have seen, yet were laughed at by even closest of friends.





More and more each day the governments of the world leak bits and pieces of UFO information to the public. They have a trickle down theory in hopes of slowly getting citizens use to the idea that we are not alone in universe and never have been. The truth is being leaked drop by drop until one day we look around and find ourselves neck high in it.





The discovery of alien species in existence is the most monumental scientific event in human history, suppression of that information is a crime against humanity.





About me:

I live in Taiwan. I OWN MY OWN ENGLISH SCHOOL, AND ONCE HAD 5 SCHOOLS.

Am Former USAF at SAC base (flight line).

Age: 42

Educ: BA in Elem ed. Masters in Counseling ed.





I had two UFO sightings, (30+bus size orbs) in military and in 2012 personally saw the UFO over Taipei 101 building on New Years Day (and recored it).
Unmanned aerial vehicles, which Iran supplied to Russia, have experienced numerous failures on the battlefield in Ukraine.

U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Sasha Baker told this to reporters during a briefing on Friday, Ukrinform reports, citing CNN.

"We have seen some evidence already that the UAVs associated with the transfer from Iran have already experienced numerous failures on the battleground  on the battlefields in Ukraine," Baker said.

She also added that Iranian drones did not live up to the expectations of the Russians.

"I think that the idea that they represent some technological leap ahead, frankly, we're just not seeing borne out in the data," Baker said.

In late August, the U.S. assessed Russia was in possession of weapons-capable Iranian drones.
Lithuania will never recognize Russia's illegal annexation of four regions of Ukraine, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has said.

In his address to the people of Lithuania, he said that Lithuania will never recognize this act and confirmed continued support for Ukraine until its complete victory over the aggressor, Ukrinform reports, citing the press service of the Lithuanian president.

"Today, Putin's increasingly desperate regime has crossed yet another red line. The announced decision to annex the Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia is illegal and void. Sooner or later, Russia will have to pay the price," Nauseda said.

According to him, Ukraine, as well as the people of Lithuania, will never forget the crimes committed by Russia. "It will have to answer for Bucha, Irpin and Izium. For the massacre of fleeing civilians in Kramatorsk and for the recent bloody attack on the humanitarian convoy in Zaporizhzhia. Also, for nuclear and energy blackmail," he said.

He believes that today there should be a clear understanding that the fate of all of Europe, in particular Lithuania, is being decided in Ukraine. "If we do not stop the aggressor now, we will risk losing everything that we have created in over three decades of everyday hard work," Nauseda said.

He said that Lithuania will continue to provide economic, military, social, and financial support to Ukraine until its final victory. "We will continue to push for the strongest possible international sanctions against Russia. This is the least we can do. In this dark hour, which always comes before dawn, we firmly know that Ukraine's fight for freedom is our fight, and we will win it," Nauseda said.

On Friday, September 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed "agreements on accession to Russia" of the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and declared that from now on their residents are Russian citizens.

Democratic countries said they will not recognize this act and will continue to support Ukraine, which defends its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Photo: lrp.lt
Last night Russian invaders twice attacked the city of Mykolaiv, with suicide drones and S-300 missiles. Five civilians were reported injured, including a 3-month-old baby.

The relevant statement was made by Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration Head Vitalii Kim on Telegram, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

According to Kim, after 00:00 (midnight), the enemy struck Mykolaiv with the Shahed-136 suicide drones. The details are yet to be checked.

Around 04:03 a.m., Russian troops launched a massive attack on the city with S-300 missiles. Lots of destructions in residential houses were reported. In particular, one of Russian missiles struck a 5-storey apartment block, having fully destroyed apartments on floor 5 and floor 4. The cars parked in the yard and the neighboring houses were damaged.

In the other district of the city, detached houses and a 2-storey residential house were hit. A warehouse and buildings located within a motor transport enterprise were damaged.

According to the preliminary data, five civilians were injured, including a 3-month-old baby, Kim noted.

In addition, the Mykolaiv regions Mykolaiv district and Bashtanka district came under enemy fire.

The enemy launched missile and artillery strikes on the Mykolaiv districts urban-type settlement of Pervomaiske. Detached houses and household plots were damaged. Such villages as Zasillia and Kyselivka were shelled with Russian MLRS and artillery. Russian invaders launched an artillery strike on the Shevchenkove communitys Kotliareve, having hit detached houses and a garage. No casualties among civilians were reported.

The Bashtanka districts Bereznehuvate community is remaining under enemy fire. The adjacent areas of such settlements as Lepetykha and Kavkaz were shelled on September 30, 2022. Explosions were heard near the village of Mala Mykhailivka. Russian invaders opened fire on the outskirts of Vysun and Bereznehuvate Station. No casualties or destructions were reported.

In the Voznesensk district and the Pervomaisk district, it was relatively calm.

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Alexander Lukashenko, who refers to himself as president of Belarus, turned the country into a bridgehead for the Russian army.

Thats according to the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Ukrinform reports.

"As per the Center of National Resistance, created by our Armys Special Operations Forces, on September 20, some 130 mercenaries with the Liga Private Military Company (Wagner) arrived in Minsk from the Russian Federation. They may be involved in setting up acts of provocation on the Ukrainian border," the statement reads.

Today, according to the CCD, there are about 1,000 Russian troops on the territory of Belarus, one division of the Iskander missile launchers, as well as three S-300 and S-400 divisions, which launch cruise missiles at Ukraine.

According to Belarusian opposition figure Pavel Latushka, Alexander Lukashenko started modernizing the countrys railways so that Belarus would have the opportunity to deploy up to 120,000 mobilized Russian soldiers in November-December. The information is confirmed by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, reporting that Belarus is already preparing to accept 20,000 troops called up for service in Russia.

Lukashenko, in turn, declared that "Belarusians are not a threat to anyone." The CCD considers such statements to be "outright manipulation."

As reported by Ukrinform, Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, speaking about the issue of the Belarusian border, stated that the Ukrainian authorities have an understanding of what is happening there, and assured the public that the developments are under complete control of Ukraines forces.

Photo: EPA
A Corvallis man was involved in a fatal wrong-way, two-vehicle crash on Interstate 5 in Marion County on Friday, Sept. 30.

According to a news release from Oregon State Police, a head-on collision between Tyler Bratton, 24, of Santa Rosa, California and Usach Sisach Nelson, 22, of Corvallis left Bratton dead.

Nelson showed signs of impairment, according to police, and his blood alcohol content was 0.1%. Police arrested Nelson for DUII.

Emergency personnel responded to the two-vehicle crash at around 12:45 a.m. near milepost 279, south of Wilsonville.

Through investigation, police discovered Bratton was riding a black Honda motorcycle and traveling southbound in the northbound fast lane when he collided with Nelson who was driving a black Jeep Cherokee.

According to the news release, a witness observed Bratton northbound, make a U-turn and then proceed southbound down the freeway. It is unknown why he was traveling the wrong direction. Bratton sustained fatal injuries from the crash.

Interstate 5 was impacted for 4.5 hours while the OSP Collision Reconstruction Unit investigated.
More than 11 settlements in Ukraine came under Russian fire throughout the day. The Armed Forces repelled enemy attacks near five towns and villages.

Thats according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Ukrinform reports.

"The enemy launched three missile and five air strikes, and carried out more than 16 attacks employing multiple rocket launchers. In addition, the enemy flew unmanned aerial vehicles to strike infrastructure objects. More than 11 settlements were subjected to enemy strikes. These are Bakhmut, Trudove, Bohoyavlenka, Novoukrainka, Zaliznychne, Illinka, Nikopol, Blahodativka, Mykolaiv, Ochakiv, and Odesa," the message reads.

Throughout the day, Ukraines Defense Forces repelled enemy attacks in the areas of Kozacha Lopan, Bakhmut, Vesela Dolyna, Zaytseve, and Pervomaiske.

It is noted that in the temporarily captured territory of Ukraine, Russian occupation authorities, grossly violating the rules of warfare and human rights, intensified the forcible mobilization of conscription-age male population to replenish depleted units. In order to meet call-up deadlines and suppress local resistance, additional units of the Russian Guard were deployed in Berdiansk and Melitopol.

As reported, since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have already eliminated about 59,610 Russian troops.
Russia is losing the fight for the international community. The world will not allow a return to the times of colonial conquests, criminal annexations and total arbitrariness instead of international law.

The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his video address, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The full text of the speech is provided below:

Dear Ukrainians!

Dear all our defenders!

Another week of our war for our independence comes to an end.

The week that the enemy really wanted to make especially hard for us, but he made it really hard, but for himself. For Russia itself.

Today, even more voices in the world have joined in condemning the pseudo-referendums and Russia's attempt to annex our territory  the territory of Ukraine.

I am grateful for every such voice.

As a result, we already have dozens of statements that clearly support Ukraine and international law and condemn Russia for this new aggressive step.

I would like to especially note the statement of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

He bluntly said that Russia violates the goals and principles of the UN, the UN Charter and that the pseudo-referendums and attempted annexation will have no legal force.

When such words are heard at the highest level in the UN, everyone in the world understands everything.

And Russia has no such veto right that can stop or cancel this understanding of the world.

And the main thing... The main thing is our resistance with you, our protection with you, our movement with you towards the liberation of the entire Ukrainian territory.

It is our movement that puts everything in its place.

Russia has staged a farce in Donbas. An absolute farce, which it wanted to present as an alleged referendum.

They depicted something there, drove machine gunners around the houses, carried pieces of paper, the propagandists filmed all this in the part of Donbas they controlled.

And now a Ukrainian flag is there.

During this week, there were more Ukrainian flags in Donbas. It will be even more in a week.

What then is a pseudo-referendum? Are there two Donetsk regions? Two villages of Yampil, Donetsk region? Are there two villages of Torske?

The Ukrainian movement will continue.

The Ukrainian flag is already in Lyman, Donetsk region. Fighting is still going on there. But there is no trace of any pseudo-referendum there.

It is logical for Ukraine. And for the enemy, there will be more and more such "mismatches."

By the way, they have already started biting each other there: they are looking for the culprits, accusing some generals of failures...

This is the first bell that should be heard at all levels of the Russian government.

Until you all solve the problem with the one who started it all, who started this senseless for Russia war against Ukraine, you will be killed one by one, making scapegoats, so as not to admit that this war is a historical mistake for Russia.

Ukraine will return its own. Both in the east and in the south. And what they tried to annex now, and Crimea, which has been called annexed since 2014.

Our flag will be everywhere.

There will be punishment for those who committed this crime of aggression against our independent state.

On October 1, 76 years ago, the Nuremberg Tribunal ended its work.

In many ways, it was this process that laid the foundations of the modern world  the legal foundations of justice. Everything that ruscism is trying to destroy.

Therefore, another tribunal will inevitably take place, which will put an end to the careers of all those responsible for this Russian "special operation" against the international system, which began in 2014 and became full-scale on February 24, and will end thanks to the heroism of our people.

Today, we still do not know on which day it will happen. But we know that the day of our victory will come. It will definitely be. And after it the day of judgment for the ruscists will be. It will definitely be.

I thank everyone who brings this time closer. Who is approaching it daily.

Thanks to everyone who fights and works for our victory! Thanks to everyone who helps!

Thank you to President Biden and the US Congress for providing more than $12 billion in supplemental support. It will definitely strengthen our common freedom.

Glory to the invincible people of Ukraine!

Glory to our soldiers!

Glory to Ukraine!
The US Department of Defense intends to create a separate structural unit to coordinate security assistance to Ukraine.

The mission in Germany would streamline a training and assistance system that the United States and its allies created on the fly after Russias invasion, The New York Times reports.

The system would be placed under a single new command based in Germany that would be led by a high-ranking U.S. general, according to several military and administration officials.

About 300 people would be dedicated to the mission, which would be in Wiesbaden, Germany, the U.S. Armys headquarters in Europe.

As noted, the new command signals that the United States expects the threat from Russia to Ukraine and its neighbors to persist for many years.

A proposal was recently presented to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III. Mr. Austin and his top aides are reviewing the plan and are likely to make a final decision in the coming weeks.

This recognizes the reality of the important mission of security assistance to our Ukrainian partners, said Adm. James G. Stavridis, a former supreme allied commander for Europe. This will also create a formal security structure that our allies and partners can adhere to in terms of getting their equipment and training into the hands of the Ukrainians.

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Russia is responsible for the bombing of Nord Stream pipelines as in this way Moscow sought to avoid fines for refusing to supply gas to the EU, dodge swift nationalization of the pipes by the EU, and rally own electorate.

Andrii Ryzhenko, an expert on military and energy issues, captain 1st rank, deputy chief of staff of the Ukrainian Navy (2004-2020), addressed the issue in a commentary to Ukrinform.

"The Russian Federation carried out the detonation of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 underwater gas pipelines. The nature of damage to the pipes was investigated by Denmark and Sweden, which have appropriate personnel at seismological stations. Their conclusions were that it was an act of sabotage that required approximately 100 kilograms of trinitrotoluene (TNT) for each gas pipe. The West is convinced that Russia has the motivation and means to pull this off," the expert notes.

Read also: Nord Stream hit with blast with TNT equivalent of 700 kg

According to Ryzhenko, the Russian Federation refused to supply in contracted volumes: "But when it comes to contracts, political solutions dont work. Europeans could demand billions in compensation from Gazprom in the event of supply interruption. Therefore, bombing the pipe is a way to avoid fines."

Another motive is to show who the man is in the house, to intimidate Europe. Although Germany has filled its storage facilities by almost 90% and there is no serious threat of any shortages. And the third motive, since the Russian Federation says that it is at war with the collective West, this sabotage will add images for internal mobilization against the insidious West. And the last motive is that, since the idea of nationalizing both Nord Stream pipes was being considered, Russia could do it just to not let anyone do it, the expert notes.

The former deputy chief of staff of the Ukrainian Navy also said that Russian vessels are often seen in the area. Such explosions could have been set up by underwater saboteurs.

"There is a unit in Russia, called the Main Directorate of Deep Water Research  these are people who are able to conduct such research at great depths (up to 6 km), while gas pipes were laid at a depth of 80 meters. This agency has at its disposal reconnaissance ships and submarines of various classes. It was this agency that owned the Losharik deep-sea reconnaissance boat, which sank in 2019! Ryzhenko suggested.

As reported, on September 27 three leaks were reported on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines. The incident occurred off the coast of Denmark and coincided with the presentation of the European project Baltic Stream, which allows supplying up to 10 billion cubic meters of gas annually from Norway to Poland, through the territory of Denmark.

NATO allies have said that the incidents at the Nord Stream gas pipelines may be the result of sabotage.

Photo: EPA
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America imposed new sanctions against Russia in response to the "accession" of captured Ukrainian territories to the Russian Federation.

The UK's foreign office said Russia will now lose access to major Western services that it depends on, including: IT consultancy, architectural services, engineering services, and transactional legal advisory services for certain commercial activity.

Britain has also banned the export of nearly 700 goods that are crucial to Russias industrial and technological capabilities, Sky News reports.

Elvira Nabiullina, the governor of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation was sanctioned.

In her role, Nabiullina has been instrumental in steering the Russian economy through the Russian regimes illegal war against Ukraine and extending the ruble into the Ukrainian territories that are temporarily controlled by Russia, a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said.

"Nabiullina has been sanctioned and is personally subject to an asset freeze and travel ban."

Moreover, the UK has summoned the Russian ambassador following Moscow's annexation of four Ukrainian territories.

The United States imposed sanctions on individuals and companies inside and outside of Russia who are complicit in the war against Ukraine and sham referendums in the territory of Ukraine.

The U.S. Department of the Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated 14 persons in Russias military-industrial complex, including two international suppliers, three key leaders of Russias financial infrastructure, immediate family members of some of senior Russian officials, and 278 members of Russias legislature for enabling Russias sham referenda and attempt to annex sovereign Ukrainian territory, reads the press release of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

As reported, on the night of September 30, Putin signed a decree recognizing "the independence" of Kherson and Zaporizhizha regions. As a reminder, Putin recognized the "independence" of "DPR" and "LPR" on February 21, and the agreement on their "protection" became the reason for the start of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

On September 30, the Kremlin held a ceremony of "admission" of the puppet entities "DPR" and "LPR", as well as the territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions seized by the Russian army.

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By attempting to annex further Ukrainian territories, Russia has constituted a new low point in its blatant flouting of international law, which should receive a proper assessment of the entire international community.

This is said in G7 Foreign Ministers statement on the illegal annexation of sovereign Ukrainian territory, which was published on the website of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany that took over the G7 Presidency, Ukrinform reports.

The G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union, unanimously condemned in the strongest possible terms of Russias war of aggression against Ukraine and its continued violations of Ukraines sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.

President Putins efforts to incorporate Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions into the territory of the Russian Federation constitute a new low point in Russias blatant flouting of international law, and yet another example of Russias unacceptable violations of Ukraines sovereignty, the UN Charter, and the commonly agreed principles and commitments of the Helsinki Final Act and the Paris Charter. We will never recognise these purported annexations, nor the sham referenda conducted at gunpoint We reaffirm that the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya as well as Crimea are integral parts of Ukraine, the statement says.

The ministers reiterate their call for all countries to condemn unequivocally Russias war of aggression and its attempt to acquire territory by force.

We call on the broader international community to reject Russias brutal expansionism, its efforts to deny Ukraine's existence as an independent state, and its blatant violation of the international norms that guarantee international peace, security, and the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states, the statement says.

The G7 countries promise to impose further economic costs on Russia, and on individuals and entities  inside and outside of Russia  that provide political or economic support to these violations of international law.

We are unwavering in our support for Ukraines right to defend itself against Russias war of aggression and its unquestionable right to reclaim its territory from Russia, the statement says.

The ministers also condemned Russias irresponsible nuclear rhetoric.

Russia must immediately stop its war of aggression, withdraw all of its troops and military equipment from Ukraine, and respect Ukraines independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, the statement says.
Turkey did not recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea at an illegitimate referendum held in 2014 and also rejects Russia's decision to annex Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said this in a statement, Ukrinform reports.

"Turkey did not recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea at an illegitimate referendum held in 2014 and emphasized on every occasion its strong support for Ukraine's territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty. In line with this position we adopted in 2014, we reject the decision by Russia to annex Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions," the ministry said.

The statement also adds that Turkey cannot accept this decision, which is a gross violation of the established principles of international law.

"We reiterate our support for the resolution of the increasingly grave war on the basis of a just peace through negotiations," the document said.

On September 30, Putin signed a decree "recognizing the independence" of the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions. The "independence" of the "Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics" was recognized back in February, and the agreement on their "protection" served as a reason for the beginning of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

On September 30, the Kremlin hosted a ceremony of "the incorporation into Russia" of the puppet entities "DPR" and "LPR", as well as the areas of Ukraine's Kherson and Zaporizhia regions captured by the Russian army.
Russia's attempts to annex the territories of four Ukrainian regions will in no way affect Ukraine's resolve to liberate all its lands.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said this in an interview with Politico, according to the president's press service.

"For our plans, [Russia's annexation] doesn't matter," Podolyak said, adding the nation "should liberate all its territories."

He also said that the mobilization recently announced by the President of the Russian Federation shows that Russia has run out of a professional army. In his opinion, the mobilization is prompting Kyiv to call for more weapons from its Western allies.

"For example, 100 more 155mm-caliber missiles would solve the problem, if you will excuse me for putting it that way, of additional human resources being utilized by Russia on the field of battle," Podolyak said, stressing Ukraine "will keep doing its job" to liberate its territory.

As Ukrinform reported, on September 30, the Kremlin held a ceremony on "the accession to Russia" of the self-proclaimed DPR/LPR, as well as the territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine captured by the Russian army.

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The illegal detention by the invaders of Zaporizhzhia NPP Director General Ihor Murashov is another act of the state terrorism by Russia. Russia must immediately release the director general of the power plant.

This is said in a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Ukrinform reports.

MFA condemns in the strongest terms illegal detention of Director General of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant Ihor Murashov by the Russian occupants. This crime is yet another act of the state terrorism by Russia and it represents a grave violation of international law. Russia must immediately release the Director General of the ZNPP, the statement says.

The MFA calls on the international community, including the UN, the IAEA and the G7, to take decisive actions to this end.

We emphasize, once again, the urgent need to mobilize international efforts with a view to demilitarize and de-occupy the ZNPP and return the facility under control of Ukraine as the only way to eliminate the current threats to nuclear security, the ministry said.

According to the statement, the Ukrainian side expects the increased pressure on the aggressor state in order to end shelling by the Russian occupants of the ZNPP and other civil nuclear facilities located on the territory of Ukraine as well as to prevent further abuse and repressions against the ZNPP personnel and their families.

As reported earlier, Petro Kotin, the head of Ukraine's state nuclear company Energoatom, said that on September 30, the Russian invaders detained Ihor Murashov, the director general of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

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Negotiations with Russia can resume only when the Russian army leaves the entire territory of Ukraine, including Crimea.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said this in an interview with La Repubblica, according to the president's press service.

"Russia does not want to negotiate  it only launches ultimatums. If the Russian army leaves the entire territory of Ukraine, including Crimea, the negotiations could resume," Podolyak said.

He stressed that pseudo-referendums, held by Russia in the temporary occupied territories of Ukraine, have no legal force under international law. Thus, Russia's announcement of the annexation of the occupied Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk regions do not change anything for Ukraine.

Podolyak also commented on Russia's threats to use nuclear weapons.

"The chances of a nuclear conflict are not high, but they do exist. And if the world, I mean the civilian part of the world, allows the complete collapse of international nuclear security, we will have catastrophic consequences not only for Ukraine, the adviser to the head of the Presidents Office said.

According to him, the global response to a possible nuclear attack will have to be taken within the framework of the EU and NATO.

As reported, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine is ready for a dialogue with the Russian Federation, but with another Russian president, because the current one "does not know what dignity and honesty are."

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Candidates for Linn County Sheriff, incumbent Michelle Duncan and Deputy Jon Raymond, verbally sparred at a debate Fright night, Sept. 30, in response to 20 questions on a variety of topics, including gun laws, the role of sheriff, the jail and staffing concerns.

Among the revelations was that Raymond said he would violate health rules if necessary to keep the jail at full capacity.

More than a hundred community members gathered at the Linn County Fair and Expo Center to watch the two go back and forth for two hours.

Audience members were able to submit questions to a panel that narrowed the selection to the most requested topics. The Linn County Republican Party hosted the event.

Opening the jail

Getting the Linn County Jail to full capacity following the COVID-19 pandemic came up repeatedly throughout the night. Raymond claimed that Duncan keeps saying the jail is open, but in reality, getting it to full capacity is the priority.

Raymond said looking at the root of the jail capacity problem is the best way to attack the issue

Weve let the Oregon Health Authority run our jail and make a lot of decisions for us without us standing up against them he said. The sheriff has to run the jail.  If the sheriff has to fight a few lawsuits here and there  I hope we dont have to  but we need to stand up and fight or well be overrun."

As a state administrative agency, when the Oregon Health Authority enacts restrictions, they are rules, not laws. However, the rules have the force of law and subject rule-breakers to potential fines, as ordered by an independent administrative judge, per the OHA website.

Protecting tax payer dollars is critical to Duncan. She said disobeying guidelines or restrictions can lead the agency to expensive lawsuits. There are still some Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-ordered limitations, she said

She added that there are plans to add more beds for women to the jail, which should help maximize jail space.

The Second Amendment

Both candidates are strong supporters of the right to bear arms. They were asked what their stances were on Measure 114, also on the Nov. 8 General Election ballot, which would require a permit to purchase a firearm.

Duncan said she doesnt agree with the permit requirement, but she wants to keep in mind gun owners best interests.

I dont agree with the permitting, but I have to think about it very thoughtfully, Duncan said. If I dont comply with the permitting, its going to end up unfortunately harming gun owners. If I dont comply with issuing permits and youre unable to get a gun because I wanted to take a stand, then thats not helping you as a gun owner.

Duncan added that shes been very vocal about fighting back against Measure 114.

Raymond believes the duty of the sheriff is to protect constitutional rights and the Second Amendment falls under that.

If there is something within that law that makes it so we have to issue a permit, we will find the quickest, easiest, simplest path to get there because we are not going to violate your Second Amendment rights, he said.

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Staffing shortages

A big topic during the debate was staffing shortages. The responses led to questions about employee morale, retention efforts and hiring methods.

Raymond said retention is the best tool the sheriffs office has when it comes to staffing levels.

We can hire and train and let go as many people as you can find, and its not going to serve the citizens of Linn County, Raymond said. We need retention. We need happy employees who are not out looking for work. We need to retain staff.

Raymond said its time to let employees have a voice in the sheriffs office.

Duncan recognized the importance of retention but added that there are some reasons people leave the agency that are out of her control. She said staffing has been one of her main goals since assuming the office in January.

Ive hired more people since Ive taken office than the previous sheriffs before me, and were not stopping, Duncan said. Were hiring great individuals that have a commitment to community.

Duncan said she has organized team-building activities for employees to boost morale, and that the election has unfortunately created a natural division among employees that she hopes to address.

Leader versus manager

In an interview with Mid-Valley Media this week, Raymond said he thought Duncan was a manager and not a leader.

Multiple audience-submitted questions focused on this topic.

Raymond said he gained leadership experience from working in corrections because he had to lead inmates as opposed to simply tell them what to do. He also said his experience working in the community and on the streets has earned him respect as a leader from voters and from peers.

The word I isnt something I say a lot, Raymond said. Its we. And thats because Im a leader. I know it takes a team. Im not the one and only.

Although Raymond continually spoke on the sheriff needing to be a leader, Duncan emphasized that the sheriff has to also wear the hat of manager. Shes held every rank at the sheriffs office and said this has taught her both leadership and management.

My work ethic has been a part of my leadership skill, she said.

Duncan said managing a budget and nearly 200 employees is a crucial part of the job that cant be ignored.

Other topics of concern for community members included addressing the intersection between homelessness, drug abuse and mental health issues, upholding the Constitution, managing budgets and passing the law enforcement levy.

To watch a recording of the full debate, go to www.bit.ly/3ComJ2d.


(Photo : Nataliya Vaitkevich from Pexels)

If you have just entered college, it might be time to start thinking about paying taxes. However, it can sometimes be difficult to navigate the tax codes. You may be lucky if your college has an office that helps the students with taxes. Without that, you will have to pay for the services outside. It is crucial to know what involves filing taxes for college students. Here are crucial steps you should take.

Learning the State of Dependency

Even if you become independent when you get to college, you may still be dependent when it comes to taxes. If you are still dependent on your guardians or parents, you will not be qualified for deductions. However, staying dependent may be a good idea if you want your parents to pay the taxes and claim the deductions and credits. The good thing is that when parents claim the deductions, the benefits are more than what a student gets, making it beneficial for the whole family. You remain dependent until the age of 19 years. However, this period can be extended to 24 years once you get to college. You can still pay taxes, but you will not be able to claim the deductions and credits because your parents or guardian are already doing so.

Knowing the Tax Forms

It is crucial to know the tax forms before the deadline. The deadline for filing tax returns is usually April 18. Therefore, you need to get these forms before them. They might be from your employer, loan lender, or the college. It is crucial to get all the forms before filing to avoid inconsistencies. Some of the forms you will be required to fill include.

Form 1098-T

Form 1099

W-2

Form 109-E

Form 8863

Remember, these forms are from different sources. Therefore, understand the kind of information you are required to file.

Scholarships and Taxes

Scholarships and grants are popular things in college. However, do you know if they are taxable or not? Scholarships and grants are non-taxable only if the entire amount goes to tuition, books, supplies, equipment, enrollment fees, and anything related to the course. Using the remainder of the scholarship for other expenses like food or room can be scholarships as taxable income. If you also get a grant, you must report it as taxable income unless you use it for research or federal work programs.

Your Income and Taxes

You may not have to file a tax return if your income is below a certain limit. However, before assuming this, confirm whether or not you will be required to file the tax return. Remember, if you are from another state where you are getting income, you must file tax returns in the two states.

Understanding Education Tax Credits

You can qualify for the American Opportunity Credit if you meet the qualifications set by the IRS. You can claim the credit if you are in an undergraduate program and have not yet completed your four years. However, you must be in a well-recognized post-secondary institution.

You can also get the Lifetime Learning Credit. This credit is not refundable, but it reduces the tax you owe the IRS. It is best if you use it to improve your skills. However, you are only eligible for the credit if you have paid for education expenses and are an eligible student. Remember, you cannot get the credit if you are still dependent.

You cannot deduct the entire interest if you have a student loan. However, any other deduction on the student loan means you have to meet the eligibility criteria. You must be legally obligated to pay the interest and must have paid your loan interest in the past year.

Key Takeaways

College students need to pay taxes if they are making an income. However, your pay depends on various factors like your dependency and marital status. You must have made a specific amount of income over the year to file the tax return. It is crucial to understand taxes and college students to know how to go about it.


(Photo : mohamed Hassan from Pixabay)

Many factors contribute to a student's success in college. Scholarships are one way to ease the financial burden of attending college and provide motivation for students to perform well academically. However, scholarships can also encourage students to give back to their communities.

Hunter Hobson is dedicated to giving back to the community and has identified numerous ways scholarships can inspire students to do their part.

The Importance Of Scholarships

Scholarships provide opportunities for students to achieve their academic goals without the financial burden of student loans. For many students, scholarships make college a reality. Scholarships also help to level the playing field for students from low-income families and increase access to higher education.

In addition to making college more affordable, scholarships can encourage students to give back to their communities. Here are 16 ways scholarships encourage students to give back, according to Hunter Hobson:

Financial Assistance

By providing financial assistance, scholarships enable students to focus on their studies and extracurricular activities instead of worrying about how they will pay for tuition and other expenses. This can lead to better grades and more involvement in campus life, which are valuable assets to the community.

Intellectual Stimulation

The pursuit of knowledge is a critical component of scholarship programs. Challenging coursework and thought-provoking lectures stimulate students' minds and prepare them to be engaged citizens. Furthermore, by encouraging students to think critically and question assumptions, scholarships foster an environment of intellectual growth that benefits the entire community.

Leadership Development

Many scholarships are awarded based on leadership potential. These awards often stipulate that they encourage recipients to get involved in campus organizations and take on leadership roles. As a result, scholarship programs help develop the next generation of community leaders.

Career Preparation

In addition to providing financial assistance, many scholarships also offer opportunities for professional development. For example, some scholarship programs offer internships and research positions that allow students to gain hands-on experience in their field of interest. These experiences not only benefit the student but also benefit the community by preparing students for successful careers.

Community Service

Many scholarships emphasize community service. For example, some scholarship programs require recipients to complete a certain number of hours of community service each year. Others offer grants specifically for students interested in working with underserved populations. By encouraging students to give back to their communities, these programs help make the community a better place.

Cultural Enrichment

The arts and humanities are essential parts of any community. Scholarships that support students studying the arts and humanities help ensure that the community has access to cultural enrichment. These scholarships also often require students to take classes that expose them to different cultures, which helps promote understanding and tolerance.

Economic Development

Scholarships can also help promote economic development. For example, some scholarship programs offer grants specifically for business or entrepreneurship students. These programs help prepare students to become the next generation of community leaders and entrepreneurs. By supporting economic development, these scholarships help ensure the community continues to thrive.

Social Responsibility

Additionally, scholarships help promote social responsibility. For example, some scholarship programs require recipients to complete a certain number of hours of community service each year. Others offer grants specifically for students interested in working with underserved populations. By encouraging students to give back to their communities, these programs help make the community a better place.

Inspiring Motivation

Scholarships can also motivate students to perform well academically to maintain their scholarship status and avoid taking out student loans. In addition, scholarships can inspire students to get involved in their communities and give back.

Encouraging Involvement

Many scholarships include a community service component, encouraging students to participate in their communities. This involvement can take many forms, such as volunteering at a local food bank or tutoring elementary school students.

Fostering Leadership

Some scholarships are awarded to students who demonstrate leadership qualities. These scholarships often include an additional leadership development component, such as attending workshops or participating in community projects.

Developing New Skills

Scholarships can also help students develop new skills. For example, many scholarships require students to write essays or give presentations. These skills can be helpful in various settings, such as in the workforce or volunteering.

Building Connections

Scholarships can help students build connections with others committed to giving back to their communities. These connections can be helpful when seeking internship and job opportunities.

Expanding Opportunities

Scholarships can also expand students' opportunities to give back to their communities. For example, scholarships may provide funding for students to participate in international service projects or travel to underserved communities.

Establishing Community Role Models

Other scholarships may be specifically for students from underrepresented groups or who have financial needs, encouraging them to give back to their communities by serving as role models and mentors for other students.

Promoting Social Change

Finally, scholarships can promote social change by encouraging students to become involved in the issues they care about. For example, students may use their scholarship money to intern with a local organization working to address poverty or homelessness.

Conclusion

These are just a few ways scholarships can encourage students to give back to their communities. If you are considering applying for a scholarship, research the various requirements and components to see how you can use them to give back. Hunter Hobson is committed to helping students find scholarships that match their interests and goals.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2022) Belarus and China are set to boost joint coordination of efforts in foreign policy and economy at the present stage of international relations as well as deepen bilateral cooperation, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Saturday.

"I am convinced that at the present stage of international relations Belarus and China will boost joint coordination of efforts in the areas of foreign policy and economy and fulfill new initiatives to deepen bilateral cooperation," Lukashenko said in a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping with greetings on the 73rd China National Day.

The Belarusian president also said that the level of Minsk-Beijing partnership was elevated to multilateral strategic cooperation at the latest Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan last month.

China's National Day is a public holiday celebrated on October 1 to commemorate the official proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
(@FahadShabbir)

ASHGABAT (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2022) Turkmenistan will procure equipment to increase the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) at the Bagadzha gas processing plant, the Neytralny Turkmenistan (Neutral Turkmenistan) state-run newspaper reported on Saturday, citing a president's decree.

According to the report, Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedow has signed a decree allowing the TurkmenGaz state-run energy company to procure the equipment during an online government meeting.

Shakhym Abdrakhmanov, the vice-chairman of the oil and gas sector of Turkmenistan, told the meeting about the preparation of the decree.

"The modernization of the production capacity of the Bagadzha plant for gas purification and liquefied gas production will allow it to reach its full capacity, which in turn will contribute to the increase in the production of 'blue fuel' at the eponymous field and the production of liquefied gas," the newspaper quoted Abdrakhmanov as saying.

According to the report, the president gave the vice-chairman a number of specific instructions on the matter.

The Bagadzha gas processing plant was inaugurated in 2006 at the Bagadzha gas condensate field in the Turkmen region of Lebap. Bagadzha's LNG is exported, while gas condensate is sent to the Seyda oil refinery for the production of light oil products.

Turkmenistan is one of the world's top four countries in terms of natural gas reserves, along with Russia, Iran, and Qatar.
Rio de Janeiro, Oct 1 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Oct, 2022 ) :At a samba bar in Rio de Janeiro, three university students are engaged in a vigorous political debate as they count down the days to Brazil's presidential elections.

Their preference? "We are seated in an 'L'" for Lula, Letizia Corvello, a 22-year-old law student, told AFP.

Brazil's youngest voters are staking their future on the oldest of the two frontrunners: 76-year-old leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is hoping for a comeback 12 years after leaving office at the end of two successive presidential terms.

Lula has a strong lead in the polls over far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, 67. The men face off in a first voting round on Sunday.

"The last thing I want is for Jair Bolsonaro to be re-elected," said Corvello.

"We need to fight for our future and for that of the university" where she studies.

Young people have led the anti-Bolsonaro movement in Brazil with protests against his cuts to education spending, his management of the coronavirus epidemic, and police violence.

"Some of the environmental issues, the destruction of the Amazon and just the... egregious policies of Bolsonaro are of concern to a lot of especially younger people," analyst Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank told AFP.

And they seem to be putting their money where their mouths are.

More than 2.1 million people aged 16 and 17 -- about a fifth in this age group -- have registered to vote ahead of Sunday's first election round -- a 51-percent jump from 2018.

Voting is optional for Brazilians aged 16 and 17, and compulsory from 18 up.

- 'Existential zombies' - The 2022 youth registration numbers "are unprecedented in the history of Brazil," political scientist Marco Antonio Teixeira of the Getulio Vargas Foundation told AFP.

Under Bolsonaro, young people seem to have learned the importance of having a political voice, he said.

Youths "suffered a lot with the pandemic, (they were) the most affected by unemployment," said Teixeira.

Bolsonaro and his government also managed to repeatedly offend the sensibilities of a younger generation that values respect for cultural and gender diversity.

A case in point: in an address in 2020, Bolsonaro's then education minister Milton Ribeiro referred to young people as "existential zombies" who "no longer believe in anything, from God to politics.

" "I never imagined there were still people with such a retrograde beliefs," said Corvello in response.

"Bolsonaro made it possible for people to go out on the street to defend violence and discrimination." - Lula's legacy - Polls show 52 percent of voters aged 16 to 24 opting for Lula, compared to 32 percent for Bolsonaro.

Some were not yet born during Lula's last term, others were mere infants, but they all know about Lula's educational legacy: increasing scholarships and introducing quotas to help people from racial and socio-economic minorities gain access to good schools.

"Everyone knows what Lula did," said Adrianny Brasil, 22, a resident of the Mare de Rio slum complex where school attendance depends on there being no shootings and university is an unattainable dream for most.

"I am the only 'favelada' (slum-dweller) in my (university) physics course, all the other students are from the elitist areas of Rio, like Ipanema," said Brasil, who hopes there will be more like her under a new Lula government.

Not everyone is in agreement.

Mateus de Medeiros, an 18-year-old mechanical engineering student, regrets that the choice is limited to "the extreme right or the extreme left".

"I wish there was another candidate and we didn't have to vote for one just to exclude the other," he told AFP.

Bolsonaro also has ardent supporters among the youth.

Gabriel Lira, a 22-year-old Afro Brazilian who works as a store employee, believes many university students are victims of brainwashing by "leftist professors." "If they were better informed, they would see that (Lula) resembles Maduro and the left-wing dictators," he told AFP at Campinas on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, referring to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

And he denied Bolsonaro was racist, despite having once said about a community of Black slave descendents: "They don't do anything. They're no use even to procreate.""It was an unfortunate statement. But if he really was (racist) he'd be capturing Black people and putting them back into slavery," said Lira.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Brussels, Oct 1 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Oct, 2022 ) :The European Union on Saturday condemned a new coup in Burkina Faso, the second one this year to hit the deeply poor and restive West African country.

The coup "puts in danger efforts to supervise a transition, undertaken for several months, notably on the part of the ECOWAS" regional grouping, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.

The bloc called for authorities to respect agreements undertaken on July 3 "in order to accompany Burkina Faso to a return to constitutional order no later than July 1, 2024".

"The European Union also deplores the degradation of the security and humanitarian situation in the country," he said.
(@FahadShabbir)

The Hague, Oct 1 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Oct, 2022 ) :The Dutch foreign ministry on Saturday condemned Nicaragua's decision to sever diplomatic ties after the Netherlands said it would not fund a hospital in the central American country over rights concerns.

"It is regrettable that Nicaragua has chosen to respond in this disproportionate way to a critical message about democracy and human rights," a Dutch foreign ministry spokesman told AFP.
Managua, Sept 30 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Oct, 2022 ) :Nicaragua said Friday that the new US ambassador would not be granted entry due to his "interfering" attitude.

The envoy, Hugo Rodriguez, "will not under any circumstances be admitted into our Nicaragua," said Vice President Rosario Murillo, who is also the wife of President Daniel Ortega and the First Lady.

"Let that be clear to the imperialists," she added, reading a statement from the foreign office on state media.

The US Senate confirmed Rodriguez's appointment on Thursday, despite Nicaragua having said in July it would reject him.

Managua said it decided to withdraw its approval of Rodriguez because of "disrespectful" comments he made in a hearing before the Senate.

Rodriguez described Nicaragua as a "pariah state in the region" and branded Ortega's government a "dictatorship." "I would support using all economic and diplomatic tools to bring about a change in direction in Nicaragua," he told the Senate.

One such measure he suggested was kicking Nicaragua out of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement.

Murillo, who is also the official government spokeswoman, blasted Hernandez as a "disrespectful interventionist" who is "not at all diplomatic."On Wednesday, the government asked the European Union ambassador Bettina Muscheidt to leave the country, without giving any reasons, according to local media and diplomatic sources.
Gaza City, Palestinian Territories, Oct 1 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Oct, 2022 ) :Gaza teenager Bissam says she has trouble sleeping and concentrating as the buzzing sound of Israeli military drones above the crowded Palestinian enclave drives her to distraction.

When she is at home in the cramped family apartment, the 18-year-old said she feels that "the drone is constantly with me in my bedroom -- worry and fear don't leave our homes.

"Sometimes I have to put the pillow on my head so I don't hear its buzz," she said, adding that the drone noise gives her headaches.

Unmanned surveillance aircraft have become an integral part of Israel's 15-year-old blockade of the impoverished enclave, and 2.3 million Palestinians endure their incessant hum.

Bissam, whose family requested their surname be withheld for security reasons, said that together with the street noise, the drones create an unbearable cacophony.

"At night I try to review the lessons for my exams, but I can't read because of this annoying racket," she said from the cramped Gaza City apartment she shares with her parents and five siblings.

Each month, Israel uses drones above Gaza for 4,000 flying hours -- the equivalent of deploying five of the unmanned aircraft permanently in the sky -- the military told AFP.

The drones "collect intelligence data 24 hours a day", said Omri Dror, a commander from Israel's Palmachim airbase where the aircraft take off.
ISLAMABAD, Oct 1 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Oct, 2022 ) :The apparent unwillingness of social media tech-giants to permanently remove the conspiracy and racist online content on different platforms that are whipping up hatred against Muslims and their faith, has been creating inexplicable problems for the community worldwide.

It was also casting a chilling effect and prevented the Muslim people from exercising their freedom of religion and speech online, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) in its report said.

The big tech's continued failure to act on anti-Muslim hate created an ecosystem that restricted freedom of expression and pushes marginalized people off their platforms, all while allowing white supremacist, extremist, and hateful content to thrive and provide their shareholders with record profits, the report said.

The CCDH is a US nonprofit corporation headquartered in Washington DC, and CCDH UK is a UK nonprofit company headquartered in London.

According to different reports, Twitter, Google and Meta launched special efforts as part of a "shared commitment to counter hateful conduct online, however, they failed to control these materials.

Twitter failed to remove about 3.8 million anti-Muslim tweets (posted between Aug 19 and Aug 21) as it could only remove 15% of the tweets (0.57 million were taken down out of the total one).

The popular microblogging platform is fast becoming a Primary source for the proliferation of anti-hate content against Muslims and their faith.

Users from the three countries including India generated 86 percent of malicious online content in the last few years that led to physical attacks on Muslims and mosques across the globe, a study by Asian Peace said.

Now approximately 55.12% of anti-Muslim hatred tweets originated by the Indian social media activists.

Researchers have identified several key themes churned out from three countries which included the association of islam with terrorism, depiction of Muslims as perpetrators of sexual violence, and declaring "halal" as an inhumane practice that typifies the so-called "barbarity" of Islam.

On the other hand, the UN had strongly encouraged the international community to "take all necessary measures" to combat discrimination against Muslims while warning that anti-Muslim hatred has reached "epidemic proportions." In this connection, the UN had declared Anti-Islamophobia Day on March 15 due to the efforts of Pakistan which was a laudable step however, more desired to be done by the world and technological companies to stem surge of such trends worldwide.

As per study by the Islamic Council of Victoria, Australia (ICV), a body representing Muslims in the state of Victoria with an estimated 270,000 Muslims as its member, found in its report that nearly four million anti-Muslim posts made during a 24-month period between 2017 and 2019.

In its report, ICV said that more causes for rise of such social media trends included the war on terror, media reporting, and right-wing groups and politicians across the globe, not just in the western countries but in places such as Myanmar and India, that spread false and malicious rhetoric to whip up anti-Muslim sentiment.

"These far-right groups are often networked and share information online to amplify their messages. In fact, much of the worst forms of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim incitement happens online," it added.

Social media companies are failing to act on 89% of posts containing anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobic content reported to them, according to Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).

"This report exposed that social media companies, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, failed to act on 89% of posts containing anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobic content reported to them," it says.

The social media giants had stated that they would be resolute in their commitment to ensure they were doing all they could to fight the hatred and extremism that lead to violence.

"Once again, their press releases prove to be nothing more than empty promises," the report said.

The CCDH researchers reported 530 posts that contain disturbing, bigoted and dehumanizing content that target Muslims through racist caricatures, conspiracies and false claims.

These posts were viewed at least 25 million times. Many of the abusive content was easily identifiable, and yet there was still inaction, it said.

Stating that Instagram, TikTok and Twitter allow users to use hashtags such as #deathtoislam, #islamiscancer, the report further said content spread using the hashtags received at least 1.3 million impressions.

The report, 'Islamophobia in the Digital Age', said that in the US, though, Islamophobia has long been a problem, one that "was dramatically exacerbated by the racist, conspiratorial and inflammatory rhetoric employed by Donald Trump.

As for the UK, the prevalence of anti-Muslim tweets was attributed to a multitude of factors, including the global reach of Trump's hatred, the country's longstanding issues with the anti-migrant sentiment, and the casual racism of former prime minister Boris Johnson, the report wrote.

The 2019 Christchurch Mosque attack and other such like incidents across the globe were all illustrative of this vicious cycle. The incidents of anti-Muslim abuse spiked upwards by a staggering 1300 % in New Zealand, 600 % in the UK.

According to a 'South Asia State of Minorities Report 2021' the phenomenon of spread of social media hatred against minorities had only worsened in the Indian society recent years since, progressing up the UN's hate speech chain from 'bottom' level offensive or disturbing content to 'top' level incitement to hostility, discrimination and violence.

In December 2019, the violent slogan 'shoot dead the bastard traitors to the nation' was popularized by a BJP leader in Delhi, as part of a wider campaign in response to Muslim-led protests against India's changes to its citizenship law, widely seen as being discriminatory.

In March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, India witnessed yet another deluge of hate content and misinformation, falsely blaming the country's Muslims for the outbreak and calling for social and economic boycotts, and even physical violence against them.

A great deal of hate in India played out on social media. A study by Equality Labs in 2019 revealed that Islamophobic content was the biggest source of hate speech on Facebook and Twitter, amounting to 37 per cent of the content reviewed.

Caste-based hate speech is also common, accounting for 13 per cent of the Facebook content reviewed by Equality Labs.

According to Amnesty International, a total of 902 alleged hate crimes were reported in India between September 2015 and June 2019, resulting in 303 deaths.

Of the 902 documented instances, 621 were reported to have been motivated by caste, with the victims of these being overwhelmingly Dalits (99.5%).

Of the rest, 217 were reported to have been primarily motivated by religion, with Muslims (89%) and Christians (8%) being the main targets.

Religiously motivated hate crimes resulted in a total of 91 deaths, of which 87 percent were of Muslims. A total of 113 hate crimes were traced directly to the ruse of 'cow protection.

A study by the Reporters without Borders (RSF) noted that the production of media content and distribution are increasingly combined and concentrated in the hands of a few, and that many leading outlets at both the national and regional levels were controlled by individuals with direct political ties to the BJP, or by corporate conglomerates who have been openly supportive of the BJP.

Online social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have hundreds of millions of Indian users, and also become important channels through which anti-minority hate content is spread.
CHISINAU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2022) Germany is unable to independently decide on the acceptance of Ukraine's application for NATO membership via fast-track procedure as the move requires the approval of all 30 member countries of the military alliance, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said on Saturday.

Lambrecht is currently paying a visit to Moldova.

"Ukraine may certainly choose an alliance to join to feel free, but Germany cannot independently make a decision without any consultations with the allies. All discussions concerning the fast-tracking of Ukraine's accession to NATO will be held with 30 member countries," Lambrecht told a briefing.

On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine was applying to join NATO in an expedited manner.

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in earlier remarks that Ukraine's bid to join NATO should be addressed at another time.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, commenting on Zelenskyy's statement, reiterated the alliance's position on the right of each country to determine its own path and on NATO's "open door" policy, but emphasized that the alliance would concentrate its efforts on assisting Ukraine to defend itself.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2022) The Chairman of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, condemned the military takeover in Burkina Faso and urged the soldiers to refrain from violence and threats against civilians.

"The Chairperson of the African Union Commission unequivocally condemns the second takeover of power by force in Burkina Faso. The Chairperson... expresses his deep concern about the resurgence of unconstitutional changes of Government in Burkina Faso and elsewhere on the African Continent," the statement said.

The chair of the African Union Commission also urged the military to "immediately and totally refrain from any acts of violence or threats" to the civilian population, civil liberties and human rights, calling for the restoration of the constitutional order by July 1, 2024.

On Friday night, local media reported that a military group led by Capt.

Ibrahim Traore announced the ouster of Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, the head of the country's interim government, the suspension of the country's constitution, the dissolution of the government, and the closure of borders. The military, which claimed its allegiance to the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration (MPSR), accused Damiba of diverting away from the ideals of the movement.

This marks the second military takeover in Burkina Faso in eight months.

On January 24, the MPSR, led by Damiba, seized power in the country and ousted then-President Roch Marc Christian Kabore. The group dissolved the government and suspended the constitution but later decided to restore it. Since then, the MPSR had been the ruling military junta of Burkina Faso.
TOKYO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2022) Pyongyang test-fired two short-range ballistic missiles that flew over a distance of 350-400 kilometers (217-248 miles) on Saturday morning, reaching a maximum altitude of 50 kilometers (31 miles), the Japanese Defense Ministry said.

"Through diplomatic channels, we sent a note of protest to North Korea in connection with the missile launches," Japanese State Minister of Defense Toshiro Ino told reporters on Saturday, as broadcast by NHK.

He emphasized that it is the first time that North Korea has carried out four test launches in one week, which is a threat to regional security.

Earlier on Saturday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported citing the South Korean military that North Korea test-fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan on Saturday morning.

The launches were detected by South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) from the Sunan area in Pyongyang between 6:45 a.m. local time on Saturday (21:45 GMT on Friday) and 7:03 a.m. local time, Yonhap said.

South Korea is celebrating Armed Forces Day on Saturday (the annual event is marked on October 1).

On Wednesday and Thursday, North Korea test-fired short-range ballistic missiles, while last Sunday (September 25), Pyongyang launched a short-range ballistic missile for the first time since June 5. The Sunday test-launch was carried out amid the arrival of the USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group to participate in the combined drills with the South Korean navy.
The Netherlands regrets Nicaragua's decision to sever diplomatic relations and will discuss further steps with the European Union, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said on Saturday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2022) The Netherlands regrets Nicaragua's decision to sever diplomatic relations and will discuss further steps with the European Union, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said on Saturday.

"The Netherlands regrets the disproportionate decision by Nicaragua to break off diplomatic relations. We take a firm stand on the worsening democratic structures and human rights violations in Nicaragua. But a critical discussion is always better than ending relations," Hoekstra wrote on Twitter.

The Netherlands will also discuss its further steps with the European Union, according to Hoekstra.

The minister stated that other countries had also had "difficulties in maintaining an open dialogue" with Nicaragua.

On Friday, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega condemned the Netherlands' alleged interference in his country's affairs and said that he did not want to maintain relations with "this interventionist government.

" This happened after Dutch Ambassador to Central America Christine Pirenne visited the Nicaraguan capital of Managua and spoke with local residents "as if Nicaragua were a Dutch colony," as described by the Nicaraguan president.

In 2013, the Netherlands optimized its diplomatic presence in Central America by closing its embassy in Nicaragua. The Dutch ambassador to Central America, based in Costa Rica, was in charge of relations with this country since then.

For many years, Nicaragua has been criticized by Western countries for violations of human rights and the oppression of political opposition. Ortega is currently serving his fourth term as the country's president.
MEXICO CITY (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2022) Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega on Friday condemned interference in the country's affairs by Dutch Ambassador to Central America Christine Pirenne and said that he does not want to maintain relations with "this interventionist government."

"A few years ago, they (the Netherlands) decided to build a small hospital on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, where the Miskito and Mayangna indigenous peoples live... Yesterday she (Pirenne) was received by our foreign minister (Denis Moncada), and what I heard: the ambassador came to talk to Nicaraguans as if Nicaragua were a Dutch colony," Ortega said in a televised appearance on a national broadcaster during the parade on the occasion of the local police anniversary.

The president added that many governments continue to believe that they live in a colonial era and expect nations and peoples to obey them. The president advised the Dutch ambassador, who said the Netherlands refused to build the hospital because of Managua's policies, not to return to Nicaragua and stressed that he does not want relations with the "interventionist government.

"

"If someone comes here without respect for our people, our homeland, they should not come to Nicaragua anymore. And we do not want relations with this interventionist government," Ortega said.

Local media reported on Wednesday that the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry had declared EU Ambassador to Nicaragua Bettina Muscheidt persona non grata and notified her verbally that she was no longer welcome in the Central American country over a lack of respect for the country's sovereignty.

Earlier on Friday, Managua barred US Ambassador to Nicaragua Hugo Rodriguez from entering the country over his statements made during a hearing before the Senate in July. During the hearing, Rodriguez described Nicaragua as a "pariah state in the region" and branded Ortega's government a "dictatorship." Nicaragua, in turn, announced in July that it would reject Rodriguez should he be appointed the US ambassador to Nicaragua.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2022) Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a decree canceling the demobilization of Ukrainian conscripts planned for the fall and the fall draft, according to the document published on Zelenskyy's website on Friday.

In December 2021, Zelenskyy signed a decree, which determined the order and timing of conscription and the timing of dismissal of conscripts, as well as regular conscription in 2022. According to the document, conscription in 2022 was to take place in April-June and October-December. Conscripts who had completed their compulsory military service were to be dismissed over the same period.

In the spring of 2022, Zelenskyy signed another decree stipulating that conscripts would be able to leave the military service in April-June, but "not earlier than the announcement of demobilization in accordance with the established order." He also canceled the spring draft.

Now, those conscripts whose term of service expired in October-December will not be discharged from the service "before the announcement of demobilization in the established order." The decree has also canceled the fall draft.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd October, 2022) The United States is concerned over the latest developments in Burkina Faso, where a military takeover took place on Friday, US State Department Spokesperson Ned price said.

"We note that for the second time in eight months, military officers have asserted that they have dissolved the government and National Assembly and suspended the constitution. We join our partners at ECOWAS, the African Union, and the European Union in condemning these acts and the ongoing violence, which put in jeopardy the agreed-upon timeline for a return to a democratically elected, civilian-led government," Price said in a Saturday statement.

He added that Washington is calling on those responsible to deescalate the situation.

"The United States is deeply concerned by events in Burkina Faso," Price said, adding that Washington is "closely monitoring this fluid situation, and we call for restraint by all actors.

"

On Friday night, media in Burkina Faso reported that Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, the leader of an interim government who himself came to power through a coup in January, was ousted by a group of military led by Capt. Ibrahim Traore in what is already the second military takeover in the country in eight months. Traore's group suspended the constitution and closed the borders.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Chairman of the African Union Commission (AUC), Moussa Faki Mahamat, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have all condemned the forceful takeover of power in Burkina Faso.

The French foreign ministry has denied the country's involvement in the events taking place in Burkina Faso amid allegations that the deposed leader Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba sought refuge at a French military base.
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UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st October, 2022) The United States will request an emergency session of the UN General Assembly to condemn Russia for its actions in Ukraine, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.

"We will request the emergency session of the General Assembly" Thomas-Greenfield said after a UN Security Council meeting on Friday.

The Russian Mission to the United Nations has vetoed the draft resolution in the UN Security Council that was put forward by the United States and Albania to condemn Russia for annexing four Ukrainian regions.

Under a new rule, UN Security Council members can request meetings at the UN General Assembly and demand an explanation from a permanent members of the Council who exercised their veto power. It is unclear at present when will the meeting take place at the UN General Assembly.
Two weeks after suspending their participation in the national and sovereign dialogue, the Chadian Bishops announced this week their definitive withdrawal.

Christian Kombe, SJ and Francoise Niamien - Vatican City

The Episcopal Conference of Chad has withdrawn from the transitional authorities' sovereign national dialogue. In an interview with Vatican News, Bishop Martin Waingue Bani of the Diocese of Doba explained the reasons for the Chadian episcopate's decision.

The Bishops believe that inclusiveness and mutual listening conditions were not present in the national dialogue. Faced with persistent dysfunctions, the Chadian Bishops' Conference said it could not "continue to make up the numbers," affirmed Bishop Bani, a member of the official delegation of the Chadian Bishops Conference to the national dialogue.

A process compromised from the start

The objective of the inclusive national dialogue, convened on 20 August, was to re-establish the constitutional order that was broken after the death of the former head of state, and to reconcile the sons and daughters of Chad, the Bishop of Doba recalled. For the Bishop, the national dialogue was compromised from the start, notably by the lack of inclusiveness, adopted rules, and the praesidium members designated. "All this was adopted in a very confused, undemocratic way," he explained. Moreover, the interventions during discussions were highly restricted and selective. Despite the objections and frustrations of some, the process fell victim to the control of one group, the prelate denounced.

The Church, always ready to help

Bishop Bani explained that the Bishops unsuccessfully tried to have obstacles restricting dialogue removed already from the very beginning.

Having noted the absence of a "framework for mutual listening," the Bishops met with various religious and elders who are actors in the mediation group and put together proposals that would have guaranteed the participation of all and the achievement of consensus. Unfortunately, the process continued without taking these recommendations into account," said Bishop of Doba.

However, Bishop Bani clarified that withdrawing the official delegation of Catholic Bishops from the national dialogue was not a call for other Christians to do likewise. In fact, the Chadian Episcopate assured that it would continue praying for participants involved in the conference to work to achieve the forum's objectives.
After Russias invasion of Ukraine began in February, concern among the former Soviet republics in the Baltics has been growing, while Catholic aid agencies are banding together to offer the Churchs solidarity to those in need of hope and help.

By Mario Galgano  Tallinn, Estonia

Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are often considered from the outside as very similar Baltic states. However, that perception is erroneous from the point-of-view of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians.

Even in the religious sphere, fundamental differences arise among the three nations. Catholics in Estonia and Latvia are minorities, while Lithuania is predominately Catholic.

The German Bishops' Conference has been supporting the Catholic minority in Northern Europe for several decades, as well as in the Baltic states after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

According to the managing director of the Bonifatiuswerk, Ingo Imenkamper, the German Church seeks to support local Catholics in the region and help them find hope for the future.

"This is also done together with the German Eastern European aid organization Renovabis for larger projects," Imenkamper told Vatican News.

Small but growing flock

In Estonia, Catholic number around 6,000 among the 1.3 million inhabitants. The small minority lives in ten parishes, according to the Papal Yearbook of 2021.

"Ours is a small flock, but one that is growing step by step," says Bishop Philippe Jourdan, the Apostolic Administrator of Estonia.

Since 2005, Estonia has had its own bishop for the first time in 70 years. His consecration was, after that of the martyr Archbishop Eduard Profittlich in 1936, the second Catholic episcopal consecration in Estonia since the Reformation and the first since World War II.

Similar concerns

The challenges and concerns of the Catholic minority are the same as their fellow citizens in each country.

"The repression in Ukraine is also a direct threat to us, since we border Russia," says Archbishop Zbignevs Stankevics of Riga.

Latvia plans to reintroduce military service in 2023 in response to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. Latvia had abolished compulsory military service in 2007.

In Latvia, a parliamentary resolution also requires that all objects glorifying totalitarian regimes be dismantled by 15 November.

The Soviet Victory Monument in Riga was already demolished at the end of August. Latvia holds its next parliamentary elections on 1 October. Nineteen parties are running for election.
The United States and Russia traded barbs and accusations at a U.N. Security Council meeting Friday about the apparent sabotage to a major gas pipeline that Russia uses to supply Europe.

Between Sept. 26 and 29, explosions caused four leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines that run along the floor of the Baltic Sea.

The United States, European Union, NATO and Russia all agree the damage and gas leaks point to sabotage, but they disagree about who is the likely perpetrator.

Russia requested the Security Council meeting to discuss the pipeline incident.

"It's quite clear to us that carrying out of sabotage of such complexity and scale is beyond the power of ordinary terrorists," Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said at the meeting. "We consider the actions to damage the gas pipelines to be deliberate sabotage against a crucial element of the Russian Federation's energy infrastructure."

He reiterated Kremlin talking points, saying that it could not have happened without the involvement of a state or state-controlled actors, and that Moscow would "certainly identify" the perpetrators.

"I hope, colleagues, that everyone in this room is aware of the dangerous brink to which those who committed this sabotage are leading us," he said.

Assessing blame

Nebenzia implied that the United States had the most to gain by damaging the pipeline, and directly asked his U.S. counterpart if he could confirm that Washington was not involved.

"Let me be clear: The United States categorically denies any involvement in this incident, and we reject any assertions saying the contrary," U.S. envoy Richard Mills responded.

Mills accused Russia of using the Security Council as a platform to launch conspiracy theories and disinformation. He noted that since Russia invaded Ukraine seven months ago, it has repeatedly damaged and destroyed civilian infrastructure there.

"If there is any country, perhaps, that has a record of doing what we are discussing here today, it's not the United States," Mills noted.

Some European officials and energy experts have suggested that Russia likely carried out the attacks to benefit from higher energy prices and to create more economic chaos in Europe for its support of Ukraine in fending off Russia's war. But other officials urged caution in assessing blame until investigators determine what happened.

The damage to the pipelines happened off the shores of Sweden and Denmark. Ahead of Friday's meeting, their ambassadors sent a joint letter to the Security Council president. They said at least two underwater detonations occurred on Sept. 26, damaging pipelines on Nord Stream 1 and 2 and causing "major leaks" of natural gas several hundred meters wide.

The cause was likely two massive explosions, "probably corresponding to an explosive load of several hundred kilos," which were "the result of a deliberate act." The blasts were so powerful, they said, that they measured 2.3 and 2.1 on the Richter scale, which is used to gauge earthquakes.

They warned that the gas plumes pose a risk to both sea and air traffic, and they instituted a navigation warning to ships to maintain a distance of at least 5 nautical miles, or 10 kilometers, from the leaks.

Danish, Swedish and German authorities are carrying out a joint investigation. Russia's ambassador said Moscow would only accept the results of an independent investigation that included Russian experts.

NATO

On Thursday, NATO vowed retaliation for attacks on the critical infrastructure of its 30 member states.

"Any deliberate attack against allies' critical infrastructure would be met with a united and determined response," NATO ambassadors said in a statement.

The bloc said the four ruptures in the Nord Stream pipelines were of "deep concern" and agreed that current information pointed to "deliberate, reckless and irresponsible acts of sabotage."

Two of the leaks are on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, where the flow of gas was recently halted, while the other two are on Nord Stream 2, which has never been opened.

Although they were not in operation, both pipelines were filled with methane gas, which has escaped and is bubbling to the surface.
The Indian government's ban this week of the Popular Front of India (PFI), an Islamic organization that says it fights for the rights of minorities, has received mixed reaction in the country, with Hindu groups welcoming the move and Muslim groups, opposition leaders and rights activists criticizing it.

Hours after the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs issued the ban on the PFI on Wednesday, accusing it of "terrorism" and "anti-national activities," the organization declared in a statement that it had disbanded itself.

While PFI leaders say that the accusations against it are baseless, the government insists that the organization poses a threat to the country's internal security.

PFI leaders say the organization fights for the rights of the minorities and low-caste Hindus.

However, a government gazette that carried the notification about the ban said that the PFI had been found to be involved "in serious offenses, including terrorism and its financing, [and] targeted gruesome killings."

"There is evidence that the group has a connection with the international terrorist group ISIS," the notification said, in perhaps the most serious accusation against the PFI. ISIS is an abbreviation for the Islamic State group.

"Our top leaders have all along condemned ISIS  we can present media reports as evidence. The accusation that the PFI had a connection with ISIS is ridiculously false," one Kerala-based PFI leader told VOA on the condition of anonymity because of fear of government reprisal.

"All charges against the PFI will be found to be false if the court tries the cases properly."

Welcoming the PFI ban, the chief minister of the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state of Assam tweeted: "The Government is firm in its resolve to ensure that anyone with a diabolical, divisive or disruptive design against India shall be dealt with iron fist. India of Modi Era is Decisive & Bold."

In a statement, the Social Democratic Party of India, the political wing of the PFI, called the ban "a direct blow to democracy."

"Freedom of speech, protests and organizations has been ruthlessly suppressed by the regime.  The regime is misusing the investigation agencies and laws to silence  the voice of dissent," the statement said.

Muslim community leader and former chairperson of the Delhi Minority Commission Zafarul-Islam Khan denounced the ban on the PFI.

"There is no evidence in the public domain of the PFI or its allied organizations being involved in illegal activities. If an individual belonging to any of these organizations commits any crime, he must face action individually. His organization should not face punishment for his crime," Khan told VOA.

The PFI ended up irking the current rulers because it built up a strong all-India cadre-based organization to work and fight for minority causes and its upliftment, he said.

"Such an organization is viewed as a hurdle to the Hindutva dream to turn India into a Hindu Rashtra [Hindu Nation, in Hindi]. Hence, for some years, the PFI and its allied organizations have been the target of the current rulers of the country."

India's Home Ministry did not respond to VOA requests for comment.

In August in Varanasi, some Hindu right-wing groups released a draft constitution of a Hindu Rashtra that proposed Muslims and Christians living in India would not have voting rights or be counted as citizens.

S.R. Darapuri, a former senior Indian Police Service officer who now works as a social and political activist, said the decision to ban the PFI appears to have been taken "prematurely."

"When the organization has been accused of a charge as serious as terrorism, the case should have been investigated thoroughly and taken to court. Now, the organization has been banned before the charge of terrorism has been proven in a court of law," Darapuri told VOA.

"In this situation, the ban appears to be a politically motivated and biased decision."

Supreme Court lawyer Mehmood Pracha noted that several Hindu supremacist groups are exhorting an open revolt against Indian state by seeking to replace the constitution of the country with a constitution guided by the Manusmriti, an ancient Hindu legal text and constitution.

The government does not find the actions of those groups unlawful. So one cannot but view this action with doubt that the reason for banning the PFI is not based on their alleged terrorism and anti-national activities, Pracha told VOA.

The opposition Communist Party of India (MarxistLeninist), or CPI-ML, said that the crackdown on the PFI is aimed to whip up anti-Muslim passion.

"In the criminal cases against the PFI, except for some sketchy allegations, there is no reference to any actual incident of crime. The crackdown is a conscious attempt by the Modi government to spread Islamophobia among the public and demonize Muslims, as a community," CPI-ML General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya told VOA.

"The actions against the PFI are blatantly discriminatory, given the impunity being granted to sundry (Hindu right-wing) organizations and individuals openly calling for anti-Muslim genocides and rapes, and turning India into a Hindu Rashtra."

The crackdown on the PFI is a pretext for a massive witch hunt of Muslims, feminist activist Kavita Krishnan told VOA.

"The charge by the NIA [National Investigation Agency] that the PFI is conspiring 'to communalize the nation's polity and encourage and enforce [the] Taliban brand of Islam' is a mere pretext to harass Muslims by accusing them of being PFI members.

"The NIA has let off the real Hindu-supremacist terrorists who engineered several terror blasts. Saffron clad (right-wing Hindu) men and women are openly calling for violence against Muslims," Krishnan said.

"But they are not being investigated or charged by the NIA for trying 'to communalize the nation's polity.' The actions against the PFI appear to have their root in an anti-Muslim (communal) bias."
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to head to Colombia, Chile and Peru next week, focusing on protecting democracy, combating climate change and exploring economic opportunities. VOA Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
With ethnic divisions growing deeper, Bosnia will hold general elections Sunday amid secession threats and fears of fresh political turmoil nearly three decades after war ravaged the Balkan nation.

The country is torn between secessionist Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats demanding greater autonomy, while Muslim Bosniaks calling for a more egalitarian state appear to be chasing little more than a pipedream.

For more than two decades, the impoverished Balkan state has been governed by a dysfunctional administrative system born out of the 1995 Dayton Agreement.

And while the accords may have succeeded in ending the war in the 1990s, the country has withered amid political paralysis ever since.

Analysts have warned that Bosnia is sinking ever deeper into troubled waters with divisions along ethnic lines appearing to grow even further on the eve of elections.

"Bosnia-Herzegovina is experiencing the most serious political crisis since the signing of the peace agreement," Ranko Mavrak, a Sarajevo-based political analyst, told AFP.

"The ethnic divisions are so deep that they are now a real danger to Bosnia's survival and its integrity," he added.

Bosnia is divided between a Serb entity  the Republika Srpska (RS)  and a Muslim-Croat federation linked by a weak central government.

With Bosnia's three main groups rarely mixing in the wake of the war, ethnic political parties have long exploited the country's fault lines in a bid to maintain power, driving hundreds of thousands abroad in search of better opportunities.

"It's a beautiful, rich country and we could move forward with even a minimum of understanding," said Salko Hasanefendic, 70, a business owner from Sarajevo.

"If we raise our children today in such a nationalist context, we can only expect to have new nationalists in 40 years," he told AFP.

Amid the gloom, voters will cast ballots in a dizzying array of contests Sunday, including for the three members of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, the deputies of the central parliament and a raft of local races in the two separate entities.

With little to no polling data to rely on, analysts say incumbents and nationalist parties are likely to dominate many of the contests, including longtime Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who is running for the presidency of the RS.

For months, Dodik has been stoking tensions amid frequent calls for Bosnia's Serbs to separate even further from the country's central institutions.

"This situation is like two brothers who don't like each other," Rajko, a retiree and Dodik supporter who did disclose his surname, told AFP before a recent campaign rally.

"It is better that they do not live together," he added, echoing a common refrain said by Dodik.

Amid the calls for secession, there are many who appear happy to see their Serb countrymen leave.

"Dodik and those like him can go to another country that they find more beautiful," said Bosnia's former co-president Bakir Izetbegovic during a recent rally.

Izetbegovic the son of the first president of independent Bosniais running for a third term as the country's Bosniak president but is facing stiff competition from 46-year-old history professor Denis Becirovic.

Backed by 11 opposition parties, Becirovic is vowing to fight for a "pro-European and united" Bosnia.

To add to the growing divide, many of the country's Catholic Croats have been pleading for greater autonomy or electoral reforms during the run-up to the polls, with the leading nationalist party HDZ threatening to boycott the contest for months.

Thanks to their vast numerical advantage in the Muslim-Croat federation, Bosniaks hold de facto control over who can be elected to lead the Croats at the presidential level.

HDZ and other Croat parties have been calling for a mechanism to allow the community to appoint their own representatives to the presidency and upper house  a move fiercely opposed by the federation's ruling Bosniak party.

Fears are growing of potential turmoil after the polls if the incumbent Croat co-president Zeljko Komsic  who is widely reviled by all Croat parties  is reelected following repeated threats by nationalists, who say they are prepared to widen boycotts at government institutions.

"At the moment, there is no sign the situation will stabilize in Bosnia," said Mavrak, the analyst. There is no indication at the moment that it is possible to reach a compromise."
Burkina Faso's army captain, Ibrahim Traore, announced Friday evening that the army had seized power and ousted military leader Paul Henri Damiba, who himself had taken power in a coup only eight months ago.

Traore said in a statement that a group of officers who helped Damiba seize power in January had decided that the leader was no longer able to secure the country, which has been battling a mounting Islamic insurgency.

The statement signed by Traore was read on state television late Friday by another military officer.

"Faced with the deteriorating situation, we tried several times to get Damiba to refocus the transition on the security question," Traore's statement said.

When Damiba came to power in January, after ousting President Roch Kabore, he had promised to make the country more secure. However, violence in the country has continued, and political tensions have grown in recent months.

Damiba had just returned from addressing the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

The country's new military leaders said they were dissolving the national assembly. They also announced that Burkina Faso's borders had been closed and that a curfew would be in effect from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Before Friday evening's announcement, troops in Burkina Faso had blocked streets in the capital, Ouagadougou, and state TV had stopped broadcasting.

At around 4:30 a.m. Friday, gunfire and a loud explosion were reported in Ouagadougou, in the vicinity of Camp Baba Sy, where Damiba is based. Witnesses said gunfire could also be heard coming from Kosyam, where the presidential palace is located.

A reporter for VOA who went to the capital's city center Friday found a military blockade on Boulevard Charles de Gaulle. Many military members were wearing face masks and were reluctant to talk, while local police said they had no idea what was happening.

Just after 12 p.m. local time, the president's office released a statement on Facebook, part of which said, "In view of the confused situation created as a result of a movement of mood by some elements of the national armed forces this Friday ... negotiations are underway to bring back calm and serenity."



The U.S. Embassy warned Americans to limit their movements and stay informed of local media reports.

The events Friday came after rising frustration with the government's inability to deal with insecurity caused by militant groups linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State.

On Monday, a convoy carrying food and basic supplies to the northern town of Djibo, which has been under siege by militants for years, was ambushed. Eleven soldiers were killed, and more than 50 civilians were said to be missing.

The incident raised serious concerns about the government, with many citizens expressing their fears and doubts on social media.

Paul Melly, an analyst for Chatham House, a London-based think tank, said, "Burkinabe feel afraid about the continuing spread of jihadist violence."

Henry Wilkins in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, contributed to this report, which also includes information from The Associated Press and Reuters.
Chad on Saturday extended the transition period to democratic elections, while keeping the head of the military junta on as head of state in the interim.

The decisions were made by a national reconciliation dialogue forum, which has been boycotted by most opposition members, two out of three key armed rebel groups and civil society organizations.

The forum adopted by "consensus" a measure to "extend the transition for a maximum of 24 months.

The hundreds of delegates also decided that junta leader Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno would not only continue as transitional president but be eligible to run for the presidency when elections are held.

Government spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah said there would be a debate on Monday before an official decision is announced.

Deby took over in April last year after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, the country's ruler for 30 years, was killed during a military operation against rebels.

He had pledged to hand back power to civilians after 18 months, a deadline that would run out this month.

He also pledged to Chadians and the international community that he would not run in the upcoming presidential elections.

After coming to power, the junta of 15 generals, called the Transitional Military Council, scrapped the constitution, dissolved parliament and dismissed the government.

The international community had urged Deby not to extend the transition beyond 18 months before the return of civilian rule, and not to run for president in the eventual elections.

However, in June last year, the junta leader dealt a first blow to those hopes, envisaging another 18 months of transition "if the Chadians do not manage to reach an agreement" on the way forward.

He also said then that he would leave the question of his presidential candidacy to God.
Groups of Cubans protested Friday night in the streets of Havana for a second night, decrying delays in fully restoring electricity three days after Hurricane Ian knocked out power across the island.

A foreign monitoring group reported that Cuba's internet service shut down for the second time in two days, saying it appeared to be unrelated to problems from the storm but rather an attempt to keep information about the demonstrations from spreading.

Associated Press journalists saw people demonstrating in at least five spots in the city or on its outskirts, including the Barreras and La Gallega districts, where residents blocked streets with burning tires and garbage.

Masiel Pereira, a housewife, said that the only thing I ask is that they restore the current for my children.

A neighbor, Yunior Velasquez, lamented that all the food is about to be lost because there was no power for refrigerators.

On Thursday night, people protested at two points in the city's Cerro neighborhood. That area was mostly calm Friday with the power back on, although people were out on the important Villa Blanca Avenue chanting We want light! while banging pots with spoons. Police blocked access to the street, but there were no confrontations.

The country of 11 million people was plunged into darkness Tuesday night, a few hours after Ian roared over western Cuba and triggered problems in the power system that eventually cascaded over the whole island.

Power was restored in some parts of the country the next day, but other areas were left without service, including in the capital.

The government did not say what percentage of the overall population remained without electricity Friday, but electrical authorities said only 10% of Havana's 2 million people had power as of late Thursday.

Internet and cellphone service also were out Thursday. Internet service returned Friday morning, at least in some areas, but in the evening it was interrupted again, groups monitoring access to the internet reported.

Alp Toker, director of London-based Netblocks, said the blackout in internet service on Thursday and Friday appeared different from an internet outage that occurred soon after Ian hit.

Internet service has been interrupted once again in Cuba, at about the same time as yesterday (Thursday), Toker said in an email to AP on Friday night. The timing of the outages provides another indication that these are a measure to suppress coverage of the protests.

Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik Inc., a network intelligence company, earlier described Thursday's event as a total internet blackout.

Repeated blackouts on Cuba's already fragile electric grid were among the causes of the island's largest social protests in decades in July 2021. Thousands of people, weary of power failures and shortages of goods exacerbated by the pandemic and U.S. sanctions, turned out in cities across the island to vent their anger and some also lashed out at the government. Hundreds were arrested and prosecuted, prompting harsh criticism of the administration of President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

Experts said the total blackout showed the vulnerability of Cuba's power grid and warned that it will require time and resources -- things the country doesn't have -- to fix the problem.

Cuba's power grid was already in a critical and immunocompromised state as a result of the deterioration of the thermoelectric plants. The patient is now on life support, said Jorge Pinon, director of the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy's Latin America and Caribbean program at the University of Texas.

Cuba has 13 power generation plants, eight of which are traditional thermoelectric plants, and five floating power plants rented from Turkey since 2019. There is also a group of small plants distributed throughout the country since an energy reform in 2006.

But the plants are poorly maintained, a phenomenon the government attributed to the lack of funds and U.S. sanctions. Complications in obtaining fuel is also a problem.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen plan to use this year's Freedman's Bank Forum to highlight how federal coronavirus pandemic relief program funds have helped support Black- and minority-owned businesses.

The Treasury Department said in a statement that "the importance of expanding the community finance system will be front and center" at the Oct. 4 forum. In 2015, then-Treasury Secretary Jack Lew launched the annual Freedman's conference to develop strategies to address persistent racial economic disparities.

Roughly 96% of Black-owned businesses are sole proprietorships and single-employee companies. These businesses have the hardest time finding funding and are often the first to suffer during economic downturns. They often turn to financial institutions for the underserved and other non-traditional lenders for micro-loans and grants.

Earlier this month, Treasury announced that it had disbursed roughly $8.28 billion in relief funds to 162 community financial institutions across the country through its Emergency Capital Investment Program.

The forum will include a panel on new support for community finance institutions, small businesses and low wealth communities, "all in an effort to unlock the economic potential of communities of color, rural areas, and others that have experienced limits on economic opportunity," the department said.

A February Government Accountability Office report outlined how various agencies could improve efforts to increase banking access for people who don't have access to bank accounts.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the National Credit Union Administration and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency were all identified for improvements.
Poland, far from being overwhelmed by the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians seeking refuge from Russias invasion of their country, is seeing its economy grow, according to economists.

The latest available figures from early August show about half of the working-age people who fled Ukraine for Poland are now employed.

In an interview with VOA, World Bank economist Reena Badiani-Magnusson, who specializes in the region, called the employment statistics for the temporarily displaced people, or TDPs, released by the Polish government "impressive."

Badiani-Magnusson quotes a National Bank of Poland study that found between 2013 and 2018, during the first wave of Ukrainian migration, the presence of Ukrainian migrants in the country had a .5% positive impact on growth.

"On top of that, we've done some analysis of the current crisis, and we find that should 500,000 Ukrainian displaced people be integrated into the labor market successfully, we anticipate a medium-term impact on the growth of 1.5%," she said.

Despite the positive impact of the Ukrainian refugees, Polands economic growth is expected to slow next year because of the same factors buffeting its European neighbors  inflation, rising interest rates and supply chain disruptions attributed to the war and COVID-19.

The World Bank this week forecast that the Polish economy will grow at a 1.6% rate in 2023 compared to the 4.0% rate expected for 2022. That is down from an expected 3.6% growth rate for 2023 forecast by the bank last spring.

Experts interviewed by VOA said there are three main reasons why the "refugee crisis" quickly filled the Polish market with needed labor. First, Ukrainians who arrived in Poland, including many mothers with children, had high professional qualifications and wanted to work. Second, Polish authorities quickly removed most barriers to Ukrainian TDP employment. And third, the sizeable Ukrainian diaspora facilitated the adjustment and labor engagement of the newly arrived compatriots fleeing the war.

Ukrainians working below their qualifications

For many newly arrived Ukrainian women, says Ludmila Dymitrow, a coordinator at the Information Center for Foreigners in Krakow, low-skilled work is only the first step.

"We explain that even if you had a good job and a high status in your homeland, you could find it here, too, but start with something simpler. A good start can begin in different ways, even from the checkout in a store. Learn the language, and life will give you other opportunities."

One of many Ukrainian TDPs in Krakow, Olena Kurta, a mother of two, cleans hotel rooms. She used to teach law in the city of Horlivka, in the Russia-supported so-called Donetsk People's Republic in 2014, and later opened and ran a daycare in Kryvyi Rih.

"I want to learn the language and find another job. I haven't decided what I want to do. I have to start everything from the beginning," said Kurta.

Tatyana Potapova, another Ukrainian woman, came to Krakow from the village of Lyptsi near Kharkiv, captured by Russians in the early days of the invasion. In her 60s and a chemist by education and employment, she enrolled in Polish-language classes as soon as she arrived.

"I imagine that I can work as a concierge in some institution. It is my dream. I am willing even to work in a store, but preferably not in a grocery store," said Potapova in an interview with VOA.

Polish authorities provide immediate job assistance

On March 12, 2022, the Polish parliament passed a law on assistance to Ukrainian citizens, which gave the TDPs from Ukraine the right to stay legally in Poland for 18 months and access its health care system, education, social services and labor market.

The government and local authorities assist Ukrainian TDPs in finding employment. For example, the provincial Employment Administration helps connect job seekers with employers. It also began some programs, available only to Polish citizens and Ukrainian TDPs, that included financing 85% of the cost of job training, said its director.

The administration sent their representative to the Center for Foreigners, located in the Krakow shopping mall, to help job seekers find opportunities and apply for vacancies.

Badiani-Magnusson points to a comprehensive approach to facilitating access of Ukrainian women to the labor market.

"The Polish government and society need to be recognized and commended for their generous and open-armed support to the populations arriving, the speed and rapidity at which populations that wanted to work were able to have registered temporary protection" that provided services that allowed to integrate them into the labor market, said the economist.

Ukrainian diaspora helps new arrivals find jobs

Maciej Bukowski, president of the Warsaw-based research institute Wise-Europa, draws attention to another aspect  before the arrival of a new wave of TDPs after February 24, Ukrainians were already in Poland, arriving especially after 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, and instigated and supported aggression in Donbas.

The presence of Ukrainians helped absorb the sudden and significant wave of new refugees from Ukraine.

Barriers for Ukrainians in the Polish labor market

Still, obstacles to the employment of the Ukrainian TDPs remain. The language barrier is one of them. Even though Ukrainian and Polish are linguistically close, it still takes time and effort to be able to speak Polish fluently.

The Zustricz Foundation, an organization of Ukrainians in Krakow, offers classes for Polish-language learners, one of the popular ways to assist Ukrainian TDPs.

A second barrier is the need to care for children. Almost half of those who arrived from Ukraine after February 24 and remained in Poland (600,000) are children.

Badiani-Magnusson of the World Bank points to the need to find employment that matches the qualifications of the Ukrainian job seekers. Zustricz Foundation founder Aleksandra Zapolska agrees  there is still a need to connect employers and job seekers, especially among the most qualified.

"In the medical field, there is a great need for nurses and doctors; for example, there is a shortage of psychiatrists. On the other hand, doctors do not fully know where to turn because not every hospital is interested at that moment; there is no such path for them to meet," she explained.

The World Bank also says that Ukrainian entrepreneurs need help with adaptation to Polish legislation and access to finance. "You can imagine that you can have a very successful business in Ukraine, and you'd like to be able to bring those same skills into the Polish labor market," says Badiani-Magnusson.

An uncertain outcome

Zapolska points to another problem  uncertainty about the future.

Will these people return to Ukraine? Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Ukrainians will return with the liberation of Ukrainian territories; the critical moment here will be the liberation of Kherson. That is why, he said, it is essential to end the war in such a way that Russia cannot continue posing a threat to Ukrainian territories.

"Many Ukrainians do not know whether they will return, and their decision often changes," said Zapolska.

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), more than 7 million Ukrainian TDPs remain in European countries  1.3 million in Poland. Since the start of the full-scale offensive, more than 6 million people have crossed the border from Ukraine to Poland.

VOAs Georgian Service contributed to this report.
Anti-government demonstrators took to the streets in Thailands capital Saturday following a court ruling allowing Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha to stay in office.

Around 500 demonstrators gathered at Bangkoks Victory Monument to protest the decision.

Background ruling

Prayut, 68, is a former Royal Thai Army officer who led a military coup in Thailand in 2014 and has been in power since. In 2017 a new constitution was drafted by the military, limiting a prime ministers time in the job to only eight years.

In August, Thai opposition political parties filed cases with Thailands Constitutional Court arguing that the prime ministers time in the job should have ended this year, saying his term began with the coup takeover.

But after suspending Prayut to review the case, the court Friday ruled in favor of the prime minister, stating his term as the head of the government had not exceeded its limit. It ruled 6-3 that Prayuts time in charge began August 6, 2017, a day after the new constitution took effect.

Victory Monument

In response, Thalufah, an activist group in Thailand, organized a protest beside Bangkoks Victory Monument, a regular demonstration venue in recent years that has seen protesters and police clash violently.

But the mood Saturday afternoon was much lighter than demonstrations in recent years, as protesters gathered beside market stalls to sing, dance, and voice their disapproval at the courts decision. Activists took to the stage to voice their anger at Prayut, but the atmosphere remained upbeat, as the demonstration mirrored a mini concert.

Politics, not justice

Chuveath Dethddidark, an activist in Thailand, reiterated the reason for the protest. We cannot accept about what the Constitution Court do yesterday. But they allow Prayut Chan-ocha to stay on. This is politics, it is not justice. We know, everyone knows its not from just the court that makes this decision. We cannot allow this, four more years or anymore. I expect (more protests) but to be realistic people may express their anger [during] the elections, he added.

Quotes

Ladoo, who declined to provide a surname, is an activist for Thalufah. He said protests against Prayut would continue until elections, which are likely to be held in 2023.

The reasons we are [protesting], the decisions made yesterday that Prayut Chan-ocha can still be the prime minister of Thailand, we the people, the people of Thailand are against [this], it is against the people, the right of the people, it is all wrong the decision came this way. Today we came to express ourselves, express our freedom, express our opinion to prove we disagree with the decision made yesterday.

We are planning to launch the activities before the elections to express the freedom of people, he added.

Protest background

Although hundreds turned out for the demonstration Saturday in Bangkok, the numbers are a sharp decline from street protests in recent years.

Thousands of protesters have been calling for a change in government and reform of the countrys monarchy since 2020. But protests have regularly turned into clashes with police, who have used rubber bullets, pepper spray and water cannons to repel demonstrations with hundreds since being arrested and charged. In 2021 most demonstrations were aimed at the governments COVID-19 policy that resulted in violent clashes in Bangkoks Din Daeng district.

The activist said times have changed now and attributes the decrease in numbers to Thailands economic rebound.

I dont think we expect the people to come out a lot more, because we understand the condition of the people isnt the same as it was in 2020 or 2021 because at that time the economy started falling. We understand so many people are waiting for the elections, but we want to launch the activities to connect that period of time to express we are still fighting and even if you are at home you are fighting with us, Ladoo added.

Amid the pandemic in recent years, Thailands GDP declined by 6% in 2020 but has since grown and is on the path to recovery. As most of the world has learned to live with COVID-19, Thailand has followed suit. Tourism is one the biggest incomes in the Southeast Asian country, and as of today all remaining coronavirus restrictions were dropped for international arrivals.

Escalation concerns

Last week there were concerns that Thailand could see another military coup if protests were to escalate amid Fridays decision. Thailands digital economy minister, Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn, warned another military coup could take place, but experts and analysts in the country said it would not happen. Thailand has endured more than 10 coups in the last century.

More protests in Bangkok are expected Sunday.
Rescuers searched for survivors among the ruins of Florida's flooded homes from Hurricane Ian while authorities in South Carolina began assessing damage from its strike there as the remnants of one of the strongest and costliest hurricanes to ever hit the U.S. continued to push north.

The powerful storm terrorized millions of people for most of the week, battering western Cuba before raking across Florida from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, where it mustered enough strength for a final assault on South Carolina. Now weakened to a post-tropical cyclone, Ian was expected to move across North Carolina then into Virginia and New York.

At least 31 people were confirmed dead, including 27 people in Florida mostly from drowning but others from the storm's tragic aftereffects. An elderly couple died after their oxygen machines shut off when they lost power, authorities said.

Chris Schnapp was at the Port Sanibel Marina in Fort Myers on Saturday, waiting to see whether her 83-year-old mother-in-law had been evacuated from Sanibel Island. A pontoon boat had just arrived with a load of passengers from the island  with suitcases and animals in tow  but Schnapps mother-in-law was not among them.

She stayed on the island. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law own two businesses over there. They evacuated. She did not want to go, thinking it wasnt going to be bad," Schnapp said. But then she got word Friday night that her mother-in-law would be arriving at the marina: Now we dont know if shes still on the island or gotten on a bus, and was taken to a shelter, Schnapp said.

South Carolina's Pawleys Island, a beach community about 117 kilometers up the coast from Charleston, was among the places hardest hit by Ian, and power remained knocked out to at least half of the island Saturday.

Eddie Wilder, who has been coming to Pawleys Island for more than six decades, said Fridays storm was insane to watch. He said waves as high as 7.6 meters washed away the pier  an iconic landmark  just two doors down from his home.

We watched it hit the pier and saw the pier disappear, said Wilder, whose house sits about 9 meters above the ocean and stayed dry inside. We watched it crumble and watched it float by with an American flag still floating."

The Pawleys pier was one of at least four along South Carolinas coast to be destroyed during Ians winds and rain. Portions of the pier, including barnacle-covered pylons, littered the beach. The intracoastal waterway was littered with the remnants of several boat houses torn apart and knocked off their pilings in the storm.

Traffic was shut off to Pawleys Island's southernmost point, where crews were working to clear roadways of sand and other debris that officials said has been piled at least a foot high. The sand will later be redistributed to build back the dunes along the beach front, as happened after similar washing over in 2019.

Many of the elevated beach homes still had feet of sand underneath, with dunes completely washed over and nearly flattened.

John Joseph, whose father built the familys beige beach house in 1962, said Saturday that he was elated to return from Georgetown  which took a direct hit  to find his Pawleys Island home entirely intact.

Thank God these walls are still here, and we feel very blessed that this is the worst thing, he said of the sand swept under his home. What happened in Florida  gosh, God bless us. If wed had a Category 4, I wouldnt be here.

In North Carolina, the storm appeared to have mainly downed trees and power lines, leaving upwards of 280,000 people across the state without power late Saturday morning, according to state officials.

At least one fatality connected to the storm was reported in Johnston County, outside of Raleigh. A woman found her husband dead early Saturday after he went to check on a generator running in their garage overnight, sheriffs office Capt. Jeff Caldwell said.

The storm's winds were much weaker Friday than during Ian's landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast earlier in the week. Authorities and volunteers there were still assessing the damage as shocked residents tried to make sense of what they just lived through.

Anthony Rivera, 25, said he had to climb through the window of his first-floor Fort Myers apartment during the storm to carry his grandmother and girlfriend to the second floor. As they hurried to escape the rising water, the storm surge had washed a boat right up next to his apartment.

That's the scariest thing in the world because I can't stop no boat, he said. I'm not Superman.

Other distraught residents waded through knee-high water Friday, salvaging what possessions they could from their flooded homes and loading them onto rafts and canoes.

I want to sit in the corner and cry. I dont know what else to do, Stevie Scuderi said after shuffling through her mostly destroyed Fort Myers apartment, the mud in her kitchen clinging to her purple sandals.

On Saturday, a long line of people waited outside an OReillys auto parts store in Port Charlotte, where a sign read, We have generators now. Hundreds of cars were lined up outside a Wawa gas station, and some people walked, carrying gas cans to their nearby cars.
Indonesia's elite counterterrorism police have killed a militant who was believed responsible for the killings of Christian farmers on Sulawesi island and was the last remaining member of an organization that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, police said Friday.

Police said Al Ikhwarisman, also known as Jaid, was a key member of the East Indonesia Mujahideen network. He was killed by the Densus 88 counterterrorism unit in a shootout late Thursday in a mountainous Kawende village in the Poso district, an extremist hotbed in the Central Sulawesi province, provincial police chief Rudy Sufahriadi said.

The East Indonesia Mujahideen, known by the Indonesian acronym MIT, has claimed responsibility for the killings of police officers and minority Christians, some by beheading. It has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group. Sufahriadi said Jaid conducted at least 10 of the group's executions, including the killing of four Christian farmers in May 2021.

Thursday's shootout occurred four months after security forces killed the other remaining member of MIT in a jungle shootout, police said.

"He was the last remaining suspected member of the group," Sufahriadi said, "We have managed to eliminate a dangerous militant group that has disturbed [the] peace in Poso."

Security operations in Central Sulawesi were intensified last year to capture MIT members, particularly Ali Kalora, the group's leader and Indonesia's most wanted militant. Kalora was killed in a shootout in July 2021, two months after the group killed the four Christians in the Kalemago village of the Poso district, including one who was beheaded.

Authorities said the attack was in revenge for the killing in March 2021 of two militants, including the son of the group's former leader, Abu Wardah Santoso.

Santoso, Kalora's predecessor, was killed by security forces in July 2016. Dozens of other leaders and members of the group who escaped to remote mountain jungles of Poso have since been killed or captured.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation, has conducted a crackdown on militants since bombings on the resort island of Bali in 2002 killed 202 people, mostly Western and Asian tourists.

Militant attacks on foreigners in Indonesia have been largely replaced in recent years by smaller, less deadly strikes targeting the government, mainly police and anti-terrorism forces, and people militants consider to be infidels, inspired by Islamic State group tactics abroad.
For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in Russias war on Ukraine. All times EDT.

10:07 p.m.: Italy's Eni said it would not receive any of the gas it had ordered from Russia's Gazprom for delivery this weekend, although the firms said they were working to fix this, Reuters reported.

Russian gas supplies through the Tarvisio entry point will be at zero for Oct. 1, Eni, the biggest importer of Russian gas in Italy, said in a statement on its website Saturday.

The Italian group later added that it would not receive any of the requested imports for Sunday, and that the situation was expected to remain the same into Monday.

Moscow and several European countries, including Germany, have been at loggerheads over the supply of natural gas from Russia since the country's invasion of Ukraine in February.

8:39 p.m.: Bulgaria opened a natural gas link with Greece at a ceremony Saturday attended by the leader of the European Union's executive arm, who emphasized the bloc's determination to stop relying on Russian energy imports, The Associated Press reported.

Speaking at a ceremony in Sofia, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed the pipeline as an important contribution to limiting opportunities for Russia to use its gas and oil reserves to blackmail or punish the EU.

This pipeline changes the energy security situation for Europe. This project means freedom, von der Leyen told an audience that included heads of state and government from the region.

The European Commission committed nearly 250 million euros to finance the project, she said.

The importance of the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria pipeline, which was completed in July, has risen significantly after Moscow decided to turn its natural gas deliveries into a political weapon.

A second European pipeline started operating Saturday when fuel flowed through the new Baltic Pipe, which was built to carry gas from Norway's North Sea deposits through Denmark and across the Baltic seabed to a compressor station in northwestern Poland. It's full capacity is expected to be reached next year.

7:40 p.m.: Germany will deliver the first of four advanced IRIS-T air defense systems to Ukraine in the coming days to help ward off drone attacks, its defense minister Christine Lambrecht said during an unannounced visit to Odesa, Reuters reported.

As air raid sirens sounded in the port city above, Lambrecht held talks with her Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov in an underground bunker. Lambrecht had extended a visit to nearby Moldova for the meeting.

"In a few days, we will deliver the very modern IRIS-T air defense system," she told ARD television. "It is very important for drone defense in particular."

Ukraine has been seeing more attacks from Iranian-made kamikaze drones in recent weeks, costing lives and causing serious damage to infrastructure.

7:08 p.m.:

6:53 p.m.: Russia failed to win enough votes for re-election to the United Nation's aviation agency's governing council on Saturday, in a rebuke of Moscow for aviation-related actions taken after its invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported.

Russia fell short of the 86 votes needed to stay on the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) 36-nation governing council, during the agency's assembly which runs through Oct. 7 in Montreal.

The voting results set off a procedural review on Saturday, after a challenge by Russia for an additional vote. Poppy Khoza, assembly president and South Africa's director general of civil aviation, called the circumstances "unprecedented."

"When we have votes in our countries, if we don't like the result, we don't ask for another vote," the French representative told the assembly.

Russia, along with the G-7, China, Brazil and Australia, held spots as "states of chief importance in air transport" on ICAO's 36-member council.

The vote holds Russia to account for violating Ukraine's sovereign airspace, like bombing airports, that go against a key 1944 agreement that sets out core principles for global aviation, argued Yuliya Kovaliv, Ukraine's ambassador to Canada.

6:07 p.m.: U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi is expected to hold talks in Moscow and Kyiv next week on the creation of a protection zone around the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) in Ukraine, the watchdog said, according to Reuters.

"Director General Grossi continues his consultations and other efforts aimed at agreeing and implementing a nuclear safety and security zone around the ZNPP as soon as possible. He is expected to travel to Kyiv and Moscow next week," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement.

5:15 p.m.: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed his threat to block the NATO bids of Sweden and Finland, saying he would not give his approval until the two Nordic countries kept promises he said were made to Ankara, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.

"Until the promises made to our country are upheld, we will maintain our principled position," Erdogan said in a speech to parliament in Ankara.

"We are closely following whether the promises made by Sweden and Finland are kept or not, and of course, the final decision will be up to our great parliament," he added without elaboration.

Ankara initially said it would veto the two countries' membership in the Western alliance, with Erdogan accusing them of providing havens for Kurdish militants operating in Turkey and for promoting what he called "terrorism."

Following negotiations, Erdogan said he would drop his objections but indicated he could still block their membership bids if they failed to follow through on promises, some of which were undisclosed.

4:27 p.m.:

3:15 p.m.: Belarus is preparing to receive Russian soldiers and equipment, The Kyiv Independent reports.

Belarus' Defense Ministrys Intelligence Directorate said the country is preparing to welcome up to 20,000 Russian soldiers. It said there are currently about 1,000 Russian soldiers in Belarus.

2:55 p.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said fighting was continuing in the key city of Lyman, which Russia said earlier in the day its troops had withdrawn from to avoid getting trapped.

The Ukrainian flag is already in Lyman in the Donetsk region. Fighting is still going on there, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

1:50 p.m.: After Russia failed to win enough votes for re-election to the United Nations aviation agencys governing council, Reuters reports, the French representative told the assembly: When we have votes in our countries, if we dont like the result, we dont ask for another vote.

Russia closed its airspace to airlines from 36 countries, including all 27 members of the European Union, in response to Ukraine-related sanctions targeting its aviation sector following Moscows invasion of Ukraine. Russia, along with the G-7, China, Brazil and Australia, held spots as states of chief importance in air transport on ICAOs 36-member council.

Wed like to express regret regarding the outcome of the voting, the Russian representative said. We view this as a purely political step and has nothing to do with Russias position in the field of civil aviation.

12:30 p.m.: Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said Saturday that Russia should consider using low-yield nuclear weapons after Moscow's troops were forced out of a key city in eastern Ukraine, Agence France-Presse reports.

In my personal opinion, more drastic measures should be taken, up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and use of low-yield nuclear weapons, Kadyrov said on his Telegram channel. He said that there is no place for nepotism in the army and called Colonel-General Alexander Lapin, who is in charge of Russia's forces fighting in the region, mediocre.

He said Lapin did not provide the necessary communication, interaction and supply of ammunition to pro-Russian troops in Lyman, a city in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region that Moscow annexed a day earlier. Russia said it was withdrawing troops from Lyman Saturday after capturing it in May.

11:15 a.m.: Ukrainian officials said Russian forces killed at least 20 people, including 10 children, in an attack on a convoy carrying people fleeing northeastern Ukraine. The attack could not be independently verified.

It follows a missile strike on another civilian convoy in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region on Friday in which 30 people were killed and scores were wounded.

Britains Defense Ministry said Saturday the missile used in Fridays attack was likely a Russian long-range air defense missile being used in a ground attack role.

10:30 a.m.: Russian troops have pulled out of the city of Lyman in eastern Ukraine, according to a statement from the Russias defense ministry. It said its troops were withdrawn after the threat of encirclement. Ukraine forces on Saturday surrounded and entered the eastern city, where Russias forces had more than 5,000 soldiers.

9:56 a.m.: Ukraine's defense ministry said Saturday its forces were entering the key city of Lyman in the eastern Donetsk region that Russia annexed a day earlier, Agency France-Presse reports.

"Ukrainian Air Assault Forces are entering Lyman, Donetsk region, the ministry said on Twitter, posting a video of soldiers holding up a yellow and blue Ukrainian flag near a sign with the city's name.

Lyman lies in the north of Ukraine's Donetsk region, which Moscow annexed despite only controlling part of it.

7:55 a.m.: Ukraine said Saturday it encircled several thousand Russian troops near a key city in one of the four Moscow-held territories that President Vladimir Putin annexed a day earlier, despite condemnation from Kyiv and the West, Agence France-Presse reports. Ukrainian forces were on the doorstep of the city of Lyman in Ukraine's Donetsk region, which Moscow's forces pummeled for weeks to capture this spring.

Ukraine's army said Saturday that it had "encircled" a Russian grouping near the city, estimating it to be around 5,000 troops.

5:29 a.m.: In its latest Ukraine assessment, the Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. think tank, said Russian troops continued ground assaults in Donetsk Oblast. Russian authorities continued efforts to coerce Russian participation in mobilization efforts, but will likely struggle to coerce participation as Russians continue to flee Russia for border states who welcome them. In addition, the update said, Russian officials are accepting bribes and engaging in other preferential treatment to prevent or ease the economic burden of mobilization on the wealthy.

4:31 a.m.: The latest intelligence update from the U.K. defense ministry said Russia is expending strategically valuable military assets in attempts to achieve tactical advantage and in the process is killing civilians it now claims are its own citizens. The update cited the recent attack on Zaporizhzhia that officials say killed 25 civilians.

3:27 a.m.: The Russian Consulate in New York was vandalized with red spray paint early Friday, in an apparent protest as President Vladimir Putin pursues his bloody invasion of Ukraine, Agence France-Presse reported.

Officers said they responded to an emergency call just after 1:30 am that reported paint sprayed across the facade of the consulate on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

A police spokesperson said the investigation was ongoing into the potential "bias incident" and no arrests had been made.

The bright red paint appeared hours before Putin announced he was annexing four parts of Ukraine occupied by his army.

2:30 a.m.: One of two American veterans released from Russian captivity after being captured in Ukraine says they both prayed for death during the brutal ride to freedom, The Associated Press reported. Alex Drueke says he and fellow Alabamian Andy Huynh endured three months of captivity that included execution threats, physical torture, solitary confinement and food deprivation. But he says the final 24 hours were the toughest because of mental and emotional torture.

1:26 a.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that his country's military had achieved "significant results" in the east and mentioned Lyman, a Russian-occupied stronghold that pro-Moscow forces are struggling to keep control of, Reuters reported.

Ukraine's defense ministry said earlier its troops had captured the village of Drobysheve, some 10 km (six miles) to the north west of Lyman, in the eastern Donetsk region.

Lyman has been at the center of renewed fighting since Ukraine routed Russian forces in the nearby Kharkiv region in a lightning counteroffensive this month.

"We have significant results in the east of our country ... everyone has heard what is happening in Lyman," Zelenskyy said in a video address.

12:02 a.m.: An investigation by RFE/RL journalists shows connections between the metallurgical empire of Vladimir Lisin, one of Russia's richest oligarchs, and Russia's military industries. According to an NGO that monitors Russian state contracts, one of his companies did business with a state-run institute involved in the development of nuclear weapons. Lisin's company issued a statement to RFE/RL denying its products could be used for military purposes. Unlike many of Russia's rich and politically connected industrialists, Lisin and his companies have not been sanctioned by the European Union, the United States, Britain, or even Ukraine.

Some information in this report came from Reuters, Agence France-Presse and The Associated Press.
A top Somali police official and several of his guards were killed Friday in a roadside bomb blast near the southern town of Balad, according to Somali authorities.



The attack involved a landmine that targeted Mogadishu Police Commissioner Farhan Mohamoud Adan, better known as Qarole, near the Balad district, 35 kilometers north of Mogadishu.



The police commissioner stepped out of his bulletproof vehicle as he was visiting a government military post and then a landmine apparently planted there went off, killing the commissioner and an unidentified number of police officers accompanying him, a government official who requested anonymity told VOA Somali. Its part of the ongoing efforts to eradicate al-Shabab. They will be remembered for their role in Somalias anti-al-Shabab operations.



Somali police Major Sadiq Aden Ali-Doodishe, who spoke to VOA after the blast, confirmed the incident, but he could not provide further details about the nature of the blast or the number of casualties.



Ali-Doodishe said the attack occurred during security operations targeting the Basra village area on the border of the Middle and Lower Shabelle regions.



The commissioner was in the middle of a successful operation that flushed out terrorists from these areas when he was targeted by a blast, the police major said. We ask God to have mercy on the martyrs who died, and may God bless those who were injured.



Ali-Doodishe added that such attacks would never deter Somali soldiers in their fight against terrorism. Terrorism is a threat to life. We will never be diverted from our goal of ensuring the security of the country and the elimination of terrorism, he said.

Authorities blamed the al-Qaida-linked Islamist group al-Shabab for the attack, though no one had yet claimed responsibility.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud condemned the attack in a statement. Commissioner Aden and [the] other valiant soldiers who have died in the blast dedicated their life for Somalias peace, he said.

Speaking at a government-sponsored youth conference Friday in Mogadishu, Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre called on Somali youth to unite in the fight against what he called a ruthless enemy. He was referring to al-Shabab, which has been waging a bloody insurgency in the impoverished Horn of Africa nation for more than 15 years.



Somali religious scholars have made their positions [clear] on our fight against al-Shabab. Al-Shabab does not represent Islam nor Muslims. Therefore, there is a responsibility for Somali youth to participate [in] the efforts to eradicate al-Shabab so that the innocent Somalis suffering under al-Shababs enmity and ruthlessness will be freed, Barre said.



Ethiopia coordination



Analysts say government counterterrorism operations were stepped up after the groups brazen cross-border attack into eastern Ethiopia in late July.



On Friday, in Addis Ababa, Mohamud concluded his state visit to Ethiopia, where he held talks with Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

It was Mohamuds first visit to neighboring Ethiopia since he was elected in May. The top priority of his agenda was regional support in the fight against al-Shabab in Somalia.



In a joint communique, Mohamud and Ahmed agreed to strengthen ties, reiterating their intention to fight against a common enemy. They also applauded the Somali National Armys gains in anti-al-Shabab operations, and they called on the U.N. Security Council to consider Somalias request to lift the arms embargo.



Middle, Lower Shabelle



The killing of Mogadishus police chief followed a government operation Friday that removed militants from multiple villages along the border between the Middle and Lower Shabelle regions.



Somalia Defense Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur told the Somali National News Agency that troops also had razed several al-Shabab barracks in nine villages.



These gains are achieved following well-coordinated operations in the early hours of this Friday, Nur said.



In the Hiran region of central Somalia, a counterterrorism military campaign backing a pro-government local clan militia has been making significant gains, Somali National Army officials said Thursday. They said they had secured control of at least 50 villages and al-Shabab strongholds.



The anti-al-Shabab campaign follows the Somali presidents call for all Somalis to fight against al-Shabab.



Falastin Iman contributed to this report from Mogadishu.
David is an award-winning Senior Investigative Reporter at The Gazette and has worked in Colorado for more than two decades. He has been a journalist since 1982 and has also worked in New York, St. Louis, and Detroit.
Myanmar's military government accused rebel forces in the eastern state of Kayah of firing at a passenger plane as it was preparing to land Friday, wounding a passenger who was hit by a bullet that penetrated the fuselage. Rebel groups denied the allegation.

State television MRTV said the Myanmar National Airlines plane, carrying 63 passengers, was hit as it was about to land in Loikaw, the capital of the eastern state of Kayah, also known as Karenni.

It said Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, a representative for Myanmar's ruling military council, said the shooting was carried out by "terrorists" belonging to the Karenni National Progressive Party, an ethnic minority militia battling the government, and their allies in the People's Defense Force, an armed pro-democracy group.

"I want to say that this kind of attack on the passenger plane is a war crime," he told MRTV by phone. "People and organizations who want peace need to condemn this issue all round."

MRTV said the bullet entered the plane's lower fuselage as it was flying at an altitude of 3,500 feet about 4 miles (6.5 kilometers) north of the airport. It said the injured passenger was taken to a hospital.

The state news agency released photos it said were of the bullet hole and the passenger being treated.

Myanmar National Airlines' office in Loikaw announced that all flights to the city were canceled indefinitely.

Kayah state has experienced intense conflict between the military and local resistance groups since the army seized power last year, overthrowing the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Feb. 1, 2021, takeover was met with peaceful nationwide protests, but after the army and police cracked down with lethal force on street demonstrators opposing military rule, thousands of civilians formed militia units as part of a People's Defense Force to fight back.

The PDF groups are allied with well-established armed ethnic minority groups such as the Karenni, the Karen and the Kachin which have been fighting the central government for more than half a century, seeking greater autonomy in border regions.

Khu Daniel, a leader of the Karenni National Progressive Party, denied the government's accusation and said his party had not ordered its armed wing, the Karenni Army, to shoot at civilians or passenger planes.

"The military always blames other organizations for the shootings. Our armed wing didn't shoot the plane this morning," he told The Associated Press.

Government representative Zaw Min Tun said it has been providing security around the airport and accused the KNPP and PDF of creating chaos in Loikaw by firing artillery into the city and the area near the airport.

Since the military seized power, there have been frequent clashes in Kayah between the army and local anti-government guerrillas near a base belonging to the government's 54th Light Infantry Battalion, located south of the airport. State-run media reported last Christmas that the KNPP and PDF attacked a Myanmar National Airlines passenger plane with four 107mm rockets, which exploded about 2,000 meters (1.2 miles) east of the airport, injuring no one.

The Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, another ethnic rebel group, earlier advised against traveling on Myanmar National Airlines because it is state-owned, so its revenues go to the military, and the army uses it to supply its forces.

The information officer of the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, who spoke on condition of anonymity to safeguard his personal security, called the government's allegation about Friday's shooting "nothing more than defamatory propaganda against the revolutionary forces by the Military Council."

"The runway and the area of the airfield are surrounded by infantry battalions and high security areas. So to say that PDFs attacked the plane is only an accusation," he said.
The government of Nicaragua broke off diplomatic relations with the Netherlands on Friday over accusations of interventionism, hours after it said it would deny entry to the new U.S. ambassador because of his "interfering" attitude.

"Nicaragua, faced with the repeated meddling, interventionist and neocolonialist position of the Kingdom of the Netherlands that has offended... with threats and suspensions of works for the common good, communicates to the Government of that country our decision to immediately discontinue diplomatic relations," the foreign ministry said in a statement Friday night.

Earlier in the day, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, a former revolutionary, had lashed out at the European nation after learning it would not fund a long-promised hospital.

"Those who come to disrespect our people, our homeland, they should not appear again in Nicaragua. And we do not want relations with that interventionist government," Ortega said in reference to the Dutch ambassador for Central America, Christine Pirenne, who is based in Costa Rica.

According to the president, during a visit to the capital Managua on Thursday, Pirenne informed Nicaragua's Foreign Minister Denis Moncada that the Dutch would no longer be financing a hospital they promised to build years ago.

"The ambassador came to speak to Nicaraguans as if Nicaragua is a Dutch colony," Ortega said.

The Netherlands closed its offices in Managua in 2013 and conducts all its Central American diplomatic work from Costa Rica.

Before Ortega's remarks, his wife, Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo, said Friday that new U.S. envoy Hugo Rodriguez "will not under any circumstances be admitted into our Nicaragua.

"Let that be clear to the imperialists," she added, reading a statement from the foreign office on state media.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Rodriguez's ambassador posting Thursday, despite Nicaragua having said in July it would reject him.

Nicaragua said it decided to withdraw its approval of Rodriguez because of "disrespectful" comments he made in a hearing before the Senate.

Rodriguez had described Nicaragua as a "pariah state in the region" and branded Ortega's government a "dictatorship."

"I would support using all economic and diplomatic tools to bring about a change in direction in Nicaragua," he told the Senate.

One measure he suggested was kicking Nicaragua out of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement.

On Wednesday, the government asked European Union Ambassador Bettina Muscheidt to leave the country without giving any reasons, according to local media and diplomatic sources.

Also Wednesday, Ortega branded the Catholic Church a "perfect dictatorship," reflecting ongoing tensions between his government and the religious institution over 2018 protests that Ortega has accused the church of backing.
North Korea fired two more ballistic missiles into the sea Saturday, adding to its record-breaking pace of launches this year, South Korean officials said.

The North fired two short-range ballistic missiles from the Pyongyang area into the waters off its east coast, according to South Koreas military, which closely tracks the launches.

North Korea has launched seven missiles this week, including just before and after U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visited South Korea.

While visiting the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, Harris condemned North Koreas brutal dictatorship and said the launches were clearly a provocation.

Harris also met South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, a conservative who has pushed for a tougher military response toward the North Korean threat.

Since the beginning of the year, North Korea has fired 38 ballistic missiles, including long-range missiles meant to target the U.S. mainland and short-range weapons that threaten U.S. allies in Japan and South Korea.

North Korea has also made preparations to conduct its seventh nuclear test, according to U.S. and South Korean officials, a step that could further raise regional tension.

While North Koreas short-range ballistic tests are less important than a nuclear test, they still violate U.N. Security Council resolutions, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

Pyongyangs actions again make clear the need for Washington and Seoul to reinforce military deterrence, tighten economic sanctions and increase policy coordination with Tokyo, Easley added.

On Friday, the United States, South Korea and Japan held anti-submarine military exercises off the coast of Korea for the first time since 2017.

Over the last several years, Seoul-Tokyo ties have been strained by disputes related to Japan's occupation of Korea before World War II.
Ukraines nuclear power provider accused Russia on Saturday of kidnapping the head of Europes largest nuclear power plant, a facility now occupied by Russian troops.

Russian forces seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Ihor Murashov, around 4 p.m. Friday, Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom said.

Energoatom said Russian troops stopped Murashovs car, blindfolded him and then took him to an undisclosed location.

His detention by (Russia) jeopardizes the safety of Ukraine and Europes largest nuclear power plant, said Energoatom President Petro Kotin said.

Kotin demanded Russia immediately release Murashov.

Russia did not immediately acknowledge seizing the plant director.

The Zaporizhzhia plant repeatedly has been caught in the crossfire of the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian technicians continued running it after Russian troops seized the power station. The plant's last reactor was shut down in September amid ongoing shelling near the facility.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, which has staff at the plant, did not immediately acknowledge Energoatom's claim of Murashovs capture by the Russians.
The Kremlin is tightening the screws on how media inside Russia can report on its war in Ukraine, media analysts say.

Moscow issued new directives to the media in late September, following Russias announcement of a partial military mobilization to try to bolster its troops.

Under the new regulations, media organizations must use only data and information from federal and regional executive bodies when reporting on mobilization efforts.

Failure to comply could result in news outlets being blocked or fined up to 5 million rubles (US $82,000), according to the Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor.

Russia has imposed a series of regulations on the media since it invaded Ukraine in February, including directives to call the war a special operation, and a new law penalizing spreading false news about the army. A violation of the latter carries a 15-year prison sentence.

Several news organizations ceased operations and others had licenses revoked, including Novaya Gazeta, whose editor, Dmitry Muratov, is the 2021 Nobel Peace laureate. Authorities on September 5 stripped Muratovs independent news outlet of its license.

Others, including VOA and the BBC, saw access blocked to their Russian-language content.

The authorities have continued tightening the screws as [they] attempt to establish a full control over the narrative of the war and the current situation in Russia as well as the worlds reaction to it, wrote Gulnoza Said, the Europe and Central Asia program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), in an email to VOA.

Amid mass protests across Russia against mobilization, at least 16 journalists have been briefly detained, and some have been convicted of taking part in unsanctioned rallies, according to CPJ and media reports.

Among those detained is Yulia Vishnevetskaya, a freelance journalist who contributes to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).

Vishnevetskaya was convicted of taking part in an unsanctioned rally after being arrested alongside protesters in Dagestan, RFE/RL reported. She was sentenced to five days in prison, her lawyer said Wednesday.

RFE/RL President Jamie Fly condemned the conviction, saying in a statement, Yulia was only doing her job, reporting the truth for the Russian people.

VOAs email to the Russian Embassy in Washington, requesting comment, was returned as undeliverable. A woman who answered a phone call to the embassy said she did not know whom VOA should be referred to, but that she would provide an email address. She then ended the call.

'Chilling effect

The restrictions on Russias media add to an already repressive environment, analysts say.

According to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), all media are subject to military censorship and, since the war, almost all independent media have been banned, blocked and/or declared foreign agents. 

Russia ranks 155th out of 180 countries, where 1 has the best conditions for the media, on RSFs Press Freedom Index.

Natalia Krapiva, a tech-legal counsel for the digital rights nonprofit Access Now, said the situation for press freedom in Russia has been deteriorating for years.

But the situation has escalated within the past two to three years, she told VOA.

The Kremlin in 2017 expanded its foreign agent law to include media, in response to the U.S. making Russian state media register under its Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA).

Under FARA, companies under foreign government control must report activities to the U.S. Justice Department.

But under Russian law, foreign media outlets must label all content as having been produced by a foreign agent. Failure to comply results in fines and the possibility of criminal charges.

VOA and its sister network RFE/RL are among those listed as foreign agents.

In July 2022, Russias President Vladimir Putin signed a bill to expand the law to include anyone found to be under foreign influence. The amendment is due to go into effect on December 1, RFE/RL reported.

Krapiva said Russias foreign agent law created distrust of media among citizens.

They are afraid that they might be somehow designated as foreign agents if they talk to journalists who are foreign agents or associated with media foreign agents, so definitely it created this chilling effect, Krapiva said.

The increasingly strict regulations on war coverage have hindered access to credible news inside Russia.

In the first week of the invasion, authorities blocked access to at least eight Russian and several Ukrainian media outlets, and others suspended operations, according to Human Rights Watch.

At least 150 journalists fled Russia in the early part of the year, and within weeks of the new law on false news going into effect, authorities opened around 60 cases, Human Rights Watch research found.

The restrictions are bringing independent media to the brink of erasure, Krapiva said. The impact extends to Western media that rely on local reporters in Russia for information.

CPJ, which has been helping Russian journalists relocate since the start of the war, has seen an increase in requests for assistance since Putin announced the partial mobilization, Said told VOA.

It's very dangerous to be an independent journalist in Russia, Said added. We have seen many journalists who tried to report on anti-mobilization protests being detained, arrested and tried.
Protests were reported Saturday at more than half a dozen Iranian universities as government security forces scrambled to crack down, firing at protesters in the capital, Tehran. The protests followed violent clashes between protesters and security forces in the Baluchistan capital of Zahedan, in which at least 20 people were reportedly killed, including three security force members.

Iranian security forces opened fire on dozens of protesters in the Iranian capital Saturday amid growing tensions in numerous Iranian towns and cities on the 14th day of popular protests against the government. Protests began after 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the government's notorious morality police, having been detained for flouting rules about wearing headscarves.

At least 20 people, mostly protesters, reportedly were killed Friday after security forces fired on them in Zahedan. Amateur video showed protesters on the ground, bleeding, after being shot while protesting. Iranian government media claimed security personnel opened fire on protesters after they tried to storm a police station.

Several government buildings and police vehicles were reported to have been damaged during Friday's violence. The Iranian government accused what it called "foreign agents" from a handful of countries for provoking the violence in Baluchistan.

Hundreds of students could be seen in amateur video posted online protesting Saturday at least half a dozen Iranian universities, including Shiraz University, Mashhad University, Yazd University, Fares University, Zangan University, Bahonar University, and North Tehran University.

Mehrdad Khonsari, a former Iranian diplomat based in London, told VOA that government security forces continue to have the upper hand in the protests, but "smaller protests are being organized in many towns and cities" to avoid government security force dragnets.

"The machinery of repression," he notes, "is too powerful for ordinary protesters who are demonstrating empty-handed, so to speak."

Khonsari argued that unlike previous protests in recent years, where economic motivations prompted popular protests, this time around "protesters are clearly demanding regime change," against what he calls Iran's "deep state," including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guard forces.

The target of the protesters  all their venom is aimed at the deep state, and they have one demand, one solitary demand and that is a new constitution based on popular sovereignty, in other words, the will of the people, whatever that may be, and an end to this theocratic dictatorship," Khonsari said.

Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV reported that former Iranian Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, who led Iran's failed 2009 Green Revolution, has "called on the country's armed forces to stand with the people against the regime." VOA could not independently confirm the claim.
Turkey's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday it rejects Russia's annexation of four regions in Ukraine, adding the decision is a "grave violation" of international law.

Turkey, a NATO member, has conducted a diplomatic balancing act since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Ankara opposes Western sanctions on Russia and has close ties with both Moscow and Kyiv, its Black Sea neighbors. It has also criticized.

Russia's invasion and sent armed drones to Ukraine.

The Turkish ministry said on Saturday it had not recognized Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, adding that it rejects Russia's decision to annex the four regions, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

"This decision, which constitutes a grave violation of the established principles of international law, cannot be accepted," the ministry said.

"We reiterate our support to the resolution of this war, the severity of which keeps growing, based on a just peace that will be reached through negotiations," it added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the annexation of the regions on Friday, promising Moscow would triumph in its "special military operation" even as he faced a potentially serious new military reversal.

His proclamation came after Russia held what it called referendums in occupied areas of Ukraine. Western governments and Kyiv said the votes breached international law and were coercive and non-representative.

The United States, Britain and Canada announced new sanctions in response.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday his country had submitted a fast-track application to join the NATO military alliance and that he would not hold peace talks with Russia while Putin was still president.
Turkeys interior minister Saturday described a gun attack that killed a police officer in the countrys south as an America-based operation.

Two suspected Kurdish militants opened fire on security force lodgings in the Mediterranean province of Mersin late Monday, killing one officer and wounding a second officer and a civilian.

The female attackers, who Turkish authorities said were affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, later killed themselves by detonating suicide bombs.

This action is an America-based action, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told ruling party officials in the Black Sea province of Giresun, according to the private Demiroren news agency and other outlets.

Soylu also said U.S. authorities had requested the serial numbers of the firearms used in the attack from the Turkish police, without specifying which U.S. agency made the request.

Turkish government officials have previously accused Washington of supporting the PKK by arming and training the groups Syrian branch, known as the YPG.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the 38-year on-off conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union. The U.S. does not recognize the YPG, which helped combat the Islamic State group in Syria, as a terrorist entity.

Soylu last year alleged American involvement in a failed coup attempt in Turkey in 2016 that killed more than 250 people. In 2018, he was placed on a sanctions list by Washington over the arrest and detention of U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson.

The minister said Mondays attackers, who targeted accommodations for security personnel in Mersins Mezitli district, had arrived in Turkey from the YPG-controlled Syrian city of Manbij by motorized parachute.
The World Health Organization and Ugandan authorities are seeking nearly $18 million to help contain the Ebola outbreak in the country for the next three months. The initiative comes as Uganda registers the death of the first health worker in the current Ebola outbreak and brings the total number of confirmed cases to 35, with seven deaths.

The death of the first medical worker during the current outbreak was revealed by Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, Ugandas minister for health, as she spoke to the media after a high-level closed-door meeting organized by the WHO in Kampala

On Thursday, the ministry announced that six health workers had been confirmed to have the Ebola Sudan strain and two more were in critical condition.

The health worker who died, a Tanzanian national, was moved to an isolation facility at a hospital in the neighboring district of Fort Portal in the Mubende district, where he had handled the first Ebola case.

Because of what Aceng called some mistakes, more health workers have been exposed to Ebola.

Today, we have 35 confirmed cases. And we have lost seven people, unfortunately. And one of them is a medical doctor, Aceng said. It is true that we have 65 health workers who have been exposed. Now all these 65 health workers are under quarantine.

The current Ebola Sudan strain so far has affected four districts in Uganda, including Mubende, with the epicenter in Madudu sub county, Kyegwegwa, Kassanda and now the Kagadi district.

Aceng revealed the main commonality with the four affected districts.

People from Madudu run to these districts because they thought there was witchcraft in Madudu, she said. And they were running away either to find a safe haven or to reach out to relatives to help them  treat what to them was a strange disease that they did not understand. However, with the various interventions that we have had, the people of Madudu have now understood that it is Ebola and not witchcraft.

Regardless of what course the spread of the Ebola Sudan strain will take, there is still no vaccine. Health officials in Uganda, including those from the WHO, are mobilizing and seeking the funds to control the outbreak.

Dr. Yonas Tegegn Woldermariam, the WHO representative to Uganda, said he is worried the money being sought might not cover all costs.

If we go into the preparedness, we are talking, even for the three months, three times or four times that amount, he said. Plus, there are things which we take for granted, assuming the system will provide them. Those are additional costs like transportation, like fuel, like human resources, which we have to consider to also fund as we go ahead.

The Sudan Ebola virus is less common than the Zaire Ebola virus, and there is currently no effective vaccine. The Sudan Ebola virus was first reported in southern Sudan in 1976. Although several outbreaks have been reported since then in both Uganda and Sudan, the deadliest outbreak in Uganda was in 2000, claiming more than 200 lives.

Ugandas last Ebola outbreak, in 2019, was confirmed to be the Zaire ebolavirus. It last reported a Sudan ebolavirus outbreak in 2012.
Ukraine said Sunday it has taken full control of Lyman, the eastern logistics hub that was part of the territory Russian President Vladimir Putin had illegally claimed last week was now part of Russia.

Lyman is fully cleared, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared in a short video clip on his Telegram channel.

Russia did not comment Sunday on the fate of Lyman but said Saturday that its troops were retreating from the area because it feared Ukrainian forces were about to encircle them. Russia had captured Lyman in May and had used it as a logistics and transportation hub for its operations in the north of the Donetsk region.

Russias loss of Lyman was its biggest battlefield defeat since Ukrainian forces last month swept through the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine, pushing Russian forces back toward their border.

David Petraeus, a former U.S. Central Intelligence Agency director, told ABCs This Week show, that Putin is going to continue to lose on the battlefield. The only question, he said, is when larger Russian units start to surrender.



Petraeus said that even Putins threatened use of tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine wont change this.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio told CNNs State of the Union show, There really is no way for Russia to win this war. But Rubio said he worries that Putin could attack Western supply depots helping Ukraine in such NATO countries as Poland that could lead to a wider conflict, assuming Western allies respond to any attack on a fellow NATO member.

Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk region that neighbors Donetsk, said control over Lyman could give Ukraine help in reclaiming lost territory in his region, which Moscow announced in early July that it had captured.

The Lyman takeover by Ukraine came swiftly despite Putins declaration, in an elaborate ceremony at the Kremlin Friday, that his government was proclaiming to annex four regions of Ukraine, about a fifth of the land territory of its neighbor, an independent country since 1991 that was once part of the Soviet Union.

Putins action was illegal under international law and widely condemned by Ukraine, along with the U.S. and its Western allies that have been supplying armaments to the Kyiv government in its seven-month fight against Moscows invasion.

Britains Defense Ministry said in an intelligence update posted on Twitter Sunday that the Russian force that retreated from Lyman "probably experienced heavy casualties as it withdrew along the only road out of the town still in Russian hands.

The update also said: The withdrawal has led to a further wave of public criticism of Russias military leadership by senior officials. . . Further losses of territory in illegally occupied territories will almost certainly lead to an intensification of this public criticism and increase the pressure on senior commanders.

Video posted on social media Saturday showed Ukrainian soldiers on the outskirts of the city waving a flag, with one soldier saying, Lyman will be Ukraine. Since May, its railroad hub has been used by Russia as a key logistical area to support thousands of its soldiers fighting in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said Russian forces killed at least 20 people, including 10 children, in an attack on a convoy carrying people fleeing northeastern Ukraine. The report could not be independently verified.

The reported attack follows a missile strike on another civilian convoy in the Zaporizhzhia province Friday in which 30 people were killed and scores were wounded.

Britains Defense Ministry said Saturday the missile used in Fridays attack was likely a Russian long-range air defense missile being used in a ground attack role.

The ministry said in an intelligence report posted on Twitter the use of the high-value resource in the ground attack near Zaporizhzhia has almost certainly been driven by overall munitions shortages, particularly longer-range precision missiles.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

A total of 25 fintech companies are providing services in the finance market of Azerbaijan, FinTech Association of Azerbaijan Chairman Ruslan Talibov told Fintech-ecosystem in Azerbaijan- today and tomorrow event, Azernews reports.

Noting that 55.6 percent of them are stable and 44.4 percent are still developing, he emphasized that about 20 percent of these companies are international players.

I believe that the adoption of a law on payment systems will accelerate their development, expand the number of fintech players, give access to payment tools and provide a number of other benefits, he said.

Ruslan Talibov also added that fintech organizations need to create conditions for closer cooperation with banks.

Startup certificates

Addressing the event, Small and Medium Business Development Agency Deputy Board Chairman Samir Humbatov stated that the agency issued about 60 startup certificates over the past two years.

He underlined that it is planned to work out the issues of financing startup projects that received these certificates.

Some startup creators have received a certificate and, unfortunately, dont carry out the vigorous activities expected from them. Therefore, its necessary to create financing and lending tools, he said.

Digital payments

The Central Bank is working on stimulating digital payments, the banks Executive Director Farid Osmanov said.

Noting that in 2021, a strategy for digital payments was adopted, based on which work is underway to develop these types of payments, he added that a law on payment systems is expected to be adopted in the near future, which will accelerate the development of electronic financial services.

We are also working on a number of other regulations which will facilitate the development of financial services and their compliance with international standards, he said.

He stated that the number of bank card payments has increased significantly in Azerbaijan, adding that there are 13 million cards there, of which 9 million are contactless.

Cashless payments in the countrys total turnover account for about 41 percent, and we aim to increase the share of non-cash payments in the total turnover, he said.

In addition, Farid Osmanov said that the bank is also working on a project which will help create synergy between fintech companies and banks, and develop open banking.

Moreover, he told reporters that Azerbaijans payment systems will be based on a license. He noted that the relevant decision was reflected in the bill on payment services and systems, which is still under consideration by various public agencies.

The Central Bank is working on implementing comprehensive measures to expand non-cash payments and create a competitive environment. Once a draft motion enters into force, the CBA will control the activities of payment organizations, non-banking organizations, as well as intermediary services. Such an activity will be permitted and licensed, and these organizations will be subject to technological safety and regulation measures, he said.

Global payment solutions

Visa launched Apple Pay and Google Pay cashless payment solutions in Azerbaijan in 2019, Regional Manager in Central Asia and Azerbaijan at Visa Nurlan Hajiyev said.

He noted that the launch of these cashless payment solutions became possible due to the launch of tokenization.

Visa was confident that this would contribute to the launch of Apple Pay and Google Pay in Azerbaijan. Today a number of banks are continuing to work on this, he said.

The regional manager added that Visa launched the cashless purchase of train tickets running on the Baku-Sumgait route.

The relevant infrastructure has been installed at 14 stations of the Absheron Circular line. It's planned to expand this initiative to other routes, he said.

Nurlan Hajiyev added that Visa plans to launch MTT (Mobility and Transport Transaction) in Azerbaijan, adding that this includes the implementation of tokenization in public transport.
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The United Nations is calling for an end to discrimination against older people and for recognition of their contributions to society, as it marks the International Day of Older Persons Saturday.

With 1.4 billion people estimated to have reached at least 60 years old by 2030, U.N. officials say that is too many people to ignore and dismiss as inconsequential, especially as older people still make many significant contributions.

At 73, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres demonstrates that. In celebration of the day, he commended the accomplishments of older people, whom he called a valuable source of knowledge and experience.

He also praised the resilience of the more than 1 billion older people in facing adversity in a rapidly changing world.

The past years have witnessed dramatic upheavals and older people often found themselves at the epicenter of crises, Guterres said. They are particularly vulnerable to a range of challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the worsening climate crisis, proliferating conflicts, and growing poverty. Yet in the face of these threats, older people have inspired us with their remarkable resilience.

The World Health Organization says longer life brings opportunities to pursue new activities, such as further education or a new career, depending on a persons health.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called it important for countries to work together to foster healthy aging  an effort that must include older people themselves.

A collaboration to improve the lives of older people, their families, and their communities, said Tedros. In practice that means keeping alert for ageism and supporting older people by engaging them in the community, providing responsive health care, and quality long-term care for those who need it.

The U.N. says it is important to challenge negative characterizations and misconceptions about the elderly. It calls for an end to age and gender discrimination and for communities to create opportunities for older people who live in them.
A Zanu PF activist, who is challenging President Emmerson Mnangagwas legitimacy as leader of the ruling party, says his house in Harare was petrol-bombed Saturday night by suspected state security agents.

Sybeth Musengezi told VOA Zimbabwe Service that nobody was hurt in an inferno, which was caused by a suspected petrol bomb that rocked his house and destroyed a vehicle and property worth thousands of dollars.

I suspect that my house was petrol-bombed. Police are investigating the case right now at my house. They are here, said Musengezi.

In a series of tweets with photos showing charred remains of his belongings and burnt vehicle, he said, "This is what they have done. Thanks to the neighbourhood vadzodzima moyo nema (estinguished it using) buckets. We managed to get out.

Police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi, was unreachable for comment as he was not responding to calls on his mobile phone.

Musengezi recently filed another High Court application seeking an order to block the forthcoming Zanu PF congress.

In his application, he said the Congress cannot go ahead as there is a pending High Court case in which he is challenging Mnangagwas rise to the top post of the ruling party following a defacto military coup in 2017.

This case is expected to be held within the next two weeks.

In the first court case, Musengezi argues that Mnangagwa unconstitutionally landed the post of first secretary of the ruling party following the toppling of the late former President Robert Mugabe.

He argues that all the current top Zanu PF officials, including administration secretary Obert Mpofu who was part of a group of people that catapulted Mnangagwa to power, were improperly installed.

As a result, he says they are not fit to call for an elective Congress of the ruling party.

Zanu PF has dismissed Musengezis application as a non event, noting that he is not a legitimate member of the party. But Musengezi has produced evidence that he is a card-carrying member of Zanu PF.

He was arrested on fraud charges which were thrown out of the court.
A police-involved shooting near Denver International Airport (DIA) left one person dead and an officer injured this morning, police said.

The shooting followed a police pursuit that ended in a crash near East 75th Avenue and Gun Club Road.

At 5:30 a.m. Saturday, the Aurora Police Department located a car involved in a robbery that occurred at 2 a.m. Officers attempted to contact the individuals in the vehicle, but the vehicle fled, according to a statement by Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas.

Aurora police followed the vehicle several miles and the chase ended in a crash. The driver exited the vehicle and threatened police with a long gun, police said, causing three officers to fire weapons. The suspect was declared dead at the scene. An Aurora officer was injured, but is in good condition, according to Thomas.

The passenger fled by foot and was captured nearby.

The Denver Police Department, Colorado State Patrol and Community Violence Intervention (CVI) will investigate the shooting and present the results to the Denver District Attorney for review, Thomas said.

Updates will come as more information is made known.
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Democracy is in a worldwide slump. So is peace  both the international and the domestic sort. There are lots of reasons. Whats the biggest? Many pundits blame various kinds of polarization: Left against right, elitist versus populist, blue against red, educated or rich against uneducated or poor, nativist versus cosmopolitan, Sino-Russian autocratic against Western democratic, and so forth.

Ill argue that the dichotomy that matters more than any of these is civil versus thuggish. And our problem  in the US, Europe, Russia, Brazil, China, the United Nations  is that, lately, the thugs have been winning almost everywhere.

Thug comes from Hindi and originally referred to violent gangs of robbers. Nowadays we use the word for hooligans, bullies or other brutes. Among rappers, the term has taken on an ironic twist, but well leave that usage to them.

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In essence, thuggishness is intimidation with the threat of violence. It spreads wherever civility breaks down. In places like Germany or Italy after World War I, thugs took to the streets, beating up or shouting down anybody they didnt like. They called themselves Blackshirts, Brownshirts, Free Corps, Red Fronts and what have you. Contemporary analogs include Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, Night Wolves (a Russian motorcycle club) and other packs. But whether they adulate Mussolini, Lenin, Trump, Putin or any other leader, politics is arguably only a veneer. The underlying phenomenon is thuggishness.

Thugs dont have to be physically pugnacious to vandalize the public square. It suffices for the violence to be implied, verbal or even subliminal. Thats because aggression in any form ruins the things that make civilized society possible: civics and conversation.

The words civil and polite both come from Latin and Greek roots that also gave us such words as city and politics. To converse originally meant to turn toward one another, with the motivation to connect  and ideally to inch closer to the truth of something, perhaps even to find solutions to common problems. Nuance, contradiction, subtlety, ambivalence and humor are features of such congregating, not bugs.

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But when thugs show up for colloquy, theyre not there to converse, connect, learn, understand or listen. Theyre in it to dominate. Winning is all, truth irrelevant. This is bad faith, the malware that corrupts civics.

The result is fake debates and conversations. They typically descend into belligerent whataboutism. I lied? Well, what about all those lies your people told? The merit of any argument becomes irrelevant. The only thing that counts is the ammo the thugs can fire ad hominem  at the person across from them  and the artillery cover they get from their mob.

Whataboutism and other forms of verbal thuggishness are hardly a recent invention. They were already a major theme in the Socratic dialogues (at that time the so-called Sophists were the rhetorical thugs), and then in the trial that ended in a jury of 500 Athenians condemning Socrates to death.

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But modern media have made the pathogen more virulent. In the US, Fox News and its clones on talk radio and TV in effect honed and perfected verbal thuggishness over decades. Social media picked up the baton. Twitter threads routinely deteriorate into digital shouting matches and name-calling. If last centurys Brownshirts or Blackshirts bludgeoned people, modern trolls cancel or doxx their victims.

Verbal thuggishness is problematic for two reasons. The first is that atmospherics matter. When thugs or their leaders prime a mob long enough with truculent rhetoric, the violence can easily turn physical. The result is outrages such as the attack on the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The second reason is that verbal thuggishness is a form of epistemic vice. Rather as bad money drives out good, it displaces epistemic virtue, a term academics use to refer to intellectual humility  the ability to recognize our cognitive limits, to admit when were wrong, to change or adjust our opinions, to keep our minds open.

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What happens when thugs take over  as in Weimar Germany  is that civil people get scared and retreat into their private spheres, leaving the public square to the ruffians. The public and epistemic virtues that Americas Founding Fathers cared so deeply about wane; the vices wax. Symptoms include the spread of conspiracy theories and a cynical disdain for truth. The only value left is power.

If thuggishness is a virus that compromises the operating systems of open societies, is there an anti-malware patch? Not really, I fear. Our only defenses are our holdouts of civility.

People who are reasonable and intellectually humble  virtuous  may still be in the numerical majority. But theyre too often inaudible. For democracy and peace to have a chance, they must start voting with their behavior  swaying TV ratings, rejecting lies and manipulations and more. The thugs must start losing. History suggests these struggles can go either way.

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More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 Lets Dare to Have Deeper Conversations, Even With Strangers: Andreas Kluth



The Jan. 6 Committee Should Keep Calling It an Attempted Coup: Timothy L. OBrien



Why Putin Cant Tap Fascisms Greatest Resource: Leonid Bershidsky

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Andreas Kluth is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering European politics. A former editor in chief of Handelsblatt Global and a writer for the Economist, he is author of Hannibal and Me.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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Physicist Jess Wade has made it her mission to correct gender and racial biases in the science community, and advocate for women in STEM, who make up only 28 percent of the workforce.
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9 foreigners arrested, accused in protests Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Iran, which has blamed foreign enemies for protests that swept the country after the death of a woman in morality police custody, said Friday that it had arrested nine European nationals in the unrest. The detention of citizens of Germany, Poland, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and other countries is likely to ratchet up tensions between Iran and Western countries over the death of Mahsa Amini.

The escalation comes as more casualties were reported. Nineteen people were killed after security forces fired on armed protesters attacking a police station, said an official.

Tehran has responded to international condemnation of the case by lashing out at its critics, accusing the United States of exploiting the unrest to try to destabilize Iran.

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 Reuters

Military suffers major data hack

The Mexican government said Friday that its armed forces had suffered a major data hack, including details about President Andres Manuel Lopez Obradors heart condition that led to his hospitalization in January.

The president, speaking at a news conference, said information published in media overnight from the hack was genuine, and he confirmed revelations about his own health.

The hack was carried out by a group identified in local media as Guacamaya, which means macaw in Spanish.

Lopez Obrador, a supporter of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, said the group was likely of foreign origin.

 Reuters

Burkina Faso soldiers stage counter-coup: More than a dozen members of Burkina Faso's army seized control of state television late Friday, declaring that the country's coup leader-turned-president, Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba, had been overthrown. The spokesman introduced Capt. Ibrahim Traore as the new head of the volatile West African country that is battling a mounting Islamist insurgency. Damiba and his allies overthrew the democratically elected president only nine months ago, coming to power with promises of make the country more secure.

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Indonesian police kill militant suspected in deaths of farmers: Indonesia's counterterrorism police killed a militant who was believed responsible for the killings of Christian farmers on Sulawesi island and was the last member of an organization that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, police said Friday. Police said Al Ikhwarisman, also known as Jaid, was a key member of the East Indonesia Mujahideen network. He was killed by the Densus 88 counterterrorism unit in a shootout late Thursday in mountainous Kawende village in Poso district, an extremist hotbed in Central Sulawesi province, officials said.

Hundreds of gig driver jobs under threat in Spain: Hundreds of ride-hailing app drivers in Barcelona and other Spanish cities could lose their jobs Saturday when a deadline for new rules covering these services expires, drivers and fleet owners told Reuters. Spain's regional governments were told to issue new rules for private cars transporting passengers hired through mobile platforms such as Uber and Lyft after protests from taxi drivers over unfair competition. Some regions, such as Barcelona, introduced more restrictive measures.

 From news services

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Im 14 years old and in March I tried to end my life. I had been struggling with mental health for about a year before my attempt but I had never truly dealt with it  it was always a push to the side kinda thing.

A month earlier, I was admitted to a hospital program for anorexia. I always kept my treatment a secret because I never felt comfortable with people knowing. I had also struggled with anxiety for a while. My anxiety was pretty typical: panic attacks. Overwhelming crushing fear that something terrible is about to happen.

Loading

Ive struggled for about three years with self-harm as well. It was a coping mechanism for me. My mental health got worse and worse, and I got to the point where I just felt like I couldnt cope.

March 18, 2022: It is a night I will never forget. I had been out with mates, gotten home and I was just feeling the lowest I had ever felt in my entire life. I ended up being in hospital for 16 hours. I watched Mum and Dad break down. Their little girl, attempting to kill herself. It completely broke my heart. I didnt think of the effect my actions would have on my loved ones. I just had one thought and it was to leave.
I was first introduced to this type of cake by pastry chef Jerrelle Guy in the US; its origins are in the American South. A spoon cake is just what it sounds like: a cross between a pudding and a cake.

September 30, 2022

by Danielle Alvarez
Another friend sent her a message several days ago, in anticipation of their potential arrest. The last message that she sent for me [was] I made [sure] everything is safe in my phone. Dont be worried, and publish a beautiful picture of me, said Norouzi. It is well known that being arrested by the Iranian police can mean violence or torture, she explained, and when you hear stories of your friends being arrested, there is lots of fear inside your heart. Women burn their headscarfs together in protest against Mahsa Aminis death. I believe that my friend believed [that much in] what shes doing in her life [that] she wanted to keep the hope with this sentence, she said. [She meant] Im proud of what I did and I want to show up even in the news about my arrest, I want to show up beautiful and happy and hopeful.

Cities all over Iran have erupted in protest since Aminis death in a Tehran hospital on September 16. Amini, from Kurdistan, was arrested by Irans morality police on September 13. She was later admitted to hospital without any vital signs, according to the officials there, and died three days later. Protests began in response to her death, and evolved into a nationwide outcry against the Iranian regime. A road in Tehran named Hejab changed to No to Hijab. Some argue that this could be the beginning of systemic change in Iran. But with the official death toll at 41 and the real numbers estimated to be almost double, the humanitarian cost is already tragically high. An unknown number of people have been arrested across Irans 31 provinces in the past 15 days in connection to the protests, but it is estimated to be in the thousands.

The Iranian security forces have started raiding homes, said Behrouz Boochani, a Kurdish author who is in touch with people on the ground in Iran. In Kurdistan  they have started to arrest people house by house, he said, because they want to control the protests. They want to arrest people who have influence in the society. Behrouz Boochani is warning security forces are going from house to house. Credit:Kai Schworer Norouzi said the Iranian people were paying a steep price for their demonstrations. But what began as protesting has evolved into something far more profound. Iranians want systemic change. People across the nation are standing up, calling for death to the dictator and an end to the regime.

Women are burning the mandatory hijab because its a symbol of Islamic Republic operation. This is important, said Norouzi. We are talking about a revolution, she added. Its engaging all the levels of the society  the students, the workers, the women, of course, the intellectuals, the artists. Demonstrators in Teheran in 1979 calling for the replacement of the Shah of Iran during the Iranian Revolution. Credit:Keystone In fact, Boochani feels that this is the most significant movement in the country since the Iranian Revolution of 1979. This protest actually is  a milestone in history of the Iran, he said. The demonstrations are far larger in scale than any other recent protests, he explained, comparing them to demonstrations in 2009, 2017 and 2019.

This time is different, he said. This time, more people, more cities and  they demand to change the system. Loading The protests were also displaying a unity that Iran had not seen since the Iranian Revolution, he continued. Iranian people, the opposition, people with different backgrounds, of course, they dont have the same political idea, Boochani said, but now, for the first time, they become really united. A Kurdish spokesperson for the Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights, Soma Rostami, agrees, highlighting the fact that this unity surpasses even the long-standing divides between ethnic groups.

One of the key slogans used by demonstrators is a Kurdish phrase  Zhen, Zhian, Azadi (Women, Life, Freedom)  which has been translated to Persian and is now being used across the country in both languages. Rostami said this phrase embodies three key messages. In the Middle East, women are usually repressed by different reasons  so thats why the first point is women, she said, and the second one is life. You know, life is everything and finally freedom. We all need it. Kurdish women activists hold portraits of Iranian Mahsa Amini, during a protest against her death in Iran, at Martyrs Square in Beirut. Credit:AP Maybe we lost freedom, she continued. Maybe we lost if for years, because of the regimes, different rules as well the religions and also the dictatorships. Everything was restricted for women in Iran, she said, from having and holding a job to studying at a university.

They want to just put them inside homes, which is impossible, she said. Fortunately, women in Iran are so open-minded, and they are educated, and they are trying to get their simple and basic rights in Iran. But the oppression and injustice felt by Iranians extends beyond womens rights. Economical problems, which is the main one, people are facing financial problems, they cannot do anything, said Rostami. The cost of things is just overwhelming. The money is losing its value every day, every second sometimes. And its really killing people. Knowing this, Boochani doesnt believe the Iranian people will settle for a return to the old dictatorship. But creating change was not an easy task, he said. We are not facing a normal government, it is an ideological government, and it is a government that is capable to kill many people. It is a  government that is capable  to attack cities, he said.

We are talking about a dictatorship system and  an ideological, religious dictatorship system. In lieu of democracy, there was no way for the Iranian people to fight for their rights other than protesting on the street, he said. Without elections, protest is the only way Iranians to press for political change. There is not an election mechanism that people really affect on politics. So there is not a free election in the country, the media are limited, the freedom of speech is limited. And the opposition are not free  [to] be active in the country, he explained. Rostami feels that the key to the Iranian people being successful in their protests is first and foremost unity.

The government has its own message to divide people  they are using peoples religion or different nations, different languages or different genders  So thats the only reason  the government could continue its authority for [43] years, she said. Another important factor would be whether the people gained the support of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, she continued, explaining that even in the Iranian Revolution 43 years ago, the Iranian people had been successful because of the armys support. Loading [Now] the army still is not doing anything, actually. We guess that they are forced not to do anything she continued. Both sides of the protests have called on the army to assist but they remain neutral. Maybe in the near future they join [the] people  but we need to wait to see  what they will decide, she said.
If you know of local business openings or closings, please notify us here.

PREVIOUS OPENINGS AND CLOSINGS

- The Palmer Township Board of Supervisors denied a conditional use for two warehouses proposed by developer Abe Atiyeh.

- B. Braun bought Starboard Medical's Clif-FIX line of devices that secure catheters for an undisclosed price.

- The Lowhill Township Planning Commission denied a plan for a warehouse at 7503 Kernsville Road, saying it would change the character of the rural township.

- Just A Dream Frozen Yogurt in Forks Township closed its doors after 10 years.

- Khanisa's Pudding Bar held a grand opening at its new Downtown Allentown Market location after having moved from Easton.

- Mussel Polymers Inc. says its glue for bonding carbon and synthetic fibers is a big step toward creating lighter and stronger fiber-reinforced materials.

- Poke Bar 25 & Bubble Tea in the Shops at Bethlehem (the Giant shopping center on Easton Avenue in Bethlehem Township, on the border with the City of Bethlehem) will open in late November or early December.

- The former Rosanna's Restaurant in Bethlehem, which closed in February, will reopen as a deli and bar called Rosa's Corner.

- Victaulic has expanded in Tennessee with the acquisition of Tennessee Metal Fabricating, price not disclosed.

- The old Forks Diner will be serving auto-repair customers by early spring of 2023 with a six-bay garage known as Wrenchtec.

- Lehigh County-based Shift4 Payments stepped in to help the owners of Better on the Bone Butcher and Deli in Pottstown finally open their doors.

- Mid Penn Bank opened a new, bigger location in Blue Bell.

- Balloon Junction held a grand opening in Pottsville for its store offering custom balloon creations.

- Rentschler's Ice Cream has reopened just a few doors down from its former location in Ringtown after it was destroyed by a fire in February.

- Mill Street Aesthetics, a day spa and skincare boutique, held a grand opening in Belvidere, New Jersey.

- Provident Financial Services agreed to acquire Lakeland Bancorp in a stock deal valued at $1.3 billion, creating a bank that will hold 4% of the deposits in New Jersey.
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FILE - This handout photo taken from video and released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Aug. 7, 2022, shows a general view of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in territory under Russian military control, southeastern Ukraine. Ukraines nuclear power provider says Russian forces blindfolded and detained the head of Europes largest nuclear power plant hours after Moscow illegally annexed a swath of Ukrainian territory. In a possible attempt to secure Moscows hold on the newly annexed territory, Russian forces seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov, around 4 p.m. Friday.
The United States and its allies are hitting back at Russias annexation of four more Ukrainian regions, slapping sanctions on more than 1,000 Russian individuals and companies. And President Joe Biden warned Moscow that it won't "get away with seizing Ukrainian land. Biden also said Friday that the U.S. would support any effort by Ukraine to retake the annexed territories by force, setting the stage for possible further hostilities. The U.S. had previewed the likelihood of more sanctions. But the developments still dramatically increased tensions to a point not seen since the Cuban Missile Crisis during the Cold War.
The U.S. Coast Guard rescued two people who were left stranded in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Sanibel, Florida, on Sept. 29. Several oth
To the Democrats at the top of the ticket this November, the answer is simple: Win or lose, Gov. Tony Evers and U.S. Senate candidate Mandela Barnes say, they will accept the results.

But for their Republican opponents  Tim Michels and Ron Johnson  the question is more fraught, with neither willing to say unconditionally whether he would agree to the outcome once the results are certified.

It is certainly his hope that he can, Johnson campaign spokesperson Alec Zimmerman said when asked whether the senator would concede if he loses.

He would feel much better about the 2022 election had Governor Evers signed bills the Legislature passed to restore confidence in our election system, Zimmerman continued. That said, we are doing everything we can to ensure guidances and election procedures comply with state law. We will be monitoring everything closely.

Evers challenger Tim Michels earlier this year said the 2020 election was maybe stolen and that decertifying the elections results would be on the table if hes elected governor.

His spokesperson Anna Kelly said Friday Michels would accept the Nov. 8 results, provided the election is conducted fairly and securely.

UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden said that many conservatives, taking their cue from former President Donald Trump, are finding that pushing baseless claims of widespread fraud in the last election and raising doubt about the upcoming balloting does animate a lot of the base.

By fudging the issue, these Republican candidates hope they can keep their coalition together going into the general election, Burden added.

They dont want to lose the hardcore Trump backers who doubt the election, but they also dont want to sacrifice any of the more moderate or established kinds of Republicans in the party, Burden said. And so the strategy seems to be, by making a bland or vague statement, you can allow your supporters to imprint on that what they think you have said and what they think the truth is.

But is that a risk?

Some conservatives arent buying it, said Dale Schultz, a former Republican state Senate majority leader who has bucked his party on various issues in the past. While questioning the results of the 2020 presidential election played well among primary voters, Schultz said the message may turn off more moderate voters in the general election.

The reality is, its killing the Republican Party, its killing conservativism, and party leadership is failing  and failing badly  and its going to have repercussions, Schultz said.

Among likely voters, 86% of Democrats and 12% of Republicans are very confident the votes in Wisconsins 2020 presidential election were accurately cast and counted, according to a September Marquette Law School Poll. Those numbers include independents who lean Democratic or Republican. Sixty-two percent of Republicans were not too confident or not at all confident in the 2020 presidential election in Wisconsin, compared with 6% of Democrats, according to the poll.

Faith in system

Like their supporters, Evers and Barnes are confident in the elections, their campaigns said.

Gov. Evers trusts Wisconsin election officials and will accept the results of the 2022 election, Evers campaign spokesman Sam Roecker said.

Similarly, Barnes said, I will commit to accepting the result of the election, and its shameful that Ron Johnson wont do the same.

Retired GOP strategist Brandon Scholz said it was a smart campaign strategy for Republicans to hold out the possibility something could go wrong.

What if there was something where 100,000 votes in Madison, Milwaukee, Green Bay or other places were lost? Scholz said.

No loss of votes at that magnitude has ever occurred.

While Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has raised questions about the results of the 2020 election, the Rochester Republican has also adamantly refused to entertain Trumps call for decertifying the results  something that cannot happen under state law or the U.S. Constitution.

Vos narrowly avoided being unseated in the Aug. 9 primary by longshot candidate Adam Steen, who was endorsed by both Trump and former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman. Vos hired Gableman last summer to lead the taxpayer-funded review of the 2020 election that ultimately found no evidence of widespread fraud. Vos fired Gableman three days after the primary.

Fear from the top

Johnson and other top Republicans around the country have often said voting reforms are needed because many Americans dont have confidence in elections.

UW-Madison journalism professor Mike Wagner called those statements disingenuous.

The 2020 election is over. Heres what happened (and what didnt) The 2020 election was the most secure in American history, according to the Department of Homeland Securitys Cybersecurity and Infrastructu

There is no evidence of an organic worry about election integrity, he said. The worry about election integrity comes from the top; it comes from (Republican) party elites whove expressed that we cant trust our election results ... The worry is there because they planted the worry.

In 2020, Wagner, UW-Madison graduate student Yiming Wang and Washington State University associate professor Porismita Borah interviewed the same Wisconsinites before and after the presidential election, and after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Their goal was to understand the effect news consumption had on voters values. The more they consumed far right-wing news, Wagner said, the less confidence they had in electoral and other democratic institutions.

Evers vetoes

Saying they wanted to increase confidence in Wisconsin elections, the GOP-controlled Legislature passed multiple voting-related bills earlier this year. A report from the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau last year found no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election but made several recommendations for improvements. But Evers vetoed all of them, saying he wouldnt sign into law any measure that would make voting harder.

One of the bills Evers vetoed would have given the GOP-led budget committee the ability to enforce staffing cuts or reduce agency funding at state agencies if the committee found the departments failed to comply with election-related laws. Another would have required the Elections Commission to submit to the Legislatures rules committee any guidance issued to elections officials. One measure Evers rejected would have limited who could claim indefinitely confined status, typically used by voters who cant get to the polls to request absentee ballots without having to submit a photo ID.

Evers also vetoed a bill that would have barred election clerks from filling in any missing information on a voters absentee ballot envelope and prohibited anyone other than a voter, immediate family member or guardian or designated individual to return an absentee ballot. But a Waukesha County judge earlier this month found the elections commission wasnt authorized to allow clerks to correct those envelopes, and the agency has since told clerks they cant correct errors on absentee ballot witness certificates.

All Wisconsinites would feel more confident in the process had Tony Evers signed the numerous election integrity bills sent to his desk, but provided the election is conducted fairly and securely thanks to the historic efforts to ensure election integrity this cycle, well accept the outcome, Kelly said.

Michels has signaled he would sign those bills into law if he becomes governor.

Other court decisions have also gone conservatives way, including a July decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court barring the use of absentee ballot drop boxes in the state. The courts conservative majority also held that no one but the voter can return a ballot in person, but a federal judge later ruled that voters with disabilities are entitled to receive third-party help mailing ballots or delivering them to a clerk.

These are some of the exact things that Republicans and lawsuits on behalf of Trump were arguing, Burden said. So theyve largely gotten their way when it comes to election administration, but it apparently has not made them any more willing to say they are confident in public.
Local election clerks should be able to accept absentee ballots with partial witness addresses, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin argues in a lawsuit filed Friday.

The lawsuit, filed against the Wisconsin Elections Commission in Dane County Circuit Court by liberal law firm Law Forward, follows a similar lawsuit filed Tuesday arguing that absentee ballots with partial witness addresses should be accepted as long as clerks can discern the correct addresses.

Both lawsuits follow a Waukesha County judges ruling in early September that election officials cant fix or fill in missing address information on absentee ballot envelopes  a ruling that threatens to unlawfully disenfranchise Wisconsin voters, the latest lawsuit states.

Circuit Court Judge Michael J. Aprahamian ruled against guidance issued in 2016 by the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission that had allowed clerks to fix errors on witness certificates. 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.

The judge ordered the Elections Commission to tell clerks not to correct errors or fill in missing information on witness certificates  a process called ballot curing. But he did not specify what information is required for the witness address to be valid.

The ruling has led to confusion among election officials, with no consensus on whether, for example, they can count a ballot if the witness certificate is missing a ZIP code. State law does not specify what constitutes an address.

While WECs cure guidance remained in effect, clerks were empowered to resolve address omissions or defects to avoid ballot rejection, the lawsuit states. So, whether a witness address was missing was a purely academic question. No longer. That question now holds the fate of numerous Wisconsin voters.

The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin seeks a declaratory judgment defining that a missing address entails when the address field is left entirely blank. The organization also seeks to allow clerks to accept absentee ballots if the witness has included his or her street number, street address and municipality.

Wisconsin voters need an answer to the unresolved legal question of whether a witness address is missing, the lawsuit continues.

The now-rescinded guidance first went into effect in 2016, but began receiving criticism from Republicans following the 2020 presidential election that saw President Joe Biden defeat former President Donald Trump by about 21,000 votes in the state.

A recount, court decisions and multiple reviews have affirmed the elections results and found no evidence of widespread fraud. Only 24 people out of nearly 3.3 million who cast ballots have been charged with election fraud in Wisconsin.

Top legislative Republicans in January told the Elections Commission to withdraw the guidance or resubmit it as an administrative rule.

It became a rule in July. That same month, the GOP-controlled Administrative Rules Committee struck it down, leaving only the nonbinding guidance in place.

The Elections Commission rescinded the ballot curing guidance in mid-September, following the Waukesha courts ruling. A memo sent from the agency to local election officials following Aprahamians ruling stated the court didnt overturn its existing definition of an address, which calls for the street number, street name and municipality name. It does not mention ZIP code or state.

Now, with that cure guidance enjoined and withdrawn, Wisconsin law fails to define missing such that there is clarity and uniformity in processing absentee ballots statewide, threatening countless voters with disenfranchisement for technical omissions, and fails to mandate notice to all voters whose ballot certificates are missing a witness address, the lawsuit states.

The nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau last year reviewed 14,710 absentee ballot certificates in 29 municipalities and found that 1,022 certificates, or 6.9%, were missing parts of witness addresses; 15, or 0.1%, did not have any witness address at all; eight, or less than 0.1%, did not have a witness signature; and three, or less than 0.1%, did not have a voter signature. Clerks corrected 66, or about 0.4%, of those certificates.
Alumni in the spotlight September 2022

Catch up on a wrap of Witsie awards, appointments and newsmakers from the past month.

Awards

The annual National Research Foundation Awards recognise individual academics and teams for their recent outstanding scientific achievements. Their internationally competitive work is assessed for the contribution to the field of study focusing on quality and impact. The following alumni were acknowledged on the 1 September 2022:

Professor Linda-Gail Bekker (DTM&H 1992) from the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre; Professor Frederick Raal (MBBCh 1981, MMed 1991, PhD 2000, DSc Med 2022) from the Department of Medicine at Wits; Professor Christopher Ballantine (BMus 1965, BA Hons 1966) from the School of Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal; Professor Timothy Egan (BSc 1983, BSc Hons 1984, PhD 1988) from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cape Town; and Professor David JN Limebeer (BSc Eng 1974) Distinguished Professor in Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Science at Wits were all awarded their first A-Rating.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation at Wits, Professor Lynn Morris (BSc 1984, BSc Hons 1985) and Professor Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan (BSc 1984, BSc Hons 1985, PhD 1991) from the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Cape Town were awarded A-ratings for the second time.

The Jubilee Medal for publication of the best paper in the South African Journal of Geology in the 2021 was awarded to Dr Stephanie Scheiber-Enslin (BSc 2005, BSc Hons 2006, MSc 2009), Professor Musa Manzi (BSc 2008, BSc Hons 2009, PhD 2013) and Professor Susan Webb (PhD 2009). Their paper titled Seismic Imaging of Dolerite Sills and Volcanic Vents in the Central Karoo, South Africa: Implications for Shale Gas Potential, in Vol 124 (2), demonstrates that shale gas potential in the Karoo basin is complicated by the dolerite distribution. This may not have been considered in the first targeting exercises carried out a few years ago.

Callan Kotzen (BSc 2022) was the winner of the 2022 Standard Bank SA Tertiary Mathematics Olympiad. The BSc actuarial science honours student won the postgraduate division from a pool of 135 students from 14 universities.

Two alumni made the shortlist for the 2022 Sunday Times Literary Awards list announced on 4 September 2022. Joanne Joseph (BA 2000, BA Hons 2001, MA 2008) for her novel Children of Sugarcane (Jonathan Ball Publishers, 2021) and the posthumous memoir by Johnny Clegg (BA 1976, BA Hons 1977, DMus honoris causa 2007) for Scatterling of Africa: My Early Years (Pan Macmillan, 2021). The winners will be announced later in the year. Mignonne Breiers Bloody Sunday: The Nun, the Defiance Campaign and South Africas Secret Massacre (Tafelberg, 2021), which features the life of Sister Mary Aidan, known as Dr Elsie Quinlan (MBBCh 1946), also made the non-fiction shortlist.

Mamokgethi Phakeng (BEd 1993, MEd 1996, PhD 2002) was named the winner of the inaugural Africa Education Medal.

Tamia Botes (BA 2019, BA Hons 2020, MA 2021) who was announced as the winner of the Africa Thesis Award 2021 received her award in Leiden for her MA thesis Where have the midwives gone? Everyday histories of voetvroue in Johannesburg.

Dr Craig Parker (MBBCh 2005) received the Rural Doctor of the Year Award for 2022 from the Rural Doctors Association of Southern Africa. He was acknowledged for being part of a team of volunteers from East London that developed the OxERA, an innovative breathing apparatus, which is included in the World Health Organisations 2022 Compendium under innovative health technologies for low resource settings.

Appointments

Consulting engineering and infrastructure advisory firm, Zutari, appointed Webb Meko (MSc Eng 2015) as its chief clients officer. Meko spent five years at Black & Veatch as business development director for Africa and worked for Babcock Engineering and Eskom.

Fatima Laher (BA 1994, LLB 1994, LLM 1999) has been appointed as group executive: group legal. Laher re-joins MTN from Samsung Electronics, where she has held the role of head of Africa disputes, for the past six years. Laher is a seasoned multi-skilled legal executive with expertise across various disciplines, including but not limited to managing high-value cross-border litigation, legal risk mitigation and corporate investigations, mergers, and acquisitions, as well as commercial law.

Newsmakers

Leader of the countrys medicines regulator, Dr Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela (MM2016), was profiled by the Financial Mail.

Prasa whistleblower Martha Ngoye (LLB 1995) is one of the officials who spoke out against the multi-billion rand Swifambo and Siyangena contracts. It has since been set aside and declared invalid by the courts. Shes also been credited with having helped to stop a R1 billion investment with VBS Mutual Bank in the months before its collapse. She is fighting to clear her name after her firing, reinstatement and then suspension. A lawsuit has now been launched against her by the countrys rail agency.

Leabetswe Bomvana (PDM 2019), executive head of business strategy at Metropolitan Life, was profiled in Drum magazine about her personal journey with a brain tumour.

Economic advisor to President Cyril Ramaphosa, Trudi Makhaya (BCom 2000, BCom Hons 2001, MCom 2003), and member of the presidential economic advisory council, Dr Kenneth Creamer (BA 1992, BA Hons 1995, LLB 1995, LLM 1997, PhD 2010), participated in the Wits School of Economics and Finance centenary webinar titled 100 Years of Economics at Wits: Reflecting on the Past, Looking to the Future.

Dr Mark Shaw (BA 1991, BA Hons 1992, PhD 1997), director of Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, says crime is posing an existential threat to SA, according to a report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) in a 206-page document released by the group.

National Planning Cpmmission commissioner Professor Mark Swilling (BA 1982, BA Hons 1983), explained why the country will have loadshedding for the next two years.

Thuso Mbedu (BA DA 2014), star of the newly released The Woman King, was on the cover of Womens Health magazine. She shared what she misses about South Africa.

Three alumnae featured in Wanted magazines list of young artists to watch: Lebogang Mabusela (BA FA 2019), Teresa Firmino (BA FA 2016, MA FA 2019) and Mathabang Matty Monethi (BA FA 2021).

Dr Mandla Langa (DLitt honoris causa 2019, MA 2020) gave the 2022 Nadine Gordimer lecture titled: The Vocabulary of Witnesses.
Xi Jinping straightens the red ribbon on flower basket during a ceremony to present flower baskets to fallen national heroes in Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. Xi Jinping and other leaders of the Communist Party of China and the state attended a ceremony on Friday morning in Tian'anmen Square in Beijing to present flower baskets to fallen national heroes. The event was held to mark Martyrs' Day, a day ahead of the National Day in China. The other leaders included Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. [Xinhua/Yin Bogu]

BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua)  Xi Jinping and other leaders of the Communist Party of China and the state attended a ceremony on Friday morning in Tian'anmen Square in Beijing to present flower baskets to fallen national heroes.

The event was held to mark Martyrs' Day, a day ahead of the National Day in China.

The other leaders included Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. They were joined by representatives from all walks of life at the ceremony.

At 10 a.m., all participants sang the national anthem, and paid a silent tribute to the martyrs who had sacrificed their lives to the liberation of the Chinese people and the building of the People's Republic of China, which was founded in 1949.

Nine huge flower baskets were placed in front of the Monument to the People's Heroes. Xi and other leaders walked up to the foot of the monument, where he straightened the ribbons on the baskets before leading other senior officials in a walk around the monument to pay their tributes.

The baskets, with ribbons reading "the heroes of the people shall live forever in our memory," were presented in the name of the CPC Central Committee; the National People's Congress Standing Committee; the State Council; the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; the Central Military Commission; non-Communist parties, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and patriots without party affiliations; people's organizations and people from all walks of life; veterans, retired senior cadres and the relatives of martyrs; and Chinese Young Pioneers.

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, the Party, the armed forces, and the people of all ethnic groups have been forging ahead in solidarity, achieving historic accomplishments and transformations in the cause of the Party and the state.

Sustaining the spirit of the martyrs and drawing on strength from it, China will surely write a more glorious chapter on the new journey to build China into a modern socialist country in all respects and advance toward the Second Centenary Goal.

Xi Jinping and other leaders of the Communist Party of China and the state including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan attend a ceremony to present flower baskets to fallen national heroes in Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. The event was held to mark Martyrs' Day, a day ahead of the National Day in China. [Xinhua/Huang Jingwen]

Xi Jinping and other leaders of the Communist Party of China and the state including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan attend a ceremony to present flower baskets to fallen national heroes in Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. The event was held to mark Martyrs' Day, a day ahead of the National Day in China. [Xinhua/Xie Huanchi]

Xi Jinping and other leaders of the Communist Party of China and the state including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan attend a ceremony to present flower baskets to fallen national heroes in Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. The event was held to mark Martyrs' Day, a day ahead of the National Day in China. [Xinhua/Yan Yan]

(Source: Xinhua)
China's State Council holds a reception to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. The reception was attended by the Communist Party of China and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan, as well as nearly 500 guests from home and abroad. [Xinhua/Huang Jingwen]

BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua)  China's State Council on Friday held a reception at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. China's National Day falls on Oct. 1.

The reception was attended by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan, as well as nearly 500 guests from home and abroad.

Addressing the reception, Premier Li Keqiang said that the CPC will convene its 20th National Congress this year, and stressed the vital significance of the event.

This year is a truly momentous one in the course of China's development, Li added. "In the face of complex and challenging developments both within and outside China, our entire nation, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, has forged ahead together with drive and resolve."

Ensuring sound economic fundamentals is crucial to sustaining the steady growth of China's economy, Li said, stressing that China has taken forceful measures to ease shocks caused by greater-than-expected factors, and promptly and decisively introduced a policy package for stabilizing the economy. "We have the confidence and the ability to keep major economic indicators within an appropriate range."

He said with the reform and opening-up as China's fundamental policy, the country has pressed ahead with reform to develop a socialist market economy, pursued high-standard opening-up, kept foreign trade and investment stable, and deepened multilateral and bilateral business cooperation to keep China a favored destination for foreign investment and achieve win-win development.

Li stressed the commitment to conducting governance to deliver benefits to the people.

Highlighting the support for efforts to ensure the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao, Li said the policy of "one country, two systems," as well as the policies of Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong and Macao people administering Macao with a high degree of autonomy, have been firmly, fully and faithfully implemented.

We have firmly opposed "Taiwan independence" separatist moves and external interference, and actively promoted the peaceful growth of cross-Strait relations, he said.

Li also stressed the efforts China has made to work with other countries to meet global challenges and promote peace, stability, development and prosperity in the world.

Li closed his speech by calling for rallying even more closely around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, following the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and forging ahead in a concerted effort to build China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful.

Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the reception.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang addresses a reception held by the State Council to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. [Xinhua/Yan Yan]

Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, presides over a reception held by the State Council to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. [Xinhua/Huang Jingwen]

(Source: Xinhua)
Weather Alert

...FREEZE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 AM CDT THIS MORNING... * WHAT...Widespread sub-freezing temperatures in the mid and upper 20s expected. * WHERE...Portions of southern Illinois, southwest Indiana, western Kentucky, and southeast Missouri. * WHEN...Until 9 AM CDT this morning. * IMPACTS...Frost and freeze conditions could kill crops, other sensitive vegetation, and possibly damage unprotected outdoor plumbing. This will effectively end the growing season. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold. A Freeze Warning means sub-freezing temperatures are imminent or highly likely. These conditions will kill crops and other sensitive vegetation. &&
Adorable fossa triplets born at Chester Zoo

Chester Zoo has welcomed fossa pups for the first time in its 91-year history!

The 12-week-old pups, who have arrived to parents Shala and Isalo, are only now beginning to venture outside after remaining tucked away for their first few weeks of life.

The fossa trio, which have been revealed as a male and two females, are a HUGE cause for celebration for staff at the zoo.

They are the first of their kind to be born at the zoo!

Rachael Boatwright, Zookeeper said: The birth of Shalas triplets is a huge cause for celebration. Not only are they the first pups to ever be born at our zoo, but their arrival into the endangered species breeding programme will allow us to discover more about their behaviours  from tiny pups all the way to adults.

This is Shalas first litter, and while its still early days, her three pups are doing great and are now full of confidence as they learn to climb trees and explore together, all under the watchful eye of mum, of course.

A distant relative of the mongoose, the fossa is a slender, cat-like mammal.

Its only found in the forests of Madagascar, where its the top predator.

The rare carnivore is equipped with a long tail that helps it balance when leaping amongst the tree branches, as well as large eyes that help it to see better at night when hunting for prey such as lemurs, wild pigs and mice.

The fossa is highly threatened as a result of widespread habitat loss in Madagascar.

Scientists report that the island has already lost up to 90% of its forests, which means that many species are now on the very brink of extinction.

The worlds authority of the state of nature, The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), lists the fossa as vulnerable to extinction, with recent estimates suggesting as few as 2,600 remain in the wild.

Mike Jordan, Director of Animals and Plants, added: These three fossa pups are INCREDIBLY important to the future of the species and the safety-net population found in conservation zoos like ours, which has become vitally important given the huge amount of deforestation in Madagascar.

In the wake of such dramatic devastation on the island, our zoo experts have, for more than a decade, been working with project partners Madagasikara Voakajy on the ground to help save this unique paradise and the thousands of animals that cannot be found anywhere else on the planet. These three little pups give us hope that we can protect this species from being lost altogether.
Wrexham bakery in running for top award at industry Oscars

A Wrexham-based bakery is in the running for a top award for going above and beyond with its customer service.

The Jones Village Bakery has been shortlisted in the Customer Focus category at the industry Oscars, the Baking Industry Awards.

They were nominated for the way they had supported the launch of a new range of sourdough bread by Marks and Spencer.

The family firm created an exact replica an M&S in-store bakery at their new, state-of-the-art Baking Academy.

The naturally-leavened sourdough bread is being made on a new 16 million production line at their flagship bakery on Wrexham Industrial Estate and is baked off at 600 plus M&S branches.

The project has already created 100 new jobs and has now led to the company being put forward for a prestigious award at the baking industry Oscars.

The award winners will be announced at a ceremony at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on Thursday, October 20, with the event being hosted by comedy actress and writer Sally Phillips.

Reg Denby, commercial controller for M&S at the Jones Village Bakery, said: We have created an absolute replica of what you would see in an M&S store, with fully operational ovens, chillers, freezers and display stands, he said.

All the fixtures and fittings are exactly the same as in-store, so when M&S colleagues come here, it feels just like having in-store training.

Weve trained over 150 people from M&S branches across the UK so far and the then chief executive has been here three times and you dont get any higher than that.

Phil Martin, the Bakery Academy manager, added: The Jones Village Bakery have been supplying Britains best-loved high street retailer for 14 years and they say this new initiative has taken their relationship to the next level.

The sourdough launch came about as the result of a visit by the recently-retired M&S chief executive Steve Rowe to their new 140,000 sq ft bakery thats been described as the most modern facility of its kind in Europe.

Building the new bakery and the cutting edge production line was led by projects director Christien Jones.

He said: Being customer focused is at the heart of everything we do as we have always prided ourselves on traditional quality and service, so we are over the moon to be shortlisted for this award.

I think our customers know our team are great but its just great to recognise the fantastic job that they do in this way. Im really proud of them.

The launch of the new range featured in a high profile TV advertising campaign, with Christien and his brother, Robin, the managing director, having starring roles alongside celebrity chef Chris Baber.

Robin said: We have been working with M&S for many years and we are proud to be their partners because our values are perfectly aligned.

My aspiration from the outset was to try to get the in-store bakery staff at M&S to the same level of knowledge as baristas in coffee shops.

Theyve now got that knowledge and theyre simply blown away by the products we make and it helps them sell in-store.

He added: Theres a lot of heritage at the Village Bakery and theres a lot of passion.

Sourdough is naturally leavened bread which uses a starter  a fermented flour and water mixture that contains wild yeast and good bacteria  instead of yeast to rise.

We said that wed make no compromise bread thats fermented for 36 hours and now weve had no compromise training for all the in-store colleagues.

This is a retail revolution thats going to be a gamechanger for bread in the UK.
The following statement was issued by the Railroad Workers Rank-and-File Committee (RWRFC), which has been established by railroad workers to organize and unify their struggles independently of the union apparatus.

To join the Railroad Workers Rank-and-File Committee, email railwrfc@gmail.com or text (314) 529-1064. Sign up to the committees text update list by texting rail to (866) 847-1086.

A pdf version of this statement can be accessed here.

Brothers and sisters,

On Wednesday, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers claimed that its sellout contract for railroad electricians, patterned after the Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) report, narrowly passed by 150 votes. This came as a shock to most of the more than 4,000 electricians in the unit. Many have said they hardly know any coworkers who were in favor of the deal. How could this have passed?

We now know how: It was passed through massive fraud. This is not a matter of speculation but of fact. Here is what we know:

There are widespread reports of workers not receiving their ballots, which for many areas were supposed to have been sent in through the mail. This consists largely of people who have lived in the same spot for decades and know for a fact that the IBEW has their correct address on file. I was told: tough sh*t, one Missouri electrician said after she didnt receive a ballot. She also said that she personally knew at least five other coworkers who also did not get ballots.

According to internal figures from the IBEW itself, there were 93 undeliverable and 142 questionable ballots. Put together, this is more than the margin of victory. In addition, there were 161 ballots which were marked as having been sent out twice.

The overall vote total was suspiciously low, at only 56.33 percent. This is the most hotly contested contract in decades, which workers know has the potential to impact the railroad workforce for generations. How could nearly half of electricians have failed to have cast ballots?

More and more workers are coming forward to say they never received a ballot. Workers report that the IBEW Railroad Department head Al Russo is blaming the vendor for what he acknowledges are problems in the vote.

Our democratic rights were violated even before the first vote was cast. In a letter dated September 20, the IBEW agreed with negotiators for the carriers that the contract would be ratified by September 28. If the electricians, however, did not stay on message and voted the contract down, then the union would extend the strike deadline to December 8. But the acceptance or rejection of a contract, and certainly whether and when a strike will be held, are decisions which can be made by the membership alone, not through secret deals between union officials and company negotiators.

No contract passed under these conditions can be considered valid. Electricians should consider it null and void. The IBEW has not only trampled over basic democratic principles but electricians legal rights.

The irregularities are so severe that they cannot be remedied by a recount.

The only way to remedy this wrong is to hold a revotethis time, under the control of the rank and file. The IBEW has proven that it cannot be trusted to conduct a fair, impartial vote and that it will not accept any decision by members that contradicts its secret deals with management.

This time, the basic right to vote must be enforced. Everyone must have the ability to vote through whatever option works best for them, including mail-in voting, electronic voting or in-person. The distribution, collection and tabulation of ballots must be overseen by delegates chosen from and by the rank and file.

Rank-and-file oversight must be enforced for the elections for all the other unions. The sham vote in the IBEW shows what is in store for all the other crafts, including the engineers and conductors. What is most remarkable about the IBEW vote is that it was entirely predictable and conducted in a way which conforms with all of the other unions.

The BLET and SMART-TD are organizing votes in which everything is being done to intimidate and discourage workers, both by dragging out the voting itself past the midterm elections and by sending material to engineers threatening them with an even worse deal imposed by Congress if they reject it. Meanwhile, press reports indicate they are considering overriding a no vote by sending it to binding arbitration.

At our last rank-and-file public meeting on September 28, attended by hundreds of railroaders around the country, workers passed a resolution which declared, in part: The unions ignored [the will] of the rank and file. In the past two weeks, the unions have worked nonstop to sabotage our struggle. They are postponing deadlines until after the midterm elections. They are presenting TAs that we already rejected. They are planning to ram through the PEB recommendations no matter how we vote.

We, the rank-and-file workers, declare that our patience is exhausted. We are not going to accept contracts stuffed down our throats through the methods of injunction and dictatorship, whether through the mechanism of Congressional decree or the treachery of the unions. We have the right to take collective action, up to and including a strike.

We reaffirm this right. However, we as railroaders must organize to enforce it. This means building up a new organizational network, consisting of rank-and-file workers organized independently around the country, which gives us the ability to organize action independent of and against the union apparatus. The enforcement of a re-vote for the IBEW and the establishment of democratic oversight can only be done by building such a network.

We call on workers in the IBEW and all rail workers to distribute this statement as widely as possible. Set up information pickets at your work location to hand it out and talk to your co-workers. Urge them to send any information they have on voting irregularities to the Railroad Workers Rank-and-File Committee.

We are fighting to help workers do this. Contact us today to get started.

To join the Railroad Workers Rank-and-File Committee, email railwrfc@gmail.com or text (314) 529-1064. Sign up to the committees text update list by texting rail to (866) 847-1086.
An emergency situation has unfolded across the United States over the last two months as pediatric hospitals have filled to capacity due to a surge of multiple respiratory viruses. In response, virtually no alarm has been raised by the corporate media or political establishment.

This crisis is unfolding following the reopening of K-12 schools, under conditions where all COVID-19 mitigation measures have been dropped following the latest anti-scientific guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These include ending universal masking in hospitals, in line with President Joe Bidens declaration that the pandemic is over.

Major cities including Chicago, New Orleans, Seattle and Austin have reported bed and staff shortages, while anecdotal reports on social media from health care workers and patients have come from every region of the country.

A mother and daughter at University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle on June 21, 2022 [AP Photo/Ted S. Warren]

The physician-in-chief of University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children's Hospital, Dr. John Cunningham, told the Chicago Tribune that hospitalizations have skyrocketed since school started. He added, This is the most challenging period weve experienced since March 2020.

Earlier in September, Illinois health officials warned that Most (pediatric intensive care units) in our state are already at or near full-capacity, making inter-facility transfers more difficult.

Last week, local news reported that only 11 staffed pediatric ICU beds were available for the entire Austin, Texas region, which includes 11 different counties.

Dr. Mark Kline, physician-in-chief at Children's Hospital New Orleans, stated this week, We've got a full house. We stay at capacity. He noted that children's hospitals across the south, including in Birmingham and Atlanta, were also full.

While ABC News reported on this crisis Friday, as of this writing major newspapers, including the New York Times and Washington Post, have yet to do so. This is in keeping with their record throughout the COVID-19 pandemic of downplaying the dangers of viral transmission posed to children and the broader public.

The hospitalizations are currently driven by a number of respiratory viral infections, including rhinovirus and enterovirus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza and COVID-19. The surge, which is the direct result of the abandonment of all COVID-19 mitigation measures in schools and other public places, threatens to worsen over the coming weeks and months, as cool weather sets in and people spend more time indoors in poorly ventilated spaces.

On September 9, the CDC issued an advisory to health care providers about rising hospitalizations for severe respiratory illnesses in children, particularly warning about an increase in the percentage of children testing positive for enterovirus D68 (EV-D68), a type of non-polio enterovirus that can lead to a neurological condition in children called acute flaccid myelitis (AFM).

AFM, a paralytic condition similar to polio, affects the spinal cord and causes symptoms such as sudden arm and leg weakness, loss of reflexes and muscle tone, facial drooping, and difficulty swallowing and speaking. There is no specific treatment for AFM, and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia notes that while most patients regain some strength over time, many do not recover fully.

A study published by the CDC on September 27 documented a months-long increase in acute respiratory illness in children associated with rhinovirus and enterovirus, including EV-D68, as well as asthma/reactive airway disease (RAD). The report noted that the last outbreak of EV-D68 was in 2018, with viral circulation remaining at low levels during the pandemic while mitigation measures were in place.

The report shows an alarming surge in EV-D68 positive tests among children who received medical care for acute respiratory illness since July, reaching nearly 60 percent of those who had a confirmed rhinovirus/enterovirus infection in mid-August. During this same period, pediatric hospital visits among ages 0-4 for asthma/RAD also surged, surpassing all years from 2018-2021.

While the CDC states that AFM is rare, during an outbreak of EV-D68 in the US in 2014, about 10 percent of reported cases developed the condition. As of September 28, the CDC has confirmed 19 cases of AFM since the start of 2022.

The surge in viral illness among children leading to hospitalization is an emergency that requires immediate and far-reaching resources. Not only is a dangerous assortment of viruses spreading at once among the pediatric population, but pediatric hospital capacity has been slashed over the course of two decades.

A damning article in Health Affairs from June 2022 by Drs. Scott D. Krugman and Daniel Rauch, former directors of pediatric departments which have since closed at Sinai (Baltimore) and Tufts (Boston), noted that between 2002 to 2011, more than 2,300 pediatric beds were eliminated across the US because pediatric medicine is not profitable for hospital systems.

A 2021 study by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) found that between 2008 and 2018, pediatric inpatient units decreased by 19.1 percent and pediatric inpatient beds decreased by 11.8 percent. Over this time, one-quarter of US children experienced an increase in distance to the nearest inpatient unit. So far in 2022 alone, hospitals in Boston, Richmond, Tulsa and Baltimore have closed entire inpatient pediatric units.

This has created the situation where, during a surge of viral transmission, parents across the US are struggling to find care for their sick children. Hundreds of parents and health care workers have commented in response to a Twitter post by pediatrician Dr. Maya Maxym noting that CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS ARE OVERFLOWING.

One parent responded, Im a parent of a kid with cancer who just spent two nights sleeping on the floor of a windowless exam room because all the inpatient rooms were full, so yes, I have noticed!

A nurse in Washington D.C. stated, UM YES!! Our Emergency Department has been packed every day and night with usually 5+ hour wait times or more on average. What the hell is going on??? I can't even imagine what respiratory season is going to look like if it's already this bad now!

Though the recent surge in pediatric hospitalizations has been attributed mainly to viruses other than SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, COVID remains a serious and ongoing threat. The current seven-day average for daily pediatric COVID-19 hospital admissions stands at 168, according to the CDC. In total, nearly 160,000 children have officially been admitted for the virus, 38,000 of whom have been admitted just since May of this year. Likely over 2,000 children have died from COVID-19, though there has been widespread data manipulation by the White House and CDC, including through the reduction in testing and reporting and by cynically differentiating between hospitalizations and deaths with COVID-19 versus from COVID-19.

Despite an effort to downplay the role of COVID-19 in the current crisis, the rapid rise in hospitalizations cannot be understood as separate from the ongoing pandemic. Officials have acknowledged that the dropping of mitigation measures, including mask mandates, social distancing and remote learning, have created conditions that allow for the transmission of other respiratory viruses. Further, the impact of prior COVID-19 infections upon the pediatric population cannot be overlooked as contributing to children's susceptibility to illness from other viral infections.

In a recent Twitter thread on this subject, Dr. Lisa Iannattone pointed to the known damage that COVID-19 can cause to the immune system and to known persistent lung damage in children caused by even mild infections, both of which could contribute to the rise in pediatric hospitalizations for common viruses. Back in May, researchers estimated that 70 percent of US children had been infected with COVID-19 at least once, a figure which has certainly increased over the past four months.

Dr. Iannattone also noted that in the case of of the 2002 SARS1 outbreak, mild acute illnesses in children were associated with persistent lung perfusion (circulation) issues, which recovered slowly over 3 years and not to full capacity. Regarding the ongoing mass and repeated infection of the population, she asked, With SARS2, how will kids lungs recover if the plan is to let them catch it again and again?

The full impact of a single COVID-19 infection remains unknown, and it is understood that recurring infections have a cumulatively damaging effect. At the same time, new studies are published regularly on the far-reaching impact of long-COVID on children, including brain damage and increased risk of heart disorders, blood clots, kidney failure and Type-1 diabetes. The repeated infection of children has been rightly described by workers and parents as a criminal mass experiment on an entire generation.

There is widespread opposition to the homicidal pandemic response dictated by the ruling class and its representatives in the political establishment. The hashtag #BringBackMasks was trending this week on Twitter, indicative of the ongoing support for public health measures despite Biden's criminal claim that the pandemic is over and that everyone seems to be in pretty good shape.

However, masks alone will not prevent a surge in COVID-19 or other illnesses. All available public health measures, including high quality masks and respirators, the renovation of all public spaces and schools to have proper ventilation and filtration, mass testing, rigorous contact tracing, and targeted lockdowns with financial assistance provided to all workers, must be implemented to prevent another deadly wave of COVID-19 and other airborne viruses this winter, including many respiratory viruses such as RSV, influenza, enterovirus and rhinovirus.

The urgent resources needed for these measures are instead being funneled to the limitless military budget and the war against Russia in Ukraine, while public schools, public health systems and critical infrastructure are crumbling. On Thursday, as Florida was being pummeled by Hurricane Ian, senators approved a stopgap spending package that allocated another $12 billion for the war in Ukraine and only $2 billion for natural disaster relief.

There can be no illusions placed in any section of the American political establishment to address this crisis in a meaningful way. For two-and-a-half years both the Democrats and Republicans have demonstrated their total indifference to human life by refusing to bring the pandemic under control, with 1.1 million Americans dead as a result.

Ending the pandemic and preventing the unnecessary spread of transmissible diseases requires a political fight against capitalism and the reallocation of society's resources to meet human needs on a globally coordinated basis, i.e., the struggle for socialism.
In a major attack on public health, Australias governments yesterday ended requirements for those infected with COVID-19 to isolate themselves from the community. All federal pandemic leave payments for COVID-positive workers are also being ended.

Victorian State Premier Dan Andrews (left), Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Queensland State Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Some of the Australian Labor Party leaders attending National Cabinet on September 30, 2022

The twin measures, which come into effect on October 14, are the final stage in a protracted onslaught on any coordinated public health response to the pandemic. They mean that COVID will be allowed to circulate everywhere, the pandemic will go on indefinitely and workers infected with a potentially deadly illness will be forced to stay on the job.

Significantly, this attack, which amounts to a declaration of war on public health and the rights of working people, has been spearheaded by the federal Labor government. Its prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is imposing profit-driven and homicidal policies that his conservative predecessor Scott Morrison could not.

The Albanese government had flagged weeks ago its intention to terminate all pandemic leave payments at the end of September. It had already slashed the isolation period from seven to five days, despite warnings from medical experts that half or more individuals would still be infectious at the end of it. And last month Labor oversaw the ending of all daily COVID reporting, making it impossible to monitor the pandemic.

Like all of those measures, yesterdays decision was taken by the National Cabinet. The extra-constitutional body, whose deliberations are shielded by secrecy laws, is dominated by Labor, which holds not only the federal government but also most state and territory administrations.

The decision had clearly been stitched up in advance. Albanese bypassed the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, which is supposed to provide advice on COVID policies. Instead, he only solicited the opinion of Paul Kelly, Australias chief medical officer. Kelly is infamous for describing Omicron as a Christmas present last December, before it infected more than ten million people and killed almost 13,000.

The press conference announcing the scrapping of isolation featured similar medical misinformation. Nothing that was said would have been differed with by fascistic former US President Donald Trump, or any other proponent of the homicidal profit before lives pandemic policies around the world.

It was time to end COVID exceptionalism, Albanese and Kelly declared, as they repeatedly compared the coronavirus to the flu. COVID has killed an estimated 22 million people worldwide and the same week as the isolation requirements were ended a University of Queensland study found that it causes damage to the heart and to DNA similar to cancer and other severe diseases.

Both claimed that the population had increased immunity, as a result of mass infection and vaccination. Even the official guidelines, however, warn that with the latest variants of Omicron, infection provides virtually no protection against contracting COVID-19 again.

There are tens of thousands of people who have caught the virus twice or more times in the past year. Medical experts have warned, moreover, that repeat infections likely have a cumulative impact, weakening the immune system and threatening more severe illness.

Vaccination, moreover, while an important scientific advance, has never been capable of vanquishing the pandemic when separated from other vital public health measures. In any case, Australias vaccination campaign has effectively ended.

Fewer than 85 percent of people have received two doses, but that provides virtually no protection against Omicron. Some 55 percent of people have had a booster dose, but most many months ago, meaning any immunity has waned. Less than 19 percent of the population has had a fourth shot and there are no plans for a fifth.

The elephant in the room, which Albanese and Kelly ignored and the assembled journalists pretend not to notice, is that COVID is killing more people in Australia than ever before. August was the deadliest month of the pandemic, with the virus claiming 2,056 lives, almost as many as were lost in the entire first two years of the pandemic.

The official numbers, moreover, understate the real toll. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics data released yesterday, 13,524 excess deaths were recorded in the first six months of 2022, 17.1 percent more than the historical average.

This means that, in addition to 7,658 deaths officially attributed to COVID-19 between January and June, there were a further 5,866 fatalities that likely would not have occurred without the impact of the pandemic.

Kelly waved away the dangers of Long COVID, even though official figures indicate that 31,000 workers called in sick every day of June as a result of it, and some epidemiologists estimate than 1.4 million people, or 5 percent of the national population, may be affected.

In language identical to that previously used by Morrison, Albanese proclaimed a new era of personal responsibility, and an end to governments controlling peoples lives.

What he really meant is an end to the slightest public health impediment to corporate profits. For millions of workers, especially casuals, personal responsibility means a choice between going to work while infectious with a deadly disease, or staying at home without any pay and starving.

More broadly, the ending of isolation requirements endanger the whole of society, especially those with an underlying medical condition of a compromised immune system. Contrary to official propaganda, such individuals constitute up to half the entire population.

A scenario is being created, similar to the freedom days that heralded the reopening of the economy and the lifting of successful mitigation measures last December. That campaign resulted in massive infection numbers and at least 13,000 deaths. The end of isolation requirements, on the eve of the holiday season, means the next wave will be even worse.

But the measure has been dictated by corporate, not health interests. That is clear from the response. All of the major financial papers are jubilant. Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott hailed the final step to reopening the economy and giving Australians the freedom to make their own decisions again.

Medical experts and ordinary people, meanwhile, are furious. Topics related to the decision trended on Twitter yesterday, with almost all of the comments denouncing the decision.

The Australian Medical Association condemned the announcement. Its president, Steve Robson, shared a meme which noted that the decision was based on a business plan, not health advice.

Dr Zoe Hyde wrote: This shameful decision, which implicitly says its okay to spread a harmful disease to others, will cost lives, undermine control of all communicable diseases, and will set public health back decades.

Professor Brendan Crabb stated: We seem to have surrendered to the virus for now and for its devastating effects. I just don't understand because we can hold the line.

Dozens of other examples could be cited.

The outrage did not extend to the countrys corporatised trade unions. Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O'Neil and secretary Sally McManus stated, in sympathy with the decision, that isolation requirements could not last forever. Health Services Union secretary Gerard Hayes has for months campaigned for an end to the isolation mandate on the grounds that it harms the economy, i.e., business interests.

Workers are being brought face to face with the character of the Labor government and its union allies as ruthless enforcers of the dictates of big business and the corporations.

As he decreed that the virus would be allowed to circulate everywhere, Albanese rejected calls for any federal increase to hospital funding. Instead, his government is embarking on an austerity agenda, aimed at forcing working people to pay for the hundreds of billions gifted to the major corporations during the pandemic.

In other words, Labor is a party of mass infection and death, brutal social spending cuts and war, as evidenced by its full support for the aggressive US confrontations with Russia and China, which threaten a nuclear catastrophe.

As the Socialist Equality Party has insisted for the past two years, the task of ending the pandemic falls to the working class. The tools required, universal mask mandates, remote learning and lockdown measures, including the closure of non-essential businesses, with full compensation for workers, are well known. The issue is that they impinge on the profit interests of the capitalist class.

That means that the fight against the pandemic is above all a political question. It requires a fight against capitalism and all of its representatives, including Labor and the unions.
By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

We are inviting Pakistani technology companies to establish research centers in Azerbaijan, Digital Development and Transport Minister Rashad Nabiyev said.

He made the remarks during the Azerbaijani-Pakistani Technology Forum, organized by the Digital Development and Transport Ministry, Export and Investment Promotion Agency (AZPROMO), the Pakistani embassy in Azerbaijan, and the Pakistani-Azerbaijani Economic Cooperation Chamber (PAKAZCHAM), Azernews reports.

Noting that there are strong partnership relations between Azerbaijan and Pakistan based on mutual trust, support, and mutually beneficial cooperation, he recalled that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The minister added that the need to build a creative and innovative society is expressed in the document Azerbaijan 2030: National Priorities for Socio-Economic Development approved by a relevant presidential decree.

To realize this vision, we need an ecosystem of innovation. Innovation is impossible without inventions. Consequently, there is a need for a strong industry based on science and technology, supported by the R&D capabilities of universities on a sound basis, he said.

Rashad Nabiyev also stated that exploring business opportunities is an ongoing process and requires regular exchange of information and the development of direct links between business communities.

The Azerbaijani-Pakistani Technology Forum will serve as an effective platform for promoting such information exchange and facilitating new business relations, he said.

AZPROMOs Head Yusif Abdullayev, Pakistani Ambassador Bilal Hayee, PAKAZCHAM President Khurram Bhatti, Small and Medium Business Development Agency Chairman Orkhan Mammadov, Pakistan Software Export Board Chief Commercial Officer Rehman Khattak took part in the forum.

The event featured presentations made by technology companies from Azerbaijan and Pakistan. The forum continued with B2B and B2G meetings.

Azerbaijan and Pakistan cooperate in various sectors of the economy. The relations between the two countries date back to 1991. Pakistan was among the first countries to recognize Azerbaijan's independence.

The trade turnover between the two countries totaled $11.7 million in 2021.
The presidential elections in Brazil, which enter their first round on Sunday, mark the most acute political crisis since the establishment of the countrys fragile democratic regime 35 years ago.

The countrys fascistic President Jair Bolsonarowith support from within the upper echelons of the state and the armed forcesis openly campaigning to overturn the result of the vote and illegally remain in power in a presidential dictatorship.

President Jair Bolsonaro and PT candidate and former president Lula da Silva (Alan Santos/PR and Ricardo Stuckert/Instituto Lula)

Meanwhile, the military has reestablished its role as Brazils final political arbiters. Invited by the civil power to participate in the organization of the electionswith the purported aim of curbing the politicization of the Armed Forces by the conspiring presidentthe generals have waged a campaign to undermine the electoral court and poison public opinion with fraudulent theories designed to discredit the voting process.

Arrogating to themselves the role of validating the elections, the military will conduct a parallel vote count for the first time in the current regimes history. Soldiers will be sent to personally inspect hundreds of ballot boxes around the country and ensure that they are fraud-free.

At the same time, the Armys battalions are being put on standby across the country to intervene in the streets, on the pretext of curbing electoral violence. If they were to act against a Bolsonaro coup attempt, nobody knows who would be able to send the tanks back to the barracks.

The naming of the next Brazilian president will await negotiations behind closed doors and depend upon the final word of the generals.

The Brazilian political crisis is one of the epicenters of a globally interconnected process of dissolution of democratic forms of rule by the ruling class in all countries.

The specter of a return to military dictatorship in Brazil, which suffered the bloody rule of the generals for two decades following the US-backed 1964 coup, arises from the same worldwide crisis that produced Donald Trumps attempted fascist coup in the US; the rise to power in Italy of Georgia Meloni, successor of Benito Mussolinis fascist movement; the rehabilitation of the neo-Nazis of the Alternative for Germany (AfD); the return to power of the heir to the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines; and the cultivation of Ukrainian fascist forces by Washington and NATO in their war against Russia.

One of the most serious indications of the mortal crisis facing the Brazilian political system is that the main opposition party, the Workers Party (PT), is seeking to cover up the dangers posed by the present situation.

The polls have repeatedly shown PT candidate Lula da Silva, who governed Brazil from 2003 to 2010, as the favorite in the presidential race. The latest DataFolha poll, published Thursday, showed Lula with 50 percent of the vote and Bolsonaro trailing with 36 percent. Nevertheless, Bolsonaro has repeated on numerous occasions that only fraud will prevent his outright victory in the first round.

In the last public debate between the candidates, held three days before the election, Lula traded accusations of corruption with Bolsonaro, but he kept silent about Bolsonaros coup preparations. It fell to a far-right candidate, Soraya Thronicke of Uniao Brasil, a former supporter of the fascistic president, to ask Bolsonaro if he intends to stage a coup, to which the president replied, Thats not the issue.

Lula and the PT refuse to publicly denounce the conspiracies of Bolsonaro and the military. Their greatest fear is unleashing a mass movement of the working class, which has a long tradition of struggle against authoritarianism in Brazil, that would turn against capitalism and its state. Instead, the PT seeks to address the threat through backroom negotiations with representatives of the ruling class.

The support base that the PT sees as key to returning to power is not Brazils working class and oppressed masses, but rather the bourgeoisie, the military, the judges and the right-wing parties that had discarded its political services with the impeachment of the PT President Dilma Rousseff in 2016 and the subsequent jailing of Lula himself.

In the last week of his campaign, Lula attended a dinner with dozens of representatives of the banks and big business in which, according to one of the participants quoted by Globo, he said everything the audience wanted to hear. Among those present were open supporters of Bolsonaro, such as the owner of the Riachuelo store chain, Flavio Rocha, who, according to the newspaper, said that Lula could count on him if he fulfills the commitments made at the dinner.

The alignment of growing sectors of Brazilian capital with Lula is based on their belief that his government will be able to secure their interests on two fronts. First they are counting on a PT government to establish a balance in Brazils relations with the United States and China, thereby promoting an influx of investments. And second, they believe it can impose a tighter rein on the working class, aided by the corporatist unions, allowing for an intensified exploitation of the workforce.

The explosive crisis of global capitalism, however, will make the fulfillment of these interests of the Brazilian bourgeoisie a tall order.

With Brazil and Latin America as a whole becoming more and more a strategic battleground in US imperialisms drive to war against China, the goal of geopolitical neutrality and an environment of free trade relations with both countries is a pipe-dream. The recent destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines linking Russia and Germany, an act of terrorist sabotage benefiting Washingtons imperialist interests, is indicative of the shape of things to come, including on the South American continent.

And, despite the efforts of the PT-linked unions to sabotage the movement of the working class, the deepening economic crisis is creating the conditions for an explosion of the class struggle in Brazil.

In his speeches defending laws that expand the repressive capacity of the Brazilian state, Bolsonaro has repeatedly warned about the imminence of the eruption of a popular movement worse than in Chile, where masses of workers and youth took to the streets against social inequality and the political regime in 2019.

Under these conditions, an incoming PT government will have a reactionary and politically unstable character. Like the recent reincarnations of Pink Tide governments in Latin America, such as that of Gabriel Boric in Chile and Pedro Castillo in Peru, the PTs fundamental role will be to implement the attacks demanded by capitalism on the living conditions of workers and to unleash brutal repression against any form of social opposition.

From the point of view of the ruling class, such a left-wing government will represent only an interregnum, during which better preparations can be made for the implementation of an outright dictatorship against the working class of the kind that Bolsonaro advocates today. The record of Lula and the PT, particularly their response to current dictatorial threats, leaves no doubt that they will make every concession to the coup plotters.

The Socialist Equality Group (GSI), Brazilian supporters of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), is making every effort to expose the grave dangers contained in the present situation. But in raising these warnings, its position is not one of passive contemplation of an unfolding tragedy.

The fundamental objective of the GSI is to mobilize the working class as an independent political force and prepare it for the confrontation that will necessarily come no matter which government ultimately takes power.

The Brazilian working class is a massive social force, with a long history of struggle against capitalism and a profound democratic and socialist tradition. Brazilian workers have in their hands powerful means of production and are objectively linked through global economic supply chains with workers all over the world.

The current civilian regime was established in Brazil as a response by the bourgeoisie to the wave of massive strikes by the working class at the end of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s. Provoked by conditions of economic misery, it was this movement that fatally undermined the military dictatorship.

The bourgeoisie was able to remain in power during this mortal crisis only through the deliberate derailing of the semi-insurrectionary struggles of the working class. The main political agents of this process of betrayal were the different Pabloite tendencies, from the Lambertites of the International Socialist Organization (OSI) to the Morenoites of the Socialist Convergence (CS), which were the true creators of Lula and the PT.

In its recent struggles, such as the wildcat strike that hit the National Steel Company (CSN) this year, the successive struggles against layoffs in the auto industry, the series of strikes by teachers, transportation workers, and many others, the Brazilian working class demonstrates that it is ready for a new mass confrontation with capitalism. In all these processes, it has clashed with the bureaucratic, pro-business unions controlled by the PT and its allies.

The Socialist Equality Group is fighting for the establishment of democratic organs that enable the development of the working class struggles: rank-and-file committees internationally unified through the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees. And, above all, it is engaged in the construction of the necessary revolutionary leadership that will lead the seizure of power by the Brazilian working class as part of the international socialist revolution.

This perspective will be presented by the GSI in its event The Crisis of Democracy in Brazil and the Perspective of Socialist Revolution to be held on Saturday, 3pm (GMT-3). We urge all our readers to participate. https://youtu.be/oFcvuM1rb7k
Dozens of deaths have been reported after Hurricane Ian slammed into the coast of Florida, with still more fatalities expected in the coming days from what officials are saying is the deadliest storm in Floridas history.

The National Weather Service announced Friday that Ian was being downgraded to post-tropical cyclone, which would bring heavy rain and potential flash flooding to parts of North and South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia through Saturday morning. Ian made landfall in South Carolina Friday morning, crashing into Georgetown as a Category 1, the first hurricane to hit the state since Matthew in 2016.

Although Ian declined in intensity, it remains a powerful storm, knocking out power thus far for an estimated 400,000 South Carolinians. The mayor of South Carolinas Pawley Island, Brian Henry, said Ian brought a surge that was probably beyond what most people anticipated. Sidewalks and roads in the neighborhoods of Charleston, about 60 miles south of Georgetown, were flooded by the afternoon, and Ian reportedly sustained winds of about 85 mph.

This aerial photo shows damaged homes and debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

The storms northward path through the southeastern United States follows the devastating havoc it wrought on Florida this week as rescuers and police are uncovering many deaths found in the storms wake, beside the destruction it caused for buildings and personal property. In Lee County, home to the barrier island of Cayo Costa, Sheriff Carmine Marceno revealed 16 storm-related deaths.

As of this writing, at least 42 deaths have been attributed to the storm after it battered Florida, according to reports from CNN, Governor Ron DeSantis, and deaths listed from various counties. The hard-hit city of Fort Myers reported that only about 15 percent of power was restored by Friday afternoon. It is a testament to the profit-driven priorities of the state and companies that most residents remain without power and without any source of backup electricity.

Like all social disasters, Hurricane Ian has demonstrated the consequences of the denial of human-induced climate change and the subordination of all life to the dictates of lucrative profits. This is above all highlighted in the irrational development of Cape Coral, where the storm had a particularly devastating impact.

Despite the city being especially vulnerable to catastrophic weather events due to its position just above sea level, Floridas political officials and environmental agencies have permitted corporations to pour vast sums into the city to construct lavish housing and other infrastructure amenities. This includes the astonishing growth of canals and the draining of its low-lying swamps.

Cape Coral grew to one of the larger cities on the Gulf coast, rising from some 200 people in 1960 to about 180,000 in 2016.

The citys growth has been based on ecological disaster, as the canals came from the reckless and relentless digging into the regions landscape, ravaging its wetlands, estuaries, and aquifers. The abysmal lack of planning on the part of capitalist developers is reflected in its design, without water or sewer pipes, shops or offices, or anything except pre-platted residential lots.

The development of Cape Coral is one aspect of the massive growth of the Florida peninsulas population. For decades, the states coastal areas were exploited as a profitable tourist destination and the center of its housing market, despite the state being greatly flood-prone and frequently affected by hurricanes and tropical storms. The state has spent some $16 billion on development projects in the Everglades, a staggering sum compared to what it has expended for hurricane preparedness and evacuation procedures.

Six years after Hurricane Irma, Ian has exposed the criminal negligence of state and federal authorities who for years saw no reason to reinforce the states preparedness and provide financial assistance for those affected. Governor Ron DeSantis has said Friday some of the power grid in Lee and Charlotte counties was completely completely destroyed and that the Category 4 hurricane uprooted some of the existing infrastructure and that it would take 24 to 48 hours to fix the states electrical grid. The actual timeframe could be much longer.

More than 1.6 million homes and businesses remain without power across the state while at least seven counties are reporting between 60% and 100% of their utility customers have no electricity. Outages stretching from Collier County towards the southern end of the state and to the northeast past Jacksonville. According to AccuWeather founder Joel Myers, the total damage and economic loss of Hurricane Ian will be between $180 billion and $210 billion. Homeowners and those residing in apartment complexes have seen their residences and vehicles either completely destroyed or severely damaged, and many are left without any substantial means to reimburse their losses.

The response of the Biden administration and the state government under Ron DeSantis has amounted to rhetorical statements with little effort to actually deliver relief for those affected by the widespread destruction of property. DeSantis, no doubt feeling mounting pressure and anger from his indifference leading up to the hurricane, has petitioned Biden for federal assistance while many have had to rely on charitable donations to stave off financial ruin.

DeSantis has spent his political career as a reactionary opponent of public expenditures for disaster relief and preparedness to burnish his credentials as a far-right figure willing to defend the wealth of the corporate elite at all costs. In 2013, he voted against a federal bailout for the New York region hit by Hurricane Sandy.
On Monday, September 19 at around 6:50 p.m., a nurse was stabbed outside the emergency room lobby of Mission Community Hospital in Panorama City, California. The 49-year-old nurse was approaching the hospital to start his overnight shift when he was stabbed multiple times in the neck and wounded in his right hand.

The nurse was flown to a nearby trauma center in critical condition. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the assailant pulled out a knife and stabbed him several times. No words were exchanged between the nurse and the assailant prior to the stabbing. The police believe it was a random attack by a homeless person.

The hospital went on temporary lockdown while a search was conducted for the suspect, who got away. Police believe the attacker might live in a nearby homeless encampment, but are not releasing the security footage at this time.

The nurse has been listed in stable condition and is expected to make a full recovery. Mission Community Hospital released a statement saying it has increased security, but the statement does not go into specifics. However, increased security will not solve the issue of increased violence, which is rooted in the worsening social crisis produced by an economic and political system that is dominated by a corporate oligarchy and prioritizes profit over human life, i.e., capitalism.

Increasing the presence of police and security guards at health care facilities actually increases violence against patients, who can and have become victims of police abuse and police shootings.

In response to the September 19 attack, other health care workers immediately ran to assist the wounded nurse. Everybody jumped in, brought him inside and took him someplace to take care of him, said Dr. James Higgins, a cardiologist at Mission Community Hospital. Its just scary, its a really sad thing that its gonna happen at a place where youre really trying to help people and save them. Instead, its almost like the opposite ... Just shows you sometimes whats going on in the world.

In August, this writer wrote about the increase in violence against US health care workers. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals became places of mass death and frustration, with patients and family members denied adequate care as the number and severity of hospitalizations skyrocketed. The violent act against the Southern California nurse is a disturbing expression of objective and malignant contradictions in American capitalist society.

Nurses picketing at M Health Fairview on June 1, 2022 [Photo: WSWS]

Violence is being carried out against the working class in the form of preventable mass death from the COVID-19 pandemic, which could be contained and eliminated were it not for the profit interests of the ruling class, which rejects any public health measures that cut across its manic drive for ever greater personal wealth.

Social violence also takes the form of poverty, food and housing insecurity, unending war and the growing risk of nuclear war, and the existential threat from the climate catastrophe. All of these social crimes are bound up with the assault by the capitalist class on the living standards and democratic rights of the working class.

This past May, a 40-year-old mental health technician in South Carolina was attacked by a patient and succumbed to his injuries three days later. Last June, a patient in Tulsa, Oklahoma killed three health care workers before killing himself. In October of last year, a registered nurse in Florida was attacked by a patient and suffered a miscarriage as a result of the assault.

Both individual violence and homelessness are consequences of deliberate policies carried out by the ruling class. For the sake of cutting costs and boosting profits, governments and corporations at all levels have gutted social services, public health and mental health services for the working class, driving down the social position and real wages of workers over the past four decades.

Over the last decade, there was not a single day that the United States was not at war. Whatever their differences, the Democrats and Republicans have joined hands to allocate trillions of dollars to fund the US military machine.

In the Los Angeles metropolitan area, there is an explosion of homelessness, making it the epicenter of the housing crisis in California and the US. According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority study, Preliminary Estimation of Homelessness in LA County, on any night there are 83,347 homeless people on the streets and in shelters in Los Angeles County.

The numbers are higher if one includes the cities of Long Beach (6,000), Pasadena (1,200) and Glendale (400), bringing the total to more than 91,000. The same study reports that 224,203 individuals are homeless at least one day during the year.

When mass death is normalized in the US and abroad through perpetual war, a preventable pandemic and mass shootings, it inevitably impacts the psyche of the most susceptible individuals. As does mass poverty, homelessness and ever greater levels of exploitation of workers on the job.

The working class is the only social force that can put an end to the capitalist system, which breeds all of these social ills. This can only be done through the unity of the working class in the US with its international working class brothers and sisters, through the building of rank-and-file committees in every workplace and the struggle for socialism.
The author is a representative of the Young Guard of Bolshevik Leninists, a Trotskyist organization in Russia that opposes, on the basis of socialist internationalism, the invasion of Ukraine and the proxy war of US-NATO imperialism against Russia.

On Friday, September 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a lengthy speech that was meant to justify the ruling regime's actions in annexing four new territories to Russia through referendums: the Donetsk, Luhansk (Lugansk), Zaporozhzhia and Kherson regions in eastern and southeastern Ukraine.

The speech underscored the danger of a widening conflict between Russia and NATO, as the Putin regime will now consider the annexed Ukrainian lands as its own and will fight for them much more actively, as confirmed by the recent announcement of a partial mobilization in the wake of Russian defeats in the Kharkiv region.

In his speech, Putin, justifying the annexation of four regions of Ukraine, said, People have made their choice, an unambiguous choice. The official figures about the outcome of the referendums are indeed astonishing: in all regions 97 percent or more voted for annexation, and the turnout also showed very high participation of the population.

However, it is necessary to ask: How was it possible to hold a referendum in Zaporozhzhia, when almost half of the territory, including the capital, is controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces? The Putin regime has no answer to this. It is likely that the figures were simply taken out of thin air and exaggerated.

The same applies to other regions where referendums were held. Half of the Donetsk region is under Ukrainian control. The only region in which the entire territory is under the control of Russian forces is the Luhansk region. But even there, the question of the truth of the published results requires clarification.

Putin went on to state, We will defend our land by all means. We will rebuild all the destroyed cities and towns. We will develop enterprises, infrastructure, and health care systems. The first sentence deserves special attention because it suggests that the Putin regime is once again threatening to unleash a nuclear war.

If a nuclear war were to happen, the development of enterprises, infrastructure and the health care system would be out of the question. Suffice it to recall that almost 400,000 people died in Russia as a result of the governments reactionary response to COVID-19. And that is only according to official figures. What prevented the Putin regime from engaging in the development of health care and social infrastructure earlier?

The main reason for the promises of the Putin regime is the ruling oligarchys serious fear of the working class, which, amid the worsening crisis of capitalism, is threatening to pursue its independent interests. Fear is the main motive behind all these promises since the Putin regime desperately needs a stable home front for its national-chauvinist response to the onslaught of Western imperialism.

They want to see us as a colony, Putin notes in his speech. They do not want equal cooperation, but plunder.

While Putins remarks about the threat of the colonialization and carve-up of Russia are no doubt correct, they also underscore the dual psychology of the Russian ruling class, which both hopes for equal cooperation with Western imperialism and at the same time rattles nuclear weapons in the struggle to safeguard its privileged position in a country rich in raw material resources. In the same speech that was filled with condemnations of the imperialist powers, Putin referred to co-thinkers of the Kremlin in the entire world, including in Europe and the United States.

Putin sought to falsely imbue a progressive tone to his national-chauvinist response to the threat posed by US-NATO imperialism. For example, as part of his speech he said that he was proud that in the 20th century it was Russia that opened the anti-colonial movement. A very hypocritical statement from a man who justified the invasion in a speech on February 21 by condemning the 1917 October Revolution and the supposedly bad Bolsheviks led by Lenin.

In fact, what preempted the carve-up of the former Russian Empire by the imperialist powers was the Bolshevik Revolution and the struggle waged by the Red Army under the leadership of Leon Trotsky on the basis of an internationalist program of socialist revolution. This program is politically incompatible with the reactionary nationalist policies and actions now pursued by the Putin regime.

Seeking to broaden public support for his policies, Putin declared: The unipolar world built by the West is anti-democratic, false and hypocritical to the core. This is certainly true, but Putin forgets that these features of Western imperialism are the very features that are also characteristic of the Russian capitalist state.

Putin continued, The world has entered a period of revolutionary transformations, they are of a fundamental nature, new centers of development are being formed, which are ready not only to declare their interests, but also to defend them. Coming from Putin, these words have a blatantly demagogic character. Apart from the leaders of the imperialist powers, no one fears revolution more than the Russian oligarchy. However, Putin seeks, in the hope of broadening support for the war, to exploit popular hatred of imperialism by portraying his government as a defender of national independence.

Putin did not mention that his concern is not over the independence of the Russian people, but the independence and right of the Russian oligarchy to exploit Russias natural resources and working class without considering the opinion of its Western partners.

Putin ended his speech by quoting these words from the far-right Russian nationalist ideologist Ivan Ilyin, who supported the struggle of the White armies against the Bolsheviks Red Army during the Civil War:

If I consider my homeland to be Russia, it means that I love, contemplate and think in Russian, sing and speak in Russian; that I believe in the spiritual forces of the Russian people and accept its historical destiny with my instinct and my will. Its spirit is my spirit; its destiny is my destiny; its suffering is my grief; its flourishing is my joy.

On Friday, Ukraine submitted an application for accelerated NATO membership, further escalating the conflict. The course of the proxy war between Russia and NATO in Ukraine threatens to escalate into an open conflict in which the use of nuclear weapons is possible. All this underscores once again the insanity of the ruling classes of all capitalist countries.

Ultimately, all of Putins statements emphasize that he is basing his response to the onslaught of imperialism on national chauvinism. It cannot be otherwise, since Putin embodies the capitalist restoration regime in Russia. His reactionary policies reflect the socio-economic role of the ruling Russian oligarchy, which emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union due to the false and blatantly counterrevolutionary policies of Stalinism.

But the struggle against imperialist war requires a revolutionary strategy. This is possible only on the basis of the principles that the Bolsheviks adhered to when they made the October Revolution in 1917. The essence of these principles is to mobilize the working class against capitalist governments throughout the world on a program of world socialist revolution. The resolution of all the contradictions of capitalism and the problems it generates is only possible within the framework of an international reorganization of society, or rather a reorganization of the entire economy, not for private profit but for the satisfaction of social needs.

This inevitably brings us to the question of resolving the crisis of revolutionary leadership in the working class. Only the Trotskyist movement represents a genuine vanguard revolutionary movement of the working class. It is on this basis that the building of sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International in Russia, Ukraine, and around the world must take place.
While on average almost 80 people lose their lives to the pandemic every day in Germany and a new COVID wave is gathering pace, the federal and state governments are dismantling the last remaining measures and promoting a live with the virus strategy. The Oktoberfesta super-spreading event par excellenceis only the most disturbing example of this policy.

Since September 17, the Oktoberfest has been taking place in Munich, where millions of people from countries around the world meet in tents without any COVID protection measures. The fact that this would lead to a mass spread of the virus was beyond question from the outset.

Young people reach out for free beer in one of the beer tents on the opening day of the 187th Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

For example, Florian Geyer, head of the Miesbach health office in Upper Bavaria, where Munich is located, told the Munchner Merkur newspaper, One thing is clear: a beer tent cannot be adequately ventilated. And it is an international meeting placethe best conditions for the virus to spread, mutate and change. Whether and how it will do that, we cannot predict.

Of course, this will lead to an increase in the number of cases, said Johannes Bogner, senior consultant at the LMU Clinic at the University of Munich. And Munich virologist Oliver Keppler told regional public broadcaster BR, On a scale of one to 10, the probability of SARS-CoV-2 exposure after several hours in the tent is, in my estimation, nine to 10.

This coincides with the catastrophic consequences of similar festivals, which were celebrated in various parts of Bavaria without COVID restrictions. In Rosenheim, for example, the seven-day infection rate rose there to over 1,000 infections per 100,000 inhabitants approximately one-and-a-half weeks after the start of the Oktoberfest.

In Munich itself, the seven-day incidence has risen from 225 per 100,000 inhabitants to over 695 within 10 days. In the last week, more than 10,000 new COVID cases were reported, which is about 6,500 more than in Hamburg, where the second highest number of cases were registered in the last seven days. PCR test samples have shown that 2 percent of Oktoberfest visitors are already infected at the event.

The federal and state governments are not only aware of this development, but are consciously promoting it. Numerous politicians of all parties have published pictures of themselves without a mask at the festival. According to the new Infection Protection Act, even minor requirements, such as access restrictions, mandatory hygiene and mask mandates, are no longer permitted. Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Soder (Christian Social Union, CSU) stated before the start of the Oktoberfest, The number of infections will probably increase, that is the experience of previous festivals.

The organisation of huge festivals without any protection serves above all one goal: living or rather dying with the virus is to be normalised. While in the US, President Biden recently described the pandemic as over, an increasing number of politicians in Germany are calling for the last remaining measures to be lifted.

For example, the spokesman for health policy of the Christian Democratic Union/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Tino Sorge, told Der Spiegel, It is time to leave the tunnel of fear. More countries are returning to normality. With all due caution, the state of emergency must not become a permanent state. Our federal government will also have to explain to people how long we will be in pandemic mode.

Andrew Ullmann, spokesman for health policy for the Free Democratic Party group, commented similarly, I can absolutely understand what Joe Biden means. As a scientist and clinician, I would argue that the pandemic is not over yet, but it is in its final stages.

Baden-Wurttembergs Green Party Minister President Winfried Kretschmann sees Germany in the transition from the pandemic to endemic disease and declared that he does not consider any further protective measures necessary.

In addition, a few days ago, the federal states of Baden-Wurttemberg, Bavaria, Hesse and Schleswig-Holstein demanded in a joint letter that the obligation to isolate people infected with COVID be abandoned.

Baden-Wurttembergs Minister of Health Manne Lucha (Greens) said, We should gradually come into the mode of treating a coronavirus infection like another infectious disease in which the rule is: If you are ill, you stay at home.

These plans are already being implemented. On Wednesday, the Baden-Wurttemberg state government abolished compulsory isolation for children and young people after a coronavirus infection. Students can therefore return to school infected, without the need for a mask, and spread the virus among their classmates.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was infected with the coronavirus a few days ago, has concentrated on sending the message that infected people can work. Scholz isolated himself in the Chancellery because he could do a good job from here. In order to recover quickly, he took Paxlovid on the advice of his doctors. For the vast majority of the population, this coronavirus treatment is virtually unavailable.

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (Social Democrats) is busy downplaying the situation and agitating against serious measures. He only reckons with a 'medium-sized wave in autumn, he explained in an interview with the Rheinische Post. Lockdowns were no longer justifiable and closures of schools or the hospitality industry would no longer be considered.

In fact, the situation is more serious than at the same time in recent years. After a slight decline in infections in recent weeks, cases are starting to rise again. The official 7-day incidence was 410 infections per 100,000 inhabitants on Thursday. A week ago it was 281.1. This means that the 7-day incidence has increased by 46 percent within a week. The number of current new infections is about four times as high as a year ago at the same time.

However, the true number of infections is much higher, as a large part of the test infrastructure has been dismantled and only PCR tests are included in the statistics. The enormous test positivity rate of 33.9 percent also illustrates the high number of unreported cases.

A growing number of infections occur in hospitals and nursing homes. Last week there were 51 outbreaks in medical treatment facilities (49 in the previous week) and 178 in retirement and nursing homes (120 in the previous week). Due to the outbreaks in recent weeks, at least 24 people have died in medical treatment facilities and 99 in retirement and nursing homes.

Overall, the number of severe outcomes following a COVID infection is increasing sharply again. Around 6,000 people are hospitalized every week, while 705 people are currently in intensive care units and around 80 people die every day. This is almost twice as high as a year ago at the same time.

Particularly concerning is the spread of the Omicron subvariant BA 2.75.2, which exhibits an unprecedented ability to evade immunity. According to assistant professor Ben Murell at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, both the Evusheld and sotrovimab COVID drug treatments show no significant effect on isolated samples of the mutation.

According to a study by a research group at the University of Beijing, the subvariant also easily prevails against the drug bebtelovimab. All three drugs consist of isolated antibodies, which are intended to trigger an immediate effect in the infected patient.

The emergence of new mutations illustrates the total bankruptcy of the official pandemic policy. As is becoming increasingly apparent, the mass infection of the population does not lead to more harmless mutations, but to the emergence of more infectious and resistant variants.

The only strategy to end the pandemic is to eliminate the virus. But since this is incompatible with the economic interests of the ruling class, it is necessary to build a socialist movement of the working class which prioritises the life and health of the population over the profits of the capitalists.
Four right-wing extremists were arrested in Iceland last week on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks targeting public and government institutions. The men, aged in their 30s, had accumulated dozens of firearms, including several semi-automatic weapons, and thousands of rounds of ammunition at the time of their capture.

This development, the first of its kind in the small North Atlantic island nation with a population of just 360,000, is yet another explosive manifestation of the re-emergence of fascist tendencies throughout Europe and internationally. The men are under suspicion of having connections with other Nordic far-right extremist groups. Police found fanatical propaganda during their investigation, some of which glorified the neo-Nazi terrorist and child murderer Anders Breivik along with other like-minded extremists. Astonishingly, only two of the men remain in police custody at this time.

The investigation was launched regarding a serious weapons violation involving the intended production and sale of firearms, leading investigators to suspect the individuals were plotting a terrorist action against various institutions of society and citizens of the state. State Police Superintendent Karl Steinar Valsson stated to the press that there is suspicion the group had plans to target the Parliament or police, although investigators have yet to confirm the fascist operatives exact targets.

The arrests took place in Kopavogur and Mosfellsbr, nearby suburbs of the nations capital of Reykjavik. Investigators conducted searches at nine locations, confiscating firearms, ammunition, computers and cell phones. The weapons caches appear to have been domestically obtained, some of them manufactured with 3D printing technology.

While police managed to confiscate most of the weapons, it is unclear if the entire stockpile has been seized. It is also unknown whether or not these individuals had ties to far-right organizations internationally and if other co-plotters remain at large. For its part, the state appears reluctant to probe the serious questions raised by the discovery of the terror plot and the police have declared it to be an open-and-shut case.

The Icelandic Police has averted possible acts of terror, stated National Police Communications Director Gunnar Horur Gararsson. The police do not consider the Icelandic public to be at risk and the current level of threat of acts of terrorism in Iceland is not higher as the situation has been secured.

The Icelandic ruling class responded to the arrests with renewed calls for anti-democratic legislation granting the police sweeping powers under the guise of pre-emptive investigations. Such a law would, were it put into practice, allow police to begin investigations of individuals who are not currently under suspicion of committing or conspiring to commit crimes. It also would lead to the militarization of the Icelandic police force, with the introduction of experts and high-grade equipment as well as the organization of a special counterterrorism unit. The law, which has proven controversial within the country, was previously voted down in Parliament.

Minister of Justice Jon Gunnarsson made the case for passing such legislation in a recent television interview, describing it as exactly what is called for. Gunnarsson is a member of the right-wing, pro-big business Independence Party, the traditional party of the Icelandic financial elite, which has spearheaded the push for the introduction of the pre-emptive investigation law since it was first drafted in 2015.

Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir of the Left-Green Movement echoed these sentiments but stopped short of explicitly endorsing such legislation. I want to emphasise that it makes a tremendous difference that the police have the means to confront this, she said. They certainly showed that they are capable. She used the opportunity to stress what she saw as the importance of continuing to strengthen the police.

That a violent neo-Nazi cell could materialize in Iceland, a country which has topped the Global Peace Index since 2008, is an indictment of the so-called Nordic model, which has paved the way for the rise of the far right across Scandinavia under conditions of a deepening global capitalist crisis. Jakobsdottirs Left-Greens played a decisive role in diffusing the social protests that erupted in the country over the past decade in opposition to the deeply rooted financial parasitism of the Icelandic ruling class.

The Left-Greens first came to power in a left government led by the Social Democrats in 2009 following protests that brought down the previous coalition government of the Independence Party and Social Democrats. Independence was deeply unpopular after leading the government prior to and during the 2008 economic crisis, which triggered the collapse of the countrys three main banks Kaupthing, Glitnir and Landsbanki.

While in power, the Left-Greens played a role foreshadowing that of the pseudo-left Syriza in Greece. The Social Democrat/Left-Green coalition government loyally implemented a devastating programme of austerity dictated by the IMF, slashing funding for public services. Steingrimur Sigfusson, former leader of the Left Greens, was finance minister for three years during this period and was therefore directly responsible for imposing these attacks.

The government was so unpopular that after one term it lost half of its support and was thrown out of officepaving the way for the right-wing populist and nationalist Progressive Party to take the mantle in 2013.

The Progressive Party-led government collapsed in 2016 following the publication of the Panama Papers, which implicated then-Prime Minister Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson and other high-ranking government officials in a widespread tax avoidance scandal. Fresh elections brought the Left-Greens back into power with Jakobsdottir as prime minister in 2017. The current government has continued the previous cabinets policy of austerity, and neither the Left-Greens nor the pseudo-left Pirate Party enjoy any meaningful popular support. As in other countries across Europe and internationally, the political void created by the absence of any genuine left-wing party has emboldened far-right, fascistic elements.

Right-wing populism has become a notable force in the Icelandic political establishment as of late. Following his ouster from government, Gunnlaugsson and his followers split from the Progressive Party in 2017 and founded the Centre Party. While the move undoubtedly was in part intended as an attempt by the tarnished Gunnlaugsson to re-brand himself, the Centre Party had definite programmatic motivationstaking a more hard-line opposition to EU membership and espousing openly xenophobic, anti-immigrant rhetoric. While still a minority party, its influence has moved official Icelandic political discourse even further to the right.

While the development of neo-Nazi groups is far more advanced in mainland Europe and North America, Iceland is by no means immune from this global phenomenon. Norurvigi, Icelands chapter of the white supremacist Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), has been active in the countrys capital since its founding in 2016.

The NRM was founded in Sweden in 1997 and has active chapters in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Denmark. It advocates the dissolution of parliamentary institutions and the establishment of an ethnically pure fascist state along Nazi lines. The organization maintains close ties with neo-Nazi groups across Europe, including Ukraines notorious Azov Battalion. The escalation of the NATO-Russia conflict in Ukraine, which has seen the funneling of arms, money and materiel into the hands of the Azov Battalion and other far-right forces, has fueled the growth of fascist paramilitary and terror groups internationally.

Norurvigi members have organized demonstrations in downtown Reykjavik and are active on the University of Icelands campus, where they engage in racist agitation and distribute hate literature. Norurvigi has taken measures to distance itself from the terror plot, claiming the organization does not advocate violence and that it had no knowledge of any such plans.

A hard-line faction of the NRM has emerged, however, which disavows parliamentarism in favor of preparation for an armed fascist insurrection. This faction has begun to organize separate clandestine paramilitary groups throughout Scandinavia, the most visible of which is Nordisk Styrka (Nordic Strength) in Sweden. The group describes itself as a fighting organization with strict standards of physical and military discipline demanded of its membership.

The organization is associated with a litany of criminal charges, with group members convicted of over 100 violent crimes and weapons offenses. Police seized illegal submachine guns and automatic rifles from an NRM hard-liner in Norway in 2014, and another member was arrested in 2019 after hijacking an ambulance, trying to ram a police car and driving into a crowd. Police discovered a shotgun, as well as an Uzi submachine gun, in the stolen ambulance upon inspection.
Based on early reports from northern European countries, including Belgium and Denmark, which continue to maintain some semblance of COVID-19 monitoring and reporting, the next wave of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths has begun across the European Union.

We are clearly at the start of a winter [COVID-19] wave! said Karl Lauterbach, Germanys federal minister of health, during a press briefing yesterday. In the last 24 hours, Germany has reported over 96,000 new COVID-19 cases, up from 58,000 on September 29 and a more than three-fold jump in cases from three weeks ago. New COVID-19 infections are also up two-fold in France, Denmark and Belgium over a similar period.

Meanwhile, hospital admissions for COVID-19 have suddenly accelerated in the UK, up 48 percent from the preceding week. Mary Ramsay, director of public health programs at the UK Health Security Agency, told Politico, It is clear now that we are seeing an increase which could signal the start of the anticipated winter wave of COVID-19. Cases have started to climb, and hospitalizations are increasing in the oldest age groups.

These concerns are compounded by the threat posed by the H3N2 flu strain expected to spread throughout the Northern Hemisphere this winter. These parallel surges of infectious disease will be exacerbated by the economic crisis that has seen fuel and food prices skyrocket, driving people indoors in an attempt to stave off the bitterly cold temperatures.

Susan Hopkins, the chief medical advisor at the UK Health Security Agency, noted that the H3N2 flu strain can cause particularly severe illness Flu and COVID-19 are unpredictable, but there are strong indications we could be facing the threat of widely circulating flu, lower levels of natural immunity due to less exposure over the last three winters and an increase in COVID-19 circulating with lots of variants that can evade the immune response.

Across the globe, new COVID-19 infections have turned upwards once again after the Omicron BA.5 surge steadily declined since the end of July. The official global seven-day average of daily new infections now stands at 446,625, up slightly from a low point reached on Wednesday. Due to a severe lack of testing globally, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) estimates that the real number of daily new cases globally now stands at roughly 17,236,000, and that by New Years Day this will increase nearly three-fold to 45 million daily new cases globally. Their projections forecast that the real number of daily new deaths from COVID-19 will reach 5,000 by then.

Given the recent declarations by US President Joe Biden that the pandemic is over, a purely political slogan that attempts to chloroform the population and reassure the financial oligarchy that no future interventions will disrupt the economy again, it bears giving an accounting of the devastation wrought by ruling elites murderous policies.

In the last nine months of 2020, there were officially 83 million COVID-19 infections and 1.9 million deaths globally (or 210,000 per month). In 2021, amid the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, 206 million more people were officially infected and another 3.6 million officially died (at a rate of 300,000 per month). In 2022, the third year of the pandemic, there have been 411 million more reported COVID-19 infections and another 1.1 million deaths, a rate of 120,000 deaths per month.

Meanwhile, as the Biden administration and other world governments half-heartedly attempt to distribute bivalent vaccines that offer some additional protection against the Omicron BA.5 subvariant, even more infectious and immune-evading variants are emerging, with BQ.1, BA.2.75.2 and BA.2.3.20 among the most concerning to experts. It is clear that in 2023, COVID-19 will remain a formidable public health challenge to which capitalism not only has no response, but to which the ruling elites willfully sacrifice masses of workers throughout the world.

Viral evolution expert Dr. Cornelius Roemer of the University of Basel, Switzerland recently told the journal Science, We can say with certainty that something is coming. Probably multiple things are coming. Molecular epidemiologist Dr. Emma Hodcroft of the University of Bern added, Its not surprising that were seeing changes that yet again help the virus to evade immune responses.

Pandemic expert Dr. Michael Osterholm recently made similar remarks, stating, This is not the same virus we dealt with back in January of 2020. Its evolved every time we put pressure on it. We get more immunity in people, and it finds a way to get around immunity. Then it gets more infectious.

While official deaths from COVID-19 stand at 6.54 million globally, the central estimate for excess deaths by the Economist has reached 22.4 million, or 3.4 times the official tally.

Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, a nephrologist and researcher at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, recently stated at a webinar on Long COVID hosted by the World Health Network that the disparity between official and excess deaths will only grow, because Long COVID is killing more people as a result of complications from their infections, and these deaths are not reported as COVID-19 deaths. The difficulty of tracking such deaths and making relevant associations to COVID-19 infections means that accurate figures will only emerge in the next few years as researchers pore over the data.

According to a recent report by the World Health Organization (WHO) Europe, an estimated 17 million people across the European Union may already be suffering from Long COVID. Across the globe, that figure reaches nearly 145 million. The report also notes that Long COVID cases grew by more than 300 percent between 2020 and 2021, underscoring the criminality of the policies of the US and European governments, which claimed that the COVID-19 vaccines were sufficient to allow the return to normalcy. The risk appears to increase considerably among those with severe disease requiring hospitalization, although even mild infections can lead to Long COVID and other long-term damage to ones body.

The WHO regional director for Europe, Dr. Hans Kluge, said, While there is much we still need to learn about Long COVID, especially how it presents in vaccinated versus unvaccinated populations and how it impacts reinfections, this data highlights the urgent need for more analysis, more investments, more support, and more solidarity with those who experience this condition. Kluge added that employers should make special accommodations to those facing such limitations, while knowing that such considerations will fall on deaf ears.

Lack of funding for these chronic and debilitating illnesses will further undermine and erode the entire health care edifice. Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, the nature of post-acute viral syndromes and their social impact on the population were known in the scientific community. Despite hundreds of warnings by scientists in the decades preceding the COVID-19 pandemic, nothing was done to prepare, and even today capitalist society stands totally unprepared for the next horrific pandemic that will inevitably emerge.

Dr. Kristian Andersen, a virologist at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, recently told the New York Times, Im very familiar with outbreak response and pandemic preparedness, and none of it looks like this. Were worse prepared now than we were early in the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the WHO noted in July 2022 that zoonotic outbreaks like monkeypox in Nigeria and Ebola in Uganda had increased 63 percent in the last decade compared to the preceding decade.

Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health, told the New York Times about the United States complete lack of preparedness for future pandemics, stating, In peoples minds, perhaps, is the idea that this COVID thing was such a freak of nature, was a once-in-a-century crisis, and were good for the next 99 years. But in reality, she said, This is the new normal.

It is well known that public health has been chronically underfunded, especially in the United States. The paradox is that the COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated the implosion of the public health infrastructure. Like their counterparts in schools and health care settings, epidemiologists and public health experts are leaving their profession due to chronic fatigue and mental hardships they have faced over the intervening months and years.

The pandemic has triggered an unprecedented social crisis as well as the outbreak of war in Ukraine, which could at any moment escalate into a nuclear conflagration that could destroy human civilization. Infectious diseases and climate change leave a widening trail of disaster in their wake, as conditions of life grow ever more intolerable. Poverty and disease are taking their toll on the life and well-being of the global population, amounting to what is aptly described by the European Health Forum Gastein as a permacrisis, or a crisis in permanence.

Capitalism has proven incompatible with the basic social needs and health of the great mass of the population, and must be replaced with a planned, world socialist society.
A new resolution on Sri Lanka has been presented to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) 51st session that began in mid-September. Voting on the resolution, titled Promoting reconciliation, accountability, and human rights in Sri Lanka, is scheduled for October 6.

The resolution, which was sponsored by the US, UK, Canada and Germany, as well as Malawi, Montenegro and North Macedonia, is based on a UNHRC resolution passed in March 2021, with some additional points. These include an investigation into the impact of corruption on Sri Lankas economic crisis and the repression of the protest movement.

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabri addresses UN General Assembly, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022. [AP Photo//Jason DeCrow]

The resolution has nothing do with investigating war crimes or defending human rights in Sri Lanka. It cynically opposes the anti-democratic measures of Colombo governments, but only in order to increase pressure on the cash-strapped Colombo government and block its relations with Beijing. The US wants Sri Lanka to fully back its escalating geo-strategic confrontation with China.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe is a longtime stooge of US imperialism. However, Washington is concerned that he was elevated into this position by former president Gotabhaya Rajapakse and his Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna MPs who have maintained ties with China.

New Delhi, a key strategic ally of Washington, provided considerable financial assistance to Sri Lanka when the economy plunged into crisis this year in a bid to strengthen relations with Colombo and marginalise Chinese influence. Several senior Biden administration officials, including USAID chief Samantha Power, have also visited Sri Lanka, following Wickremesinghes appointment as president for the same reason.

Last years 16-point UNHRC resolution called for the devolution of power, protection of human rights and human rights defenders, a review of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, accountability and respect for religious freedoms. It also expressed concerns about the militarisation of the civilian administration.

US interventions at the UNHRC on Sri Lanka go back to its support for a June 2009 resolution, following Colombos bloody defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The term accountability in the resolution refers to crimes committed by the Sri Lankan military during the final months of the communalist war. These included the killing of at least 40,000 Tamil civilians and the cold-blooded murder of surrendering LTTE leaders.

The US and other major powers backed Colombos war and are responsible for supporting these crimes. The Obama administration, however, opposed then President Mahinda Rajapakses turn to China, which became a major arms provider and supplier of financial assistance. Washingtons concerns were bound up with its pivot to Asiathe diplomatic isolation and military encirclement of China in preparation for war.

After failing to pressure Colombo to distance itself from China, Washington orchestrated a regime-change operation in 2015 to oust Mahinda Rajapakse as president, replacing him with Maithripala Sirisena. Wickremesinghe, who was later installed as his prime minister, and former president Chandrika Kumaratunga supported the back-room operation.

The incoming Sirisena and Wickremesinghe administration shifted Sri Lankan foreign policy sharply in favour of the US, which then diluted its human rights campaign against Colombo. Washington, however, resumed its diplomatic pressure after President Gotabhaya Rajapakse came to power in 2019 and his brother Mahinda won the general election in August 2020 to become prime minister.

In line with the latest UNHRC resolution, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair Bob Menendez and Senators Dick Durbin, Patrick Leahy, and Cory Booker have moved a resolution in the Senate. It calls for a comprehensive international approach to address Sri Lankas current political and economic crisis, including challenges related to poor governance and economic policy under the Rajapakse familys rule. The Foreign Relations Committee resolution claims that the Sri Lankan economic crisis was exacerbated by predatory loans from China as part of its debt trap diplomacy.

The latest UNHRC resolution notes that the severe economic crisis in Sri Lanka has aggravated food insecurity, caused severe shortages of medicines and fuel, and reduced household income. Corruption can have a serious negative impact on the enjoyment of human rights, it states, and calls for the investigation and prosecution of corruption by public and former public officials.

The corruption allegations, which are mainly directed at the Rajapakse family and its cronies, are aimed at preventing them from returning to power.

By contrast, the resolution recognises Wickremesinghes efforts to address the ongoing economic crisis and welcomes Colombos recently concluded bail-out loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Notwithstanding their cynical concerns about the suffering Sri Lankan masses, the major powers sponsoring the UNHRC resolution know that the IMF austerity measures will involve even more savage economic attacks on workers and the poor.

While corruption by successive governments, including those led by the Rajapakse family, is well-known, Sri Lankas economic collapse is part of the global crisis of capitalism, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the US-NATO war against Russia.

The UNHRC resolution also voices its concern over the repression of the protest movement and the mass arrest of demonstrators. Since April, the government has arrested around 4,000 people and detained over 1,500 in prisons, alleging they damaged state property and the homes of ruling party MPs.

[P]articipation in peaceful protests can be an important form of exercising the rights to freedoms of peaceful assembly, of expression, and of association and to participation in the conduct of public affairs, the resolution states.

The concerns of the US and other imperialist powers are not about democratic rights but Wickremesinghes ability to contain widespread opposition among working people to the countrys immense social crisis. Facing rising social tensions in their own countries, ruling elites everywhere are acutely nervous about the mass protests and strikes in Sri Lanka that forced President Rajapakse to flee the country and his government to collapse in July.

The resolution notes the lack of progress in addressing the longstanding grievances and demands of Tamil and Muslim populations, and voices concern about the ongoing surveillance, intimidation and harassment of journalists, human rights defenders, families of the disappeared. It proposes to re-energise the Office on Missing Persons and the Office for Reparations, toothless bodies established by the pro-US Sirisena regime, which did nothing and were used to hoodwink the families of war victims.

Addressing the UNHRC, Sri Lanka Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Sabry opposed the resolution, saying that the government policy was for a domestic mechanism to address any human rights violations. Successive Colombo governments have rejected all war crimes allegations and strenuously defended the military and political leaders responsible.

Seeking to advance its own influence in Colombo, Beijing opposed the UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka. Chen Xu, its representative to the UN body said, China opposes any country taking advantage of the current difficult situation in Sri Lanka to seek self-interest and urged the UN to respect the human rights development path that Sri Lanka has independently chosen.

The opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party is backing the resolution, calling for an investigation into corruption in Sri Lanka and blaming Rajapakse governments. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has said nothing about the resolution but is developing close relations with US diplomats and other major powers as part of its back-room efforts to come to power.

The SJB and the pseudo-left Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) sent representatives to the UNHRC, claiming it could be used to defend democratic rights in Sri Lanka. In fact, the SJB, JVP and FSP all maintain a guilty silence about the anti-China geo-strategic agenda behind the US and other imperialist concerns about human rights in Sri Lanka.

As the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) has always insisted, the struggle for a genuine investigation into war crimes and the defence of democratic rights in Sri Lanka can only be advanced as part of the independent mobilisation of the working class against capitalist rule. Sri Lankan workers must turn to international working class as its ally in this struggle.

The new US-sponsored resolution points to the advanced stage of global war tensions. The US and NATO war against Russia in Ukraine and the escalating military provocations against China pose the danger of nuclear war. US imperialism and its international allies want nothing less than a totally obedient pro-Washington regime in Sri Lanka. World War III can only be prevented by building an anti-war movement of the international working class and in the struggle for international socialism.

This analysis, and the struggle for a global antiwar movement of the working class, will be discussed in detail at the forthcoming October 16 meeting called by the SEP and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality. We urge workers, students and youth to register here and attend this crucial event.
HARTFORD  A six-person crew from Wiregrass Electric Cooperative departed headquarters at sundown Thursday and headed to Central Florida to assist in repairing power outages caused by Hurricane Ian.

WECs team is joining other workers from electric co-ops based in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas to help Peace River Electric Cooperative in its power restoration efforts. PRECO serves more than 50,000 homes and businesses in Brevard, DeSoto, Hardee, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Manatee, Osceola, Polk and Sarasota counties.

We are proud of our guys for their willingness to lend a hand to fellow cooperatives in times like these, WEC Chief Operating Officer Brad Kimbro said. It can take a lot of time to restore power safely as crews face wreckage and flooding conditions left by a storm. Extra help can turn the lights back on faster and give other crews some much-needed relief. We welcome any opportunity to help our neighbor. Its the Wiregrass way and the right thing to do.

Hurricane Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida as a Category 4 storm and knocked out power in 90% of PRECOs service area. Heavy rains caused historic flooding that washed away roads and submerged bridges, making much of the area inaccessible by late Thursday.

By Saturday, more than 500 lineworkers and contractors will unite to repair damage caused by this historic storm.

This massive effort is necessary to restore power in as short a time as possible, PRECO CEO Randy Shaw said. These crews will continue working until service is restored to all who can accept power.
Vietnam saw its national brand value increase by 11% this year to $431 billion thanks to its foreign direct investment policies.

Its increase of $184 billion year-on-year was the third highest of any country, U.K. consultancy Brand Finance said in a recent release.

The country went up one place to 32nd, just behind Thailand and the Philippines.

"The country has gained momentum as an attractive destination for foreign investment thanks to successful fiscal and monetary policies and investments in human capital, but also amid trade disruptions from Chinas lockdowns and continued tensions between Beijing and Washington," the release said.

Among the 50 most valuable corporate brands in Vietnam, telecommunications giant Viettel led at $8.8 billion, up 44% from 2021.

It was followed by another state-owned telecom firm, VNPT, at $2.9 billion.

Other places in the top five were claimed by dairy giant Vinamilk, property developer Vinhomes and brewer Sabeco.

The top sectors in terms of brand value in Vietnam are telecom, banking and food.

Globally, the U.S. claimed top spot in the national brand list at $26.5 trillion, followed by China, Germany, Japan, and the U.K.
September 30, 2022 | 10:32 pm PT

Cars get stuck in a traffic jam along with motorbikes on Hoang Van Thu Street of HCMC's Tan Binh District, August 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

Lack of planning for road and parking space makes cars an unfit choice in Vietnamese cities, readers commented.

"One of Vietnam's greatest charms is that the towns and cities were not built for cars. Vietnam's cities have an intimate character that is rare in the world. This will inevitably end, but it's idiotic to rush the end by banning motorbikes and making no space for pedestrians or public transit."

tayruong

"I wonder how can it be that Vietnam citizens can buy cars as many as they want without a prospect or calculated prediction of usable car parking space by the authorities?? Where is your middle management to calculate this?"

Stephan Belovski

"These will get worse, especially with the government encouraging cars sales for income on taxes and have little or no plan on road and parking space. Let see next 5 years from now?"

Bambeelow

"What about buying a smaller car, if any? SUVs should be banned from the cities!"

Ot Ze

"What about just riding a [motorbike]??? Cars take up ALL the road.... The whole country will be gridlocked soon thanks to.... CARS."

tkitrader
ELKO  A rescue scenario of gigantic proportions concluded the two-day Elko Mine Safety Olympiad that saw 10 mine rescue teams participate in the 35th annual event.

Set up at N.A. Degerstrom, two teams worked under a 40-minute time limit to stabilize injured haul truck drivers in a mock collision.

The scenario was designed by this years hosts, Nevada Gold Mine Carlin Complexs Andre Lantze and Lance Steilman.

Lantze, the Health, Safety and Training manager, said the situation was designed to have them attend to injured drivers and work on their communication skills with management.

Just to throw them off, were also looking at the upward communication, how they communicate outside management, Lantze explained. Its a bigger judging area to make it as close to real life as we can.

The Olympiad is not just a competition but an opportunity for training and gathering tips and tricks of the trade, said Steilman, the Underground Health and Safety Manager at Carlin.

They steal ideas and learn from each other, he said. Theres always takeaways because sometimes a team is doing a bit better or is a bit more efficient.

The Safety Olympiad started on Sept. 28 at the Elko Convention Center with teams from Nevada, Idaho and Utah competing in six skill events: rope rescue, confined space, hazmat, fire, medical and triage.

An alternate team composed of rookies participated, giving them the opportunity to compete and receive valuable experience, Lantze added.

He explained the goal is to give them as much real-life experience as possible. Volunteers serve as crash victims, painted with moulage to represent blood and wounds to the head and body.

The Olympiads goal is to provide rescue teams with an optimal experience and prepare them for a call to a crash or incident at work or elsewhere.

We dont want incidents or accidents, but if something like this happens I dont want a person who has never been trained working on my spouse or child, Lantze said. You want them prepared as much as you can to do their best.

Donald Hamilton, Health and Safety Manager at N.A. Degerstrom, said his company welcomed the opportunity to volunteer their property for the scenario, to put what theyve trained for into real-world practice. The guys that are here are your most experienced and dedicated people.

Hamilton said he has participated in Safety Olympiads for 10 years and seen how teams learned valuable lessons through their experiences of failure and success.

One of the things we learned was that you never forget all the mistakes you make here, he said. These guys take all that information and knowledge back to the teams, and then they spread it out to the rest of us.

All the mistakes I made  and I made a lot  I never made again, Hamilton said.

Joseph Riney, vice president of the Nevada Mining Association, watched the second day of competition at N.A. Degerstrom. He praised the Olympiad as a great opportunity for our mine rescue teams to get out here, test their skills, compete against each other, learn, train and walk away with some valuable experience.

Rescue teams take their training to every part of their life. Nine times out of ten, the first responder is a miner traveling to and from work, Riney said.

Its paramount that we have these folks ready to act whenever its needed, he continued. So the more they can practice those skills, test those skills, the quicker theyre going to respond, the more efficient theyre going to be.

The competition ended with first place going to KGMH Robinson, second place to Thunder Basin Coal Company of Wyoming, third place to Nevada Gold Mines Phoenix, fourth place to Kinross Bald Mountain, and fifth place to Nevada Gold Mines Turquoise Ridge.
International tourists visit the Temple of Literature (Photo: VNA)

The Travels article notes that if visitors are up for a true adventure, then Vietnam is the destination for them, said Radio the Voice of Vietnam.

Due to its long stretch of land across the South China Sea, Vietnam offers up fun bustling cities, pristine green landscapes, and even surfer-vibe beach towns, says the magazine.

It suggests that tourists enjoy a stroll down the lantern-lined streets of UNESCO World Heritage Site Hoi An, with guests able to purchase custom-made outfits for just under US$30.

The Travel also recommends that visitors go and explore Ha Long Bay, one of the world's natural wonders. Indeed, for just a little bit of money, travelers can sleep overnight on a boat on the bay itself for US$125, including round-trip transportation both to and from Hanoi, with all meals included.

Foreign tourists visit Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi (Photo: VNA)

If you spend time directly in Hanoi, you'll be rewarded with meals such as fresh Banh mi, bun cha, and pho for breakfast (a lesson that should be taken by the rest of the world), all for less than US$2 a pop, The Travel revealed.

It added that visitors should not miss out on the chance to sample the famous Vietnamese egg coffee or treat themselves to a spa or a salon in Hanoi which offers gel manicures for only US$4.

For those who are keen to join the chaotic lifestyle of local people, then The Travel suggests that they rent a motorbike for US$4 per day or take a 12-hour sleeper bus down the coast from Hanoi to Da Nang for between US$15 and US$17 a ticket.

Rounding off the top five are Malaysia, India, the Philippines, and Bulgaria.

Seafood exports surge 33% in eight months

Vietnamese seafood exports during the opening eight months of the year surged by 33% to US$2.8 billion against the same period from last year, according to details given by the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Most notably, August alone witnessed the countrys total export of seafood products skyrocket by 80% to reach US$405 million on-year.

According to Radio the Voice of Vietnam, this robust growth can largely be attributed to the fact that export processing enterprises had been forced to reduce their capacity or had to suspend operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

Aquatic exports make up 37% of the country's total seafood export value (Photo: vasep.com.vn)

At present, aquatic exports make up 37% of the country's total seafood export value. In line with this, Vietnamese seafood exports include other marine fish, tuna, squid, octopus, crabs, crabs and other crustaceans at 5%, bivalve molluscs at 4%, and the other molluscs.

Most notably, tuna exports during the eight-month period recorded the strongest growth rate of 55% to reach US$730 million.

Exports of crabs, other crustaceans, as well as squid and octopus increased by 37% and 36%, respectively, while exports of bivalve molluscs and other marine fish rose by 135% and 23%, respectively. Only mollusk exports decreased by 20%, which only accounts for a small proportion of the overall figure.

Tuna exports during the eight-month period reached US$730 million (Photo: VNA)

Processing activities of seafood products for exports are primarily concentrated in provinces such as Ho Chi Minh City, Khanh Hoa, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Long An, and Kien Giang.

Experts assessed that firms are expected to face a shortage of raw materials during the remainder of the year due to the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict causing high costs of exploitation.

Vietnam among five most popular destinations for New Zealanders

A survey conducted by adventure tour operator Intrepid Travel has highlighted that Vietnam represents one of the five leading destinations for tourists from New Zealand who are keen to travel over the next year.

According to details within the survey, roughly 85% of New Zealanders are planning to travel within the next year, despite enduring soaring living costs at home.

Of the figure, 29% of New Zealanders plan to travel overseas over the next year, while 56% intend to travel domestically, reported by Radio the Voice of Vietnam.

Hoi An ancient town - one of the most famous destinations of Vietnam (Photo: baoquangnam.vn)

Alongside Vietnam, other most popular destinations include New Zealand itself, Australia, Turkey, and Morocco.

The New Zealand Herald quoted Sarah Clarke, managing director of Intrepid Travel, as sayings that the company is also seeing New Zealanders start to plan for a future involving international travel.

We're starting to see some of those key destinations come back again, like Vietnam, which is a really popular one for intrepid travel with Kiwis," she added.

Since March, the Vietnamese Government has allowed quarantine-free entry for foreign visitors from 80 countries and territories, including New Zealand./.
Five people were injured, including a three-month-old child, in the morning shelling of Mykolaiv by Russians, now the condition of all the wounded is stable, the regional military administration has reported.

"At about 04:03, the city was again massively fired with S-300 missiles. There are numerous destructions of residential buildings. Thus, one of the missiles hit a five-story residential building in the city center. The apartments on the fifth and fourth floors were completely destroyed, the rest were substantially damaged," the administration said on Facebook.

Cars parked in the yard were also damaged, and the windows of neighboring houses were blown out. In another area of the city, private and two-story residential buildings received numerous damages. In addition, as a result of the shelling, a warehouse and buildings on the territory of a motor transport company were damaged.

"According to preliminary data, five people were injured, including a three-month-old child, in the shelling. The child, along with his mother, is receiving medical assistance. Now the condition of all the wounded is stable," the administration said.

In addition, after midnight, the enemy attacked the city with Shahed-136 kamikaze drones. Detailed information is being specified.
PROVIDENCE  The McKee administration included money for state-paid insurance coverage for state workers and Medicaid recipients seeking abortions in the first round of state agency budget requests due Friday.

Legislation to remove legal barriers to state-funded coverage for abortions did not make it through the last two sessions of the General Assembly.

But "reproductive freedom for all" became a defining issue for Gov. Dan McKee  and his challengers  in the September Democratic primary, and advocates have vowed to renew the push when the lawmakers reconvene in January.

On the campaign trail: Ads roll out as abortion politics take center stage in RI races for governor, Congress

On Friday, McKee spokesman Matt Sheaff said the filings by the Department of Administration and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services "provide insurance coverage for abortion-related services for state employees and individuals enrolled in Medicaid."

More specifically, the Department of Administration requested $71,358 for coverage for state employee coverage, and EOHHS $375,462 for people insured under Medicaid.

"While the governor and his team will be reviewing the agency submissions to develop the final proposal for January, the budget submittal to the General Assembly will include these important health services to groups who cannot access them now," Sheaff said.

Gov. Dan McKee

Chiming in, McKee campaign spokeswoman Alana O'Hare said: "Governor McKee has not only protected a womans right to choose, he has promised to strengthen those protections ...

"Governor McKee has once again delivered on that promise, she said.

It is not clear whether lawmakers who resisted passing the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act will do so when Rhode Island's part-time legislature, on break since June, meets in 2023.

'State-funded abortions' remain controversial

The potential for "state-funded abortions" remains highly controversial in some corners of Rhode Island.

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Despite the 2019 passage of bills enshrining the principles of the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling in state law, "the fact remains that the right is still pushed out of reach for many people," the advocacy group leading the 2022 drive said in January.

In 2021, hundreds of protesters march near the State House as part of a nationwide rally in support of abortion rights.

"If you have money, you get a right to abortion. If you dont and you cant pay for it out of pocket, then your right isnt real,'' the group known as The Womxn Project said.

The opponents of efforts to protect, preserve and expand abortion rights in Rhode Island have been equally passionate.

Last year's hearing brought a deluge of comments, including those from the Rhode Island Catholic Conference, in the most Catholic state in the nation, against the "use [of] taxpayer dollars for the objectionable practice of abortion, which ends the life of an unborn human being."

On Thursday in a new TV ad  and on Friday in a press release  the McKee campaign sought to draw a sharp line between the governor and his Republican challenger, Ashley Kalus.

"Unlike his opponent  who would veto a budget that includes the EACA  Governor McKee stands with Rhode Island women AND fights for them," O'Hare said.

When asked if Kalus would, in fact, veto a state budget that contained state funds for abortion coverage, her spokesman Matt Hanrahan said: "A budget with that in there would never get to her desk. If they had the votes to get it to the governor's desk, they would have done it last session."

Ashley Kalus

He said Kalus is under the impression that 77% of Rhode Islanders do not support taxpayer-funded abortions. He was not able to cite the source of that statistic.

A poll conducted for Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its Southern New England affiliate from Aug. 5-11 found 72% of 603 registered Rhode Island voters believe that Rhode Islanders with health insurance through Medicaid or the state "should receive the same coverage for abortion services as those insured by private health insurers."

Two-thirds supported the repeal of the state's restrictions on abortion coverage for state employees and Medicaid recipients.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Abortion-related services funds included in RI agency budget requests
The making of Public Enemys fourth album, Apocalypse 91: The Enemy Strikes Black, had hit its stride. Recorded primarily at The Music Palace studios in Long Island, the album found Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Terminator X, the S1Ws, Gary G-Wiz Rinaldo, and the Imperial Grand Ministers of Funk lighting the studio on fire with blazing socio-political commentary and heart-thumping production.

Then disaster struck.

Parked outside of a Soho studio, longtime Public Enemy producer Hank Shocklee was the victim of a robbery. The thieves made off with the bones of every track theyd been working on, bringing an abrupt halt to any progress theyd made.

We never really recovered after that, Hank Shocklee once said. We was on a roll  I was on a roll. To lose that material set me back so hard.

Public Enemy was in the midst of a legendary run: Yo! Bum Rush The Show in 1987, It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back in 1988, and Fear of A Black Planet in 1990. The group was a revolutionary force unafraid to bring injustice to light in the brashest ways possible.

Apocalypse 91 was different. Initially intended to be an EP, Apocalypse 91 morphed into a fully fleshed-out album by the summer of 1991. Anchored by the unexpected hybrid of Anthrax and Public Enemys Bring The Noise collaboration, the 16-track project marked a change in direction for the group. Following the robbery, what they emerged with was a more minimal album, production-wise, than previous efforts. The Bomb Squad had been relegated to the role of executive producers rather than its principal architects, while G-Wiz  who was just finding his footing as a producer at the time  Stuart Robertz and Cerwin "C-Dawg" Deppe took the helm.

Listen to Public Enemys Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black.

Yet some of Public Enemys most engaging and commercially successful material emerged from Apocalypse 91, including Cant Truss It, which peaked at No. 9 on the Hot Soul Singles chart and No. 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Coupled with its polarizing and shocking video, the song painted a graphic depiction of slavery and the ongoing plight of Black people.

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By The Time I Get To Arizona further ruffled feathers, with its condemnation of former Arizona governor Evan Mecham, who refused to recognize Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a national holiday. The video for By The Time I Get To Arizona aired only once on MTV upon its release before it was banned for its controversial themes that included Mechams fictional assassination.

Once was enough for Chuck. We knew it was probably going to be banned and it was, he says. All it had to do is be shown once. We said, You know what? If this video just gets seen one time, that's all it needs. And I was on tour at that time, so when I did interviews, we were making a statement that we thought the United States was being derogatory by not acknowledging the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, so we decided to get cinematic.

What many dont know is Arizona was initially meant to go over the Shut Em Down beat. When we found something that was more apropos for Arizona, [then] the Shut Em Down beat was wide open for me to write the song. I think I was doing the Nightrain video, and I kept hearing this guy talking about how [Kool DJ] Red Alert was killing it on the radio, and I was like, Yo, Red Alert is shutting them down, man.

So what I happened to write on, we called it the bald beat or the bald experience cause it was just nothing but a stripped down beat, which was a total flip to what we had known. The whole thing about Public Enemy is we wanted to make every album different from another, so you couldn't tell what the next album would be, because we would totally flip the script.

Public Enemy fans will never know what Apocalypse 91: The Enemy Strikes Black wouldve sounded like had Shocklee not been robbed. Chuck says theres still a debate whether the car was left open or broken into that day on Green Street. But like Chuck says, If you fall on your face, you gotta get up off that fucking ground and keep moving.

Despite Shocklees misgivings about the album, it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in November 1991. Its 52-minutes of innovative production and potent commentary on the socio-political climate, systemic racism, and American media are topics that are, unfortunately, still relevant today.

Listen to Public Enemys Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black.

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.
Arctic Monkeys are back and have finally announced a UK and Ireland tour.

While the band have played several dates and festivals across Europe this summer, they have only graced a UK stage once. Headlining Reading and Leeds festival this year, the band brought their four-year hiatus away from a UK stage to a close with a set that saw, as The Independent described it, front man Alex Turner transformed into a blue-eyed fifties crooner, hunting an ex around local pubs.

Thankfully the festival was not a one-off return to the UK. On Friday (23 September), the band released new tour dates, which will see them visit a host of venues across the UK and Ireland.

Cities set to be visited include London, Glasgow, Dublin and the bands hometown of Sheffields Hillsborough Park, with the shows taking place throughout May and June next year.

Support throughout the tour will come from fellow rock and roll bands The Hives and Liverpool newcomers The Mysterines.

The Sheffield rock band recently announced that their new album The Car will be released on 21 October and will feature 10 new songs written by Turner and made with the bands regular producer James Ford.

According to a press release, The Car finds Arctic Monkeys running wild in a new and sumptuous musical landscape and contains some of the richest and most rewarding vocal performances of Alex Turners career.

The bands new single Thered Better Be A Mirrorball was released in August, marking the first time theyd put out music in four years.

How to get Arctic Monkeys tickets for 2023

General sale tickets will go on sale on Friday 30 September at 9am from SeeTickets.

Note that sales are limited to four tickets per person so, if youre the friend who plans everything for the group, make sure youve got someone else on hand to grab any extra tickets you need.

For the Dublin show at Marlay Park on 20 June 2023, tickets are available via Ticketmaster. But like the other shows, tickets go on sale on Friday 30 October at 9am.

Where to see Arctic Monkeys in 2023
Christopher Nkunku could join Chelsea next summer (Nick Potts/PA) (PA Archive)

Chelsea are at the head of the queue to sign Christopher Nkunku next summer, the PA news agency understands.

The RB Leipzig striker is thought to have undergone medical tests for Chelsea this year, but with an eye on a potential transfer in 2023.

The France forward is thought to have a 52million release clause at Leipzig, and Chelseas new owners have already made inroads towards securing a transfer.

The prolific striker netted 35 goals last term and has already hit the ground running this season with six in 11 games.

Christopher Nkunku's hat-trick at Manchester City 



 Matchday 1 memories from last season@RBLeipzig_EN | #UCL pic.twitter.com/LBPUuqBfAH  UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) September 2, 2022

Co-controlling Chelsea owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali are continuing a rapid-pace overhaul of the Stamford Bridge club, both on and off the field.

And the new Blues chiefs aggressive recruitment will not remain confined to the summers hectic window.

Chelsea are continuing to push hard to add to their off-field set-up, with the London club seeking both a sporting director and a technical director.

New manager Graham Potter has brought in his personal recruitment specialist Kyle Macaulay, who will work closely with Chelseas eventual new directors.

Macaulay will bridge the gap between Chelseas on-field ranks and the boardroom set-up, though former Brighton boss Potters communication and emotional intelligence were part of the appeal when the Blues installed him to replace Thomas Tuchel.
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen said Friday he's introducing legislation that would lower the Tennessee Valley Authority's "fence" and eliminate its monopoly power in the Southeast.

The bill, which would amend the Federal Power Act and the TVA Act, would remove TVA's exemption from outside competition and its inability to compete for customers outside its footprint.

TVAs outdated service model is from the 1950s and badly needs reform. Ratepayers deserve the benefits  lower costs and cleaner energy  that a competitive electricity market will provide. TVAs ratepayers deserve to have access to alternative power supplies on a competitive and non-discriminatory basis. This measure will give greater access to clean energy and affordable energy bills in the TVA region," Cohen said in a statement.

Cohen, D-Tennessee, has long been a TVA critic. He's criticized the federal power provider's handling of public records regarding employee salaries; renewable energy plans; its disposal of coal ash from the retired Allen Fossil Plant and said his hometown of Memphis should leave TVA and find power elsewhere.

Cohen also has strong ties to a businessman who has sought to sell power to TVA customers for years.

The legislative timeline for the bill is not quite clear. It could move in this session of Congress and will be referred to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee  on which Cohen sits  and the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Cohen's bill comes as Memphis, Light, Gas and Water, the city-of-Memphis-owned utility, is working towards signing a perpetual, long-term agreement with TVA after years of looking at leaving and supplying its own power through new local power plants and power purchased elsewhere.

MLGW signing such a long-term deal would mean TVA has locked up most of its power customers for decades. That's sparked the ire of environmental groups and renewable energy advocates, who have argued that such deals are bad for the environment and limit how ratepayers can hold the federal agency accountable for climate goals.

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TVA issued a statement that said, in part, "We appreciate Congressman Cohens continued interest in TVA and the Tennessee Valley Public Power model . . . For nearly 90 years, TVAs Congressionally mandated mission has been to serve the public good and improve the lives of the 10 million people we and our public power partners serve every day. The facts show we are fulfilling that mission today and are committed to evolving with the needs of the region to continue to serve future generations."

FERC has called for Congress to lower TVA fence

The TVA fence essentially gives it a monopoly in the Southeast  almost all of Tennessee and parts of six other states. It controls the transmission lines that connect to outside energy grids.

Any local power company that wants to end its contract with TVA must build its own transmission lines, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruled last year. That ruling came after a handful of local power companies had asked FERC to force TVA to wheel power through to local power companies that have left through its transmission lines.

The requirement raises the barrier to leaving TVA because it adds the cost of building transmission lines and the time that it takes to secure rights-of-way.

When FERC ruled last October, Chairman Richard Glick called the fence an "anachronism" and noted that it prohibited competition within TVA's borders. He said that it would take an act of Congress to amend the TVA Act and said, "...The time has come for Congress to bring down the TVA fence."

Cohen's bill would do just that.

TVA suitor one of Cohen's close friends and frequent donors

Cohen's call for increased competition within the TVA footprint follows his involvement in Franklin Haney's effort to lead the MLGW out of TVA.

When Haney and his representatives first started pitching MLGW executives on purchasing power from the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in Hollywood, Alabama, Cohen's private email address appeared CC'ed on some of those email pitches, according to records obtained by The Commercial Appeal and the Memphis Business Journal.

Part of that original pitch involved Memphis seeking a FERC ruling that would allow it to have power wheeled across TVA's transmission lines from the plant in Alabama.

He also helped arrange meetings between Haney's company and Memphis leaders such as Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland. He and Haney have separately described one another as close friends.

When asked about his involvement in the MLGW power supply process and his relationship with Haney last year, Cohen said, "When anyones business interests intersect with my constituents interests, that intersection must be beneficial to my constituents for me to act. My concern is for my constituents who bear one of the greatest energy burdens of any city in the country."

Samuel Hardiman covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by email at samuel.hardiman@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter at @samhardiman.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Steve Cohen files bill to end TVA monopoly power in Memphis, Southeast
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A Davidson County man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for possession of child pornography after a tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children led to his arrest.

Kevin Richard Heidel, 38, of Lexington was sentenced on Thursday to 240 months in prison followed by a twenty-year term of supervised release, for possession of child pornography, according to the U.S. Department of Justice Middle District Court in Greensboro.

Want to know more about what is happening in Davidson County? Support local journalism, subscribe to The Dispatch.

According to court documents, Heidel, who was a registered sex offender, was identified in 2019 by investigators from the Davidson County Sheriffs Office after a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children revealed that an Instagram user in Davidson County was suspected of uploading images of child pornography to the platform.

In December 2019, Davidson County Sheriffs Office officers executed a search warrant at Heidels residence where they located a cell phone that contained child pornography. Further investigation revealed child pornography on another phone belonging to Heidel that was located in the front yard of one of Heidels neighbors, according to court documents.

https://www.the-dispatch.com/story/news/crime/2019/12/06/davidson-county-man-charged-with-sexual-exploitation/2140660007/

The Davidson County Sheriffs Office, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety Probation and Parole and Homeland Security Investigation assisted with the Heidel investigation.

In 2014, Heidel was arrested for taking pornographic photos of two girls under the age of 16. He was charged with two felony counts of indecent liberties with a child.

According to an arrest warrant at the time, Denton police interviewed the juvenile children and obtained information that Heidel made them undress and filmed them nude for sexual gratification. Two laptop computers and an electronic tablet were confiscated at the time of arrest.

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Heidel is the third registered sex offender to be sentenced by the U.S. Justice Department Middle District this month. On Sept. 22, Christopher Lea Kahele, 40, of Moore County, was sentenced to 240 months of prison followed by 25 years of supervised release, for possession of child pornography.

On the same day, a Randolph County man, Luis Armando Diaz-Otero, 33, was sentenced to 150 months of prison followed by 20 years of supervised release after a tip from NCMEC regarding a Google account led to his arrest and conviction for possession of child pornography.

The cases were brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative by the Department of Justice to combat online child sexual exploitation and abuse. The initiative is led by the United States Attorneys Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, and focuses on coordinating federal, state, and local resources to better identify and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

For more information, go to www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

This article originally appeared on The Dispatch: Davidson County man gets 20 years for uploading child porn to social media
Cash Not Care, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation, has revealed how signs of fraud are soaring within a taxpayer-funded program meant to help low-income pregnant mothers connect with prenatal care resources.

After one alderman called the misuse of taxpayer dollars meant to prevent infant mortality "disgraceful," the Milwaukee Common Council scheduled a hearing next week about fraud in Wisconsin's prenatal care coordination industry.

"It's pretty disgraceful, and everybody should be outraged," said Ald. Michael Murphy, who called for the hearing  which is slated for Feb. 18 at the Council's Public Safety and Health Committee.

The prenatal care coordination industry is plagued by allegations of fraud, and at least four Milwaukee area prenatal care coordination companies were referred to law enforcement late last year for criminal investigation.

"It's our mothers and babies who are heavily affected in the city of Milwaukee," said Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic, who chairs the committee and will oversee the hearing.

A Journal Sentinel investigation last month uncovered soaring signs of fraud in the program, which raked in more than $22 million in Medicaid funds last year  about four times more than it collected in 2018. Despite the surge in spending, Wisconsin continues to struggle with one of the nation's worst records for Black infant mortality, a lingering problem that has shown little improvement over the years.

Murphy said he wants the council to conduct a hearing that would include testimony from state regulators and the Milwaukee Health Department.

"I'm somewhat shocked that the state isn't just as outraged as I am about what appears to be misappropriation of public dollars to be used for the benefit of preborn children and children," Murphy said.

The alderman wants health officials to detail possible alternatives to privately run prenatal care coordination and child care coordination companies. Currently, the city does not play a role in oversight of the state-run program, but the Milwaukee Health Department operates a prenatal care coordination agency.

More: Black babies in Milwaukee are dying at a staggering rate. Taxpayers are spending millions on the problem. But signs of fraud are surging.

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Like the nonprofit agencies, for-profit prenatal care coordination companies are funded by Medicaid and are supposed to help low-income pregnant women and new mothers, ensuring they receive proper medical care and emotional support, for example. The program also aims to combat Wisconsin's high Black infant and maternal mortality rates.

Britt Cudaback, spokeswoman for Gov. Tony Evers, said in an email that there are "bad actors taking advantage of a system designed to increase access to prenatal care."

She added that "these actors should be held accountable for hindering efforts to get help and support to these families so we can address inequities across our state."

Cudaback said Evers has pushed for "covering more doula services and expanding postpartum eligibility under Medicaid, as well as efforts to expand Medicaid."

Milwaukee Health Commissioner Kirsten Johnson said she was "open to a policy discussion" about problems in the prenatal care program but noted that the city does not have any regulatory authority over the industry.

Kirsten Johnson is Milwaukee Health Commissioner

"There's certainly a need for more oversight," she said.

Johnson said pregnant women in Milwaukee, especially women of color, need support and proper prenatal care.

"We know that pregnant moms in Milwaukee and pregnant moms of color are at much higher risk of poor birth outcomes," Johnson said. "It's unfortunate to hear and learn, like we did with your article, that people are not receiving those services as intended."

Some state lawmakers said they share concerns about problems in the program.

Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, compared fraud in the prenatal care coordination business to the corruption found in the child care industry by the Journal Sentinel in 2009.

"Now that it's happening again, we need to do our utmost to fix it so that the people who actually need it have those resources," Vos said in emailed statement. "Expanding Medicaid will not address the fraud. Having more oversight and eligibility checks will."

Sen. LaTonya Johnson, D-Milwaukee, also called for aggressive oversight.

"There's no denying it, if it's fraud in the system, that has to be rooted out, first and foremost," Johnson said in an interview. "Because too many kids are dying."

WI State Senator LaTonya JohnsonSenate District 6(D - Milwaukee)

The senator represents parts of Milwaukee's north side, which have some of the highest infant mortality rates in the city. The area is also home to a number of prenatal care coordination companies.

She said state regulators should be more "skeptical" about the backgrounds of some of the applicants and require education and training before allowing them to collect Medicaid money.

"The bigger issue for the state is making sure that those dollars don't go out in the first place," she said. "Because they're never going to get them back."

Contact Mary Spicuzza at (414) 224-2324 or mary.spicuzza@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MSpicuzzaMJS. Contact Cary Spivak at (414) 550-0070 or cary.spivak@jrn.com or follow him Twitter @cspivak

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee City Hall hearing on prenatal care fraud set for next week
Women, Life, Freedom.

Those are the words Iranian women have been chanting during protests against their government for the past several weeks. Used by Kurdish female soldiers in their fight against the Islamic State terrorist group, these words also define the very essence of the ongoing protests against the Islamic Republic of Iran that at minimum say women demand a life of freedom.

These protests are in response to the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, from Irans Kurdistan region. In the capital city of Tehran to visit family, Amini was arrested on Sept. 13 by the morality police for wearing inappropriate clothing. This police group patrols public spaces looking for people  especially women  who violate the norms of public decency with their clothing, haircuts, behavior and bad hair coverings. Amini died in custody after spending three days in a coma.

A protest on Sept. 19, 2022, in Tehran, Iran, against the death of Mahsa Amini, who died after three days in the custody of the morality police.

Aminis death comes from the intensification of repressive state policies under President Ebrahim Raisi's administration. It recently announced the intention to aggressively target women not in modest dress or in bad makeup. The police tend to monitor and more strictly enforce regulations in places with a higher percentage of poor, ethnic, or religious women.

An end to morality police

Iranian women and their allies have called for an end to the morality police and the very system that upholds it. In alleyways, up and down highways and everywhere in between, protesters can be heard also chanting death to the dictator. This new generation has gone as far as to cross another red line and repeatedly declare, I dont want an Islamic Republic! Fearless, women stand atop cars burning their headscarves while others cut their hair in public.

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They have done so because the Islamic Republic has spent the past four decades controlling the female body as a misplaced metaphor for nationalist and cultural pride. Controlling womens bodies has gone on long enough. Generation Z, which the Pew Research Center defines as born from 1997 through 2012, has decided to act.

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Pivotally, todays Gen Z protesters are more radical and angrier than their reform-minded predecessors. The 2009 Green Movement was largely composed of middle-class Tehranis, often educated in Europe, who had much to lose. Also, their parents and even the Green Movement politicians told them to be patient.

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The movement was about reform. One revolution was enough. Parents lectured their children on their errors, how much Iran lost (almost everything) because of 1979. They pointed to the countrys neighbors (in Iraq and Afghanistan) who were dying, saying Iranians shouldnt join them. They then pointed out that the whole Middle East was on fire and burning (Arab Spring 2011-14) and that Iran should not burn, too. At least Iranians were safe, the adage went. The previous generation tried to make headway through advocating reforms, but many lost friends and family members.

More than a decade later, Gen Z thinks it has less to lose.

Iranian Americans rally on Sept. 28, 2022, in Washington, D.C. in support of the Iranian resistance movement and to denounce the death of Mahsa Amini.

Gen Z demands change

Pushed to the brink by a repressive system that either made promises it didnt keep or used tools of violence too often, Generation Z is fed up. There are no appeals to the administration, parts of the government or the police who beat them. Iranians are responding to police brutality in kind. They are retaliating by damaging police vehicles, chasing state agents and holding their ground when confronted.

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And men have joined the women. They are seen protesting throughout the country (including conservative cities like Mashhad, Qom and Isfahan, not to mention the liberal north and the diverse west). The men come from all walks of life but especially from the poorer neighborhoods, like in southern Tehran.

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Neda Bolourchi is associate director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University.

Most of these men joined because of poverty, lack of prospects and denial of personal freedoms. Male allies speak about the oppression and discontent with what has become life in the Islamic Republic; they understand their privileged position vis-a-vis women, but this does not lessen their burdens or alleviate their poverty. Instead, they have an idea of the daily repression and subjugation women face. This protest and its slogan of Women, Life, Freedom thus connect womens rights to broader social and economic policies about human rights and good governance.

Todays protest is of a feminist and humanist nature. It has crossed the socioeconomic divide and ethnoreligious lines, and has garnered large male support. Iranians are fighting for basic rights: the right to freedom of speech; the right to expression of thought; the right for women to choose how they dress; the right against wrongful imprisonment; the right against torture and rape while in state custody. Taking to the streets with their hair in ponytails and fists up, Iranians are singing the song of freedom and resistance that defines revolutions.

Neda Bolourchi is associate director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University, where she teaches courses on political violence, revolutions, Islamic law and human rights. Previously, she worked on matters of civil litigation, white collar criminal defense and human rights violations in the Middle East.

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: Mahsa Amini: Iran's Gen Z protests morality police after woman's death
News brief logo

American Legion to hold baked steak dinner

BRADNER  Bradner American Legion will host a baked steak dinner 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Sunday. The post is located at 209 W. Crocker St. Call in orders to 419-288-3634 to reserve a meal and eat in or for pick up. The menu is a baked steak , mashed potatoes, green beans, roll, dessert and a drink. Cost is $10.

Time running out to order pond fish

OAK HARBOR  The Ottawa Soil and Water Conservation District is taking orders for fish through Friday. This is a convenient and low-cost way to stock or add to a current population.

Fenders Fish Hatchery will bring their tank truck, with aerator, from 1-3 p.m. Oct. 13 to the Ottawa SWCD office, 240 W. Lake St., Unit B, to distribute the fish orders. Customers can order at ottawaswcd.com. Individuals who order fish will be notified, reminding them of the pick-up time and date. Take a container filled with pond water. A trash container (with a plastic trash liner) serves as an ideal container. A 5- to 10-gallon (clean) can is adequate for 100 fish.

For more info or an order form call 419-898-1595 or email becky.simpson@ottawaswcd.com

Veterans Services to hold briefing on PACT Act

OAK HARBOR  All Ottawa County veterans are invited to an information event on the recently passed PACT Act. Ottawa County Veterans Service Officers will be on hand to review this new law and answer your questions.

Due to limited space, the event is only for veterans. The briefing will be held at 6 p.m. Oct. 19at American Legion Post 114, Oak Harbor. Non-alcoholic beverage and a light meal will be provided. For more information, call 419-467-3262 or via email malachitk@gmail.com.

Small business basics seminars set for fall

FREMONT  The Ohio Small Business Development Center at Terra State Community College is offering free, three-hour seminars, Small Business Basics, that will answer questions about starting, buying or expanding a small business.

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The remaining sessions are at Terra, 2830 Napoleon Road, and Doepker Leadership and Entrepreneurial Center, Building B, Room 103.

Class dates are 4:30-7:30 p.m. Saturday; 8:30-11:30 a.m. Wednesday; and 8:30-11:30 a.m. Nov. 2. The events are free and open to the public.

To register or for more information, contact Miranda Hoffman, director of the Ohio Small Business Development Center, at 419-559-2210 or mhoffma05@terra.edu.

This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: News Briefs: Bradner legion to hold steak dinner
Ukrainian forces surrounded the Russian grouping in the area of Lyman, Donetsk region, five settlements near the city were liberated, the spokesman of the Eastern Group Forces, Serhiy Cherevaty, has said.

"The Russian grouping in the Lyman area is surrounded. The settlements of Yampil, Novoselivka, Shandryholove, Drobysheve, Stavky have been liberated, stabilization measures are continuing there," Cherevaty said during the telethon on Saturday.

According to him, the exact number of Russians who were surrounded in the Lyman area will become known later after analysis, but the data indicated "somewhere around 5,000-5,500 troops."

"There, indeed, our data showed that the Russian group numbered in the region of 5,000-5,500. But active hostilities erased their combat strength, as well as some groups that tried to break through," Cherevaty said.

He also said that the invaders are trying to break through, but their attempts are unsuccessful due to the actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Flip, Dog in the shelter for over 2,555 days

Lake Humane Society

After spending years in the shelter system, Flip the dog has a forever home.

On Sept. 16, PEOPLE shared the black-and-white dog's story. At that time, the 7-year-old rescue pooch had spent over 2,555 days in Ohio shelters waiting to be adopted.

Jennifer Schorr, the associate director of the education division at the Buckeye Community Hope Foundation, heard about Flip's situation through a Facebook post. Having lost her beloved German Shepherd to illness a few months ago, Schorr wasn't looking to adopt a new dog right away.

"But when I saw Flip, he melted my heart, and his story melted it even more," Schorr told PEOPLE, adding that she knew she wanted her next pet to be an older dog "that needed some TLC."

Enamored with Flip's sweet face, Schorr reached out to Lake Humane Society to ask about adopting the dog, who was in a foster home at the time. The shelter told Schorr that they didn't know much about Flip's history, except that he spent time at a shelter in Youngstown and likely experienced abuse early in his life.

Flip the dog finds a home after over 2500 days in the shelter

Jennifer Schorr

To ensure that Flip and Schorr would be a good fit, Lake Humane Society asked Schorr to visit the canine, so she made the 3-hour drive to the shelter to meet Flip face to face.

"They told me he might not warm up to me at first, but it was just the opposite. He came and sat next to me, and he even gave me kisses," Schorr said of her introduction to Flip.

RELATED: Dog Left Tied Outside S.C. Shelter with Note Saying She's Sick and to 'Put Down as Soon as Possible'

After this first adorable interaction, Schorr met with Flip again and then had the dog visit her house in Pataskala, Ohio.

"Flip trotted right in and made himself at home!" Schorr said.

Flip the dog finds a home after over 2500 days in the shelter

Jennifer Schorr

Schorr's residence is now officially Flip's home, and the pup has continued to amaze his new owner with his warm, welcoming personality.

"Flip is a very loving dog and loves to cuddle on the couch with you," Flip's pet parent shared.

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RELATED: Illinois Rescue Searching for a Home for 'Sweet' Senior Rescue Dog Who Adores Getting Tucked in

And while Flip is still nervous about some new things, Schorr is content to "go slow" with the dog and let him adapt to home life at his own speed.

"We take walks around the neighborhood, and he is the perfect dog. He is adjusting very well to being out of the shelter. He actually slept with me in bed the other night for the first time ever in his life. He was in heaven!" she said

Flip the dog finds a home after over 2500 days in the shelter

Jennifer Schorr

"I am confident Flip will be just fine living with me in his forever home. I love him so much already," Schorr added.

Schorr also said that she hopes Flip's story inspires others to adopt their next pet, so they can experience the companionship that blossoms after you save a life.

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.

"There are so many loving dogs that just need a chance to become your furry friend. Some may need more care and attention than others, but they all deserve it. The tail wag, kiss on the cheek, or smile on their face lets you know how much you are appreciated. It is never too late  Adopt!" Schorr shared.
Soni, 37, stands with her family in front of her temporary shelter in Sindh (Akifullah Khan/DEC)

In August, the government of Pakistan was forced to declare a national emergency as devastating flooding caused what the UN secretary-general called a climate catastrophe.

The unprecedented levels of flooding have resulted in the deaths of 1,638 people, including hundreds of children, since mid-June, the National Disaster Management Authority announced.

Hundreds of thousands are thought to have been displaced and living without access to clean water, accommodation or toilets. There has been widespread destruction of homes, roads, schools, health facilities and livestock in the countrys worst flooding in recent history.

Many people are living in makeshift camps with the government unable to provide sufficient relief. Charities are steadily working to provide crucial aid but are in desperate need of more resources as the situation in Pakistan worsens.

One of those left homeless is Soni, who is living with her family in a temporary shelter in Mitiyari Hyderabad, Sindh.

She says: We are all worried. Our houses are underwater. We are sitting here at the roadsides with our children. There is nothing with us. We are poor people, what we can do. We can do nothing.

Noor Zadi speaks about the destruction caused by the floods (Akifullah Khan/DEC)

A mosque submerged in floodwater in Khairpur Nathan Shah (Akifullah Khan/DEC)

An estimated 33 million people are thought to have been affected, with 6 million in need of humanitarian assistance.

Noor Zadi, who also lives in Sindh province has lost everything in the last few months and now has no drinking water for her family.

She said: There is also a shortage of food and water. There is so much mud that peoples feet get stuck. A flood like this has not come before in our lifetimes  our house has completely vanished.

Farmer Manzoor, 20, has been left jobless and homeless by the floods (Akifullah Khan/DEC)

A man wades through floodwater in Mitiyari Hyderabad (Akifullah Khan/DEC)

Pakistan has deployed thousands of additional doctors and paramedics in the countrys worst flood-hit province to contain the spread of diseases that have killed more than 300 people, officials said last week.

Manzoor, a farmer from Sindh province, is concerned by the rising levels of sickness being spread and the risks to his children.

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He says: We prepare whatever we have for our children to eat. There have been many nights that we all go to sleep on an empty stomach. Small children are starving. So many people and children are sick: so many diseases are being spread. The children are so vulnerable.

Many people, especially men, have been forced to travel long distances to get basic supplies, in often stagnating dirty water that raises the threat of disease and illness.

Pakistans health officials have set up teams to fumigate populated areas and built isolation facilities to tackle the spread of dengue fever.

A stop sign appears above floodwater in Khairpur Nathan Shah (Akifullah Khan/DEC)

Water covers a road in Mitiyari Hyderabad (Akifullah Khan/DEC)

Much of the worst affected provinces of Sindh and Balochistan remain under water with relief efforts being hampered by the difficulties in reaching these remote areas. Many roads have been blocked and bridges swept away, cutting many communities off entirely from emergency response teams.

The rainfall that Pakistan is currently seeing is 2.9 times higher than the national 30-year average, with the worst affected provinces seeing five times as much rainfall than normal, according to the UN.

A hunger crisis is also looming after crops, food stores and an estimated 1 million livestock were swept away by the intense level of flooding.

Aid groups are also raising concerns over many women and girls living out in the open or in basic shelters, with risks to their safety and well-being.

Cattle wade in water, where dry land used to be in Jamshoro (Akifullah Khan/DEC)

Arbab, 50, sits in her temporary tent in Dadu Sindh (Akifullah Khan/DEC)

Pakistan officials say the disaster has caused an estimated $30bn in damage.

One aid group, the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), was launched at the start of September and has now raised more than 25m with the UK government.

While the immediate focus of the DECs relief effort will be to save lives, with the process of rebuilding and recovery likely to take years.

Pakistan is among the 10 countries most affected by extreme weather events despite having a very low carbon footprint, according to the Global Climate Risk Index 2021 and Climate Watch.

Many people are finding alternative methods such as boats to evacuate or seek supplies (Akifullah Khan/DEC)

The devastating aftermath caused by the floods in Mitiyari Hyderabad (Akifullah Khan/DEC)

An initial attribution study by scientists has found that global heating is likely to have played a role in this disaster.

What we saw in Pakistan is exactly what climate projections have been predicting for years, said Friederike Otto from Imperial College London, and a member of the DECs advisory panel on climate change.

Its also in line with historical records showing that heavy rainfall has dramatically increased in the region since humans started emitting large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, he added.

Member charities of the DEC are working closely with national partners to support the rescue and relief effort, provide basic relief items, deliver clean water, emergency shelter materials, food and urgent health assistance.

You can find out more about the DEC and their relief work by visiting their website here.
Kansas reported far fewer coronavirus cases in the week ending Sunday, adding 2,676 new cases. That's down 37.6% from the previous week's tally of 4,291 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Kansas ranked 34th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States decreased 0.6% from the week before, with 401,433 cases reported. With 0.88% of the country's population, Kansas had 0.67% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 17 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.

Saline County reported 35 cases and zero deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 96 cases and zero deaths. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 15,995 cases and 250 deaths.

Across Kansas, cases fell in 70 counties, with the best declines in Douglas County, with 0 cases from 429 a week earlier; in Johnson County, with 198 cases from 420; and in Sedgwick County, with 474 cases from 684. a

>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases

Wenham Public Nurse Mari Beth Ting prepares a patient to receive the COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccine clinic, organized by the Greater Cape Ann Community Collaborative, at the Hamilton-Wenham Senior Center in Hamilton, Massachusetts, on Sept. 9.

Within Kansas, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Comanche County with 765 cases per 100,000 per week; Linn County with 340; and Stevens County with 292. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.

Adding the most new cases overall were Sedgwick County, with 474 cases; Wyandotte County, with 217 cases; and Johnson County, with 198. Weekly case counts rose in 29 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Wyandotte, Miami and Riley counties.

In Kansas, seven a people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 43 people were reported dead.

A total of 876,221 people in Kansas have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 9,079 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 96,070,980 people have tested positive and 1,056,416 people have died.

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>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States

Kansas's COVID-19 hospital admissions falling

USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, Sept. 25. Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:

Last week: 496

The week before that: 563

Four weeks ago: 641

Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:

Last week: 55,707

The week before that: 55,506

Four weeks ago: 64,244

Hospitals in 13 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 20 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 25 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.

The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Saline County COVID-19 cases fall
England captain Sam Tomkins has welcomed the decision of high-profile NRL players to switch their allegiance from Australia to Samoa, even though it adds to the size of his teams task in the World Cup opener.

Penrith stand-off Jarome Luai and winger Brian Too are among those to turn their backs on the Kangaroos by pledging their support to the Pacific Islanders, who will have no fewer than eight players appearing in Sundays NRL Grand Final between the Panthers and Parramatta.

That has strengthened Samoas chances of emulating their Pacific rivals Tonga, who benefited from the defection of players of the calibre of Jason Taumalolo and David Fifita from New Zealand and Australia respectively to establish themselves as a world force.

England captain Sam Tomkins has benefitted from his clubs early exit from the play-offs to get himself fully fit for the World Cup (Nick Potts/PA)

Tomkins believes that will help to make the 16th World Cup the strongest yet, with one of the big nations certain to miss out on the semi-finals.

If you look at Tonga and Samoa in previous World Cups, they didnt have anything like the squads theyve got now, said the Catalans Dragons full-back.

Thats down to lot of players wanting to play for their own country rather than Australia.

It weakens Australia but only a little bit. They could name three squads and compete.

Herbie Farnworth (pictured) says fellow England newcomers Victor Radley and Dom Young can make a big impact in the World Cup (Nick Potts/PA)

Its good for the World Cup that theres five teams there that can all compete. One of those good teams is not going to make a semi.

Tonga gave England the fright of their lives in the semi-finals of the last World Cup in 2017 and Brisbane centre Herbie Farnworth, who was on Friday named in Shaun Wanes 24-man England squad, is expecting a similarly tough test from Samoa at Newcastles St James Park on October 15.

Farnworth, who has witnessed close up the might of the NRL-based Samoans for the last two years, said: Its a very strong challenge.

A couple of boys got named in the Australian side but turned it down to play for their own country.

They are a top quality side but I think weve got the side to beat them.

Wane will also be able to draw on the inside knowledge of his other five Australia-based players when it comes to working out the strengths and weaknesses of his southern hemisphere opponents.

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England regulars Tom Burgess (South Sydney), Luke Thompson (Canterbury Bulldogs) and Elliott Whitehead (Canberra) have been joined by Victor Radley (Sydney Roosters) and Dom Young (Newcastle Knights) and Farnworth believes both players can make a big impact on the competition.

Victor brings a lot of toughness, Farnworth said. Hes a quality player who brings a lot of skill  he could probably play half as well.

I played against Dom this year and hes a really strong boy. I tried to tackle him a couple times and he bumped me off once or twice.

Hes a big lad, strong and fast, he brings a lot of size and power to our team.

Meanwhile, Tomkins says he is now fully fit after using the time generated by his clubs early exit from the Super League play-offs to get his knee right.

I got injured in August and couldnt quite get the time for it to fully heal, he said.

Although it was disappointing Catalans getting knocked out in the first week of the play-offs it has actually been a blessing for me, its given me more than enough time now.

Luckily Im back running and back fully training. I just needed that few weeks of intense rehab.
Sep. 18The two candidates for U.S. Senate in Washington have agreed to hold a debate in Spokane in late October.

The debate between Democratic Sen. Patty Murray and Republican challenger Tiffany Smiley will be held at Gonzaga University on Oct. 23 at 5 p.m. The debate is being organized and jointly sponsored by the League of Women Voters and The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages speaker series, along with broadcast assistance from KSPS. The Washington State Debate Coalition also is affiliated with this debate.

Admission will be free, but tickets will be required to the event at the university's Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center.

"Voter understanding is essential to our democracy," Lunell Haught, president of the League of Women Voters' Washington chapter, said in a statement. "Listening and watching candidates side-by-side helps voters decide how to vote."

Murray is seeking her sixth term. Following August's primary, Smiley had publicly demanded debates with Murray, who finished with a little more than 52% of the vote in a crowded field, saying in a statement on Thursday that her lack of commitment to hold a debate was "undemocratic." Murray's campaign had promised to appear at debates with Smiley before confirming late last week her appearance at the Spokane debate in an election cycle that has seen Senate challengers in Pennsylvania, Georgia and elsewhere push for live appearances prior to the Nov. 8 election. Both parties are seeking an edge in Congress' evenly divided upper chamber, with Vice President Kamala Harris being called on with historic frequency to break legislative ties.

"I look forward to debating Tiffany Smiley this October in Spokane," Murray said in a statement accepting the invitation to appear in Spokane. "This will be one of the most consequential elections of our lifetimes. I want voters in Washington state to understand there is a clear choice at the ballot box this fall."

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Smiley's campaign did not provide any additional comment Saturday.

Smiley, a former triage nurse and wife of U.S. Army Maj. Scotty Smiley, who was blinded in an insurgency attack in Iraq, has been campaigning on a platform of tamping down inflation and addressing public safety concerns. Murray, in campaign ads that have been appearing for months on airwaves throughout Washington, has argued that an election victory is essential to preserving democratic integrity following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump, and to preserve access to abortion care in Washington following the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The debate is scheduled to last for an hour and will include questions from the public submitted to The Spokesman-Review and the League of Women Voters. Details about how to submit a question will be published later. Laurel Demkovich, the newspaper's correspondent in Olympia, is scheduled to moderate the debate. The debate will air locally on KSPS-TV, with multiple streaming options being available, including via KHQ.

"One of our newsroom's most important missions is to educate and inform our community, but do those things in ways that are engaging, interesting, relevant and even fun," Rob Curley, executive editor of The Spokesman-Review, said in a statement. "In a world overwhelmed with the impersonal, and often polarizing, nature of social media, we wanted to actually bring our community together in ways ... much more about people actually being in a room together, having great discussions, and proving that we all have much more in common than we have different."

Gonzaga President Thayne McCullough welcomed the opportunity to host a U.S. Senate debate.

"The opportunity to witness a live debate between two candidates for national office is a rare and important one, a chance for our students and community to see the democratic process at work," McCullough said in a statement.

The debate between Murray and Smiley will be preceded by an hourlong debate between candidates for Washington Secretary of State, Julie Anderson and Steve Hobbs. That debate will begin at 3:30 p.m., with a half-hour break before the Senate debate.

The Washington State Debate Coalition has invited the candidates to an additional debate Oct. 25 at Seattle University, but that event has not yet been confirmed.

Ticket details for the Spokane event will be announced later.
Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast

In the summer of 1998 my girlfriend and I loaded our little Nissan and left Krakow for a road trip to Spain with a dog-eared Lonely Planet in Polish and a map, which we first consulted on the side of a silent Carpathian road in Slovakia. Just an hour from home and already lost. On the other side of our turnout there was a baby blue Skoda, an elderly couple inside. The woman with a kerchief over a pink beehive stayed in the passenger seat while her husband in a pancake cap got out of his jalopy, shuffled up to us and leaned deeply into my open window. The waft of onions, garlic, and sweat filled the car.

Where are you from? he asked in Slovakian.

Krakow.

Krakow, he repeated, scratching his gray whiskers. Tell me, how much is one kilogram of cucumbers in Krakow?

Excuse me? my girlfriend asked, not sure if something had been lost in translation.

Krakow. Cucumbers. Kilo. How much?

With a nearly straight face she said, Three zloty?

Three zloty?

He extracted himself from the window, took his cap off his head and scratched. Three zloty, he mumbled, and waddled back to his wife.

We folded the map like last weeks newspaper, stuffed it in the glovebox and drove off laughing through Austria and a wrong turn to Slovenia where we stayed at a rustic roadside inn, then zigzagged to Italy where hunger took us off course to a little mom and pop grocery where we bought two of the most delicious sandwiches - ever - and ate them on the curb, under a highway overpass.

We had the whole summer, or at least until our money ran out, and we bee-lined around Spain, following nothing more than our impulses and curiosity. The guidebook helped us locate lodging and our karma lead us into the best and worst of dives, all with legs of jamon hanging from ceilings, marinating in a steady haze of cigarette smoke. Some dripped grease into handy little yellow plastic catchers, others onto the bar, our heads, our drinks. One bar in Estella was adorned in Elvis pictures and had the first jukebox I had ever seen in Europe, mostly loaded with Elvis and Screaming Jay Hawkins songs. The owner had Elvis sideburns and a humble pompadour and he invited us on a motorcycle excursion to picnic in France with his friends the next day. It was an epic holiday, our first together and totally unplanned.

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My partner and I have always been wired for impulsive travel. Before we met in Krakow, which I visited on a whim in 1991 and later moved to, she had already hitchhiked to Spain and would do so again. In 2001, impulse lead us to Tbilisi, a raw, extemporary city that functioned entirely off the cuff back then, and one we found impossible to leave. We inevitably became journalists, a gig that has allowed us to experience the world for a living, even though work is never a holiday. But we still travel in many formats: to visit friends, family, working holidays; however, we rarely have the luxury of time to wing legendary adventures like we used to.

While our style of traveling has changed (no more dropping acid on the night bus from La Paz to Tijuana), the information age has come along to help make our travel experience better. Those tattered Lonely Planets that managed to survive on our shelves have become dusty relics of a lost era, souvenirs. Today, we open the computer and do half our traveling before we leave home. On a family trip to Rome several years ago, we booked our flight, rented a car, found a room, and bought tickets for a Coliseum tour all online. I was so deep into the expedience of the world wide web I dove straight down the rabbit hole of Tripadvisor and Google reviews to consult the collective feedback of other tourists like TJMule and TravelBunny to find a good restaurant in the Eternal City. Without realizing it, I had clicked all the spontaneity out of our trip and guaranteed a terrible gastronomic experience, to boot.

This June, we returned to Spain after a 25 year hiatus for a wedding in Andalusia with no guidebook, nor road map. Technology would be our friend, not our master. We rented a car online and used GPS, which for better or worse kept us off the side of the road and away from inquisitive cucumber farmers. Like old times, we closed our eyes and stuck our finger on the map, except it was on the screen. Lets go to Ronda! Using the web to book an Airbnb, we rolled out of Malaga and discovered an ancient Celtic city on the edge of the breathtaking El Tajo canyon.

Two and a half decades is a long time away from a tapas bar and I wanted our daughters first to be unforgettable, so I checked out a couple local blogs. Both recommended Bodega San Francisco, a lively and hospitable neighborhood utopia full of gusto a mere two-minutes away from our digs. Had a western tourist reviewed it, they would have unquestionably had issues with the two plasma screens showing obscenely graphic low-budget zombie flicks and likely ignored the garlicky succulence of the Gambas al Pil Pil. Our 12 year old didnt want to eat anywhere else.

But honey, there are so many places to try!

Ronda is not an easy city to pull yourself away from, but we had a glorious three-day wedding to get to in Jerez de la Frontera. The binge took us to the bodegas of Castillo de Machamudo and Tio Pepe and the beachside SAAM Club de Mar. After the bash we ignored the web and wandered the lethargic late-afternoon streets around the 11th century Alcazar de Jerez. Stomachs a growling, we sat down at a restaurant along Plaza del Arenal, the citys main square. 500 years ago, they fought duels and bulls at this plaza. Today there is an enormous monument of the 1920s dictator, Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja. A disheveled waiter dropped greasy menus with generic pictures of what they serve. We looked at them, at each other, and left. A nearby alley off the square lead us into a cozy, colorful courtyard occupied by Mulai Jerez, an artistic oasis of Spanish fusion and lots of wine. Their oxtail wontons are what dumpling dreams are made of, while the tuna tartare melted over every taste bud to end up in that special spot of excellent culinary memories.

We spent our final days in Sanlucar de Barremeda, where conquistadors once set off to pillage the New World. Author Matt Goulding, who has thoroughly eaten Spain inside and out, hipped us to the legendary Casa Balbino where the tortillitas de camarones were every bit as spectacular as he said theyd be. For the remainder of our sojourn we relied on the advice of locals, followed our inclinations and Google maps, which helped me locate the Sanlucar fish market, a sensory supercharge that compelled me to buy handfuls of fresh shrimp and cuttlefish for a saute on our Airbnbs ratty cookware.

One afternoon while the girls took a late siesta, I rambled the barrio into chummy bodegas, less sociable dives and Taberna der Guerrita, a locals hideaway that has been filling wine glasses for 40 years. The next day, I shared my favorite discoveries with my wife and stopped in Guerrita where we moaned over each toe-curling bite of the chorizo stuffed mushrooms. We returned the next day for our last dinner in Spain.

Had I not been so web-shy, I would have learnt that Taberna der Guerrita has an extensive collection of Spanish wines, a special tasting room in the back, and is a destination for some of the countrys major wine aficionados. Knowing that in advance, however, would have only disturbed an otherwise blissful, if brief, family holiday. No! Not again! they would have said repeating a familiar refrain. There are so many places for us to try!

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When it comes to Hollywood's track record of adapting real-life stories for the big screen, stretching the truth of the actual subject matter is a common practice for cinematic or sensationalistic purposes. With regard to Zac Efron's new movie The Greatest Beer Run Ever, however, the actual story on which it's based seems too impossible to be true.

In 1967, John "Chickie" Donohue decided, basically on a whim, to travel from New York to Vietnam to bring beers to his friends and neighbors serving on the front lines in the war. Five months (and many close calls) later, Donohue returned to New York with an incredible story to tell  one that was first detailed in his 2020 memoir The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War, co-written by J.T. Molloy.

"It's one of those unbelievable real-life scenarios you can't believe a guy got himself into," says Efron, 34, who plays Donohue in the film. "It's a beautiful story about human nature, love and a really difficult war and time in history."

Adds director Peter Farrelly (Green Book, Dumb and Dumber): "It's so hard to believe this actually happened," he says. "But [Chickie's] a character, and it's his story. He's the person I wanted to please the most."

The Greatest Beer Run Ever

Courtesy of Apple

RELATED: How Zac Efron Bonded with 81-Year-Old Hero Who Inspired His Wild New War Movie: 'I Was Honored'

Read on for the real story behind the new film (now playing in theaters and streaming on Apple TV+).

On that fateful night 55 years ago, during a time of anti-war protests and political disconnect, Chickie Donohue was hanging out at a neighborhood bar in Inwood, New York, when conversation turned toward the Vietnam War and all the friends and neighbors who were currently serving in it. In talking about ways to show more support for the men serving in it overseas, bartender George Lynch (who is played by Bill Murray in the movie) suggested: "Somebody ought to go over to 'Nam, track down the boys from the neighborhood and bring them each a beer!"

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Then-26-year-old Donohue, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who was working as a merchant mariner, decided he was the man for the job. Shortly thereafter, he found work on a cargo ship, packed a duffel bag full of beers, and set out on one of the most improbable goodwill missions ever conceived.

The trip took about eight weeks. Once they docked in the Qui Nhon Harbor, Donohue got to work finding his friends, using the letters and photos families passed on to him as a guide.

"The first three days in Vietnam, I got to see three different guys, and I only had six guys on my list," recalls Donohue. "I found out while I was there one of them had been shipped home and another one was killed while I was there. And so that left four Inwood guys."

Marine Veteran Recalls Bringing Beer to Friends Fighting in Vietnam War From New York in Book John "Chick" Donohue on his way to Vietnam in 1967

Courtesy of John Chick Donohue

RELATED: This Vet Risked It All to Bring Beer to Pals Fighting in Vietnam

The four guys  Tommy Collins, Kevin McLoone, Sgt. Rick Duggan and Bobby Pappas  were stunned to see Donohue when he found them.

"The fact that Chickie was able to find me is nothing short of a miracle, I thought I was being punked," Duggan, 74, told PEOPLE in 2020. "Having him there gave us a much better feeling about being in Vietnam, that people at home actually cared about it and would go to that extreme to show us that."



Naturally the trip was not without its challenges  and incredible dangers. During his journey, Donohue says he witnessed corruption among government and international officials, hitchhiked his way onto military helicopters and faced firefights.

John Chick Donohue with his friend Sgt. Bobby Pappas in Vietnam

Courtesy of Bobby Pappas

RELATED: Watch Zac Efron Accidentally Go to War in an Exclusive First Look at 'The Greatest Beer Run Ever'

For much more on Zac Efron and Chickie Donohue, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE on newsstands now.

When he returned home five months later, Donohue had a different outlook on the war.

"There was a lot of death and a lot of hurt," he recalled in 2020. "While I was there, I came to the conclusion that this was a bad, wrong war  it changed my mind about sending troops anywhere."



His first order of business when he got back to his neighborhood in Inwood? Head to his favorite bar to share his incredible tale with his friends there.

Rick Duggan, Tommy Collins, Donohue, Kevin McLoone and Bobby Pappas reunited about 50 years after the beer run in Inwood NY.

Courtesy of Celia Oliver Rick Duggan, Tommy Collins, Donohue, Kevin McLoone and Bobby Pappas reunited about 50 years after the beer run in Inwood NY.

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.

"I stepped out of the cab as someone was coming out of the bar across the street, Chambers, and he said, 'Hey, Chickie!' And he turned back into the doorway and yelled to the crowd, 'It's Chickie, he's back!' " he said. "It was a blur after that, just a lot of back slaps and laughing."

Donohue went on to work in construction and became a union official but is now retired in Florida living with his wife of 52 years, Theresa, and is the proud grandpa of seven. He maintains that he was simply doing the right thing.

"I had no mission to teach anybody anything," he says. "My mission was simply to let the guys over there know that we truly, truly supported them. Just like our fathers who saw action in World War II, they did their duty for their country, and it had nothing to do with politics. People often ask me: 'Why did you do it?' I'd say to myself, 'Why can't they just accept that it was the right thing to do?' That's all it really was. I didn't know what was going to happen exactly."

The Greatest Beer Run Ever is now playing in theaters and streaming on Apple TV+
Two suspects have been arrested in connection with a death that took place on Sept. 22 in East Falmouth, according to a release from the Cape and Islands District Attorneys office.

A 41-year-old man, Doug Rose, was stabbed to death in front of his home at 250 Davisville Road. Evidence suggests the cause of the altercation is a dispute over $600 and narcotics, according to the release.

Police investigate a fatal stabbing Sept. 22 at 250 Davisville Road in East Falmouth. Doug Rose was found bleeding by police who responded to the scene. Rose, 41, died from his wounds.

A Boston woman was placed under arrest on a charge of murder at an apartment in Fort Worth, Texas, by the U.S. Marshals North Texas Fugitive Unit on Wednesday, according to the release. The marshals were supplied information by Falmouth and the Massachusetts State Police. The woman, 40, will be returned from Texas in the next few days, according to the police.

Another suspect was arrested Thursday night in East Bridgewater and charged with murder. The 40-year-old man was arraigned Friday in Falmouth District Court and held without bail. His hearing is scheduled for Nov. 4, according to the release.

Police are continuing the investigation, according to the release.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Falmouth fatal stabbing, two arrests in connection with Doug Rose death
Taylor Swift is featured in the latest trailer for David O. Russells murder mystery movie Amsterdam.

The new 30-second teaser, released on Saturday (Oct. 1), begins with a worried looking Swift running up to stars Christian Bale and John David Washington in the bustling streets of the 1930s.

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Is somebody watching me? Swift, dressed in a jade green tweed coat and skirt ensemble, fearfully asks the concerned looking men. I dont know if I can talk about this.

As she dramatically delivers her last line, Swifts character gets violently pushed into the street by a mysterious man. Shes then heard screaming as a car horn is heard blaring in the background.

Few details are known about Swifts Amsterdam role, but the 32-year-old superstar reportedly plays the mourning daughter of a prominent man murdered toward the beginning of the film. Lead characters played by Bale, Washington and Margot Robbie are wrongfully accused of having murdered him, which leads them down the path of uncovering a mysterious plot and altering the course of American history, according to a previous trailer.

Leading up to the Oct. 7 premiere of Amsterdam, posters showcasing each individual actor in the main cast were released on social media to give viewers a sneak peek at the movies characters. Posing with one gloved hand on her hip and another resting on her chest, Swift appeared in her image dressed in an outfit inspired by 1930s fashion, complete with a luxurious black fur collar and hat.

In addition to its leads, Amsterdams all-star lineup includes Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy, Zoe Saldana, Rami Malek, Robert De Niro, Mike Myers, Michael Shannon, Timothy Olyphant, Andrea Riseborough, Matthias Schoenaerts and Alessandro Nivola.

Watch the latest Amsterdam trailer below.

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Click here to read the full article.
LOS ANGELES  Adam Borics finally has his face on a poster, his image placed across from Bellator featherweight champion Patricio Pitbull Freire.

At Bellator 286, Borics (18-1 MMA, 9-1 BMMA) will challenge for the first time for the promotions strap in a five-round main event bout in Long Beach, Calif.

I dont put extra pressure on myself, Borics told MMA Junkie on Thursday. I just try to enjoy the whole process.

Seemingly unfazed by the change of environment, Borics likes his odds against one of the most prominent fighters in Bellator history. Freire (33-5 MMA, 21-5 BMMA) has become a title mainstay. In his career to date, he lost the title twice  but both times rebounded. While Borics has respect for Pitbull, he thinks hell be the third man to dethrone the Bellator staple.

Yeah, definitely. He changed a lot. In the beginning of his career, he was a different fighter (than) right now. But I understand. I was very different five years ago. We just get better always. I think the time is working for me, because Im getting better every day. Maybe, hes like 35 or something. Everybody knows hes at the end of his career.  Hes a great fighter. Hes well-rounded. I really respect him. Hes been a great champion, but this is my time now.

Related

Video: Champ Patricio Freire, Adam Borics get face to face ahead of Bellator 286 Tyson Fury reopens door for possible showdown with Anthony Joshua

The longer, younger fighter of the two, Borics thinks the matchup vs. Freire is favorable. He described how his most recent few camps have served as a working recipe, which hell replicate Saturday.

If it plays out the way Borics expects, his priority wont be to buy new cars or unnecessary accessories. Instead, Borics continues to picture the joy that would come with bringing the belt to Hungary, his home country.

I never would spend my money on some bullsh*t watch or something, Borics said. Im not that kind of guy. Im from a village of 2,000 people, so Im a very simple guy. Im going to help my family. Im not that guy.

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 (The title) means a lot. I really want to do that, for the whole country. They are super excited and I just want to make them happy.  Its a very, very big deal. Every news paper, every TV is talking about me right now.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkies event hub for Bellator 286.

Story originally appeared on MMA Junkie
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian army has lost about 59,610 personnel, 2,345 tanks, 4,949 armored combat vehicles, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) has reported.

"The total combat losses of the enemy since February 24 as of October 1 were approximately 59,610 (530 more) personnel liquidated, tanks  2,354 (16 more) units, armored combat vehicles  4,949 units (17 more), artillery systems  1,397 units (6 more), MLRS  336 units (3 more), air defense systems  176 units(0), aircraft  264 units (0), helicopters  226 units (1 more), UAVs of the operational-tactical level  1,009 (6 more) , cruise missiles  246 (0), ships/boats  15 (0), automotive equipment and tankers  3,786 (18 more), special equipment  131 (0)," the General Staff said in a message published on Facebook.

The enemy suffered the greatest losses in the Kramatorsk and Bakhmut directions.
mage: Red Cross 03 Staff and volunteers at the Red Cross Capital Area Chapter organize and prepare to help those affected by Hurricane Ian on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Tallahassee, Fla.

Electrical workers and medical volunteers from the South Bend area and around Indiana have gone to Florida or are in the process of going to respond to Hurricane Ian.

The American Red Cross is sending 30 volunteers and although none of them are from the South Bend area, one is preparing to go from northwest Indiana, the spokesman for Indiana's Red Cross headquarters, LaMar Holliday, said.

They will be helping storm victims with shelter, mental health services, food and other needs. More volunteers may yet deploy, the nonprofit agency reported, as it worked to identify the needs of storm victims.

This morning:Ian regains hurricane strength as it targets South Carolina; at least 14 dead in Florida: Sept. 29 recap

Meanwhile, the Red Cross is seeking donations of money and blood as blood distribution in disaster areas is often hampered.

In times of disaster, relief agencies often discourage giving material goods because they overwhelm and get in the way of efficient response efforts.

The Red Cross says it can move blood donations around the country to where its needed.

"It can go anywhere from your community to Florida, Texas or wherever that need is," Holliday said. "It helps us keep that supply on the shelves."

The South Bend Medical Foundation also collects blood locally. It serves local hospitals, but its also part of a national network that is now trying to boost an excess supply of blood across the country  so that it can help disaster victims. When a partner like SBMF has excess blood, it offers that to the network, and communities in need can reach out to receive it, the foundations blood donor recruitment supervisor, Mary Ankrapp, said.

Desert Storm remembered:Clay High School graduate leads the effort to build the National Mall's newest memorial

But, locally, she noted, We need to first be sure we are meeting the needs of the local hospitals.

She said local blood supplies were already tight having just come out of the summer.

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On average, blood collection organizations nationwide had only 1-2 days worth of blood supply heading into the storm, according to a press release from the AABB Interorganizational Task Force on Domestic Disasters and Acts of Terrorism. Anticipated disruptions in blood collections  as well as transportation challenges  in Florida and the Southeast throughout the next several days are likely to exacerbate already low inventories, particularly in the affected areas.

Turning the lights back on

Another contingent of local volunteers heading down to Florida are electrical workers with Mishawaka Utilities. Earlier this week, eight volunteers, in two trucks, joined with hundreds of crews from around the country in making the trip down to help cities in Florida repair power lines once the most severe weather passes.

Matt Lentsch, executive director of development with Mishawaka Utilities, said the city got the call for aid from the Indiana Municipal Electric Association, which operates a mutual aid program with other states during natural disasters. Though many volunteered, eight workers were selected and departed for Florida earlier this week.

"Were thrilled to be in a position to have the expertise and have the equipment to be able to provide help to our neighbors. And while theyre not in Indiana, theyre still neighbors to us," Lentsch said.

The contingent will be working in and around New Smyrna Beach, Fla., which is around 60 miles northeast of Orlando on the Atlantic coast of the state. Repair work is expected to take about a week and the crew will be paid by IMEA during that time. Lentsch said Mishawaka crews have helped out-of-state communities with severe weather work before and were mobilized to help out in southern Indiana and Kentucky when flooding hit the region, but ultimately were not deployed.

Indiana Michigan Power this week also sent multiple crews south to help with electrical restoration. More than 350 workers from South Bend, Elkhart, Muncie and Fort Wayne, made the trip to Florida, the company said in a release.

According to some estimates, more than 1.5 million people still remain without power in Florida as of Friday afternoon.

To help:

 Donate money: Visit redcross.org or call 800-RED-CROSS. Or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 in order to make a $10 donation.

 Volunteer: To serve as a disaster action team volunteer, visit redcross.org/dat.

 Donate blood: Visit redcross.org/give-blood.

 South Bend Medical Foundation: To make blood donations, visit https://www.sbmf.org/ or call 574-234-1157.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: How to help Red Cross hurricane response and blood donations
Jackie Sweeney and her brother Gabe Johnston had a first look. Reilley Photography

Jackie and Christopher Sweeney got married in Riviera Maya, Mexico, on April 12, 2022.

Jackie Sweeney's brother, Gabe Johnston, couldn't attend the destination wedding.

Sweeney and Johnston did a private first look and first dance so he could see her dress.

Jackie and Christopher Sweeney met through mutual friends.

Jackie and Christopher Sweeney. Reilley Photography

"Our two best friends have been together for 11 years," Jackie Sweeney, 27, told Insider of herself and her husband, 28.

In 2017, sparks flew between the pair, and they decided to start a romance of their own.

The couple is based in Niagara-Wheatfield, New York, where Jackie is a teacher at Makowski Early Childhood Center and Christopher is the founder of ProFuel Nutrition.

The couple got engaged in August 2020.

The couple got married in April 2022. Reilley Photography

They planned a destination wedding in Riviera Maya, Mexico, for April 12, 2022.

Jackie Sweeney told Insider she had been dreaming of a destination wedding on the beach for years.

The wedding was everything the Sweeneys wanted  aside from one thing.

Sweeney had always planned for her brother, Gabe Johnston, to play a big role in her wedding.

Jackie Sweeney and Gabe Johnston. Reilley Photography

Sweeney and Johnston, 18, have been close since Johnston was born.

As Sweeney told Insider, Johnston has Down syndrome and a heart defect, which he has had six surgeries for in his life.

"He's basically a miracle," Sweeney said of her brother. "He is just super loving. I always say he's my favorite person."

Johnston was thrilled when his sister got engaged.

Gabe Johnston was excited for his sister. Reilley Photography

"He gets very excited for everyone around him," she said. "He's very uplifting, so when hears anything good is going on in my life, he is over the moon excited."

Sweeney planned to do a first look and first dance with Johnston at her wedding.

A few weeks before the event, Sweeney and her family realized Johnston wouldn't be able to attend the wedding.

Gabe Johnston couldn't attend the wedding. Reilley Photography

Because the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing, there was a risk Johnston could contract the virus when traveling to the wedding.

As the event got closer, the risk of something happening to Johnston when he was far away from his doctors felt too great, so he didn't attend the wedding.

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But Sweeney didn't want to miss out on experiencing any wedding joy with her brother.

The siblings decided to do a first look closer to home after the wedding.

The siblings did a first look. Reilley Photography

Sweeney reached out to Caitlin Reilley, a New York-based photographer she had worked with in the past, to do the first look shoot, as well as take some photos of her and her husband.

The Sweeneys, Johnston, and Reilley went to Woodlawn Beach in Buffalo, New York, to take photos.

Sweeney got dressed up in her wedding gown for the occasion.

She rewore her wedding dress. Reilley Photography

She got her wedding dress from Blue by Enzoani dry-cleaned and had her hair and makeup done.

"It was a whole ordeal, but it was so worth it," she said.

Johnston also wore wedding clothes, which Sweeney said he was excited to show her.

Johnston had "the biggest smile in the world" when he saw his sister, according to Sweeney.

The moment Gabe Johnston saw his sister in her wedding attire. Reilley Photography

"He just kept saying, 'Wow, Jackie,' and telling me I looked pretty and asking me how he looked," she told Insider of the moment Johnston saw her.

Sweeney said she was emotional when she saw her brother.

The moment was meaningful to Jackie Sweeney. Reilley Photography

"I just wanna cry," she said of how she feels thinking about the first look. "It was a moment I've always wanted."

"I just felt so happy. That missing piece of my wedding was complete," she added.

After the first look, Sweeney and Johnston shared a first dance on the beach.

They danced on the beach. Reilley Photography

The pair danced to "Better Together" by Jack Johnson, who also sings "Upside Down," which was featured in the "Curious George" movie.

Sweeney said her brother loves "Curious George," so the song choice felt right.

Sweeney said she was "blown away" by the pictures.

She loved the photos. Reilley Photography

"I was just bawling my eyes out for hours and all the next day," she said of her reaction to the photos.

"Every time I look at them, I still tear up," she added.

The pictures also ended up going viral on Instagram.

The pictures got attention online. Reilley Photography

Reilley posted a Reel of photos from the shoot on Instagram, and it has 1.2 million views to date.

"It was insane. I'm still so surprised by it," Sweeney said. "We weren't expecting that."

"I'm not someone with a ton of followers or anything," she added. "We just did it for me and him. So it was shocking when all of that happened."

"Their relationship is so special, and they are so lucky to have one another," Reilley told Insider of Sweeney and Johnston.

Caitlin Reilley loved taking the pictures. Reilley Photography

"I truly feel so blessed to have been a part of this special moment that they will remember forever," Reilley told Insider.

"From the moment I met Gabe, he radiated happiness and a zest for life that I have never seen before. His positivity inspired me not only that day, but every day since," she added.

Most of all, Sweeney is just grateful she got to experience a first look with her brother.

The siblings. Reilley Photography

She said getting to "have that moment where I'm the bride and I have my little brother with me" was the best part of the whole experience.

You can see more of Reilley's work on Instagram.

Read the original article on Insider
In honor of Latine Heritage Month , here are 21 dishes that would not and could not exist without the influence of Latine native foods and culture:

1. Pumpkin bread and pumpkin lattes

Bhofack2 / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Yes, you're favorite fall, pumpkin-flavored staples have Latin American roots. Pumpkin and many other root vegetables like squash and sweet potatoes are native to Mexico and Central America (Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Belize). While having inspired your favorite fall lattes and treats, they're also seen in traditional Latine food, like Mexican "calabaza en tacha" or candied pumpkin that's served on Dia de Muertos.

2. French fries and sweet potato fries

Schuster, Christian / Getty Images/Foodcollection

Potatoes originated in Peru, as well as sweet potatoes. Spanish colonizers introduced the food to Europe, making way for favorites like french fries, sweet potato fries, and other potato and sweet potato renditions like mashed potatoes and sweet potato pie.

3. Acai bowls

Bruno Netto / Getty Images/iStockphoto

The acai palm tree, which is native to both Central and South America, produces acai berries  a deep purple fruit that has many antioxidant properties. The acai bowl can be credited directly to Brazil and its creator, Carlos Gracie, who blended frozen acai pulp with banana and popularized the dish in the 1980s.

4. Caesar salad

Eyewolf / Getty Images

Caesar salad was actually invented in Tijuana, Mexico at Caesars Restaurante-Bar. Cesare Cardini was an Italian immigrant who moved to the United States in the 1910s, but relocated to Mexico in the '20s to open his business and escape Prohibition. The salad was a work on improvisation, combining leftover ingredients together during a busy service on the 4th of July.

5. Quinoa and other grain bowls

5ph / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Quinoa is considered an ancient grain that comes from a plant native to Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. It was also first cultivated in areas South America (Colombia, Argentina, and Ecuador). Traditionally, quinoa was a food staple and sacred crop for the Incas.

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6. Avocado toast

Arx0nt / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Avocados are native to Mexico and other Latin American countries, so without them, this brunch necessity could not have existed.

7. Hot chocolate

Marcos Elihu Castillo Ramirez / Getty Images/iStockphoto

The origins or chocolate go back to Mexico and also where the first cacao plants were found. A form of drinking chocolate can be traced all the way back to the Mayans in 500 BC, in which they enjoyed a warm drink of ground cocoa seeds, cornmeal, chile peppers, and other ingredients mixed with water. Today, hot chocolate is still a staple of many Latin American cultures, as anyone who's had the "Is Ibarra or Abuelita hot chocolate better?" debate knows.

8. Zoodles or zucchini spaghetti

Westend61 / Getty Images/Westend61

While zucchini are now grown in the US and have become a popular, low-carb pasta substitute, zucchini is a gourd native to Central America and Mexico.

9. Pineapples

Oleksii Polishchuk / Getty Images/iStockphoto

While you probably associate pineapples with Hawaii, the fruit is not actually native to the islands. They're believed to originally have come from the rainforest in Brazil, and then spread throughout Central and South America.

10. Ceviche

Jackf / Getty Images/iStockphoto

This chilled fish dish cooked in lime juice is the perfect appetizer or main course. It's said to have come from Peru, but there is also a debate on whether it actually originated in Ecuador.

11. Chili and cornbread

Michaeljust / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Chili, while it may be considered a Tex-Mex favorite, would not be possible without the chile pepper  native to Bolivia  and corn  native to Mexico.

12. Butternut squash soup

Zia_shusha / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Similarly to pumpkin, butternut squash is native to Mexico and Central America. The squash is high in vitamin A and was only made popular in the US in the 1940s.

13. Chia seed smoothies and bars

Gannamartysheva / Getty Images/iStockphoto

The chia seed is also an ancient grain and superfood that is native to Mexico and Guatemala. Now the seed has been popularized in American health foods for its omega-3s, proteins, and other health benefits.

14. And finally, cashews

Priscila Zambotto / Getty Images

The cashew plant is native to Brazil, specifically in the northeast. Aside from the nut you probably know and enjoy, other parts of the cashew are also enjoyed, like juice from the cashew apple.

Latine Heritage Month is here! Join us in celebrating from September 15 to October 15 and support our content celebrating la cultura.
A former Seattle resident accused of dumping body parts around central Arizona has been convicted of more than two dozen felonies.

According to a news release for the Yavapai County Attorney's Office, on Sept. 29, a Yavapai County jury found 61-year-old Walter Harold Mitchell guilty of 29 counts of abandonment or concealment of a dead body, all Class 5 felonies.

Mitchell was arrested in late December 2020 in his Scottsdale apartment after the Yavapai County Sheriffs Office found 24 human body limbs and five heads in a remote forest area north of Prescott.

Mitchell had moved there earlier from Washington state, where he owned a whole-body donation business called "FutureGenex." His business permanently closed in April 2020 and he took the donor parts with him in a U-Haul truck on dry ice when he moved to Arizona, prosecutors said.

Walter Mitchell, a former Science Care executive and co-founder of Biogift and Innoved, in Mesa, Ariz., on Aug. 3, 2017.

Officials say most body parts were marked with silver tags and serial numbers, which is an identification system used for donor parts.

He kept the parts in a freezer in a shed north of Prescott in Chino Valley and told authorities later that he dumped them in late November 2020, prosecutors said. He was arrested after selling the freezer and moving to Scottsdale.

A $10K heist and a serial killer novel: The backstory of an Arizona man accused of dumping body parts in bushes

The remains that included arms, legs and heads have been linked to nine people, Deputy Yavapai County Attorney Casi Harris said previously.

According to the release, Mitchell's sentencing is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 31.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Walter Mitchell found guilty of dumping body parts in Arizona hills
Brenda Brennan sits next to a boat that pushed against her apartment when Hurricane Ian passed through the area on Sept. 29, 2022, in Fort Myers, Florida. Mrs. Brennan said the boat floated in around 7 p.m. Joe Raedle / Getty Images

At least 85 people have been killed in Hurricane Ian, and authorities are continuing to take stock of the full death toll and damage after Floridas west coast was battered by high winds and inundated with a devastating storm surge.

Some parts of North Carolina, Florida, and Puerto Rico are without power, with nearly 600,000 people in Florida alone as of Monday afternoon. Clean drinking water is scarce for many residents in Florida, and several counties are under boil-water advisories.

As of Monday, the state had recorded 58 storm-related deaths, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. An additional 23 people in Charlotte County died directly or indirectly from the hurricane, the county commissioner said in a press conference Sunday.

More than half of the deaths in Florida were in Lee County, where 42 people have died, according to state officials. With search and rescue teams still active, that number may increase; on Thursday, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno had painted a grave picture on Good Morning America, saying, "While I don't have confirmed numbers, I definitely know the fatalities are in the hundreds. There are thousands of people that are waiting to be rescued.

Four people were also killed in North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper said Saturday. On Monday, a spokesperson for the North Carolina Department of Public Safety told BuzzFeed News no additional deaths had been recorded in the state.

Eight Florida counties, mostly along the southwest part of the state, have recorded storm-related deaths, with victims ages ranging from 22 to 94. Many of the deaths were drownings, but they also include a 62-year-old woman who died after a tree fell on a mobile home, a 22-year-old woman who was ejected from an ATV rollover on a washed-out road in Manatee County, and a 71-year-old man who fell off a roof while putting up rain shutters, the Department of Law Enforcement said. Three people died due to their oxygen machines failing during power outages, the Miami Herald reported.

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A car drives through a flooded neighborhood in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers, Florida, on Sept. 29, 2022. Ricardo Arduengo / AFP via Getty Images

The hurricane, now downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone as it moves over Virginia and North Carolina, is expected to be among the costliest in US history. President Joe Biden tweeted Saturday that its likely to rank among the worst in the nations history.

Ian initially made landfall Wednesday afternoon as a Category 4 hurricane with winds up to 150 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. Entire neighborhoods were leveled. The storm also inundated Floridas southwestern regions with catastrophic flooding; some parts of North Port are still under 7 to 8 feet of water, according to the local fire chief.

A flooded neighborhood in North Port, Florida Satellite image 2022 Maxar Technologies

Video on social media showed the nearby Myakka River overflowing into the streets, forcing the closure of a miles-long section of Interstate 75 Friday night. The highway was clogged with evacuee traffic, which was at a standstill for hours.

Ian made landfall again in South Carolina on Friday morning as a post-tropical cyclone, but the NHC still warned of the life-threatening storm surge and winds.

In Floridas Lee County, among the states hardest-hit regions, the storm obliterated homes in Fort Myers Beach.

Kaitlin Knapp, a reporter for Fox 4 in Fort Myers, uploaded a video showing the damage in her flooded home, where the flood line reached about 3 feet.

I just wanted to show this to you guys. Im not looking for pity. Im not looking for Im sorry. I want to show you guys this is what Hurricane Ian did to this community, she says in the video. Were going to get through this and were going to rebuild one way or another. The light at the end of the tunnel will be there. Doesnt seem like it now, but it will be.

Brian Siebert becomes emotional as he looks at what remains of his home on Sept. 30, 2022, in Fort Myers, Florida. Six feet of water inundated the apartment. Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Part of the Sanibel Causeway bridge, which connects the mainland with the Sanibel and Captiva barrier islands, collapsed. That area is going to be out of commission for some time, US Coast Guard Commander Rear Admiral McPherson said during a press conference Saturday, estimating that FEMA has done around 400 rescues from the barrier islands. It was hit very hard. It does not have water, it doesnt have the basic infrastructure.

The Sanibel Causeway bridge in Sanibel, Florida, Sept. 29, 2022 Joe Raedle / Getty Images

The Sanibel Causeway bridge Ricardo Arduengo / AFP via Getty Images

At least 2.5 million Floridians were under an evacuation order ahead of the hurricane making landfall. Earlier models had shown Ian heading north, but its trajectory veered directly eastward into the state. That left thousands of people in the states southwest counties with less than 24 hours to get out, the Tampa Bay Times noted.

Officials in Lee County were hours later in their announcement than other coastal counties, leading some to question the lack of urgency despite the forthcoming devastation being apparent days earlier.

Kevin Ruane, a Lee County commissioner, said it appeared that the worst would be farther north, so an extensive evacuation order was put off.

I think we responded as quickly as we humanly could have, he said.

Ive been in the business of local government and county management for many, many years, Lee County Manager Roger Desjarlais said in a press conference. I dont remember the last time we had to manage a hurricane that was as difficult as this one.

More on this
JEFFERSON CITY  Republican lawmakers approved a plan to cut income taxes in Missouri on Thursday, abandoning a last-minute addition that would have also slashed tax rates for businesses while sending a package to Gov. Mike Parson's desk over the strong objections of Democrats.

The final deal reduces the top individual income tax rate from its current 5.3% to 4.95% in 2023, followed by another future cut that would bring it down to 4.8% and a series of "triggers" that would continue to lower the top rate by .1% annually if the state sees significant economic growth. Once the plan is fully implemented, the top individual income tax rate will be 4.5%, lower than all of Missouri's neighboring states. It also removes the bottom income tax bracket, making the first $14,000 of earned income tax-exempt.

Republicans touted the plan, which retains the core requirements of Parson's proposal with slight tweaks, as a no-brainer decision to return money to Missourians' wallets in a time when the state is enjoying a financial cushion and residents are hurting from rising prices and inflation.

The Missouri House of Representatives in the Missouri State Capitol Building on Sept. 14, 2022. Lawmakers returned for a special session while the chamber was still undergoing renovations.

"We are in a situation where due to a variety of reasons, we had an unprecedented general revenue balance that has effectively overtaxed our citizens," said Rep. Cody Smith, a Carthage Republican who chairs the House budget committee. "Even after earlier this year, we passed the largest budget in the state's history, we still have an excessive amount of revenue left over."

Democrats decried the plan as a politically popular but fiscally irresponsible decision that could put critical agencies and programs at risk of underfunding at the next economic downturn, and indicated that the wealthy would be the largest beneficiaries under the plan.

"Republicans are going to go back to their districts and talk about how they're putting more money back in Missourians' pockets," said House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Springfield Democrat. "They won't tell you that most folks will get just a few bucks back a year. They won't tell you that one-third of Missourians will get nothing."

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Tax cuts:How best to cut? Republicans aim for common ground as plans advance through Senate

Passage of the plan in the House, on a 98-32 vote, came after Republicans on the budget committee attempted to add on a cut to the state's corporate income tax that would have eventually phased it out altogether. However, that addition was scratched after Parson signaled he would not support it.

A number of other proposed amendments and suggestions from both Democrats and a Republican were not considered. The minority party had prepared to propose a tax credit for teachers, a property tax reduction for senior citizens, and a refundable tax credit for low-income families. But a procedural move by Republican leadership made Democrats unable to propose those measures, which they voiced frustration with during floor debate.

"It sure feels like this was a slick move to prevent amendments from being voted on yet again, that the majority caucus doesn't want to vote on or even have the opportunity to vote on or discuss," said Rep. Peter Merideth, a St. Louis Democrat and the ranking member on the budget committee.

One Republican, Rep. Bill Kidd of Buckner, expressed similar frustrations with the plan. He said on the floor he preferred that the chamber move to cut personal property tax, which would provide more immediate relief to those on low or fixed incomes.

"If you're on a fixed income or low income, this tax cut's really not going to do much for you at all," Kidd said. "That's the truth."

An outside analysis of the plan by the think tank Missouri Budget Project projected it would primarily benefit the wealthy. An average person making between $22,000 and $40,000 would see about $29 per year in savings under the plan once fully implemented, according to the group; the average person making more than $552,000 would see about $9,578.

For subscribers:Missouri legislature plans to cut income tax. Is it well-timed relief or a potential pitfall?

In a statement Thursday, Parson praised the General Assembly's work and said his administration has now cut Missouri's income tax rate by a full percentage point, or an almost 15% reduction. His original proposal asked for an immediate cut down to 4.8%, which was altered, and an increase in the standard deduction, which was not included in lawmakers' final proposal.

Across the building last week, early negotiations ran into a number of disagreements but eventually found common ground among Republicans through a joint proposal sponsored by Sens. Lincoln Hough of Springfield and Andrew Koenig of St. Louis. Hough said in a statement Thursday the package "establishes a fiscally-responsible blueprint that will continue to provide tax relief to hardworking Missourians for years to come." The plan passed the Senate 26-4, with Democrats in the chamber split.

Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield (right) testifies to the House budget committee about his tax cut proposal on Sept. 28, 2022 at the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City.

Once fully implemented over the coming years, the plan would reduce Missouri's annual general revenue by around $764 million, an updated special session call issued by the governor's office Thursday indicated. An outside analysis of the plan by the Missouri Budget Project estimated the annual revenue reduction at approximately $1.1 billion once it's fully implemented. Missouri brought in a record $12.9 billion of revenue last fiscal year, and ended with about $5 billion in surplus.

The legislature still needs to pass the other requirement Parson outlined in his call for a special session, which are extensions of tax credits for agricultural programs and industries. The Senate will convene Monday.

Galen Bacharier covers Missouri politics & government for the News-Leader. Contact him at gbacharier@news-leader.com, (573) 219-7440 or on Twitter @galenbacharier.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Legislature passes Missouri income tax cut, with no cut for businesses
They're waves so big they can be seen from spaceand NASA just released satellite imagery of this lesser-known natural phenomenon. The agency has captured the world's "tallest, longest, fastest, and heaviest waves" around the globe, and even if you're not a surfer, it's an interesting look at how our planet works. Read on to find out more.

1

The World's Tallest, Longest, Fastest and Heaviest Waves





NASA revealed the satellite-taken images in a video. They record Earth's tallest waves crashing into the coast of Portugal and the fastest wave racing into Hawaii. The world's tallest and longest waves were also recordedin Tahiti and Peru, respectively. Keep reading to learn more and see the video.

2

"So Magnificent," They're Visible From Space

"There are some places where these waves are so magnificent, they can be seen from space," the video's narrator says. "With the broad perspective of satellites, we can see how these iconic waves develop into the world's tallest, longest, fastest, and heaviest." In Hawaii, for example, summer storms create extremely fast waves known as "freight trains" off the coast of Maui. This is caused by the "dramatic transition of the seafloor from deep water to shallow."

3

Underwater Landmark Powers Portugal's Waves

In Portugal, "waves are magnified and focused by a deep underwater canyon that comes to an end at Nazare Bay," the video's narrator says. The waves also can get their punch from far-away storms. A Portuguese surfer reportedly rode a wave that was more than 100 feet tall.

4

Tahiti's Distance Creates Big Waves

Tahiti is known as a remote escape, and its distance from other land creates some terrific waves. "The swells from storms thousands of miles away often travel unimpeded across the South Pacific toward the southern coast," the narrator says in the video. "These southwesterly swells carry energy across the deep, open ocean until crashing into the very shallow reef off Teahupo'o."

5

A Surfer's Delight In Peru

According to NASA, in Peru, the long waves at Chicama are influenced by the shape of the land. "Waves arriving from the open Pacific roll nearly parallel to this part of Peru's coastline," the video's narrator said. "They start to roll up at a cape that juts into the Pacific. Then they progressively break at a series of four points along the shoreline." When the conditions are right, surfers can ride the waves at Chicama for minutes at a time. "All of these iconic waves are shaped by the unique features of our oceans and coasts," the agency notes. "There are many other coasts with waves revered by surfers. Given the vastness of Earth, there are probably a few more to be discovered."
The truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas

By Cynthia Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea off its east coast on Saturday, hours before South Korea staged a large military show, displaying stealth fighters and its own missiles.

Pyongyang's fourth launch in a week comes amid a flurry of military muscle-flexing by countries in the region, including joint anti-submarine exercises on Friday by the navies of South Korea, the United States and Japan.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visited the region this week, meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in Seoul on Thursday.

The rival Koreas are in a regional arms race that has seen a major increase of weapons and military spending.

Marking South Korea's 74th Armed Forces Day, Yoon condemned what he called recent military provocations by the North and vowed to strengthen joint military drills with the United States.

"The government will further strengthen the Korea-U.S. joint exercises, will respond strongly to North Korean provocations and threats by showing them the 'Alliance in Action'," Yoon said in a televised speech.

He and military officials observed a major show of advanced weaponry, including multiple rocket launchers, ballistic missiles, main battle tanks, drones and F-35 fighter aircraft, among other systems.

The U.S. military demonstrated fighter jets and attack aircraft. Images of the event showed Yoon saluting from the back of a convertible car while driving by rows of tanks and other weapons.

He has said his country's conventional weapons are key to deterring the North, and Seoul has also been seeking more major arms sales around the world.

Japan's Defense Ministry said in a report in July the North had been launching short-range missiles that fly low and irregular trajectories, characteristics observed since May 2019 that are likely designed for higher war-fighting effectiveness.

The United Nations Security Council has imposed sanctions on the North for its ballistic missile and nuclear tests. Pyongyang rejects such moves as infringement of its sovereign right to self-defence and space exploration.

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The North has completed preparations for a nuclear test, a window which could open between China's Communist Party Congress this month and U.S. mid-term elections in November, South Korean lawmakers said on Wednesday.

MISSILE RACE

Saturday's two short-range missiles were launched from Sunan, north of the capital Pyongyang, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. It estimated the range at 350 km (220 miles) at 30 km (20 miles) altitude and speed of Mach 6.

Japan's coast guard reported at least two suspected ballistic missile tests by Pyongyang. The missiles flew 400 km and 350 km, reaching an altitude of 50 km, said Toshiro Ino, state minister of defence.

Tokyo has lodged a protest against the North through diplomatic channels, Ino said, adding the missiles possibly flew an "irregular trajectory" designed to evade missile defence.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said it is aware of the ballistic missile launches and has assessed they do not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory or to its allies.

North Korea fired missiles before and after Harris' visit to South Korea, extending a record pace in weapons testing this year as it increases the threat of a credible nuclear power that can strike the United States and its allies.

Pyongyang also conducted the first intercontinental ballistic missile test since 2017.

Analysts see the increased pace of testing as an effort to build operational weapons, as well as to take advantage of a world distracted by the Ukraine conflict and other crises to normalise its tests.

Despite North Koreas internal weaknesses and international isolation, it is rapidly modernising weapons and taking advantage of a world divided by U.S.-China rivalry and Russias annexation of more Ukrainian territory, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international politics at Ewha University in Seoul.

The Kim regime is also playing hardball with the Yoon administration while South Korean politics are hobbled by infighting, he said.

(Reporting by Cynthia Kim and Chang-Ran Kim; Additional reporting by Josh Smith and Ju-min Park; Editing by Jack Kim, Muralikumar Anantharaman and William Mallard)
Drax Biomass converts pine timber and sawmill residual fiber into biomass pellets that are used to generate power in the United Kingdom. Hammermills reduce the size of wood chips.

MARSHALL - In its Aug. 2 meeting the county planning board tabled a vote on proposed additions to its Land Use Ordinance relating to language on biomass facilities.

The county took the issue a step further when it announced it will vote in its Oct. 10 meeting on instating a temporary ban on biomass facilities.

County Land Use Attorney John Noor issued a moratorium draft outlining the proposed temporary ban, as he did with the county's six-month ban on new event venues in June, during the Madison County Board of Commissioners' Sept. 19 meeting.

According to Noor, the key language introduced in the draft moratorium is in defining a biomass facility.

"That's essentially what you'd be putting a moratorium on," Noor said. "So now would be the time to, in particular, think about, well does this cover everything we want to put a moratorium on? Is this over-inclusive, and do we want to tailor it back and provide feedback so that we can change that definition if needed?"

During the Aug. 2 meeting, board member Alan Wyatt asked Planning and Zoning Director Terrey Dolan and Development Services Director Brad Guth what specifically prompted the proposed language additions, and Guth said an unnamed power company reached out to him about potentially bringing business to Madison.

"I had an inquiry about a biomass facility," Guth said. "I don't have a lot of specifics about it. Just like any economic development project, they had a third party working for them. We don't have anything on the books to regulate a biomass facility. So, if they applied, we would basically have to deal with that during the application process. I felt in talking with Terrey that we needed to have something on the books to address biomass - whether it be the big industrial-type facility, or if it was a smaller thing."

Also during the Aug. 2 meeting, roughly 10 residents spoke out against the prospect of bringing a biomass facility to the county, including Louis Zeller, the former executive director of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League.

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"Biomass is part of the problem, not part of the solution," Zeller said. "Biomass combustion is combustion of organic matter. Substituting wood for coal does not reduce carbon emissions. If I was a planning board member, my hair would be on fire - if I had any left - about doing something to prevent what's happening in Kentucky, or what's happening in California, from happening here in North Carolina."

Marshall resident and local environmental advocacy organization Clear Sky Madison founder Jim Tibbetts outlined why he felt apprehensive about the potential for the county to host a biomass facility.

"Until we get clearer rules in place, we're an easy target for predator industries that are coming in, global industries that have plants all over the world, to come in and decimate our forests, as they have in the Southeast already."

According to Noor, the moratorium would allow the Planning Board time to draft specific language relating to biomass facilities in the Land Use Ordinance.

"What the Planning Board essentially said is, 'We need more time to wrestle with this, to come up with a well-educated recommendation to you all,'" Noor said. "In the interim, because we have received inquiries at the county about these types of facilities, it'd be better to put the moratorium in place, give the planning board time to come up with the regulations, bring those to you all so that nothing can be submitted in the interim, and lock in essentially no rules.

"Under your current ordinance, what would happen is if a biomass facility was proposed, Terrey would have to try to find the most closely related definitional use in your ordinance, and apply those standards," Noor said. "Keep in mind, in your Residential-Agricultural districts, which is about 95% of the county, there are definitions that would currently allow those to be used by right. So, this again gives staff the time to come up with the right regulations and prevent any applications at the same time."

Next steps

The Planning Board will issue its proposed Land Use Ordinance biomass language addition changes to the county commissioners prior to the Oct. 10 meeting.

"The moratorium will buy the time necessary for the Planning Board to give it the proper consideration, and allow us to do the same," Commissioner Matt Wechtel said.

Noor said the county could also form a focus group panel, as it did with the courthouse renovation project and its public safety/emergency management radio system overhaul.

The Madison County Board of Commissioners will vote on the proposed biomass facility language Land Use Ordinance changes in its Oct. 10 meeting, which will take place at 7 p.m. at the N.C. Cooperative Extension, located at 258 Carolina Lane in Marshall.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Madison County to vote on proposed biomass facility moratorium
Former President Donald Trump (L) and the USS John S. McCain at the U.S. Naval base in Yokosuka, Japan (R).. Brandon Bell/Getty Images, Eugene Hoshiko/AP

Trump's White House requested the USS John S. McCain be kept "out of sight" from the president.

Newly obtained emails reveal the request, which was made before Trump visited a US Navy base in Japan.

The former president had a long-running feud with the Arizona senator.

Donald Trump's White House asked officials to keep a warship named after the late Sen. John McCain out of sight when he visited a US Navy base in Japan in 2019, according to emails newly obtained by Bloomberg.

In the emails, a US Indo-Pacific Command staffer told the US Navy: "USS John McCain needs to be out of sight." Another email asked to "please confirm" that the request would be "satisfied."

The USS John S. McCain was named for the late senator, his father, and grandfather, all veterans of the Navy.

Navy officials responded by using a "banner" and "paint scaffolding" to partially obscure the ship's name, according to the emails.

Military officials appeared to be shocked by the request. "This just makes me sad," one said. "I could see that becoming a Tweet..." said another email.

At the time, Trump denied having requested to keep the ship out of sight and said it must have been done by a "well-meaning person" who knew he didn't like McCain.

The emails, obtained by Bloomberg reporter Jason Leopold through a Freedom of Information Act request, corroborate the previous reporting by The Wall Street Journal about the request.

Images published by The Journal at the time showed tarp covering the ship's name on Friday. The paper reported that this was removed the following day, ahead of the presidential visit, and that a barge later blocked the name but was also moved.

The paper reported that the ship's sailors, who typically wear caps bearing its name, were also given the day off during Trump's visit.

Then-Navy Chief of Information Rear Adm. Charlie Brown denied that the ship had been hidden from view during Trump's visit and did not acknowledge that its name had at all been obscured.

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"The name of USS John S. McCain was not obscured during the POTUS visit to Yokosuka on Memorial Day. The Navy is proud of that ship, its crew, its namesake and its heritage," Brown said in a tweet in May 2019.

The emails redact almost all of the emails from the White House, but the responses appear to reveal that the directive to hide the ship did come directly from it.

The former president had a long-running feud with the Arizona senator, who was an outspoken critic of Trump from the start of his candidacy and throughout his presidency.

The late Sen. John McCain. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Trump frequently attacked McCain and denigrated his war service, stating he did not believe he was a war hero as he was held as a prisoner of war for years in Vietnam.

Trump avoided being drafted during the Vietnam War by receiving five draft deferments, four as a student and one medical deferment for a bone spur in his foot. McCain later appeared to cast aspersions on this, commenting on wealthy people using alleged ailments like bone spurs to draft dodge.

The former president has continued to attack the senator even after his death from brain cancer in 2018.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Death toll reaches 30, 88 injured in shelling of convoy in Zaporizhia

A total of 88 people were injured in shelling of a humanitarian convoy in Zaporizhia, Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov has said.

"Yesterday, the enemy launched a missile attack on the exit point for civilian vehicles from Zaporizhia to the temporarily occupied territory. Some 118 people were injured, 30 of them died, including two children," Fedorov wrote on the Telegram channel on Saturday morning.

According to the mayor, to leave Zaporizhia at the enemy checkpoint in Vasylivka, they are required to fill out a form.

"There is a possibility of departure to Georgia via Crimea," he said.

Also yesterday, the movement of S-300 missile systems from the Azov area to Melitopol was recorded.
The U.S. on Thursday sanctioned firms in China, India, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates that it alleges have aided Iran, tightening the screws as the Biden administration seeks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

New sanctions target two Chinese firms that the U.S. contends facilitate Iranian petroleum trade, according to a release from the State Department.

U.S. officials said Zhonggu Storage and Transportation Co. Ltd. operates a commercial crude oil storage facility for Iranian oil while WS Shipping Co. Ltd. has managed a ship that transported Iranian oil.

The State Department slapped additional designations on eight entities elsewhere in Asia for their involvement in Irans petrochemical trade.

Officials said the moves to restrict Irans oil and petrochemical sales are a response to the countrys violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an agreement that allowed Iran some relief from U.S. sanctions in return for controls on its nuclear program.

As Iran continues to accelerate its nuclear program in violation of the JCPOA, we will continue to accelerate our enforcement of sanctions on Irans petroleum and petrochemical sales under authorities that would be removed under the JCPOA, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

The Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control said the international network of companies was sanctioned because the companies facilitated the sale of Iranian petrochemicals and petroleum products, according to a release from the Treasury.

The firms were involved in the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian petrochemicals and petroleum products to end users in South and East Asia, according to Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The new economic sanctions come after the Treasury Department sanctioned Irans morality police and other security forces in the country after a 22-year-old woman detained for violating Irans strict dress code died in police custody.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Doreen Coleman, mother of Richard

Doreen Coleman, mother of Richard "Randy" Cox Jr., walks with civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump (middle) and attorney Michael Jefferson during a march for Justice for Randy Cox in New Haven, Connecticut, on July 8, 2022. (Photo: Arnold Gold/New Haven Register via Associated Press)

Lawyers representing a Black man who became paralyzed while in police custody over the summer sued the New Haven Police Department for $100 million on Tuesday.

The suit alleges that an officer failed to safely restrain Randy Cox while he was handcuffed in the back of a police van in June, and that four other officers contributed to injuries while transporting Cox at a police detention center. Cox suffered permanent paralysis below his neck, cervical spine injuries, contusions and injury to his muscle, spinal cord injury, permanent scarring and several other bodily injuries.

Can you imagine what it is like trying to get him here and to the hospital now? Can you imagine what they have to go through? civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing Coxs family, said Tuesday during a news conference in New Haven. He is a human being. Look at the humanity in him. We have a tradition in America of discounting people of color, marginalizing their value.

Cox, 36, has been in and out of the hospital since the incident, and his family has taken care of him. Crump said he was seeking such a high sum because Cox would need $20 million to $30 million just to ensure his basic quality of life.

I want justice for my son, Coxs mother, Doreen Coleman, said at the press conference. He cannot do anything for himself, and I am the one that is here most of the time helping him drink and helping eat food.

Cox was arrested on June 19 for criminal possession of a firearm and carrying a pistol without a permit, then was placed inside of a police van.

The officer driving the van, identified in the lawsuit as Oscar Diaz, braked without warning, causing Coxs body to be violently thrown around in the vehicle, according to the lawsuit.

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Diaz drove for another two minutes and told Cox he could not pull over right away. Once Diaz stopped driving, he opened the door and asked Cox what happened to him. Cox replied: I cant move.

Diaz then called an ambulance and asked the emergency personnel to meet him at the detention center, where he and four other officers removed Cox from the van. Cox was injured and unable to stand, the lawsuit says.

A still from police body camera video shows Cox being pulled from the back of a police van and then placed in a wheelchair after being detained by New Haven Police. (Photo: New Haven Police via Associated Press)

A still from police body camera video shows Cox being pulled from the back of a police van and then placed in a wheelchair after being detained by New Haven Police. (Photo: New Haven Police via Associated Press)

Cox told the officers several times that he thought his neck was broken and that he could not move, according to the suit. The officers placed Cox in a wheelchair and ended up dragging him to a cell by his shoulders while he was still handcuffed.

The lawsuit alleges the five officers on the scene  Diaz, along with Betsy Segui, Ronald Pressley, Jocelyn Lavandier and Luis Rivera  acted with excessive force. It further alleges that the officers actions were intentional, willful and deliberate.

Cox has suffered and continues to suffer great physical and emotional pain, including but not limited to mental anguish, frustration, and anxiety over the fact that he was and remains seriously injured, attorneys wrote in the lawsuit.

The city of New Haven has released six body camera videos of the incident, including a video from Diazs camera that shows Cox unsecured while inside of the van and Diaz stopping the vehicle abruptly.

All five officers involved in the incident are on paid leave.

New Haven Mayor Josh Elicker and other city officials announced new reforms after visiting Cox in the hospital, with the goal of eliminating the use of police vans for transporting individuals who are being detained by police.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
WASHINGTON  President Biden used the results of last weeks prime ministerial election in Italy, which saw hard-right candidate Giorgia Meloni prevail, as a warning of what could befall the United States if the nations politics succumbed to surging authoritarian impulses.

You just saw whats happened in Italy in that election, Biden said at a Wednesday evening fundraiser for the Democratic Governors Association at a private residence in Washington, D.C. Youre seeing whats happening around the world. The reason I bother to say that is you cant be sanguine about whats happening here, either.

Giorgia Meloni, leader of Brothers of Italy, at the center-right coalition's closing rally in Rome, Sept. 22. (Gregorio Borgia/AP)

Melonis Brothers of Italy, which has neo-fascist roots, will be the first far-right party to lead Italy since World War II. The party, which received about 26% of the vote and whose center-right coalition garnered roughly a 44% share, will be tasked to form a coalition government next month. Meloni will also be her countrys first woman premier.

Meloni is an ally of Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, who in recent years has emerged as the leader of European revanchism. His agenda has been embraced by American conservatives, many of whom also see Meloni as a natural ally. America is stronger when Italy is strong, sovereign, prosperous, and free, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wrote in a Twitter message celebrating her victory.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban gestures with his fist on his chest after speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, Aug. 4. (LM Otero/AP)

Her victory was similarly celebrated by Europes far-right. Marine Le Pen, who in April made it to the French presidential runoff election, hailed Meloni for opposing the threats of an antidemocratic and arrogant European Union. In Spain, Santiago Abascal, the leader of the countrys hard-right Vox opposition party, said on Twitter that Meloni has shown the way for a proud and free Europe of sovereign nations that can cooperate on behalf of everybodys security and prosperity.

Praise for Meloni on both sides of the continent could be seen to confirm Bidens argument that authoritarianism is becoming increasingly attractive as many democracies embrace rancor and nationalism. Its awful hard to reach a consensus in [a] short amount of time, he said on Wednesday evening in acknowledging the challenges of democratic rule.

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Both in his remarks then, and in other venues earlier in the day, the president lamented the disappearance of Republicans like Bob Dole and John McCain, who he said could maintain conservative principles without seeking to destroy the institutions that sustain American democracy.

President Biden speaks at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health on Wednesday. (Evan Vucci/AP)

For several months, Biden has been determinedly casting todays Republican Party as having been captured by MAGA Republicans whose adherence to former President Donald Trump imperils, in his view, American democracy. Biden has also compared the ideology powering Trump's movement to semi-fascism, describing its refusal to accept the results of the last presidential election as a deep aversion to democracy.

He warned that Republican governors and state legislators could, if they gain more power, erode the integrity of elections to come.

Today's GOP is a different breed of cat, Biden said, defending his earlier remarks about the Republican Partys supposedly fascistic impulses and describing the economic proposals of Sens. Rick Scott and Ron Johnson as radical measures meant to shred social safety net programs like Social Security.

Criticizing the incompetence of the preceding administration  that is, Trumps  he seemed to suggest that returning either or both chambers of Congress to Republican control would lead to the kind of antidemocratic backslide he and other liberals believe awaits Italy under Meloni.

We have got to win, Biden said. We need to keep control of the Congress, to state the obvious. At one point during his remarks, he was interrupted by the ringing of his phone. He joked that Trump was calling, to laughter from the audience.
Vice President Harris on Wednesday called Chinas recent behavior in the East China Sea, South China Sea and Taiwan Strait disturbing and accused Beijing of attempting to undermine the international rules-based order.

China has challenged the freedom of the seas, Harris said aboard the USS Howard at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan. China has flexed its military and economic might to coerce and intimidate its neighbors.

Tensions between the U.S. and China have been high since Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) made a controversial trip to Taiwan last month, the highest-ranking American official to visit the disputed island in decades.

China responded to the visit with a series of military exercises in the Taiwan Strait.

Harris, however, on Wednesday accused China of using Pelosis visit as a pretext.

We anticipate continued aggressive behavior from Beijing as it attempts to unilaterally undermine the status quo, she said.

President Biden has committed the U.S. to defending Taiwan against attack. However, China issued a warning at the U.N. General Assembly on Saturday that any move to obstruct Chinas reunification is bound to be crushed by the wheels of history.

Harris on Wednesday also pointed to other recent threats to the international order, including Russias war in Ukraine and North Koreas missile launch earlier in the day, just as Harris is set to travel to South Korea on Thursday.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Surrounded by two dozen other housing advocates on Friday, 58-year-old Lexington Heights resident Lisa Walker stood with her cane and a picket sign in Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz's front yard.

"We have nowhere to go," she said. "We have no homes."

Activists marched to the mayor's house to demand help for Athens residents experiencing housing insecurity. Tenants displaced by rent spikes in Lexington Heights, Highland Park and other working-class neighborhoods say that local officials have not done enough to meet their needs.

Athens' eviction fight: 'Can't wrap my head around it': Athens woman battles eviction from Lexington Heights

High cost of living: Athens residents speak out about rent increases, landlord's plan to displace them

Earlier that evening, Georgia House candidate Mokah Jasmine-Johnson held a news conference with several displaced tenants. Though she was not present for the march, she called upon local and state officials to take further action.

"We need for our state officials to do something," she said. "We need for the local officials to do something, and just stop allowing ... the community to carry this weight on our backs."

'Give us the money and shut up'

Last summer, Prosperity Capital Partners, a Florida-based investment company, bought hundreds of affordable housing units throughout Athens. After the purchase, residents saw dramatic rent spikes and new restrictions on income and voucher acceptance.

Those unable to pay are scrambling to find affordable housing. Some are facing eviction.

"It was unacceptable enough before, but in the past few months since Capital Partners purchased the property, the disrespect has gotten even worse," said Highland Park tenant Kathryn Titus. "And there is no respect, you know. It's, 'Give us the money and shut up.'"

Local vs. state

Kathryn Titus, a Highland Park resident, speaks alongside other residents that are facing eviction from their homes by Prosperity Capital Partners and Strategic Management at a rent control and affordable housing rally at city hall in downtown Athens, Ga., on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022.

Local officials have made some moves to support the impacted tenants. Several county commissioners have signed the tenants' demand letter. And last month, Athens Commissioner Tim Denson introduced a measure directing Community Development Block Grant funding to displaced tenants.

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But the key issue lies with state government. Georgia's ban on rent control allows landlords to raise rent prices with little recourse. Additionally, Georgia's Fair Housing Act does not list class or income as a protected characteristic. Landlords can reject applicants based on their usage of Section 8 vouchers.

As marchers made their way back to City Hall from his home, Girtz parked his car next to the crowd and greeted the demonstrators.

Former Lexington Heights resident Barbara Daniel, center, speaks alongside other residents that were evicted from their homes by Prosperity Capital Partners and Strategic Management at a rent control and affordable housing rally at city hall in downtown Athens, Ga., on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022.

Girtz said that if Athens issues rent control laws or introduces new protected characteristics, then the city will be in violation of state law. But activists pointed out that local laws have circumvented state law before, pointing out Athens-Clarke County's recent vote to decriminalize marijuana possession.

But new laws would not immediately help displaced tenants. Former Lexington Heights resident Lisa Walker is moving out of her apartment on Saturday due to the rent spike. She is unsure whether she'll be able to pay for the unexpected moving costs.

"I got to be out by tomorrow. I got two dogs. I got three months in a storage unit, it's $700," she said. "So I don't know where I'm going."

Jasmine-Johnson's campaign manager Imani Scott-Blackwell mentioned the tenants' relief fund, a crowdfunding campaign to cover the costs of moving and rent for displaced tenants.

A tense conversation

Girtz fielded many questions throughout a tense conversation. Walker and fellow housing advocates Barbara Daniel and Somia Collins told him about their struggles with securing help from county organizations. Meanwhile, demonstrators asked why he couldn't work with the county to protect low-income tenants.

"Cities across the state are all dealing with [tenants' rights]. I tell you that we're always going to be more powerful when you work with those folks, with those state laws," said Girtz.

Athens Mayor Kelly Girtz stops to speak with demonstrators from the rent control and affordable housing rally on the steps of the First Christian Church of Athens downtown Athens, Ga., on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. Demonstrators want the city government to take action to stop residents from being evicted from their homes by Prosperity Capital Partners and Strategic Management.

As the conversation wound down, Girtz committed to soliciting a meeting with Prosperity Capital Partners. He also agreed to meet with state officials to discuss creating tenants' rights legislation. Collins and Girtz exchanged phone numbers, with the latter promising to get in touch with her by Oct. 3.

Whether these meetings will help displaced residents remains to be seen. But activists insist that if local or state officials cannot meet tenants' needs, community members will continue to step up.

"Not only am I in the community, I'm of the community," Collins said. "And they cannot shut me up."

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Facing eviction, Georgia demonstrators demand more from government
Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida on Wednesday as a powerful Category 4 storm. Residents across the state were hunkered down, with widespread power outages, damage andat least two fatalities likely linked to the storm.

As of 5 a.m. Thursday, Ian has been downgraded to a tropical storm, according to the National Hurricane Center. It was forecast to move over the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Canaveral, then move up toward South Carolina. It possibly could re-strengthen to a hurricane over the water and approach the South Carolina coast on Friday.

Despite the downgrade, the storm surge continues to be life-threatening across the coasts of northeast Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, with record river flooding expected through the end of the week.

Stedi Scuderi looks over her Fort Myers apartment Thursday morning after flood water inundated it when Hurricane Ian passed through the area. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surge and rain to the area causing severe damage. (Photo: Joe Raedle via Getty Images)

Stedi Scuderi looks over her Fort Myers apartment Thursday morning after flood water inundated it when Hurricane Ian passed through the area. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surge and rain to the area causing severe damage. (Photo: Joe Raedle via Getty Images)

A 72-year-old man was found dead around 1 a.m. Thursday in Deltona after going outside during the storm to drain his swimming pool. The mans wife called for help after he didnt return. Deputies later found him lying unresponsive in a nearby canal that he had been draining the water into, the Volusia County Sheriffs office said.

Earlier Wednesday, officials in Palm Beach County said the body of a 34-year-old man had been found in floodwaters in Martin County. The cause of death was still under investigation, although rescue workers said it was likely linked to the hurricane.

A boat carrying people migrating from Cuba sank in rough waters off Stock Island on Wednesday, according to U.S. Border Patrol. Four people swam to shore, three were rescued and air crews were still searching for 20 people as of Wednesday, CBS News reported.

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno told Good Morning America Thursday that fatalities from the storm are in the hundreds, though he later said he couldnt confirm the numbers. His office declined to comment on the number of fatalities, telling HuffPost that the focus is on search and rescue at this time.

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Brenda Brennan sits next to a boat that pushed against her Fort Meyers apartment when Hurricane Ian passed through the area. (Photo: Joe Raedle via Getty Images)

Brenda Brennan sits next to a boat that pushed against her Fort Meyers apartment when Hurricane Ian passed through the area. (Photo: Joe Raedle via Getty Images)

Florida emergency rescue officials warned residents to stay indoors until the storm passed and to never walk or drive through floodwaters. Should water come into homes, they said, residents should seek the highest indoor level.

President Joe Biden on Thursday approved a major disaster declaration for Florida, making federal funding available for residents in Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Hardee, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Pinellas and Sarasota counties. This funding can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, as well as low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses.

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said he spoke with Biden and that the disaster declaration will likely be expanded to other areas as the storm continues to leave the state.

Governor DeSantis and @CaseyDeSantis Deliver an 8:45 A.M. Update on Hurricane Ian https://t.co/3kEaALSsMz  Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) September 29, 2022

The amount of water thats been rising, and will likely continue to rise today even as the storm is passing, is basically a 500-year flood event, he said of the severity. People should understand, this storm is having broad impacts across the state and some of the flooding youre going to see, in areas that are hundreds of miles from where this made landfall, are going to set records.

DeSantis said many bridges remain closed and impassable in the Fort Myers area until they can be examined for safety issues. Some areas may be without power until local infrastructure can be rebuilt.

Lee and Charlotte are basically off the grid at this point, he said of two counties where the power connections will have to be entirely rebuilt.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Ocean Service reported water levels surged more than 6 feet above normal high tide levels in Naples, Florida, just before Ian made landfall. That figure was far higher than the record of 4.25 feet set during 2017s Hurricane Irma.

Storm surge records were also set in Key West and Fort Myers. Videos from those areas show water flowing through streets.

Looks like the boats are out for an afternoon stroll in the city as Hurricane Ian is causing massive destruction in Fort Myers, Florida. #HurricanIan#IanHurricane#Hurricanepic.twitter.com/9ZZI1WRYG4  Jayden X (@nojaydenx) September 28, 2022

Firefighters look out at a firetruck stopped amid water from a storm surge caused by Hurricane Ian. (Photo: Naples Fire Department via Associated Press)

Firefighters look out at a firetruck stopped amid water from a storm surge caused by Hurricane Ian. (Photo: Naples Fire Department via Associated Press)

Earlier Wednesday, DeSantis warned those further inland to prepare for major, major flooding events, urging Floridians to heed mandatory evacuation orders. He said the storm surge was as high as 12 feet in some areas, describing the storm as battering the southwest part of the state.

This is a big one, and I think we all know theres going to be major, major impacts, he said at a news briefing. At a minimum, its going to be a very strong Category 4 thats going to rank as one of the top five hurricanes to ever hit the Florida peninsula.

Water levels in Naples, Florida have reached more than 6' above normal high tide ahead of #Ian's landfall of, eclipsing the station record of 4.25 feet set during Hurricane Irma in 2017. NOAA is continuing to monitor water levels throughout the region (1/2) pic.twitter.com/8JVwcbmvbv  NOAA's Ocean Service (@noaaocean) September 28, 2022

Residents leave with their belongings Wednesday after an apparent overnight tornado spawned by Hurricane Ian hit the Kings Point 55+ community in Delray Beach. (Photo: Carline Jean /South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)

Residents leave with their belongings Wednesday after an apparent overnight tornado spawned by Hurricane Ian hit the Kings Point 55+ community in Delray Beach. (Photo: Carline Jean /South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)

Across the state, nearly 2.5 million people had lost power, according to PowerOutage.us.

Rescue workers were sifting through hundreds of rescue calls, The Miami Herald reported, although 911 centers were down in some counties heavily affected by the storm.

We are getting a significant number of calls of people trapped by water in their homes, the Collier County Sheriffs Office, which encompasses Naples, said in a statement obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Some are reporting life threatening medical emergencies in deep water. We will get to them first. Some are reporting water coming into their house but not life threatening.

They will have to wait, the office added. Possibly until the water recedes.

The National Hurricane Center said Ians effects would likely be felt for days. The storm is expected to move up the coast, bringing a life-threatening storm surge on Thursday and Friday to northeast Florida and into Georgia and South Carolina.

A Kings Point resident looks through her broken window Wednesday as a man boards up another window smashed in an apparent tornado spawned by Hurricane Ian. (Photo: Carline Jean /South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)

A Kings Point resident looks through her broken window Wednesday as a man boards up another window smashed in an apparent tornado spawned by Hurricane Ian. (Photo: Carline Jean /South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)

By Wednesday afternoon, Ian was barreling toward Florida with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph, just shy of becoming a Category 5 monster. Just hours later the National Hurricane Center said Ian had made landfall as an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane.

Its the strongest storm to hit the state since the devastating Hurricane Michael hit Florida in 2018.

Ians power had sucked seawater from Tampa Bay in whats known as a negative storm surge. Officials said the phenomenon could prove dangerous when the water returns, propelled by fierce winds. Residents were warned to stay away from shorelines with receding tides, saying the whiplash could be life-threatening.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
It sounds like Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis have been going through their family photo albums!

Kate Middleton and Prince William stepped out in Wales on Tuesday, marking their first visit to the nation since becoming the Prince and Princess of Wales following the death of Queen Elizabeth. While meeting well-wishers, Kate spotted one person who was holding a flag featuring the couple's engagement photo from 2010.

"Oh my goodness, is that from our engagement?" the royal said in a video shared by TikTok user mariahedges8. "We always laugh about this. Although we've been married for 11 years, we've been together for double that, so it's extraordinary."

Kate then revealed her three children's reactions to seeing the snaps: "The children look back at the photos and say, 'Mummy, you look so young!' "

RELATED: All About Kate Middleton and Prince William's Special Connection to Wales

Prince William and Kate Middleton pose for photographs in the State Apartments of St James Palace on November 16, 2010 in London, England. After much speculation, Clarence House today announced the engagement of Prince William to Kate Middleton. The couple will get married in either the Spring or Summer of next year and continue to live in North Wales while Prince William works as an air sea rescue pilot for the RAF. The couple became engaged during a recent holiday in Kenya having been together for eight years.

Chris Jackson/Getty Kate Middleton and Prince William on the day of their engagement announcement

Kate and Prince William, both 40, met as students at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. They publicly announced their engagement in Nov. 2010, a few weeks after William popped the question (with mother Princess Diana's sapphire and diamond ring!) while they were vacationing in Kenya.

Their visit to Wales this week was particularly special, as it was a return to where they lived as newlyweds and first-time parents while Prince William worked as a helicopter pilot with the Royal Air Force's Search and Rescue Force.

"It's nice coming back to Wales because it was where we lived before we had our family and everything, so it's been a really special day," the Princess of Wales told those gathered.

Prince William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales leave St Thomas Church, which has been has been redeveloped to provide support to vulnerable people, during their visit to Wales on September 27, 2022 in Swansea, Wales.

Chris Jackson/Getty Prince William and Kate Middleton

Locals tell PEOPLE that the royal couple is immersing themselves in their new roles. Rev. Steven Bunting  who hosted them at St. Thomas's Church in Swansea, home to a food bank and baby supply hub for families in need  says William is even learning the ancient national language.

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"He talked about learning Welsh and shared some Welsh phrases he's trying to do," Bunting says, revealing that the prince was practicing the phrases "paned" (a cup, such as of tea) and "bara brith" (traditional Welsh tea bread).

RELATED: Kate Middleton Accepts Flowers from an Enchanted 4-Year-Old in Wales  and Seems Just as Charmed!

Britain's Prince George of Cambridge, Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Britain's Prince Louis of Cambridge, Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Britain's Princess Charlotte of Cambridge arrive for a settling in afternoon at Lambrook School, near Ascot in Berkshire on September 7, 2022 on the eve of their first school day.

JONATHAN BRADY/POOL/AFP via Getty Prince George, Kate Middleton, Prince Louis, Prince William and Princess Charlotte

The reverend adds it meant so much that Prince William and Princess Kate visited when they did, traveling to Wales the day after the mourning period for Queen Elizabeth ended.

"He is throwing himself into the new role," Bunting says of Prince William. "The fact that they've come straight here on day one says it all."

The Prince And Princess Of Wales Visit Wales

Matthew Horwood/Getty Images Charlotte and Kate Middleton

They were especially a hit with the Welsh children. A 4-year-old boy named Theo Crompton looked thrilled to present Kate with flowers, while 2-year-old Charlotte gave the Princess a huge hug.

Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!

While chatting with a group of schoolchildren, Kate complimented one boy's uniform and revealed that Prince George is mastering a new skill.

Prince William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales arrive at St Thomas Church, which has been has been redeveloped to provide support to vulnerable people, during their visit to Wales on September 27, 2022 in Swansea, Wales

Samir Hussein/WireImage Kate Middleton and Prince William

Hello! reported that Kate asked the child if he had tied his own tie and was duly impressed when he confirmed that he did.

"Well done, you. I've been teaching George because he has got to wear a tie now for school, so I'm having to teach him how to do it," she said. "But well done, you've done a good job with your tie. Nice to meet you."
Lordstown Motors test drives the Endurance pickup outside the newly revamped plant on Tuesday, June 22, 2021 in Lordstown, Ohio.

Lordstown Motors has started commercial manufacturing of its all-electric Endurance pickup truck at the Foxconn plant in Trumbull County.

The electric vehicle maker, which has faced financial and managerial problems, says it has built two Endurance all-wheel-drive pickups, with plans to complete 50 by the end of the year. The company said it hopes to increase the rate of production in 2023 as it continues to "explore opportunities" to raise needed funds.

We will continue to build at a slow rate as we address remaining part pedigree and part availability issues. We expect to increase the speed of production into November and December, Edward Hightower, chief executive officer and president, said in a news release.

The Endurance pickup features an electric motor in each wheel hub. Plans are to sell the Endurance to commercial customers such as fleet operators, not to the general public.

Northeast Ohio startup Lordstown Motors gave demonstration rides of its all electric Endurance pickup truck during its Lordstown Week event.

Lordstown Motors seeking additional capital

Lordstown Motors said it anticipates ending the third quarter with approximately $195 million in cash and cash equivalents and will end 2022 with approximately $110 million. The company said its cash outlook is better than its previous outlook by approximately $75 million.

"We continue to explore opportunities for capital raising alternatives, including in connection with the initial Foxconn (joint venture) program and strategic partnerships," the company said.

Shares of Lordstown Motors fell significantly Thursday on a day when the overall stock market was down. Shares were down 19 cents, or 9.2%, to $1.84 as of 1:38 p.m. Shares have ranged from a low of $1.49 to a high of $8.93 over the past 52 weeks.

Lordstown Motors, which bought the former General Motors Lordstown complex, sold the property to iPhone manufacturer Foxconn in July and received a $230 million infusion of cash. Taiwan-based Foxconn is the contract manufacturer for Lordstown Motors as well as being an investor in the company and also has announced plans to make Fisker Inc. brand electric vehicles at the Northeast Ohio complex.

The former General Motors plant had been a linchpin of the Mahoning Valley economy for decades.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Lordstown Motors starts Endurance pickup production at Foxconn plant
(Bloomberg) -- North Korea fired two suspected ballistic missiles Saturday, adding to one of its biggest weekly barrages at a time global attention has been diverted to Russias war in Ukraine.

Two short-range suspected ballistic missiles were fired from an area near Pyongyangs main international airport into waters off its east coast, South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The missiles traveled a distance of about 350 kilometers (220 miles) and reached an altitude of about 30 kilometers, it said.

The launch brought the total number of missiles fired this week to seven, shot off in four separate volleys that started on Sept. 25. North Korea typically doesnt comment on its missile tests until a day after the fact -- if at all.

This weeks volleys ended a three-month hiatus on ballistic missile tests. United Nations Security Council resolutions prohibit Pyongyang from testing ballistic missiles and detonating nuclear devices.

North Korea is holding on to its obsession with nuclear arms and missiles despite persistent international condemnation, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Saturday in a speech marking the Armed Forces Day. North Korea would face a resolute and overwhelming response if it ever attempted to use nuclear arms, he said.

North Korea has a habit of timing weapons tests to political events and the latest launches coincided with a visit to Japan and South Korea by US Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as the arrival of the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier group to South Korea for joint drills. North Korea has bristled for decades at US-South Korean military exercises, calling them a prelude to an invasion.

During a visit which took her to the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas, Harris warned North Korea against raising tensions and called on Kim Jong Un to return to stalled nuclear disarmament talks. The US, South Korea and Japan have all said that Pyongyang is preparing to conduct its first nuclear test in five years, promising a stern and united response if Pyongyang goes ahead with the blast.

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But the US push to isolate Russia over Vladimir Putins war in Ukraine, coupled with increasing animosity toward China, has allowed Kim to strengthen his nuclear deterrent without fear of facing more sanctions at the UN Security Council. Theres almost no chance Russia or China, which have veto power at the council, would support any measures against North Korea as they did in 2017 following a series of weapons tests that prompted former President Donald Trump to warn of fire and fury.

The two countries in late May vetoed A Security Council resolution drafted by the US to ratchet up sanctions on North Korea for its ballistic missile tests this year.

Putin on Friday vowed his annexation of four occupied regions in Ukraine is irreversible, as the Russian president formalized Europes biggest land grab since World War II and accused the West of trying to subjugate his country.

So far in 2022, the North Korean leader has fired off more ballistic missiles than in any other year of his decade in power. These include missiles that could hit the US and rockets designed to evade US-operated interceptors, increasing the threat of a credible nuclear strike against America and its allies in Asia.

Pyongyang is also seeking to miniaturize warheads for potential tactical strikes and build more powerful weapons for its missiles that could carry a warhead to the US mainland.

Kim has ignored Biden administration calls to return to denuclearization talks that broke down after Trump walked out of a summit with the North Korean leader in 2019. Even though the summits were unprecedented, they didnt lead to any measures to wind down North Koreas nuclear arsenal, which has only grown in size and strength.

(Updates with speech by South Korea president)

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SOUTH BEND  A heated argument between two men on South Michigan Street was the cause of a fatal shooting this week, officials say, as police have arrested a South Bend man for the murder of Christopher Yakim.

Yakim, 37, was killed at his home in the 2100 block of South Michigan Street Wednesday night and murder charges were filed on Thursday against 32-year-old Jerrod Sanders in connection to Yakim's death. The charges were kept sealed until Friday, when Sanders was arrested in Berrien County, the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office said in a release.

South Bend police officers responded to the residence on Michigan Street around 9 p.m. Wednesday on reports of gunfire. As units arrived, they heard a woman screaming "my boyfriend was shot" and saw the door to the house ajar with bullet holes in it. Yakim was lying unresponsive on the ground with bullet wounds and was taken to the hospital where he later died.

Niles shootings:Residents feel unsafe following string of homicides

According to court documents filed in the case, the woman at the scene talked to officers and told them Yakim was her boyfriend and had been shot by Sanders. The woman said she and Yakim were at a gas station and got into an argument which caused her to call Sanders to pick up her and take her back to the house on South Michigan Street where she and Yakim lived.

When Sanders dropped her off at the house, however, he pulled out a gun and confronted Yakim who was on the front porch of the house, court documents say. At one point during the altercation, Yakim went inside the house when Sanders got angry and told Yakim "not to turn his back on him."

Yakim closed the door of his house, the woman told police, and Sanders then allegedly fired three rounds through the door before getting in his car and driving away.

Sanders faces a 45- to 65-year sentence if convicted, however, a firearm sentencing enhancement could add additional years onto any sentence imposed. Officials say Sanders is currently being held in Berrien County while he awaits his transfer back to St. Joseph County on the murder charge.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend crime: Murder charge filed, South Michigan Street homicide
By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan and Pakistan have discussed prospects of cooperation in the small and medium businesses sector, Azernews reports.

The discussion took place during a meeting between Azerbaijan's Small and Medium Business Development Agency Board Chairman Orkhan Mammadov with a delegation and business representatives of Pakistan's Information Technology and Telecommunications, held on the margins of the Azerbaijani-Pakistani Technology Forum.

"On the sidelines of Azerbaijani-Pakistani #TechForum met with delegation from #Pakistan Ministry of IT and Telecom @MoitOfficial and #business representatives. We exchanged views on future possible partnership opportunities and #KOB?A's planned activities to link #SMEs from both countries," Orkhan Mammadov tweeted.

Azerbaijan and Pakistan cooperate in various sectors of the economy. The relations between the two countries date back to 1991. Pakistan was among the first countries to recognize Azerbaijan's independence.

The trade turnover between the two countries totaled $11.7 million in 2021.
Cars fired upon by occupiers in Kupiansk district found in gray zone, at least 20 people killed, half of them children  SBU

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is investigating criminal proceedings on the fact of the execution of a civilian convoy by the occupiers in the so-called gray zone between the occupied Svatove of Luhansk region and liberated Kupiansk in Kharkiv region, acting head of the SBU Vasyl Maliuk has said.

"At the end of September, the ruschists completely destroyed a convoy of seven cars. At least 20 people were killed, including 10 children. A brutal attack on civilians was made by a sabotage and reconnaissance group of invaders  they shot six old passenger cars from small arms almost point-blank and one GAZelle vehicle," Maliuk said.

"The enemy has once again proved that his goal is the destruction of all Ukrainians, regardless of age and gender. The occupiers are defeated on the battlefield and out of desperation respond to them by killing civilians," Maliuk added.

SBU officers, under the procedural guidance of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office, are investigating this war crime under Part 2 of Article 438 (violation of the rules of warfare, combined with premeditated murder) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The final number of victims is being established, and appropriate examinations are being carried out. Several people who were riding in the shelled convoy managed to escape. Now they are giving their testimony to the investigators.

At present, the identity of those killed by the Russians is being established, and a comprehensive recording and collection of evidence of this crime for the International Criminal Court is underway. Also, the SBU is doing everything possible to identify those involved in the murder of civilians.

"Such crimes do not have a statute of limitations, the perpetrators of these crimes will certainly be held accountable for their deeds," the SBU said.
Photo Illustration by Erin O'Flynn/The Daily Beast/Getty

Vladimir Putin must go.

His demented Kremlin speech Friday, during a ceremony in which he feebly asserted Russia was annexing portions of Ukraine, made the strongest case for the necessity of regime change in Moscow that any world leader has yet to make.

But it has been clear the Russian dictator must be removed from office for a long time now.

It has been clear because Putins actions and rhetoric demonstrate day in and day out that Ukraine can never be secure as long as he remains in office. It has been clear because none of Russias neighbors can be secure with a megalomaniacal lunatic next door who speaks of Russian empire and constantly threatens to rewrite the borders of sovereign states.

Italys Far-Right Victory Is a (Small) Win for Putin

It has been clear because the world cant be stable as long as the man who controls the planets largest stockpile of nuclear weapons is one whose power is unchecked at home, who shows such contempt for both international law and human decency, and whose ambitions are so untethered to reality.

Justice also requires that Putin leave office. He is a serial war criminal, one of the worst the world has seen in the modern era. He has laid waste to a sovereign nation. He is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands. He has embraced the language and practice of genocide. His armies have committed war crimes. Mass graves attest to his brutality. What is more, his crimes are not limited to the human suffering he has unleashed upon Ukraine. Other violations of fundamental laws and myriad atrocities can be traced to decisions he has madefrom Russias leveling of Grozny in Chechnya to Russias active support for and participation in horrors in Syria; from the invasion of Georgia to Putins murderous campaign against dissidents within his own country.

Putin, for years, has provided evidence not only to international prosecutors but to every sentient being on the planet that he is not a legitimate leader. He does not deserve to be swathed in the protections normally accorded to foreign heads of state. He has no more claim on them than did past monstersfrom Hitler to Saddam to Gadhafi, from Pol Pot to Milosevic.

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The dead of Bucha and Melitipol or Izyum make that case with their absence. So do the victims of Russian torture, of bombed hospitals, schools and train stations, of mass kidnapping, and of unceasing terror being visited by Russian missiles, artillery and troops upon innocentsvictims of the misfortune of living next door to one of historys most repulsive miscreants.

No one could listen to Putins rambling Friday rant and draw any conclusion other than the fact that the longer Putin remains in office, the greater the damage he will do.

Russian President Vladimir Putin with Ukrainian regional separatist leaders attends the annexation ceremony of four Ukrainian regions at the Grand Kremlin Palace, Sept. 30, 2022 in Moscow, Russia. Contributor/Getty Images

If the absurd spectacle of a signing ceremony asserting Russian control of Ukrainian territory featuring Kremlin stooges and nationalistic chants did not chill observers to the bone, then Putins belligerent language condemning the enemy in the West and his intimations that he might be within his rights to use nuclear weapons certainly should. He mocked international law. He condemned U.S. satanism. He called on Ukraine to negotiate but said that the fate of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson was not on the table, that they would be parts of Russia forever.

When President Joe Biden said of Putin in May, For Gods sake, this man cannot remain in power, it was followed by a swift clarification from the White House that the president was not discussing Putins power in Russia, or regime change.

But as we have gradually come to learn, Bidens seemingly spontaneous comments on crucial issues of international policy to which he has devoted decades of studywhether they concern Putin or Taiwanare not gaffes. They instead are expressions of common sense, acknowledgements of reality that diplomats may wish were unspoken, that cannot be the official policy of the U.S., but that are signs that the president understands clearly the reality on the ground and U.S. interests.

That is good because tiptoeing around the threat posed by Putin, hoping that accommodating him would lead to moderation in his behavior certainly has not worked. Indeed with every respectful, restrained response to Putins aggression or abuses, we have only seen an escalation of his offenses.

As Bad as the World Looks Right Now, Its Actually Worse

The measured responses to his aggression of the Bush or the Obama years did not work. Nor did the slavering obsequiousness of former President Donald Trump. Indeed, the ostpolitik of Angela Merkel and the vacillations of French President Emmanuel Macron and other European leaders have actually aided and empowered Putin.

No doubt Putins allieslike the talking heads at Fox News, the leaders of the MAGA caucus on Capitol Hill, and Putinistas across Europewill warn that to even speak of the need to remove Putin from office will provoke him, perhaps even lead him to unleash nuclear weapons in Ukraine or against the West. How do we know that? Because that was the response to Bidens moment of public honesty and realism on this issue.

Many others, including some well-respected foreign policy experts, suggested we should not corner Putin with a public stance demanding his removal.

Some of those experts correctly observe that the U.S. has a checkered history seeking regime change. They argue that there are no good alternatives to Putin, and so getting rid of him might produce an even worse outcome, whether that is the chaos associated with a leadership void or a more dangerous leader.

But go back and listen to his Friday speech. It makes clear that we are well past the point where the dangers of his remaining in power are greater than the dangers that might be caused by his fall.

Further, removing the worlds autocrats and thug heads of state has actually not generally produced worse successors. That was certainly true in the cases of Hitler, Mussolini, Milosevic, Pol Pot, and many others.

Next, acknowledging that Putin must go is not the same as making regime change a matter of public policy. For governments it can (and largely should) remain an unexpressed goal.

That said, certain sanctions imposed on Russia should remain in place until Russia changes key policies and positions that are indelibly associated with Putin, which in effect will mean until Putin is gone. Certain defensive postures of the west should remain in place until the threat from Russia has abated. We can do more than we currently are to help covertly support Russias opposition, especially those whose values align with ours.

Perhaps most importantly, we can ensure that any sort of lasting Russian victory in Ukraine is not an option and that Putins terms will never be met, his aggression never rewarded.

With such policies, we can actively encourage the people of Russia to recognize that their country will not have a future as long as Putin remains in power. Putin is assisting on this front. By undertaking a massive military conscription campaign, one that may call up as many as 1 million troops, who will then be under-equipped, under-trained, and likely victims of a war they did not seek against neighbors who are not in any ways their enemies, he has already lit the fuse on a potential national backlash. Millions and millions of Russians will increasingly feel the pain and loss associated with Putins war in ways that they did not before, in ways that Russian propaganda cannot hide or dress up.

Putins Headed Toward Defeat in Ukraine. The Only Question Is How Bad a Loser Hell Be.

Protests in Russia are already growing bolder.

Celebrities and business leaders are speaking out more clearly. How long will it be before the security services that surround and protect Putin begin to see the fact that he is a threat to their well-being, to their lives, to the futures of their families?

Accepting the reality that Putin must go is just common sense at this point. Recognizing that reality, we should embrace policies that encourage the conditions that will make it come to pass. We should also prepare for the consequences of such a change and make sure to send Moscow the message that Russias neighbors and the community of nations welcome a more responsible Russiawhile also making clear that we are ready to defend ourselves against one that makes the mistake of continuing (or making worse) Putins policies.

As for making the case to the Russian people that they must act, we need not do that. Putin, with speeches like Fridays and self-inflicted catastrophes like Ukraine, is already doing that far more persuasively than we could hope to do.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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The cause of Queen Elizabeths death has been revealed.

On Thursday, a document was published by the National Records of Scotland which lists that the late monarchs death was due to old age.

According to an expert from an entry in the Register of Deaths, Her Majesty died on September 8, 2022 at 3:10 PM at Balmoral Castle in Scotland at the age of 96.

Her daughter, Princess Anne was listed as the informant on the document and according to the Daily Mail, they presume that just King Charles and Princes Anne were by their mothers side when she died.

After lying in state at Westminster Hall, the United Kingdom and people from around the world mourned her death and celebrated her historoc 70 years on the throne. Her elaborate state funeral took place on September 19th with more than 2,000 people attending the Queens funeral, including diplomats and world leaders and millions who watched on television.

Video: King Charles and Princess Anne were by the Queen's side when she died

She was buried at St. Georges Chapel on the grounds of Windsor Castle alongside her late husband, Prince Philip.

Queen Elizabeths funeral included multiple moments and tributes to her wedding day to Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, marking a special celebration of their love through the years and their reunion in with their passings.

Attendees at Queen Elizabeths State Funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday sang one of the hymns sung at the late monarchs wedding to Prince Philip. The Queen and Philip married at Westminster Abbey in 1947. He passed away at age 99 on April 9, 2021, before she died on September 8 at age 96.

The Funeral For Queen Elizabeth II The Lords my shepherd, Ill not want, based on Psalm 23, was sung at both the Queens wedding and her funeral. Words to the hymn include, Yea, though I walk through deaths dark vale, yet will I fear none ill; for thou art with me, and thy rod and staff me comfort still.

The Queens coffin also had a special tribute to her love for Prince Philip. When the coffin emerged, it was draped in the Royal Standard, on which was laid the Imperial State Crown, orb and sceptre as well as a wreath of flowers chosen by King Charles III.
Traffic ramps at Highway 33 in Ventura, off Olive Street, where a murder victim was found in 2021. Prosecutors on Thursday filed a murder charge against a woman, 40, accused of killing the victim.

Here's a roundup of recent incidents and announcements from Ventura County agencies:

Woman charged in Kelsey Dillon homicide

VENTURA COUNTY  The Ventura County District Attorney's Office filed murder charges Thursday against a Ventura woman accused of killing an unhoused woman last year in Ventura.

Sandra Dillard, 40, appeared in Ventura County Superior Court for an arraignment hearing. Prosecutors also filed a number of special allegations, including that Dillard used a knife and a blunt object to commit the crime.

Kelsey Dillon, 30, was found murdered in Ventura last year. On Thursday, prosecutors filed murder charges against a woman, 40, in connection with the case.

The victim, Kelsey Ann Dillon, 30, of Thousand Oaks, was found dead on Sept. 24, 2021, near the Highway 33 on-ramp at Olive Street in Ventura. She is believed to have been killed two days before her body was located, according to the DA's office. She died of stab wounds and blunt force trauma to the head, prosecutors said.

Dillard was arrested Tuesday after a yearlong investigation by California Highway Patrol detectives.

She did not enter a plea during Thursday's court appearance. Her arraignment was continued to Nov. 2. Dillard remains in county jail custody where she is not eligible for bail.

Suspect in Paw Works burglary charged with felonies

Security footage shows a man stealing rescue dog Pretty Lady from the nonprofit Paw Works shelter in Camarillo in June. On Friday, prosecutors charged a 33-year-old Newbury Park resident in connection with the burglary, which led to the dog's death.

VENTURA COUNTY  The Ventura County District Attorney's Office on Friday charged a Newbury Park man with several felonies in connection with a burglary at an animal rescue facility in June that resulted in a shelter dog's death.

Miles Mathew Berry, 33, was charged with commercial burglary, grand theft and animal cruelty, all felonies, along with special enhancements.

He pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied all special allegations during an arraignment hearing in Ventura County Superior Court Friday afternoon.

Authorities allege that Berry broke into the Paw Works Animal Rescue facility in Camarillo on June 9. A German shepherd that was stolen, Pretty Girl, died hours later after being found on Highway 101 in Newbury Park, where the 3-year-old dog was apparently struck by a car.

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The nonprofit rescue group had sought the public's help finding the suspect, who could be seen on surveillance video inside the facility wearing a hooded sweatshirt.

The Ventura County Sheriff's Office, which investigated the case, arrested Berry on Wednesday after executing a search warrant at his Newbury Park residence.

Pretty Girl, a 3-year-old rescue dog who died after getting stolen from the Paw Works facility in Camarillo in June. A Newbury Park man was charged with several felonies on Friday in connection with the case.

Authorities say Berry also allegedly tried to break into the same Paw Works facility on Sept. 4. No animals were taken during the September incident.

During Friday's hearing, Judge Nancy Ayers ordered Berry to find a new home for his cat, court records show. He was ordered, if released, to stay 100 yards away from Paw Works, to not possess any animals or burglary tools and to submit to searches for animal and burglary tools.

A bail review hearing is set for Tuesday afternoon in courtroom 13. A defense motion to reduce bail was denied Friday. Prosecutors have filed a motion to deny bail.

Berry was returned to county jail custody with bail set at $50,000.

Man charged with murder in bike path stabbing

VENTURA  The Ventura County District Attorney's Office filed murder charges Friday in connection with a fatal stabbing on a Ventura bike path in July.

Pedro Munoz, 39, is accused of killing 26-year-old Marcos Guzman Reyes on July 23. Both were Ventura residents, authorities said.

Reyes was stabbed multiple times with a knife as he stood next to his bike on a path near the 1600 block of South Victoria Avenue in the Montalvo area, according to the Ventura Police Department. Reyes later died at Ventura County Medical Center.

Munoz was arrest three days later by Ventura police.

During an arraignment Friday in Ventura County Superior Court, Munoz pleaded not guilty to the murder charge and denied special enhancements, court records show.

An early disposition conference is slated for the afternoon of Nov. 9 in courtroom 12. Munoz remains in county jail custody without bail, prosecutors said.

Piru homicide suspect deemed incompetent for trial

Yellow police tape blocked an alley in Piru during a homicide investigation in April 2021.

VENTURA COUNTY  A 26-year-old Piru man was found mentally incompetent to stand trial for murder on Thursday, according to court records.

Daniel Drum was suspected of stabbing and killing his father, Steve Acosta, 62, early in the morning of April 21 at their home in the 500 block of Main Street in Piru.

Drum had been reported missing the day before, but returned to his family's home overnight, according to the Ventura County Sheriff's Office. He had been living with his father for the past six months after moving there from San Bernardino County.

Drum fled the residence after an altercation with his father that proved fatal, officials said. He was arrested nearby at the intersection of Center and Church Streets.

Court proceedings were suspended after Drum was declared not competent to stand trial Thursday by Ventura County Superior Court Judge Nancy Ayers.

Drum remains in custody at county jail until he is placed at a state mental hospital, where he will receive treatment until his mental condition improves for court proceedings to possibly resume.

3 minors treated after lighting explosive

VENTURA  Three youths were transported to a hospital after reportedly lighting a powerful firecracker or another explosive device in west Ventura Thursday afternoon, according to the Ventura Police Department.

Emergency crews, including firefighters and ambulance personnel, responded around 4:40 p.m. to El Medio Street, east of Ventura Avenue.

The minors, believed to be in their early teens, told police they had found the device and lit it, according to Cmdr. Edward Caliento.

Police believe the explosive was likely an M-80 or possibly a seal bomb, Caliento said. The latter are used by fishermen to scare off seals when using nets, he said.

The juveniles didn't appear to be seriously injured and seemed to have suffered powder burns.

The police department is not treating the matter as a criminal incident, Caliento said, adding authorities hope the minors learned a valuable lesson.

101 lane closures in Agoura Hills

LOS ANGELES COUNTY  Nighttime lane and ramp closures at Liberty Canyon Road on Highway 101 in Agoura Hills next week could impact Ventura County motorists heading to or from the Los Angeles area.

The reductions are planned Monday through Friday nights. The closures are being prompted by work on the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, according to Caltrans.

Starting at 7 p.m. each night, one northbound lane of the 101 will be closed. At 8 p.m., one southbound lane will be closed.

At 10 p.m., two lanes in each direction will be closed. The lane closures will leave two lanes open on both the northbound and southbound side of the freeway.

All traffic lanes will reopen by 5 a.m. the following morning.

Also on Monday through Friday nights next week, some ramps at Liberty Canyon will be closed. Starting at 7 p.m., the northbound on-ramp and the southbound off-ramp will shut. Detours will be in place. Both ramps will open by 6 a.m. the next morning.

The same two ramps will be closed intermittently on weekdays during construction, the state traffic agency said.

Items may be updated.

Jeremy Childs is a breaking news and general assignment reporter for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached at 805-437-0208, jeremy.childs@vcstar.com, and on Twitter @Jeremy_Childs.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Murder charges filed against woman in Ventura case, more news
Oct. 1The Satanic Temple has joined the legal effort to overturn Idaho's criminal ban on abortions.

The religious organization headquartered in Salem, Massachusetts, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Idaho on Friday alleging the law, which went into effect Aug. 25 and imposes felony criminal charges on any person performing an abortion in the state, violates members' Constitutional rights.

The lawsuit claims the group, which "venerates but does not worship" the Satan that is present in John Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost," has more than 3,500 members in Idaho, including women who become involuntarily pregnant.

"(The Satanic Temple) members wish to remain anonymous due to the risk of violent retribution from domestic terrorists motivated by animosity to proponents of abortion and non-Christian religious beliefs," the lawsuit states.

The Satanic Temple alleges Idaho's law violates its members' Fifth, 13th and 14th Amendment rights, and violates Idaho state laws protecting the free exercise of religion. The group has an established ritual for members receiving an abortion, practices that are prevented because of Idaho's law banning abortions, the lawsuit alleges.

Idaho's law has has been challenged by the health care provider Planned Parenthood in the state Supreme Court. A hearing on those challenges is scheduled for a hearing in Boise on Thursday.

The Satanic Temple lawsuit has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Raymond Edward Patricco Jr. A hearing had not yet been scheduled as of Friday afternoon.

The organization filed a similar lawsuit in Indiana on Sept. 21, where it claims to have 11,300 members. A federal judge ruled this week that Indiana's abortion ban was unconstitutional and blocked its enforcement. They are also fighting Texas' ban on abortion in federal court on similar grounds.
The Department of Treasury announced Friday it was updating guidance to expand internet service to Iranians, most of whom have been cut off from the internet by their own government amid its violent crackdown on peaceful protests.

While Irans government is cutting off its peoples access to the global internet, the United States is taking action to support the free flow of information and access to fact-based information to the Iranian people, the Treasury said in a press release.

The Iran government on Wednesday cut off global internet access for most of its 80 million citizens, preventing Iranians from sharing footage of the countrys brutal response to peaceful protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman, in the custody of Irans Morality Police. Amini was allegedly detained for violating Irans ultraconservative dress code.



The polices violent clashes with protesters continued Friday, with State TV suggesting on Thursday that the death toll from the unrest could be as high as 26 people.

The Treasury Department said Friday it was issuing Iran General License D-2  an updated license that will expand internet services to people in Iran by bringing U.S. sanctions guidance in line with the changes in modern technology since its initial issuance.

The new guidance will offer more options of secure internet platforms and services. The new license addresses a range of internet freedom issues, such as adding covered categories of software and services including social media platforms and video conferencing, as well as providing additional authorization for communication tools to assist ordinary Iranians in resisting repressive internet censorship.

With these changes, we are helping the Iranian people be better equipped to counter the government's efforts to surveil and censor them, Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in the press release.

A senior Treasury official said on a call with reporters on Friday that the department will endeavor in the coming weeks to issue additional guidance to help businesses and NGOs take advantage of the new authorizations under the updated license.

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The U.S. government will continue to identify those opportunities to support the Iranian peoples right and ability to communicate freely and without fear of government reprisal, the Treasury official said.

A senior State Department official on the call clarified that while the action is meant to support the free flow of information to the Iranian people, it does not erase the tools Irans government has to hinder its peoples ability to communicate with the outside world. But the official said the updated license will make it much easier for the Iranian people to confront the governments repressive communications tools.

This general license does not remove every tool of communications repression that the government of Iran has to direct at its own people, the State Department official said. It will over time give the Iranian people more tools to address those efforts from the Iranian government.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, with wife Elaine Chao beside him, gave his acceptance speech from the Omni Hotel in Louisville after defeating Democrat Amy McGrath in the 2020 election. McConnell is the longest-serving U.S. senator for Kentucky in its history -- since 1985. Nov. 3, 2020

Former President Donald Trump intensified his attacks on U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell with a Friday evening social media post tying the Kentucky Republican to measures backed by Democrats and saying the senator has a "death wish."

Trump's comments, posted on his Truth Social platform, also mocked McConnell's wife, Elaine Chao, calling her "his China loving wife, Coco Chow."

Chao, who served as Trump's secretary of transportation during his time in the White House, was born in Taiwan.

The Courier Journal reached out to McConnell's office but did not receive a response.

Background:Who is Elaine Chao? Here's what to know about the former Transportation secretary

McConnell and Trump worked in tandem during Trump's presidency  most notably to load the federal judiciary with conservative judges and appoint three like-minded justices to the U.S. Supreme Court.

But after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, their relationship soured when McConnell said Trump was practically and morally responsible for provoking the events at the Capitol. Later, though, McConnell voted to acquit Trump of inciting the insurrection during Trump's second impeachment trial later in 2021.

Former President Donald Trump and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell

Trump's Friday night post came shortly after President Joe Biden signed a funding bill that would keep the government operating until Dec. 16 and provide more funding for Ukraine and more assistance for communities battered by natural disasters.

More:Shutdown averted: House passes spending bill to fund federal government through Dec. 16

McConnell supported the measure, which passed the Senate 72-25.

Is McConnell approving all of these Trillions of Dollars worth of Democrat sponsored Bills, without even the slightest bit of negotiation, because he hates Donald J. Trump, and he knows I am strongly opposed to them, or is he doing it because he believes in the Fake and Highly Destructive Green New Deal, and is willing to take the Country down with him? Trump wrote. In any event, either reason is unacceptable. He has a DEATH WISH. Must immediately seek help and advise from his China loving wife, Coco Chow!

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McConnell has been critical of the Green New Deal since it was unveiled. The Democratic proposal focuses on fighting climate change and creating jobs. McConnell called it "a socialist fantasy to wreck our economy" in 2019.

Throughout Trump's regular and pointed criticism of McConnell and Chao, the senator has stayed mum. In August, Trump referred to McConnell as a "broken down hack" and said he was busy helping his wife "get rich on China."

Asked at the time by a Courier Journal reporter if he wanted to respond to those comments, McConnell gave a one-word answer: "No."

Reach Rob Byers at rbyers@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @RobertJByers.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Trump intensifies criticism of Kentucky senator, alleges Biden help
Letters exchanged between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and former U.S. President Donald Trump between April 2018 and August 2019 have recently been published.

Korean-American Club, a nonprofit composed of South Korean journalists from different news agencies, published 27 personal letters exchanged between Kim and Trump in the latest issue of its magazine, The Korus Journal.

I am ready to work with your excellency with all my heart and devotion, Kim said in a letter dated April 1, 2018, nearly six weeks before he first met Trump at the Singapore Summit.

On the same day, Trump responded that he was happy to meet Kim to drastically improve relations between their respective governments.

More from NextShark: Journalist Andy Ngo Says He Was Nearly Killed by 'Antifa' While Undercover at Oregon Protest

Trump also wrote a letter thanking Kim for the repatriation of the remains of 55 U.S. troops who died during the 1950-53 Korean War.

Thank you for keeping your promise to start the repatriation process of our soldiers, Trump said in the letter dated Aug. 2, 2018. I look forward to seeing you soon.

Kim greeted Trump on his birthday in 2019 with a letter that also mentioned the one-year anniversary of their historic meeting in Singapore.

More from NextShark: Teen Killed in Knife Attack at Chinese Restaurant in the UK

Trump replied two days later, saying he and Kim shared a unique relationship and a special friendship.

According to the Korus Journal report, Kim sent two letters in September 2018, in which he indicated his desire to personally discuss with Trump a potential denuclearization of North Korea.

The plan excludes then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in and then-U.S. State Secretary Mike Pompeo, with Kim noting that Moons interest is unnecessary.

More from NextShark: Maskless Woman Goes on a Racist, Homophobic Rant on Asian Mom and Daughter in California

The most important cause of what your side considers the headache of missile threats and nuclear problem is the military actions of your side and the South Korean military that threatens our safety, Kim wrote. And until these elements are eliminated, no changed outcome can be anticipated.

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Kim reportedly sent Trump the letters three months after their first summit in Singapore. At the time, North Korea was under heightened pressure to commence negotiations on potential denuclearization.

Trump, who has dubbed the messages love letters, sent 16 letters to the North Korean leader, who sent 11. In 2020, journalist Bob Woodward quoted excerpts from the letters in his book Rage.

More from NextShark: Instagram Influencer Sparks Outrage After Posing Naked on Top of Endangered Elephant in Bali

The book posited that the letters indicated a diplomatic courtship that resulted in Trump making history as the first sitting U.S. president to meet with a North Korean leader. According to Woodward, the messages were filled with declarations of personal fealty that might be uttered by the Knights of the Round Table, or perhaps suitors.

The two leaders exchanged letters actively for about a year, halting only after their second summit in Hanoi failed to make progress. In Kims final letter in August 2019, he complained to Trump that North Korea had gained nothing from the U.S.

As of now, it is very difficult for me and my people to understand the decision and behavior of you and South Korean authorities, read Kims letter, dated Aug. 5, 2019.

Kim expressed how offended he was by the paranoid war exercises jointly conducted by the U.S. and South Korean soldiers.

As your excellency indicated at some point, we have a strong military  and it is a matter of common knowledge that the [South Korean] armed forces are no match for our military, Kim added. Setting aside the differences in military power, I have no intention to attack South Korea or start a war. I have no inclination to do that indeed.

Earlier this year, Kims letters were among the presidential records U.S. authorities retrieved from Trumps resort Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

Featured Image via Korea Now
Set in the new dark ages  a ruined tomorrow in which the engineered viruses and organisms that humanity created in order to stem the planets ecological crisis have escaped into the wild and remade life on Earth into a dreary (but awesome) Cronenbergian wasteland full of fleshy droids, bioluminescent critters, and trees whose spores try to suck out your internal tissue while you sleep  Kristina Buozyte and Bruno Sampers Vesper has already drawn several comparisons to the likes of Stalker and the Andrei Tarkovsky-inspired Annihilation. Its easy to see why.

Told at the somnambulant of a European art film but plotted with the simplicity of a fairy tale, the filmmaking duos first feature since 2012s Vanishing Waves offers .

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Instead of using a variety of unique details to flesh out its familiar dystopian premise about the tension between a rich society of elites  whove barricaded themselves within edenic fortresses known as Citadels  and the scavengers theyve abandoned to the mutant wilderness beyond the city walls, Vesper blurs that age-old saga of haves and have-nots into a distant backdrop for something more interested in the flora and fauna that have evolved around it.

If humans can have such a profound effect on nature, what effect might nature have on humanity in return? Its a profound question that Buozyte and Sampers film complicates with all sorts of intricate and icky special effects, but its also a question that Vesper rejects on principle to a certain degree, as well. By the time this highly evocative work of low-budget sci-fi arrives at its eye-opening final scene, the clearest takeaway is that our only hope for survival has been coded into us since the beginning of time.

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The story Vesper tells is a simple one told in broad strokes but saturated in atmosphere. Raffiella Chapman plays the title character, a headstrong 13-year-old scavenger in the Nausicaa vein who lives deep within one of the endless forests that stretch beyond the Citadels (the film was shot in Buozytes native Lithuania). By day she rummages through the ruins of the old world, a scout drone piloted by her bedridden father Darius (Richard Broke)  who controls the device through a fleshy white contraption straight out of Crimes of the Future, and speaks to Vesper through it in a choked whisper  always hovering by her side. By night, Vesper tinkers with her DIY biotech projects, trying to engineer a crop that hasnt been programmed to die after a single harvest.

Sometimes she visits her creepy uncle Jonas (Eddie Marsan), whos reacted to the end of the world by hoarding supplies and inbreeding his way to a mini fiefdom thats only interested in its own survival. More compelling are the shrouded Pilgrims who seem to abandon their lives at the drop of a hat and wander towards some unknown promised land. Perhaps Vespers absent mother has joined their ranks.

Just dont expect Buozyte, Samper, and Brian Clarks cryptic (if conservatively structured) screenplay to answer all of its open questions. Vesper is animated by its lingering sense of wonder, which is epitomized by the sheer variety of critters and plant life that it puts on display. Not since Avatar has a sci-fi movie been so justifiably infatuated with an ecosystem of its own design.

Buozyte and Samper dont quite have James Camerons budgets, but the intricacy of their imaginations is more than enough to overpower a few dodgy CGI caterpillars. I loved the unexplained husks of old tech that can be seen poking out from the fog in the distance  presumably relics from some of humanitys previous attempts to engineer their way towards a better world.

Closer and in squirmier detail are the little snake-weasels that burrow out of the ground for a nibble of someone passing by, and the Birdo-like spore guys that latch onto a high-status blonde woman named Camellia (Rosy McEwen) once the cruiser shes on crash lands between Citadels. When Vesper finds her, Camellia offers the girl and her father access to the cities above if they help her get home, but it isnt long before Jonas catches wind of the news that someone of vast wealth and knowledge has plummeted into his backyard. And he comes with some lore of his own, including an overcomplicated seed-trading business and a humanoid jug (Melanie Gaydos), who he encourages his brood to treat like a disposable robot without any feelings just because she was made in a lab. This only seems like a strange aside until the moment it suddenly doesnt.

Vesper thrives in the moments between moments, when the films generous running time gives viewers the chance to sink into its semi-synthetic world of tomorrow. The actual story beats are considerably less satisfying, despite every performance hinting at rich layers of meaning and possibility the movie never has the chance to explore (Chapman in particular makes a believable lead, the young actress allowing Vespers rugged optimism to shine through even the most harrowing scenes).

While the world-building is extraordinary, the part of it we get to see is rather small, and this movie often feels stuck in place as a result  spinning its wheels into the forest bed and waiting to go somewhere. The moments during which Vesper is effectively able to dramatize the ideas that it so vibrantly exudes are few and far between, although Vespers hope (and the maternal bond that develops between she and Camellia) helps give shape to the story and provide for a handful of heartrending moments.

Most crucial is the hard-won hope they kindle within each other, evidence of which is baked into every damp and verdant corner of this movie. Oh Vesper, Jonas tells her, you dont know the cost of dreams. But one look at her surroundings is all it takes to understand that she knows the cost of losing them.

Grade: B-

IFC Films will release Vesper in theaters and on VOD on Friday, September 30.

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Natural Gas Prices Plunge In Europe Despite Russian Cut Off

A gas meter is seen in Warsaw, Poland on 27 September, 2022. Gas prices in Europe have fallen after months of record high prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Due to an increase in the supply of gas from the United States and a drop in demand prices have plunged as much as 50 percent. Initial fears of a difficult winter after Russia cut off gas supplies from the Nord Stream pipeline are now receding as Europe increases its gas reserves. Credit - STR/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been referred to over the years as a man who understands Russias leverage and knows how to use it.

But ever since the Russian leader chose to embark upon a war of choice in Ukraine, these perceptions have been torn to shreds. Putin, the so-called chess-master, is in reality a wild gambler who often overestimates Russias power and is therefore prone to miscalculating. The world has witnessed this throughout the seven-month war in Ukraine (this month Russia has lost 3,000 square kilometers of territory that it had seized), and its seeing it play out in real time as Moscow curtails natural gas to Europe. What looks like a fairly effective way to penalize the West for supporting Ukraine is in reality a risky gambit that will undermine Russias long-term economic and geopolitical position (on September 27, the Nord Stream pipeline was reportedly sabotaged).

Over the short-term, Gazproms stoppage of the Nord Stream pipeline has Europe scrambling for alternative suppliers. According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, Russian exports of pipeline natural gas to the European Union and the United Kingdom have plummeted by almost 40 percent since January. Prices gone done by nearly half since the August 26 high but are still up by 372 percent from the same time last year. U.S. officials are concerned about the political impact associated with energy shortages over the coming winter.

Yet the costs of Putin wielding gas as a weapon will outweigh whatever benefits he receives in the moment.

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Perhaps most significantly for Russias bottom-line, the Kremlin can now forget about Europe as the primary market for its energy supplies. The E.U. has cut its dependence on Russian gas since the beginning of the year from roughly 40 percent of the blocs imports to 9 percent today, and Gazproms artificially manufactured delays with the Nord Stream pipeline is accelerating the trend. Germany, a country that was relatively naive about the durability of its energy relationship with Russia, is no longer under the illusion that Moscow wont levy its leverage in the natural gas market to boost prices, reap greater profits, and cause financial pain for Europeans (and by extension, political pressure on European governments). Russia, once viewed as a reliable energy supplier regardless of political differences with the E.U., has destroyed its reputation in a matter of months. Russia is already losing market share as competitors like Algeria, Qatar, and Azerbaijan sign new contracts with the bloc, and a lot of money is being left on the table. If the Russian governments own projections are accurate, the Kremlin could lose $6.6 billion in tax revenue every single year if the E.U. stops purchasing Russian gas.

Sensing that Russia has burned its bridges with Europe (with the exception of Hungarys Viktor Orban), the Russian leader is stressing the urgency of diversifying to Asia as an alternative market. The Russian energy industry is trying to do just that. When construction is finished, the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline will connect Siberian gas fields now supplying Europe to China, which already imported 16.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Russian gas last year. In early February, Russia and China signed a 30-year deal that would increase the amount of Russian gas exports to Beijing by an additional 10 bcm a year.

Yet Asia is not as lucrative a market for the Russians as Europe is (or more accurately, was). Russia sold in the range of 160-200 bcm of gas a day to Europe in 2021, generating $120 billion in revenue for Gazprom. During the same year, Russian gas exports to Asia were at most one-fifth of what it shipped to Europe. Russia could of course attempt to close the gap by rerouting Europe-bound shipments to Asia, but such a feat wouldnt be as simple as loading a bunch of vessels with gas and sending them on their way. The Russians would need to undertake a substantial overhaul of their natural gas infrastructure, which is currently designed to service Europe. New pipelines and additional liquified natural gas (LNG) facilities must be built, an expensive proposition for a nation under one of the toughest sanctions regimes in the world.

In the best case scenario, it would take a decade for Russia to recoup in Asia what it lost in Europeand this assumes Moscow can attract the foreign capital and technology required to get the necessary projects off the ground. Russia relies on Western companies for much of its liquefaction and drilling technology, which are no longer available given the current sanctions and export controls levied against the Kremlin. Indeed, projects like the L.N.G. facility on Sakhalin Island and the Arctic 2 L.N.G. facility in Siberia have grounding to a halt after foreign firms pulled out.

Even if Russia was able to resolve the economic and technological obstacles in its way, Putin would be handing China enormous power in the process. Despite declaring a no limits partnership with Moscow, Beijing is a notoriously prickly negotiating partner who isnt afraid to use Russias precarious geopolitical position to its own advantage. In fact, China has done this before, leveraging its economic power and Moscows increasing desperation to find alternative markets to negotiate a lower price on natural gas buys through the Power of Siberia pipeline. There are numerous instances in the past where China pulled out of projects or stopped financing them altogether. With Europe largely gone, Putin has few options other than China to turn tooand Xi knows it.

Vladimir Putins energy game with Europe has all the makings of another blunder. A man who prides himself on being the 21st century iteration of Peter the Great instead risks leaving Russia weaker, poorer, and more strategically vulnerable than when he came into power.
George Clooney and Amal hosted their inaugural Albie Awards, which honours social-rights activists (Timothy A Clary/AFP via Getty Images)

George Clooney praised wife Amal at the inaugural Albie Awards, hosted by their Clooney Foundation for Justice on Thursday (September 29).

The 61-year-old star has partnered with Amal, 44, to launch the awards, which honoured those who devote their lives to justice.

Outside of the event at the New York Public Library, the Oscar-winner told People when asked why the pair joined forces on the initiative: Well, we collaborate on everything. We collaborated on twins.

But, you know, this is an exciting one because Amal's gotten journalists out of Egypt, out of Azerbaijan, prisons, out of  all over the world, Myanmar.

L-R, Jodie Turner-Smith and Charlotte Tilbury attend the Clooney Foundation For Justice Inaugural Albie Awards at New York Public Library (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Albie Awards)

He added that their work on the Albie Awards and with their foundation is something that his wife happens to be really especially gifted at.

He added, My father's a journalist. I have a great affinity for them  her mother's a journalist. So it's really exciting for me when she's able to get people who are wrongly accused for doing their job out [of prison]. So, for me, it's just  I couldn't be more proud of my wife.

From left, Dominic Cooper, Gemma Chan, and Phoebe Dynevor at the Albie Awards (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Albie Awards)

The pair, who recently celebrated their eight-year wedding anniversary, were joined at the event by the likes of Meryl Streep, Dua Lipa, John Oliver, Julia Roberts, Bruce Springsteen, and Patti Scialfa.

Jodie Turner-Smith, Dominic Cooper, and Gemma Chan also joined the army of celebrities at the star-studded bash.

As for what the Oceans 11 star hopes the pair will teach their five-year-old twins, Alexander and Ella, about social-justice work, he said: There's tons of stuff. But the number one thing is: challenge people with power and defend people without power.

Julia Roberts supported old pal Clooney on Thursday night (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Named after Justice Albie Sachs, Clooney and Amal created the Albie Awards to shine a spotlight on defenders of justice who are at risk for what they do.

Justice Sachs received a lifetime achievement award Thursday for his heroic commitment to ending apartheid in South Africa.
The State of Israel remains committed to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and does not recognize the Russian Federation's annexation of the provinces in the east and south of Ukraine. The corresponding statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel is posted on Twitter.

"Israel supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. We will not recognize the annexation of the four provinces by Russia. Israel has repeated this clear position many times, including in recent days", - the message reads.
Finance ministers from the devolved nations have called for an urgent meeting amid fears of new period of austerity.

Amid the backlash from the Chancellors so-called mini-Budget, in a joint letter, the finance ministers of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, warned the new spending plans are a huge gamble for the UKs economy.

Welsh Finance Minister Rebecca Evans, joined her counterparts in the leter as she criticised the the largest set of unfunded tax cuts for the rich in over 50 years as the ministers said the cuts would bring impending damage to the health of our economy.

In support of the Chancellor, Levelling Up Secretary Simon Clarke, said the West had been living a fools paradise as he hinted at period of tight control o npublic finances.

He told Times Radio: Western Europe is just living in a fools paradise whereby we can be ever less productive relative to our peers, and yet still enjoy a very large welfare state and persist in thinking that the two are somehow compatible over the medium to long term.

Theyre not. We need to address that if we want those strong public services then we are going to have to pay for them.

It is important that we look at a state which is extremely large, and look at how we can make sure that it is in full alignment with a lower tax economy.

Welsh Secretary, Robert Buckland also seemed to admit further cuts on public expediture will be needed going forward.

He said: We intend to be extremely rigorous when it comes to bearing down on public expenditure.

That will be developed in the weeks ahead. Weve got a whole range of announcements coming out on not just spending, but supply-side reforms.

Whether its childcare or broadband connectivity, all these things add up to an overall package that is designed to, first of all, facilitate growth in the economy, but secondly to emphasise that the government is responsible.
The claim: Second-degree murder, arson and other serious felonies will become non-detainable offenses in Illinois

Starting in 2023, the state of Illinois is eliminating the use of cash bail in its criminal justice system.

That change is spurring debate and concern about what the pretrial process will look like and what impact it will have on public safety in Illinois, with rhetoric heating up as elections approach.

This is insane, wrote one Facebook user, sharing a graphic that claimed second-degree murder, arson and nine other crimes would now be non-detainable offenses. The Sept. 8 post was shared nearly 6,000 times in three weeks.

The image further stated that after being charged with the crimes listed, those arrested would be released without bail pending a court date.

But the post misrepresents the changes to the legal system, according to both advocates for the change and a prosecutor who has been critical of the law.

The new pretrial system has a process to detain suspects charged with violent felonies, and most charges listed in the post fall into that category. Two of the crimes listed fall into a gray area where they may or may not be detainable depending on specifics of the incidents, the attorneys agreed.

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USA TODAY reached out to the apparent author of the graphic and the social media user who shared it for comment.

Nearly all crimes in post are still detainable before trial

Cash bail is being eliminated in Illinois through the Pretrial Fairness Act, part of a larger set of criminal justice system changes signed into law in January 2021.

Starting Jan. 1, there will be new pretrial release processes and pretrial services required in Illinois courts, according to the website of the statewide task force working on the implementation of the changes. The task force has been holding town halls throughout Illinois to provide guidance and did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

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The new law says suspects charged with felonies designated as Class 3 or above can still be detained before trial if prosecutors can demonstrate they pose a risk of fleeing, according to both Sarah Staudt, director of policy at the Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts, who supports the law, and Winnebago County States Attorney J. Hanley, who has been publicly critical of it.

Nine of the 11 crimes listed in the post  second-degree murder, arson, robbery, burglary, intimidation, aggravated battery, kidnapping, drug-induced homicide and threatening a public official  are Class 3 or higher, both said. Certain violent felonies, including Class 4 charges such as domestic violence, can also result in detention if a judge determines the suspect poses a danger to the public.

Its not going to be The Purge, Staudt said, referring to comments she has seen and heard that compare Illinois to a 2013 movie in which all crimes become legal.

The other two offenses listed in the post are aggravated fleeing and aggravated DUI. Both would typically be Class 4 felonies, according to Staudt and Sharlyn Grace, senior policy adviser in the Cook County Public Defenders office.

Grace, however, noted that if someone faces those charges while already on pretrial release, probation or parole, that person could be detained because of the new infraction. She also noted judges cannot currently detain defendants on those charges without bond, meaning the new system is in that sense "actually an increase in detention power."

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that second-degree murder, arson and other serious offenses will become non-detainable offenses in Illinois. A new pretrial process goes into effect in 2023 that eliminates cash bail in the state. But it creates other policies that will lead to the pretrial detention for many suspects charged with violent felonies, and most charges in the post fall into that category.

Our fact-check sources:

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Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Murder, arson suspects still detainable in Illinois
Sep. 30Another legal challenge to the state's assault weapons ban, which includes popular AR-15-style semi-automatic rifles, emerged on Thursday.

Two gun advocacy groups  the Connecticut Citizens Defense League and Washington-based Second Amendment Foundation  joined with three residents to file a federal lawsuit in an attempt to overturn gun laws enacted after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, when 20 children and six adults were shot and killed.

The lawsuit seeks to remove the state's ban on what the CCDL calls "common modern sporting arms," and argues the ban is in violation of the Second and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

The suit is the second to challenge state gun laws and comes in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, which ruled that New York's law restricting concealed weapons was unconstitutional.

The three individual plaintiffs in the new Connecticut lawsuit include two former correction officers and a woman described as a mother and victim of domestic violence who is a firearms instructor, all of whom want firearms on the state's banned firearms list for use as self-defense.

"We all deserve to live in safe communities, but denying ownership of the most commonly owned firearms in the country is not the way to achieve it," said CCDL President Holly Sullivan in a statement.

Sullivan said the recent U.S. Supreme Court case relating to New York gun laws "opened the door to this challenge and we believe Connecticut would be hard pressed to prove its statutes are constitutional."

The National Association for Gun Rights filed a lawsuit in Connecticut and other states last month, one of a wave of suits expected in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court decision.

State Attorney General William Tong, in a statement, said, "Connecticut gun laws save lives, and we are not going back."

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Tong, in his statement, said he anticipated the gun lobby going after state gun laws but said he planned to vigorously defend the state from "baseless challenges."

"We will not allow weapons of war back in our schools, our houses of worship, our grocery stores, and our communities," Tong said.

Gov. Ned Lamont also issued a statement in response to the lawsuit, calling the state laws enacted after Sandy Hook "part of a bipartisan effort to prevent needless tragedy and it is overwhelmingly supported by the people who live here."

"It has withstood previous legal challenges despite the persistent efforts of opponents of gun safety to undermine it," Lamont said in his statement. "We will vigorously defend these commonsense laws that are seeking to reduce violent crime and mass shootings. When it comes to the safety of the people of our state, we must stand up and do what is right."

The state firearms laws passed in 2013 placed restrictions on weapons and large capacity magazines, among other measures. Connecticut added a host of guns to a list of banned firearms described in state statute as assault weapons. Assault weapons in Connecticut are defined by law as weapons with certain attributes such as a semi-automatic rifle with a forward pistol grip or folding or telescoping stock.

The newest lawsuit names Lamont, state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Commissioner James Rovella, Chief State's Attorney James Griffin and state's attorneys from around the state, including New London State's Attorney Paul J. Narducci.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the case are Cameron Atkinson and Republican state representatives Doug Dubitsky of Chaplin and Craig Fishbein of Wallingford.

The 31-page complaint argues that the statutory ban on "so-called assault weapons" deprives "law abiding, responsible citizens of their constitutional rights under the guise of providing a panacea for social problems that Connecticut remains unable to solve."

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-CT, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released a statement in response to the lawsuit.

"This latest challenge to common sense gun safety protections is destined to fail  the same fate as similar misguided and malign attacks on our state laws," Blumenthal said.

"Having defended those laws when I was attorney general, I know firsthand how unjustified legally and morally these challenges are, but they must be vigorously fought. Our laws have doubtlessly saved lives. They have been models for other states and for the federal Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that we successfully championed in Congress," Blumenthal said.

The entire lawsuit can be found here.

g.smith@theday.com
Mandatory Credit: Photo by CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (13433357c) Authorities review the destruction in Matlacha Isles after the passing of Hurricane Ian, in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, USA, 30 September 2022. The category 4 hurricane made landfall on 28 September causing widespread damage and power outages. Florida recovers from Hurricane Ian, Fort Myers Beach, USA - 30 Sep 2022

CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

As Hurricane Ian continues to barrel through the states on the southern part of the east coast, the lives lost due to the disaster have risen to at least 65 people in Florida, according to CNN.

Four deaths, meanwhile, have been reported in North Carolina as a result of storm-related events. No deaths so far have occurred in South Carolina after the hurricane arrived in the state on Friday afternoon, Gov. Henry McMaster said, per the outlet.

Lee County in Florida  which includes Forth Myers, among other cities  leads the death toll with at least 35 people, the Lee County Sheriff's Office said, per ABC News.

Mandatory Credit: Photo by CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (13429149e) People look on destroyed boats after Hurricane Ian swept through at the Centennial Park in Fort Myers, Florida, USA, 29 September 2022. Category 4 hurrican Ian swept through Florida during the night and now it is downgraded to tropical storm. Ian's sustained winds extended outward up to 415 miles, drenching much of Florida and the southeastern Atlantic coast. US President Joe Biden on 29 September approved Florida disaster declaration. Damage after Hurricane Ian swept through Florida, Fort Myers, USA - 29 Sep 2022

CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

RELATED: See Photos of Hurricane Ian's Path as Historic Storm Moves from Florida to South Carolina

On Saturday, Sheriff Carmine Marceno from Lee County Sheriff's Office expressed hope despite the "complete devastation" caused to the county.

"There's light at the end of the tunnel. ... We are going to be stronger than ever," he said, per ABC News. "We are one big family together. That's what makes us great. And sometimes these horrific events bring us all together for us to move forward."

Charlotte, Sarasota, Volusia, Lake, Collier and Manatee counties are among other areas with fatalities due to the disaster.

While parts of the hurricane are moving north, over 1 million residents remain without power in Florida. Additionally, 198,000 customers in North Carolina and over 56,000 in Virginia are without power as of Saturday afternoon, per PowerOutage.US.

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.

Hurricane Ian made landfall as an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 150 mph on Wednesday just after 3 p.m. local time, near Cayo Costa, Fla., according to the National Hurricane Center.

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By Thursday morning, more than 2.5 million people in Florida were without power as a result of the widespread devastation caused by the storm, which snapped apart trees, leveled homes, and tore down power lines across the coastline. Storm surges reached nearly 7 ft. high in areas like Fort Myers, while 12 ft. water levels were recorded in Naples.

"We've never seen storm surge of this magnitude," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters Friday. "The amount of water that's been rising, and will likely continue to rise today even as the storm is passing, is basically a 500-year flooding event."

President Joe Biden said Ian "could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida's history" during an address from FEMA headquarters on Thursday.

TOPSHOT - An aerial picture taken on September 29, 2022 shows piled up boats in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers, Florida. - Hurricane Ian left much of coastal southwest Florida in darkness early on Thursday, bringing "catastrophic" flooding that left officials readying a huge emergency response to a storm of rare intensity. The National Hurricane Center said the eye of the "extremely dangerous" hurricane made landfall just after 3:00 pm (1900 GMT) on the barrier island of Cayo Costa, west of the city of Fort Myers. (Photo by Ricardo ARDUENGO / AFP) (Photo by RICARDO ARDUENGO/AFP via Getty Images)

RICARDO ARDUENGO/AFP/Getty

RELATED: Hurricane Ian: How to Help with Disaster Relief Efforts as Catastrophic Storm Makes Landfall

"The numbers we have are still unclear, but we're hearing early reports of what may be substantial loss of life," the president added. "We know many families are hurting. Many, many, are hurting today."

On Saturday, Biden also declared an emergency in North Carolina and approved funding for federal assistance needed in the state.

"The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population," a press release from the White House read.

"Deanne Criswell, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named John F. Boyle as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected areas."

Ian was downgraded to a tropical storm after making its initial landfall in the U.S. but strengthened over the Atlantic once it passed over the Florida peninsula.
Abortion rights demonstrators gather at the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix on Sept. 24, 2022, to voice concerns with the recent ruling by a Pima County judge that reinstated an over century-year-old ban on abortion in almost all cases.

A territorial-era law that bans abortions except to save the life of a mother will remain in effect, a Pima County judge said Friday, dashing hopes of abortion rights advocates who sought to put the law on hold while they challenge it in court.

Planned Parenthood Arizona this week asked Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson to put a hold on enforcement of the 1864 law, which prescribes prison terms for abortion providers. The request came three days after Johnson lifted an injunction that had left the 1864 law dormant for nearly five decades.

The latest order will do little to resolve widespread confusion over abortion law in Arizona, which began in June when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned precedent set in its Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion up until a fetus could survive outside of the womb.

Allowing the 1864 law to take effect, as Johnson has now done via two court orders, creates more pressure to resolve the conflicting laws on the books amid a midterm election year in which abortion is a top issue for voters.

Earlier this year, Arizona lawmakers and Republican Gov. Doug Ducey enacted a law banning abortions after 15 weeks. Ducey has said that law should prevail.

This week, Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich and advocates for abortion rights found themselves in a unique position of agreement on at least one thing: calling on Ducey to convene a special session of the Legislature to determine which law prevails. That special session is unlikely  Ducey has not signaled any support for the issue, and with lawmakers facing election in shortly over a month, drawing them away from campaigns would likely be an unwelcome idea.

Brnovich also asked Ducey to clarify his stance through a legal filing.

C.J. Karamargin, Ducey's spokesman, had no comment on the latest ruling and said Ducey's office was still reviewing Brnovich's request to provide clarity on the conflicting laws.

Brnovich, whose office fought to restore the 1864 law and opposed Planned Parenthood's latest effort to put it on hold, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Planned Parenthood responds

Planned Parenthood, the abortion rights advocacy giant that provides services in Arizona, criticized the uncertainty created by the court rulings and conflicting views of elected officials.

"It is impermissible that Arizonans are waking up each morning to their elected officials making conflicting statements about which laws are in effect or claiming that they do not know, and yet the court has refused to provide any clarity or relief," Brittany Fonteno, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Arizona, said in a statement Friday.

Fonteno said uncertainty about abortion rights in the state has "been devastating for our physicians and staff who have been forced to notify patients that they can no longer care for them, and traumatic for our patients who have been forced to flee the state to receive basic health care."

But Johnson, who was appointed to the Pima County bench by Ducey in 2017, said in her ruling it was not her duty to reconcile the laws, though she noted that it was "certainly an issue that must be addressed."

Rules dictating court procedure prevented her from weighing in, Johnson wrote, adding that "interpretation and interplay of Arizona's abortion statutes should be addressed in a new lawsuit."

Reach reporter Stacey Barchenger at stacey.barchenger@arizonarepublic.com or 480-416-5669. Follow her on Twitter @sbarchenger.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona abortion ban: Pima County judge rejects request for stay
SANTA FE  State legislators in New Mexico are reconsidering how they evaluate complaints of sexual misconduct against colleagues, amid outrage about the handling of a complaint against an influential senator.

A panel of leading legislators met Monday to discuss possible changes to ground rules for harassment investigations at the Legislature.

It has become clear that our anti-harassment policy is not working, said Democratic state Rep. Damon Ely of Corrales, co-chairman of a legislative ethics committee. This is intended to start a discussion.

Harassment complaints against lawmakers are often assigned for an initial investigation to a panel of four legislators, which may deadlock on a 2-2 vote. Ely proposed the changes that would assign an outside expert to break any tie vote, with public notice of the outcome.

Ely outlined proposals that would remove secrecy provisions that currently prevent people who complain of harassment by legislators from publicly discussing any investigation that has been dismissed without a finding of probable cause.

How do we fix that so that we have closure for those people?" said Democratic Sen. George Munoz of Gallup. "It cant come out in a tie. There has to be closure for both sides.

Also Monday, a coalition of advocacy groups held a news conference in Santa Fe to describe a toxic culture that favors perpetrators over victims of harassment at the Legislature.

Some said an independent authority such as New Mexicos State Ethics Commission would be better suited to review harassment complaints against legislators  rather than a panel of legislators.

The current system only supports the perpetrators, said Lan Sena, policy director for the Center for Civic Policy. This is a classic case of the fox guarding the hen house.

Sena reiterated calls for the resignation of Democratic state Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto of Albuquerque in response to harassment accusations.

Ivey-Soto, a gatekeeper on election legislation, recently announced that a Senate investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against him had been indefinitely suspended, with no further action to be taken.

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But a leaked report also shows that a special counsel to the investigation concluded there was probable cause to indicate that Ivey-Soto violated anti-harassment policies. And the female lobbyist who leveled accusations of harassment against Ivey-Soto has filed a lawsuit challenging secrecy provisions at the Legislature that prevent her from saying more.

Marianna Anayas harassment complaint to the Legislature in February was accompanied by an open letter to the public that accused Ivey-Soto of groping her at a hotel reception in 2015 and of more recent aggressive and disrespectful behavior while discussing proposed legislation over drinks. She called on the lawmaker to resign, as other women say they were harassed by Ivey-Soto.

Ivey-Soto said he has no recollection of touching Anaya during the encounter and that their encounters over the years were never sexual. The Associated Press generally does not identify people alleging sexual assault, but Anaya has been openly public about her allegations and prior advocacy against harassment.

On Saturday, Ivey-Soto was removed from one of his leadership positions on an interim committee in response to harassment allegations.

More New Mexico news:

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: New Mexico legislators weigh changes to harassment policies
Vladimir Putin gave a chest-thumping speech on Friday when he declared he was seizing four territories in Ukraine and lashed out at Western countries he claimed are influenced by satanism.

But the reality in Ukraine tells a different story, one in which Russia continues to lose territory and where momentum has clearly shifted to the Ukrainians.

World leaders, lawmakers and experts quickly dismissed Putins claims on Friday, using words such as sham and phony and invented reality to describe his declaration that territories that are not under his control will somehow become a part of Russia.

He's not going to scare us nor intimidate us, President Joe Biden said of Putin. Putin's actions are a sign he is struggling, the sham referendum he carried out, and his routine he put on  the United States is never going to recognize this, and quite frankly the world is not going to recognize it either.

Leaders from across Europe read from the same playbook, pledging to support Ukraine and punish Russia for subverting international law by attempting, again, to steal Ukrainian territory.



The U.K.s Chief of Defense Staff, Adm. Sir Tony Radakin, who spoke to reporters Friday during a visit to Washington, called the annexation the invented reality of Putin, and the actual reality is that hes declared these four territories as part of Russia, but he doesnt even have control of those four territories.

The swift rejection of Putins annexation announcement and his hints that he could use nuclear weapons show how global perception of his military and its competence have changed since the start of the war. His reputation, once feared, has been so damaged by his disastrous invasion that the threats he has used for so long to shape the geopolitical narrative no longer carry the power they once did.

Moscow has faced a torrent of setbacks and humiliations since Ukrainians launched their two-pronged counteroffensive this month. Rapid gains using modern, NATO-furnished weapons forced massive and panicked Russian retreats around the city of Kherson, pushing Russian forces back into their own country or into several shrinking pockets inside Ukraine.

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The forecast for Russian forces over the next few weeks and months is equally grim, as conscripts with little training head to the front to face battle-hardened Ukrainians backed by new Western equipment, with more shipments arriving weekly.

Videos have emerged online of Russian officers telling conscripts to bring their own medical supplies and sleeping bags to the front, as Moscow is expected to leave its troops unsupported in the field.

Russia doesn't have enough people to crew the equipment that theyve got, Radakin said. The equipment theyve got is quite substantial, but much of it is ancient and in a bad condition. And then [Putin] had to go through this partial mobilizationyou then start to see a feature of this mobilization is not people rushing to recruitment offices, but it's people rushing to leave the country.

A senior Defense Department official, who like others in this story requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said there have been no significant moves by Russian forces either before or after Putins speech on Friday, further suggesting that nothing at all had changed on the ground, at least in the Kremlins favor.

In fact, Russian troops in the city of Lyman in Donetsk Oblast  an area Putin on Friday said was now part of Russia  have been almost completely surrounded by Ukrainian forces who have cut off supply lines to the garrison. On Friday, Ukrainian commanders began calling for the Russian forces there to negotiate a surrender.

Lyman has for months been a key logistics and supply hub for Russian forces fighting in the countrys east, and its loss would further cripple the already stretched Russian resupply lines in areas increasingly contested by Ukrainian forces.

The continued loss of territory that Russia now claims as its own, along with the new sanctions packages announced by the U.S. and U.K. on Friday, will further squeeze the Kremlins ability to wage war and undermine the armys ability to hold ground.

Russia will struggle to hold the territory it claims to have annexed, the Institute for the Study of War said in an analysis Friday. Putin likely intends annexation to freeze the war along the current frontlines and allow time for Russian mobilization to reconstitute Russian forces.

The institute, along with the American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project, also generated a map on Friday showing that the four territories ready to be annexed actually include wide swaths of land still controlled by Ukraine.

While leaders have warned that declaring the territories part of Russia could serve as a pretext for escalating the war, Putins options are just as limited as they were before his announcement.

Ukraine has hobbled Russias Black Sea Fleet, and ship captains now avoid the coastline out of fear of being struck by missiles. The Russian air force mostly shies away from flying over Ukrainian airspace, and the Kremlin is woefully short of allies willing to enter the conflict. That leaves his ground force, which he is now stocking with untrained conscripts.

And even though Putin and other Russian officials have hinted at deploying tactical nuclear weapons, the U.S. assesses the probability as low. Weve not seen anything that indicates we should change our posture, one senior DoD official said.

One European diplomat pointed out that Russian warnings against attacking the annexed territories ring hollow, and not only because Putin is already losing ground in those regions.

Ukraine has hit Russian targets in Crimea several times, and Putin didnt respond even though he claims Crimea is now part of Russia, too, the diplomat said.

And more Western weapons are funneling into Ukraine. At the White House, national security adviser Jake Sullivan noted the $1.1 billion arms package announced this week, and we expect to have another announcement of immediate security assistance to announce next week."

The package will be worth several hundred million dollars, an administration official confirmed to POLITICO.

Drawing the aid out ensures that Ukraine can absorb the shipments of tens of thousands of artillery rounds, radars and armored vehicles, but also maintains the psychological impact of announcing regular packages of NATO-caliber weaponry to bolster Ukrainian allies and depress the morale of Russian forces and leadership, the official said.

Putin is trying to raise that morale, but his bluster on Friday is little more than a fiction of Russias strength and competence, Radakin said. He cautioned against overreacting.

That fiction is a feature of weakness, and the pressure that Russia is under, he said. Weve got to be very careful in responding to fictions.

Lara Seligman contributed to this report
Notre Dame restoration on track to be completed by 5th anniversary of tragic fire

The restoration work inside Notre Dame cathedral is ramping up.

Less than two years before the grand reopening, Notre Dames exceptional stained glass windows and paintings, which were spared by the flames that ravaged the monument back in April 2019, are now being given a fresh look.

This past spring, eight workshops of master glassmakers and artistic locksmiths were selected across France and entrusted with the cleaning and restoration of the cathedrals stained glass windows.

This is the first time they have been cleaned since  they were laid in the 19th century, 150 years ago, president of the Manufacture Vincent-Petit and restorer Flavie Vincent-Petit revealed to ABC News.

PHOTO: Recovery of a pictorial layer on The Martyrdom of St. Andre by Charles Le Brun. (Anna Rabemanantsoa)

Located in the city of Troyes, Vincent-Petits workshop has been awarded the cleaning and restoration of the stained glass windows of eight high bays.

[Notre Dame] represents all the French and European medieval culture of the Middle Ages and how finally all these European nations were built around a spiritual impulse, Vincent-Petit told ABC News, adding It is extremely positive to be able to participate in the reconstruction.

After months of preparatory work -- including decontamination against lead due to fire, documentation and restoration tests -- the restorers are only now starting the delicate and arduous cleaning and restoration process.

PHOTO: Paint layer analysis on The Martydom of St. Stephen by Charles Le Brun. (Anna Rabemanantsoa)

But caring for Notre Dames stained glass windows is not solely a French affair as the Cologne Cathedral workshop from Germany has joined the effort by restoring the stained glass windows of four other high bays.

Another project in this huge undertaking is the restoration of 22 paintings out of the 25 removed from the cathedral post fire.

Global donations for the project is an estimated at around 2,700,000 euros (approximately $2,703,000) and their restoration is carried out by 50 experts under the project management of the Regional Department of Cultural Affairs of Ile-de-France (DRAC).

No damage requiring the restoration of these paintings is linked to the fire of Notre Dame. These canvases are restored because they are old. Their restorations date back decades, regional conservator of historical monuments at the DRAC Ile-de-France, Antoine-Marie Preaux, told ABC News.

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PHOTO: Dusting, cleaning and removing a layer of varnish on the Conversion of St. Paul de Laurent. (Anna Rabemanantsoa)

At work since October 2021 in a secret location near Paris, the experts have been repairing 17th and 18th century works by masters such as French painters Charles Le Brun and Jacques Blanchard, as well as Italian painter Guido Reni, by sometimes recreating colors that no longer exist with the help of period documents.

Notre Dame is currently scheduled to reopen on April 15, 2024, exactly five years to the day after the devastating fire destroyed the upper part of Notre-Dame Cathedral and the surrounding areas.

Notre Dame restoration on track to be completed by 5th anniversary of tragic fire originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
First Oneida language state highway signs unveiled in Wisconsin

ONEIDA - The Oneida Nation on Friday became the second tribe in Wisconsin to have state highway signs installed in its Native language.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation signs mark the Oneida Reservation boundaries and other features in Oneida in both Oneida and English languages.

Oneida language is the first language of our ancestors and we appreciate the State of Wisconsin for their recognition and respect of our sovereignty, language and traditions, Oneida Chairman Tehassi Hill said in a statement.

Native preservation and languages go to the heart of a tribes unique cultural identities, traditions, spiritual beliefs and self-governance," Hill added. "We look forward to revitalizing the Oneida language through these signs.

One of the new signs is near the Duck Creek bridge. It features the words Talukowanhne (Da-lew-go-wonh-NAY), which translates to Place of Bountiful Ducks, and Kawyhuhatati (Gaw-who-ha-DA-di), which means River Flowing Along.

The signs also feature the seal of the Oneida Nation.

The states first dual-language road signs, in Ojibwe and English, were unveiled late last year at the Red Cliff Reservation in far northern Wisconsin.

RELATED: Wisconsin's first Indigenous language road signs are unveiled at Red Cliff, marking 'an historic day'

RELATED: Indigenous languages being revitalized in Wisconsin in efforts to reclaim, maintain identity

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The installation of the signs are part of an initiative from DOT to place Indigenous language signs at the entrances for the lands of all 11 federally recognized tribal nations in Wisconsin.

The states new dual-language signs are similar to those in other states with Indigenous nations and is the latest development in a 20-year partnership between tribal and State of Wisconsin officials, a DOT statement read.

Tribal communities in Wisconsin are encourage to apply for the dual-language sign program at https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/doing-bus/civil-rights/tribalaffairs/dual-language-signs.aspx.

Frank Vaisvilas is a Report for America corps member who covers Native American issues in Wisconsin based at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact him at fvaisvilas@gannett.com or 815-260-2262. Follow him on Twitter at @vaisvilas_frank. You can directly support his work with a tax-deductible donation online at GreenBayPressGazette.com/RFA or by check made out to The GroundTruth Project with subject line Report for America Green Bay Press Gazette Campaign. Address: The GroundTruth Project, Lockbox Services, 9450 SW Gemini Drive, PMB 46837, Beaverton, Oregon 97008-7105.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Oneida language road signs unveiled by Wisconsin DOT on state highways
Joe Bolkcom

Since the Iowa Supreme Court recognized that equal protection under the law included the right to marry the person you love regardless of sexual orientation, Iowa Republicans have pushed to make Iowas judicial branch as partisan as the Legislature and governors office.

Theyve introduced political campaigning for and against judges, restructured the way we pick judges to include more political appointments by the governor, and even changed how the Supreme Court of Iowa operates. Last term, Republicans got their way as the Iowa Supreme Court overturned precedence to strip your right to an abortion.

Historically, the Iowa Constitution has worked to keep partisan politics out of justice. Its framework established a non-partisan panel of attorneys, judges and appointed members to sift applicants down to the three best qualified candidates and let the governor appoint among them. It was an effective system that led to the Iowa Supreme Court doing great things  for example, banning racial bias as a basis for court orders and enshrining civil rights like sexual privacy, marriage equality and reproductive care.

Sadly, in each of the last three legislative sessions, Republicans have changed the rules to promote more partisan politics in the justice system. Finally, after years of breaking down the barriers that have insulated our courts from direct political influence, this past year the governor was able to present three right-wing activists to stack the committee that nominates judges to our highest courts. Im proud to have joined my Senate Democratic colleagues who stood up and said no to the partisan power grab and reject the most political slate of members to the judicial nominating commission Ive seen in my 24 years in the Iowa Senate.

The Republican Party and their fat cat benefactors have been working to stack the courts for decades. After a series of victories for civil rights, they realized that non-partisan judges would not reliably lead to conservative policies. The goal, then, was to identify like-minded radicals in their youth and deliver them to the elite networks that could seat them in the courts.

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Both at the state and national level, the Republican Party has devolved into the MAGA cult group and has decided that you dont deserve justice from courts; you deserve their radical remaking of American society. At a national level, with the help of U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, that merely entailed blocking all judicial appointments until Republicans controlled the process. In Iowa, however, Republicans have simply only allowed ultraconservatives to choose who may be a judge.

Recent editorials and opinion pieces criticizing both sides for this partisanship miss the mark. Senate Democrats have been able to control one thing in the wake of this partisan takeover of our courts: rejecting a slate of obviously partisan nominees to put the final piece of this plan into operation. You do nothing to defend an apolitical justice system by merely wagging your finger at Republicans changing laws, breaking norms and appointing activists, but then condemn Democrats for not rubber=stamping those very same activists.

We have an increasingly radical MAGA governor appointing increasingly radical members to select increasingly radical jurists. I will not accept the fiction that a judicial philosophy that mirrors the party platform is in any way distinguishable from political affiliation. She packed our courts with partisans, and now its open season on our rights and freedoms.

Elections have had consequences.

Joe Bolkcom is an Iowa state senator representing Iowa City.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Opinion: Here's why we must oppose the GOP effort to pack Iowa courts
The war between Ukraine and Russia will not last long and its active phase will end soon, Chief of Defense Intelligence of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense Kyrylo Budanov has said.

"This whole war won't last that long. It will end soon," Budanov said in an interview broadcast on the national telethon on Friday.

At the same time, answering the clarifying question of the presenter about whether it will last "two or three weeks", he said that we are talking about a longer period.

"At the end of May, I told what the algorithm of military operations would be. Then I said bluntly that June would not be good for us, we would lose. In July there will be a conditional stagnation, and in August we will begin to gradually move towards the restoration of the territory, which it will be clear to everyone. In winter, the war will largely subside, but after the winter, the end of this conflict will begin. At the first stage, reaching the administrative borders as of 1991," Budanov said.

He also added that, probably, the Ukrainian army will enter the territory of the Crimean peninsula by the end of spring 2023. "Perhaps a little earlier. You can make a mistake in the days, but not in the algorithm," he said.
Four years ago, Eden Village I opened its doors, becoming the first permanent housing project in Springfield for the chronically disabled and homeless.

Managed by The Gathering Tree, Eden Village I is a 4.25-acre community that offers 30 tiny homes off of East Division Street. Three of the village's residents have been a part of the community since its doors first opened in November 2018.

As neighbors have moved in and out over the years, the trio reflected on how they are each healthier, happier and doing better than before moving to Eden Village.

It's about the people

Teresa Ross on the front porch of her house at Eden Village on Monday, Sept. 26, 2022. Ross was one of the first residents to move into a home at Eden Village I on East Division Street nearly four years ago when it opened.

Originally from California, Teresa Ross moved to Missouri with a friend several years ago. Formerly, she was a school teacher.

Love is all Ross has for Eden Village residents and staff, who she said have allowed her to enjoy all aspects of life.

"I really don't worry about (anything)," Ross said. "Life is sweet. Life is beautiful."

Ross said her favorite part of Eden Village is the people, specifically her friend and fellow resident Vicky, Community Coordinator Kelbi Schlueter and Chief Visionary Officer Nate Schlueter. It's these people and her fellow neighbors who keep her at Eden Village.

In the upcoming weeks, Ross is visiting her family in Los Angeles to celebrate her mother's 80th birthday. While excited for the trip, Ross said she'll be eager to return to her home in Springfield.

Ross added that if she could take her friends with her, she'd consider moving, but if they can't tag along, she's not interested.

"If I could take Kelbi with me, Nate with me or Vicky with me, then I would go (anywhere)," Ross said with a laugh. "You'd have to put (them) in my pocket."

Another one of her close friends is Gary Boots, her neighbor and another one of Eden Village I's original residents.

"(Gary's) one of the ones I wouldn't trade," Ross said. "I don't care if he gets mad at me or I get mad at him, I wouldn't trade him."

The importance of taking the time to smell the roses (or the coffee)

Gary Boots reflects on how living at Eden Village has changed his life on Monday, Sept. 26, 2022. Boots was one of the first residents to move into a home at Eden Village I on East Division Street nearly four years ago when it opened.

For Boots, 63, his first experience with Eden Village was actually a month before he got settled in.

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"My story was I never had a birthday party," Boots said. "I was 58 at the time, so (Eden Village) gave me a birthday party before I moved in."

Since then, Boots said Eden Village has given him the start to his "second life."

Though he was born and raised in Pennsylvania, Boots said Missouri, specifically Eden Village, is his forever home.

Boots lived unsheltered for 18 months before moving into Eden Village. Most nights, he slept in a sleeping bag out in the open. For him, falling asleep wasn't an issue, but keeping his belongings safe was.

"It feels good to be in a place now where your stuff isn't being stolen," he said. Like all Eden Village I residents, Boots lives in a one-bedroom, one-bathroom tiny home with a full kitchen, living room and porch. Walking through his front yard, visitors may be met by Flash, his dog. But they should also look out for his pepper plants.

When it came to getting settled in his tiny home, falling asleep soon became the issue. For the first six months, Boots could only fall asleep on the floor.

"You get used to concrete and grass," he said. "In order to fall asleep I had to get on the floor."

But today, Boots sleeps in his bed.

More:Eden Village lawsuit challenges Missouri law impacting homeless population, organizations

Reflecting on the year and a half he slept outside, Boots said he always felt watched and protected.

"Every night there were these two birds flying by and I was like, 'Birds don't fly at night,'" Boots said. "Every night for like six months they just kept flying by. I said, 'They're angels. They're protecting me.' Then when I got my house (at Eden Village), I was walking up the street here and there was this big bird flying past me and when it squawked I said, 'That's the same bird.' He flew across the field, came back and landed on top of the telephone pole. I got up to it and looked and it turned its head around and it was an owl. That's the bird that's been flying through the night and I haven't seen it since."

As a Christian, Boots associates owls with angels, as Archangel Jeremiel was said to often appear in the form of an owl, known for its wisdom and attention to detail.

While living at Eden Village, one of the biggest lessons Boots has learned is how to slow down.

"I set back now and don't rush to do anything, care about the daily time or make any promises," he said. "I do everything slow. They say take the time to smell the roses, but I say coffee. That's the way I live my life right now. Eden Village helped me slow down and enjoy my life."

A space of her own

Nancy Lawrence on the front porch of her house at Eden Village on Monday, Sept. 26, 2022. Lawrence was one of the first residents to move into a home at Eden Village I on East Division Street nearly four years ago when it opened.

Eight years ago, Nancy Lawrence spent each night in her car.

"I had been homeless for four years and sleeping in the car, taking care of my husband at the nursing home," Lawrence said. "(When) he passed away and (Eden Village co-founder) Linda Brown called me and asked me about moving here, I was so very excited."

A Springfield resident her entire life, Lawrence said Eden Village has not only given her a roof over her head but also a space to pursue her passion: art.

Lawrence's tiny home features an array of plastic canvas crafts, from heart-shaped magnets on her fridge to brightly-colored tissue boxes. She said she enjoys gifting her crafts to homeless individuals for holidays like Valentine's Day and Christmas.

Bingo and frequent dinners hosted by local churches in the community center are some of Lawrence's favorite activities put on for all Eden Village residents.

While Lawrence said she loves living at Eden Village I, she hopes she can move into her own home one day.

"The goal would always be for me to have my own house," Lawrence said. "I hope and pray about being in a house, instead of being in the small cottages that we have here because I could make more things if I had more space."

The future of Eden Villages

In November 2020, The Gathering Tree opened Eden Village II, located off of West Brower Street. This second tiny-home community includes 24 houses, community center and park. Within a month of its opening, Eden Village II was at full capacity.

Now, Eden Village III is in the works, located at 2419 W. High St. on a four-acre piece of land. This community is expected to include 36-44 duplexes. The Gathering Tree's end goal is to have five Eden Village locations throughout Springfield.

Also managed by The Gathering Tree is Revive 66 Campground, which provides overnight shelter for the homeless. The campground includes 52 solar-powdered teardrop campers. The campground opens at 8 p.m. daily and shelters are available for $10 a night.

In May, a group of Drury architecture students built a tiny home at the campground, which includes a full-sized bed.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Eden Village I residents reflect on importance of togetherness
First-year teacher Isabella Doucette greets her first grade students for their first day of the school year at the Academy of Accelerated Learning in Milwaukee earlier this month.

Wisconsin state test scores released Thursday confirmed significant academic declines and persisting gaps during the pandemic, with some glimmers of progress in the last school year.

On math and language arts tests for grades three through eight, fewer than half of Wisconsin students were deemed proficient in 2022, a drop of about 10% of students deemed proficient in 2019.

The tests were canceled in 2020 and had low participation in 2021.

State education officials said the numbers showed "strong signs of recovery and progress" compared to the 2021 results, but were still below pre-pandemic standards.

"Recovery from something is a journey, and we have not yet reached a destination we are satisfied with," said Abigail Swetz, communications director for the state Department of Public Instruction.

About 39% of Wisconsin students scored as proficient or higher in math on the spring 2022 Forward exams, compared to about 43% in 2019. And about 37% were proficient or better in language arts, down from 41%.

The numbers also show continued disparities by race, income and other factors. Swetz said they point to areas that need more support from state programs, including proposals for universal free meals, more mental health support, and more funding for special education and general aid.

DPI Superintendent Jill Underly recently joined Gov. Tony Evers in sharing a $2 billion plan to boost education funding in the 2023-25 budget, with a focus on literacy, mental health and staff shortages in K-12 schools. That plan hinges on the outcome of the November election.

Tim Michels, challenging Evers for the governor seat, took a different stance Thursday in a news release, saying Evers had "driven Wisconsin schools into a ditch."

Michels has suggested he would not provide public schools with any new funding and would consider plans that could lower the amount some public schools get, while increasing funding for vouchers for private schools.

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Wisconsin test scores show some progress made since 2021

DPI leaders said they saw signs of improvement between 2021 and 2022 but also cautioned against comparisons between those years.

That's because in 2021, participation was much lower in some districts where many students were still in virtual learning. There wasn't a virtual option for the test.

When state officials calculate proficiency rates, students who don't take the test are essentially counted as not proficient, dragging down the rate. Using that calculation method, proficiency rates rose significantly statewide between 2021, with low participation, and 2022, with near-total participation.

But when looking at proficiency rates solely among students who took the tests, the picture is a little different. Rates rose slightly in math from 2021, but fell in language arts.

Fewer Wisconsin students tested as proficient or above in 2022 than in 2019 for math.

Milwaukee Public Schools' scores fall further

Where the statewide proficiency rates dropped by 10% of the 2019 rates in math and language arts, Milwaukee's dropped by 38% in math and 24% in language arts.

In total, about 10% of Milwaukee students scored as proficient or higher in math, and about 14% in language arts.

If you consider that about 6% of Milwaukee students didn't take the 2022 test, the proficiency rates for just those students who took the test are slightly higher: about 11% in math and 15% in language arts.

Like the rest of the state, those rates for test-takers are a little better than the 2021 rates in math, and worse in language arts. Fewer than half of MPS students took the test in 2021.

If you count untested students in the total, the rates for 2021 look lower, and the rates for 2022 are higher in comparison for both math and language arts, as well as other subjects tested on the Forward exams for other grades.

Milwaukee Public Schools leaders said in a statement that they saw proficiency increases "on every test, in every subject area compared to spring 2021, although we know we still have work to do."

District leaders said they were dedicated to increasing school attendance and "assuring that teachers have strategies to increase student engagement, provide explicit instruction at grade level, and monitor progress with formative practices."

They emphasized some schools that did better than others, including Bay View Montessori, where students scored better in 2022 than they did in 2019. The school has a smaller population of students considered economically disadvantaged.

In Milwaukee, just 7% of students considered economically disadvantaged tested as proficient in math and 10% in language arts on the Forward exams, compared to 24% of their peers in math and 33% in language arts.

ACT scores also down from pre-pandemic

Statewide, ACT scores in 2022 improved from 2021 but were lower than previous years. Unlike the Forward exams, students were able to take ACT tests in spring 2020 before schools closed in the pandemic.

On the 2022 ACT exams, about 35% of students were proficient or higher in language arts, 27% in math and 28% in science  down from 2020 rates of 37%, 33% and 32%, respectively.

Similar trends were seen on the ACT Aspire, an exam meant to help students prepare for the ACT. Students were not able to take the Aspire in 2020, so numbers are compared to 2019.

On the 2022 Aspire exams, about 36% were proficient or higher in language arts, 33% in math and 29% in science  down from 2019 rates of 40%, 40% and 35%, respectively.

Schools nationwide see pandemic drops

Students have shown unprecedented declines in test scores across the country during the pandemic.

Some of the strongest data come from a federal test administered to 9-year-olds in a representative sampling of U.S. schools. The National Center for Education Statistics has been running the test, which is separate from state tests, since the early '70s.

That assessment in 2022 marked the first ever drop in math scores, and first drop in reading scores since 1990. They dropped by 3% and 2%, respectively, from 2020.

Further, those tests showed that falls were larger for students of color, students from lower-income families and students who had fewer resources for navigating virtual learning.

On survey questions, students who scored higher reported more access to computers or tablets, high-speed internet, a quiet place to work and someone to help them with schoolwork.

Contact Rory Linnane at rory.linnane@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @RoryLinnane.

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: Wisconsin standardized test scores show drop in math, language skills
Lives upended. Businesses destroyed. Homes vaporized and belongings lost to the Gulf of Mexico.

Hurricane Ian has decimated Southwest Florida with astonishing damage between Port Charlotte and Naples. At least 21 are dead, though officials believe the toll will grow.

As recovery efforts begin and the search continues for survivors, Floridians grappling with the catastrophe may need trauma counseling and emotional support.

Stress, anxiety and depression-like symptoms are common after disasters, according to federal officials.

Here are free mental health hotlines that people can call for help.

If youre in a disaster zone

The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration operates a free 24/7 crisis counseling helpline for people involved in disasters, including hurricanes and tropical storms.

People can call or text 1-800-985-5990, and Spanish speakers can press 2 for help in that language. Third-party interpretation services are available for more than 100 other languages.

Trained counselors answer the hotline. They offer confidential counseling, coping tips, advice on how to recognize distress and referrals to local crisis call centers for follow-up care. Callers dont need to give identifying information to get help.

People can call for themselves or on behalf of others. The helpline is open to anyone, including survivors, first responders, and family and friends of victims.

Calling 211 is another free option for emotional support, said Ken Gibson, spokesperson for the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, a nonprofit.

If someone has suicidal thoughts

Those contemplating suicide or who are in a mental health crisis can call or text 988, which is the national suicide prevention lifeline. They can also use an online chat tool to reach the lifeline: 988lifeline.org/chat.

Family, friends and bystanders can contact 988 on behalf of others.

Crisis counselors listen, offer confidential support and direct callers to local resources on suicide prevention or mental health.

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Theres no crisis too big, and theres no crisis too little, said Clara Reynolds, president and CEO of the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, which answers lifeline calls. In that moment in time, if you are struggling and you dont know where to turn, please know you can turn to 988.

If first responders need help

The Crisis Center of Tampa Bay answers a free mental health helpline for first responders and their loved ones. The program focuses on Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hendry, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas and Sarasota counties.

People receive confidential support by calling 1-866-435-4376 (1-866-4FL-HERO).

Firefighters, police officers, emergency care providers and other first responders can also reach the program via a web form at lasttoask.com.

  

Tampa Bay Times Hurricane Ian coverage

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FILE - A U.S. Coast Guard boat and Kitsap, Wash., County Sheriff boat search the area, Monday, Sept. 5, 2022, near Freeland, Wash., on Whidbey Island north of Seattle where a chartered floatplane crashed the day before, killing 10 people. Crews later this month will begin trying to recover the wreckage. rews later this month will begin trying to recover the wreckage of a seaplane that crashed in Puget Sound off Whidbey Island in Washington state. The National Transportation Board said Friday, Sept. 16, 2022 it will work with the Navy to collect the wreckage of the DHC-3 Turbine Otter.
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Sabrina Castro greets Titus Wright and other first-graders before the start of her social and emotional learning class Thursday, April 28, 2022, at Valley View Elementary in Toppenish, Wash. Students point to one of the three photos on the wall by the door to match the greeting they want from Castro.
Help ID people in the photos

All the photos in the Irwin Nash Images of Migrant Labor Digital Collection are online. To browse the photos, visit https://content.libraries.wsu.edu/digital/collection/nash/search.

When Washington State University bought the collection of photos from Nash, most had general descriptions without names. Dozens of people since have been identified with the public's help.

Many still need identification. If you have information about any of the photos, ask to join the Nash Photo Collection Facebook group or email Lipi Turner-Rahman at ilipi@wsu.edu or call her office at 509-335-4849.
Egypts Public Prosecution ordered the release of 50 pretrial detainees on Sunday and Monday, a member of the Presidential Pardon committee announced.
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Even the top executive of a luxury automobile company could need an auto-rickshaw to get to his destination; Martin Schwenk, the Chief Executive Officer of Mercedes-Benz India, recently experienced this after being stuck in a traffic jam in Pune. In an Instagram post, Schwenk detailed how he exited his Mercedes S-Class during traffic congestion, walked for a few kilometres, and then took an auto-rickshaw. It is to be noted that Schwenk was in India for the launch of the first 'Made in India' luxury electric sedan, i.e., the Mercedes-Benz EQS 580. The car was launched and manufactured in the German automaker's manufacturing plant in Chakan, Pune. The launch event of the electric car was also attended by road and transport Minister Nitin Gadkari.

Sharing a picture, Schwenk wrote, "If your S-class is stuck in traffic on the wonderful Pune roads - what do you do? Maybe getting off the car, starting walking for a few kilometers, and then grabbing a rickshaw?" The post soon went viral on social media, with a few users asking him about his experience of taking an autorickshaw.

Many social media users hailed the CEO for his humble nature, while many others wished him well. One of the users wrote on the social media platform, "hope you had a smooth ride." Another user wrote, "Well, lucky you. Not everyone is fortunate enough to find an autorickshaw driver who agrees to take you to your destination."

Also read: HORRIFIC! Bike accident shows why you should open your car's door carefully- WATCH viral video

Another user wrote, "I would still sit in the S-Class and enjoy its rich comfort even with the traffic." While some others suggested that him to launch a new small car to adjust to the Indian traffic. He said, "That's the point, Think of situation and launch some mini affordable luxury for India." Schwenk has been associated with the brand since 2006. He became CEO of Mercedes-Benz India in 2018. Prior to that, he served as the Chief Financial Officer of Mercedes-Benz China.

With inputs from IANS
Full-service airline Vistara launched the twice-daily flight service to Jaipur from Mumbai on Friday. The airline announced that it has sent out an Airbus A320 Neo aircraft equipped with three classes  business, premium economy, and economy  to fly the new route. By adding new locations and increasing frequency for specific routes, the airline has been aiming to increase its aircraft network's domestic and international reach. The opening of a new route will facilitate travel by increasing the flow of people between the cities.

"Jaipur has not only played a significant role in putting Indian tourism on the global map, but it is also a major hub for trade, requiring greater connectivity to metro cities. We have added the city to our growing network, with connectivity to and from Mumbai and convenient international connections beyond Mumbai," said Vinod Kannan, Chief Executive Officer at Vistara.

The Tata-Singapore Airlines-run joint venture airline currently operates 250 daily flights across 31 domestic and 10 international destinations with a fleet of 53 aircraft, comprising 41 Airbus A320, five Airbus A321neo, five Boeing 737-800NG, and two Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner planes. Of this, the domestic flights account for 75-80 percent, and the rest, 20-25 percent capacity, is deployed on international routes, according to the airline.

Also read: Pakistan International Airline issues clarification after bizarre dress code statement

Vistara's overseas destinations are Bangkok, Dubai, Dhaka, Frankfurt, Jeddah, Kathmandu, London Heathrow, Male, Paris, and Singapore. The airline also said it is set to commence its flight services between Mumbai and Abu Dhabi from 1 October 2022. Vistara had also launched its flight services to Tokyo (Haneda) Airport, Japan, in July 2021 with much fanfare but later discontinued them quietly.

With inputs from PTI
New Delhi: Durga Puja, also known as Durgotsava is an annual Hindu festival. It is observed to celebrate Maa Durga's victory over Mahishasur. Durga Puja celebrations begin on Saturday, October 1 (Maha Shasthi) and end on Wednesday, October 5 (Vijayadashami). The festivities start with full gusto on the occasion of Maha Shashti.

In Delhi, there are many places to visit to enjoy the festivities. Here we have listed the top 5 for you:

Chittaranjan Park

The Puja of Mela Ground in C.R. Park is noted more for its traditional celebration of the puja. It is one of the best ones in Delhi and the idol of Maa Durga takes your breathe away. CR park is very famous for its Durga Puja and you must pay a visit this year.

Greater Kailash 2

In GK2, Delhi, there is a beautiful Durgotsab pandal that will get your eyes struck. The all-silver pandal in Greater Kailash ( Uday Shankar Park, E block, GK 2) is worth watching. It has a variety of stalls and is one of the most happening places in Delhi one has to add to the list of Durga Puja visits.

Civil Lines

Civil Lines and Timarpur Puja Samity is one of the oldest Durga pujas in India which has crossed its 100 years, it was established in 1914. This Durga puja is mainly known for its idol as it is often artistically and beautifully made. With a modern touch of programs with its traditional idol, this place promises a good time.

Kalibari

The puja is dotted with celebrities and Bengalis make sure to visit this puja pandal. C.R Park is a happening place during Durga puja, and Kalibari is a MUST visit place during the festivals.

Kashmere Gate

Kashmere Gate Durga puja pandal is the oldest one in the city. It is held at the Bengali Sr. Sec. School, Alipur Road. The pandal makes you feel nostalgia because it is still erected and decorated traditionally.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today took a veiled dig at former finance minister P Chidambaram while talking about the Digital India initiative. Without naming the Congress Rajya Sabha member, PM Modi said that a handful of elite-class people doubted the potential of poor people and Digital India and even one of them went on to say odd things in Parliament.

"Just like the government started a campaign to deliver electricity to every household or worked on the mission of providing clean water to everyone through Har Ghar Jal Abhiyan or through the Ujjwala scheme, the gas cylinder was delivered to the poorest of the poor or connected people to the banking sector through Jan Dhan scheme, similarly, our government has been working on the goal of the Internet for all.....Our policy support for 4G services led to a decrease in data prices and thus resulted in a data revolution," said PM Modi.

He further said, "There was a time when a handful of elite-class people and some of them....see their speeches in Parliament, see what they used to say inside the house...they used to make a joke of this (Digital India). They used to think that poor people have no potential and they cannot understand Digital things. They used to doubt poor people. They suspected that poor people would not even understand the meaning of digital. But I have always had faith in the understanding of the common man of the country, in his conscience, in his inquisitive mind," said PM Modi.

Watch Video From 2.14.40 minutes

PM Modi was taking a potshot at P Chidambaram for the Congress leader's speech in the Rajya Sabha where the former finance minister questioned the Digital India initiative.

This is how P Chidambaram mocked digital India.!



But , now India crossed 100$ billion digital transactions by value in Oct. 2021.



In just 3 years India becoming a global leader in Digital Transactions.! pic.twitter.com/BXARgzPt7J November 9, 2021

"....Go to a village fair, buy potatoes and tomatoes and pay Rs 7.50 by credit card. What will the poor lady do? Does she have a POS machine there? Is it connected to an electricity source? Is there WiFi? Is the internet working there?...." Chidambaram had said.

Today, India leads the world in real-time digital payments. The Reserve Bank of Indias digital payment index (DPI) showed that DPI rose to 349.30 as of March 2022, compared to 304.06 in September 2021.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, stated that the company's future Cybertruck will "serve briefly as a boat" and aid in navigating rivers and other bodies of water. The goal, according to Musk, is for a Cybertruck to be able to cross the water between South Padre Island in Texas and SpaceX's Starbase. Meanwhile, he also mentions that the Cybertruck is waterproof and hence is capable of going through these water bodies. He also says in his tweet that the truck can even cross seas that "are not too choppy."

"Cybertruck will be waterproof enough to serve briefly as a boat, so it can cross rivers, lakes & even seas that aren`t too choppy," he tweeted. "Needs be able to get from Starbase to South Padre Island, which requires crossing the channel." During the quarter`s earnings call, Musk said that Tesla could start deliveries of its upcoming Cybertruck in mid-2023.

Cybertruck will be waterproof enough to serve briefly as a boat, so it can cross rivers, lakes & even seas that arent too choppy  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 29, 2022

"We will bring another level of simplicity and manufacturing improvements with Cybertruck and future products that we are not quite ready to talk about now, but I think will be very exciting to unveil in the future," he told analysts earlier. The tech billionaire also said that with Cybertruck and other products, the company will add a new level of production efficiency and simplicity. He believes that the Cybertruck will be the company`s "best product ever."

Also read: Exclusive: Ola Electric to work on EV motorcycle for India, hails new Battery Standards  Watch Video

With inputs from IANS
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has irked Congress after it put up front page advertisements in a few vernacular dailies in Karnataka, calling former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru the "grandfather" of India's Partition. As Rahul Gandhi's "Bharat Jodo Yatra" entered the second day in Karnataka on Saturday (October 1, 2022), the State unit of the BJP put out an ad in some Kannada newspapers which read, "Can the great-grandson unite what the "grandfather of India's Partition" did?". With a map of India and divided Pakistan and Bangladesh in the middle of Nehru's and Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah's photographs on either side, the advertisement painted in black said, "Can the unity of India possible from a party, which caused the bloodbath of the citizens only to come to power?".

Congress, however, took strong exception to the accusation and said that the right wing has always been on the "wrong side" of history.

"The BJP gave the advertisement. The right-wing ideology has always been on the wrong side of history. Since they could not write history, they are trying to rewrite history," Congress leader Pawan Khera said.

He further alleged that the two-nation theory was first mooted by the Hindu Maha Sabha in its Ahmedabad convention in 1937, which was presided over by Hindutva ideologue Savarkar.

In 1942, the founder of Pakistan Mohammed Ali Jinnah repeated the same in the Lahore convention of the Muslim League, Khera added.

In 1942 when the Congress left all the provincial governments in protest and to participate in the Quit India movement, the Sabha joined hands in alliance with the Muslim League in three provincial Assemblies -- West Bengal, NWFP and Sindh where the first resolution for Pakistan was passed, he claimed.

"I challenge them (right wing) that they were in alliance with the Muslim League and they did not stop it. It's clear who partitioned India. They (BJP) are talking to a person whose grandmother divided Pakistan. They (BJP) don't know the history before 1947 and 1971. They don't know their own history," the Congresss leader said.

Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah also attacked the saffron camp and said that they are teaching history to those who brought Independence.

"Which party united all the provinces and made one nation? It's Congress. Which RSS leader participated in the freedom struggle? Did RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar or the second Sarsangh Chalak Madhav Sadashivrao Golwalkar participate in the freedom struggle? Has anybody from RSS died in the freedom struggle? Now, these people are taking history lessons for the Congress," he said.

Meanwhile, the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' led by Rahul Gandhi entered its second day in Karnataka on Saturday.

LIVE: Bharat Jodo Yatra | Tondavadi Gate to Thandavapura | Chamarajanagara to Mysuru | Karnataka https://t.co/y548bNFyLj  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) October 1, 2022

The leader will spend 21 days covering 511 km in the state during his march, which started from Kanyakumari on September 7 to Jammu on January 30, 2023.
Egypts Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry highlighted the dangers of filling and operating the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in a meeting with the President of the World Water Council (WWC) during the 2022 Cairo Water Week (CWW 2022).
New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Jammu and Kashmir for two days beginning October 4, during which he will review the security situation there, address two rallies and offer prayers at Vaishno Devi temple.

On the first day of the visit, Shah will address a public meeting at Rajouri, launch development projects and also lay foundation stones for various projects in Jammu after visiting the Vaishno Devi temple in the morning.

On October 5, he will review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir at a meeting to be held at Raj Bhavan in Srinagar. Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha, top officials of the army, paramilitary forces, state police and civil administration will take part in the high-level meeting.

Shah will also address a public meeting at Baramulla before launching and laying foundation stones for various development projects in Srinagar.
The Bajrang Dal has caught eight Muslim youths at 'garba' venues in Indore in Madhya Pradesh over the past three days for alleged involvement in "immoral activities", a functionary of the right-wing Hindu outfit claimed on Thursday.

He said over 400 activists have been deployed at Navratri venues here to check "love jihad".

Also Read: Bhopal: For first time, ID cards required for entry to garba events as 'security measure'

However, a senior Indore police official said the situation at all these venues was peaceful and no "love jihad" activity was underway in any of them.

"Love jihad" is a term used by right-wing groups and activists to allege a concerted effort by Muslim men to convert Hindu women to Islam through marriage.

Speaking to PTI, Bajrang Dal Indore unit coordinator Tannu Sharma alleged these eight youths had entered the garba venues by hiding their identities.

"We have deployed our 400 workers in various garba pandals to check love-jihad. It is their duty to check whether any person is entering these premises by hiding their real identities and indulging in immoral activities," he said.

"In the last three days, after getting information about immoral activities, these workers have caught eight Muslim youths from different localities. They had entered the venues by hiding their identities. We handed them over to the police," Sharma claimed.

He alleged these youths were shooting videos of women without permission and were also indulging in other "immoral activities".

Some purported videos of Bajrang Dal activists handing over such youth to the police have gone viral on social media.

Indore Additional Commissioner of Police Rajesh Hingankar said, in order to ensure peace, these youths were arrested under section 151 the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

This section allows a police official to arrest a person without orders of a magistrate or without a warrant if it appears that the commissioning of an offence cannot be prevented without such arrest.

Hingankar, however, added, "The situation in all the garba pandals of the city is peaceful. No activities like alleged love jihad is going on in them."

Meanwhile, state Congress spokesperson Santosh Singh Gautam said any person irrespective of religion must be subjected to appropriate legal action if he or she indulges in any wrongdoing.

"But we want to know whether the Bharatiya Janata Party government in MP has given a free hand to the Bajrang Dal to indulge in moral policing," Gautam questioned.

Incidentally, state home minister Narottam Mishra had, on September 27, directed organizers of garba pandals to check the identity cards of those entering the venue. Earlier, state minister Usha Thakur had said ID cards should be checked at Navratri venues to prevent "love jihad" incidents.
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party will conduct a 15-minute silent protest near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Patna on Sunday to protest against the "deteriorating law and order conditions in Bihar," former deputy chief minister of the state Sushil Kumar Modi said."The BJP will stage a kind of symbolic protest by holding a 15-minute silence against the increasing crime and deteriorating law and order conditions in the state," Sushil Modi told ANI here. The decision came following an attack on BJP leader and contractor Bablu Singh who was shot at by assailants in Friends Colony in Bihar`s Arrah on Friday while he was on a morning walk. Sushil Modi claimed that such incidents of firing come to the fore regularly.

"The law and order situation is regularly deteriorating in Bihar. Five people had lost their lives after a violent scuffle took place between sand mafia at a distance of 30km from the venue of the Investor`s Meet which was held in Patna. The culprits were so strong in themselves that they even took the dead bodies and police have not found them till date," he said adding that they attacked the police again when they went to conduct a raid in the same area.

Also Read: Bharat Jodo Yatra: 'If you obstruct the march in Karnataka, you will...': Siddaramaiah's BIG warning to BJP

Comparing the crime rate in the state, the former Deputy CM said that such attacks never happened under BJP`s governance."When the BJP was in power in the state, such incidents where criminals attack police personnel and five people are killed in an illegal sand mine. Never had it taken place that the criminals were roaming freely," he said.He further alleged that people in Bihar are afraid that "Lalu Raj" has returned to the state.

"Wherever such criminal offences occur, the members of the party go to meet the victim," he added.Sushil Modi further said that they have taken all details of the attack on Bablu Singh and to pressurise the government, a symbolic protest will be staged.
Damoh: The collector of Damoh district in Madhya Pradesh has complained about Bahujan Samaj Party's woman MLA Rambai Parihar, accusing her of abusing and threatening him, a police official said. Based on the complaint lodged by collector S Krishna Chaitanya, the Kotwali police here have registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the legislator, he said. Rambai Parihar, who represents the Patharia Assembly constituency in Damoh, has been charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty),186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 294 (obscene words) and 506 (criminal intimidation), Additional Superintendent of Police Shiv Kumar Singh said.

As per the complaint, the incident occurred on Friday, when the MLA along with some women from her constituency met the collector regarding grievances over some local issue. The complaint said that during the meeting, Parihar misbehaved with the collector and used indecent and obscene words against him.

Also Read: Mayawati can join opposition alliance if projected as PM candidate in 2024 Lok Sabha elections: BSP

Meanwhile, some organisations representing government officers and workers handed over a memorandum to the collector, stating that if the BSP MLA was not arrested within seven days, they would launch a massive protest here. When contacted, a police official said they will have to take permission from the Madhya Pradesh Assembly before taking action against Parihar.
New Delhi: A 24-year-old cab driver was arrested on Saturday for allegedly killing a Class 12 student in southeast Delhi's Jamia Nagar area for failing to return his money, according to police. The accused allegedly gave the student Rs 72,000 to purchase an iPhone. They identified the accused as Khalid, a resident of Batla House in Jamia Nagar. The incident occurred around 4.10 p.m. on Friday in the Azeem Dairy area, according to police. Asif, the deceased's elder brother, told police that he was inside the house when his brother was shot.

When he returned, he discovered his brother lying in a pool of blood, he claimed. According to Asif, Abdullah was declared dead at the Holy Family Hospital. Jamia Nagar Police Station registered a case under section 302 (murder) of the IPC and the Arms Act. During interrogation, Khalid revealed that he had given Abdullah Rs 72,000 to buy an iPhone, but that he was not returning his money, according to a senior police officer.

He went to meet Abdulah on Friday evening around 4 p.m. to get his money back, but neither the money nor the iPhone were given to him, according to the officer. They claimed that after his refusal, the two got into a fight, and Khalid shot Abdullah with a country-made pistol before fleeing. The gun used in the crime was also recovered at Khalid's request.
New Delhi: The Commissioner of Police in Delhi, Sanjay Arora, has directed all DCPs in the city to submit a report on sexual harassment complaints received by the Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) over the last five years. It should be noted that the Delhi High Court recently issued a notice to the Commissioner of Police (CP) and Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) South on a plea by a female cop seeking the formation of an ICC to hear her sexual harassment complaint. According to sources, the CP issued an order on September 30 to all DCPs and units to provide information on how many complaints of sexual harassment were received in ICC in their respective Districts or Units in the previous five years up to September 30. It also asked how many such complaints were substantiated, how many such complaints were filed, and, finally, what action was taken against the defaulters. On September 28, the Delhi High Court issued a notice to the Delhi Police Commissioner in response to a plea by a female cop seeking the formation of an Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) by the DCP of South Delhi for the resolution of a sexual harassment complaint.

The petitioner alleges sexual harassment in a case filed against her superior Sub Inspector. According to her, the ICC should have been formed within three months of the incident, according to Supreme Court guidelines, but this has yet to happen. On September 28, Justice Anu Malhotra issued a notice on the plea to the Delhi Government, the Commissioner of Police Delhi, and the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP)-South.

The case has been scheduled for October 19, 2022. This case involves a FIR filed on August 3, 2021, at Police Station Malviya Nagar in Delhi under the sections of rape and intimidation on the petitioner's complaint against a Sub Inspector of Delhi Police. The petition, filed by advocate Randhir Lal Sharma, requested that the Deputy Commissioner Police, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, form an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) to investigate and resolve current sexual harassment complaints in accordance with the guidelines established by the Supreme Court in Vishakha versus State of Rajasthan (1997) and the Sexual Harassment at Workplace and Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 20.

The petitioner's counsel informed the bench that the ICC has yet to be formed, despite the fact that it was supposed to be in place within three months. It is a violation of the Vishaka Case guidelines and the Act. The accused Sub Inspector is on duty in the department and is under interim protection from the High Court. He should be suspended immediately to ensure a free and fair investigation and the safety of the Petitioner, according to advocate Sharma.

The petition also requested an immediate departmental investigation into a delinquent police officer in order to determine whether the officer is fit to be retained in service in FIR U/s 376 and 506 IPC, 1860. The bench adjourned the hearing and directed that it be re-notified for October 19, 2022, when a bail application will also be heard.

Despite the fact that the ICC has not yet been formed, the charge sheet has been filed in this case. The accused Sub Inspector is said to have harassed the victim. The petition also stated that on October 9, 2021, a corruption case was filed in the CBI against the then-SHO Police Station Malaviya Nagar and other police officials for allegedly asking for bribes to settle the matter.

It is also stated that the accused is under interim protection and that his anticipatory bail order has been reserved since October 29, 2021. However, on May 18, 2022, a charge sheet was filed, and the case is now in the stage of charge framing.It is also stated that the accused is under interim protection and that his anticipatory bail order has been reserved since October 29, 2021. However, on May 18, 2022, a charge sheet was filed, and the case is now in the stage of charge framing.
Hyderabad: The Telangana government on Saturday issued orders providing 10 per cent reservation to Scheduled Tribes in educational institutions and government jobs. Currently, people belonging to the ST community have six per cent reservation in the state. At a recent public meeting, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao said his government would soon issue orders enhancing the quota to 10 per cent for STs in government jobs and educational institutions.

A bill on the 10 per cent reservation was passed by the Telangana Assembly in April 2017 and it was sent to the Centre for obtaining the President's assent.

During these close six years the state government sent several representations in this connection, but the same is still pending. Therefore, in these circumstances, it is expedient to enhance the percentage of Scheduled Tribe reservations, without any further loss of time, the GO said.

The Government of Telangana after careful consideration of the above special circumstances, hereby orders enhancement of reservations for the Scheduled Tribes from 6 per cent to 10 per cent in educational institutions and state government services, it said.
New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday (October 1, 2022) attacked Pakistan and said that no other country "practices terrorism" the way India's neighbour does. Speaking on the "Rising India and the World: Foreign Policy in Modi Era" in Gujarat's Vadodra, he said while India is considered "expert in IT" (Information Technology), the neighbouring country is known as an "expert in International Terrorism". The minister added that the Narendra Modi government's diplomacy made other countries take the issue of terrorism seriously.

"No other country practices terrorism in the manner in which Pakistan has done. You show me anywhere in the world what Pakistan has done for so many years against India. After the 26/11 Mumbai attack, it is important for us to be clear to ourselves that this kind of behaviour and action is unacceptable and there will be consequences," Jaishankar said during interaction with the audience after the talk.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, India successfully made other countries realize that terrorism can harm them too in the future if not contained now, he added.

"We are fairly successful in taking along the world in this fight against terrorism. Earlier, other countries used to ignore this issue thinking it would not affect them because it was happening somewhere else. Today, there is a pressure on those who support terrorism. This is an example of our diplomacy," Jaishankar said.

#WATCH | We've a neighbour, like we're expert in IT (information technology) they're expert in 'international terrorists'. It's going on for years...but we could explain to world that terrorism is terrorism, today it's being done against us, tomorrow it will be against you...:EAM pic.twitter.com/zxuibuadjG  ANI (@ANI) October 1, 2022

He also stated that terrorist activities in the North East have declined because of India's strategic pact with Bangladesh.

"Thanks to that land border agreement with Bangladesh, militants failed to get any shelter there. This stopped them from carrying out their operations in the North East," he stated.

We've to do what is best for our nation: Jaishankar recalls PM Modi's advice to not yield under pressure over oil purchases

Jaishankar also said that Prime Minister Modi did not yield to the pressure amid the soaring oil prices due to the Russia-Ukraine war and advised that India must do what is best for the nation.

"Due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, petrol prices doubled. We had pressure from where to buy the oil but PM Modi and government were of the view that we`ve to do what is best for our nation and if pressure comes then we should face it," Jaishankar said.

#WATCH | Due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict petrol prices doubled. We had pressure from where to buy the oil but PM Modi & govt were of the view that we've to do what is best for our nation & if pressure comes then we should face it...: EAM Dr S Jaishankar, in Gujarat's Vadodara pic.twitter.com/Oe0lKn2OfO  ANI (@ANI) October 1, 2022

To a question about how the Modi-led government will realise Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's dream of "undivided India", Jaishankar said Partition was a real tragedy and it created problems like terrorism.

"The best way of realising the dream of Sardar Patel is for India to be strong, successful and confident, and other people to understand that they have to come to terms with this India and stop policies which are not in their interest and which are harmful to the entire region," said the minister.

 ,                  



   vision                       October 1, 2022

"...And I think if there is one leader who is realising the dreams, who has the thought process of Sardar Patel, who is realising the vision of Sardar Patel, who has that boldness, commitment and habits, you know who that is," he said, apparently referring to PM Narendra Modi.

(With agency inputs)
New Delhi: India has scuttled China's bid to pass an anti-AUKUS resolution at the Vienna International Atomic Energy Agency meeting. The Aukus pact was signed between Australia, United Kingdom & United States last year under which Canberra gets nuclear-powered submarines. China has been miffed with the development & has been terming it a violation under Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). It even criticised the role of the IAEA for its stance on the issue.

Sources said, 'Indias deft and impactful diplomacy was deeply appreciated by IAEA member states, particularly the AUKUS partners.' The Indian Mission to the IAEA in Vienna worked closely with other IAEA member countries to develop a consensus on the issue.

The matter was taken up at the General Conference of IAEA that took place from September 26-30. After failing to get majority support Beijing withdrew the resolution on Friday (30th September).

Earlier this month, the UN nuclear watchdog had expressed its satisfaction with the pact according to reports. Sources said that India took "an objective view.. recognising the soundness of the technical evaluation by IAEA", explaining, 'India's considered role helped many smaller countries take a clear stand on the Chinese proposal'.
New Delhi: With over 2.5 lakh people voluntarily donating blood, India recorded a new milestone under `Raktdaan Amrit Mahotsav`, said the Ministry of Health on Saturday. Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya lauded the achievement on a micro-blogging site.

"More than 2.5 lakh people have voluntarily donated blood under the Raktdaan Amrit Mahotsav which started on PM Narendra Modi Ji`s birthday. The success of the initiative has strengthened the noble cause of humanity which will help immensely in saving many precious lives," tweeted Mandaviya.

The mega voluntary blood donation drive, Raktdaan Amrit Mahotsav was kickstarted by Mandaviya on September 17. A new world record was achieved on the first day of the camp with over 87 thousand donations. Dr Mandaviya hailed the extraordinary achievement in his tweet.

"New world record! Today I am happy to inform that on the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji Raktdaan AmritMahotsav more than 87 thousand people have donated blood voluntarily so far, which is a new world record. This is an invaluable gift from the country to our beloved Pradhan Sevak," tweeted Mandaviya.

"As another remarkable aspect of this nationwide drive, 6,136 camps have been registered for this mega drive along with more than 1.95 lakh blood donors registered so far on E-Rakt Kosh portal," read a statement.

PM TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan

In another step towards ensuring health for all, President Droupadi Murmu launched `Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan` to eliminate TB by 2025, on 9th September 2022.

"Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan is an extension of Hon`ble Prime Minister`s citizen- centric policies and a key step in ensuring enhanced awareness regarding the treatment for TB, a curable disease. The treatment is available free of cost at government health facilities," added the statement.

The initiative has gained momentum and so far roughly 13.5 lakh TB patients have registered on the Nikshay portal, out of which 9.5 lakh active TB patients have given their consent for adoption. The Ni-kshay 2.0 portal is facilitating in providing additional patient support to improve treatment outcomes of TB patients, augmenting community involvement in meeting India`s commitment to end TB by 2025 and leveraging Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) opportunities.

The Nikshay Mitras can also register on the website and more than 15,000 such mitras have registered so far and shown their commitment to provide support for over 9.5 lakh TB patients.
The US will provide an additional $1.1 billion in aid to Ukraine, with funding for about 18 more advanced rocket systems and other weapons to counter drones that Russia has been using against Ukrainian troops, the Biden administration announced Wednesday.

The latest package is being provided under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which funds contracts to purchase weapons and equipment.

And it brings the total of US aid to Ukraine to nearly $17 billion since the Biden administration took office.

The aid announcement comes as Russia moves to annex parts of Russian-occupied Ukraine that held Kremlin-orchestrated referendums on living under Moscow's rule. The votes were denounced by Kyiv and the West as illegal and rigged.

"We will not be deterred from supporting Ukraine, we will continue to stand with the Ukrainian people, and provide them with the security assistance they need to defend themselves, for as long as it takes,'' White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Since the funding is for contracts for weapons and equipment, it is aimed at helping Ukraine secure its longer-term defense needs. It could take a year or two for Ukraine to get the systems.

The US has used Pentagon drawdown authority to provide weapons more immediately, and another announcement for that Defense Department aid is expected early next week.

The package includes funding for 18 of the High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, and ammunition for them, and 12 Titan systems, which are used to counter drones.

Officials have said the HIMARS and other similar systems were key to Ukraine's battle successes in recent weeks.

And the Russians have been using Iranian-made drones to target Ukrainian forces, underscoring the need for more systems to counter that threat.

Also in the package is funding for about 300 vehicles, dozens of trucks and trailers to transport heavy equipment, a variety of radars, communications and surveillance equipment, and other gear for soldiers.

It also will include funding for equipment to detect explosives and for maintenance and training.

The war, now in its seventh month, has shifted to a new phase, as Russia tries to rebound from recent combat losses and use the referendums to politically solidify the gains it had made in the four occupied regions in the south and east.

Pro-Russia officials in Ukraine's Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions said Wednesday they would ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to incorporate their provinces into Russia.

It wasn't immediately clear how the administrative process would unfold.

Jean-Pierre said the US has determined that Russia falsified the results of the referendums, which it said showed overwhelming support for annexation.

"These so called referenda have been an exercise in coercion and disinformation, executed by puppet authorities following orders from Russia,'' she said.

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New Delhi: Indore was awarded as the cleanest city in the Swachh Survekshan Awards 2022 today for the sixth straight year. Surat and Navi Mumbai followed in the next two spots. President Droupadi Murmu today felicitated the awardees of the cleanest States and cities at the award ceremony of Swachh Survekshan 2022 at Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi. Indore also emerged as Indias first 7-star Garbage Free city, while Surat, Bhopal, Mysuru, Navi Mumbai, Vishakhapatnam, and Tirupati earned 5-star Garbage Free certifications.

Indore and Surat retained their top positions in the big cities category this year, while Vijaywada lost its third spot to Navi Mumbai.

In a surprise addition, Madhya Pradesh emerged as the cleanest state by replacing Chhattisgarh, the Cleanest State of the previous 3 years. Maharashtra came in the third spot. Among the states having fewer than 100 urban local bodies, Tripura has bagged the top rank, according to the survey results.

In the category of cities having a population of fewer than one lakh, Maharashtra's Panchgani was ranked number one, followed by Chhattisgarh's Patan (NP) and Maharashtra's Karhad.

Haridwar was adjudged the cleanest Ganga town in the category of more than 1 lakh population, followed by Varanasi and Rishikesh. Bijnor was ranked first among Ganga towns with fewer than one lakh population. Followed by Kannauj and Garhmukhteshwar respectively. In the survey, Maharashtra's Deolali was adjudged the country's cleanest Cantonment Board.

Hardeep S Puri, Union Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs and Kaushal Kishore, Minister of State for Housing & Urban Affairs also felicitated the awardee cities and States.

The award ceremony, organized to recognize the good work done for Swachhata by towns/ cities, States and Union Territories under Swachh Survekshan 2022 and certifications for Garbage Free Star rating for cities saw more than 160 awards under various categories being given away through the day.

The Survekshan has evolved from being an assessment of 73 cities in 2016 to covering 4,354 cities this year. It also saw an unprecedented number of citizens feedback  over 9 crores, compared to 5 cores last year.

(With agency inputs)
Varanasi: The Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth administration has dismissed a guest lecturer and banned his entry to the university campus for allegedly making a derogatory comment on Navratra fast by women.

Dr Mithilesh Gautam wrote in a social media post in Hindi, "For women, it is better to read the Constitution of India and the Hindu Code Bill instead of fasting for nine days during Navratra.

"Their lives will be free from fear and slavery. Jai Bheem."

Also Read: Navratri 2022: Indian Girls perform Garba dance at 'TIMES SQUARE' goes viral- Watch video here

Taking cognizance of the post, Registrar Dr Sunita Pandey initiated action against Gautam and said in an office order, "On September 29, students had complained through a letter stating that Dr Mithilesh Kumar Gautam, a guest lecturer in political science department had posted some material on social media, which is against Hindu religion."

Pandey cited "widespread resentment" among students against Gautam for the action.

"...In view of the university atmosphere getting vitiated and examinations affected, I have been directed that Dr Mithilesh Kumar Gautam be dismissed with immediate effect, and his entry into the university campus be banned in view of security," Pandey said in the order.




KCET Result 2022: The Karnataka Examination Authority will release the revised rankings of the Karnataka Common Entrance Test or KCET 2022 rank list today, October 1. Candidates who appeared for the exam will be able to check their KCET ranks on the official website - karresults.nic.in. To access the KCET results 2022, candidates need to log in with their application number and pasword. The Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) has conducted the KCET entrance examination to provide admissions into BTech courses offered by the participating institutes of the state.

Here's how to check KCET Result 2022

Visit official website of KCET karresults.nic.in On the home page, Click on the link CET Examination Results Enter your credentials such as registration number and first four letters of the candidates name View the result and download it for future reference

ALSO READ- NExT Exam implementation extended till September 2024, check details here

Earlier the KCET revised rankings were scheduled to be released on September 29 and the first round of counselling was to be held on October 3 however the results got delayed to October 1.
New Delhi: Khalistan Referendum has led to a diplomatic tug of war between India and Canada with both countries cautioning their nationals against traveling to both countries. It began after Indias Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a warning on September 23 asking Indian nationals and students to be extra careful while traveling to Canada.

According to an MEA notification titled Advisory for Indian Nationals and Students from India in Canada, the MEA asked the Indian nationals to exercise caution and remain vigilant. It also cautioned the Indian students who are likely to travel to Canada.

Also Read: India condemns activities of 'extremist elements' in Canada; terms Khalistan referendum 'farcical'

MEA had issued the travel advisory four days after US-based Sikh body Sikh For Justice (SFJ) held Khalistan Referendum in Brampton, Canada.

As expected, reacting to the Indian travel advisory for traveling to Canada, the Canadian government on September 27 advised Canadians to avoid going to the places situated 10 kilometres from the international border with Pakistan in the states of Punjab, Gujrat, and Rajasthan due to unpredictable security situation and presence of landmines and unexploded ordnance. The Canadian government has however excluded Wagah border from the advisory.

The Canadian advisory for traveling to India came before the second round of the Khalistan Referendum which is scheduled to be held in Toronto on November 6.

Indian travel advisory and the counter travel advisory by Canada indicate the lack of trust and deteriorating relations between the two countries despite the fact that Canada is one of the most favoured destinations for Indian students who go to Canada in hoards to pursue education and eventually settle there.

Experts are of the view that the diplomatic tug of war between the two nations could heat up in near future and impact the 'Canadian dream' of the Indian students.

Though Canada has maintained that it didnt recognize the Khalistan Referendum and instead respects the integrity and sovereignty of India yet the Khalistan Referendum has given an opportunity to the flourishing anti-India elements on Canadian soil to be heard across the world thus putting India in an embarrassing situation.

Indian travel advisory was a damage control exercise post Khalistan Referendum on Canadian soil and to warn the Canadian government to not allow anti-India elements to spread false propaganda against India but Canada responded by issuing a counter travel advisory which was nothing but a diplomatic manoeuvre  believes the subject experts.
Thiruvananthapuram: CPI (M) senior leader and former Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, known for his organisational calibre and Parliamentary expertise, died at Apollo Hospital in Chennai on Saturday, party leaders said. He was 70. He had been undergoing treatment for cancer for some time, they said.

Considered the second strongest leader in the Kerala CPI(M) after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan these days, Balakrishnan was a politburo member of the Left party, who had served as the CPI(M)'s State secretary from 2015 to 2022.

A multiple-time MLA, he also served as the Minister of Home and Tourism Affairs in the V S Achuthanandan Ministry during 2006-2011.

Due to failing health, he stepped down as the party's State secretary in August after being elected for the third consecutive term to the top organisational post early this year.

Known for his no-nonsense attitude, diplomatic skills and decision-making capabilities, Balakrishnan had been a crisis manager for the party during turbulent times.

Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was known for his no-nonsense attitude

Amid his stern and tough-faced colleagues including Vijayan, Balakrishnan set a difference with his liberal views, pragmatic approaches and above all a smiling face which earned him the epithet "smiling Communist."

Long Live Com Kodiyeri Balakrishnan



It is with deep grief and sorrow that we give the news of the passing away of Veteran communist Comrade Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M) and former Secretary of Kerala State Committee. We dip the red flag in homage. pic.twitter.com/EcNw5aubpp  CPI (M) (@cpimspeak) October 1, 2022

Born to a humble family of a primary school teacher at Thalassery in the politically volatile Kannur district on November 16, 1953, he began his political career through students' politics and became the State secretary of the Students' Federation of India (SFI) at the age of 20.

He served as the national joint secretary of SFI and district secretary of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and led the party's student and youth outfits in a commendable way braving the attacks of the political opponents and police assault during the Emergency.

Making his way into mainstream politics, he served as the Kannur district secretary of the Marxist party for five years from 1990.

In the later decades, Balakrishnan rose to various party ranks including as a member of the State committee, the State secretariat, central committee and finally a polit buro member in the Party Congress held in Coimbatore in 2008.

Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was elected to Kerala Assembly five times

The leader proved his mettle as a parliamentarian while elected to the State Assembly for five times-1982, 1987, 2001, 2006 and 2011.

During his tenure as Home Minister from 2006-11 that the much aclaimed "janamaithri police" programme, a path-breaking initiative aimed to bridge the gap between the law enforcers and public, was implemented in the southern State.

He also proved his leadership and diplomatic skills while serving as a deputy opposition leader in the State Assembly in various years.

Participation in mass agitations and meticulous organisation of party programmes helped Balakrishnan earn a mass support base in the party.

He is survived by his wife S R Vinodini and two sons.

CPI (M) State secretary M V Govindan told reporters in Chennai that the mortal remains of Balakrishnan would be taken to his home district Kannur in an air ambulance on Sunday.

The cremation would be held at Payyambalam beach on Monday, the party leaders said.

Earlier in the day, Vijayan postponed his trip to Europe, which was scheduled from Sunday, due to Balakrishnan's critical health condition.
Mumbai: A 26-year-old person died and three others were injured after two men on a motorcycle allegedly fired at them in suburban Kandivali, police said on Saturday. The incident, which the police say was a fallout of personal enmity, occurred around 11.30 pm on Friday at Laljipada on Link Road.

"The two accused came on a motorcycle and fired four rounds, in which one person was killed and three others injured. The victims were standing in a group when the miscreants fired at them and fled from the spot," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone-11) Vishal Thakur said.

The deceased was identified as Ankit Yadav, police said. The prime accused in the case, Sonu Paswan, knew the victim well. During the Krishna Janmashtami celebrations last month, a quarrel had broken out between the two and it is suspected that Paswan committed the crime out of a grudge he harboured against Yadav, he said.

A case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 302 (murder) and others, as well as the Arms Act, was registered against the accused, who have not been arrested so far, police said, adding that the injured were admitted to Shatabdi Hospital.
New Delhi: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Saturday took a swipe at the Congress president election process and said that whoever becomes the party chief will be a "puppet" of the Gandhi family. "Kharge or somebody else, whoever becomes the chief, he will only be a face to show and would be a puppet of the Gandhi family as the actual decisions will be taken by them only," Sushil Modi said.

During his conversation with ANI, Sushil Modi also spoke about Congress Shashi Tharoor whose election manifesto showed a "distorted map of India" with omitted parts of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

"It cannot be a mistake, the way Shashi Tharoor removed Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh from the map of India reflect his mentality as it is not possible to remove such an important region of the country," he said adding that his confession to the mistake, which is unforgivable, reflects Tharoor`s and the Congress party`s mentality. Friday was the last day for filing nominations for the election of the Congress president, where a total of three leaders have staked their claim for the post.

According to Congress Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry, 14 forms have been submitted by Mallikarjun Kharge, five by Shashi Tharoor and one by Jharkhand leader KN Tripathi.

Kharge, who has resigned from the position of Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, has good relations with the Gandhi family, especially Rahul Gandhi. So far, Kharge is believed as a strong candidate and if he becomes the party president, Congress will get a Dalit chief after 51 years. Hitting out at the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the former Bihar Deputy CM said that the country does not need any march to save it, and "Rahul Gandhi should rather march to save his party.

Reacting to the Congress leaders comment that no force can stop Bharat Jodo Yatra, Sushil Modi said, "Who is stopping Rahul Gandhi from marching? Do it but while you talk about unifying the country, is India divided? Which India is it that Rahul Gandhi is talking about uniting, India is already united. It is Congress Jodo Yatra as the party is breaking up."

"The Congress is in power in only two states, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Everyone saw what happened in Rajasthan and now Rahul Gandhi`s party is being challenged why is he marching when somebody else is becoming the party`s president," he added.

A political crisis had erupted in Rajasthan, following the mass resignations by party MLAs ahead of the speculations of Sachin Pilot becoming the Gehlot`s successor if he contested for party` top post. A legislative party meeting was scheduled on the evening of September 25 at the residence of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in the presence of the observers, which was attended by the Sachin Pilot and his camp MLAs, however, the Gehlot loyalists had held a meeting with Cabinet Minister Shanti Dhariwal at his residence, following which over 90 MLAs had submitted their resignations to Speaker CP Joshi.

However, Gehlot did not file his nominations and pulled out of the race amid political turmoil in his state. Congress` presidential post-election will be held on October 17 and the election results would be declared on October 19.
Jaipur: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday did not address a rally in the Abu Road area of Rajasthan's Sirohi as he reached the venue late and said he has to obey loudspeaker rules and regulations. He apologised before the gathering for not being able to address and promised that he will come again in Sirohi.

"I got late in reaching. It is 10 pm. My conscience says that I should follow the rules and regulations. So, I apologise before you," Modi said speaking without a mic and loudspeaker.

"But, I want to promise you that I will come here again and will repay with interest the love and affection that you have given me," he said.

PM Modi then chanted the "Bharat Mata ki Jai" slogan, which was repeated by people. Earlier, PM Modi was welcomed by state BJP president Satish Poonia, former CM Vasundhara Raje, Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Gulab Chand Kataria and his deputy Rajendra Rathore.

Party workers from districts like Sirohi, Dungarpur, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Pratapgarh, Banswara, Pali, Udaipur and nearby areas covering close to 40 assembly constituencies were mobilised for the rally, party sources said.

The rally was planned to give a message and to boost the morale of party workers in southern Rajasthan, which shares a border with the poll-bound Gujarat. The Assembly elections in the Congress-ruled Rajasthan are also due later next year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reached Abu road after offering prayers at the Ambaji temple in Gujarat's Banaskantha district. He visited the temple after speaking at a rally in the town.
Mumbai: Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) Officials recovered 198 kg crystal methamphetamine and nine kg cocaine worth Rs 1476 crores in Mumbai's Vashi on today. "The huge quantity of drugs have been seized from a truck carrying oranges that was intercepted in the Vashi", the DRI said.

Maharashtra | Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Mumbai recovered 198 kg high purity crystal methamphetamine (ice) & 9 kg high purity cocaine worth Rs 1476 crores after a truck carrying imported oranges was intercepted in Vashi, Mumbai: DRI Mumbai October 1, 2022

According to DRI, the drugs were concealed in the cartons carrying valencia oranges. The police has arrested the importer of the goods and interrogation is underway. Further investigation has been launced in this matter.

Also Read: Mumbai woman hides cocaine worth Rs 4.9 crore in sandal, arrested at airport

Earlier on Thursday, Mumbai Airport Customs Officials arrested a woman passenger at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport for allegedly smuggling cocaine worth Rs 4.9 crore hidden in the cavity of her sandal. The woman was intercepted by Mumbai Airport Customs Department on suspicion, and after searching, it was found that she was trying to smuggle cocaine weighing 490 grams, valued at Rs 4.9 crore to India.

Earlier, in another case, the Mumbai Airport Customs seized 1.3 kgs of cocaine valued at Rs 13 crore at the Mumbai International Airport. The police arrested one passenger from Ghana who was intercepted on August 28. According to the information received from the police, the accused had concealed cocaine inside his stomach. The accused was taken to the hospital and 87 capsules were recovered from his stomach.
Vadodara: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar joined foreign ambassadors and high commissioners in Gujarat for the Navratri celebrations on Saturday. "It is a matter of pride that we have come here with officials from different countries. As the Navratri festival is on, they will spend the day enjoying festivities. They are excited to see the development here," Jaishankar said after meeting delegates and ambassadors of several countries. Jaishankar also took to Twitter to express his excitement about taking part in the festivities tonight.. Great to see Ambassadors and High Commissioners in Vadodara for the Navratri experience. Look forward to participating in the celebrations tonight," Jaishankar tweeted.

Today is the sixth day of Navratri, and devotees across the country will worship Goddess Katyayani, Maa Durga's sixth incarnation. According to Hindu mythology, Goddess Katyayani was created when Lord Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva combined their powers. Maa Katyayani, also known as Mahishasurmardini, killed the demon Mahishasura. She is regarded as one of Maa Durga's most violent manifestations. She has four arms and is riding a lion. On the fifth day of Navratri, aarti was performed in the morning at Delhi's famous Chhatarpur Temple.

Also Read: We strive for a relationship with China but...': EAM Jaishankar in Washington

Priests chanted mantras and holy songs were played at the temple premises. During the nine-day Navratri festival, devotees worship Maa Durga`s nine incarnations to obtain her blessings. There is a goddess manifestation linked with each day of Navratri.

During these nine days, people maintain ritualistic fasts, recite shlokas dedicated to each goddess, wear new clothing, offer a blog, and clean their homes. In their prayers, they ask the goddess for her favour to have prosperous, joyous, and fulfilled lives. Over the next nine days, devotees offer their prayers to Goddess Durga and observe fasts. The festival of Navratri honours the defeat of the demonic Mahishasura and the triumph of good over evil. The 10th day of Sharad Navratri is celebrated as Dussehra or Vijaya Dashami. This year, Navratri started on September 26 and will conclude on October 5.
A fourth leak on the Nord Stream pipelines has been reported off southern Sweden, the Swedish news agency said Thursday.

Sweden's coast guards told news agency TT that they have a vessel on the site of the leak, off Sweden. All four detected leaks are in international waters, two near Sweden and two near Denmark.

The Nord Stream pipelines run through the Baltic to transport gas from Russia to Germany. Neither pipeline was operating, but both were filled with gas. The Danish and Swedish governments believe that the leaks off their countries were ``deliberate actions.''

Before the leaks were reported, explosions were recorded. A first explosion was recorded by seismologists early Monday southeast of the Danish island of Bornholm.

A second, stronger blast northeast of the island that night was equivalent to a magnitude-2.3 earthquake. Seismic stations in Denmark, Norway and Finland also registered the explosions.

Some European officials and energy experts have said Russia is likely to blame for any sabotage _ it directly benefits from higher energy prices and economic anxiety across Europe _ although others cautioned against pointing fingers until investigators are able to determine what happened.

Speaking Wednesday before the fourth leak was reported, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said it would have taken a large explosive device to cause the damage.

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Hubballi: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai lashed out at former CM Siddaramiah and said it was `unfortunate` that the Leader of the Opposition in the State Legislative Assembly was seeking a ban on the RSS. Talking to reporters here on Friday, CM Bommai said, "The Congress has no basis to ask why the Popular Front of India (PFI) has been banned because it was the same party that had withdrawn the cases booked against PFI".

"To cover up their mistakes, the Congress leaders are demanding a ban on RSS but they don`t say why it should be banned," he added.

The Centre on Tuesday declared the Popular Front of India (PFI), and its associates or affiliates or fronts, as an unlawful association with immediate effect for five years, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

"PFI and its associates or affiliates or fronts operate openly as a socio-economic, educational, and political organization but, they have been pursuing a secret agenda to radicalize a particular section of the society working towards undermining the concept of democracy and show sheer disrespect towards the constitutional authority and constitutional set up of the country," said the government notification.

The ban on PFI and its affiliates was welcomed and opposed by many leaders nationwide. However, in Karnataka, it triggered a debate between the two leaders after the former CM and the Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly Siddaramiah gave a controversial statement on RSS. While comparing the RSS and PFI, Siddharamiah called for a ban on RSS too. This triggered a controversy in the state.

"The RSS has built several institutions for poor, downtrodden, and destitute people, and rendered help during natural disasters. The RSS is an organization that is trying to create awareness of patriotism. I feel Siddaramaiah should not have stooped to this level," CM Bommai said.

Earlier, K Suresh, Congress MP from Kerala compared the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) with the Popular Front of India and demanded a similar ban on it for perpetuating "Hindu communalism.

"Asked about Congress top post poll, Bommai said it is an internal matter of the Congress Party and did not want to comment on it. However, he added that this may be because the election for the party president was happening for the first time.
New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and Kerala MP Shashi Tharoor, who filed his nomination papers for Congress presidential election yesterday, in an interview with news agency ANI on Saturday (October 1, 2022) said that he wants the party to strengthen and also wants to become a voice of change within the party.

The internal democracy that we are showing is not present in any other party. When election was announced, I had intention (to contest). I wrote an article, stating that the election is good for the party and mentioned its reasons, Tharoor said.

After that several people, ordinary workers told me to contest the poll. I started thinking and talking to people...I just want the party to strengthen and that I become a voice of change within the party and show its different face to people, he added.

After that several people, ordinary workers told me to contest the poll. I started thinking and talking to people...I just want the party to strengthen and that I become a voice of the changes within the party and show its different face to people: Shashi Tharoor (2/2) pic.twitter.com/BzmpVlHDlK  ANI (@ANI) October 1, 2022

Earlier today, Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Saturday joined issue with Shashi Tharoor, who has said his electoral competitor in the AICC presidential poll, M Mallikarjun Kharge was a ''candidate of continuity'' and of ''status quo'', while those wanting change in party should vote for him.

''Shashi says this (Kharge) has elements of continuity, his (Tharoor's) has elements of change. But continuity and change are subjective terms, relative terms'', the former Union Minister told PTI.

''I think that the very fact that we are having this election is reemphasis of continuity with change because it's not the first time that we are having elections. And that elections in the past have had certain features; this has its own features. So, for us this is all welcome'', he said. '

'We just want to get to that destination that the party comes out stronger and more determined that the efforts being put in by Rahul Gandhi...those efforts will then spread across full campaign against the things we oppose'', Khurshid added.
New Delhi: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi apologised and knelt down before the gathering in Rajasthan's Sirohi district for not being able to address them, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday (October 1, 2022) said that he wanted to appear humbler than him. Taking a dig at Modi, Gehlot said instead of displaying such antiques, he should give the message of brotherhood and love to the people of the country.

The prime minister was scheduled to address a gathering at Abu Road but did not address it as he reached the venue late and said he had to obey the loudspeaker rules. He then apologised and knelt down thrice before the gathering.

#WATCH | Rajasthan: Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets a large public gathering in Abu Road. pic.twitter.com/eax1dVASsT  ANI (@ANI) September 30, 2022

"He (Modi) knows that in Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot has the image of a very humble man...A simple man. This has been my image since childhood. How will Modi ji contest this? He wanted to appear humbler than me," Gehlot said.

The chief minister said in addition to being humble, Modi should also give the message of brotherhood and love to the countrymen.

"But he does not give this message. He is not following my advice. And what do you want to convey by kneeling down thrice?" the Congress leader added.

He said if Modi had appealed to the people to spread harmony, he would have called up the prime minister and congratulated him.

"Why only kneel down? Just to convey that I am also humble just like Ashok Gehlot?" he said.

Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Modi promised the gathering that he will come again to Sirohi.

"I got late in reaching. It is 10 pm. My conscience says that I should follow the rules and regulations. So, I apologise before you," Modi said speaking without a mic and loudspeaker.

"But, I want to promise you that I will come here again and will repay with interest the love and affection that you have given me," he added.

#WATCH | At Abu Road in Rajasthan, PM Narendra Modi didn't use a mic to address the huge gathering as he didnt want to violate any rule of using loudspeaker post 10pm pic.twitter.com/8Q0SyKFkdI  ANI (@ANI) September 30, 2022

(With agency inputs)
New Delhi: A debate has broken out over disciplinary action taken against a guest lecturer at Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth following his social media post about why women should not participate in the Hindu festival of Navratri. Dr. Mithilesh Kumar Gautam, a guest lecturer in the Department of Political Science, was fired and barred from entering campus after posting on social media that "women should read the Indian Constitution and the Hindu Code Bill. Instead of fasting for nine days during Navratri", the annual Hindu festival in which Goddess Durga is worshiped over nine nights. While some students justified the action, others claimed that the lecturer was victimised because of his Dalit identity. Dr Sunita Pandey, the University Registrar, told NDTV that Dr Gautam's remarks were offensive. He stated that no one had the right to make such remarks about any religion or about women."The things he said are not proper. A teacher should always avoid making such comments," Dr Pandey added.

Despite repeated attempts, Dr. Gautam could not be reached for comment, according to PTI. His phone was turned off. Dr. Gautam wrote on social media in Hindi: "For women, it is better to read the Constitution of India and the Hindu Code Bill instead of fasting for nine days during Navratri. Their lives will be free from fear and slavery. Jai Bheem."

Dr Pandey quotes "On September 29, students had complained through a letter, stating that Dr Gautam had posted some material on social media, which was against the Hindu religion."

He cited "widespread resentment" among students against Dr Gautam for his action and then further explained that in view of the prevailing situation, the guest lecturer was advised not to enter the campus for his own safety.

According to university officials, some students met with the Vice-Chancellor and requested that the accused guest lecturer be given the opportunity to present his side of the story. The Vice-Chancellor assured these students that both sides would be heard, and a committee was formed to that end. Anuj Srivastava, an office-bearer of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the students' wing of the BJP, said Dr Gautam's comments were "wrong" and the university had taken an "appropriate step".

However, Ravikant Chandan, an Associate Professor of Hindi at Lucknow University, called the action against Dr. Gautam into question. He stated "I had seen that post. There was nothing unconstitutional in it. Our Constitution says that there should be a scientific India. We have the freedom of expression and the post is related to freedom of women. It is a simple and ordinary post. Now, the question is whether logic ceases to exist in new India. Secondly, he (Dr Gautam) is a Dalit teacher." He further quoted "First they (BJP) attacked Muslims. Now they are targeting Dalit activists, teachers and social workers."
Mumbai: Actor Alia Bhatt, who is expecting her first child with Ranbir Kapoor, has come up with her maternity wear brand called `Edamamma`. On Saturday, she took to Instagram and gave a glimpse of her photoshoot that she recently did for the brand.

In the video, Alia is seen posing in a simple olive green sleeveless dress with a hand on her baby bump, and doing yoga outdoors in a tee with `Baby in progress` written on it. The video also has visuals of Alia in yellow flowy dress.

Sharing the video on Instagram, Alia wrote, "Edamamma Maternity Wear - made with a lot of love - for mama-beans. Launching 14th October!!". On Thursday, Alia made an announcement about her maternity wear brand."It`s not like I`ve bought maternity clothes before. But when I got down to it, I was overwhelmed. You don`t know how you`re going to look or feel over the next few months and let`s be honest, not being able to find the right thing to wear can be stressful," she said.

Here is the post shared by the actress:

She also mentioned that she even considered borrowing her husband Ranbir`s oversized clothes. "Do I buy brands I already wear but in a bigger size? Should I raid Ranbir`s wardrobe? And just because my body is changing doesn`t mean my sense of style has to, right?"She said that she added elastic to her favourite jeans and designed shirts that she didn`t have to share with Ranbir.

She also wore flowy dresses to avoid `any unwanted belly touching`.

Alia shared the post with a heart hands emoji. It`s the sets of Brahmastra only where the two fell in love with each other, and after dating for five years, Ranbir and Alia tied the knot in April 2022 in a close knit ceremony at their residence. In June, Alia announced her pregnancy on Instagram as she shared a photo from the hospital.
Mumbai: Film actor Annu Kapoor lost Rs 4.36 lakh to an online fraudster on the pretext of getting his Know Your Customer (KYC) details updated with a leading private sector bank, but timely action by the police will ensure he gets back Rs 3.08 lakh, an official said on Saturday.

Kapoor got a call from a man posing as an employee of the bank on Thursday who said he needed to update his KYC form, after which the actor shared his bank details and One Time Password, the Oshiwara police station official said.

"Some time later, the caller transferred Rs 4.36 lakh from Kapoor's account to two other accounts in two transactions. However, the bank immediately called him up to inform about the transaction and also told him his account was compromised," he said.

Kapoor approached the police without delay and the banks into which the money was transferred were contacted, he added.

"Both the accounts have been frozen by these banks and Kapoor will get back Rs 3.08 lakh. A case has been registered under Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act provisions. Efforts are on to nab the online fraudster," the police official said.
New Delhi: Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh are one of the most loved couples in the industry. Fans were upset when the rumours of their separations made rounds but finally, the couple has shut those up with their classic Insta flirt.

Earlier, a report went viral claiming that there was trouble in Deepika and Ranveer's paradise and they are separating after 4 years of marriage. Neither Ranveer nor Deepika reacted to it but their recent social media interaction has put a rest to the split speculations.

On Friday, Ranveer shared pictures of his latest hot pink look. His wife and actress Deepika Padukone dropped a flirty comment and all the rumours just faded away. She wrote, "Edible!" To this, Ranveer replied with lips emoji.

Recently, Ranveer attended the Meta Creators event in Delhi. Many pictures and videos from the day went viral on social media where Ranveer also met internet sensation Killi Paul.

Also, a few days ago, Deepika was reportedly rushed to Breach Candy hospital, Mumbai after she complained of uneasiness.

On the work front, the actress who was last seen in the film 'Gehrayiaan' has a number of projects in hand. It includes names such as 'Pathaan' an action drama that will see her reunite with the Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, 'Fighter', an action thriller which is being helmed by filmmaker Siddharth Anand and stars Hrithik Roshan in the lead role. Apart from this, she will also star in the film titled 'Project K' which is being helmed by Nag Ashwin, and 'The Intern'.

Ranveer on the other hand has 'Cirkus.' He will be also seen in Karan Johar`s next directorial `Rocky aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani` alongside Alia Bhatt, Jaya Bachchan, Shabana Azmi and Dharmendra. The film is all set to release on February 10, 2023. Apart from this, he will also be seen in south director Shankar`s next, the official remake of the Tamil blockbuster film `Anniyan`.
New Delhi: Nimrat Kaur recently travelled to Patiala to attend the dedication of the statue honouring her late father, Major Bhupender Singh, in the Patiala Regiment.

A bronze statue of Major Bhupender Singh was unveiled in Patiala's 64 Assault Engineer Regiment Heritage Hall in recognition of his contributions to serving his country and motherland.

While Nimrats father was awarded the Shaurya Chakra posthumously, the actress expressed her joy and said, Its a really special moment for us all to be here to honour his memory and partake in this wonderfully noble and incredible gesture by the Indian Army.

Patiala is very close to my heart because I have been in Patiala with my parents in two different tenures that my father had his postings there; when I was a little baby, and incidentally we lived in the same house for both our postings and the second time we were all together as a family as after that we lost him in Kashmir where we couldnt join him. Patiala is also my favourite because I completed my 5th, 6th and 7th standard in a school there and that really laid the foundation where I am today, as extra-curricular activities, dramatics and incredible values were instilled in me as a child, Nimrat further added.

The actress, who most recently appeared opposite Abhishek Bachchan in the critically acclaimed film 'Dasvi,' will next be seen in the movie 'Happy Teachers' Day.'
New Delhi: Garena Free Fire releases redeem codes on an 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 the official Garena Free Fire reward site and log in to your Facebook, Google, and Twitter IDs to access the Free Fire redemption page.

Check out the Garena Free Fire Redeem Codes for October 1, 2022:

VBNJYTGFVBRT

NGMHKIBBU7VY

TFRSVBRNTMYU

LMNBKLOV8S7Y

6A5RQDFV2BGN

3J4KR5TYG8U7

Y6TDVEBRN5TM

YK8U9BIVUJCX

MDRTYOJ98BUV7

6X5R4QDFV2B3

HJR5KGIUVVYCT

How to Redeem Garena Free Fire codes for today, October 1, 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)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that an Indian saves around Rs 4000 per month from his data expenses when one compares present data prices to the priced way back in 2014. PM Modi said that while 1GB of data used to cost Rs 300 in 2014, today it costs around Rs 10 per GB.

"India now has the world's lowest data charges. 1GB of data used to cost around Rs 300 in 2014. Tariffs have come down to Rs 10 per GB at present. On average, people consume around 14 GB of data per month today. These 14 GB data would have cost Rs 4,200 in 2014 but it costs around Rs 150 to Rs 200 today. Thus, an Indian saves around Rs 4000 per month," said PM Modi.

Also Read: PM Narendra Modi takes a potshot at P Chidambaram during 5G launch

PM Modi further said, "The cost of data in India has remained very low due to the efforts of our government. It is a different matter that we did not make a fuss about it, did not give big advertisements. We focused on how to increase the convenience of the people of the country, and increase the ease of living."

The prime minister also said that 5G marks the dawn of a new era and presents a sea of opportunities. He said that while the nation was dependent on foreign countries for technology for 2G, 3G and 4G telecom services, India has created history with 5G. The Prime Minister said his government's vision for 'Digital India' was founded on four pillars -- the cost of devices, digital connectivity, data cost and the digital-first approach.

Also Read: These 13 cities to get 5G internet first; Check is your CITY in the list?

He also said that the government's various initiatives have led to an increase in mobile manufacturing units in India from just two in 2014 to over 200 now. He said that this has not only brought down the cost of smartphones but also led to people getting better features at low prices.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry voiced Thursday Egypt's deep concern over the current Israeli escalations and the adverse impact they are having on their ongoing efforts to maintain the Palestinian-Israeli truce and revive the moribund Middle East peace process.

During a meeting Thursday with President of the Palestinian National Council (PNC) Rouhi Fattouh, Shoukry reviewed the outcome and decisions of the PNC's recent meetings, along with the latest developments in the Palestinian arena, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said.

In this regard, the PNC's head referred to the rapid deterioration in the security situation in the occupied Palestinian lands, as well as the mounting tension caused by the almost daily Israeli acts of violence against the Palestinians and aggression on sacred sites especially those located in Al-Quds (East Jerusalem), the spokesman added.

According to the spokesman, Shoukry reiterated Egypt's full support for the Palestinians' rights, including the right to establish their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in line with relevant internationally legitimate resolutions.

Meantime, the foreign minister updated Fattouh on all contacts and drives made by Egypt on the sidelines of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly's meetings in New York this month to garner support for the Palestinians and assuage their sufferings incurred from the continued occupation and the difficult economic and humanitarian conditions, he added.

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Mumbai: Krushna Abhishek will be seen hosting a show 'Bigg Buzz', where he will be seen grilling the evicted contestants of the controversial reality show 'Bigg Boss', hosted by Salman Khan.

Krushna shared: 'Bigg Boss' has been the most loved reality show since its very first season, and I'm thrilled to be hosting 'Bigg Buzz' where I get to take the class and have some fun with the evicted contestants and share the inside news with the audience."

He added: "Ghar ke andar Bigg Boss unki class lenge, aur ghar ke bahar mein. With the new format of this show, I will take it to another level. I am looking forward to the contestants spilling the beans on the show and adding more masala and tadka to the show with my presence."

The show will be aired on Voot exclusively starting October 9.
Kyiv: At least 30 people were killed and 88 wounded after a Russian missile struck a civilian convoy in Zaporizhzhia city of Ukraine on Friday, CNN reported citing Ukrainian officials. "The enemy launched a rocket attack on a civilian humanitarian convoy on the way out of Zaporizhzhia," Oleksandr Starukh, head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, said on Telegram.

The people killed in the strike include an 11-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy, CNN reported quoting the head of Ukraine`s National Police, Ihor Klymenko.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday formally announced the annexation of four regions - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and claimed that "this is the will of millions of people."

As per the media reports, Putin said the residents in the four annexed regions will now be Russia`s "citizens forever".

"There are four new regions of Russia," Putin said in a lengthy speech declaring the annexation of Ukrainian territories in the St George`s Hall at a Kremlin ceremony. The speech was filled with highly critical rhetoric about Ukraine and its Western allies, reported Al Jazeera.

While denying seeking revival of the Soviet Union by the said annexation, Putin accused Western states - which have imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Moreover, in a strong statement, Putin also added that Russia would now defend its new territory "with all the means at its disposal."

He also called the result of the referendum "the will of millions of people."

On February 24, Russia began a special military operation in Ukraine after the Donetsk and Luhansk people`s republics requested help in defending themselves. What followed the military operation was a slew of sanctions imposed by the western countries targeting the Russian economy.
Kyiv: After being encircled by Ukrainian forces, Russia pulled troops out Saturday from an eastern Ukrainian city that it had been using as a front-line hub. It was the latest victory for the Ukrainian counteroffensive that has humiliated and angered the Kremlin. Russia's withdrawal from Lyman complicates its internationally vilified move to annex four regions of Ukraine and paves the way for Ukrainian troops to potentially push further into the land that Moscow now illegally claims as its own. The fighting comes at a pivotal moment in Russian President Vladimir Putin's war. Facing Ukrainian gains on the battlefield - which he frames as a U.S.-orchestrated effort to destroy Russia - Putin this week heightened his threats of nuclear force and used his most aggressive, anti-Western rhetoric to date.

Russia's Defense Ministry claimed to have inflicted damage on Ukrainian forces in battling to hold onto Lyman, but said outnumbered Russian troops were withdrawn to more favorable positions. The Russian announcement came soon after Ukraine's air force said it had moved into Lyman and the Ukrainian president's chief of staff posted photos of a Ukrainian flag being hoisted on the town's outskirts.

Lyman, a key transport hub, had been an important node in the Russian front line for both ground communications and logistics. Located 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, Lyman is in the Donetsk region near the border with Luhansk region, both of which Russia annexed Friday after an "referendum vote" was held at gunpoint.

Ukrainian forces have retaken vast swathes of territory in a counteroffensive that started in September which saw them push Russian forces out of the Kharkiv area and move east across the Oskil River toward Lyman and other strategic points.

Meanwhile, Russian bombardments have intensified in recent days as Moscow moved swiftly with the annexation and ordered a mass mobilization at home to bolster its forces.

In the northeast, Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of attacking a civilian evacuation convoy, killing 20 people including children. In the south, Ukraine's nuclear power provider said Saturday that Russian forces blindfolded and detained the head of Europe's largest nuclear plant.

Despite Putin's land-grab Friday of four regions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his military have vowed to keep on fighting to liberate the annexed regions and other Russian-occupied areas.

Ukrainian authorities on Saturday accused Russian forces of targeting two humanitarian convoys in recent days, killing dozens of civilians.

The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said 24 civilians were killed in an attack earlier this week on a convoy of people trying to flee the Kupiansk district, calling it "cruelty that can't be justified."

He said 13 children and a pregnant woman were among the dead.
Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday fulminated against the West's record, singling out the US use of nuclear weapons in the closing days of the Second World War, and then western nations` centuries of `colonialism`, `slave trading`, and the `plundering of India`.

In his speech after signing treaties on the inclusion of four former Ukrainian regions into the Russian Federation - the start of the formal process of their accession - after the Russian-conducted referendums, he asserted that Russia is ready for talks with Ukraine, but `will defend our land with all the powers and means at our disposal`.

Hitting out at the US, he said that it is the only country in the world that has twice used nuclear weapons, destroying Japan`s Hiroshima and Nagasaki cities, and setting a precedent.

Also Read: Vladimir Putin says people of Ukraine-occupied regions are 'our citizens forever'

`Even today, they actually occupy Germany, Japan the Republic of Korea, and other countries, and at the same time cynically call them allies of equal standing,` he said.

`The West... began its colonial policy back in the Middle Ages, and then followed the slave trade, the genocide of Indian tribes in America, the plunder of India, of Africa, the wars of England and France against China...

`What they did was hooking entire nations on drugs, deliberately exterminate entire ethnic groups. For the sake of land and resources they hunted people like animals. This is contrary to the very nature of man, truth, freedom and justice,` Putin said.
New York: Indias Permanent Representative to the UN, Ruchira Kamboj, said on Friday that India is deeply disturbed by the recent turn of developments in Ukraine and stressed that dialogue is the only answer to settle differences and disputes after India abstained in the UN Security Council vote which condemned Russia`s "illegal referenda" and annexation of Ukrainian regions, calling for an immediate cessation of violence. The 15-nation UN Security Council on Friday voted on the draft resolution tabled by the US and Albania that condemns Russia`s "organisation of illegal so-called referenda in regions within Ukraine`s internationally recognised borders.

The UN security council voted on the resolutions condemning referendums in Ukraine at UNSC on Friday which were tabled by the US and Albania and failed to get adopted as Russia vetoed it whereas India, China, Gabon, and Brazil abstained.

India condemned Russias act

Explaining the vote, Kamboj urged that all efforts are made by the concerned sides for the immediate cessation of violence and said that dialogue is the only answer to settling differences and disputes.

"Dialogue is the only answer to settling differences and disputes, however daunting that may appear at this moment. The path to peace requires us to keep all channels of diplomacy open," she said during the address at UNSC.

She further highlighted the statements made by the External Affairs Minister in his recent engagements at UNGA during the High-Level Week on the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s advice to Russian President Putin during the SCO Summit in Samarkand that this cannot be an era of war, Kamboj said that India is hopeful of an early resumption of peace talks for resolution of the conflict.

Also Read: 30 killed, 88 injured after Russian missile hits civilian convoy in Ukraine

"India`s position has been clear and consistent from the very beginning of this conflict. The global order is anchored on principles of the UN Charter, international law and respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states," the UN envoy added.

"Escalation of rhetoric or tensions is in no one`s interest. It is important that pathways are found for a return to the negotiating table. Keeping in view the totality of the evolving situation, India has decided to abstain from this resolution," Kamboj said.

Putin signed the documents on Friday to formally announced the annexation of four regions - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Russia`s annexation sparked wide criticism from around the world. The United States announced that it will impose a "swift and severe cost" on Russia.

US stand on Russias annexation of Ukraine

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the "United States unequivocally rejects Russia`s fraudulent attempt to change Ukraine`s internationally recognized borders."

"We will continue the United States` powerful, coordinated efforts to hold Russia to account, cut Russia`s military off from global commerce and severely limit its ability to sustain its aggression and project power," he added.

In an earlier briefing on Tuesday, Kamboj said the Ukraine war has resulted in the loss of countless lives and miseries for people particularly women, children and the elderly with millions becoming homeless and taking shelter in neighbouring countries. Kamboj said that New Delhi will continue to work with the International Community to mitigate economic hardships resulting from the Ukraine conflict. During the UNSC briefing, the UN envoy also reiterated that India`s approach to the ongoing war in Ukraine will be human-centric as the country firmly believe that global order should be anchored on international law in the UN charter.
Seoul: North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Saturday, South Korea`s military said, in its fourth such provocation in less than a week. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that it detected the launches from the Sunan area in Pyongyang between 6:45 a.m. and 7:03 a.m. It did not provide other details, Yonhap news agency reported.

"While strengthening our monitoring and vigilance, our military is maintaining a full readiness posture in close cooperation with the US," the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.

The latest launches followed earlier provocations on Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday. South Korea, the US and Japan staged an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) exercise in international waters of the East Sea on Friday.

The three countries have been reinforcing bilateral and trilateral security coordination amid concerns that the North could ratchet up tensions by conducting a nuclear test or other provocative acts.

On Thursday, US Vice President Kamala Harris made a daylong visit to South Korea, during which she met with President Yoon Suk-yeol and toured the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides Korea. While here, she said Washington would do "everything" in our power to ensure its security commitment to the Asian ally.
The meeting began by reading out President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's decree (440/2022) on 22 September, calling on the House to reconvene on Saturday to start its third legislative session which begins on 1 October 2022 and ends in the middle of July 2023.

Speaker Hanafi Gibali, who chaired the meeting, said "in the House's third legislative session, we will focus on priorities that serve the nation's interests and needs."

"Let's complete our way towards building the new republic which was founded by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi," said Gibali, adding that "the House will have a busy legislative agenda in its third session (2022/23) and we as MPs should all be up to this responsibility amid a very hard global crisis."

"There is no doubt that we are all now living in a world rife with formidable challenges triggered by successive international crises which have put all the worlds countries in a very complicated situation full of tension and anxiety," said Gibali.

"Egypt is no exception, and even though we are all aware of the difficulty of these challenges and the state's attempts to contain their negative impact, we are sure that we can face them, but provided that we all unite in one solid internal front and line up behind our wise political leadership and national institutions, as these stand in the frontline to defend our nation."

"The global economic crisis has become the talk of all in local and international circles, including Egypt, and that this crisis has become a threat to the international political order, not to mention that it has left a negative impact on the movement of international trade and the exchange of exports and imports," said Gibali.

Gibali indicated that "despite the Egyptian state's great and unprecedented achievements aimed at rebuilding the future of our nation, we still have a long way to stand up to all challenges facing us."

"In the House's third legislative session, we  the House and the government  will work in close coordination with each other to discuss the necessary legislation and solve the problems facing citizens," said Gibali.

"Let's recall that on 6 October 1973, we were able to achieve victory, and on the day marking this occasion this week, let's recall that we can defeat all challenges and achieve victory again and this will only come through exercising our responsibilities and duties in a sincere and honest way."

MPs approved sending a message to President El-Sisi, praising his "wise and balanced policies that aim to reinforce internal security and support public freedoms."

MPs also voted in favour of a presidential decree placing some parts of the Peninsula of Sinai under exceptional security measures for an additional six months, beginning on 3 October 2022.

Ashraf Rashad, the parliamentary spokesperson of the majority party of Mostaqbal Watan (the Nation's Future), said "the extension of exceptional security measures in Sinai is important in order to fight terrorism."

"We have already achieved victory over terrorist elements there and right now we have begun another battle, but this time it is a battle for reconstructing Sinai and fighting the remnants of dark forces," said Rashad.

Rashad also indicated that "with a view to the current global crises, we should all stand in one line behind the country's political leadership and President El-Sisi in order to be able to stand up to them."

The two parliamentary spokespersons of the Republican People's Party and Al-Wafd party also approved the presidential decree imposing exceptional security measures in North Sinai for another six months.

"This decree aims to preserve the stability and sovereignty of the nation and protect institutions and fortunes from terrorist attacks," said Wafdist MP Soliman Wahdan.

House speaker Hanafi Gibali indicated that there will be another three procedural sessions on Sunday.

In the first, MPs will put themselves forward for membership of the Houses 25 committees. The second and third sessions will see the election of the leading posts of the House's committees and the announcement of the results. Each MP should join two committees, and elect one chairman, two deputies and one secretary general for each of the House's 25 committees.

Speaker Gibali also announced that legislative amendments to eight laws had been referred by the government ahead of the new session.

These are related to the laws regulating Civil Affairs, the Telecommunications Sector, the Suez Canal Authority, the Egyptian Nationality, the Possession of Weapons and Ammunition, the Nuclear Power Stations, Al-Azhar, and Industrial Establishments.

Speaker Gibali also revealed that the House had received seven foreign agreements from the government and that he had tasked the House's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee with discussing them and concluding if they go in line with the constitution.

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Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi affirmed on Saturday the states keenness to ensure judicial independence and non-interference in the affairs of the judiciary as a well-established principle.

The president made the remarks in a meeting with members of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) within the framework of Egyptian Judiciary Day, celebrated in the beginning of October, presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement.

During the meeting, El-Sisi affirmed the great responsibility placed on the judiciary in upholding justice and attaining social peace and stability, which are considered a mainstay in advancing nations.

Meanwhile, the president also stressed the states keenness to always develop the judicial system and raise its capabilities to ensure that it keeps pace with developments and that its procedures are taken at the required speed.

During the meeting, the council members reviewed with the president the procedures taken to achieve prompt justice.

They also discussed measures taken to achieve technical development in all judicial bodies and authorities and automate the judicial system in coordination with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

Egyptian Judiciary Day was celebrated for the first-time last year, months after El-Sisi announced that the day would be marked each year on 1 October.

In celebration of the day last year, the president said he directed the government to arrange the needed financial allocations to develop the judiciary given that it represents one of the main authorities of the Egyptian state.

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By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

The Aerospace Monitoring Training Center was opened at the National Academy of Aviation with the support of Azercosmos, Azernews reports.

The aim of the center is to train qualified specialists in the field of application of geoinformation technologies, especially analysis, digital processing of satellite images, and geographic information systems, as well as to increase the level of knowledge and skills of students studying in this field.

In the training center, equipped with modern equipment, students will learn how to apply the acquired theoretical knowledge in practice within the educational program of the center.

During the course of the training, the trainees will be provided with methodical aids, developed in the Azerbaijani language, taking into account the peculiarities of data processing in various software, and mentors. The training manual will include theoretical knowledge, a set of exercises, and information on the basic functionality of the software. Students, who successfully complete the course, will be awarded the appropriate certificates.

Leading specialists from Azercosmos, the National Academy of Aviation, and other institutions working in this sector, universities, including leading international universities and companies are planned to be involved in the training process as trainers.

In the world, the need for geographic information systems, collection, processing, and application of remote observation data is constantly increasing. The issue of training qualified specialists in the field of geoinformation technologies is becoming more urgent. In this regard, it is important to train highly qualified specialists, who know how to use modern geoinformation technologies, Digital Development and Transport Ministry stated.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi wished new Italian PM Giorgia Meloni success in leading Italy toward prosperity and a bright future" in a message to congratulate the country's first-ever woman prime minister on her party's victory in the general elections last week.

I look forward to working with her within the framework of the solid partnership between Egypt and Italy to push our bilateral relations to broader horizons in all fields, in line with the deep-rooted history and civilisations of the two countries and for the benefit of their two peoples and humanity, El-Sisi said in a post on Saturday on the Facebook page of the spokesperson of the Egyptian presidency, Bassam Rady.

The Brothers of Italy party will lead a right - centre-right coalition government with the League and Forza Italia parties after winning first place in the snap elections on last Sunday with 26 percent of votes.

Egypt and Italy enjoy strong relationships on the political and economic levels.

Italy is one of Egypt's largest trade partners in the European Union.

In 2021, trade volume between the two countries rose by 29 percent to reach $5.8 billion, up from $4.5 billion in the previous year.

Egypts exports to Italy rose by 91.4 percent in 2021, bringing in nearly $2.8 billion, up from $1.5 billion in 2020.

Italian investments in Egypt also rose by 40.3 percent from $320 million during the last quarter of FY 2020/2021 to reach $448.8 million during the first quarter of FY 2021/2022.

The two countries are also members of the Cairo-based East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF), which was formed in 2019 to establish a regional gas market in the eastern Mediterranean and enhance trade relations between eight member states.

In 2015, the Italian energy giant Eni helped Egypt discover the Zohr natural gas field in its Mediterranean waters, catapulting the country to becoming a major producer of the alternative energy source.

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Brazil hopes to bring different varieties of high-quality coffee to Egyptian consumers, the Brazilian Embassy in Cairo said while celebrating International Coffee Day, which falls on 1 October every year.

As Brazilians, we hope to bring different varieties of high-quality coffee to the Egyptian consumers knowing that Egypt is a country that loves to drink coffee, said Deputy Head of Mission of Brazil in Cairo Bernardo Henrique during the celebration.

Egypt imports 100 percent of its coffee for local consumption from several countries, including Brazil, the worlds largest coffee producer and supplier. Egypt imports around 70,000 tons of coffee annually, Hassan Fawzi, head of the coffee division at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, said in August.

In the 2021/2022 harvest season, Brazil has produced 58.1 million coffee bags, of which 37.992 million were exported, said the Brazilian diplomat.

Egypts coffee imports increased to around $100 million during the first five months of this year compared to around $74 billion during the same period last year, said Mohamed Rostom, an official at the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC).

In 2021, Egypt imported 145,000 tons of coffee, Rostom said, citing figures from Egypts official statistics agency.

Adverse climate conditions have dramatically affected coffee output around the world, including in Brazil. According to a new report by Bloomberg, Brazilian arabica coffee stockpiles may reach a record low by next year.

In TV remarks late in August, Fawzi said global coffee prices have increased due to the loss of around 25 percent of the coffee crop owing to the chilly weather that hit Brazil late last year and the disruption in global supply chains in light of the Ukraine war.

Fawzi also blamed a current shortage in coffee reserves in Egypt on a delay in the release procedures at the Egyptian ports amid an import backlog. In mid-August, Fawzi called for the quick release of more than 200 coffee containers stuck at ports.

In a bid to resolve the import backlog that contributed to increasing prices, the Central Bank of Egypt reportedly decided in September to ease foreign-currency restrictions.

As per the decisions, banks have been allowed to use balances of foreign currency held in company accounts before 19 September in order to open new letters of credit or inward documentary credits.

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Egypts House of Representatives unanimously approved on Saturday extending the presidents decree imposing security measures in some areas of the Sinai Peninsula for six more months.

In the first meeting of its third legislative session, following a three-month recess, parliament speaker Hanafi Gibali said all sides recognise the pivotal role played by the Armed Forces in preserving homeland security.

The House of Representatives supports all the steps taken by the Armed Forces under the leadership of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, he affirmed.

Terrorist attacks in North Sinai have declined in recent years following massive and successive security and military operations.

The terrorist attacks had targeted security forces, particularly at military and police checkpoints, as well as civilians, causing hundreds of casualties.

Meanwhile, hundreds of terrorists have been killed in anti-terror military operations, according to periodical Armed Forces reports.

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The African Union chief Moussa Faki Mahamat Saturday condemned the "unconstitutional change of government" in Burkina Faso after military officers ousted junta leader Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.

"The chairperson calls upon the military to immediately and totally refrain from any acts of violence or threats to the civilian population, civil liberties, human rights," the AU said in a statement, calling for the restoration of the constitutional order by July 2024.

The dismissal of Lieutenant-Colonel Damiba, who himself came to power in a coup last January, was announced late Friday in a statement read out on national television.

The disgruntled officers also announced the closure of borders from midnight, as well as the suspension of the constitution and the dissolution of the government.

Faki said he was deeply concerned about the resurgence of unconstitutional ousters in the West African nation and elsewhere on the continent.

The coup is the latest bout of turmoil to strike Burkina Faso, a landlocked state that has suffered chronic instability since gaining independence from France in 1960.

The AU suspended the country on January 31 "until the restoration of constitutional order".

Africa has been hit by a spate of coups in recent years.

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Soldiers blocked main roads and gunfire was heard in the capital of Burkina Faso on Saturday, as world powers condemned the second coup this year in the deeply poor and restive West African country.

Junior officers toppled a junta leader on Friday, saying he had failed to fight jihadist attacks in the country.

On Saturday, several witnesses told AFP they heard gunfire in the centre of the capital Ouagadougou, after which troops once again blocked the main roads in the city, including around the presidency.

Helicopters hovered above the city and shops that had opened for business in the morning shut their doors.

The European Union and the African Union added their voices to a chorus of global condemnation to the change in power.

"The chairperson calls upon the military to immediately and totally refrain from any acts of violence or threats to the civilian population, civil liberties, human rights," the AU said in a statement, calling for the restoration of the constitutional order by July 2024.

AU chief Moussa Faki Mahamat said he was deeply concerned about the resurgence of unconstitutional ousters in the West African nation and elsewhere on the continent.

The European Union warned that the coup put in danger efforts undertaken to restore constitutional order by July 1, 2024 and called for the new authorities to respect previous agreements.

"The European Union also deplores the degradation of the security and humanitarian situation in the country," the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.

The Economic Community of West African States regional bloc "condemned in the strongest possible terms" the latest seizure of power, calling it "inappropriate."

Burkina Faso's former colonial ruler France told its citizens in Ouagadougou -- believed to number between 4,000 and 5,000 -- to stay home.

The United States called "for a return to calm and restraint by all actors".

On Friday, pre-dawn gunfire erupted in the dusty and spread-out capital around the presidential palace and culminated in the latest coup.

Just before 8:00 pm (2000 GMT) on Friday, more than a dozen soldiers in fatigues appeared on the state television and radio broadcaster to announce the removal of Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.

They proclaimed 34-year-old Captain Ibrahim Traore in charge.

"We have decided to take our responsibilities, driven by a single ideal: the restoration of security and integrity of our territory," they said.

"Damiba failed. Since he came to power, the zones that were peaceful were attacked. He took power but then he betrayed us," Habibata Rouamba, a trader and activist said on Saturday.

With much of the Sahel region battling a growing Islamist insurgency, the violence has prompted a series of coups in Mali, Guinea and Chad since 2020.

In January, Damiba installed himself as leader of the country of 16 million after accusing elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore of failing to beat back the jihadists.

Damiba accused of failure

But with more than 40 percent of the country outside government control, the latest putsch leaders said Damiba, too, had failed.

"Far from liberating the occupied territories, the once-peaceful areas have come under terrorist control," the new military leaders said.

They then suspended the constitution, sealed the borders, dissolved the transitional government and legislative assembly and instituted a 9:00 pm to 5:00 am curfew.

New strongman Traore was previously head of anti-jihadist special forces unit "Cobra" in the northern region of Kaya.

Junta leader's fate unclear

Damiba's fate remains unknown. Though he had promised to make security his priority when he took charge on January 24, violent attacks have increased since March.

In the north and east, towns have been blockaded by insurgents who have blown up bridges and attacked supply convoys.

As in bordering countries, insurgents affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have stoked unrest.

Thousands have died and about two million have been displaced by the fighting since 2015 when the insurgency spread to Burkina Faso, which has since become the epicentre of the violence across the Sahel.

In September, a particularly bloody month, Damiba sacked his defence minister and assumed the role himself.

Earlier this week, suspected jihadists attacked a convoy carrying supplies to the town of Djibo in the north of the country. The government said 11 soldiers died and around 50 civilians were missing.

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More than half a million Syrians who had fled their conflict-wracked country for neighbouring Turkey have returned home since 2016, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday.

"Since the start of our cross-border operations in Syria (in 2016), about 526,000 volunteers have returned to the safety zones that we established," Erdogan told the Turkish parliament.

Erdogan has in recent months said he is preparing to send back a million Syrian refugees on a voluntary basis.

He has said that Ankara aimed to encourage them to return to "safe zones" on the Turkey-Syria border by building them housing and local infrastructure.

There are 3.7 million Syrian refugees officially living in Turkey.

Less than nine months from presidential elections, their presence in the country has become a thorny political issue, especially as Turkey battles an economic and monetary crisis.

Opposition parties regularly call on authorities to send millions of Syrians home.

Syria's civil war, which began with a brutal crackdown of anti-government protests in 2011, has killed nearly half a million people and forced around half of the country's pre-war population from their homes.

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Shocked Florida communities counted their dead Saturday as the full scale of the devastation came into focus, two days after Hurricane Ian tore into the coastline as one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the United States.

Rescuers were still searching for survivors in flooded neighborhoods and along the state's southwest coast, where homes, restaurants and businesses were ripped apart as Ian roared ashore as a powerful Category 4 hurricane on Wednesday.

The death toll climbed to 24 on Saturday, according to the Florida Medical Examiners Commission, with some US media reporting it could be three times that.

Sixteen migrants also remain missing from a boat that sank during the hurricane on Wednesday, according to the US Coast Guard. Two people were found dead and nine others rescued, including four Cubans who swam to shore in the Florida Keys.

More than 1.2 million customers remained without power in Florida Saturday, hampering efforts by those who evacuated to return to their homes to take stock of what they lost.

"It's just flipped upside down, soaking wet, full of mud," resident Pete Belinda said of the home he and his wife share on the lower floor of their daughter's house in Fort Myers Beach, a town on the Gulf of Mexico coast which took the brunt of the storm.

Ian passed over Florida and into the Atlantic Ocean before making US landfall again, this time on the South Carolina coast on Friday as a Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 85 miles (140 kilometers) per hour.

It was later downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, and is set to dissipate over Virginia later Saturday.

More than 320,000 people remained without power across North and South Carolina and Virginia, the tracking website poweroutage.us said Saturday.

"We're just beginning to see the scale of the destruction" in Florida, US President Joe Biden said Friday.

"It's likely to rank among the worst in the nation's history," he said of Ian.

With damage estimates running into the tens of billions of dollars, Biden said it's "going to take months, years to rebuild."

"It's not just a crisis for Florida," he said. "This is an American crisis."

CoreLogic, a firm that specializes in property analysis, said wind-related losses for residential and commercial properties in Florida could cost insurers up to $32 billion, while flooding losses could reach $15 billion.

"This is the costliest Florida storm since Hurricane Andrew made landfall in 1992," CoreLogic's Tom Larsen said.

Rescues continue

On Friday, the Coast Guard said it had made 117 rescues using boats and helicopters of people trapped in flooded homes.

Governor Ron DeSantis said hundreds of other rescue personnel were going door-to-door "up and down the coastline."

Many Floridians evacuated ahead of the storm, but thousands chose to shelter in place and ride it out.

Two hard-hit barrier islands near Fort Myers -- Pine Island and Sanibel Island -- were cut off after the storm damaged causeways to the mainland.

Aerial photo and video show breathtaking destruction in Sanibel and elsewhere.

In Fort Myers Beach, a recreational boat called Crackerjack sat atop a pile of debris like an abandoned toy. A trailer park was blasted away to almost nothing.

A handful of restaurants and bars reopened in Fort Myers, giving an illusion of normalcy amid downed trees and shattered storefronts.

Before pummeling Florida, Ian plunged all of Cuba into darkness after downing the island's power network.

Electricity was gradually returning, but many homes remain without power.

Human-induced climate change is resulting in more severe weather events across the globe, scientists say -- including with Ian.

According to a rapid and preliminary analysis, human-caused climate change increased the extreme rain that Ian unleashed by over 10 percent, US scientists said.

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The Ismailia International Film Festival for Documentaries and Shorts (IIFFDS) has opened submissions for its upcoming 24th edition that is scheduled to take place between 14 and 20 March in the Suez Canal city.

The IIFFDS requires that all requests for submission arrive no later than end of December.

Egyptian critic Essam Zakaria returns for a fifth term as president of the prestigious festival in 2023, succeeding director Saad Hendawy who led the 23rd edition in 2022.

Zakaria had served as president of the festival in four successive editions - from the 19th thru the 22nd.

The IIFFDS, launched in 1991 and the first festival of its kind in the Arab World, is organised under the auspices of the culture ministry's National Cinema Centre, which is led by newly-appointed film-editor Manar Hosny.

Public and private modes of transportation are available to travel to the city of Ismailia which is located on the Suez Canal 100km east of the capital Cairo.

Hotels and resorts in and around the city offer deals that accommodate various budgets.

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Ukraine said Saturday its forces were entering the key eastern town of Lyman, located in one of the four Ukrainian regions that Russia annexed despite international condemnation.

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The recapture of Lyman -- which Moscow's forces pummelled for weeks to control this spring -- would mark the first Ukrainian military victory in territory that the Kremlin has claimed as its own and has vowed to defend by all possible means.

Ukraine's defence ministry announced its forces were "entering" Lyman in the eastern Donetsk region after Kyiv's army said it had "encircled" several thousand Russian troops near the town.

The ministry posted a video of soldiers holding up a yellow and blue Ukrainian flag near a sign with the town's name.

Shortly after Ukraine's announcement, Russia's defence ministry said it had "withdrawn" troops from Lyman "to more favourable lines".

The development came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin staged a grand ceremony in the Kremlin to celebrate the annexations of four Ukrainian territories.

"I want to say this to the Kyiv regime and its masters in the West: People living in Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are becoming our citizens forever," Putin said.

US President Joe Biden condemned Friday's ceremony in Moscow as a "sham routine" and pledged to continue backing Kyiv.

The four annexed territories create a crucial land corridor between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014.

Together, the five regions make up around 20 percent of Ukraine, where Kyiv in recent weeks has been clawing back territory.

Civilians gunned down

On Saturday, Ukrainian officials accused Russia of gunning down 24 civilians, including children, in an attack on a road convoy near a recently recaptured town in the eastern Kharkiv region.

Ukrainian troops on Friday had shown AFP reporters a group of vehicles riddled with bullet holes and several corpses in civilian clothes, a short distance east of Kupiansk.

Kyiv also called for the immediate release of the chief of the Moscow-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, condemning his "illegal detention" by the Russians.

Ihor Murashov was leaving the plant Friday when he was detained and "driven in an unknown direction" while blindfolded, Ukraine's nuclear agency Energoatom said.

Zaporizhzhia -- Europe's largest nuclear energy facility -- has been at the centre of tensions in recent weeks after Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of strikes on and near the plant, raising fears of an atomic disaster.

'Illegal and illegitimate' annexation

Following Friday's annexation, Washington announced "severe" new sanctions against Russian officials and the defence industry, and said G7 allies support imposing "costs" on any nation that backs the annexation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the US-led military alliance NATO to grant his country fast-track membership.

He also vowed never to hold talks with Russia as long as Putin was in power.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg slammed the annexation as "illegal and illegitimate" but remained non-committal after Ukraine said it was applying to join the Western alliance.

Turkey said Saturday Russia's annexation was a "grave violation of the established principles of international law".

Despite warnings from Putin prior to the annexation that he could use nuclear weapons to defend the captured territories, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kyiv would "continue liberating our land and our people".

Kuleba also said Ukraine brought the annexations to the International Court of Justice and urged the Hague-based court to hear the case "as soon as possible".

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Friday that Washington would announce an "immediate" new weapons shipment for Kyiv next week.

Sullivan also said that while there is a "risk" of Putin using nuclear weapons, there was no indication he would do so imminently.

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Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid will hold talks with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in Brussels on October 3 "against the backdrop of global challenges such as Russia's military aggression against Ukraine", the EU said.

"The discussion will focus on issues such as trade, climate change, energy, science and technology, culture," the bloc said.

Talks would also engage on "the respect for human rights and democratic principles, freedom of religion as well as the fight against antisemitism," it said.

Meetings of the council have been frozen for a decade since Israel ditched them over the EU's opposition to expanding settlements in the West Bank.

The EU has been pushing for a "fresh start" with Israel since right-wing leader Benjamin Netanyahu was ousted from office in 2021 after 12 years in charge.

Borrell earlier said he "warmly" welcomed centrist Lapid's support for a two-state solution with the Palestinians at this month's United Nations General Assembly.

The EU statement said that the bloc hoped to "build on the momentum" at the upcoming meeting.

The EU's 27 nations have often struggled to find a common approach to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, with some backing Israel and others closer to the Palestinians.
By Trend

The videoconference between Russia's Trade Representative office in Azerbaijan and business mission of Russian Voronezh oblast was held as part of the "An hour with the trade representative" project of the country's Ministry of Industry and Trade, Trend reports citing the office.

The meeting addressed prospects for the business activity of Voronezh enterprises in the Azerbaijani market.

During the conference, Russia's Trade Representative in Azerbaijan Ruslan Mirsayapov spoke in detail about the economic situation, demanded products, the most promising directions for Russian exports, and the office's possibilities to support the export activities of Russian enterprises.

"The sides also discussed arranging a face-to-face business mission of Voronezh companies to Azerbaijan, as well as the involvement of Voronezh exporters in exhibition events of Azerbaijan," the statement said.

Ruslan Mirsayapov, Director of the Export Support Center [regional representative of Russian Export Center] Marina Konkina, as well as representatives of Voronezh enterprises participated in the talks, organized jointly with the Export Support Center of the Leningrad oblast.
The warning came as the Swedish coast guard confirmed a fourth leak on the pipelines off southern Sweden, which is in the process of joining NATO. The first leaks in the pipelines that extend from Russia to Germany were reported on Tuesday, prompting energy companies and European governments to beef up security.

The fear of further damage to Europe's energy infrastructure has added pressure on natural gas prices, which had already been soaring. Russia, a major supplier to Europe, cut off deliveries earlier this year in retaliation for sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine. That has caused widespread economic pain across the continent.

NATO ambassadors said in a statement that "any deliberate attack against allies' critical infrastructure would be met with a united and determined response.'' They refrained from saying who they thought was responsible, even though some allies like Poland, and many experts, have said they believe that Russia is responsible.

"All currently available information indicates that this is the result of deliberate, reckless, and irresponsible acts of sabotage. These leaks are causing risks to shipping and substantial environmental damage,'' the envoys said.

The rising tensions around energy security in Europe come as Russia prepares to annex four regions of occupied Ukraine, a move widely condemned by the West. Russian energy giant Gazprom heightened uncertainty around energy supplies Wednesday by threatening on Twitter to cease dealing with a Ukrainian company that controls one of the two remaining pipelines that ship Russian gas to Europe.

Rather than assigning blame to anyone specific, EU officials on Thursday said they would await the outcome of an investigation, which probably will not start in earnest until next week once the undersea pipelines are empty.

The two lines between Russia and Germany were not in operation. But they were filled with tons of methane, a major cause of global warming that is being emitted into the atmosphere and will continue to bubble to the Baltic Sea's surface, probably until Sunday, according to energy experts.

Danish Defense Minister Morten Bodskov turned to Twitter to call the NATO statement a "joint condemnation and very strong signal from the alliance.'' But NATO has made many statements of resolve to defend its members and their territory since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

Two of the leaks are on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline that Russia recently turned off as it ramped up energy pressure on Europe. The other two are on Nord Stream 2, which has never been used. The Danish and Swedish governments have said that they believe the leaks were "deliberate actions.''

According to seismologists, the leaks were preceded by explosions. A first explosion was recorded early Monday southeast of the Danish island of Bornholm. A second, stronger blast northeast of the island that night was equivalent to a magnitude-2.3 earthquake. Seismic stations in Denmark, Norway and Finland also registered the explosions.

Speaking Wednesday before the fourth leak was reported, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said it would have taken a large explosive device to cause the damage.

Norway was among the first countries on Wednesday to beef up the protection of its energy installations. Finnish Finance Minister Annika Saarikko said Thursday that security measures have been tightened around the Balticconnector line running in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Estonia.

"Very exceptional and serious actions that point to sabotage give reason to intensify our preparations,'' Saarikko told reporters.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that the Nord Stream pipeline incident would have been impossible without a state actor's involvement.

"It looks like a terror attack, probably conducted on a state level,'' Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.

He dismissed media reports about Russian warships spotted in the area as "stupid and biased,'' adding that "many more aircraft and vessels belonging to NATO countries have been spotted in the area.''

The U.N. Security Council has scheduled an emergency meeting Friday afternoon at Russia's request to discuss the suspected pipeline sabotage.

Torben rting Jorgensen, a former admiral with the Danish navy, told The Associated Press that it was "not so demanding" to carry out an operation either by using a remotely operated underwater vehicle or sending divers from a submarine or a surface vessel.

"Those who carried out the operation knew they wouldn't get caught,'' rting Jorgensen said. "Who would have thought of an operation against pipelines in the Baltic Sea?''
The Ukrainian army was "trying at all costs to spoil our historic events", Denis Pushilin said. "This is very unpleasant news, but we must look soberly at the situation and draw conclusions from our mistakes." Pushilin was scheduled to attend the Friday annexation ceremony at the Kremlin.

Even as Putin moved forward with annexation on Friday, however, Ukrainian troops encircled hundreds of Russian troops at one of their main garrisons in northern Donetsk. The pro-Russian leader in Ukraine's Donetsk province acknowledged his forces have lost full control of two villages north and east of the city of Lyman, leaving the garrison "half-encircled."

Before the annexation, the Kremlin advised that any aggression in the annexed regions would be considered an attack on Russia. Reporters asked Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov if Ukrainian attempts to retake annexed territories would be considered an attack on Russia. "It would not be anything else," Peskov said. Putin has said he is willing to use nuclear weapons to defend Russia's "territorial integrity."

Russia says the result of referendums held in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia -- all of which are partially-occupied areas of Ukraine -- showed that overwhelming majorities of people in those areas wanted to become part of Russia. The regions represent nearly one-fifth of Ukraine. Ukraine says the referendums violated international law and were carried out under the coercion of occupation.

In a statement, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States and its allies will impose "swift and severe costs targeting additional Russian government officials, their family members, Russian and Belarusian military officials, and defense procurement networks, including international suppliers supporting Russia's military-industrial complex."

The White House condemned Russia's land grab. In a statement, President Joe Biden called the annexation fraudulent. "Russia is violating international law, trampling on the United Nations Charter, and showing its contempt for peaceful nations everywhere," Biden said.

Ukraine's military confirmed that an operation to encircle Russian troops in the area was under way but said it was withholding any details until the situation is stabilized. Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksiy Goncharenko tweeted: "Lyman is surrounded! The Ukrainian army is already in Yampil. The Russian army is trying to escape." Defeat there could give Ukraine and opportunity to recapture the swathes of the territory that Russia now claims.

Also on Friday, missiles struck a convoy of civilian cars preparing to cross from Ukrainian-held territory in Zaporozhzhia province. Officials say at least 23 people were killed and 28 people were wounded near Zaporizhzhia, and at least three were killed in Mykolaiv with at least 12 injured. The convoys consisted of vehicles carrying families who were headed to the areas to rescue relatives from the occupied territory.

Zelenskyy said Russia was raging, "seeking revenge for our steadfastness and his failures." "Bloodthirsty scum!" Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. "You will definitely answer. For every lost Ukrainian life!"

Meanwhile, Finland is the latest country to close its border to Russians. The Finland closing comes as hordes of Russian men are leaving the country to escape Russia's military mobilization for continuing the invasion of Ukraine. In addition, Russia has begun opening draft offices at its borders to intercept men who may be leaving the country to avoid the mobilization.

On Thursday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the planned annexation, saying it is illegal and "must not be accepted." "The UN Charter is clear," Guterres told reporters Thursday. "Any annexation of a state's territory by another state resulting from the threat or use of force is a violation of the principles of the UN Charter and international law." He said any decision to proceed with the annexation would have "no legal value and deserves to be condemned."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz tweeted Thursday that he assured Zelenskyy that Germany will never recognize the "so-called results." "The sham referendums carried out by Putin in the illegally occupied areas of Ukraine are worthless," Scholz said.

In Washington, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal spoke about proposed legislation he and Republican Senator Lindsay Graham are supporting in response to Russia's latest moves. "Senator Graham and I are introducing today legislation that would very simply immediately require cutting off economic and military aid to any country that recognizes Vladimir Putin's illegal annexation of four regions of Ukraine," he said Thursday.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday that no matter what Russia claims, the areas remain Ukrainian territory. "In response, we will work with our allies and partners to impose additional economic costs on Russia and individuals and entities inside and outside of Russia that provide support to this action," she said.

At the UN Security Council, the United States is working with Albania on a draft resolution condemning the "sham referenda," calling on states not to recognize any altered status of Ukraine and compelling Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine. Russia will certainly use its veto to block the measure, but that will then allow member states to move to the General Assembly to seek condemnation there. A similar strategy following Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea drew the rebuke of 100 countries.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday the EU is planning to respond with "sweeping new import bans on Russian products" and to expand its export ban "to deprive the Kremlin's military complex of key technologies."

"This will keep Russian products out of the European market and deprive Russia of an additional 7 billion euros in revenue," von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels. The EU's 27 member countries would have to approve the sanctions for them to take effect and the bloc has had difficulty in reaching agreement on some previous sanctions. "We are determined to make the Kremlin pay for this further escalation," she said.
Last week, in an interview with Taiwan's official Central News Agency, Meloni said the party that she leads, the Brothers of Italy, would join democratic countries in condemning China's military threat to Taiwan and that the European Union should use all of its diplomatic and political means to exert pressure to avoid conflicts in the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan and Italy do not have formal diplomatic relations. Like many other nations, Italy has diplomatic relations with China. Beijing claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and bristles at any official contacts between Taipei and other nations.

In July, Meloni posted on Twitter a pre-election statement on Taiwan. The post showed a photo of her and Taiwan's representative in Italy, Andrea Lee Sing-ying. Meloni called Lee an ambassador. The tweet continued by saying she "always stands alongside those who believe in the values of freedom and democracy."

Diplomatic issues are not usually the focus of political debate in Italian elections, but analysts noted that before the election, Meloni made a rare statement on Taiwan, voicing opposition to China's military threats to the island. She also said she would promote bilateral contacts between Italy and Taiwan, something Beijing strongly opposes.

Italy has elected its most right-wing government since the end of World War II, and China watchers are anticipating a different type of relationship between Giorgia Meloni, in position to become Italy's next prime minister, and Beijing based on her comments about Taiwan during her campaign.

 Taiwan as Bridge

Meloni also noted she would deepen exchanges with Taiwan in culture, tourism, public health, scientific research and the semiconductor industry, despite differences in political philosophies with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.

Meloni did not specify in which areas she differed with Tsai's philosophies. Tsai is Taiwan's first female president, and Meloni is set to become Italy's first female prime minister, but it is widely known that Tsai supports same-sex marriage, something Meloni opposes.

At a regular briefing this week, China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin voiced confidence that ties with Italy would remain strong but urged "certain individuals" in Italy to recognize the "highly sensitive nature" of what Beijing calls the "Taiwan question." "The Taiwan question is purely China's internal affair, which brooks no foreign interference," Wang said. He also cautioned against "sending wrong signals to the 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces."

Guido Alberto Casanova, an associate researcher at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies, told VOA Mandarin that as a nationalist, from Italy's far-right, Meloni's adversarial position on China speaks to the need to protect the interest of Italian industries from Chinese takeovers. But her position is also aimed at building up her international credibility, he said.

"She has a very controversial background. She comes from a post-fascist era of Italian politics; she was mutating in the far right... So, she needs to calm people both in Europe and the United States," he said, speaking with VOA in a phone interview. "The hot issue, in the United States, at least, is the defense of democracy and human rights. Taiwan, of course, is the key. That's why she needs to present herself as in solidarity with the American support for Taiwan, because she needs to win approval," he said.

 Belt and Road in the Balance?

The Italian government has long had friendly relations with Beijing and has rarely spoken out on China issues. Chinese state media reports on Italy have mostly been positive.

However, the changes in Italy's political landscape and the dramatic shift in opinion toward China globally, as well as among Italian citizens, could have an effect on relations between Rome and Beijing, analysts said. One area in question under the new leadership is China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a global infrastructure project that Italy has previously supported.

Italy is the only G7 country to have signed a memorandum of understanding with China on the BRI. It was signed by then-Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and China's President Xi Jinping during the Chinese leader's visit to Italy in 2019. The document is valid for five years and will remain in force if there are no objections from either side.

The Italian government had hoped the deal with Beijing would boost Italian exports to China. However, some observers said China was more interested in building infrastructure in the country and buying up companies than boosting trade. For her part, Meloni has already voiced skepticism and called the signing of the agreement with China a huge mistake. "If the memorandum is renewed tomorrow, I hardly see the right political conditions," she said in a September 23 interview with Taiwan's state Central News Agency.

Francesco Sisci, a longtime political analyst of China affairs and a visiting professor at LUISS University in Rome, told VOA Mandarin that the BRI had practically stopped in Italy. "The Italian government has promised a lot but very little has been carried out  in fact, almost zero. The memorandum is completely empty," Sisci told VOA in a phone interview. "The Belt and Road Memorandum is a failure for both Italy and China. Both sides had a big misunderstanding, so the document should not have been signed."

While Meloni is expected to become the next prime minister of Italy, it will take weeks for the new Italian government to be formed.
The banks of the Han River that bisects Seoul have become a magnet for global fashion and tech brands to put on promotional events.

The global appeal of the Korean capital has increased thanks to the explosive popularity of shows like "Squid Game" and K-pop groups like Bangtan Boys, also known as BTS, and Blackpink, and the recent lifting of outdoor mask requirements has encouraged more businesses to host events there.

Italian fashion brand Valentino held a promotional event in the Jamwon section of the Han River Park on Sept. 21 for around 500 invited guests. "Headquarters knows that the Han River is the center of Seoul both geographically and culturally, so we ended up hosting an event here," a spokesman said.

Pala, a Naver subsidiary specializing in crypto services, also held an event in the Han River Park in Banpo for 1,000 guests to publicize its NFT technology, and dozens of foreign investors came.
KYODO NEWS - Oct 1, 2022 - 22:59 | All, Japan

A local railway line straddling Fukushima and Niigata prefectures, renowned for its breathtaking natural views, fully reopened Saturday, more than 11 years after a 27.6-kilometer section of the track was rendered unusable by torrential rain.

Many gathered to ride or witness the packed trains on the picturesque JR Tadami Line, which has been using replacement bus services between Aizu-Kawaguchi and Tadami stations since three metal bridges that cross the Tadami River were washed away in the July 2011 downpour.

The 135.2-kilometer line running from Aizu-Wakamatsu in Fukushima Prefecture and Koide Station in Uonuma, Niigata Prefecture, snakes through mountains and over rivers in rural Japan, offering breathtaking countryside views.

The restoration was achieved in part due to local requests, with JR East initially calling for the continued use of buses.

The roughly 9 billion yen ($62 million) in restoration expenses was partly subsidized by the national government, with JR East and the prefectural and local governments also shouldering costs. While it is hoped that the line's full return will encourage tourism, it comes as concerns mount over how to sustain loss-making local trains.

On the day of the reopening, a packed 7:11 a.m. service from Koide Station to Aizu-Wakamatsu Station managed to travel the entire route, but the early morning train headed in the opposite direction halted after the emergency brake was activated, and the around 210 passengers had to revert to the replacement bus services.

The service was stopped for about four hours, prompting an apology from East Japan Railway Co. President Yuji Fukasawa, who attended an event to commemorate the reopening in the town of Tadami.

Despite the disruption, the railway's revival was a day of celebration for many. At Aizu-Shiozawa Station, one of the stations along the newly restored section, postal worker Teiko Kanke said, "When I think that it's finally moving again, I feel so full of emotion."

Shinichi Nagai, visiting from Sapporo in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, was among the passengers on a commemorative train that arrived about two hours late in Tadami Station from Aizu-Wakamatsu. His enthusiasm intact, he said, "The dynamic Tadami River is really pretty, and it was so nice to see local people waving to the train."

But some locals were less excited about the return of the train, which runs only three end-to-end services on each side of the line per day, with some telling Kyodo News they don't really use it, and that cars are more convenient.

Related coverage:

JR Kyushu to suspend 120 train services due to staff virus cases

Tokyo's Yamanote Line to test automated trains with riders from Oct.

Train in Ukrainian flag colors runs in western Japan
KYODO NEWS - Oct 1, 2022 - 06:34 | All, Japan

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command chief Adm. John Aquilino is making arrangements to travel to Japan and South Korea next week to meet with government and military officials, a source familiar with the plan said Friday, with the trip taking place amid North Korea's repeated missile provocations.

Aquilino is likely to visit Japan in the first half of next week, the source said. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has just returned from her trip to the two closest U.S. allies in Asia.

Since the start of this year, North Korea has test-fired missiles on more than 20 occasions, including on Thursday when it fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan.

Concerns linger that North Korea could soon carry out its seventh nuclear test, which would be its first since September 2017.

Tensions have also grown over Taiwan following China's increased military activities in the area in response to U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to the self-ruled island in early August.

Related coverage:

North Korea launches possible ballistic missiles: Japan, S. Korea
KYODO NEWS - Oct 1, 2022 - 19:19 | World, All, Coronavirus

China's weeklong holiday kicked off Saturday amid a subdued mood before the ruling Communist Party's once-in-five-years congress beginning Oct. 16, with restrictions on people's movement strengthened by the leadership of President Xi Jinping under its radical "zero-COVID" policy.

Ahead of the congress, at which Xi is expected to secure an unprecedented third five-year term as general secretary, Beijing municipal authorities requested citizens to refrain from traveling to destinations outside the capital.

Under China's strict policy to stem coronavirus infections, people who have visited high-risk areas outside of Beijing where COVID-19 infections have been reported face the possibility of being unable to return to the city for a certain period.

On Saturday, people observed "National Day," marking the founding of the People's Republic of China over seven decades ago. Tiananmen Square was crowded with many visitors, but there were fewer train and air travelers compared with levels in recent years.

A female worker in the southern technology hub of Shenzhen, which has several high-risk areas, said she gave up returning home outside Guangdong Province during the holidays due to the risk of COVID-19 quarantine.

In Shanghai, the country's financial and commercial hub that had been under lockdown between late March and May, many tourists visited major sightseeing spots, such as the Bund waterfront historic district, with almost all wearing face masks.

The Communist Party's all-encompassing COVID-19 restrictions include the imposition of lockdowns on cities when outbreaks occur and quarantine periods on travelers from abroad.

On Oct. 1, 1949, communist leader Mao Zedong declared the founding of the People's Republic of China after defeating Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist army.

==Kyodo
KYODO NEWS - Oct 1, 2022 - 08:14 | Feature, All, Japan

Sixty-seven percent of people aged between 17 and 19 in Japan make power-saving efforts on a daily basis, apparently driven by Russia's war in Ukraine, according to a recent survey.

With the government asking businesses and households to cut electricity consumption from July to September to avoid a power crunch, respondents to the Nippon Foundation survey said they had reviewed their usage of air conditioning and lighting.

In the survey, 54.4 percent of the respondents said they were very or somewhat interested in Japan's energy policy, while 69.7 percent were aware of the country's low energy independence.

The government and some electricity suppliers offer a point system to reward households that implement energy-saving measures, but only 17.3 percent said they understood how the system works.

The country's electricity supply and demand balance has been tight since the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami, led to the suspension of many reactors.

Public concern about a power crunch has grown amid the suspension of operations at several thermal plants earlier this year due to technical problems and fuel procurement difficulties due to the Ukraine crisis.

According to the survey, 43.6 percent of respondents supported the government's plan to increase nuclear energy utilization to 20 to 22 percent of the country's power mix by 2030, while 17.6 percent called for a higher proportion.

Regarding efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, 55.8 percent cited the introduction of renewable energy sources to power public transport as the most promising, followed by environmentally friendly city development at 55.1 percent, and forest management and urban greening at 55.0 percent.

The Tokyo-based foundation conducted the online survey covering a total of 1,000 people aged 17 to 19 across Japan from July 29 to Aug. 2.
Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou (1st L, front) welcomes Slovak President Zuzana Caputova (2nd L, front) in Athens, Greece, on Sept. 6, 2022. Visiting Slovak President Zuzana Caputova and Greek leaders agreed here on Tuesday to tighten their countries' cooperation in light of the current crises, in particular the energy crunch. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)

ATHENS, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Slovak President Zuzana Caputova and Greek leaders agreed here on Tuesday to tighten their countries' cooperation in light of the current crises, in particular the energy crunch.

"Crises should be addressed through the close cooperation of countries that share the same values," Caputova said during a meeting with her Greek counterpart Katerina Sakellaropoulou, according to the Greek national broadcaster ERT.

"We can effectively respond to such crises only by working together closely and demonstrating solidarity," Sakellaropoulou said.

In her opinion, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine fueled the energy, food and cost-of-living crisis, a statement from her office said.

"(We have) the obligation to address at the European level the rising cost of energy," Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said.

Ahead of the upcoming meeting of the European Union member states' energy ministers on Sept. 9 in Brussels, Mitsotakis said that they should reach bold decisions to support households and businesses, according to a press release from his office. 

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (L) and Slovak President Zuzana Caputova pose at the Prime Minister's Office in Athens, Greece, on Sept. 6, 2022. Visiting Slovak President Zuzana Caputova and Greek leaders agreed here on Tuesday to tighten their countries' cooperation in light of the current crises, in particular the energy crunch. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)
Photo taken on June 2, 2022 shows the milling plant funded by China in Lusaka, Zambia. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuliang)

Zambia and China will on Sept. 28-29 hold the first-ever trade and investment forum aimed at unlocking trade and investment potential between the two countries.

LUSAKA, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Zambia and China will hold the first-ever trade and investment forum aimed at unlocking the trade and investment potential between the two countries, the two sides said Wednesday.

The Trade and Investment Forum will be held in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, from Sept. 28-29, under the theme "China-Zambia investment in the new era, all-weather, all-diversion, and quality friendship."

The forum, which will be co-hosted by the Chinese Embassy in Zambia and the Zambian Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry, has been co-sponsored by Zambia's investment agency, the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA), China Non-Ferrous Metal Mining (Group) Co., Ltd and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, and has so far attracted nearly 200 Chinese enterprises to participate.

Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Du Xiaohui told journalists during a press briefing to announce the holding of the forum that 10 Chinese Fortune 500 enterprises have been invited to participate in the forum.

Photo taken on May 30, 2022 shows the Main Conference Hall of the Kenneth Kaunda International Conference Center in Lusaka, Zambia. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuliang)

The forum will be characterized by a high-level opening ceremony, five parallel forum sessions, panel discussions, business-to-government meetings, business-to-business meetings as well as exhibitions by enterprises, said Du, noting that the five parallel forums will be held under different themes and will provide perfect platforms for discussing China-Zambia practical cooperation.

The two sides will also sign three memoranda of understanding for great investment cooperation, digital economy investment, as well as investment and economic working group treatment.

According to him, the phone conservation between the leaders of the two countries early this year provided political preparation and policy guidelines for the forum.

"The core essence of the forum is to implement the outcome of the two presidents' phone conversation and advance China-Zambia relations standing through practical economic cooperation," he said.

He said the embassy decided to hold the forum in order to attract more Chinese investment into Zambia and spur economic growth which was vital for development.

The forum will help advertise Zambia's good investment policies, said Du, while disclosing that the embassy intends to publish a book on the comprehensive guide to investment in Zambia and another one profiling Chinese enterprises operating in the southern African nation.

The Chinese envoy said that China will remain Zambia's important investment and trade partner, with 600 Chinese enterprises currently operating in Zambia with a total investment of 3 billion U.S. dollars which has created 50,000 jobs.

He said the bilateral trade in the first half of this year totaled 3.76 billion dollars, a nearly 40 percent increase compared to the same period last year, while Zambia has enjoyed a trade surplus of 2.92 billion dollars.

Elias Mubanga, Zambia's acting Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, thanked the Chinese embassy and other organizers for ensuring that the holding of the forum comes to fruition.

He said the first-ever forum will bring together corporate institutions, financial institutions and innovators to discuss and explore potential investment opportunities which were in line with the Zambian government's vision. The theme of the forum was in line with the government's focus on ensuring sustainable development through applying modern methods of production.

The minister also said the holding of the forum would be a mark of the strong bond that has existed between the two countries over the years, adding that the forum provides an opportunity and serves as a milestone in Zambia's economic relations with China.

Zambia considers China as a strategic investment partner that has invested in various sectors of the economy, he said. He mentioned the establishment of the first economic zone in Zambia by China, which was also the first in Africa, as an affirmation of the importance that China attaches to its relationship with Zambia. 
By Trend



The President of the European Commission and a number of heads of state welcomed the first quantities of natural gas through the IGB during an official event in Sofia; the gas pipeline became operational on the first day of the new gas year and in time for the new heating season,

The gas interconnector Greece-Bulgaria started commercial operation at 7:00 a.m. on October 1st. The commissioning of the gas pipeline coincided with the first day of the new gas year and the start of the heating season.

The first quantities of natural gas through the interconnector were transited at the beginning of the gas day from the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP). IGB successfully connects the national gas transmission networks of Greece and Bulgaria at Komotini and Stara Zagora. The total capacity with which the gas pipeline begins operating is 3 billion cubic meters per year (bcm/y).

The President of the European Commission and a number of heads of state welcomed the first quantities of natural gas through the IGB during an official event held later in the day in Sofia, Bulgaria. The landmark event on the occasion of the commissioning of the IGB was honored by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister of Bulgaria Galab Donev, the President of the country Rumen Radev, the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vu?i?, the President of North Macedonia Stevo Pendarovski, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Prime Minister of Romania Nicolae Ciuc?.

"Today is of great importance for us - we mark the commercial launch of a strategic energy project, the importance of which goes beyond the national borders of Greece and Bulgaria. With the commissioning of IGB, we are entering a key stage in the development of the region's energy system and taking a huge step forward towards a stronger, more connected and independent Europe," said ICGB Executive Officer Teodora Georgieva. She thanked all parties that contributed to the realization of the project - the shareholders of ICGB, the company's team, the national governments of Greece and Bulgaria over the years, the European Commission and international partners from a number of countries such as Azerbaijan and the USA, as well as the energy regulators of the two countries developing IGB.

"It's no coincidence that the ICGB team and I have been saying over the years that this interconnect is a game-changer. This is the first project in Bulgaria that brings real diversification of natural gas sources and ensures energy independence; the first fully automated gas pipeline in the country, and for its completion we executed the third largest horizontally directed drilling in Europe. IGB will also be Bulgaria's only direct connection with TAP and will make the country part of the Southern Gas Corridor," Georgieva emphasized.

"Today's commissioning of the interconnector marks a new stage in the development of this landmark project between Greece and Bulgaria. Today is the beginning of the new gas year and the beginning of the heating season - I am certain that both business and residential consumers in our home countries will feel the effect of IGBs launch. This means secure, diversified supplies of natural gas and increased competition on the energy market. Inevitably, this will also have a positive impact on the prices for end consumers," said George Satlas, Executive Officer of ICGB. He pointed out that IGB has been of strategic importance to the region from the moment it was planned. "However, in the new reality - the ongoing war in Ukraine, the growing need across Europe for diversified, secure energy supplies, IGB is taking on an even more significant role that will redefine the positions that our countries have. The cooperation between Greece and Bulgaria in the energy sector, the synergy and the strong relationship we have are becoming a landmark example of Europe's path to energy independence and connectivity," Satlas noted.

On the first working day of IGB, more than 29 171 MWh are expected to enter the gas pipeline, and for the month of October the estimates are for 888 801 MWh. Half of the entire capacity of the interconnector is already booked under long-term contracts of up to 25 years, and the remaining free capacity is available on two independent European platforms as of September 30th. Through the interconnector Bulgaria receives the full quantities under the countrys contract with Azerbaijan for 1 bcm/y.

The gas interconnector between Greece and Bulgaria can have its capacity increased to 5 bcm/y, which will also allow for reverse flow in the direction of Stara Zagora - Komotini. This requires the construction of a compressor station in Komotini, which will be ready in 2024, at the same time as the commissioning of the LNG terminal near the Greek city of Alexandroupolis.

IGB is of key importance for increasing the security of supply and for ensuring the diversification of natural gas sources for Bulgaria, Greece and the region of Southeast Europe. The project will enable secure supplies from a variety of sources to a number of countries in Central and South-Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans, with the possibility of supplies for Moldova and Ukraine as well.
Aerial photo provided by the Swedish Coast Guard on Sept. 28, 2022 shows the fourth leak on Nord Stream 2 pipeline in Sweden's exclusive economic zone. (The Swedish Coast Guard/Handout via Xinhua)

STOCKHOLM, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- A fourth leak on the Nord Stream pipelines has been reported after seismic activity corresponding to blasts on the Baltic Sea seabed was detected earlier in the week.

The leak was discovered on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in Sweden's exclusive economic zone near a previously reported hole on Nord Stream 1.

The Swedish Coast Guard said that the leak on Nord Stream 2 was discovered earlier in the week, but the first media reports about this only emerged on Wednesday evening.

"They (the leaks) have probably occurred at the same time," Jenny Larsson, a duty officer of the Swedish Coast Guard told Dagens Nyheter newspaper on Thursday.

The pipelines were constructed to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany, though neither was in use when the leaks were discovered.

Measuring stations in Sweden registered strong underwater explosions in the same sea area as the gas leaks that occurred in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines on Monday, Swedish television (SVT) reported on Tuesday.

One of the presumed explosions was detected in the early hours of Monday and the second one on Monday evening.

The Swedish government said that the leaks were being investigated as probable sabotage.

"We take this situation very seriously and the detonations must be seen in the light of the security policy situation," Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Wednesday.

At the same press conference on Wednesday, Minister for Foreign Affairs Ann Linde also said that it was still too early to say whether another state was behind the presumed blasts.

"It is important that there is a fact-based discussion to bring clarity to what happened," said Linde. 

Aerial photo provided by the Swedish Coast Guard on Sept. 27, 2022 shows the gas leak from Nord Stream in the Baltic Sea. (The Swedish Coast Guard/Handout via Xinhua)

Aerial photo provided by the Swedish Coast Guard on Sept. 27, 2022 shows the gas leak from Nord Stream in the Baltic Sea. (The Swedish Coast Guard/Handout via Xinhua)

Aerial photo provided by the Swedish Coast Guard on Sept. 27, 2022 shows the gas leak from Nord Stream in the Baltic Sea. (The Swedish Coast Guard/Handout via Xinhua)

Aerial photo provided by the Swedish Coast Guard on Sept. 28, 2022 shows a gas leak on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. (The Swedish Coast Guard/Handout via Xinhua)
ISLAMABAD, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- A soldier of the Pakistani army was killed on Thursday by cross-border firing from Afghanistan in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a statement from the Pakistani army said on Friday evening.

The Inter-Services Public relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistani army, said that terrorists opened fire from the Afghan side of the border at the Pakistani troops in the Kharlachi area of Kurram district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The ISPR added that the Pakistani troops responded in a befitting manner and credible intelligence reports revealed that terrorists suffered heavy casualties. However, a Pakistani soldier lost his life during the exchange of fire, said the media wing.

"Pakistan strongly condemns the use of Afghan soil by terrorists for activities against Pakistan," said the ISPR.

The ISPR added that the Pakistani army is determined to defend the country's borders against the menace of terrorism. 
Botswanan President Mokgweetsi Masisi (C, Front) inspects a guard of honor during the Independence Day celebration in Gaborone, Botswana, on Sept. 30, 2022. (Photo by Tshekiso Tebalo/Xinhua)

Botswana on Friday celebrated the 56th anniversary of its independence.

GABORONE, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Botswana on Friday celebrated the 56th anniversary of its independence, but without the traditional pomp and nationwide rallies because of the grim events of COVID-19 that are still fresh in many people's minds.

In an address on the occasion of the 56th Anniversary of Botswana Independence Day in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, President Mokgweetsi Masisi said despite the heavy weight of the challenges that for most parts of the last two years the restricted movement of people, there are still some things worth celebrating.

Botswanan President Mokgweetsi Masisi waves to the crowd during the Independence Day celebration in Gaborone, Botswana, on Sept. 30, 2022. (Photo by Tshekiso Tebalo/Xinhua)

Masisi told a handful of the audience that thronged the country's National Stadium that the fanfare and jubilation that accompanied the marking of Botswana's National Day in the past has this time been replaced by the grim events that are still fresh in the memories of many.

"Who would ever forget, especially the perilous months of July to September 2021 - when we lost many of our fellow citizens to the COVID-19 pandemic," rhetorically asked Masisi.

He said many families are hurting, as a result of losing a loved one or close relative, a friend or neighbor due to COVID-19.

Dancers take part in the Independence Day celebration in Gaborone, Botswana, on Sept. 30, 2022. (Photo by Tshekiso Tebalo/Xinhua)

By far, Masisi said a greater number, especially women, those in the hospitality industry and the youth who are dominating the service sector, were hit the hardest economically by the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Furthermore, the unprecedented nature of the pandemic and the necessary measures deployed to mitigate its impact were not helped by the global energy crisis that followed the immediate outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he said.

"The resultant rising cost of living was experienced in many households just as the promise of the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine was starting to pay dividends," said Masisi.

Botswana has so far reported 326,286 COVID-19 cases, with 2,781 deaths.

Figures from the Ministry of Health indicated that more than 70 percent of the southern African country's population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine since the vaccination campaign began in March 2021. While 200,000 of those between the ages of 12 and 17 have received at least their first dose, 35,000 children between the ages of 5 and 11 have received their first dose.
People pay a silent tribute to martyrs during a commemorative event at the People's Square in Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Sept. 30, 2022.

Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Friday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)

Students pay a tribute to martyrs during a commemorative event at the People's Square in Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Sept. 30, 2022.

Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Friday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)

Flower baskets are presented as a tribute to martyrs during a commemorative event at the Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) martyrs' cemetery in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, Sept. 30, 2022.

Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Friday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day. (Xinhua/Yang Qing)

Flower baskets are presented as a tribute to martyrs during a commemorative event at the Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) martyrs' cemetery in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, Sept. 30, 2022.

Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Friday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day. (Xinhua/Li Ang)

People pay a silent tribute during a commemorative event at the Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) martyrs' cemetery in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, Sept. 30, 2022.

Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Friday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day. (Xinhua/Yang Qing)

Members of the Chinese Young Pioneers (CYP), a national mass organization for Chinese children, pay a tribute during a commemorative event at Songjiang Martyrs' Cemetery in east China's Shanghai, Sept. 30, 2022.

Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Friday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)

A commemorative event is held at Songjiang Martyrs' Cemetery in east China's Shanghai, Sept. 30, 2022.

Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Friday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)

A commemorative event is held at Songjiang Martyrs' Cemetery in east China's Shanghai, Sept. 30, 2022.

Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Friday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)

Members of the Chinese Young Pioneers (CYP), a national mass organization for Chinese children, sweep tombstones of martyrs during a commemorative event at Longhua Revolutionary Martyrs' Cemetery in east China's Shanghai, Sept. 30, 2022.

Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Friday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day. (Xinhua/Wang Xiang)

People pay a silent tribute during a commemorative event in southwest China's Chongqing, Sept. 30, 2022.

Commemoration ceremonies were held across China on Friday to honor fallen national heroes on Martyrs' Day. (Xinhua/Tang Yi)
BEIJING, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Digital transformation and technological innovation have brought about new professions requiring new skills and knowledge in various industries amid China's endeavors to promote high-quality development.

China has added 158 new professions to its list of recognized occupations since 2015, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. It started the revision work in April last year in order to update the edition released in 2015.

This brings the total number of professions on the newly-revised list to 1,639, according to the ministry.

Increased digital waves have affected the labor market in a variety of ways, for example, providing more types of work. The revised list identifies 97 professions related to the digital sectors.

The move is designed to meet the employment demand of the booming digital economy and support its development, especially in technological innovation and talent team construction, said Wu Liduo, director of a technical guidance center for employment training of the ministry.

A program has been launched to provide training for digital technology engineers, which covers about 80,000 people every year, said Li Jinsheng, an official with the ministry.

China's digital economy grew at an average rate of 15.9 percent from 2012 to 2021. During the period, the share of the digital economy in its GDP expanded from 20.9 percent to 39.8 percent, representing an annual average increase of about 2.1 percentage points, according to a white paper on global digital economy released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

The latest edition of the list also features professions within the country's emerging industries such as cryptographic engineering, carbon management and financial technology.

By adding the new types of jobs to the list, it is expected to boost the development of related industries, increase employment, and strengthen vocational education and training.

In 1999, China published its first reference book on occupational classifications. In 2010, China started revising the reference book by adding new types of work and published the revised edition of the reference book in 2015.

The ministry said efforts have been made to formulate national standards for new professions and launch occupational training courses to cultivate more talent.

China has increased spending from its general public budget on improving people's livelihoods and keeping the job market stable this year.

Expenditure on social security and employment totaled 2.53 trillion yuan (about 365.05 billion U.S. dollars) in the first eight months of 2022, up 6.6 percent year on year, data from the Ministry of Finance showed. 
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, addresses the type certificate conferring ceremony for the C919, China's first homegrown large jetliner, at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 29, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Tao)

BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The C919, China's first homegrown large jetliner, has obtained the type certificate, a milestone step on its journey to market operation.

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, the C919's developer, got the certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on Thursday. It indicates that the C919's design meets airworthiness standards and environmental requirements.

"The type certificate approval means the C919 has the 'certificate of entry' into the civil aviation market," said Yang Zhenmei, a senior CAAC official in charge of airworthiness certification.

It also marks a milestone in China's ability to conduct airworthiness certification of large airliners in line with internationally accepted airworthiness standards, Yang added.

The C919 has to get another two certificates during airworthiness certification, the prerequisite step for civil aircraft entry into the market.

The plane conducted its successful maiden flight in 2017.

In the following five years, the C919 did six test flights in different locations to test the plane's capabilities.

The C919 has gone through tests in various types of extreme natural environments including high temperature, high humidity, severe cold, gusts and freeze. Its safety, reliability, and environmental protection performance have been comprehensively assessed, Yang said.

After completing airworthiness certification, a civil aircraft will need to go through product delivery and operation preparation before being put into commercial operation.

The C919 currently has 28 customers with orders totaling 815 planes.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council have extended congratulations on the certificate to all institutions and personnel involved in developing the C919.

Their congratulatory message was read out by State Councilor Wang Yong at the certificate conferring ceremony at the Beijing Capital International Airport Thursday.

It said that the certificate is a significant fruit of China's innovation-driven development, signaling a milestone in building China into a manufacturing powerhouse.

Vice Premier Liu He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, attended the ceremony.

Regarding the certificate as a hard-won achievement, Liu called for efforts to promote the integration of industries, universities, and research institutes, stressing that the country's talent-first strategy must be upheld.

The country's massive domestic market needs to be well utilized, Liu said, adding that developing large jetliners is a long-term undertaking China must stick to. 

Photo taken on July 18, 2022 shows C919 jets in Pucheng County, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The C919, China's first homegrown large jetliner, has obtained the type certificate, a milestone step on its journey to market operation.

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, the C919's developer, got the certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on Thursday. It indicates that the C919's design meets airworthiness standards and environmental requirements. (Xinhua/Ding Ting)

Photo taken on July 18, 2022 shows C919 jets in Pucheng County, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The C919, China's first homegrown large jetliner, has obtained the type certificate, a milestone step on its journey to market operation.

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, the C919's developer, got the certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on Thursday. It indicates that the C919's design meets airworthiness standards and environmental requirements. (Xinhua/Ding Ting)

Photo taken on July 18, 2022 shows C919 jets in Pucheng County, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The C919, China's first homegrown large jetliner, has obtained the type certificate, a milestone step on its journey to market operation.

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, the C919's developer, got the certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on Thursday. It indicates that the C919's design meets airworthiness standards and environmental requirements. (Xinhua/Ding Ting)

Photo taken on July 18, 2022 shows C919 jets in Pucheng County, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The C919, China's first homegrown large jetliner, has obtained the type certificate, a milestone step on its journey to market operation.

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, the C919's developer, got the certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on Thursday. It indicates that the C919's design meets airworthiness standards and environmental requirements. (Xinhua/Ding Ting)

Crew members prepare to board the 7th C919 jet in Dongying City, east China's Shandong Province, July 21, 2022. The C919, China's first homegrown large jetliner, has obtained the type certificate, a milestone step on its journey to market operation.

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, the C919's developer, got the certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on Thursday. It indicates that the C919's design meets airworthiness standards and environmental requirements. (Xinhua/Ding Ting)

Photo taken on July 18, 2022 shows a C919 jet, China's first homegrown large jetliner, in Pucheng County, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The C919, China's first homegrown large jetliner, has obtained the type certificate, a milestone step on its journey to market operation.

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, the C919's developer, got the certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on Thursday. It indicates that the C919's design meets airworthiness standards and environmental requirements. (Xinhua/Ding Ting)

Photo taken on July 18, 2022 shows a test flight of C919, China's first homegrown large jetliner, in Pucheng County, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The C919, China's first homegrown large jetliner, has obtained the type certificate, a milestone step on its journey to market operation.

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, the C919's developer, got the certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on Thursday. It indicates that the C919's design meets airworthiness standards and environmental requirements. (Xinhua/Ding Ting)

Photo taken on July 18, 2022 shows C919 jets in Pucheng County, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The C919, China's first homegrown large jetliner, has obtained the type certificate, a milestone step on its journey to market operation.

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, the C919's developer, got the certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on Thursday. It indicates that the C919's design meets airworthiness standards and environmental requirements. (Xinhua/Ding Ting)

Photo taken on July 17, 2022 shows a test flight of C919, China's first homegrown large jetliner, in Pucheng County, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The C919, China's first homegrown large jetliner, has obtained the type certificate, a milestone step on its journey to market operation.

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, the C919's developer, got the certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on Thursday. It indicates that the C919's design meets airworthiness standards and environmental requirements. (Xinhua/Ding Ting)
Photo taken on Sept. 30, 2022 shows the site of a blast in Kabul, Afghanistan. At least 19 people were killed and 27 others wounded on Friday in a suicide explosion that rocked an education center in a neighbourhood of western Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

KABUL, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- At least 19 people were killed and 27 others wounded on Friday in a suicide explosion that rocked an education center in a neighbourhood of western Kabul, capital of Afghanistan.

"Students were preparing for an exam when a suicide bomber struck at this educational center. Unfortunately, 19 people have been martyred and 27 others wounded," Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said.

In a following statement, for prevention of future tragedies, Zadran urged all educational centers in western Kabul to inform the local police department about their future plans on hosting events with large gatherings.

"We wish safety will come soon and people will find their jobs. We have experienced enough bloodshed and war. How long will our people continue suffering bloodshed and misery?" Ahmed Javed, an eyewitness told Xinhua.

Zabihullah Mujahid, chief spokesman of the Taliban-run administration, condemned the attack, terming it as "a barbaric act".

No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

Western Kabul has been the scene of bomb explosions which targeted public places and vehicles in recent years. The Islamic State (IS) terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the majority of the attacks.

A similar blast claimed seven lives and injured 41 others in Kabul a week ago. 

An Afghan security force member stands guard near the site of a blast in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 30, 2022. At least 19 people were killed and 27 others wounded on Friday in a suicide explosion that rocked an education center in a neighbourhood of western Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

Photo taken on Sept. 30, 2022 shows the site of a blast in Kabul, Afghanistan. At least 19 people were killed and 27 others wounded on Friday in a suicide explosion that rocked an education center in a neighbourhood of western Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)
A student takes part in a smudging ceremony of a commemoration during the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Toronto, Canada, on Sept. 30, 2022. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

"Reconciliation is not the responsibility of Indigenous Peoples. It is the responsibility of all Canadians. It is our responsibility to continue to listen and to learn," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

OTTAWA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Canada marked the second National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Friday, reflecting about the tragedy of residential schools.

The federal statutory holiday, also known as Orange Shirt Day, was established last year to remember children who died while being forced to attend residential schools and to reflect the ongoing impacts on survivors, their families and communities.

According to a statement issued by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, at least 150,000 First Nations, Inuit, and Metis children were forcibly removed from their families and communities between 1831 and 1998 to attend residential schools, where they had to abandon their languages, cultures, spiritualities, traditions, and identities. Many experienced physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, and thousands never came home.

"The experiences and intergenerational trauma of these so-called schools continue to live on for Indigenous Peoples across the country every single day," said Trudeau.

"It is our shared responsibility to confront the legacy of residential schools and the ongoing impacts on Indigenous Peoples, so we can truly move forward together," Trudeau said. "Reconciliation is not the responsibility of Indigenous Peoples. It is the responsibility of all Canadians. It is our responsibility to continue to listen and to learn."

An indigenous woman performs at a commemoration during the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Toronto, Canada, on Sept. 30, 2022. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

The prime minister said the government will continue to support "the painful but necessary work to locate unmarked graves, and to support survivors as they tell their stories."

In an interview with local media, Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald said the day was about residential school survivors as well as the children who never returned from them.

"It's their day, especially those who suffered in those institutions and survived and then I also feel that it's for all the little ones who died in those institutions and didn't make it home," Archibald said.

Governor General Mary Simon, an Indigenous person, said people wear orange shirts to show that every child matters, which is important to do because of how traumatic residential schools were to Indigenous children.

Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Marc Miller, Minister of Indigenous Services Patty Hajdu, Minister of Northern Affairs Dan Vandal and Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez also issued a joint statement saying the government must work faster and harder to address the harms and intergenerational trauma caused by Canada's colonial legacy.

A man walks past a Toronto sign with indigenous symbols before a sunrise ceremony during the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Toronto, Canada, on Sept. 30, 2022. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

The locating of unmarked graves at former residential schools shocked and saddened Canadians, as it marked the first time many faced this stark truth. For Indigenous Peoples across the country, it brought back painful memories as many have shared their stories for decades only to be ignored, the statement said.

Under the leadership of survivors, their families and communities, the government will continue working in partnership to support their efforts at their pace, the statement said. 
BEIJING, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese embassies in various countries have held events to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, during which world officials have eyed deeper cooperation.

Appreciating China's development achievements in the past ten years, they expressed willingness to strengthen cooperation with China in various fields, and expected China to continue to play an important role in international affairs and make greater contribution to world peace and development.

Csaba Korosi, president of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, congratulated China on its achievements in promoting development and prosperity.

"As a founding member of the UN and a permanent member of the Security Council, China has been a strong buttress to the blue flag (of the UN)," Korosi said in his remarks, adding that he was also pleased to hear China's support for efforts to combat climate change.

"China's Global Development Initiative offers a great opportunity to catalyze sustainable development and to implement the 2030 Agenda," he said.

UN Undersecretary-General Courtenay Rattray, chef de cabinet of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said the world body highly values China's many contributions to its work and China's standing as a major pillar of international cooperation.

"As we mark this important milestone, let us look ahead and work to ensure that China and the world advance in our shared efforts to address regional and global challenges," he said.

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio said that under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China has gained global recognition as an economic powerhouse, and a modern center for research and development, technological advances and manufacturing.

Because of China's contribution, Asia is now the fastest growing economic region in the world, she said. "We look forward to forging more partnerships and collaborations with you as we journey together towards achieving our sustainable development goals."

Zoran Tegeltija, chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), said China under the leadership of the CPC and the hard work of the Chinese people has done a lot for its development and achieved extraordinary successes in various areas.

BiH remains committed to the further improvement of cooperation between the two friendly countries for the benefit of the two peoples, and to respecting the one-China principle, he said.

Speaking highly of China's development achievements in the past ten years and Georgia-China relations, Shalva Papuashvili, chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, expressed willingness to further strengthen political mutual trust, continuously deepen bilateral relations, actively participate in Belt and Road cooperation and push for more achievements in bilateral cooperation in various fields, so as to further benefit the two peoples.

Venezuelan Minister of Communication and Information Freddy Nanez said the CPC has led the Chinese people through arduous exploration and great practice to achieve the goal of eradicating absolute poverty and create a miracle of long-term social stability and rapid economic development.

Venezuela firmly believes that the CPC will lead the Chinese people toward a bright future of national prosperity and rejuvenation, and is ready to work with China to promote the building of a new multipolar international order featuring equity and justice and jointly usher in a better future, he said.

Marcin Przydacz, undersecretary of state in Poland's Foreign Ministry, said in a video message that China has achieved remarkable economic success, which has also been translated into social development, adding that over the past year, Poland and China have witnessed frequent high-level exchanges and fruitful practical cooperation.

Poland will adhere to the concept of mutual respect and win-win cooperation and unswervingly develop relations with China, Przydacz said, expecting the two countries to further expand the space of cooperation and bring more tangible benefits to the people of the two countries.

Speaking highly of China's great achievements in development, Secretary-General of Jordan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Hazem Al-Khatib said Jordan is looking forward to further strengthening exchanges and cooperation with China in personnel exchanges, trade and investment, new energy development, tourism and study and other fields to push Jordan-China relations to a new level.

Bangladeshi Planning Minister M. A. Mannan praised China's development achievements, saying that China is an important development partner of Bangladesh and has made great contributions to Bangladesh's infrastructure development.

Bangladesh firmly supports the one-China principle and is ready to work closely with China to push forward bilateral relations, he said.

Mmamosadinyana Molefe, acting permanent secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Botswana, praised China's great achievements in economic and social development and the fight against COVID-19 under the strong leadership of the CPC, adding that Botswana believes that the bilateral relations will definitely achieve greater development. 
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday urged all sides to leave space for diplomatic negotiations in efforts to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

"China calls on all parties concerned to exercise restraint, refrain from actions that exacerbate tensions, and leave space for settlement through diplomatic negotiations," Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, said in his explanation of China's vote on a Security Council draft resolution on Ukraine.

The draft resolution, put forward by Albania and the United States, failed to pass in the Security Council as it was vetoed by Russia. China, India, Brazil and Gabon abstained from the voting.

China's position on the issue of Ukraine is "consistent and clear." The sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be safeguarded, the purposes and principles of the UN Charter should be observed, the legitimate security concerns of all parties should be taken seriously, and all actors conducive to the peaceful resolution of the crisis should be supported, Zhang said.

China believes that "the pressing priority is to make every effort to de-escalate the situation, and guide the parties to restart diplomatic negotiations as soon as possible to open the door to a political settlement with legitimate concerns brought into the negotiations and the viable options on the table, in an effort to achieve an early ceasefire," said the ambassador.

Zhang said that the current crisis in Ukraine is a result of the accumulation and interplay of various problems and tensions over a long period of time. "Facts have shown that political isolation, sanctions and pressurization fuel the tensions, and bloc confrontation will not bring peace. Instead, they will only worsen the situation, and make the issue more complicated and intractable."

"As a responsible country, China has always stood on the side of peace. We will continue to play a constructive role in easing the situation and resolving the crisis," said the ambassador. 
By Trend

A medical service will be reorganized in Azerbaijans liberated Lachin city, Zabukh and Sus villages, the Azerbaijani Management Union of Medical Territorial Units (TABIB) told Trend.

According to the union, a working group consisting of senior officials of the Health Ministry and TABIB visited the mentioned settlements.

The main purpose of the trip, which took place with the participation of Head of the Department of Health Organization at the Health Ministry Anar Israfilov, Head of the Department for Capital Repairs and Construction at the ministry Elshad Hajiyev, and Head of the Department of Organization of Medical Activities at TABIB Teymur Mirzabayli, was to assess the possibilities of organizing medical services in these territories.

After determining the location of medical institutions, the number of people who should be covered by medical care and clarifying other necessary data, work will begin on organizing the medical service in accordance with the action plan.
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz will pay an official visit to Cambodia from Oct. 4 to Oct. 6, where a number of bilateral documents are expected to be signed, the Cambodian foreign ministry said in a press statement on Saturday.

In Phnom Penh, Marrero will have a bilateral meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and then both leaders will preside over the signing ceremony of a number of documents covering bilateral cooperation in sports, education, culture as well as in other domains, the statement said.

The Cuban prime minister's visit "will reaffirm the long-standing and friendly relations between Cambodia and Cuba and underscores the need to further deepen and broaden cooperation for the greater benefits of the two countries and peoples," the statement said.

During the visit, Marrero will be granted a royal audience by Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and will also pay courtesy calls on Senate President Samdech Say Chhum and National Assembly President Samdech Heng Samrin, it said.

Marrero's scheduled visit to Cambodia came just days after Hun Sen paid an official visit to Cuba from Sept. 23-25, where three memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the fields of health, education and diplomacy were inked. 
A flag-raising ceremony is held at the Golden Bauhinia Square by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in Hong Kong, south China, Oct. 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

HONG KONG, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The government of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Saturday held a flag-raising ceremony and a reception to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

The flag-raising ceremony was held at the Golden Bauhinia Square Saturday morning. As China's national flag and the flag of the HKSAR were hoisted, helicopters of the Government Flying Service flew over Victoria Harbor to display a large national flag and flag of the HKSAR. A fireboat replied with a water salute.

Following the ceremony, a grand reception was hosted by the HKSAR government in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center.

In his speech at the reception, HKSAR Chief Executive John Lee said it is clearly evident that the Chinese people blazed a trail to a flourishing future with strong determination, wisdom, and strength, and their tremendous efforts have made possible China's remarkable achievements in the form of rapid economic growth, long-term stability and prosperity.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, with remarkable achievements attained over the last quarter century, Lee said, noting that Hong Kong always has the motherland's strong backing in matters ranging from opening up opportunities to overcoming difficulties.

"I have full confidence in the future of Hong Kong, and so should you," he said. "Because Hong Kong has the irreplaceably distinct advantages of enjoying the strong support of the motherland and being closely connected to the world."

Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Leung Chun-ying, officials with the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR, the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR, the Office of the Commissioner of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in the HKSAR, and the Hong Kong Garrison of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and prominent figures from all walks of life in Hong Kong attended the flag-raising ceremony and the reception. 

Photo taken on Oct. 1, 2022 shows a reception celebrating the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), in Hong Kong, south China. The government of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Saturday held a flag-raising ceremony and a reception to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the PRC. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

A flag-raising ceremony is held at the Golden Bauhinia Square by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in Hong Kong, south China, Oct. 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Gang)
BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, president of the People's Republic of China and chairman of the Central Military Commission, met with representatives of the airliner C919 project team and visited the achievement exhibition on September 30 at the Great Hall of the People, during which he gave high praises to the important staged progress scored by the team of the C919 research and manufacture project. Xi stressed, having Chinese airliners fly in the sky embodies the will of our country, the dream of our nation and the expectations of our people. We must give full play to the strength of a new system for mobilizing resources nationwide, put safety first and give top priority to quality, and make consistent and persistent efforts to achieve greater breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields. He also called for efforts to scale up production and push forward serialization, make solid progress in building China into a manufacturer of quality, and strive to build a modern socialist country in all respects and realize the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.

Han Zheng, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and vice premier of the State Council, attended.

At around 10:30 a.m., Xi and other leaders arrived at the East Hall of the Great Hall of the People, drawing enthusiastic applause. He had a cordial exchange with those present and had a photo taken with them. He praised the representatives as the backbones of the country and heroes. "Thanks to your efforts, great achievements have been made in the large aircraft project," Xi said. We should focus on core technologies in key fields and continue to work together to tackle bottleneck problems. We must put safety and reliability first and eliminate all potential hazards. We must do a good job in the large aircraft sector.

Xi, with others, then visited an exhibition showcasing the achievements of the C919 trunk jetliner project at the Hebei Hall of the Great Hall of the People. They were briefed on the aircraft's design, manufacturing, tests, trial flights, airworthiness and others. Xi would once in a while stop to watch a particular exhibit and inquire about information in detail.

He stressed that on the journey to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, we need to take a long-term strategic perspective, set practical goals in light of the actual conditions, and choose the right direction of research. We must fulfill our goals, one by one and year on year. We must be ambitious on the path to the summit of science and technology.

Ding Xuexiang, Liu He, Wang Yong and He Lifeng attended.

The C919 is China's first self-developed trunk jetliner in accordance with international airworthiness standards, and owns independent intellectual property rights. The project was approved in 2007 and the C919 airliner accomplished its maiden flight in 2017. After completing all airworthiness certification, the C919 received the type certificate issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China in September 2022. The first aircraft will be delivered by the end of 2022. The fact that the C919 was successfully developed and received its type certificate marks that China is capable of researching and developing world-class trunk jetliners independently, and it represents a major milestone in the development of the country's large aircraft sector. Over the past 15 years, China has successfully blazed a development path that features indigenous design and systematic integration, attracts global public bidding and helps increase the proportion of domestic technologies. The country has also cultivated a team of talents in the large aircraft sector who uphold firm convictions, are willing to devote themselves, have the courage to make breakthroughs and compete in tough battles and have an international vision, achieving fruitful results and gaining valuable experience. 
A worker operates machines at a China-funded waste treatment center in Narayani Hospital in Birgunj, Nepal, Sept. 29, 2022. (Photo by Hari Maharjan/Xinhua)

The health care waste management center of Narayani Hospital in Nepal's southern city of Birgunj is equipped with a set of autoclave machines, which use steam to kill harmful bacteria, viruses, fungi and spores.

The center was built in an area where all types of waste were piled up without segregation in the past, and it came as a huge relief to patients, hospital staff and those living around the hospital.



KATHMANDU, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Narayani Hospital in Nepal's southern city of Birgunj has its own health care waste treatment center now, bringing much relief to those inside and around the health facility.

The health care waste management center was inaugurated on Thursday at the hospital, with a ceremony held to mark the handover of essential healthcare equipment for the operation of the center.

The center is equipped with a set of autoclave machines, which use steam to kill harmful bacteria, viruses, fungi and spores.

Under a project run by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) with financial support from China's Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund (GDF), the hospital has also received medical equipment and parts like segregation chambers, medical trolleys, waste bins, needle cutters and personal protective equipment to ensure proper waste management.

In addition, 20 officials and 45 others from the hospital have been trained on standard operating procedures regarding health care waste management.

The waste treatment center was built in an area where all types of waste were piled up without segregation in the past, and it came as a huge relief to patients, hospital staff and those living around the hospital.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Nepal's Deputy Representative Bernardo Cocco (1st R, front) inaugurates the China-funded waste treatment center in Narayani Hospital in Birgunj, Nepal, Sept. 29, 2022. (Photo by Hari Maharjan/Xinhua)

"I had been living with the stench of garbage for the last several years," said Krishnaa Barma, a senior nurse from Narayani Hospital. "This waste management facility has brought me and my other colleagues who live in the building near this facility a huge relief."

Sachin Shrestha, a grocery shop owner, had to burn incense to dilute the stench of hospital garbage.

"I did not believe that such a quick transformation took place here in the last two weeks or so when the waste management facility was set up," he said.

The stench was not the only trouble for locals, birds had also carried medical waste to their homes in the recent past.

"The birds even brought waste created during the delivery of a baby," recalled Anupa Gautam, a local resident.

For poor children who used to collect garbage, the medical waste rendered them vulnerable to various diseases including HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B because of used needles left in the garbage, according to hospital officials.

Things are turning for the better after Narayani Hospital became one of the very few hospitals in the city to have its own waste treatment system.

In Birgunj, there are only two hospitals running their own waste treatment plant, said Rajeshman Singh, mayor of the border city.

"The metropolitan city has its own two small waste treatment plants and we use them to sterilize hazardous garbage collected from various hospitals," he added.

At Narayani Hospital, the largest in Madhesh Province with 300 beds, 170.26 kg of waste was generated per day, according to an assessment conducted in 2020.

"As much as 15 percent of the total garbage is hazardous, according to a recent assessment," said Sruti Sah, head of the hospital's nursing department.

Along with the operation of the waste treatment center, Narayani Hospital has started to collect and segregate all the non-disposable items such as plastic, gloves and metal.

"We plan to sell these items and make an income, which we can use to fund the sanitation staff," said Sah.

Workers operate machines at a China-funded waste treatment center in Narayani Hospital in Birgunj, Nepal, Sept. 29, 2022. (Photo by Hari Maharjan/Xinhua)

Besides Nepal, the Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos are also covered by the project of Learning from China's Experience to Improve the Ability of Response to COVID-19 in Asia and the Pacific Region, with technical support from the Solid Waste and Chemicals Management Center under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, China National Health Development Research Center under the National Health Commission, and Tsinghua University/Basel Convention Regional Center for Asia and the Pacific.

In addition to Narayani Hospital, six other hospitals in Nepal are covered under the project as well.

Addressing the inauguration and handover ceremony at Narayani Hospital, UNDP Nepal's Deputy Representative Bernardo Cocco voiced his hope that the new waste management system would allow the hospital to provide better health care services in Birgunj.

To mark the occasion, a representative from the Chinese Embassy in Nepal congratulated the handover ceremony.

China always put the people first, for nothing in the world is more precious than people's lives, the representative said, expressing hope that the program can "keep on bringing safer health services to the communities and benefiting the local people."

"China is ready to provide the most needed medical expertise and critical supplies," the representative added. 
China's State Council holds a reception to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022.

The reception was attended by the Communist Party of China and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan, as well as nearly 500 guests from home and abroad. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council on Friday held a reception at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. China's National Day falls on Oct. 1.

The reception was attended by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan, as well as nearly 500 guests from home and abroad.

Addressing the reception, Premier Li Keqiang said that the CPC will convene its 20th National Congress this year, and stressed the vital significance of the event.

This year is a truly momentous one in the course of China's development, Li added. "In the face of complex and challenging developments both within and outside China, our entire nation, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, has forged ahead together with drive and resolve."

Ensuring sound economic fundamentals is crucial to sustaining the steady growth of China's economy, Li said, stressing that China has taken forceful measures to ease shocks caused by greater-than-expected factors, and promptly and decisively introduced a policy package for stabilizing the economy. "We have the confidence and the ability to keep major economic indicators within an appropriate range."

He said with the reform and opening-up as China's fundamental policy, the country has pressed ahead with reform to develop a socialist market economy, pursued high-standard opening-up, kept foreign trade and investment stable, and deepened multilateral and bilateral business cooperation to keep China a favored destination for foreign investment and achieve win-win development.

Li stressed the commitment to conducting governance to deliver benefits to the people.

Highlighting the support for efforts to ensure the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao, Li said the policy of "one country, two systems," as well as the policies of Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong and Macao people administering Macao with a high degree of autonomy, have been firmly, fully and faithfully implemented.

We have firmly opposed "Taiwan independence" separatist moves and external interference, and actively promoted the peaceful growth of cross-Strait relations, he said.

Li also stressed the efforts China has made to work with other countries to meet global challenges and promote peace, stability, development and prosperity in the world.

Li closed his speech by calling for rallying even more closely around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, following the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and forging ahead in a concerted effort to build China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful.

Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the reception. 

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang addresses a reception held by the State Council to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, presides over a reception held by the State Council to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)
People wearing orange T-shirts attend an event to commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, on Sept. 30, 2022. Canada marked the second National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Friday, reflecting about the tragedy of residential schools. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

OTTAWA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Canada marked the second National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Friday, reflecting about the tragedy of residential schools.

The federal statutory holiday, also known as Orange Shirt Day, was established last year to remember children who died while being forced to attend residential schools and to reflect the ongoing impacts on survivors, their families and communities.

According to a statement issued by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, at least 150,000 First Nations, Inuit, and Metis children were forcibly removed from their families and communities between 1831 and 1998 to attend residential schools, where they had to abandon their languages, cultures, spiritualities, traditions, and identities. Many experienced physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, and thousands never came home.

"The experiences and intergenerational trauma of these so-called schools continue to live on for Indigenous Peoples across the country every single day," said Trudeau.

"It is our shared responsibility to confront the legacy of residential schools and the ongoing impacts on Indigenous Peoples, so we can truly move forward together," Trudeau said. "Reconciliation is not the responsibility of Indigenous Peoples. It is the responsibility of all Canadians. It is our responsibility to continue to listen and to learn."

The prime minister said the government will continue to support "the painful but necessary work to locate unmarked graves, and to support survivors as they tell their stories."

In an interview with local media, Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald said the day was about residential school survivors as well as the children who never returned from them.

"It's their day, especially those who suffered in those institutions and survived and then I also feel that it's for all the little ones who died in those institutions and didn't make it home," Archibald said.

Governor General Mary Simon, an Indigenous person, said people wear orange shirts to show that every child matters, which is important to do because of how traumatic residential schools were to Indigenous children.

Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Marc Miller, Minister of Indigenous Services Patty Hajdu, Minister of Northern Affairs Dan Vandal and Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez also issued a joint statement saying the government must work faster and harder to address the harms and intergenerational trauma caused by Canada's colonial legacy.

The locating of unmarked graves at former residential schools shocked and saddened Canadians, as it marked the first time many faced this stark truth. For Indigenous Peoples across the country, it brought back painful memories as many have shared their stories for decades only to be ignored, the statement said.

Under the leadership of survivors, their families and communities, the government will continue working in partnership to support their efforts at their pace, the statement said. 

A student takes part in a smudging ceremony of a commemoration during the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Toronto, Canada, on Sept. 30, 2022. Canada marked its second National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Friday to honor lost children and survivors of the notorious indigenous residential school system in the country. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

An indigenous woman performs at a commemoration during the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Toronto, Canada, on Sept. 30, 2022. Canada marked its second National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Friday to honor lost children and survivors of the notorious indigenous residential school system in the country. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

People wearing orange T-shirts attend an event to commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, on Sept. 30, 2022. Canada marked the second National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Friday, reflecting about the tragedy of residential schools. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

People wearing orange T-shirts attend an event to commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, on Sept. 30, 2022. Canada marked the second National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Friday, reflecting about the tragedy of residential schools. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

Indigenous people dance during an event to commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, on Sept. 30, 2022. Canada marked the second National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Friday, reflecting about the tragedy of residential schools. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

People wearing orange T-shirts attend an event to commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, on Sept. 30, 2022. Canada marked the second National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Friday, reflecting about the tragedy of residential schools. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)
Aerial photo taken on Aug. 18, 2020 shows the construction site of the Doxong Pass tunnel exit on the highway linking Pad Township in the city of Nyingchi and Medog County, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. The 67.22-km road connects Pad Township in the city of Nyingchi and Medog County. It is the second passageway to Medog, following the first one connecting the county and Zhamog Township, Bomi County.

After the new highway opens to traffic, the length of the road connecting the city proper of Nyingchi and Medog County will be shortened to 180 km from 346 km, cutting travel time to four hours. (Photo by Dong Zhixiong/Xinhua)

Aerial photo taken on Sept. 30, 2022 shows the highway linking Pad Township in the city of Nyingchi and Medog County, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. The 67.22-km road connects Pad Township in the city of Nyingchi and Medog County. It is the second passageway to Medog, following the first one connecting the county and Zhamog Township, Bomi County.

After the new highway opens to traffic, the length of the road connecting the city proper of Nyingchi and Medog County will be shortened to 180 km from 346 km, cutting travel time to four hours. (Photo by Dong Zhixiong/Xinhua)

Aerial photo taken on Sept. 30, 2022 shows the highway linking Pad Township in the city of Nyingchi and Medog County, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. The 67.22-km road connects Pad Township in the city of Nyingchi and Medog County. It is the second passageway to Medog, following the first one connecting the county and Zhamog Township, Bomi County.

After the new highway opens to traffic, the length of the road connecting the city proper of Nyingchi and Medog County will be shortened to 180 km from 346 km, cutting travel time to four hours. (Photo by Dong Zhixiong/Xinhua)

A worker sows seeds near the highway linking Pad Township in the city of Nyingchi and Medog County, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 11, 2021. The 67.22-km road connects Pad Township in the city of Nyingchi and Medog County. It is the second passageway to Medog, following the first one connecting the county and Zhamog Township, Bomi County.

After the new highway opens to traffic, the length of the road connecting the city proper of Nyingchi and Medog County will be shortened to 180 km from 346 km, cutting travel time to four hours. (Photo by Dong Zhixiong/Xinhua)

Photo taken on Oct. 29, 2015 shows the tunnel boring machine (TBM) being completed for the construction of Doxong Pass tunnel on the highway linking Pad Township in the city of Nyingchi and Medog County, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. The 67.22-km road connects Pad Township in the city of Nyingchi and Medog County. It is the second passageway to Medog, following the first one connecting the county and Zhamog Township, Bomi County.

After the new highway opens to traffic, the length of the road connecting the city proper of Nyingchi and Medog County will be shortened to 180 km from 346 km, cutting travel time to four hours. (Photo by Dong Zhixiong/Xinhua)

Workers work at the construction site of the Laohuzui tunnel on the highway linking Pad Township in the city of Nyingchi and Medog County, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Feb. 9, 2021. The 67.22-km road connects Pad Township in the city of Nyingchi and Medog County. It is the second passageway to Medog, following the first one connecting the county and Zhamog Township, Bomi County.

After the new highway opens to traffic, the length of the road connecting the city proper of Nyingchi and Medog County will be shortened to 180 km from 346 km, cutting travel time to four hours. (Photo by Dong Zhixiong/Xinhua)




LONDON, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Britain has recently announced a new energy exploitation policy to increase oil and gas production, drawing opposition from climate experts, Green groups and communities.



On Thursday, the British government formally lifted a ban on fracking for shale gas in England and confirmed support for a new oil and gas licensing round.

According to the government, plans for a new oil and gas licensing round due in early October will pave the way for more than 100 new licences for exploration, which could involve fracking.

Downing Street argued that the move will help Britain boost domestic energy production, maintain energy security and reduce dependence on imports.

"It seems pretty misguided in the current climate emergency that we're in," Dr. Ajay Gambhir, a senior research fellow at Imperial College London's Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment, said in an interview with Xinhua.

"It's disappointing that politicians aren't taking the climate emergency more seriously and I think that fracking and the exploitation of fossil fuel resources at this time seems out of step with what's a really big problem for society right now," said Gambhir, who has served as a scientific advisor to the British government on low-carbon strategies.

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, involves drilling into the earth and injecting water and chemicals at high pressure to break rocks and extract the gas and oil inside.

British media reported that communities living nearby the possible exploitation sites worry the fracking process may cause earth tremors, thus impacting the landscape, tourism and agriculture.

In addition, shale gas is also a fossil fuel. Gambhir said fracking is "inconsistent with the climate goals of this government and others across the world." His view was echoed by Green groups.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service




Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun attends a reception to mark the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at the Chinese Embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Sept. 30, 2022. (Photo by Jiang Xintong/Xinhua)

China will continue to support Zimbabwe's economic and social development and improve its capacity for self-generated development, Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun said.

HARARE, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- China will continue to support Zimbabwe's economic and social development and improve its capacity for self-generated development, Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun said on Friday.

Guo made the remarks during a reception held at the Chinese Embassy in Harare to mark the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

"On the new journey of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, China will make new contributions to mankind's well-being and continue to share new opportunities with the world as it achieves new development," he said.

Guo said as a responsible major country, China is committed to the path of independent and peaceful development of other nations.

"Our cooperation will adhere to recipient-driven approaches, and respect the independent choices of the Zimbabwean government and Zimbabwean people," he remarked.

He added that China will continue supporting Zimbabwe to achieve greater progress in economic and social development.

In addition, he said cooperation between Zimbabwe and China will follow the principles of openness and transparency.

"Our cooperation will always stay open and inclusive," said Guo.

On intergovernmental cooperation, Guo said various major infrastructure projects undertaken with China's aid covering all sectors of the economy have been completed, and have already started bearing fruits.

"These projects have improved infrastructures that are urgently needed by Zimbabwe for promoting economic development and people's livelihood," he said.

In addition, Guo said to support Zimbabwe's export portfolio, China is expediting Zimbabwe's citrus exports to China.

"The Protocol of Phytosanitary Requirements for Export of Zimbabwean Fresh Citrus to China signed last year is one of the policies supported by China in promoting the export of Zimbabwe's agricultural products. It aims to establish green lanes for Zimbabwean agricultural products into the Chinese market, marking a breakthrough of China's policy support in assisting Zimbabwe's economic development," he said.

Guo said China encourages more capable Chinese companies to invest in Zimbabwe.

"These investments are introducing Zimbabwe's high-quality products into international markets, creating considerable forex earnings and tax revenues, tens of thousands of new jobs and technology transfers, and promoting Zimbabwe's competitiveness in the international market," he said.

On behalf of Zimbabwe's Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Fredrick Shava, Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Ziyambi Ziyambi, made a speech, applauding China for standing up with Zimbabwe in its developmental path.

"We have witnessed increased investments in Zimbabwe by Chinese companies over the past few years. The Chinese business community has transferred technical expertise and created employment opportunities for thousands of our people," said Shava in a written statement.

"Zimbabwe welcomes the Sino Zimbabwe cooperation under the FOCAC framework and I wish to reaffirm our government's support for the FOCAC framework and the Belt and Road Initiative," he added.

Shava acknowledged China's efforts in building Zimbabwe's human resource development. In addition, he said Zimbabwe will continue working with China in pursuit of a new global order that respects sovereignty and multilateralism.

Shava expressed gratitude to China and Chinese enterprises in Zimbabwe for extending assistance in Zimbabwe's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
By Trend

Indeed, the interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) could cover the entire gas consumption of Bulgaria and this is really a great news in very difficult times, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said, addressing the ceremony of IGBs commercial launch in Sofia, Trend reports.

Thanks to projects like this Europe will have enough gas for the winter. We worked very hard last month to get there. The first step was diversification away from Russian gas towards other reliable suppliers. President Aliyev, I visited you in July for that purpose, our friends from Norway, US, Algeria and many others, who helped us in this critical moment, she said.

Ursula von der Leyen recalled that the project of the gas interconnector between Bulgaria and Greece has been on the table since over 10 years.

So quite a while it was launched in 2009 at a time actually when Bulgaria was hardly hit by Gazproms decision to stop gas flows through Ukraine. It took lot of determination to reach the goal. The EU has supported this project from the very first day on politically, but also financially. I would say today a new era for Bulgaria and South-East Europe begins. Bulgaria used to receive 80 percent of its gas from Russia. This pipeline is a game changer for Bulgaria and for Europes energy security. And it means freedom from dependency on Russian gas, she added.
RAMALLAH, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Palestine on Saturday condemned what it termed "the cold-blooded" Israeli killing of a Palestinian young man in the town of al-Eizariya east of Jerusalem.

In a statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned "the cold-blooded Israeli killing" of 18-year-old Fayez Damdum and underlined the urgent need for "an international protection of the Palestinian people."

According to the ministry, Damdum was shot in the neck by Israeli border police. Israeli media outlets reported that Damdum was shot when he was trying to throw a Molotov cocktail at an Israeli border police officer.

Damdum was critically wounded in the neck and left to bleed to death, Palestinian eyewitnesses said, adding the Israeli border police officers prevented medical crews from taking him to the hospital.

"Killing Damdum is a continuation of the systematic and widespread policies of the occupation represented in field executions, willful and extrajudicial killings of our people, to inflame the situation," the ministry statement said.

The Israeli government is fully and directly responsible for "this heinous crime and other crimes of the Israeli occupation," it noted.

"Palestine will work with all international organizations, including the United Nations, to document these crimes to hold the occupants accountable for all its crimes," it said.

The tension between Israelis and the Palestinians has been mounting over the past few months after the Israeli army intensified its operations against Palestinian militants and activists in the West Bank. 
Aerial photo taken on July 19, 2022 shows the Central Business District (CBD) project in Egypt's new administrative capital, which was constructed by China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), in Cairo, Egypt. (CSCEC Egypt/Handout via Xinhua)

by Yao Bing, Marwa Yahya

CAIRO, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) has gone a long way toward boosting the prosperity and welfare of the Chinese people since its establishment over 100 years ago, former Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf has said.

"Eradicating extreme poverty is a miracle that is attributed to the CPC's fundamental thoughts and ideologies that proved to be the core and the driving force of all aspects of development in China," Sharaf said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

China's success serves the interests of the whole world and the CPC has offered the world a different government system, from which developing countries could learn, he said.

Sharaf first visited China in 2005, and between 2014 and 2019 he visited China over 30 times, during which he was deeply impressed by the Chinese people.

The CPC members he met at the time were proud of the country's achievements and development, Sharaf said.

Sharaf said he learned from his over 30 visits to China that "'Putting People First' broadened people's support for and loyalty to the party's leadership."

Sharaf said he is impressed by China's economic, social and cultural achievements along with combating poverty and corruption, and improving the people's health and welfare conditions, adding that opening-up to the world is a successful policy of China at the international level.

The Belt and Road Initiative is a vivid illustration of the policy of opening up and also serves as a platform promoting multilateralism and globalization, and expanding the scope of international cooperation, he said.

In recent years, he said, the construction of its New Suez Canal economic corridor as well as transportation, energy, and other projects are examples of cooperation between Egypt and China, which has created a lot of job opportunities and enhanced economic development in the north African country.

"The two countries have a promising prospect for cooperation," he said. 

People work at a factory of XD-EGEMAC High Voltage Electrical Equipment Co., Ltd in Suez Governorate, Egypt, April 21, 2022. (Xinhua/Sui Xiankai)

Photo taken on July 3, 2022 shows a train of Egypt's first electrified light rail transit (LRT) system, jointly built by Chinese and Egyptian companies, during a trial run in east Cairo, Egypt. (Xinhua/Sui Xiankai)
ISLAMABAD, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Two alleged terrorists were killed on Saturday during an exchange of fire with police in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of police said.

According to police, the CTD conducted an intelligence-based operation early morning in a terrorists' hideout in Gulshan-e-Maymar area of the city.

The alleged terrorists opened fire when policemen entered their hideout, which initiated an exchange of fire, resulting in the killing of two terrorists while injuring four policemen, the CTD said.

All the injured policemen were shifted to a local hospital, the CTD said, adding that two of them were in critical condition.

The CTD said that police seized weapons and explosives from the terrorists. 
SEOUL, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Saturday.

The JCS said in a statement that it detected two short-range ballistic missiles, launched by the DPRK from the Sunan area in Pyongyang between 6:45 a.m. and 7:03 a.m. local time into the eastern waters.

The DPRK fired two short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern waters on Thursday and Wednesday respectively and one short-range ballistic missile into the eastern waters on Sunday.

According to the South Korean military, in 2022 alone, the DPRK has test-fired ballistic missiles 20 times and cruise missiles twice. 
PARIS, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Earlier this year, the French government announced it was expecting energy shortages during the upcoming winter due to reduced gas flows from Russia to Europe following the conflict in Ukraine. Now, many French people are preparing for the situation.

Joelle Riffaud, a primary school teacher from Royan who lives in a 140-square-meter house with her husband and son, began thinking of ways to cope with potential wintertime energy shortages over the summer.

The family bought a hot water tank that automatically controls its temperature, she told Xinhua. However, a state subsidy of 300 euros (297 U.S. dollars) for a 2,000 euro pellet stove would not be enough for their budget, she said.

However, Riffaud felt more hopeful after the French media reported that severe energy shortages would only happen should the upcoming winter be as cold as in previous years.

Since her house uses electricity for heating, the family will keep it to its lowest temperature during the day while they are out at work, and start the wood stove an hour or two before going to bed.

"It is still cheaper than buying electric heaters", said Riffaud.

With a monthly average of 88 hours of sunlight in Royan, the family has also considered installing solar panels on their roof.

Marion Viel-Geinet, who lives in Saint Montan in the Ardeche department, told Xinhua that she and her husband recently bought a house with solar panels.

"The solar panels provide 30 percent of our electricity consumption," she said.

The couple's home is also a small hotel, so in addition to their own energy consumption, she has to consider that of her guests. They have to increase rates at their bed and breakfast, to make up for the increase in energy prices.

In order to reduce their energy consumption, she told Xinhua that they have a substantial stock of wood left from the previous winter that they will use in their fireplace.

Like most French people, they will also try to limit their energy consumption and heat less.

Due to the energy shortage announcement, factory technician Jacqueline Perrier told Xinhua that companies are also concerned, and may only employ people on a part-time basis.

Perrier, who lives near the city of Annecy with her husband and adult daughter, uses oil and wood to heat their 96-square-meter house.

In order to limit the family's energy consumption, she plans to run their wood stove more, with wood left over from last year.

"We have also installed energy-saving light bulbs," said Perrier.

Many people are also concerned over soaring energy prices in France.

Helene Meunier, who works part-time in a grocery store, said that wages have not increased in line with energy costs.

Meunier lives in downtown Reims, in an apartment of 108 square meters, with her two daughters and partner. She is worried they will not be warm enough this winter, while being conscious of the need to cut back on energy consumption.

"I think people are ready to play their part. Today we are aware of the limits of resources and climate change," she said, referring to the government's "energy sobriety" plan.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has already announced that rolling blackouts are possible this winter. 
Moscow: On the 73rd anniversary of China's National Day, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent greetings to Chinese President Xi Jinping, noting that despite the complex international situation in various fields, Beijing and Moscow continue to forge an all-encompassing partnership.

Also read: Tech war: Harvard Law School alumnus is assisting China in reducing its reliance on sophisticated US chips

Relations between Russia and China are growing quickly in the spirit of all-around cooperation and strategic dialogue. Despite the complex international environment, we are successfully collaborating in a wide range of fields, combining our efforts to create a more democratic and equitable world order and to confront contemporary threats and challenges, according to the statement.

Also read: China Li Auto introduces L8 SUV may be a competitor to German automakers

The statement also said Putin reaffirmed Moscow's readiness to maintain close cooperation with Beijing and the bilateral dialogue for the benefit of the friendly nations of Russia and China.The 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party will soon be held, and the Russian president sent his best wishes for health, wealth, and success.

Also read: Hong Kong is on the verge of establishing a voluntary carbon trading platform

Earlier, in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, Putin and Xi had discussions outside of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit.
Hong Kong: Hong Kong is close to establishing an exchange-based voluntary carbon credit trading market, according to the city's exchange operator, which will increase its stature in Asia's green finance industry, where it already leads the pack in terms of green bonds. Is.

Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing (HKEX) is building the framework for "a first-class platform" after recently partnering with potential buyers, sellers and intermediaries to better understand their needs. This was stated by the company's CEO, Nicolas Agugin.

"We are getting very close," he said at the annual forum of the Hong Kong Green Finance Association on Thursday. We are making significant progress, and in the not-too-distant future, I anticipate seeing carbon [credits] traded in our market. This will significantly advance the sustainability agenda in the region.

Also Read: Hurricane Fiona: Canada braces for one of the worst storms in history

The Hong Kong International Carbon Market Council was established by HKEX in July to promote partnerships to establish an international carbon market in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong subsidiaries of A&N Banking Group, Bank of China, BNP Paribas, HSBC, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Standard Chartered Bank are among the inaugural members.

In addition to green project developers and potential credit sellers China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group, China Forestry Group and State Power Investment Corporation, corporate members include greenhouse gas emitters and potential credit sellers Cathay Pacific Airways and Tencent Holdings.

Hong Kong arranged and issued green and durable bonds worth US$31.3 billion last year, according to Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po, placing it leading and accounting for a third of the total in Asia.

Even though trade has been going on for more than 20 years, there are still many barriers to voluntary trading of carbon credits globally. Most are traded off-exchange, over-the-counter.

Also Read: Tigris River in Iraq is drying up

According to Glenda So, co-head of markets at HKEX, challenges include changes to the disclosure and verification standards in the markets for recognition of credits, which affect their perceived quality and value. Another problem is counterparty and settlement credit risk.

According to Sammy Leung, partner of regional ESG services at PwC Asia-Pacific, another obstacle to voluntary credit trading is the lack of talent for validating the carbon emission reduction benefits of projects, for which there are often specialized forestry projects. Scientific knowledge is required.

According to Christopher Webb, global head of carbon markets at HSBC, projects will take time to adopt, despite ongoing market consultations and initiatives by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market to set standards and standards for high-monolithic carbon credits. , a governing body.

Many standards "need to continue their development to further enhance best practice while on that journey," he continued. "Second, don't expect methodology to stop innovation."

According to Ecosystem Marketplace, the total value of transactions in voluntary carbon markets around the world reached nearly US$2 billion last year, nearly four times more than in 2020.

The Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets estimated last year that trade could reach US$50 billion in 2030 as more corporate emitters commit to net zero targets and credits need to be purchased to offset the carbon footprint. which they are unable to reduce themselves. Credit vendors can finance their projects to reduce carbon emissions.

The Efficiency and Effectiveness of Credit Trading, a task force led by the private sector, to help achieve the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels and avoiding catastrophic economic and social repercussions tries to increase.

Meanwhile, Meng Meng, chairman of the Guangzhou Emissions Exchange, suggested that Hong Kong, which lacks a mandatory carbon trading system, consider using the province of Guangdong's established forum.

Also Read:Egypt requests that developed countries shoulder the financial burden of combating climate change

Even though a mandatory program would need to be established through legislation and consensus-building, she said, it would be a cost-effective way for Hong Kong to create a more green finance tool to aid in the achievement of its climate goals.

According to Meng, about 6 billion yuan (US$850 million) have been transacted in the Guangdong plan since trading began a decade ago.
CSTO may withdraw from Armenia, according to PM Pashinyan 1 October, 11:10 PM Armenia may withdraw from CSTO (Photo:Michel EulerPool via REUTERS)

As tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan rise, Armenia may withdraw from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said in an interview with Armenian news agency Armenpress.

"Recently, as a consequence of meetings with a number of CSTO colleagues, I discovered that the CSTO also tracks the rapid development of some public opinions in Armenia, Pashinyan said.

During the conversation, it was even mentioned that Armenia is considering leaving the CSTO. I stated the reverse, that there are fears that the CSTO will withdraw from Armenia.

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He said that this is "not just a word play; it has a very serious connotation.

"Pashinyan said that during an earlier CSTO debate on security issues, he had obtained explicit guarantees that Armenia's border was a red line for the CSTO.

When the events in Sotq and Khoznavar (in Nagorno-Karabakh) occurred last year, we naturally turned to the CSTO, only to be told that the line is not marked or delimited. As a result, the question of where the red line is in this case arose.

He went on to say that Armenia had already expressed the need for a definitive answer to this question.

This is significant not only for Armenia, but also for the CSTO, because if there is no border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, there will be no CSTO, because the CSTO has a zone of responsibility that is bounded by borders. There is no organization if there is no border, and there is no zone of responsibility if there is no border.

He said that regardless of whether the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan is defined, state borders are formed and known by coordinates under the Dec. 18, 1991 agreement signed by the Armenian and Azerbaijani parliaments.

They are asking the wrong question when they ask whether Armenia will leave the CSTO. The question is whether or not the CSTO will withdraw from Armenia. To put it another way, would the CSTO fix its red line, its zone of responsibility, in Armenia?

Pashinyan stressed the importance of the CSTO developing a clear political assessment of the situation.

"That is, the act of aggression against Armenia should be documented, and a clear strategy for eliminating the repercussions of the act of aggression should be revealed. And this should strengthen the already-established red line, which is the foundation of the CSTO.

New tensions arose on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border on the night of Sept. 13  more than 170 soldiers from both sides were killed in fighting in just a few days.

Yerevan accused Azerbaijan of "large-scale provocations." In return, the Azerbaijani authorities said that their shelling was "in response to Armenia's aggression and sabotage."

As the situation with Azerbaijan deteriorated, Armenia requested assistance from Russia and the CSTO.

The CSTO has previously refused to provide Armenia with military assistance in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan.

Armenia condemned Russia's and the CSTO's lack of response to Yerevan's plea for aid, stating that it would "draw conclusions.

"Although the parties continue to shell each other, a ceasefire has been agreed

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Nord Stream pipeline sabotage beneficial only to Russia, says ex-Ukrainian FM 1 October, 11:14 AM Nord Stream 1 gas leak in the Baltic Sea, September 28 (Photo:Swedish Coast Guard/Handout via TT News Agency/via REUTERS)

The sabotaging of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines is beneficial only to Russia, Ukrainian diplomat and former Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said in an interview with Radio NV on Sept. 30.

Of course, now there is more schizophrenia in Russia on this topic, (claims) that someone did it insidiously  conspiracy theories, special services, the diplomat said.

But in fact, the question is very simple: who benefits from this? Today, its beneficial only to the Russian regime.

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According to Klimkin, this is because Russia has realized that it has lost the energy war against Europe.

And they want to put (an end to the business) right now and say there will be no gas now, he said.

After that, they will (attempt to) rock Europe in such a way as to reboot the entire political elite  no more, no less. This is also perfectly clear to the European Union today.

Klimkin said Russia had already accepted that it would no longer be selling its gas in the European Union.

Even the Germans are going to Canada, Qatar, and the Emirates and sign contracts for the supply of liquefied gas, Klimkin said..

No one wants to depend on the Russian regime anymore. Thats it. This is completely clear even to (Russian dictator Vladimir) Putin.

According to Klimkin, Russia wants to create this chaos since they need to reboot Europe this winter and first of all, to take revenge.

If they dont do it, they will understand very well that theyve finally lost out completely against the West, Klimkin said.

Read also: EU calls Nord Stream gas leaks sabotage

Thats why these explosions began, and already direct threats with nuclear weapons. Russia perfectly understands the point of no return has really been passed. But I repeat once again: after these explosions, the West is no longer just supporting Ukraine in an allied sense, its already a part of this war, but not yet in a military sense.

During a speech on the illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions on Sept. 30, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin accused the Anglo-Saxons of causing the gas leaks in the Nord Stream gas pipelines.

The first report of an incident involving the Russia-Europe Nord Stream pipelines occurred on Sept. 26, when the pressure suddenly dropped in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. On Sept. 27, reports emerged of a similar issue with Nord Stream 1.

Both gas pipelines, passing along the bottom of the Baltic Sea off the coast of Sweden and Denmark, were not operational  but were still filled with technical gas for pressurization.

The pressure drop was recorded at a section of the pipeline located at a depth of about 70 meters near the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea  just outside the territorial waters of Denmark, but in its exclusive economic zone.

In total, three major leaks were recorded in the space of days. On Sept. 29, the Swedish Coast Guard reported a fourth gas leak.

Bjorn Lund, professor at the Swedish National Seismic Center SNSN, said that these explosions were obviously artificial, and not geological in nature.

According to the German media, the German government ruled out the accidental nature of the leaks and considered them deliberate sabotage. The Swedish and Danish authorities also called the leaks the result of deliberate actions and possible sabotage.

The German security services assume that both lines of the Nord Stream-1 pipeline, and one line of the Nord Stream-2 pipeline, will never be usable again after these explosions, writes German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Sept. 29 that it was still too soon to speculate who might have been behind the Nord Stream pipeline ruptures.

According to CNN, European security officials on Sept. 26-27 observed Russian Navy support ships in the vicinity of leaks in the Nord Stream pipelines, which were likely caused by underwater explosions.

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Ukrainian forces will likely capture Lyman within next 72 hours, ISW says 1 October, 11:24 AM Armed Forces of Ukraine (Photo:facebook.com/GeneralStaff)

Ukrainian forces will likely capture or encircle the town of Lyman in Donetsk Oblast within the next 72 hours, according to a Sept. 30 report from the U.S-based Institute for the Study of War.

Its analysts cited representatives of the so-called Donetsk Peoples Republic and Russian war correspondents, who reported that Russian forces still control Lyman but have withdrawn from their positions in Drobysheve (around six kilometers northwest of Lyman) and Yampil (about 13 kilometers southeast of Lyman).

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Russian sources cited by ISW claimed that Russian forces still control one road from Lyman to Torske, while Ukrainian forces have cut off the Drobysheve-Torske road in the Stavky area.

Russian sources also noted the increasing activity of Ukrainian reconnaissance and sabotage groups on the Svatove-Torske highway northeast of Lyman after they reportedly crossed the Zherebets River. Geolocated footage also showed Ukrainian artillery striking withdrawing Russian forces near Torske.

According to ISW, Ukrainian forces continued to strike Russian military targets in Luhansk Oblast on Sept. 30. It is noted that geolocated footage showed the aftermath of Ukrainian reported HIMARS strikes on a television tower and a radio repeater in Starobilsk and at an asphalt plant near Alchevsk that reportedly housed Russian forces.

Serhiy Cherevatyi, the speaker for the Eastern Regional Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said on Sept. 30 that the operation to encircle Russian troops near Lyman was at the final stage, and the invaders were cut off from reinforcements and supplies of ammunition.

Ukrainian soldiers have already entered the town of Yampil in Donetsk Oblast, according to a video that appeared online on Sept. 30. Later, a video appeared with Ukrainian troops in the village of Drobysheve.

Mykhailo Podolyak, the adviser to the head of the Presidents Office, said Russia would have to ask Ukraine to withdraw the Russian military from the encirclement in the Lyman area if the Kremlin cares about their fate.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an evening address on Sept. 30 that Ukrainian forces had made significant progress in the east, in particular in Lyman.

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Hong Kong: One country, two systems essential

Chief Executive John Lee

I am very pleased to join the National Day reception organised by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, for the first time in my capacity as the sixth-term Chief Executive, to celebrate with you the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China.

Every year when we celebrate National Day, we see the continuous improvements of our countrys development and peoples livelihood. It is clearly evident that the Chinese people blazed a trail to a flourishing future with strong determination, wisdom and strength. Their tremendous efforts have made possible our countrys remarkable achievements in the form of rapid economic growth, long-term stability and prosperity.

In recent years, our countrys strength has reached a new level. Last year, Chinas gross domestic product surpassed RMB114 trillion. That accounted for more than 18% of the world economy. Since 2020, our country has become the worlds largest trading entity. Renminbi became the fourth global payment currency last year. In the fields of infrastructure and technology, the total extent of the national transportation network now exceeds 6,000,000km. Our country has also built the worlds largest 5G mobile network. At this moment, a space station combination under the countrys manned space programme is orbiting 400km above the Earth. As Chinese, all these achievements make us proud!

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Hong Kongs return to the motherland. Over the last quarter century, we have attained remarkable achievements. Even though we have encountered various challenges, we have always managed to turn crises into opportunities, and emerged even stronger. Critical to our success is the implementation of the one country, two systems principle, which is the best institutional safeguard for the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong.

Indeed, we always have our motherlands strong backing in matters ranging from opening up opportunities to overcoming difficulties. Over the past two years, the central authorities promulgated and implemented the National Security Law, improved the SARs electoral system and implemented the patriots administering Hong Kong principle, turning Hong Kong from chaos to governance. In early 2022, Hong Kong experienced serious challenges posed by COVID-19. The central government gave us full support by swiftly sending expert delegations and medical support teams to Hong Kong, delivering urgent supplies via rail and water, constructing a community isolation facility in seven days, and much more, putting the epidemic situation under control. We will never forget the Chinese speed, reflecting the caring of the Chinese people for their compatriots and their eagerness to protect Hong Kong.

This year, encouragement and joy was brought to us by President Xi Jinpings presence in Hong Kong at the meeting celebrating the 25th anniversary of Hong Kongs return to the motherland and the inaugural ceremony of the sixth-term Hong Kong SAR Government to deliver an important speech. The presidents important speech on July 1 has become the Hong Kong SAR Governments blueprint for governance. My team and I are fully committed to living up to the mandate and achieving the proposals and directives.

The COVID-19 epidemic, which has been going on for nearly three years, still overshadows Hong Kong. The Hong Kong SAR Government will not adopt a lie flat approach in our anti-epidemic work, and will do our utmost to keep the epidemic under control. Guided by proper risk management, the Government strives to safeguard peoples livelihood, provide the community with the strongest economic vibrancy, maintain Hong Kongs international competitiveness and enhance the citys impetus for growth.

As Hong Kong now undergoes the critical transition from stability to prosperity, I have full confidence in the future of Hong Kong, and so should you. We should be confident in our home because Hong Kong has the irreplaceably distinct advantages of enjoying the strong support of the motherland and being closely connected to the world. Hong Kong is a free, open and business-friendly international metropolis. It is the worlds freest economy, an international financial, trading and shipping centre, Asias largest asset management hub, the worlds largest offshore RMB centre, the worlds number one in terms of air cargo throughput, and the only city in Asia with five universities in the worlds top 100. Hong Kong has a world-class business environment and a low and simple tax regime. We are located at the heart of Asia. We enjoy a free flow of information, well-developed infrastructure, high level of education, and a productive and resilient workforce. Hong Kongs countless advantages give us confidence and competitiveness.

It is October now and the preparation of my Policy Address has entered the final stage. Over the last two months or so, my team and I visited various districts and met different sectors in person or online to gauge their views. We have also received invaluable views on various issues.

Although there will be challenges ahead, I strongly believe that designs for justice prevail, and acts for peoples benefit succeed. My team and I will remain true to our original aspirations and bear in mind our mission to better serve our citizens and promote Hong Kongs progress.

Let us wish our country continued success and vibrancy, and the Pearl of the Orient continued gleam and contribution to the realisation of national rejuvenation.

This is the English translation of Chief Executive John Lees speech at the National Day Reception in Celebration of the 73rd Anniversary of the Founding of the Peoples Republic of China on October 1.

This story has been published on: 2022-10-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
By Trend

Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) contributes significantly to the diversification of natural gas supply, said Prime Minister of Romania Nicolae Ciuca, Trend reports.

He was addressing the ceremony of commercial launch of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria.

Though this is a moment for celebration for the developers of the project, and for all its beneficiaries, we should remain realistic and acknowledge that diversification of supply and routes needs to speed up as Europe has to get rid of dependency on Russian fossil fuels. The energy crisis felt by the whole Europe made us even more united in our efforts to find solutions and to ensure the necessary for this winter as well as for the future in the logic of sustainability and environmental protection, said Ciuca.

He pointed out that regional cooperation and jointly developed solutions are key to success, as individual actions do not offer sufficient answers in time of crisis.

The completion of the Vertical Corridor is a part of such solutions, as it will facilitate gas transit to Central and Eastern Europe and to the Western Balkans by connecting the Southern Gas Corridor and BRUA. This will give access to gas resources from the Caspian Sea, as well as to the LNG terminals in the north of Greece, added Romanias prime minister.
(Adds details of protest, background)

By Alexander Tanas

CHISINAU, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Several thousand people protested in Moldova's capital on Sunday for the second straight weekend to demand the resignation of the country's pro-Western government amid mounting anger over spiralling natural gas prices and inflation.

The small east European nation, sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania, has seen political tensions rise in recent months as gas prices soar following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

A Reuters reporter estimated the crowd at about 5,000 outside the official residence of President Maia Sandu -- slightly smaller than last Sunday's gathering.

Protesters chanted "Down with Maia Sandu", and "Down with the government".

The rallies are the largest since Sandu won a landslide election victory in 2020 on an anti-corruption platform, but pose no immediate threat to the president and her administration.

Sandu has repeatedly condemned Moscow's actions in Ukraine and is pushing for membership of the European Union, which has provided the ex-Soviet state with considerable assistance.

Her critics charge she should have negotiated a better gas deal with Russia, Moldova's main supplier.

On Friday, Moldova's gas regulator raised prices by 27% for households.

The protests have been organised by the opposition party of Ilan Shor, an exiled businessman convicted of fraud in connection with a $1 billion bank scandal. The chief suspect in that fraud, business magnate Vlad Plahotniuc, is also outside Moldova, his whereabouts unknown.

Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita said she was focused on helping those with low incomes.

"The problems of the country and its people will not be solved on the streets," she wrote on the point.md news site. "We are trying to solve the problems of people most in need." Protesters have vowed to hold weekly rallies until Sandu and her government leave office.

An encampment of about 100 tents remains around Moldova's parliament an protesters on Sunday set up a further dozen tents outside the president's residence. (Reporting by Alexander Tanas Writing by Max Hunder and Ron Popeski Editing by Frances Kerry and Alistair Bell)
Amazon appears to be kicking off its fall Prime Day event a little early. Hot on the heels of announcing a new generation of gadgets, the company is holding a sale on Echo smart displays, Fire TV devices and, it seems, Fire tablets. Highlights include the Fire 10 HD, which is back down to $75, a price we last saw during Amazon's Prime Day event in July. Meanwhile, the new Fire 7 tablet has been discounted to $45.

Buy Fire HD 10 at Amazon - $75 Buy Fire 7 at Amazon - $45

While the Fire HD 10 is the older of the two devices, the deal on that tablet is still the highlight here. For the money, you get a 10.1-inch display with full HD resolution, an eight-core 2GHz processor, 3GB of RAM, 12 hours of rated battery life and up to 64GB of internal storage (expandable to as much a 1TB via a microSD card).

As for the Fire 7, we need to caution you that it earned a lackluster score from us when we reviewed it last summer. Although we acknowledged the then-$60 tablet got some basics right, including battery life, USB-C charging and, well, the affordable price, we dinged it for its unimpressive display quality and sluggish performance. If we were to review it fresh today with a $45 list price, perhaps we'd be a little more generous in our rating.

It's unclear when Amazon will refresh either its 10- or 7-inch tablet line. At its hardware launch last month, Amazon only mentioned a new $100 8-inch model, which promises 30 percent faster performance, slightly improved 13-hour battery life and a new Tap to Alexa feature that allows you to summon the voice assistant without speaking.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
Allied Market Research

Increase in the prevalence of bovine mastitis, rise in awareness about bovine mastitis, increase in product approvals and new product launches, and integration of artificial intelligence (AI) with veterinary health and treatments drive the growth of the global bovine mastitis market. The COVID-19 outbreak had a negative impact on the growth of the bovine mastitis market, owing to the implementation of lockdown in many countries which affected the supply chain for farms and dairy industry.

Portland, OR, Sept. 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to the report published by Allied Market Research, the global bovine mastitis market generated $0.54 billion in 2021, and is estimated to reach $1.01 billion by 2031, witnessing a CAGR of 6.3% from 2022 to 2031. The report offers a detailed analysis of changing market trends, top segments, key investment pockets, value chain, regional landscape, and competitive scenario. The report is a helpful source of information for leading market players, new entrants, investors, and stakeholders in devising strategies for the future and taking steps to strengthen their position in the market.

Download Sample Report- https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/17988

Report coverage & details:

Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 20222031 Base Year 2021 Market Size in 2021 $0.54 Billion Market Size in 2031 $1.01 Billion CAGR 6.3% No. of Pages in Report 300 Segments covered Product, Route Of Administration, Application, and Region Drivers Increase in the prevalence of bovine mastitis Rise in awareness about bovine mastitis Increase in product approvals and new products launched Integration of artificial intelligence (AI) with veterinary health and treatments Rise in demand for dairy products Opportunities Increase in R&D for the development of bovine mastitis treatments Increase in number of initiatives by government & non-government organizations and a rise in funding for veterinary care Restraints The lack of awareness about bovine mastitis, prominently in rural areas

Covid-19 Scenario:

The COVID-19 outbreak had a negative impact on the growth of the bovine mastitis market, owing to the implementation of lockdown in many countries which affected the supply chain for farms and dairy industry.

The entire healthcare industry focused on life saving and COVID-19 related products which restricted the treatment for bovine mastitis.

However, the healthcare sector has been restructured to provide safer healthcare facilities. Hence, the market is likely to grow in the post pandemic period.

The report offers a detailed segmentation of the global bovine mastitis market based on product, route of administration, application, and region. The report provides an analysis of each segment and sub-segment with the help of tables and figures. This analysis helps market players, investors and new entrants in determining the sub-segments to be tapped on to achieve growth in the coming years.

Based on product, the antibiotics segment held the largest share in 2021, contributing to nearly two-thirds of the global bovine mastitis market, and is likely to maintain its leadership status during the forecast period. However, the others segment is expected to manifest the highest CAGR of 7.0% from 2022 to 2031.

For Purchase Inquiry- https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/17988

Based on route of administration, the systemic segment held the largest share in 2021, accounting for nearly three-fourths of the global bovine mastitis market, and would rule the roost through 2031. However, the intramammary segment is estimated to witness the fastest CAGR of 6.9% during the forecast period.

Based on application, the on-site treatment segment held the largest share in 2021, accounting for nearly three-fourths of the global bovine mastitis market, and would rule the roost through 2031. The same segment is estimated to witness the fastest CAGR of 6.4% during the forecast period.

Based on region, the market in Asia-Pacific was the largest in 2021, accounting for nearly half of the global bovine mastitis market, and is likely to maintain its leadership status during the forecast period. However, the LAMEA region is expected to manifest the highest CAGR of 6.6% from 2022 to 2031. The other regions analyzed in the study include Europe and North America.

Leading players of the global bovine mastitis market analyzed in the research include Armenta Ltd., Boehringer Ingelheim Gmbh, Ecolab Inc., Forte Healthcare Ltd., Huvepharma nv,Merck KGaA, Mileutis Ltd, Neogen Corporation, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc, and Zoetis Inc.

The report analyzes these key players of the global bovine mastitis 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.

Official Press Release- https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/press-release/bovine-mastitis-market.html



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AVENUE- A Subscription-Based Library (Premium on-demand, subscription-based pricing model) Offered by Allied Market Research:

AMR introduces its online premium subscription-based library Avenue, designed specifically to offer cost-effective, one-stop solution for enterprises, investors, and universities. With Avenue, subscribers can avail an entire repository of reports on more than 2,000 niche industries and more than 12,000 company profiles. Moreover, users can get an online access to quantitative and qualitative data in PDF and Excel formats along with analyst support, customization, and updated versions of reports.

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We have also published few syndicated market studies in the similar area that might be of your interest. Below are the report title for your reference, considering Impact of Covid-19 Over This Market which will help you to assess aftereffects of pandemic on short-term and long-term growth trends of this market.

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Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domains. AMR offers its services across 11 industry verticals including Life Sciences , Consumer Goods, Materials & Chemicals, Construction & Manufacturing, Food & Beverages, Energy & Power, Semiconductor & Electronics, Automotive & Transportation, ICT & Media, Aerospace & Defense, and BFSI.

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Welcome garments from Nepal given to Rosalind and Kwame upon arrival.

Can you say, Culture Shock, with capital letters? Well, that is what I experienced during our recent trip to Nepal.

Having grown up in America, a native Floridian, and although I have traveled to many nations in Africa and the Caribbean and even Turkey, I must say I was not prepared for what I experienced in Nepal.

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It wasnt just the fact that the United States is a Christian nation because I have been in Muslim nations before, it was the whole landscape that caused a cataclysmic shift in my perception of life.

Mahabharata Mountain Range in Nepal.

The first thing that I noticed on full display was the beautiful mountains in the backdrop and although I have been to the Colorado mountains before these were different once we began traveling around them.

Because most of the roads were not paved, they had humongous potholes in them and there were no street signs or lights. The cars, vans, jeeps, and tour buses traveled at very high speeds navigating the twists and turns of the mountains sometimes barely missing head-on collisions or driving off the cliffs by mere seconds.

And there we were in the middle of it all traveling for hours around the mountains to get to the villages to meet our members.

The next thing I became acutely aware of was the large idols of Buddha and Krishna and other Hindu gods and goddesses all around. I had never seen anything like it before in my life. They were huge and beautiful and everywhere.

Sadly, there were no churches on display as they are not forbidden but frowned upon as a Western religion. Thats not to say there are no Christians, but they meet in homes and are very low key as Nepal is primarily a Hindu and Buddhist nation with only 3% Christians.

In addition to the idols there were cows roaming everywhere and sometimes in packs down the middle of the street. No one is allowed to harm them because they are worshipped as a part of the Hindu religion as are monkeys, crows, trees, and dogs.

Story continues

They also worship vehicles and other objects at certain times as they have millions of gods. That is what really amazed me as I have heard of this before and seen documentaries, but to experience it up close and personal is quite different.

It caused me to open my heart and eyes to how some people experience life and religion.

MoMo dish in Nepal.

We ate lots of curry and rice as well as a dish called Momo which is a dumpling that has chicken or buffalo inside. The food was spicy and tasty overall, and the people were very warm and inviting.

It was a blessing to meet our members of Turning Point International Nepal and discuss ways to support the impressive work that they are doing despite a multitude of challenges. That brings me hope.

Rosalind Tompkins Guest columnist

Rosalind Y. Tompkins received a doctorate of humanities degree from the Five Fold Ministry Theological University in 2012. Find out more at makeahopeconnection.com.

Never miss a story: Subscribe to the Tallahassee Democrat using the link at the top of the page.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Experiencing different culture in Nepal opens heart and eyes
Company continues to move additional repair crews into areas with outages

More than 95% of customers will be restored by tomorrow night

Estimated restoration times will be posted to the map today at duke-energy.com/outages/current-outages

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy crews continue to make progress following Hurricane Ian, restoring power to nearly 750,000 customers in North Carolina and South Carolina.

Nearly 1 million customers lost power during the storm. As of 5:00 p.m., 178,500 customers  most of them in North Carolina  remained without power. The latest outage numbers can be found here .

More than 95% of customers will be restored by Sunday night, with the remainder by Monday.

Power line technicians and specialists from the Carolinas, other states and Canada have been assessing damage and restoring outages since Friday night. Duke Energy restores power in a sequence starting with public health and safety facilities and equipment that restores the greatest number of customers.

Estimated restoration times will be posted to the map today at duke-energy.com/outages/current-outages.

Customers who are registered to receive Duke Energy text outage alerts will receive a text once an estimated restoration time is established for their location.

Duke Energy mobilized thousands of crews early Saturday to respond to the hardest-hit areas in and around Wake and Guilford counties. Significant structural damage hindered progress early on.

Hardest hit areas continue to be Chatham, Guilford, Orange, Stokes.

"We know our customers depend on us for the power they need to live their lives," said Jason Hollifield, Duke Energy's Carolinas storm director. "We are committed to completing this restoration as quickly and safely as possible."

Power restoration process

Click here for more information on how Duke Energy restores power.

Customers who experience a power outage can report it the following ways:

Story continues

Text OUT to 57801 (standard text and data charges may apply).

Visit duke-energy.com on a desktop computer or mobile device.

Use the Duke Energy mobile app (download the Duke Energy app on your smartphone via Apple Store or Google Play).

Call Duke Energy's automated outage-reporting system: 800.769.3766 (800.POWERON).

More tips on what to do before, during and after a storm can be found at duke-energy.com/safety-and-preparedness/storm-safety.

A checklist serves as a helpful guide, but it's critical before, during and after a storm to follow the instructions and warnings of emergency management officials in your area.

Tips to protect refrigerated food during power outages

For customers who lose power and have full refrigerators and freezers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends the following:

Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to maintain the cold temperature.

A refrigerator can keep food cold for about four hours if it is unopened. If the power will be out for more than four hours, use coolers to keep refrigerated food cold.

A full freezer will keep the temperature for approximately 48 hours (24 hours if it is half full) if the door remains closed.

The FDA offers additional tips for proper food handling and storage before, during and after a power outage at www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/food-and-water-safety-during-power-outages-and-floods.

Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America's largest energy holding companies. Its electric utilities serve 8.2 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 50,000 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas unit serves 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The company employs 28,000 people.

Duke Energy is executing an aggressive clean energy transition to achieve its goals of net-zero methane emissions from its natural gas business and at least a 50% carbon reduction from electric generation by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The 2050 net-zero goals also include Scope 2 and certain Scope 3 emissions. In addition, the company is investing in major electric grid enhancements and energy storage, and exploring zero-emission power generation technologies such as hydrogen and advanced nuclear.

Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2022 "World's Most Admired Companies" list and Forbes' "America's Best Employers" list. More information is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos and videos. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Media contact: Jeff Brooks (Carolinas Media inquiries)

Media line: 800.559.3853

Twitter: @DE_JeffB

Cision

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SOURCE Duke Energy
Most customers to be restored by midnight Sunday

More than 861,000 customers have been restored thus far

Restoration times have been posted for all Duke Energy Florida counties

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Oct. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy Florida expects to have 90% of its outages restored by Sunday night as it works to get a vast majority of customers back on by midnight.

The current estimated time of restoration (ETR) for 90% of DEF customers in Pasco and Pinellas counties is no later than today at 11:59 p.m.

The current ETR for 90% of DEF customers in Highlands, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole and Volusia counties is no later than 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 2.

Duke Energy has contacted its transmission-served customers with information about their specific ETR.

"Our crews are working tirelessly to restore power throughout our Florida territory," said Melissa Seixas, Duke Energy Florida state president. "We aim to have the vast majority of our customers restored by Sunday night. We know there are pockets of hard-hit areas that will require more extensive work. We are grateful for the patience of those without power and we will continue to do everything possible to restore service as quickly as possible."

As of 4 p.m., the company has restored more than 861,000 customers, with about 171,000 customers still without power. Duke Energy Florida serves 1.9 million customers in the state.

Reasons why you may not receive power by the expected time

Sometimes, customers may see a neighbor's lights come back on while they are still without power. A few explanations:

Parts of the neighborhood may be served by different circuits, and not all circuits come back at the same time.

There may also be a problem with their individual service line or their meter.

If your home or business is flooded, Duke Energy cannot reconnect power until the electrical system has been inspected by a licensed electrician. If there is damage, an electrician will need to make repairs and obtain verification from your local building inspection authority before power can be restored.

Story continues

If the meter box is pulled away from a customer's house or mobile home service pole, and power is not being received, the homeowner is responsible for contacting an electrician to reattach the meter box and/or provide a permanent fix. In some instances, an electrical inspection may be required by the county before Duke Energy can reconnect service. An electrician can advise customers on next steps.

For rooftop solar owners, solar panels don't guarantee power during an outage since they operate partly using energy from Duke Energy's grid. Two exceptions are installing an off-grid solar system or installing a method of energy storage, such as batteries.

10,000 resources in Florida

Duke Energy has 10,000 workers  power line technicians, damage assessors and vegetation workers  across Florida restoring power. Many crews were brought in from other states before the storm.

Localized flooding in some areas has hampered the company's ability to restore power.

During restoration, workers may not be visible in each impacted neighborhood, as the first priority is to repair large power lines and other infrastructure that will return power to the greatest number of customers as quickly and safely as possible. Click here for information on how Duke Energy restores power.

Keeping customers informed

Customers who experience a power outage can report it the following ways:

Visit duke-energy.com on a desktop computer or mobile device.

Use the Duke Energy mobile app  download the Duke Energy App from a smartphone via Apple Store or Google Play.

Text OUT to 57801 (standard text and data charges may apply).

Call the automated outage reporting system at 800.228.8485.

There is also an interactive outage map where customers can find up-to-date information on power outages, including the total number of outages systemwide and estimated times of restoration.

The company also will provide regular updates to customers and communities through emails, text messages, outbound phone calls, social media and its website, which includes power outage maps.

Safety recommendations

Stay away from power lines that have fallen or are sagging. Consider all lines energized, as well as trees, limbs, fences or anything in contact with lines.

If a power line falls across a car that you're in, stay in the car. If you MUST exit the car due to a fire or other immediate life-threatening situation, do your best to jump clear of the car and land on both feet. Be sure that no part of your body is touching the car when your feet touch the ground.

A generator can be very useful during a power outage, but remember to always follow the manufacturer's instructions to ensure safe and proper operation.

Please watch for utility crews and turn the generator off when crews are in your area. The electrical load on the power lines can be hazardous for crews making repairs.

Operate your generator outside. Never operate it inside a building or garage.

Electric current passes easily through water, so stay away from downed power lines and electrical wires. Don't drive over  and don't stand near  downed power lines.

For more tips during and after the storm, visit duke-energy.com/StormTips.

For company updates, visit dukeenergyupdates.com.

Duke Energy Florida

Duke Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, owns 10,300 megawatts of energy capacity, supplying electricity to 1.9 million residential, commercial and industrial customers across a 13,000-square-mile service area in Florida.

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America's largest energy holding companies. Its electric utilities serve 8.2 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 50,000 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas unit serves 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The company employs 28,000 people.

Duke Energy is executing an aggressive clean energy transition to achieve its goals of net-zero methane emissions from its natural gas business and at least a 50% carbon reduction from electric generation by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The 2050 net-zero goals also include Scope 2 and certain Scope 3 emissions. In addition, the company is investing in major electric grid enhancements and energy storage, and exploring zero-emission power generation technologies such as hydrogen and advanced nuclear.

Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2022 "World's Most Admired Companies" list and Forbes' "America's Best Employers" list. More information is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos and videos. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Media contact: Audrey Stasko

Cell: 315.877.3031

Media line: 800.559.3853

Twitter: @DE_AudreyS

Cision

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SOURCE Duke Energy
For first time in 233 years, Native American, Native Alaskan, Native Hawaiian all in U.S. House From left to right: Reps. Kaialii Kahele, Mary Peltola and Sharice Davids.

Last month, Mary Peltola made history when she became first Native Alaskan and woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for the Last Frontier State.

When Peltola was sworn in last month, Congress reached a milestone: for the first time in more than two centuries, the House has full U.S. Indigenous representation, according to Rep. Kaiali'i Kahele of Hawaii.

"It has taken 233 years for the U.S. Congress to be fully represented by this countrys indigenous peoples," Kahele, the second Native Hawaiian to represent his home state, posted on Twitter alongside a photograph of him, Peltola, and Rep. Sharice Davids of Kansas, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation. "Tonight, a Native American, a Native Alaskan & a Native Hawaiian are sitting members of the peoples House."

In August, Peltola, a member of the Yup'ik people, won Alaska's special congressional election and will finish the remaining term of the late Rep. Don Young, who died in March.

Peltola, former Gov. Sarah Palin and Nick Begich ran both in a special election to fill out the rest of Young's term and will run in the general election for a new term.

After her Sept. 13, swearing in, there are now six Indigenous Americans who are representatives in the House.

From left to right: Reps. Kaialii Kahele, Mary Peltola and Sharice Davids.

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Who is Peltola?

Peltola is 49 and was born in Anchorage, Alaska.

She attended the University of Northern Colorado and the University of Alaska. She also established the lobbying firm Sattler Strategies.

She served as the executive director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, and a councilwoman in Bethel, a small city in Alaska, from 2011-2013.

U.S. House candidate Democrat Mary Peltola answers questions from a reporter prior to a forum for U.S. House candidates at the Alaska Oil and Gas Association annual conference at the Dena'ina Convention Center in Anchorage, Alaska, on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022. Peltola won the special election for Alaskas only U.S. House seat on Wednesday, besting a field that included Republican Sarah Palin, who was seeking a political comeback in the state where she was once governor. (Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via AP) ORG XMIT: AKAND601

'A historic moment'

"It's a historic moment," Lani Teves, an associate professor at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa told NPR.

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The representation, she told the outlet, can have a big impact on the political power of Indigenous communities across the U.S.

"People need representation and young people need to see people that look like themselves, that come from their communities," Teves said.

U.S. House candidate Democrat Mary Peltola celebrates after results are announced for the special election in which she won the race for Alaska's lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022, in Anchorage, Alaska.

She also told the outlet that having members who come from Indigenous communities can mean issues important to those communities, including climate change and violence against Native women may get more attention in Congress.

Contributing: Merdie Nzanga

Natalie Neysa Alund covers trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: In adding Peltola, Congress has full U.S. Indigenous representation
Photo credit: AKRAM SHAHID - Getty Images

Pakistan has long been among the most disaster-prone in the world due to its regional climate and widespread povertyand the recent record-heavy monsoon rains that have hit the country have led to the most severe flooding in its recent history, and left millions in need of aid.

Since mid-June, over 33 million inhabitants of Pakistan (encompassing one-third of the nation) have been afflicted by heavy flash floods linked to climate change. The torrential floods are said to be the consequence of monsoon rains and melting glaciers from the region's dramatic heatwaves, which have reached up to 123 degrees Fahrenheit leading up to the crisis in April and May.

In just over eight weeks, the floods have washed away villageskilling nearly 2,000 peopleand destroyed millions of acres of land, as well as hundreds of thousands of homes, public health facilities, schools, and water systems. Young children and families in Pakistan have been living in the open without food or clean drinking water, and left vulnerable to new flood-related hazards such as drowning and injuries from damaged infrastructure.

"Pakistan has never seen an unbroken cycle of monsoons like this," Sherry Rehman, Pakistans climate minister, wrote on Twitter in August. "Eight weeks of non-stop torrents have left huge swathes of the country under water."

The climate change crisis is here, and it's catastrophic. Below, learn more about the local and international nonprofit organizations pulling resources to aid Pakistan in its recovery efforts, and see how you can donate to the cause.

UNICEF

The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, an agency of the United Nations sourcing humanitarian and developmental aid to children, is working with the Pakistan government to deliver safe drinking water, medical and food supplies, hygiene kits, and temporary learning centers to afflicted children and families. Donations are being accepted to fund these supplies to more families.

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What happens when water is all around you but none of it is safe?



UNICEF is on the ground in Pakistan supporting families with safe drinking water, healthcare services and more. pic.twitter.com/tLAALbKmXM  UNICEF (@UNICEF) September 28, 2022

Save the Children

The British humanitarian aid organization provides resources to children for better education, health care, and economic opportunities. The group has stationed emergency responders across Pakistan's worst-affected areas of Sikarpur and Jacobabad, where they are distributing temporary shelters, household items, and food packs for families. They are currently accepting donations for several emergency efforts.

International Rescue Committee

The rescue committee provides emergency relief for refugees of humanitarian crises, with a focus on offering clean drinking water, food, and hygienic resources for safe sanitation to women and girls. They are accepting emergency donations through their website, those which will directly go toward families in Pakistan in need of immediate support.

CARE

The international nonprofit works to tackle poverty and provide widespread access to education, accepting multiple forms of donations via phone, mail, or electric funds in direct aid to children and families in poverty. Members of the organization are distributing tents, emergency latrine kits, hygienic items, and additional emergency relief supplies to families in Pakistan.

Disasters Emergency Committee

The committee is calling in international assistance to provide temporary shelter, emergency food, and clean drinking water to those in need of humanitarian aid. The U.K. government matches every pound donated, up to 5 million, to go toward these resources.

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If Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey was hoping to see a culture change in the companys top brass, Elon Musk would certainly fit the bill.

But the Tesla CEOs first foray into the social media space may prove short-lived. After striking a $44 billion deal last April to buy Twitter, Musk has been attempting to pull out of it since July, citing the unverifiable number of spam accounts on the platform.

With his court date set for next month in Delaware, details continue to emerge about those turbulent few months, including Musk agreeing to sit on the companys board before abruptly changing his mind and opting instead to buy out all of Twitters remaining shares to take the company private.

Musk made it clear that if he had become the sole owner of Twitteror, now, if a judge compels him to go through with the purchase anywayhe would bring about some big changes to the social media network and how the company is run. And new evidence reveals just how much Twitter cofounder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, who stepped down from the companys board last May, wanted to see those changes happen.

The board is terrible, Dorsey wrote to Musk in a text message, one of many that were collected and disclosed this week as part of a pretrial discovery process.

Dorseys textdated April 5, the day Twitter announced Musk as a new board memberspared only company CEO Parag Agrawal, who Dorsey called an incredible engineer.

But as the takeover deal dragged on and tensions emerged between Musk and Twitters board, Dorsey made his true feelings about Agrawal and the rest of Twitters board known in a series of messages that criticized the boards cautious behavior, while painting Musk as the savior the company had been waiting for.

Dorsey and Twitters board

In texts sent to Musk last March, Dorsey revealed that he had tried to get him approved by the board as early as 2020, which the board refused. Dorsey criticized Twitters board for being too risk-averse and said they had refused to bring on a figure like Musk because they felt it would create more risk for the company.

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It wouldnt be the last time Dorsey criticized Twitters board in his text exchanges with Musk.

On April 25, Dorsey defended Agrawal as being great at getting things done when tasked with specific direction, but the next day, seemingly after a board meeting, Musk texted to Dorsey that the two of them were in complete agreement over Agrawal, specifically that the Twitter CEO had been moving far too slowly and trying to please people who will not be happy no matter what he does.

Dorsey answered around two hours later: It became clear that you cant work together. That was clarifying.

Unpredictable Musk

As CEO and founder of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk made a name for himself as a hard, unforgiving, and at times even rash boss.

Last June, Musk mandated that all of Teslas white-collar staff return to the office full-time, warning that those who didnt could pretend to work somewhere else. He expects long work hours, willingly working for upwards of 120 hours a week himself, and once allegedly worked a 24-hour dayon his birthday.

Musks unique leadership style has gotten him into hot water with his own companies at times. A single foray on Twitter can send Tesla stock prices plunging or cryptocurrencies soaring, and shareholders of his businesses have even asked judges to muzzle his Twitter feed.

Musks unpredictability as a person and as a boss left some Twitter employees concerned last spring that him taking over would mean a complete culture change, including a return to the office and a more demanding work environment overall.

But while Twitter employees worried, Jack Dorsey appears to have been eagerly awaiting Musk getting involved at Twitter for quite some time. Last April, shortly after the takeover deal had been announced, Dorsey heavily criticized Twitters board, saying its consistently been the dysfunction of the company.

A week later, Dorsey publicly vouched for Musk as the right person to take the company forward by first taking it private. Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness, Dorsey wrote.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Name nearly any vegetable or fruit, and Amy Leavitt probably has it on her farm. She never worries about the temperatures dropping below freezing where she lives in the coastal town of Aljezur, Portugal, so her husband, Ralph Malerba, cultivates a grove of banana, hazelnut, grapefruit, mango, avocado, and papaya trees. The two also have a lush collection of raspberry, blueberry, and blackberry bushes growing alongside corn and carrots in their backyard.

In this idyllic life, Leavitt, 66, doesnt have to rummage for stale Hot Cheetos in her pantry. If shes hungry, she'll go to the garden to graze before meandering over to the wild beaches only five miles away.

We can go to Paris for the weekend or we can stay on our beautiful farm and be quiet, Leavitt tells Fortune of her life in Portugal. We can have neighbors over for wine and cheese at sunset. Its just a very beautiful way to live.

But this slice of paradise cost a pretty penny: $1.5 million. Thats the price the couple paid to apply for a golden visa in Portugal, a second passport that can lead to citizenship in another country through purchasing a home or investing in a fund.

Leavitt and her husband are two of many Americans who have been clamoring for golden visas as remote work became more accepted, socio-political tension in the U.S. increased, and the cost of living soared. Golden visas typically range anywhere from from 280,000 to 500,000, but the couple had enough money from selling their house in the U.S. to purchase a million-dollar property in Portugal.

Photo of Amy Leavitt and her husband Ralph Malerba, both of which applied for a Golden Visa in Portugal. Courtesy of Amy Leavitt

When applying for a golden visa in Portugal, an applicant must first decide what investment type they're looking for (either real estate or a fund), gather all needed paperwork, get a tax file number (also known as an NIF), and open a Portuguese bank account and fund your investment, according to Get Golden Visa. After golden visa holders renew their visas twice and live in the country for five years, they can apply for permanent residency or citizenship.

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Portugal is one of the hottest destinations for this type of residency by investment program, according to Murat Coskun, managing partner of Get Golden Visa. It was the first European country to surpass the passporting firms threshold of 10,000 applicants in 2021.

Unlike most golden visa applicants who use their visa as a plan B and only live in the country a few weeks or months a year, Leavitt and her husband plan on staying full time in sunny Aljezur. But that dream hasnt come without a few hiccups along the wayshes still officially waiting for her golden visa.

Theres such a frenzy for golden visas in Portugal that its become hard to get one

Nearly a year ago, Leavitt and Malerba made the decision to wile away their retirement days overseas instead of on the Vermont farm where they lived on for decades. The upkeep and short growing seasons had become too much to manage for Malerba, who balanced farming with his career as a martial artist. Leavitt, who used to run a small financial planning firm and is now a voice and acting teacher serving on multiple boards, had vacationed in Portugal several times over the past decade.

After visiting friends in Portugal shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic began, they decided it was time to take the plunge. They applied for a D-7 visa in August 2021, which allows retirees or individuals with passive income to apply for residency in Portugal. That December, they closed on their $1.5 million Portugal oasis, basically an even swap with the Vermont farm they sold.

Buying the property made them eligible for golden visas for both themselves and their two adult sons, Leavitt says. They preferred to go the golden visa route in part because it was an easier way to get their whole family on the path to Portuguese citizenship.

But applying for the golden visa hasnt been all wine, cheese, and smooth sailing. Leavitt explains that while Portugal has more lenient immigration laws for golden visas, its still not easy to navigate the system. Many expats have said its hard to deal with the local bureaucracy.

The bureaucracy can be byzantine; to actually get something done. There's very little quality control in the process, Leavitt says. You end up with somebody very good at one embassy or one appointment and then somebody at the next one who just says no.

Theres also a backlog of people waiting for golden visas due to increased interest, so you might need an alternate visa like the D-7 (if eligible) while the paperwork is processed. Leavitt says the government changed the rules and restricted the location of properties that would qualify for the golden visa about a year ago, creating a bottleneck of applicants. Shes still waiting for her golden visa and expects it this fall. If all goes as planned, she should be getting her European passport within five years.

Just be prepared for a year of intense paperwork and bureaucracy of immigration, she advises.

A beautiful place to retire

In the meantime, Leavitt and Malerba have begun to settle into their new home on their D-7 visa. It's a very mellow and gracious community that we have around us, she says. It's been a stark contrast to the harshness and polarization that's happening in the United States.

Political strife in the U.S. is one of the main reasons that many Americans started to look into golden visas: Social and political unrest was the number-one reason people applied for a golden visa (42%), according to Get Golden Visas recent report.

The political climate was top of mind when Leavitt and her spouse chose to leave. Politically, the temperature in the United States is quite high, and we were astonished at how different it was to come here and feel metabolically not affected by the pressures going on in the U.S., she says, Our minds were actually clearer and sharper. We felt more connected to the U.S. politically, but just not as affected by it viscerally.

But the actual climate was the main reason they headed to Portugal, so Malerba could farm year-round; popular warmer destinations for retirement in the U.S., like the Sun Belt, didnt feel like the right fit for them.

It fits us very well, Leavitt says of Portugal. And the abundant sunlight and the colors are amazing. I've never seen such vivid colors of the flowers.

Plus, the growing acceptance of remote work has made it easier for Leavitt to retire abroad and not have to give up her work completely, she explains. She spends her days writing, voice coaching, and taking business Zoom calls, while her husband works in the garden. Portugal is a beautiful place to retire, she says, adding, at our ages, to have so much dislocation is so positive.

Life there is easy and costs less thanks to more affordable food, health care, and property taxes. While her U.S. property was around the same value as her Portuguese home, it cost Leavitt $12,000 a year in taxes. In Portugal, such taxes are under $1,200 annually. She also explains that you dont need to be wealthy to obtain a D-7 visa; the income requirements are low.

Golden visas are a different story, but theyre becoming more accessible. They may be infamous for their high price point, but Coskun projects that global mobility is helping the luxury industry expand from the elite to the upper-middle class.

We love it here, Leavitt says. We want to just use this as our base, explore Europe, and enjoy quiet days in a mellow climate on our farm.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Another meeting has been organized at the International Mugham Center within the Shusha Talks project, Azernews reports.

The head of the Culture Ministry's Media and Communication Department, Maryam Gafarzada, informed the meeting about the Shusha Talks project.

Initiated by the Azerbaijan Culture Ministry, the project aimed to revive the art in Azerbaijan's liberated territories.

The meeting under the theme "Screen works dedicated to our historical victory and our cultural capital Shusha" was attended by representatives of the film industry, well-known film critics, directors, actors, bloggers, etc.

Head of the Culture Ministry's Audiovisual and Interactive Media Department Rufat Aliyev spoke about the films and projects made by the ministry.

Around 74 films were produced with the support of the ministry in two years. Thirty of them are full-length films. Ten films from the "Unseen Heroes" series of documentaries were shot as well.

Currently, the shooting of the film from this series continues. At the same time, Bozdag Film studio (Turkiye) will shoot an 8-part feature series, called "Karabakh Patriotic War".

Rufat Aliyev also noted a documentary Fulya, co-produced by Azerbaijan and Turkiye.

The film tells about CNN-Turk TV military reporter, Fulya Ozturk, and cameraman Xalil Kahraman, who played a major role in conveying the truth about the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War to the world.

Film director, People's Artist Vagif Mustafayev shared his memories about shooting the film Scream when the First Karabakh War was going on.

After the 44-day Patriotic War, suggestions were made on social networks to film its second part. People want to see a sequel to the film.

They asked why Vagif Mustafayev is not shooting the second part. As the offers increased, the Culture Ministry asked the film director to make a sequel to the film under the name The life seems to be beautiful.

Javidan Sharifov, who directed the documentary Shusha, you are free! spoke about the filming process.

"When we went to Shusha, our goal was not to shoot a film but to get archival materials, to film the ruins after the war. After viewing the footage, the management commissioned the film, a joint production of Baku Media Center and Salnamefilm studio with the support of the Culture Ministry. The documentary was shot on the eve of Victory Day. Interesting details of the Shusha operation, one of the most important battles of the Second Karabakh War, were presented to viewers for the first time in this film. The film includes interviews of soldiers and officers, who carried out the Shusha operation, as well as exclusive shots, taken during the operation," said Sharifov.

Honored Art worker Jamil Guliyev informed the audience about the films shot in Karabakh.

"In the history of Azerbaijani cinema, Samad Mardanov was the only film director armed with great skills to bring inner feelings to the screen. He made a short film about the life of nomads in Karabakh. Unfortunately, that film has not reached to this day. Director Abdul Hasanov made several films related to Karabakh, and director Huseyin Seyidzada shot the film Koroglu in Askaran Castle. These film directors are people, who made great contributions to Azerbaijani cinema," said Guliyev.
FILE PHOTO: The third prototype of China's home-built passenger jet C919 takes off during its first test flight at Shanghai Pudong International Airport

MONTREAL (Reuters) - Nigeria would consider buying China's newly-certified C919 passenger jet as it grows the country's fledgling carrier Nigeria Air to 30 planes by around 2025, Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika said on Saturday.

Sirika said the new airline would have a mixture of Airbus and Boeing planes, but added the carrier is also willing to look at the Chinese narrowbody jet, which Chinese regulators certified on Friday.

"We haven't looked at that C919. But if it's as good as the others then why not," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the United Nation's aviation agency's triennial assembly in Montreal, Canada.

On Friday, China hailed the development of its first medium-haul passenger jet as the embodiment of the country's drive towards self-sufficiency, with safety approval awarded to a plane that aims to challenge Western aircraft giants for orders.

The first C919 aircraft, designed to compete with popular single-aisle models made by Airbus and Boeing, will be delivered by the end of the year, state Xinhua News Agency said.

It remains unclear when the plane might be certified by the United States or Europe, opening the way to sales in most foreign markets, but industry analysts say it will be up to a decade before China can seriously tackle the existing Boeing-Airbus duopoly.

"China and Nigeria (have a) very cordial and friendly relationship with mutual benefits," Sirika said.

For decades, China has loaned billions of dollars to Africa to build railroads, power plants and highways as it deepened ties with the continent while extracting minerals and oil.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, is the top importer of Chinese goods, hoovering up $23 billion worth in 2021.

Nigeria's poor transport and power networks have stymied economic growth for decades, holding back the distribution of wealth in Africa's biggest economy where 40% of people live below the national poverty line.

However, the country is growing its aviation sector, where traffic is now above pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, Sirika said. The airline is one of President Muhammadu Buhari's 2015 election campaign promises.

(Reporting By Allison Lampert; Editing by Josie Kao)
Pharmacy Times

Phoenix-area Walgreens pharmacist Matthew Pruitt earns top honor as 2022 Pharmacist of the Year

Matthew Pruitt, Pharm.D., named Next-Generation Pharmacist 2022 Pharmacist of the Year

Pharmacy Times and Parata Systems honored Matthew Pruitt, Pharm.D., a Phoenix-area Walgreens pharmacist, as the 2022 Pharmacist of the Year at the 2022 Next-Generation Pharmacist award gala event on Sept. 30.

CRANBURY, N.J., Oct. 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pharmacy Times, the leading media resource for pharmacists, and Parata Systems, the leading provider of pharmacy automation, today announced the 2022 Next-Generation Pharmacist award winners. Ten category winners were recognized for their remarkable achievements in the pharmacy profession at a gala event last night at Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland in Kansas City, Mo. Matthew Pruitt, Pharm.D., a Walgreens pharmacist in the Phoenix area, received the top honor as the 2022 Next-Generation Pharmacist of the Year.

Pruitt, winner of the awards Civic Leader category, is a site director for a micro-fulfillment facility that services more than 400 pharmacy locations. The facility, a Walgreens first, was built with a vision of taking work out of stores to allow pharmacists more time to elevate the patient experience.

An instructor and mentor for numerous students as an adjunct assistant pharmacy professor and pharmacy preceptor, Pruitt spearheaded the first COVID-19 mass vaccination site in Arizona, at the Arizona Cardinals State Farm Stadium in Glendale, and served on the states Vaccine Equity Task Force and Arizona Vaccine and Antiviral Prioritization Committee. He also works closely with industry leaders in the state to shine a light on health injustice in underserved areas, including issues dealing with substance abuse and access to health care.

Matthew Pruitt is a perfect example that building a career as a pharmacist can be both extremely rewarding and exceptionally impactful, said Mike Hennessy Jr., president and CEO of MJH Life Sciences, parent company of Pharmacy Times. Through dogged determination and a ceaseless commitment to helping the people of his state  no matter their economic background, he has helped save and improve the lives of so many Arizonans. We congratulate Dr. Pruitt on being named the 2022 Pharmacist of the Year and thank all our category winners for the outstanding example they are setting within the pharmacy industry.

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Each 2022 Next-Generation Pharmacist category represents one of the many roles that exist within the pharmacy industry. The category winners are as follows:

Civic Leader: Matthew Pruitt, Pharm.D., Walgreens

Future Pharmacist: Alyssa B. Reese, Pharm.D., May 2022 Graduate of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore School of Pharmacy, Central Virginia VA Health Care System

Health System Pharmacist: Michelle R. Locke, Pharm.D., BCACP, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium/US Public Health Service

Lifetime Leadership: Glen Pietrandoni, R.Ph., AAHIVE, Avita Pharmacy

Patient Care Provider:

Christy M. Ware , Pharm.D., R.Ph., Walgreens

Victoryn S. Williams, Pharm.D., MBA, BCPS, VillageMD

Pharmacy Educator: Renee Robinson, Pharm.D., MPH, M.S.Pharm., MBA, Idaho State University

Rising Star: Farah Jalloul, B.S., Pharm.D., MBA, Michigan Pharmacists Association

Specialty Pharmacist: Brandon Salke, Pharm.D., CSP, Optime Care

Technician: Shayla Smith, CPhT, Avita Pharmacy

Visionary Pioneer: David Medvedeff, Pharm.D., MBA, Aspen RxHealth

Year after year, our team at Parata Systems is awed by the outstanding nominations we receive for these awards, so we could not be prouder to participate and help celebrate this industry, said Karen Thomas-Smith, senior vice president of marketing at Parata. There are so many exceptional people working in the pharmacy industry across all these categories. We offer our most sincere congratulations to Dr. Pruitt and the other winners, and we thank them for their far-reaching contributions to the field.

All winners will be featured in the September issue of Pharmacy Times and on https://www.nextgenpharmacist.com. For more information on the Next-Generation Pharmacist awards program, please visit the website.

Pharmacy Times and Parata Systems would like to thank the following program sponsors: embecta, National Healthcareer Association, Pharmacy Development Services, NCPA and Americorp Financial LLC.

About Pharmacy Times

Pharmacy Times  is the industry-leading multimedia pharmacy network of community, health system, oncology and specialty pharmacy platforms, providing practical clinical and professional information pharmacists can use in their everyday practices when counseling patients and interacting with other health care providers. Each issue and the website contain articles and features covering industry trends, drug interactions, patient education, disease state management, patient counseling, product news, pharmacy law and more. Additionally, Pharmacy Times Continuing Education is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education as a provider of continuing pharmacy education. Pharmacy Times is a brand of MJH Life Sciences, the largest privately held, independent, full-service medical media company in North America dedicated to delivering trusted health care news across multiple channels.

About Parata Systems

Parata, a BD company, is the leader in pharmacy automation. Our comprehensive solutions for multiple markets range from vial filling, pouch and blister packaging to central fill, providing a single source for your complex needs. With over 6,000 units installed nationwide, we power pharmacies to help people lead healthier lives.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3d444c17-6408-482c-92d1-93104d92264c.

CONTACT: Press Contact: Kelsey BaRoss RoseComm for MJH Life Sciences kbaross@rosecomm.com




When creating Secrets Bistro & Bar, which is set to open Sunday at 250 Main St. in Hartford, Michelle Smith captured two different vibes.

The tasteful wine and beer bar, comfy upholstered seating, outdoor patio, playfully decorated alcoves, a big flowered swing and the downtown location would suggest an after-work lounge for friends to relax with a bottle of red and take selfies for Instagram.

But behind the beguiling decor is a kitchen that makes down-home Caribbean meals. Smith is a native of Clarendon, Jamaica, and a 1995 graduate of Weaver High. She is known in the local culinary community as former owner of Michelles Kitchen in East Hartford. She also is a beauty entrepreneur, who created a line of skincare products called Secret Shades.

Secrets Bistro & Bar is a step up from Michelles Kitchen. I always wanted a dine-in restaurant with a patio and a bar, she said. I wanted something with an elegant look, with tinted windows so you cant see outside. I want people to know they are in Hartford but not feel like theyre in Hartford, like theyre on vacation.

Secrets will have its grand opening Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. with a Secret Sunday Brunch, at $40 per person and a Jerk Chicken Festival from 4 to 6 p.m. for $10.

I will keep the last Sunday of every month as a Secret Sunday Brunch day, she said. Wear your Sunday best.

Family affair

Smith is supported in the kitchen by her husband, Kasim Smith, a native of Montego Bay. The restaurant is a family affair. Smith is being helped in the restaurant by her four children  Chavar Delaire, Justice Taylor, Zhania Brissett and Bellastar Brissett  as well as her sons father, William Delaire. She was assisted with financing by her aunt, Valerie Brown.

I want to leave this place as a legacy to my children, Smith said.

When she was a child, at age 5, Smith was taught how to cook by her Aunty Ms. Joe. I had to milk the goats to make porridge. I had to get water from the well. We had no electricity. The light was by kerosene lamp, she said. Then I would go to bed. Six kids, all siblings and cousins, slept in one bed.

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She moved to Hartford a few years later. I was already a pro at cooking, she said.

The fun atmosphere in Secrets  pink neon, glittery panels, chandeliers  exudes the exact opposite of Smiths hardscrabble upbringing. Every section is set up differently. I want to fill it with pretty girls taking pictures of themselves, she said.

The 3,950-square-foot restaurant, in the vacancy left years ago by Max Bibos, was made possible by a $150,000 matching grant from HartLift, the city program to revitalize empty downtown spaces.

Jamaican cuisine

In the kitchen, Smith and Smith take a deep dive into Jamaican cuisine. She serves the classics  jerk chicken, stew chicken, fried chicken, stew pork, oxtail, curry goat, escovitch fish, whiting fish, pepper steak  in takeout-only portions for $12 to $20, with menu offerings rotating every day.

The menu goes upscale from there. On the extensive dine-in menu, entrees range from $15 to $40. The offerings include many of those same recipes in more high-end preparations as well as lamb chops ($30); a reggae bowl with ackee, saltfish, pumpkin, pineapple, peppers and plantains ($30), jerk barbecue ribs ($26); jerk chicken mac and cheese ($27); and jerkaque hen for $25. Like the takeout options, the menu rotates daily.

The seafood offerings are extravagant, starting at $12 for pepper shrimp and moving up to $25 for stew and escovitch fish, $35 for snapper or salmon, $40 for curry conch, $45 for lobster tail, $50 for octopus-conch and $75 for a seafood bowl in garlic butter, with shrimp, scallops, mussels, lobster and crab legs.

Smith also serves pasta ($12 to $16), salads ($12), wings ($8 to $13), homemade juices ($10) and desserts including chocolate cake and banana split ($8 to $12).

Secrets Bistro & Bar is open Tuesday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday noon to 10 p.m. It is closed Mondays and closed Sundays except for the Secret Sunday Brunch from noon to 5 p.m. on the last Sunday of each month. facebook.com/profile.php?id=100047581759856.

Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who has been hitting the campaign trail outside Virginia because he says Republicans make better governors, swung by Atlantas suburbs Tuesday to stump for an actual, sitting GOP governor for the first time.

Trump had called for Kemps resignation when the Georgian rejected efforts to overturn his states 2020 vote for President Joe Biden. Trump later backed former U.S. Sen. David Perdues primary campaign against Kemp, but Kemp won that May race by a vote of 74% to 22%.

In Alpharetta on Tuesday, Youngkin reminded the Georgia crowd that Kemps Democratic opponent, Stacey Abrams, had come to Virginia to campaign against his election last year.

She in fact said that the biggest fear that Virginia had was if we elected Glenn Youngkin we would become more like Georgia, Youngkin said. Let me tell ya, I said, Thank you, Stacey.

Youngkin picked up a theme that Kemp a few minutes earlier had stressed: his decision in Georgia not to impose mask mandates and other social distancing measures to contain COVID-19, despite criticism from Abrams.

In Virginia, Youngkin said he opened the state economy by ending those mandates.

And with that, he said, our economy is growing and our kids are back in school and were returning taxpayers money ... I am proud to say, yes, were like Georgia.

Over the past two months, Youngkin has campaigned for GOP candidates for governor in Nebraska, Michigan, Maine, Nevada and Kansas.

None is an incumbent, but all are Trump supporters.

Youngkin has brushed off criticism for such support by saying he is backing GOP candidates because he believes Republicans are better governors and because GOP governors supported him in his 2021 election.

His out-of-state campaigning fuels continuing speculation that he is laying the groundwork for a run for the presidency in 2024.

But from Kansas last week, he headed directly to Texas for a session Friday at the Texas Tribunes three-day TribFest gathering, where he declared he was not even thinking about the White House.

Kemps bid for re-election is a replay of the 2018 contest in which he defeated Abrams by 50% to 49%.
Several dozen Afghans, mostly women, have protested after a suicide bombing killed dozens of mostly female students preparing for university entrance exams in Kabul.

Police have put the death toll in the September 30 attack at "at least 20 people," while the United Nations told the AFP news agency on October 1 that at least 35 people had died and 82 were wounded.

Most of the victims were from the minority Hazara community, a mainly Shi'ite Muslim ethnic minority that has been targeted in brutal attacks in recent years.

Nearly 100 protesters marched past a hospital on October 1 where victims of the attack were being treated chanting, "Stop Hazara genocide" and "It's not a crime to be a Shi'a."

Dozens of heavily armed Taliban militiamen watched the protest.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Kaaj Higher Educational Center, but the Islamic State group, which regards Shi'a as heretics, has claimed previous attacks in the area targeting women, schools, and mosques.

The Taliban -- which took over the Afghan government in August 2021 following the withdrawal of the U.S.-led international coalition -- also regards the Hazara as heretics.

The attack is a "shamefaced reminder of the ineptitude and utter failure of the Taliban, as de facto authorities, to protect the people of Afghanistan," Samira Hamidi of rights group Amnesty International said in a statement.

With reporting by AFP
the associated press file Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Pat Schroeder of Colorado gives the thumbs-up to supporters at a National Organization for Women convention in Philadelphia in this July 1987 photo. Schroeder has been a leader in encouraging and assisting more Democratic women to get involved in politics.
When the worlds most powerful rocket engine blasts off from Kennedy Space Center Monday, carrying the Orion spacecraft on NASAs pioneering Artemis I mission to moon orbit, it also carries years of hard work by many Colorado-based aerospace industry members.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a congratulatory letter to President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping.

Dear Mr. President,

On the occasion of the 1 October - Establishment Day of the Peoples Republic of China, on my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, I cordially congratulate you and your friendly people and offer my best and sincere wishes.

In the past 73 years, the Peoples Republic of China has made extraordinary accomplishments in every sphere, be it economic, social, science and technology, as well as the international arena, and entered a new phase of its development qualitatively. Today, we witness your country, the one with a strong economy and distinctively active engagement and position within the international community, achieving tremendous success under your leadership. As a friend, Azerbaijan is delighted to see Chinas achievements.

We attach particular significance to Azerbaijan-China relations that enjoy historical traditions. I note with pleasure that in the 30 years of established diplomatic relations, the friendly ties and our cooperation in political, economic, humanitarian and other spheres have developed dynamically and reached the level of strategic partnership.

We highly value Chinas support for Azerbaijans sovereignty and territorial integrity. Azerbaijan has also unequivocally supported your countrys sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Presently, there are good prospects for enriching our productive cooperation with new substance across every domain, particularly economy and trade, transport and logistics, investments, energy, agriculture and humanitarian areas. In the meantime, we are interested in expanding our joint activity with the Chinese companies in the reconstruction and restoration efforts across our liberated territories. I believe we can further solidify and deepen our beneficial cooperation by fully harnessing the existing potential in different areas, including the Belt and Road project you have initiated.

I recall with fond memories our most recent meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Samarkand. I think that the extensive exchange of views and the discussion we held will provide a fresh impetus to the overall development of our interstate relations based on mutual trust and support.

I am confident that through our joint efforts, the Azerbaijan-China friendship and strategic partnership will continue to expand and strengthen for the sake of the prosperity of our peoples and in line with the interests of our countries.

On this memorable day, I wish you robust health, happiness and success and everlasting peace and prosperity to the friendly people of China.

Sincerely,

Ilham Aliyev

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan
A jury will now decide whether a Rifle police officer and the city itself are liable for shooting a suicidal man in the back as he ran away, after a federal judge on Monday refused to grant immunity for the 2019 killing of Allan George.
Twelve El Paso County residents were arrested for alleged sexual exploitation of children, Colorado Springs police announced in a news release Friday. The arrests were part of a summer-long collaborative to identify and arrest child sexual predators.

Among the charges are internet luring of children, sexual exploitation of a child, attempted sexual assault on a child, soliciting for child prostitution, stalking and unlawful possession of a controlled substance.

The following suspects were arrested by the collaborative, according to the release:

 William Clancy, 40-year-old male, Colorado Springs.

 Brian George, 29-year-old, Colorado Springs.

 Stephen Greisen, 68-year-old male, Monument.

 Kevin Le, 23-year-old male, Fort Carson.

 George Mattorano, 52-year-old male, Black Forest.

 Christopher Murphey, 28-years-old, Colorado Springs.

 Albert Rodriguez, 27-year-old male, El Paso County.

 Christopher Rowand, 44-year-old male, Guadalupe, Texas.

 Thomas Segel, 55-year-old male, Colorado Springs.

 Benjamin Snell, 61-year-old male, Colorado Springs.

 Timothy Tischler, 69-year-old male, Colorado Springs.

 Michael Veil, 38-year-old male, Colorado Springs.

The collaborative was a joint effort by El Paso County Sheriffs Office and Colorado Springs Police Departments Internet Crimes Against Children Unit alongside Homeland Security Investigations.
An official lunch has been hosted on behalf of President of the Republic of Bulgaria Rumen Radev for the heads of state and government participating in the opening ceremony of the Greece-Bulgaria Gas Interconnector (IGB).

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the lunch
By Trend

Azerbaijani Ombudsman Sabina Aliyeva has appealed to the international community in connection with the explosion of mines in Azerbaijans Fuzuli and Tartar districts, the Ombudsmans Office told Trend.

"Despite repeated appeals, Armenia still hasnt handed over exact maps of mines laid by it during the occupation of the internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan, which remains a serious threat to the life and health of both military personnel and civilians, Aliyeva said. Unfortunately, on September 30, as a result of an anti-tank mines explosion in the liberated Yukhari Dilagharda village of the Fuzuli district, Amid Asadov (born in 1986) and Cherkez Guluzade (born in 2007) were killed, and Bahadur Guliyev (born in 1973) was injured.

Besides, on October 1, as a result of the explosion of an anti-personnel mine in the liberated territory not cleared of mines called The Third State Farm, located in the Tartar district, Nijat Jabbarov (born in 1990) and Rafail Bayramov (born in 1976 ) were seriously injured and, according to preliminary information, their legs were amputated, the appeal noted.

Once again addressing international organizations, we reiterate our concern that mines are a potential source of danger to human life and call for immediate action in this regard, the appeal further said.

The Armenian side must hand over to us accurate maps of minefields, begin to comply with the norms of international humanitarian law, respect human rights and fulfill its obligations to ensure sustainable peace and security in the region," added the appeal.
What to Expect

How to Prepare

During the interview

After the interview





Crimson Education Admissions Consulting

https://www.crimson.mba Crimson Education Admissions Consulting Signature Read More

So youve made it to the next exciting step in the MBA application process: preparing for your MBA interview! By this point, youve already invested a lot of time thinking and writing about yourself, your target schools, and your goals in pursuing an MBA. Now, you get to share more about yourself with an admissions representative during the interview process. Here are s top recommendations for what to expect, how to prepare, and ultimately how to ace your MBA interview.Its important to remember that every schools interview process will look different. Interview types can range from remote calls to local interviews with school alumni to on-campus interviews.For on-campus interviews in particular, schools will often offer a full day of programming, including information sessions with current students, mock classes, and other opportunities to learn about the school. Be sure to check the details shared by the schools where youre interviewing to know what to expect, how long to plan to be on campus, and any additional materials to prepare for the day.In the case of remote calls, your interviewer will schedule either a phone call or video call on a platform like Zoom or Google Hangouts. Plan to conduct the call from a quiet space where youll be able to focus on the conversation and avoid any background noise. If youll be participating in a video call, make sure that youre in a well-lit space, your background is clean and free from distractions, and youre dressed in your interview best. During the call, look into the webcam while youre responding to make eye contact with the interviewer.If you are interviewing with a school alumni, the interviewer will work off of a list of questions provided by the admissions office, sharing a summary of your responses and the conversation with the admissions team after the interview. Youll also have the chance to learn more about the student experience at the school. If you know youll be interviewing with an alumni, prepare specific questions to ask your interviewer about their time as a student in the MBA program.Before every interview round, we recommend taking the 5 following steps to set yourself up for success:Research the schools interview process: As mentioned above, each school will have a different approach, not only to how the interview day looks, but what format the interview itself will take. Most schools will use either a behavioral interview, where youll respond to questions about yourself and your application, or a case interview format, where youll be presented with a business problem to solve during the interview. Case interviews will often be in a group setting to evaluate your teamwork along with your problem solving skills. Understanding what to expect during the interview is your first step to knowing how to prepare accordingly.Review your application components: Once youve understood the format of the interview itself, its a good idea to review what you submitted in your application materials. Its likely been a few weeks, if not months, since you looked at your application in detail, so refreshing yourself on your resume, essays, and other information will help you provide strong, specific answers to questions that come up during the interview. If youre going into a case interview, dont forget to review any materials theyve provided in advance as well to help with working through the case.Prepare STAR responses: Once you know what you want to highlight from your application, practice answering questions following a STAR response. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result; essentially, when answering interview questions, you want to concisely summarize the situation, describe the task at hand, outline what actions you took, and always end with the result of those actions. By following this structure, your answers will be easy for the interviewer to follow while highlighting your specific capabilities. Its helpful to practice a few STAR responses to get the balance of sharing enough information to answer the question without taking too long to answer.Prepare thoughtful questions: Remember, the interview isnt just for schools to learn about you - come prepared with your own questions for the interviewer! For question inspiration, look at the schools website, student posts, and other information youve received during the application process. Use this time to get answers to the questions you have about the school, curriculum, extracurricular opportunities, industry connections, etc.Set yourself up for success: Finally, dont leave the little details for the last minute. Plan ahead by laying out a professional outfit you feel comfortable and confident in, getting plenty of sleep the night before, and preparing a good breakfast the morning of so youre feeling like your best self on interview day.Any standard interview advice applies during MBA interviews: stay engaged throughout the interview, using not only your responses but also body language and eye contact to connect with your interviewer. Especially if you spent a lot of time preparing responses and information for the interview, remember to smile and be your genuine self - interviewers want to get to know you beyond your resume and essays, so this is the opportunity to highlight your personality and who you are beyond the application information.Finally, if youre attending a full interview day of programming, dont forget that the whole visit matters, from the moment you arrive until you leave for the day. Be kind, courteous, and engaged throughout every activity and youll leave not only your interviewer but everyone you meet impressed.The first thing to do after your interview is send a thank you. If you had an in-person interview, you can even bring a handwritten thank you card and leave it with the interviewer or admissions office. Otherwise, send out a thank you email within 24 hours of the interview. Dont forget to reach out to anyone you worked with closely throughout the day, not just the interviewer - they dedicated time to help show you more about their school and get to know you, so its important to thank them for their time and support.Second, take plenty of notes for yourself, including who you talked to, what you discussed, and your overall impressions from the interview and any other school programming. Everything will feel fresh in the moment, but as time passes, youll want to have your own impressions handy to reflect back on for any follow up with the school as well as final decision time on where you want to attend.Finally, dont forget to celebrate! The MBA application process is a long journey, and the interviews can be particularly stressful. Take some time to congratulate yourself on making it through this important milestone before moving on to the next step.Looking for more?Reach out to 's MBA advisors for application support and interview question preparation. https://www.crimson.mba/services The MBA Team!_________________
Quote:

Loss of the Gocha mangrove forests has caused coastal erosion, reducing fish populations and requiring the Gocha Fishing Cooperative (GFC) to partially fund dredging and new shore facilities. However, as part of its subsidiary businesses, the GFC has now invested in a program to replant significant parts of the coast with mangrove trees. Given income from a controlled harvest of wood with continuing replanting, the mangrove regeneration effort makes it more likely that the cooperative will increase its net income.



Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the argument that mangrove replanting will increase the Gocha cooperative's net income?



A. The cost of dredging and shore facilities was shared with the local government.

B. The GFC will be able to hire local workers to assist with the mangrove replanting.

C. The GFC derives 10 percent of its revenue from salt-production facilities in an area previously cleared of mangroves.

D. Mangrove forests tend to increase the commercial fish populations in coastal fishing grounds.

E. A controlled harvesting of mangrove wood by the GFC would have little effect on coastal erosion.

D

A

tells us nothing new

OUT

B

we know nothing about the productivity or cost of local vs intl workers

OUT

C

will lose this source of income

OUT

D

CORRECT

E

the amount of erosion will not get worse

OUT

The correct answer to this question is. It is a relatively straightforward "strengthen the conclusion" question. In this case, the conclusion is that GFC will increase its net income. So we're looking for some assumption which indicates that GFC will increase income.- We already know that GFC was partially funding this. Knowing that the other part of funding comes from the govt- Whether the workers are local or not tells us nothing about whether the net income will increase, because- If GFC is going to replant mangroves, it is likely that they. If anything, this weakens the conclusion.- If the number of fish in fishing grounds increases, then it directly follows that the net income of GFC will increase as well. This option therefore supports the conclusion and is- This is mildly tempting, but all it tells us is that. So this option doesn't weaken the conclusion but it doesn't outright strengthen it either.Remember, the task of answering Assumption based questions becomes much easier when you correctly ID the conclusion.-Matoo_________________
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Just east of the National Cemetery on Lee Street lies a rolling green expanse of hills dotted with grave stones.

Known as the Freedman Cemetery, the citys nearly 8-acre, first Black cemetery dating back at least 160 years is being examined by the city of Danville for identification of unmarked graves. So far, a firm using ground-penetrating radar has located what are believed to be 418 unmarked graves in the multi-phase interment location project.

The goal of the project started in August 2021 is to collect and document a history of the cemetery and those buried there. City officials hope to beautify the old cemetery and add kiosks and historic markers for visitors.

Phase one was completed last year with a result of more than 400 interments located and a report containing a history of the cemetery completed by Rivanna Archeological Services in Charlottesville.

The second phase, expected to begin this week, will work to locate more unmarked graves.

Each grave from the two phases of the project will receive a stainless-steel marker with a unique identifier and a GPS point will be collected. Those points will be used to map and update cemetery records.

Its [the cemetery] been in city ownership and maintenance for years, said Renee Burton, planning consultant for the city. Weve been maintaining it for years. It just hasnt received a lot of attention.

Officials want to learn more about the history of the cemetery and the people buried there.

We want to figure out what that history is before we honor them properly, Burton said.

For years, Danville resident Dean Hairston has been researching the genealogies of those buried there.

There are about 2,000 Black people  many of them who died while enslaved and others who were born into slavery but died free after the Civil War  buried in Freedman Cemetery, Hairston said.

During their span of time in this world, they filled a variety of professions  from carpenters to shoemakers, physicians to janitors, barbers to tobacco workers.

Hairston, deputy police chief with the Danville Police Department, developed an interest in the cemetery years ago, and would visit it and walk through it while working his beat.

Not too long ago, I started recording the names from the stones and started going to ancestry.com, and then tracing the history and going to the genealogical section of the library and researching their names, Hairston said.

According to the report from Rivanna, Freedman Cemetery, like the neighboring National Cemetery, was carved out of the 34-acre Green Hill park and cemetery property bought by what was then the town of Danville in 1863.

The report estimates Freedman Cemetery was most likely established between 1866 and 1873, during Reconstruction.

No formal deed of sale for the ... 7.75-acre Danville Freedmans Cemetery was found during archival research, the report states. Because of this, it is assumed that the cemetery continued to be owned by the town of Danville.

The report mentions that at least one prominent source states that a man named Moses M. Green donated the cemetery to the town of Danville, but casts doubt on that story. But because Moses Greens mother was Black, he may have had some connection to the establishment of the cemetery, the report states.

Few options

Black residents in Danville had few options for public burial during the post-emancipation period, the report states.

No public burying ground accepting African-Americans existed in the town of Danville until the establishment of the Danville Freedmans Cemetery, the report states. The Danville Freedmans Cemetery then was established out of necessity.

It is not known who managed the cemetery. But during the first 50 years after emancipation, many Black cemeteries in the U.S. were managed by benevolent or mutual aid societies and other charitable organizations.

Within post-emancipation African-American society, these social groups helped their members and the broader community during financial difficulty, often providing aid to the elderly and poor, and during sickness and death, the report states.

The cemetery had been neglected by the city and overgrown before Danville removed broken stones in the 1960s or 1970s so the site could be mowed, Hairston said. Those broken stones were used to fill in ditches, he said.

Hairston found out in his research that they were also put to other uses.

I came across someone who had taken the stones out of the cemetery, he said. They had a house on Holbrook Street and were using them for steps. It turned out the people said they had gotten the stones out of a ditch and found them discarded. Thats why they were using them.

At the cemetery, its easy to spot the difference between the neighboring, largely white National Cemetery with neat plots with gravestones and the spotty, sparsely-marked Freedman Cemetery.

During slavery, the graves of enslaved Black people didnt get stones, but were marked by painted rocks instead  an African cultural tradition, Hairston said.

Freedman Cemetery pre-dates Reconstruction and the Civil War era, Hairston said, estimating that about 30%-40% of those buried there died during slavery. Others interred there were born in slavery, but died free after the war, he added.

Others were born after slavery. People were buried there through the mid-20th century into the 1960s, Hairston said.

Prominent residents

There are prominent people buried at Freedman, Hairston pointed out.

Nathaniel Holbrook, who was enslaved by Levi Holbrook and founded the first Black funeral home in Danville, is buried there, Hairston said.

Another man, Spy Allen, was born into slavery but died a free man. His grave is symbolically marked with three links of a chain.

Hairston said he plans to donate his genealogical research information to the city for use in its database.

Ground penetrating radar involves sending it below the surface to see if there are anomalies underneath, Burton said.

It cannot tell you whats there, she said. It can give the size and width of whats there.

Phase one of the project cost about $16,500, but about $11,500 was paid for by a grant from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Phase two will cost $18,209, with $12,709 to be covered by a grant from the department, Burton said.

The city is paying for the remainder of the projects costs.

The first two phases of the project are limited to a two-acre section of the cemetery. But the city plans to eventually cover the remainder of the site, Burton said.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has ended his official visit to the Republic of Bulgaria.

A guard of honor was lined up for the President of Azerbaijan at the Sofia Airport decorated with the national flags of the two countries.

President Ilham Aliyev was seen off by high-ranking state and government officials of Bulgaria.




GREENSBORO  The relentless rain. The whipping wind. The fierce fury.

On Friday, it was our turn.

After decimating parts of Florida and South Carolina, the monster that is Hurricane Ian presented itself to North Carolina  and Guilford County  and reminded us how truly insignificant we are in the face of nature.

Power outages.

Downed trees.

Property damage.

That was Hurricane Ians impact on the state  and it wasnt even at full strength. Not like when it hit Florida.

When Ian reached the Outer Banks, waves reached as high as 21 feet, according to the National Weather Service. But by then, it had devolved  if you can even say that  into a Category 1 storm, kicking up coastal surf and threatening to envelope the region with 50-mph winds and a full weekend of rain. And Ian made good on that promise.

With all 100 counties under flood or tornado alerts, Guilford County braced for up to 6 inches of rain through Sunday and possible flooding throughout.

Gov. Roy Cooper said the storm had shifted further east than expected  and didnt mince words in warning residents.

Hurricane Ian is at our door, he said during a Friday news conference. Be smart. Be safe. Stay off the roads if you possibly can.

An inch of rain had already fallen around Raleigh by 1 p.m. Winds gusted as high as 40 mph. Things were just beginning.

Christopher Neal, the mayor of the small Franklin County community of Louisburg, reported on Twitter that the entire town was experiencing a widespread power outage due to trees falling on power lines.

On the coast, radar detected a tornado somewhere in Brunswick County.

Misty Vining spent much of Friday driving around Oak Island surveying the scene. And the damage was appreciable. By late afternoon, low-lying points on the bucolic island had flooded  which Vining said is pretty typical during major storms.

Homes were flooded, too. Also typical.

Not so typical: The sand on the beach. All gone. Just like that. Part of a two-year, $29 million replenishment project.

Weve got about a 4-foot cliff on the beach right now, she said.

Shift scenes to Wrightsville Beach: Cars moved through oceanfront puddles high enough to cover half their tires.

At Sunset Beach: Canals breached bulkheads and 70-mph winds battered the community. Water is beginning to breach the causeway to the island, police warned.

Siler City. Asheboro. Garner. Wilmington. The list could go on. And on. They all felt the blunt-force trauma that Ian brought to their respective communities, mostly from road closures because of heavy rain and wind.

In Guilford County and the surrounding area, trees fell  one on a house  taking down power lines and closing some roads as the storm swept over the area late in the afternoon.

By then, Greensboro had no choice but to respond in kind.

Businesses closed.

Streets were deserted.

Flights and events were canceled.

All we could do was brace for impact.

Some, though, had to wait it out in the dark. By late Friday night, under a driving rain and 50-mph winds, the county had amassed 12,856 outages  250,205 across the state.

Sometime soon, maybe by the time you read this, the state will have deployed the more than 10,000 utility workers Cooper said is poised to respond to power outages when its safe to do so.

By that time, most of Ian should be gone. Maybe. Hopefully. To somewhere up the coast.

Then it will be someone elses turn.
The secret to our success is research, which includes screening medicinal plants for pharmacological benefits, identifying novel active principles, and developing and producing ayurveda formulations utilizing modern standardization techniques

innovative technologies while adhering to the most recent cGMP regulations, which are constantly updated to meet worldwide standards. The company's Super specialty division provides strong marketing support for groundbreaking Oncology drugs. The Division operates throughout India, with a dedicated team of management and field personnel. The products are marketed in Indian states and have built decades of trust in the Oncology range of medications and supportive therapies for oncology.BPRLs Herbal and Nutraceutical manufacturing plant is situated amid lush green surroundings, on 4.3 acres of land, with no other manufacturing industries nearby. The three tier production facility is built in accordance with WHO and international cGMP norms. The manufacturing plant at BPRL is well-equipped and designed for the production of uncoated, film coated, and sugar coated tablets, hard gelatin capsules, churnas (powders), and herbal nutraceuticals.Bangalore Pharmaceutical and Research Laboratory Private Limited (BPRL) began operations in 1957 with the intention of achieving 'Excellence in Quality' in the pharmaceutical industry. In 1987 BPRL established Recon Limited which was the marketing arm of the company. The company rose to fame for introducing highquality products that were affordable to the average person. Recon had used its experience to launch products in a wide range of therapeutic specialties over the years and was listed in Mumbai stock exchange in 1995. In 1997 the sterile injectable facility was commissioned. Recon Limited was renamed as Wintac Limited in 2000. In the year 2005 BPRL acquired Sagar Pharma along with the Oncology brands of Biological Evans.The sterile facility, Wintac limited received its French AFSAPS approval in 2006 followed by USFDA approval in 2009. In 2017 Wintac started commercials supplies to the US market with its strategic partner Gavis Pharma LLC. In 2020 BPRL monetized its stake in Wintac limited and set up its state of the art Herbal and Nutraceutical manufacturing company. The plant was commissioned in 2021."We want to be acknowledged as a trustworthy partner in the production and marketing of numerous pharmaceutical specialties. We excite and inspire our employees, recognise and reinforce their efforts, and imagine, engage, and empower them. We are committed to meeting people's healthcare requirements while adhering to international quality, skill, competency, and customer orientation standards concludes J. P. Mady.
As is tradition for Helena Sun Run, the nearly 100 participants, there supporting clean energy for public institutions, did so under cloudy skies Saturday morning.

The annual event, now in its seventh year, raises funds for clean energy projects such as solar panels at Central and Jim Darcy elementary schools and the Lewis & Clark Library among other projects.

Bryant Elementary School will benefit from this year's race, hosted by the Helena Vigilante Runners and Sleeping Giant Citizens Council, a tri-county environmental advocacy group affiliated with Northern Plains Resource Council.

Race director, Vigilante Runners board member and SGCC member Joel Harris said Saturday morning's rain storm that soaked the eastern gulch neighborhood streets serving as the 5-kilometer course was almost expected by now.

"We've only had one Sun Run out of the seven that was sunny," Harris said with a laugh. "I'm very proud of the people who came out today. They really showed they care about this cause."

Volunteer Madalyn Quinlan has been instrumental in that cause, writing NorthWestern Energy Universal System Benefits grant applications on behalf of the school district to help secure the remaining funds needed for the solar array installations.

Quinlan lives in the Central neighborhood and said she was thrilled to learn about the three new schools being built in 2019 and pointed out that Helena Public Schools asked that the facilities be designed to be solar ready.

"I think this community is very interested in moving in the direction of clean energy for our city, our state and our country, and this is a great way for them to participate," she said.

Quinlan cheered on participants from under a pop-up canopy near the Eighth Avenue finish line.

Jeff Thomas, vice president of the Vigilante Runners, served as the day's master of ceremonies and said in addition to the philanthropic aspect, the Sun Run is simply a good time.

"It's promoting a healthy lifestyle, group participation and a fun atmosphere," Thomas said. "And you can see it in the people here. Who else is going to come out in a rain storm?"

Central School first-grader Malia Metzger and her mother Cheryn Metzger participated in the 1-mile "walk and bicycle parade."

Thirty-nine school age children, parents and grandparents took part in the mile jaunt.

Malia said the rain did not deter her.

"I wanna be wet," she said, adding that the race was fun.

Cheryn, a building energy engineer, said her family was not going to miss Helena Sun Run.

"Supporting energy efficiency in the schools in important," she said.

Fifty-seven runners ran the 5K. Peter Schrommer, who took first in the 46th Mount Helena Run on Sept. 19, paced the Sun Run field, clocking in at 16 minutes, 19.8 seconds.

Registration fees for the race as well as individual and business sponsorships benefit the cause. Nearly 50 area businesses and organizations sponsored this year's event.

Harris, who finished fourth in the 5K, said they had yet to crunch the numbers, but estimated about $8,000 had been raised this year for Bryant Elementary School's solar panels.

Quinlan said she expects the school district to submit her Universal System Benefits grant application for the project by the end of October.
The Continental Divide Trail could finally be completed before it turns 50 years old.

A bill introduced by Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and co-sponsored by Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) would direct land management agencies to prioritize the elimination of gaps in the 3,100-mile continent-spanning path that generally follows the geographic Continental Divide. The trail is 95% complete, according to the Golden, Colorado-based nonprofit Continental Divide Trail Coalition, which lauded the bill on Friday.

Heinrich introduced S. 4995, the Continental Divide Trail Completion Act, into the Senate on Wednesday, according to Congress' official website. Daines is an original co-sponsor of the bill. The bill has been referred to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The text of the bill was not available Friday, but a bill with the same name was introduced into the House on Aug. 27, 2021. That bill, HR 5118, directed the Secretary of Agriculture, which oversees the U.S. Forest Service, to "substantially complete the land acquisition program necessary to ensure the completion of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail" by Nov. 10, 2028, the 50th anniversary of the trail. The new Senate bill also aims to complete the trail by that date.

The Continental Divide Trail, technically named the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, runs from Canada to Mexico, and spans Montana from the Canadian border on the north to the Idaho border on the south. As many as 14 gaps ranging from less than 1 mile to nearly 50 miles interrupt the trail's path along the Rocky Mountains.

In Montana, the trail is interrupted by a 0.75-mile gap near Cadotte Pass northeast of Lincoln, a 5.7-mile gap along Interstate 15 near Elk Park north of Butte, a 9-mile gap along the interstate south of Butte, a 1.4-mile gap near Wise River, and a 10.5-mile gap near Monida Pass.

"By filling in the gap sections," Teresa Martinez, the coalition's executive director stated, "the CDT will not only become a safer and more accessible experience for all trail travelers, but this mandate for completion will also help to ensure that the original promise made by Congress 44 years ago, of a continuous footpath offering a remote, natural experience from Mexico to Canada along the Divide, becomes a reality."

In the coalition's announcement of the bill Friday, Visit Helena Executive Director Andrea Opitz noted that hikers and cyclists generate $4.3 million in economic activity annually.

In all, the trail traverses five states, 20 national forests, 25 wilderness areas, three national parks, one national monument, and 19 designated "gateway communities," according to the coalition.
Three controversial election laws enacted by Montana Republicans in 2021 have been ruled unconstitutional, setting up a possible appeal to the states high court with five weeks to go before Election Day.

In a 199-page order released Friday, Yellowstone County District Court Judge Michael G. Moses struck down laws ending Election Day voter registration, creating tighter voter identification requirements and dramatically restricting third-party ballot collection.

The three laws were among four originally challenged more than a year ago by nearly a dozen plaintiffs in three separate lawsuits. The three cases were eventually consolidated, and the groups challenging the laws faced off against the sole defendant, Republican Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen, in a nine-day trial in August. They were passed by a Republican-majority Legislature along nearly party-line votes.

Moses previously struck down the fourth election law being challenged, which would have barred anyone who turns 18 before Election Day from getting a ballot before their birthday.

The three groups of plaintiffs are: the Montana Democratic Party and former party employee Mitch Bohn; Western Native Voice, Montana Native Vote, the Blackfeet Nation, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the Fort Belknap Indian Community and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe; and Montana Youth Action, Forward Montana and the Montana Public Interest Research Group.

Plaintiffs alleged that the three laws erected new barriers to voting that disproportionately affected certain groups, including Native Americans living on reservations, college students and voters with disabilities.

Jacobsens attorneys had argued that the laws were crafted to reduce the potential for voter fraud and bolster the publics confidence in Montanas election processes.

But Moses noted in his order "There is no evidence of significant or widespread voter fraud in Montana, let alone any fraud that (the challenged laws) would remedy."

Jacobsen, along with many Republican lawmakers, have said Montana's Constitution specifically gives the Legislature authority to determine how to hold elections in the state. Montana didn't allow registration on Election Day until 2006, and they argued it's up to lawmakers if they want to revert back to the previous system.

Moses wrote, however, "that does not mean the Legislature has power to take away (Election Day registration) without that power being subject to judicial review and interpreted in conjunction with the fundamental rights guaranteed to Montanans in the Constitution."

He added, "Once the state decides to offer a voting opportunity, the elimination of that voting opportunity is subject to constitutional limitations.

Moses also cited testimony from Jacobsen's legal counsel, who acknowledged there was no evidence that Election Day registration or using student IDs to vote had a negative impact on public confidence in elections.

Citing higher poverty rates, worse health and educational outcomes, higher homelessness and other factors, Moses wrote that a panoply of socioeconomic factors  the result of centuries of discrimination against Native Americans  make it more difficult for Native Americans living on reservations to register and vote.

He also relied on testimony from the plaintiffs expert witnesses, including a range of analyses indicating that Native American voters were more likely to rely on third-party ballot collection and Election Day registration to vote than non-Native Montanans.

The ballot collection law prohibited groups from offering compensation for collecting ballots, among other restrictions.

The expert witness offered by Jacobsen, however, was given "little, if any, weight" by Moses, who wrote that he "provided no specific analysis of the issues in this case." Moses didn't discuss Jacobsen's other expert, a former Colorado Secretary of State who has advanced unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud in the 2020 election. He submitted reports to the court but was not called to testify at trial.

The third law under review created a new category of secondary voter ID, effectively demoting student IDs and requiring additional documentation if a voter uses one to vote at the polls.

Moses rejected Jacobsens argument that the law was needed to restore confidence in election processes, citing a lack of evidence that it would do so. He also noted that the law promoted concealed carry permits to be accepted on their own as sufficient voter ID, yet they are administered on a county-by-county basis and are not required by Montana statute to bear a photograph with the permit-holders likeness.

Noting that young Montanans turned out to vote in record numbers during the 2020 election, Moses wrote that Montanas legislators passed the bill to prevent some young Montanans from exercising their right to vote, in direct contravention of Montanas Equal Protection Clause.

For now, Moses's order means that voters can still register on Election Day until the polls close, and the states pre-2021 voter ID requirements remain in place. Notably, students can still use their school IDs to vote in-person. But an appeal is likely before the Nov. 8 election, an eventuality that even Moses had hinted at while addressing the attorneys at the end of the August trial.

Jacobsens office did not respond Friday when asked whether it planned to appeal, but her office has already shown a willingness to do so twice before in the same case.

After Moses granted preliminary injunctions on the laws, the high court rejected the secretarys appeal in an order released just last week. The court wasnt united on the opinion though, with three justices dissenting and four signing onto the majority opinion.

Previously the high court had sided with Jacobsen on the narrow question of whether Moses should have granted a stay on his injunction shortly before the June primary.

Jacobsen spokesman Richie Melby provided the following statement: The response from the Montana Secretary of State is that we are not going to let down the fight to make Montana elections the most secure and accessible elections in the nation.

Kiersten Iwai, the executive director of the Forward Montana Foundation, praised Mosess order. The organization, along with other youth groups, was represented by Upper Seven Law.

Youth turnout in Montana has increased dramatically over the last decade, she stated in a press release Friday. The Legislatures response? To make voting more complicated. This ruling reflects that access to the ballot box in Montana must remain free, fair, and straightforward.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Montana represented the tribes and Native organizations that challenged the ballot-collection and Election Day registration laws.

"Yet again, the courts in Montana have rightly determined that the Legislature cannot trample Native Americans fundamental rights, Jonathan Topaz, and ACLU Voting Rights Project staff attorney, stated in a press release.

With its first Republican governor in over a decade, Montanas GOP-dominated Legislature in 2021 passed a number of partisan priorities that in prior years would have needed a veto override to make it into law. But the states courts have thwarted a number of those new laws, finding constitutional flaws in measures to allow more guns on college campuses, create fresh barriers for transgender people to update their birth certificates and change how justices are elected to the Supreme Court.

Republicans have in turn consistently faulted the courts as overreaching and dominated by left-leaning judges. Kyle Schmauch, a spokesperson for Republicans in the Legislature, attacked Moses as a liberal activist judge in a statement Friday.

The Montana Constitution grants the Legislature authority to write reasonable laws to ensure secure elections, Schmauch wrote. If judges want to make policy, they should run for the legislature instead of serving as political activists on the bench."
DECATUR  Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul released a decision late Friday afternoon that the Decatur Public Schools Board of Education violated state law by holding discussions and making decisions about a proposed new Dennis School in Lincoln Park.

Continue to the bottom of this story to read the documents for yourself.

The school board and Decatur Park District revealed in June that they had been in talks for months about a plan to replace the two Dennis campuses with one new building in Lincoln Park. The project would be paid for with federal COVID relief funds, negating the need for a public referendum.

The plan drew heated opposition from neighbors and some parents, who criticized the location as well as the two governing bodies' failure to discuss the matter publicly. Ultimately, park district leaders announced in July that they would not sell the park to the school district.

Lee Ann Clary, a resident of the neighborhood near Lincoln Park, petitioned the attorney general to review closed sessions of the school board to see if the board's discussion of the plan violated the Open Meetings Act. She received a copy of the attorney's general's findings Friday and shared them with the Herald & Review.

Everybody has to know what went on, Clary said. Not that it matters now for Lincoln Park. We have Lincoln Park back and are enjoying it very much, but it matters in the future.

In her petition to the attorney general's Public Access Bureau, she contended that the school board had sought to conceal every aspect of the proposed new building from residents for as long as possible.

"The individual violations of the Open Meetings Act above are part of a concerted effort to avoid giving public access," she said. "They should be considered in combination and to be extremely egregious."

The school district provided the attorney general's office with closed session minutes and voice recordings of meetings held between Oct. 12, 2021 and June 28, 2022. After reviewing them, Raoul's office concluded that the board improperly entered closed session pursuant to the exception in Section 2 of the Open Meetings Act and discussed various aspects of opening a new school using COVID-19 relief funds.

The Open Meetings Act allows a board to meet in closed session to discuss acquiring real estate or selling it until negotiations are concluded.

The school board's discussions exceeded these parameters. They included the plans to build a new school and to apply for a waiver from the Illinois General Assembly to allow the use of the Elementary and Secondary Education Relief funds to pay for the project. Discussions also covered the removal of the need for a referendum, which would have allowed voters to approve or reject the project.

The exceptions to the Open Meetings Act that allow a board to discuss certain things in closed session are narrow and strictly construed, the attorney general's opinion read, as most business is to be conducted in open session to allow public scrutiny.

The result of the attorney general's decision is that the board must release the closed session minutes and recordings of those meetings during which discussion concerned building a new school and securing funding via legislation and the CARES Act.

The meetings occurred on Oct. 12 and 26, Nov. 16, Dec. 14, Jan. 13 and 25, Feb. 8 and 22, March 8 and 22, April 12 and 26, May 10 and 24, June 14 and 28. Portions of the discussions that concern acquisition of land may be redacted under the exceptions to the Open Meetings Act.

Attempts to contact Decatur Public Schools spokeswoman Denise Swarthout and board President Andrew Taylor Friday evening were unsuccessful.

READ THE DOCUMENTS
DECATUR  Red Cross volunteer Dean Otta has not been without the local emergency response vehicle, called an ERV, since it arrived in Decatur a few years ago.

I am responsible for this vehicle, he said. I take care of it all the time its stationed in Decatur.

As a South Central Illinois Red Cross volunteer, Otta has traveled to various disasters in Illinois and beyond. He will be sent to Florida or South Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Ian, but not in the local ERV. I picked another job to do, he said. Im just waiting on a call.

Early Saturday morning, Red Cross volunteers Paul and Starr Wilhelm headed out from Decatur to Orlando, Florida, to help with the hurricanes aftermath. They have committed to helping for two weeks. Theres a need, Starr Wilhelm said.

The van is equipped to serve meals, and will be supplied with food by groups of Southern Baptist Churches once they receive their orders.

Right now its empty, Otta said.

The ERV does travel with large food and drink containers and portion-controlled ladles, but will be waiting on other supplies. Volunteers often work in an assembly-line style.

We can carry up to 800 to 1,000 meals just right here, Otta said about the vans counter and storage areas.

Otta provided the volunteers with detailed information regarding the ERV and what to expect.

Starr Wilhelm had volunteered at various events for the Red Cross. For her husband, the hurricane relief distribution will be a first.

I told him sometimes its a zoo, Starr Wilhelm said. Things are changing continuously.

Wherever youre at, its kind of heartbreaking, Paul Wilhelm said.

The couple, from Camargo, are retired and able to volunteer when needed. They said they have assisted during local floods.

Its just a way to help people, Starr Wilhelm said.

After he receives his call to travel to Florida or South Carolina, Ottas job will be to hand out supplies for recovery. Ill have 24 hours after the call, he said about his departure.

Dawn Morris, South Central Illinois Red Cross executive director, put out a plea to the local volunteers. We said we need you, she said. And they raised their hands.

The Wilhelms are trained and certified to provide assistance during disasters, such as a hurricane aftermath. They come with training specific to their role, Morris said.

Hurricane Ian had made landfall in South Carolina on Saturday. Therefore, volunteers may extend their stay.

We had hundreds of staff and volunteers on the ground before the hurricane hit, and were sending thousands more, Morris said. We do know that we are going to have to support the Carolinas, too.
By Trend

On September 30, the Fuzuli district prosecutor's office received information that Amid Asadov, born in 1986, and Cherkez Guluzade, born in 2007, were blown up by a mine in the liberated territory of the district, the district prosecutor's office told Trend.

It was determined that Amid Asadov and Cherkez Guluzade died as a result of a mine explosion in the village of Yukhari, Dilagard district.

Employees of the prosecutor's office examined the scene and the bodies, a forensic medical examination was ordered and other procedural actions were carried out.

At present, a criminal case has been initiated in the Fuzuli District Prosecutor's Office under the relevant articles of the Criminal Code.

The investigation into the case is ongoing.
DECATUR  Alicia Marin has served as her parents' Spanish-language interpreter since she was 7 years old.

Now, in about a month, she should be nationally certified as an interpreter and will be able to help people who are visiting doctors or the hospital to ensure they understand and are understood.

Marin was the featured speaker at St. Teresa High School's Hispanic Heritage Month event on Friday, hosted by the International Club.

Luis Peralta, faculty adviser for the club and the school's Spanish teacher, said the club chooses a different culture each month to celebrate, holding Black History Month activities in February, for example, or Chinese New Year celebrations in January. Hispanic Heritage Month is observed from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.

The International Club is in charge of bringing the cultures to the school, he said. All year round, we're busy.

Marin is United Way's Hispanic resource liaison, helping those for whom Spanish is their first language find housing, medical care, or whatever they need, and has served as interpreter informally for families who need one. Without certification, the family has to sign a waiver to allow her to sit in on medical appointments and she doesn't get paid for that, but once she's certified, the hospitals will put her on staff. Peralta is taking the certification classes alongside of her, and the two have already passed their written tests, with the oral exam coming up in November. At present, there are only 140 certified interpreters in the entire state of Illinois.

Marin came to the United States at age 5 and learned English without the benefit of English as a Second Language programs in school, which weren't available at that time, she told St. Teresa students. Her parents never learned English.

It's so hard to be in a country and not know the language, she said.

But being bilingual is a useful skill, and she urged the students to continue pursuing their mastery of Spanish, no matter what their career goals are. Being able to speak a second language will offer them a chance to help others no matter where life takes them, she said, and helping others has always been her dream.

If you're an interpreter, there's a lot of work for you, she said.

After her talk, students lined up for foods like flautas and quasadillas fritas, prepared by members of the International Club, said senior Abraham Buckner. He is a student in Spanish IV, and was worried he couldn't take Spanish this year, as other classes he needed conflicted with it, but Peralta found a way, and Buckner was relieved, he said. His father is American and his mother Ethiopian, and learning about other cultures is important to him.

I want to expand my knowledge, and hopefully become bilingual, he said. I also like working with Senor (Peralta). He's my favorite teacher and I think he's amazing.
New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. High around 70F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies. Low around 45F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
The League of Women Voters of Washington County, Virginia is sponsoring two forums for town council candidates.

The Damascus forum will be held at the Old Mill Inn Monday, Oct. 10, at 7 p.m. The Abingdon forum will be held at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center Tuesday, Oct. 18, at 7 p.m.

Before the forum, audience members may submit written questions in person. Questions will be selected that reflect a variety of topics and issues.

The Damascus Town Council candidates who will participate in the Oct. 10 forum are Thomas Folz, Jesse Kokotek, Scott Smith and Jack McCrady as well as the candidate for mayor Katie Lamb.

The Abingdon Town Council candidates who will participate in the Oct. 18 forum are Wayne Austin, Donna Quetsch, Eddie Copenhaver, Derek Webb and Dwyane Anderson (who is running in a special election).

The moderator is Dr. Rene Rodgers.

The Glade Spring town council and mayor candidates are uncontested.

The League also provides the website VOTE411.org which provides profiles of the town council candidates of Glade Spring as well as Abingdon and Damascus, and the Ninth District Congressional candidates as well as candidates answers to questions asked by the League.
A hostage situation led to a fatal officer-involved shooting Saturday morning in Mountain View, the Catawba County Sheriffs Office said in a news release.

Shortly after 6:30 a.m., deputies responded to a report of a hostage situation on Village Circle in Mountain View. The sheriffs office said that when deputies arrived, they discovered a 61-year-old man holding a family member hostage in a vehicle parked in the front yard of a residence. The suspect was armed with a handgun, the sheriffs office said.

The sheriffs offices Special Tactics and Response (STAR) team was called in, as well as members of the crisis intervention and de-escalation teams. The sheriffs office said deputies made several attempts to defuse the situation and encourage the suspect to release the hostage. The suspect continued to threaten the hostage and was shot by deputies, the sheriffs office said.

Catawba County EMS provided treatment to the suspect, who was ultimately pronounced dead at the scene, the sheriffs office said.

The name of the suspect had not been released as of 11:20 a.m. Saturday.

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is initiating an investigation into the shooting. The Catawba County Sheriffs Office is also conducting an internal review, the sheriffs office said.
Russian gas shipments through the Tarvisio gas pipeline entry point will be reduced to zero by October 1, as Gazprom has announced that gas cannot be shipped through Austria, Eni said in a statement on its website.

Photo: Shutterstock

Eni added that it would provide updates if gas supplies are restored, Reuters reported.

The Bloomber article revealed that, according to Enis spokesperson, Austria receives gas from Gazprom.

We are working to check with Gazprom whether it is possible to reactivate flows to Italy, an Eni spokesman said, according to Bloomberg. The newspaper reminds that European countries are in a big rush to find alternatives to Russian gas, while Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to undermine energy sources coming to the continent in order to put pressure on the European Union due to the EU sanctions introduced in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

The shutdown of Italian gas supplies came days after underwater explosions crippled the key Nord Stream gas pipeline linking Russia to Europe. US President Joe Biden yesterday reiterated the assessment of Western European leaders that the cables had been sabotaged, adding that Russian statements about the incident should not be trusted.

The leaks were detected on Monday in international waters east of the Danish island of Bornholm.

According to the European Union, Moscow is using the flow of gas necessary for the energy supply of the region as an economic weapon, which Russia consistently denies, and instead blames the impact of Western sanctions for supply disruptions.

In a statement published on Telegram, Gazprom said the problem was the result of changes in regulations in Austria. Russias state-owned energy giant said gas transit through Austria had been suspended after the countrys grid operator refused to confirm deliveries.

The Austrian gas network operator was not immediately available to respond to Gazproms comments on Saturday, Reuters reports.
Next Match: at Maryland 10/2/2022 | Noon HUSKERS RADIO NETWORK Next Match Full Schedule Oct. 02 (Sun) / Noon at Maryland History

- The No. 3 Nebraska volleyball team started off strong from the service line and never looked back in a 25-13, 25-7, 25-15 win at Rutgers in front of 1,226 fans at Jersey Mike's Arena on Friday night.Nebraska (11-1, 3-0 Big Ten) got three aces fromin the match's first eight rallies, and the Huskers went on to post a season-high 12 aces with just eight errors as they cruised past the Scarlet Knights. It was the Huskers' 12th straight win over the Scarlet Knights dating back to 1978.The Huskers hit a season-high .405 and held Rutgers to -.012, the first time the Huskers have held a Big Ten foe to a negative hitting percentage since Nov. 6, 2019 (Northwestern). Nebraska outscored Rutgers, 75-35. The school record for fewest points allowed in a match in the rally-scoring era is 32.had 11 kills on .391 hitting, andhad nine kills on .562 hitting with two blocks.had six kills on eight swings (.750) with three blocks.(six),(five),(four) and(one) all chipped in kills as well.had a match-high 17 assists with nine digs.added 11 assists and four digs.Rodriguez finished the match with her three aces to go with nine digs and six assists. Orr had a career-high three aces, and and Allick and Kubik each had two.and Lauenstein both had one.Nebraska more than doubled Rutgers in kills (42-17) and had the edge in digs (40-28) and blocks (4-2). While the Huskers finished with 12 aces and eight errors, Rutgers had no aces and three errors.Rutgers (7-8, 1-2 Big Ten) was led by Alissa Kinkela, who had eight kills.Kills by Lauenstein and Kubik and three service aces by Rodriguez put Nebraska up 7-1. Krause, Hord and Mendelson added kills, and a block by Hord and Mendelson helped NU go up by double digits, 16-5, after a 7-0 run on Allick's serve. Lauenstein and Kubik combined for four more kills, and Allick tallied a kill before a service ace as the Huskers went on to win 25-13. NU hit .417 in the set and held Rutgers to .071. The Huskers sided out at 85.7% and had four service aces with just two errors.Lauenstein had three early kills as the Huskers went up 4-1. Kubik posted back-to-back kills and Lauenstein served an ace to make it 7-2. After a Rutgers kill, Mendelson and Krause had back-to-back kills, and Krause added another before Allick's second ace of the match increased NU's lead to 12-4. NU's dominance from the service line continued as Orr served consecutive aces for a 15-5 lead. Krause and Hord put down kills, and Hord and Kubik teamed up for a block before an ace by Knuckles had the Huskers up 20-6. A timeout couldn't slow the Big Red, as Lauenstein and Kubik produced kills out of the break, and Hord posted a solo block to make it 23-6. NU took the set, 25-7. The Big Red hit .480 and held Rutgers to -.136 in set two, the lowest hitting percentage in a set by a Husker opponent this season. The last time the Huskers held a Big Ten foe to seven points in a set was Nov. 6, 2019 against Northwestern.Nebraska did not let up as Lauenstein and Hord each had a pair of kills before Knuckles added an ace to open up a 4-0 lead. Rutgers used a 4-1 run to pull within 8-7, but a kill byoff the bench started a stretch of 11 straight sideouts. After Allick notched a solo block, she posted a kill and Kubik served her first ace of the night to make it 16-12 Big Red. After a Rutgers hitting error, Kubik aced again and Rutgers made another error to give the Huskers a 19-12 advantage after a 6-0 run. Allick, Krause, Hord and Lauenstein helped seal the win with kills down the stretch. The match ended at 25-15 on Orr's third ace of the match and NU's 12th of the night.Nebraska finishes its road trip at Maryland on Sunday at Noon (CT) at XFINITY Center Pavilion.
They were going to start looking to buy their own place early next year, somewhere on the outskirts of town, somewhere with a bigger and nicer yard. For three years, Tracey Howard and his wife had been renting in the Hedingham neighborhood in east Raleigh, but they wanted a home of their own. That was the dream. Friday afternoon, though, there was a bullet hole in the mailbox next to his ...
By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijani Culture Minister Anar Karimov has addressed the UNESCO-MONDIACULT 2022 World Conference in Mexico, Azernews reports, citing Azertac.

The main goal of the conference is to shape a more robust and resilient cultural sector, fully anchored in the perspectives of sustainable development as well as promotion of solidarity, peace, and security, in line with the vision enshrined in the UN Secretary-General's report "Our Common Agenda" (September 2021), which refers to culture as a global public good, for the good of us all.

In his speech, the minister drew the participants' attention to the ethnocultural genocide (ethnocide) committed by Armenia in Azerbaijan's formerly occupied territories for nearly 30 years.

Many mosques, historical monuments, and various cultural institutions were completely destroyed as a result of unprecedented systematic and purposeful actions against the Azerbaijan's cultural heritage during the Armenian occupation.

He emphasized that those acts of genocide against Azerbaijani historical and cultural heritage were met with silence by international organizations.

Karimov noted that after liberating its lands from occupation, Azerbaijan started large-scale restoration, including the restoration of cultural heritage.

In this regard, the minister said that the cultural heritage located in the territory of Azerbaijan reflects the cultural diversity of the country and expressed the importance of protecting and restoring all cultural and religious monuments, regardless of their origin.

Anar Karimov appealed to UNESCO for a technical mission to be dispatched to Karabakh.

He mentioned that the global campaign can be applied as a model of promoting peace in the existing post-conflict situations in different regions of the world.

During the session, Minister Karimov as the representative of Azerbaijan, chairing the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), made a statement on behalf of the NAM member states. In the statement, the UN countries condemn all forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and intolerance, and noted the importance of national, regional, and international initiatives for the protection of cultural properties.
A Florida woman waded into chest-high floodwaters to search for the mother of a stranger who lives on the other side of the country. She was able to send her a photo of her mom smiling  safe and sound.
Alexander  50th

MATTOON  Mr. and Mrs. Brad and Susan Alexander will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on Saturday, Oct. 8.

A private celebration in their honor with friends and family will be held. They also plan to take an Alaskan cruise.

Alexander and Susan Carman were married Oct. 8, 1972, in Mattoon.

They are the parents of Kasey (Jodie) Alexander and Brooke (Eric) Hahn of Mattoon. They also have four grandchildren.

Mr. Alexander worked at Young Radiator for 13 years. He retired from Kal Kan after working 26 years. After retiring, he worked part time at Lorenz Wholesale for five years. Now he is fully retired and enjoys spending time with his grandchildren, playing pickleball and riding his motorcycle.

Mrs. Alexander worked at G.E. for 10 years. After having her daughter, she became a stay at home mom and homemaker. After both children began attending school, she began working at the Eagles Club with her mother for 22 years. When her grandchildren were born, she retired from Eagles and took care of her grandchildren full time.

Cards may be sent to them at 3400 Chestnut, Mattoon, IL 61938.
Sixteen-year-old Adismarys Abreu had been discussing a long-lasting birth control implant with her mother for about a year as a potential solution to increasing menstrual pain. Then Roe v. Wade was overturned, and Abreu joined the throng of teens rushing to their doctors as states began to ban or severely limit abortion.

Im definitely not ready to be pregnant, said Abreu, who had Nexplanon  a reversible, matchstick-sized contraceptive  implanted in her arm in August. Her home state of Florida bans most abortions after 15 weeks, and not having that option is such a scary thought, she said.

Experts say the U.S. Supreme Courts June ruling appears to be accelerating a trend of increased birth control use among teens, including long-acting reversible forms including intrauterine devices and implants. Appointments have surged and Planned Parenthood has been flooded with questions as doctors report demand even among teens who arent sexually active.

Some patients are fearful because the new abortion laws in several states dont include exceptions for sexual assault.

Please, I need some birth control in case I get raped, patients tell Dr. Judith Simms-Cendan, a pediatric-adolescent gynecologist in Miami, where state law does not provide exceptions for rape or incest after 15 weeks.

Simms-Cendan, the president-elect of the North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, said parents who might have been hesitant in the past now want to discuss birth control.

Its a sea change of, I dont have room to play. We have got to get my child on something, she said.

Teens already were shifting to more effective long-acting forms of birth control, which have similar or even lower failure rates than sterilization, said Laura Lindberg, a professor at Rutgers Universitys School of Public Health in New Jersey.

Her research found the number of 15- to 19-year-olds using those methods rose to 15% during the period 2015 to 2019, up from 3% during the 2006 to 2010 period.

No national data is available for the months since Roe was overturned, said Lindberg, who previously worked for nearly two decades at the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.

But she said major ripple effects have to be expected from the loss of abortion access and noted that it wouldnt be the first time politics have led to a shift in birth control use.

After former President Donald Trumps election, as women raised concerns online that the Affordable Care Act would be repealed, demand for long-acting birth control rose by nearly 22% across all age groups, according to a 2019 research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

In Ohio, where a judge recently blocked a ban on virtually all abortions, patients  both male and female  now listen with rapt attention to the contraception talk that Dr. Peggy Stager has long made a part of routine appointments at her pediatric practice in Cleveland.

Stager said her practices dedicated spots for insertion of the Nexplanon implant are consistently filled, and requests for contraceptive refills have increased 30% to 40% since Roe was overturned. Recently, she talked to a college-bound student who wasnt sexually active but decided to get an IUD anyway.

She was real clear: I want to have a great four years without any worry, recalled Stager, who chairs the section on adolescent health at the American Academy of Pediatrics. And thats a change.

In Missouri, among the first states in the country with a trigger law in effect to ban abortions at any point in pregnancy, Dr. David Eisenberg also has seen a similar sense of urgency from college-bound teens.

Fear is an amazing motivator, said Eisenberg, an associate professor at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, who performs abortions in neighboring Illinois. They understand the consequence of a contraceptive failure might mean they become a parent because they might not be able to access an abortion.

Interest is also high at the contraception clinic that Dr. Elise Berlan oversees in Columbus, Ohio. Before the Supreme Courts decision, the clinic booked appointments for new patients within a week or two.

Now, it is booking several months out for first appointments, said Berlan, an adolescent medicine specialist who sees mothers and daughters in tears in her exam room. She said the clinic is adding a provider.

The day Roe was overturned, twice as many birth control questions as normal poured into Roo, Planned Parenthoods online chatbot aimed at teens.

Online birth control appointments skyrocketed that day  up 150% from a typical day, with an even-larger 375% surge for IUD-seekers, said Julia Bennett, director of digital education and learning strategy for Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

By mid-July, several weeks after the ruling, birth control appointments remained up about 20%, although the data isnt broken down by age group.

The growing interest exists in states like North Carolina, where abortion remains legal but the Legislature is conservative.

Dr. Kavita Arora, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Chapel Hill, said she saw maybe one teen a month before the ruling. Now, she said, she sees them at each clinic session.

Theyre aware that this is an incredibly fluid situation, and what is allowed at one moment may not be allowed a week or a month later, Arora said.
Winston-Salem and Forsyth County faced worsening weather conditions Friday night as the remnants of Hurricane Ian approached from the south, bringing rain, downed trees and power lines, and wind gusts of more than 40 miles per hour.

By 9 p.m. on Friday, emergency communicators were reporting multiple cases of trees falling on power lines, power lines falling on roads, and even trees striking houses.

At 9:30 p.m., almost 15,000 Forsyth County customers of Duke Energy were in the dark, and traffic signals were darkened in intersections. That was about double the number from a few hours earlier.

Anyone driving around the city after dark could easily come across gloomy stretches where the homes and streets were dark, and a layer of leaves carpeted the roads.

Downed tree branches snapped off in the storm landed on roads and made drivers swerve to dodge them.

Some roads were blocked by trees until they could be reopened.

Not that emergency officials wanted anyone on those roads: As August Vernon, the director of emergency management here explained, people driving around to look for storm damage were putting themselves at risk if they got in trouble.

The rain and wind picked up, so we started having an increase in power outages, Vernon said about 9:30 p.m. There were trees down  there could be dozens across the county.

Vernon was looking for more reports to come in as daylight comes and reveals more damage.

Emergency communicators said there was one report of a tree causing enough damage to a house to force a family of seven to find accommodation through the American Red Cross. That house was on Aztec Court in the Atwood Acres neighborhood off South Stratford Road.

K. Hogan, a supervisor at Forsyth County Communications, said that while the call volume was busy Friday night, it was not overwhelming. It was like the call volume from a summer thunderstorm, only it went on for hours.

We are really busy, she said about 9:45 p.m. We are staying at peak call volume, but we have everything under control.

Hogan declined to speculate on the number of downed trees that have been called in, but did say as 10 p.m. approached that the call volume seemed to be dropping some.

At the same time, she said, local communicators were starting to pick up on higher call volumes in Surry and Stokes counties to the north. Communicators were watching the storm on radar, and signs pointed the storm exiting the area.

Emergency communicators for the Winston-Salem Police Department said they handled multiple traffic accidents, but there were no reports of injuries.

The number of people without power grew progressively worse in Forsyth County as the evening advanced, but things here were not nearly as bad as they were right next door in Guilford County  not to mention Raleigh.

At 10 p.m., there were 41,000 customers in Guilford County without power, and further east, almost 90,000 in the dark in Raleigh.

The forecast shifted more to the central part of the state, Vernon said. The storm is breaking apart, but it still has a lot of energy and momentum. The storm track could have changed to the left or the right. The whole week, the forecast has been for two to five inches with gusty winds. We knew this was coming.

Hurricane Ian made its final landfall about 2 p.m. Friday near Georgetown, S.C., between Charleston and Myrtle Beach.

The storm was downgraded to post-tropical status, although that didnt mean the storms threat was over. About 8 p.m., the center of the former hurricane was about 45 miles northeast of Florence, S.C., and moving north about 15 miles per hour.

The storm was on track to pass just east of Greensboro, with forecasters saying the storm could bring a total of three to four inches of rain to Forsyth and nearby counties.
It doesnt take long to read the most banned book in America, an award-winning memoir in graphic novel form called Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe. Its about the illustrators yearslong quest to unravel what it means to be gender nonbinary  that is, to feel neither female nor male.

It takes even less time to understand why parents and PTAs around the country have pounced on the book, demanding it be disappeared from school libraries.

First published in 2019, Gender Queer covers topics guaranteed to be explosive in certain quarters: confusion about gender and sexual identity, unsettling sexual encounters, sexual fantasies, masturbation, menstrual blood. And of course, pronouns.

The criticism has been ferocious.

This is pornography! wrote one reviewer on Amazon. The images and language in this book have no place on a bookshelf or anywhere near children, which is the target audience for this book. It shows oral sex, homosexual sex, etc. Please do not think this is teaching material. It is intended for grooming.

The pernicious misuse of the word grooming aside, this memoir is explicit in places.

There are images of what some might consider kinky sexual behavior between Kobabe and a person she meets online. Of used menstrual pads. Of a bloody speculum after Kobabes first terrifying experience in the doctors office.

To be sure, this is not a book for little kids.

I can absolutely understand the desire of a parent to protect their child from sensitive material, Kobabe told the Texas Tribune late last year when the book began causing conniption fits in that state. Im sympathetic to people who have the best interest of young people at heart. I also want to have the best interest of young people at heart.

Any teenager or young adult in the throes of gender confusion or distress would surely find comfort and reassurance in Kobabes illustrated journey. In an interview posted last spring on YouTube, Kobabe told Anthony Allen Ramos of GLAAD that having a book like this would have probably taken like 10 years of confusion and uncertainty out of my life.

In the comments section under the interview, one person wrote, I genuinely think that having this book as a middle schooler would have saved me years of feeling alone and isolated. I had access to plenty of books with explicit/graphic material from the library, but no books that were honest, earnest & relatable like this.

Its not just confused young people who might benefit from reading Gender Queer. It really should be required reading for grown-ups in places such as Texas and Florida, where cynical activists are using LGBTQ kids as fodder for their reactionary political agendas.

Kobabe includes a fascinating section about the philosopher Patricia Churchland, a professor emerita at UC San Diego, who popularized the concept of neurophilosophy, a discipline that connects neuroscience and philosophy. Electrical and chemical activity in our brain, Churchland posits, informs what we think and feel.

In her 2013 book, Touching a Nerve: Our Brains, Ourselves, Churchland delves into the biochemistry of fetal sexual development to explain why its possible to have female reproductive organs but feel like a male, and vice versa. It has everything to do with biology, hormones and the developing fetal brain. In most cases, writes Churchland, gender identity is purely biological.

So, Lady Gaga was right, writes Kobabe exultantly. I was born this way.

Like so many people who are betwixt and between, Kobabe struggles with the perplexing matter of pronouns.

I already have short hair, Kobabe writes, and Ive been wearing non-gender-specific clothes for years. I dont want to change my name, but I like the idea of changing pronouns.

It took me a while to become comfortable with the idea that people have the right to choose their own pronouns, and that, for some, the choice is hugely consequential.

In the end, Kobabe settles on the somewhat obscure Spivak pronouns, based on the gender-neutral terms used by the late American mathematician Michael Spivak. E takes the place of he, she or they. Em is used instead of him, her or them. And eir replaces his, hers or theirs.

Sounds a bit like Cockney slang, but if it works, why not?

In a moment of entirely relatable self-absorption, Kobabes otherwise supportive mother complains, Why are you doing this to us?

So far, according to PEN America, Gender Queer has been banned by 138 school districts in 32 states.

All the controversy, it seems, has been great for sales.

Maia Kobabe is famous.

Good for em.
Native flutist and composer Ron Warren envisioned The Way of Mountains and Deserts," the piece he wrote for pianist Paul Barnes as a love song to the Earth.

Thats is exactly how it felt, romantically played by Barnes in its world premiere performance at Kimball Hall Monday.

The four-movement piece provided a lovely showcase for Barnes captivating, delicate approach, with his hand-atop-hand rapid high-register fingerings creating a fluid, tinkling sound that perfectly evoked the opening movements blessing To Water.

The final movement To the Land, Barnes rumbled in low notes before flying upward, evoking via the movement the solidity of the earth and the opening of the vast Southwestern vistas that inspired the composition.

In between came the instructive third movement, Love Song for this Earth, during which Barnes replicated the flute song that Warren used as a basis for the piece and that he played immediately before the premiere, allowing for a striking tonal contrast between the flute and piano versions.

The second movement, Songs of Gratitude for Desert Beings, a collection of 11 brief songs, allowed Barnes to improvise passages, on multiple times adding Philip Glass-like repetitive flourishes to the composition.

That Glassian approach was both appropriate and likely inevitable as Warren and Barnes met in North Dakota years ago when Warren performed the Native flute part in Glasss Piano Concert No. 2, written for and performed by Barnes, one of the foremost interpreters of the acclaimed composers work.

That movement of the concert, titled Sacagawea, highlighted the first half of the recital, with Barnes and Warren joined by bassist Danielle Meier. Her bass anchored the performance, with single, drawn out notes and drones as Barnes played the body of challenging Glass composition with his usual drive and flair and, atop those, Warren added the haunting flute passages.

The trio also impressively improvised on a series of short pieces based on Warrens observations of nature near his Florida home. Barnes and Warren combined for an expressive view of Beads, with a call-and-response conversation between flute and piano leading into the rhythmic stomp of the second movement before the piece concluded with a flourish created primarily by Warrens Jethro Tull-like flute work.

Mondays recital, which will be the last time internationally touring pianist Barnes performs in his Lincoln Kimball Hall home before it is remodel, can only be described as beautiful touching and evocative as it explored the combination of Native flute and piano and Warrens compositions that are deeply rooted in nature and native culture.
By Azernews

By Sabina Mammadli

The sources of funding to help the families of martyrs and perpetuate the memory of martyrs are expanding, Azernews reports.

This issue was reflected in the draft law on amending the law 'On perpetuating the names of the martyrs and the benefits provided to the families of martyrs', which was submitted for discussion at today's plenary session of the Azerbaijani Parliament (Milli Majlis).

The document was prepared in connection with the decree of the Azerbaijani president of May 18, 2021, 'On some measures to improve management in the field of state compulsory personal insurance'.

According to the proposed amendment to Article 6 of the law, the range of sources of funds spent to help the families of martyrs and perpetuate the memory of martyrs has been clarified and expanded. Thus, the state's compulsory personal insurance is added to these sources.

After discussions, the change was put to the vote and adopted in the first reading.
OPENING

Amsterdam. This star-packed picture about three friends in the center of a secret plot suffers from dull writing, dinner-theater caliber acting. R. (Grand, East Park, SouthPointe) Grade: D+

Loving Highsmith. This documentary about "Talented Mr. Ripley" novelist Patricia Highsmith focuses on her romantic life as a lesbian and how it influenced her writing. Unrated. (Ross) Grade: B

Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile. A boy discovers a singing crocodile who helps him adjust to life in New York City in this family picture that combines animation and live action. It was not screened in time for Ground Zero deadlines. PG. (Grand, East Park, Edgewood, SouthPointe).

The Storied Life of AJ Fikry. This adaptation of the best-selling novel about a bookstore owner trying to recover from the death of his wife was not screened in time for Ground Zero deadlines. PG-13.

NOW SHOWING

Avatar. James Cameron's Academy Award-winning 2009 epic adventure returns to theaters in a 4K High Dynamic Range. PG-13. (East Park, SouthPointe) Grade: B

Bros. This LGBTQ romantic comedy that's also a satire of gay male dating works well for an hour and survives its ending. R. (East Park, Edgewood, SouthPointe). Grade: B

DC League of Super Pets. This animated movie in which Krypto the Superdog has to rally a pack of animals to help him rescue Superman and the Justice League doesn't soar but still entertains. PG. (Edgewood) Grade: C

Don't Worry Darling. In crafting her feminist parable about a woman emerging from a humdrum existence, director Olivia Wilde has tried to do it all, and in doing so, has defanged her own argument. R. (East Park, Edgewood, SouthPointe) Grade: C

Dos Estaciones. This documentary-like Mexican film immerses the viewer into the operations of a tequila plant in a small village run by a stoic owner and her family-like employees. Unrated. (Ross) Grade: B

Smile. This horror film about a doctor confronting her traumatic past is opaque, silly and rarely scary. R. (East Park, Edgewood, SouthPointe) Grade: C-

Top Gun: Maverick. The sequel is an old-school blockbuster experience, a more-than-worthy follow-up to the 1986 classic. (East Park). PG-13. Grade: A

Where The Crawdads Sing. This adaptation of the best-selling mystery novel lacks the storytelling connective tissue that makes a story like this work. PG-13. (Edgewood). Grade: C

The Woman King. Viola Davis is fierce as a 19th-century African warrior in this action film ala "Braveheart" and "Gladiator. PG-13. (Grand, Edgewood, SouthPointe) Grade: B

NOTE: Theaters are for Friday only and are subject to change the other days of the week. A complete listing for the Grand Cinema was not available at Ground Zero deadlines.
On April 15, Larry Lohmeier's life changed forever.

It was Good Friday, and the avid cyclist was on the MoPac Trail east of Lincoln, headed toward the tiny Cass County village of Wabash on what was to have been a 40-mile bike ride.

At the trail's intersection with 286th Street, Lohmeier started to cross the gravel road, something he'd done several times before.

This time, a large pickup truck  a Ford F-450  smashed into him going nearly 45 mph.

Arlo W. Fleischman, 70, of Elmwood told Cass County deputies at the time that he was unable to stop in time to avoid hitting Lohmeier.

The impact tossed Lohmeier more than 100 feet into a ditch.

His injuries were numerous and severe. They included facial fractures, a traumatic brain injury, several rib fractures, a punctured lung, internal bleeding and multiple injuries to his legs.

Lohmeier doesn't remember anything about the accident  or, for that matter, the whole day preceding it  but his wife, Holly, and his doctors remember it vividly.

Luckily, he was wearing a helmet, which helped save his life.

"If it wasn't for my bike helmet, I wouldn't be here," the 39-year-old Lincoln man said.

In addition to possibly saving his life, his helmet also notified his wife right away, through a sensor, that something had happened.

She started calling his phone, which was eventually picked up by a friend of theirs who lives in the area and had happened upon the accident.

Holly Lohmeier said the news she got was "earth-shattering."

"No one expects to get notified their husband's been in a serious accident," said Holly, who gave birth to the couple's second child just three months before the accident.

"You go from life being perfectly normal to being turned upside-down in a matter of seconds."

Fleischman, the driver of the truck, stopped and called 911 right away, and first responders from Elmwood Fire & Rescue and Cass County EMS arrived at the scene to find Lohmeier struggling to survive.

They quickly made the decision that he was too badly injured to wait for a medical helicopter, which would have taken 25 minutes to arrive, so they loaded him in an ambulance and headed for the Bryan West Campus trauma center.

On the way, Lohmeier coded, but the EMTs were able to get his heart restarted and keep him alive until reaching Bryan.

When a trauma patient goes into cardiac arrest, its very, very hard for them to come back, said Sarah Knight of the Cass County Emergency Management Agency. I remember thinking that we had done everything we could, but we werent able to save this man.

But they did save him, and he arrived at the hospital as a "category one" patient, the most severe designation. Because of the extent of his injuries, doctors weren't confident he would survive.

Lohmeier made it, but it wasn't easy. He was unconscious for 10 days and underwent nine surgeries. He spent nearly four weeks at Bryan West and another two months at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital.

Though he doesn't consider himself fully recovered, Lohmeier has been discharged from any further medical treatment and rehabilitation. He's back at his job, is able to help out at home with his children and is back on a bike.

Because of his ordeal and recovery, Lohmeier was honored Friday as this year's Bryan Trauma Champion during Bryans Trauma Symposium at Nebraska Innovation Campus.

Dr. Ryne Marshall, a surgical and critical care physician, was the trauma surgeon on call who first saw Lohmeier.

Marshall said it was a combination of factors, from Lohmeier's overall good health, to the quick decisions by the first responders, to the care he received at Bryan and Madonna, that brought him to this point.

Larrys recovery has been far beyond what any reasonable person could expect with the severity of his injuries, Marshall said. Its obviously still an ongoing process, and these things take a long time. But its a testament to him and how far hes come."

Marshall called it "unbelievably rewarding to see somebody who was so close to death and so ill and so critically injured in so many different ways get back to the things he loves doing."

For Lohmeier, that means being back on a bike as much as possible. He rides six days a week, in addition to other physical activity such as walking and lifting weights.

But, at least for now, it does not mean bike rides on the trail he used to frequent.

"I have nothing against the MoPac. I don't have anything against the intersection, but me personally, I just don't know if I'm going to go back there," said Lohmeier, who has made one visit to the site of his accident.

"I've seen it once, and that was enough for me, I think."
A woman who had been incarcerated at the Community Corrections Center-Lincoln is now considered an escapee after she left the low-security prison to go to her job in the community and didn't return Friday night, according to authorities.

Tabitha Viktora, 36, started her sentence in July 2020. She was serving a six- to 10-year sentence on an attempted robbery charge out of Douglas County, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services said in a news release.

Viktora has a parole eligibility date of Jan. 14, 2023 and a tentative release date of Jan. 11, 2025.

Viktora is a 5-foot-3, 170-pound white woman who has brown hair and brown eyes. The corrections department asked anyone with knowledge of her whereabouts to contact local authorities or the Nebraska State Patrol.

Inmates at the Community Corrections Center-Lincoln are, with pre-approval, allowed to participate in off-site work opportunities or attend school or religious services without direct supervision.
As millions of Floridians remain without power, and thousands without running water, some Lincoln residents are providing assistance to those affected by Hurricane Ian.

A group of 30 Union College students and alumni will begin a 26-hour drive to Fort Myers, Florida, on Sunday morning to spend a week helping residents get back on their feet.

Through the college's International Rescue & Relief program, students are prepared for disaster relief in a variety of ways, says Lauren Richter, deputy incident command.

Some of their preparation involves wilderness survival and rescue training, earning Emergency Medical Technician and other Federal Emergency Management Agency certifications. They also spend an entire semester in a developing nation studying global medicine and running health clinics.

While the intense training teaches students the basics, Richter says it's the real-world experience that prepares them for the next disaster.

"Honestly, students end up learning more from the residents than we teach," Richter said.

Union College spokesman Ryan Teller says the team will work primarily on putting tarps on roofs to prevent additional water damage, helping residents clean out damaged homes and removing downed trees.

With the program's popularity, Richter says the group has been able to respond to disasters at least one time each year for the past eight years thanks to donors.

"We see these communities at their most vulnerable," Richter said. "But it's also really cool to see the resilience of these communities that we are serving and working with."

Last year, a relief trip to Grand Isle, Louisiana, involved 4,000 man-hours in response to Hurricane Ida.

To support this relief trip and other response efforts visit ucollege.edu/disaster-response.

Other Lincolnites have also stepped up to help hurricane victims.

Skyview Learning Academy will be at Super Saver on 56th Street and Nebraska 2 all weekend taking donations such as food, clothes and other essentials to send to Florida.

Eleven American Red Cross volunteers from Nebraska have deployed to the region to assist in the recovery effort. Additionally, Red Cross emergency response vehicles from Omaha and North Platte were sent to join dozens of others from around the country in delivering tens of thousands of ready-to-eat meals and cleanup supplies where it is safe to do so.

For other ways to help with Hurricane Ian relief efforts visit redcross.org.

Three Lincoln Electric System crews comprised of 20 LES employees left for Florida on Wednesday as the hurricane neared landfall.

LES spokesperson Kelly Porter said the amount of time crews spend in Florida depends on the amount of restoration needed and the type of damage.

"Some previous mutual-aid efforts have lasted as long a couple days to two weeks," Porter said.
Achieving global food security is at the forefront of our conversations today. It will remain so for the foreseeable future.

Factors contributing to the crisis include the war in Ukraine, rising energy prices, supply chain issues, and the increasing frequency of climate extremes on food production. The crisis impacts everyone and is felt at the dinner table as well as the pocketbook.

There are also many opportunities to improve agricultural food systems both locally and globally.

When OLLI at UNLs committees gathered to discuss the topic for the 2022 OLLI/Winter Lecture Series Fall Symposium, the subject of achieving global food security rose to the top.

No topic has a more widespread impact, said Bob Michl, director of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNL. When arriving at a topic for our annual symposium, we look at its impact worldwide.

Speakers lineup

OLLI at UNL has scheduled three internationally-known speakers to address the Saturday, Oct. 22, symposium: Holger Kray, practice manager for agriculture and food security in the World Banks Africa Sustainable Development Group, and the Rev. David Beckmann, president emeritus of Bread for the World and a recipient of the World Food Prize for his contribution to the worlds progress against hunger, will be in Lincoln to address the symposium. Joe Glauber, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, D.C., will join the discussion electronically.

In addition, leaders of two Lincoln nonprofits will provide a local perspective on food security: Michaella Kumke, president/CEO of the Food Bank of Lincoln, and Susanne Blue, executive director of Matt Talbot Kitchen and Outreach of Lincoln.

The symposium is open to the public. Registration deadline is Oct. 14. The cost is $20 for in-person attendance and includes lunch; Zoom participation is also available at a cost of $15. The symposium is sponsored by OLLI at UNL, the Unitarian Church of Lincoln, and Nebraska Humanities.

A look at the courses

Among the loaded lineup of courses for OLLIs Term 2, which begins Oct. 24, are two interrelated courses tackling timely issues dominating the national scene  The History of Reproductive Rights, offered Oct. 24, and The Supreme Court and National Power on Oct. 26. Both will be moderated by Charlyne Berens, an active OLLI member since retiring in 2014 as professor and associate dean in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at UNL.

The discussion of reproductive rights has been dominating the national headlines since the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, said Berens. This legal history will encourage audiences to consider the distinctions between historical practice and perception to better understand the reproductive rights landscape.

Guest speaker for the discussion of reproductive rights will be Katrina Jagodinsky, who teaches womens rights and history at UNL. The instructor for the study of Supreme Court decisions will be Eric Burger, who teaches at the UNL College of Law.

Another timely course coming in OLLIs Term 2 will involve a look at the operation of the correctional system in Nebraska. The State of Nebraskas Prison System: Probing the Headlines is the title of a five-session course beginning Oct. 27.

I hope those who attend will have a better understanding of what people go through as they enter and leave the prison system, said Doug Koebernick, inspector general of Corrections for the Nebraska Legislature the past seven years. Nebraskas prisons currently house 5,500 inmates, including 1,300 at the Nebraska State Penitentiary, whose capacity is 818 inmates, said Koebernick, who will moderate the series.

Registration for Term 2 courses will begin Oct. 11. For a look at all OLLI courses to be offered in Term 2, which runs Oct. 24 to Dec. 10, see https://olli.unl.edu
For the ninth year, in the spring and fall, Sip Nebraska is bringing together a passionate community of local wine, hard cider, craft beer and spirit producers and their fans to celebrate Nebraska's beverage industry.

Sip Nebraska will take place Friday, Oct. 7, from 4-10 p.m., and Saturday, Oct. 8, from 1-10 p.m. in the Haymarket Park ballpark, 403 Line Drive Circle.

The event includes unlimited tastings, and you can watch the Nebraska vs. Rutgers game live on the 34-foot jumbo screen Friday, Oct. 7.

Spend the day playing lawn games and listening to live music and comedy. Take part in cookie decorating, wine glass painting, free mobile massage and goat yoga. Tour the food vendors and shop from the endless artisan and craft vendors. Try a sip-and-learn class, and participate in the best-of-tasting contest.

Be sure to stop by and love on the pets up for adoption from Dolly's Legacy Animal Rescue.

For full details and to purchase tickets in advance, visit www.sipnebraska.com, www.facebook.com/sipnebraska or call 402-882-2448. Tickets can also be purchased for an additional $10 at the door if not sold out.
WASHINGTON  A bill authored by U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Janesville, passed the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously Wednesday to create more congressional oversight of how the U.S. Treasury allows U.S. entities to do business with sanctioned individuals.

Bipartisan and partisan

Despite unanimous support from Democrats, Steil, whose district includes all of Racine and Kenosha counties, celebrated the passage as a way to hold President Joe Bidens administration accountable  although on the House floor Steil did praise Democrats for their support and bipartisanship.

In a statement after passage of the bill, Steil said: Time and again, the Biden Administration has skirted Congress, weakening the United States credibility on the world stage. This bill ensures the executive branch must tell Congress if it will be waiving any sanctions that let our enemies use our financial system. Sanctions are a critical tool in our toolkit, and we need to keep them viable.

On the House floor prior to the vote Wednesday, Steil said: Im pleased to note that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have long supported this oversight, and they provided helpful input as weve developed this important legislation ... Our majority support for this measure is reflective of a strong spirit of bipartisanship on the Financial Services Committee when it comes to safeguarding our national security ... Its important to have a government thats accountable, and this bill brings much-needed accountability to our efforts.

More congressional oversight

The bill requires the U.S. Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to report to Congress twice a year on all cases in which the Treasury approved a waiver that would allow a transaction between a financial institution  such as a bank  and sanctioned individuals.

Sanctions effectively block assets and restrict trade between U.S. entities and those sanctioned. Those sanctioned are often connected to terrorism or other human rights abuses.

Thousands of individuals, as well as businesses and other entities, are on public lists as being sanctioned by the Treasury. Just this year, hundreds of Russians and others related to Russia were added to the Treasurys sanctions list since Russias invasion of Ukraine that began in February. On Friday, the Treasury announced it was sanctioning 14 suppliers for supporting Russias military supply chains.

Steil noted that his bill does not stop the Treasury from allowing exemptions for U.S. entities to engage with those who have been sanctioned. Exemptions are often approved to allow trade related to humanitarian aid or agricultural goods.

In prepared remarks Sept. 20 at the Global Food Security Summit in New York, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that to prevent famines and other preventable disasters as the war in eastern Europe continues: We have to get emergency aid to the people who need it ... One way that we can do that is to ensure that sanctions do not impair access to food or medicine in any country beyond just Russia and Ukraine.

On the House floor Wednesday, Steil said: While OFAC may have good reasons to issue a license (exemption), its essential for Congress to be aware of bad actors access to our financial system. Though some OFAC licenses are made public, others are not disclosed or even their existence may be unknown to Congress ... Without this knowledge, Congress is limited in its ability to oversee the implementation of sanctions.

The Senate still must pass its own version of Steils bill and the president must sign it into law in order for this new oversight requirement to take effect.
FITCHBURG  With cathedral ceilings and spa-like treatment rooms, the $70 million Usona Institute building going up next to Promega Corp.s campus in Fitchburg is expected to become a national hub for the use of psychedelic drugs to treat depression and other mental health conditions.

Usona, co-founded by Promega CEO Bill Linton in 2014, is spearheading an effort to get psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, approved for major depressive disorder. The nonprofit is also providing psilocybin for research on other uses, which may include anxiety, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and nicotine, alcohol, opioid and methamphetamine addiction.

The institute is developing a synthetic version of 5-MeO-DMT, a psychoactive substance found in the venom of the Sonoran Desert toad, and plans to start the first U.S. study in humans this fall. Usona scientists are also tweaking and screening chemical compounds in an effort to discover other mind-altering drugs that might be therapeutic.

The 93,000-square-foot facility, expected to open in fall 2023 on 17 wooded acres northwest of Promegas headquarters off East Cheryl Parkway, will feature education and training areas for psychedelic drug researchers and providers from around the country.

In a floating pool, sauna, steam room and botanical room, patients will be able to prepare themselves for guided, hallucinogenic experiences in serene spaces, with the goal of helping them break free from the grip of mental anguish. Three residential cottages are planned.

Their hope is for some sort of personal transformation, Linton said. Its my belief that people are undergoing a change in self-awareness, a re-set of who am I?

The development of a headquarters for Usona, now housed in other Promega buildings, comes amid a growing national profile for psychoactive medicine. Its a comeback of sorts, after studies of psilocybin, LSD and other psychedelics for mental disorders in the 1960s were stopped after what were considered excesses of recreational use resulted in the drugs becoming illegal in 1970.

By the first half of 2024, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve MDMA, sometimes called Ecstasy or Molly, for PTSD, federal officials said in May.

The drugs act on specific brain receptors to change perception and cognition, with psilocybin having a very low risk of addiction because it doesnt seem to involve the addictive reward circuitry of the brain, scientists say. The benefits can come from just one or two doses.

There has been a resurgence, I think, of the interest in psychedelic drugs, which for a while were sort of considered not an area that researchers legitimately ought to go after, Dr. Francis Collins, then-director of the National Institutes of Health, said during a U.S. Senate budget hearing last year. I think as weve learned more about how the brain works, weve begun to realize that these are potential tools for research purposes and might be clinically beneficial.

Transformative experience

It was a friends relief from depression during late-stage cancer that got Linton tuned into the psychedelic revival. In a study at Johns Hopkins, the friend, whom Linton identifies publicly only as Betty, took psilocybin and was transformed, he said. The experience greatly improved her life and her familys lives during the few months before she died, he said.

Her whole demeanor changed, Linton said. She went from this state of deep depression to a sense of gratitude, feeling that each day was a gift.

Linton and Dr. Malynn Utzinger, a family medicine and integrative medicine provider who graduated from the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, created Usona to shepherd psilocybin through the multi-phase clinical trial process required for FDA approval.

Usona expects to start a phase 1 study of 5-MeO-DMT, the toad compound, in Kansas City in November. While recreational use of the substance and studies in Europe have involved inhaling it as a vapor, Linton said Usonas approach is an injection into the arm.

Studies have suggested 5-MeO-DMT might have benefits for anxiety, depression and stress, but its not clear what condition Usona will target. We believe it offers a lot of therapeutic potential, but we havent decided what that indication is going to be, Linton said.

Usonas synthetic versions of psilocybin and 5-MeO-DMT have been manufactured in Northern Ireland. But production is being transferred to Promegas new Chappelle Manufacturing Center, on Sub-Zero Parkway about three miles west of Promega headquarters. The facility can make psilocybin, 5-MeO-DMT and other compounds in clean-room conditions required for commercial use.

Scaling up

In Usonas research and development lab at Promega, medicinal chemist Alex Sherwood and his colleagues are synthesizing metabolites of psilocybin and 5-MeO-DMT to be used as references in the analysis of blood samples from clinical study participants.

In an effort to understand the mechanisms of action of psychedelics to develop improved drugs, theyre studying MDMA, LSD, mescaline and other psychoactive substances, synthesizing reconfigured compounds and participating in the National Institute of Mental Healths Psychoactive Drug Screening Program.

The goal of this lab is to produce small amounts of many things, Sherwood said.

Next door, Sam Williamson is refining ways of making large quantities of psilocybin and 5-MeO-DMT.

The idea is to have the perfect process to make these huge, massive batches, said Williamson, a process development research scientist.

In 2020, Usona scientists published their process for synthesizing psilocybin, allowing others to produce their own supply for research. Scientists can also obtain psilocybin for studies from Usona at minimal cost. Usona provides psilocybin, 5-MeO-DMT and other compounds to some 120 research centers around the world.

Patent challenges

Last year, Usona started Porta Sophia, an online library of research findings and other information on psilocybin and other psychedelics, to show patent seekers and examiners what is already in the public domain.

Porta Sophia has challenged numerous claims in Compass patent applications. They include some describing the setting in which psilocybin is given, such as the patient using an eye mask and being in a room with muted colors and soft furniture. The company recently canceled those claims.

We support good patents on things that are truly innovative, Linton said.

Denver became the first U.S. city to effectively decriminalize psilocybin in 2019, with 10 other cities and the state of Oregon now having taken that step or made possession of small amounts the lowest law enforcement priority, according to Psychedelic Alpha.

While Linton supports decriminalization, he said Usona and its new facility are focused on helping people with major depression, with which an estimated 21 million Americans have at least one episode each year.

This is the first center ... specifically designed with this in mind, Linton said. It offers an opportunity for that change to occur with one single treatment, which is quite remarkable.
Wisconsin wildlife officials say the states wolf population likely fell by almost 20% over the past two years but is not in jeopardy.

The Department of Natural Resources estimates there were about 972 wolves in 288 packs last winter, down from about 1,136 the previous year, prior to a court-ordered hunting season in which state-licensed hunters exceeded state and tribal quotas combined.

This is the second straight year of decline from a population peak of 1,195 in 2020.

Surveys also showed a decrease in average pack size across the state, which the DNR says is consistent with observations following hunting and trapping seasons.

Despite the observed decline in wolf population abundance, there are several biological indicators that continue to indicate the Wisconsin wolf population is healthy, biologically secure in the state, large carnivore specialist Randy Johnson told the Natural Resources Board on Wednesday. The department is committed to maintaining a sustainable and healthy wolf population in the state into the future.

The gray wolf is currently on the federal endangered species list.

Adrian Treves, a professor of environmental studies at UW-Madison who studies coexistence of humans and carnivores, questions the estimates and faults the DNR for not sharing its data.

Treves said the agencys model creates a risk counting individual packs multiple times because the areas sampled are too small.

Since they havent released their methods, theres no way to know if theyve successfully avoided it, Treves said. The DNR is doing it backwards: Theyre communicating their results before we can see anything.

Jennifer Price Tack, a large carnivore and elk research scientist with the DNR, said the agency stands behind its methods and its peer-reviewed model has proved to produce reliable, accurate results.

Price Tack said the DNR does not release wolf location data because doing so would undermine basic concepts of ethical hunting and would jeopardize the health and genetic diversity of Wisconsins wolf population.

The state hasnt held a hunt since February 2021, when hunters killed at least 218 wolves in less than three days.

Johnson said the agency hasnt done a detailed analysis of localized impacts, but even in areas where there was concentrated harvest ... we still see wolf packs occupying generally the same areas.

The sky didnt fall entirely with that February hunt, Natural Resources Board member Bill Bruins said.

Folks can interpret the change as they see fit, but we feel good about this result, Johnson said. I would caution reading too much into a single data point between a couple of years.

Last winters hunt was put on hold by a Dane County judge who ruled the DNR must first update its 15-year-old management plan and adopt rules for setting quotas and issuing licenses. That case was dismissed in April, though the DNR has yet to update the plan. Johnson said he hopes to release a draft for public review this fall.

In February, a federal judge restored protections for gray wolves across much of the United States after finding the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to show wolf populations could be sustained in the Midwest and portions of the West without protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Wildlife advocates had argued state-sponsored hunting threatened to reverse the gray wolfs recovery over the past several decades.

Wisconsin law requires the DNR to hold a hunting season from November through February whenever the wolf is not listed as endangered.
Copperas Cove, TX (76522)

Today

Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High 68F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Clear. Low near 40F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.
Kuwait-based Gulf Investment House (GIH), a leading investor in real estate properties, yesterday (September 30) announced its successful dual listing on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX).

The company has been listed on the Kuwait Boursa since May 2002 and has a market capitalisation of AED1.96 billion ($530 million).

GIH is the first Kuwaiti company since the inception of the Kuwait Boursa to be listed in Abu Dhabi, it stated.

With this listing, the number of dual listing on ADX now stands at five.

Lauding the Kuwait group's move, ADX said the dual listing will help GIH to expand its investor base and liquidity in its shares.

GIH Chairman Abdulaziz Asaad Alsanad said with this listing GIH creates a new historical milestone in its journey represented in the inclusion of the company's shares on ADX, one of the most important and prominent regional markets, which has a market capitalization of more than AED2.2 trillion.

"GIH's aspirations in the board of directors are large and high, as Abu Dhabi represents an opportunity towards integration into a dynamic and diversified investment and economic environment characterized by high flexibility of growth and vast economic horizons full of opportunities," remarked Alsanad.

"This aspires us to establish an economic partnership with the private sector there, contribute to the growth and development of the economy, and enter into various projects," he added.

With GIH having subsidiaries and associates covering various economic activities, it gives the Kuwaiti group flexibility and openness to various economic sectors in Abu Dhabi and benefit from keeping pace with the effective transformation plan in the economic base of the country.

"We were encouraged to be present in a market that reflects a qualitative economy that seeks diversification and capacity building in modern economic sectors," stated Alsanad.

ADX Managing Director and CEO Saeed Hamad Al Dhaheri said: "We are pleased to welcome Gulf Investment House to ADX. This dual listing is very much in line with our strategy to significantly increase our offering of products and services to build a vibrant exchange for issuers and investors."

"We are actively forging deeper ties across the region through dual listings as well as the Tabadul exchange hub initiative, which will facilitate investment across markets. The increase we have seen of trading in dual listed companies reflects the fact ADX is becoming a dual listings destination of choice for companies from the region," he added.

The GIH listing brings the number of dual listings on the Abu Dhabi exchange to five. Shares of Oooredoo, Sudatel Telecom Group, Oman and Emirates Investment Holding Company and Gulf Finance House also have secondary listings on the exchange.

As of September 29, market capitalisation for dual listed companies on ADX stood at AED29 billion, up from AED23 billion a year earlier. Total trading in the securities nearly quadrupled year on year to AED118 million in the first nine months of 2022.

According to him, ADX has experienced a significant uplift in market capitalisation and liquidity over the last year, with a robust IPO and listing pipeline as well as increased participation from international and institutional investors.

"This year, we have been one of the best performing markets globally and the exchange reached the AED2 trillion market capitalization target milestone to become the second largest exchange in the Middle East," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
1. Yes. Its important to cast my votes early and avoid the lines on Election Day.

2. Yes. With nearly two weeks of early voting, its a more convenient way to take part.

3. No. Its better to wait until Election Day, in case any last-minute information surfaces.

4. No. Im not planning to vote early or on Election Day. It isnt worth my time.

5. Unsure. It depends on how the campaigns are shaping up. Ill play it by ear.

Vote

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Hong Kong: Consumption voucher disbursed

The Government today gave out the second voucher under the 2022 (Phase II) Consumption Voucher Scheme to about 6.36 million eligible people.

They will successively receive SMS notifications or mobile app push notifications, the Government said.

The vouchers are disbursed via six stored value facility operators ie AlipayHK, BoC Pay, Octopus, PayMe from HSBC, Tap & Go and WeChat Pay HK. People who are entitled to a total of $5,000 voucher received their first $2,000 in August.

If they use Octopus to collect the voucher, the second voucher of $2,000 will be disbursed today.

By the end of November, if their cumulative total eligible spending has reached $4,000, the remaining $1,000 voucher will be disbursed on December 16 the earliest. Otherwise, their eligible spending has to reach $4,000 no later than March 31 next year in order to obtain the last $1,000 voucher by tapping the card on April 16.

Meanwhile for people who collect the voucher through the other five ewallets, their $2,000 voucher received in early August and the $3,000 voucher received today will both expire on February 28 next year. They may use the vouchers according to their consumption pattern before the expiry date.

This story has been published on: 2022-10-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Zeleros, the European company developing the scalable hyperloop, an ultra high-speed mobility solution for transport of passengers and goods, and ArcelorMittal, the worlds leading steel and mining company, have carried out trials to analyse the behaviour of steel grades for optimal use in hyperloops.

A testing facility in the form of a spinning wheel that can reach linear speeds of up to 500 km per

hour has been designed and built at ArcelorMittals Rail Excellence Centre in Spain, to test how

certain steels perform in ultra-high-speed conditions, prior to testing on a scaled hyperloop

track.

The results provide data to further advance the selection of the best steels for hyperloop use, considering safety, energy efficiency, cost and scalability as the main decision criteria.

Zeleros and ArcelorMittal have been working together since 2017. Since then, experts from both companies  including all of ArcelorMittals R&D centres - have jointly developed studies to analyse the way in which materials behave in high-speed conditions, measuring the effects of key characteristics for hyperloop technology, such as the electromagnetic properties of steels (hyperloop designs propose the use of magnetic levitation).

As part of the collaborative work between the two companies, ArcelorMittals rails business in Europe -- ArcelorMittal Europe -- long products, rails and special sections - has developed new products with improved guiding and braking performance, as part of the wider co-engineering project between Zeleros and

ArcelorMittal.

To reach Zeleros' vision of building a scalable hyperloop, including the braking, guiding and

levitation technology in the vehicle, this collaboration is key. Thanks to the continuous improvement of steel, we can radically reduce infrastructure costs and assure energy efficiency and infrastructure viability, stated Daniel Orient, Zeleros CTO.

The work we have been doing with Zeleros reflects the importance we place on our involvement in innovative projects using steel in infrastructure and transportation, and that contribute to reducing CO2 emissions, said Nicoleta Popa, Portfolio Leader of Construction Applications, Infrastructures and Long Products of ArcelorMittal Global R&D.

The multidisciplinary ArcelorMittal team for the structural, mechanical and electromagnetic aspects, proves the strength of our approach for such complex innovative projects, both in defining new products and in developing new solutions, said Frederic Painchault, Head of marketing of Global automotive & Mobility solutions.

Besides hyperloop, ArcelorMittal has participated in studies of materials for other applications developed by Zeleros, such as the SELF (Sustainable Electric Freight-forwarder), conceived to move standard intermodal containers in a faster, automated and sustainable way within ports, for which the test track is currently under construction in the port of Sagunto in Spain. - TradeArabia News Service
NEW YORK  A pair of cowboy boots that Ashley Hoff never thought she would see again helped unlock a powerful story about the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

The resulting film, 11 Minutes, is an inside account of the 2017 massacre at a country music festival in Las Vegas and, more importantly, about how it reverberated in the lives of those who were there. More than three hours long, the four-part documentary just debuted on the Paramount+ streaming service.

I've never felt more useful or more like the universe put me exactly where I was supposed to be, said Hoff, an executive producer of 11 Minutes.

It seems like a strange sentiment given that Hoff was at the show on Oct. 1, 2017, four rows from the stage as Jason Aldean sang Any Ol' Barstool. Hoff heard popping sounds that she and her husband, Shaun, first dismissed as fireworks  not the work of a gunman firing from a nearby hotel window.

She turned to look at her husband and saw someone just behind him struck in the face by a bullet. They alternated ducking to the ground for cover and running away, depending on when they could hear the gunshots.

At one point, she kicked off her cowboy boots because it was too slippery to run in them, eventually escaping the killing field where 58 people died that night, and two more later of their injuries. More than 850 people were hurt before the gunfire stopped.

Nine months later, an FBI agent was at Hoff's door with her boots  part of a little-known unit that returns property left behind by people caught in these incidents.

Hoff, already in the film business, thought that made an intriguing subject. She was encouraged to broaden her focus through her experience with fellow survivors and the involvement of director Jeff Zimbalist and veteran producers Susan Zirinsky and Terence Wrong.

Many survivors, like herself, were unhappy with media coverage of the massacre, believing there was too much focus on the gunman and that it was forgotten too soon.

We all went back to our corners to suffer in silence, she said.

The film takes you vividly inside the event with cellphone and police body-cam footage. The cooperation of Las Vegas police was key, bringing footage like the race to hospitals with survivors and the moment when a tactical unit burst into the casino hotel room where the gunman had barricaded himself.

The experiences of people like Jonathan Smith, a Black concertgoer who had felt unwelcome because of a white man's remark wondering why he was there, and Natalie Grumet, who had just survived cancer, are weaved throughout the story. Both were seriously injured.

Is it easy to watch? No, but it shouldn't be easy to watch, said SiriusXM host Storme Warren, who was onstage in Las Vegas that night. I don't know why you would tell the story if it were easy to watch.

Warren at first hesitated when asked to participate in the film, dealing with his own PTSD and wary because of past media coverage. He and Aldean, who gave his first interview about Las Vegas to filmmakers, are important ties to the country community.

Hoff believes her own experience that night, even though it is not included in the film, helped convince some of those involved to talk.

The parents of Carrie Parsons, a young woman who didn't survive her wounds, discuss dealing with every parent's worst nightmare, and how their time to grieve with her body was cut short.

They're going to cremate my daughter in 10 minutes, a tearful Ann-Marie Parsons recalled being told. "How do you deal with that?

After the shooting stopped, police talked of hearing the rings of cellphones as they walked among bodies still on the concert grounds, knowing there were desperate callers on the other end wanting to know if their loved ones were safe.

Beyond the concertgoers, it's startling to see some of the first responders  often not the most emotive types  speak about how they've dealt with the emotional aftermath. I was a very angry man. Very angry, said Brian Rogers, paramedic operations chief, in the film.

Part four of 11 Minutes, begins at dawn on Oct. 2, 2017, and focuses on some of the enduring bonds between survivors, and some of the rescuers.

It's Hoff's favorite part. I do like to encourage people that there is goodness in the end, so hang in for that, she said.

While the film talks about the gunman, whose motive remains a mystery since he killed himself before police reached him, it pointedly does not mention his name. Almost militantly so: A series of audio news reports included are cut off just before the name is spoken.

It was found that the gunman searched the internet for how to be a social media star in the days before the shooting. Even in death, Hoff doesnt want to give him that wish.

The film ends with a slow crawl showing the names of those killed five years ago in Las Vegas, as well as the victims of every mass shooting since that time in the U.S. where at least four people were killed.

I don't call it a political statement, Zirinsky said. I call it a statement of reality.
KHAIRPUR, Pakistan  Like every year, Arz Mohammed planted his little patch of land in southern Pakistan with cotton. The crop would earn him enough so that, as he puts it, his family of five wouldnt be reduced to begging. Then came the deluge.

Pakistans massive floods this summer collapsed Mohammeds home and destroyed his four acres of cotton, wiping out most of his income.

On top of that, his land and that of his neighbors remain underwater, three months after the heaviest rains stopped. Like many farmers across southern Pakistan, he may not be able to plant his next crop  wheat  in time.

That could spell trouble for the countrys food supply.

These rains have destroyed everything for us, said Mohammed, who lives in a tent with his wife and children near his wrecked house in Khairpur, one of the countrys hardest-hit districts. We dont even have anything to eat.

This summers flooding, caused by monsoon rains nearly triple the usual ferocity, wiped out huge swaths of crops, leaving already impoverished families struggling to obtain food. Farmers and officials warn that Pakistan could now face serious food shortages at a time when the government is strapped for cash and world food prices are high.

Nearly 15% of Pakistans rice crop and 40% of its cotton crop were lost, according to officials. The waters also wiped out the personal grain stores that many farming families rely on for food yearlong.

The flooding, blamed in part on climate change, killed nearly 1,600 people, damaged nearly 2 million homes and wreaked damage estimated at more than $30 billion.

At the United Nations last week, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said crops on 4 million acres were washed away. We need funds to provide livelihood to our people. We need funds to compensate for the loss of crops to our people, to our farmers.

The government says there is no immediate worry about food supplies. In a statement, the state disaster agency said wheat stock are enough to last through the next harvest and the government is importing more.

However, the upcoming wheat crop has been thrown into uncertainty. Planting usually starts in October. In Punjab province, the countrys main wheat producer, fields suffered less damage and can be sown in time. But in southern Sindh province, the second largest producer, some 50% of the fields remain underwater, according to Jam Khan Shoro, a provincial irrigation minister in Sindh.

Aerial footage in Sindh shows field after field still inundated. The province, in Pakistans southern lowlands at the downstream end of its major rivers, is where the floods hit hardest: 80% of the rice crop and 70% of cotton were destroyed, devastating the livelihoods of the small farmers who make up most the production.

Altaf Hussain Marri, a larger and relatively well-off landholder in Khairpur, said he normally gives away wheat as a gift to friends and family. Now hes worried about having enough for himself and his children, unsure if his 400 inundated acres will drain in time. The floods demolished his cotton and rice crops, worth around $40,000.

If we fail to grow wheat  next year we might not have even wheat to eat, Marri said. It will create food insecurity in the country. The poor will suffer a lot. There will be no flour.

Pakistans agricultural sector had been growing in recent years, allowing the country to export some wheat and rice.

Now we will have to import wheat and other food items, Pakistans Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal told the AP.

Sharif, the prime minister, said Pakistan may have to import about a million metric tons of wheat, and it could come from Russia, but Pakistan is open to other offers if the price is right.

Pakistan has already put out orders to import 500,000 metric tons of wheat, Planning Ministry officials say. There are contingency plans to buy as much 2.5 million tons over the next year, but officials are waiting to see how much wheat is planted, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the policy was not yet set.

Ashfaq Ahmad, a senior economist, said the additional wheat needs to be brought in quickly, by next month.

Otherwise, I am seeing a food crisis in December, he told the AP. Any delay in the import of wheat will cause food shortage.

The flooding was also a blow to Pakistans important cash crops. Losses will mean lower exports of rice, which earned $2 billion in 2020. Cotton losses could hurt the countrys biggest export, textiles and clothes, which brought in more than $20 billion annually in recent years.

But the greater damage and danger is likely to Pakistans poor, with no margin to endure losses in income and food.

On the ground in Sukkur, another hard-hit district neighboring Khairpur, the local agricultural director Rasool Bux Junejo fears the worst. Farmers wont be able to grow wheat or other key crops like sunflowers and mustard.

That will be a huge loss in the coming months. If you ask me as an agriculture worker, I foresee famine, God forbid, he said. We will be unable to provide food to our people.
NORFOLK, Va.  Following years of delays and problems with its new technology, the U.S. Navy's most advanced aircraft carrier embarks on its first deployment this week and will train with other NATO countries at a time of increasing Russian aggression in Ukraine.

The USS Gerald R. Ford is scheduled to leave the world's largest Navy base in Norfolk, Virginia, on Monday along with destroyers and other warships, the U.S. Navy said in a statement. The carrier strike group will join ships in the Atlantic Ocean from countries that include France, Germany and Sweden for various exercises, including anti-submarine warfare.

"The Atlantic is an area of strategic interest," Vice Admiral Daniel Dwyer said in a statement. "Our primary goal is to contribute to a peaceful, stable and conflict-free Atlantic region through the combined naval power of our Allies and partners."

Dwyer commands the U.S. Navy's 2nd Fleet, which oversees American warships as they deploy between the U.S. East Coast and the Barents Sea, off the coasts of Norway and Russia. The U.S. has sharpened its focus on the North Atlantic in recent years after the Russian military ramped up operations to a pace not seen since the end of the Cold War.

The latest exercises come seven months after Russia invaded Ukraine. Western countries, including the U.S., have provide weapons to Ukraine, increasing tensions with the Kremlin. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to send more troops into battle and potentially use nuclear weapons to ward off Ukraine's attempt to reclaim control of Moscow-occupied areas.

Bradley Martin, a senior policy researcher with the RAND Corporation, told The Associated Press that these exercises will showcase American military capabilities and support for NATO. Concerns about Russia are part of the mission's broader calculus.

"We're also showing Russia that there are an array of forces they'd have to deal with if they go beyond Ukraine or escalate in Ukraine in ways we find unacceptable," said Martin, a retired Navy captain.

American aircraft carriers demonstrate the U.S.'s unique ability to dispatch warplanes around the world, Martin said. Despite the USS Ford's well-publicized problems, he said, it's still part of a larger display of the nation's military might.

The $13.3 billion warship  the nation's most expensive  is the first of the Navy's new Ford class of aircraft carriers. They're designed to carry a wider variety of planes and operate with several hundred fewer sailors. They use an electromagnetic system for launching planes, which replaces steam catapults and is supposed to increase flying missions by a third.

The Ford's first deployment comes five years after it was commissioned. And it's been beset by various issues, including problems with the launch system and the elevators that bring missiles and bombs to jets on the flight deck.

A Congressional Research Service report from late August stated that the Navy had "struggled to meet promises it repeatedly made" to defense oversight committees to complete, test and certify the weapons elevators. The Navy said the ship's 11th and final weapons elevator was certified in December.

In 2017, then-President Donald Trump told Time magazine that the Navy should revert to steam for launching planes because the electromagnetic system "costs hundreds of millions of dollars more money and it's no good."

Dwyer, the admiral, told reporters in a phone call on Monday that the Ford "has already successfully conducted over 10,000 catapults and carrier landings."

Martin, of the RAND Corporation, said the system is yet to launch planes at the higher rate for which it was designed. And it will likely take years to do so, which he said is not unexpected for the first in a new class of carriers.

"Aircraft carrier strike groups are still a center of Navy power projection," Martin said. "The fact that the lead ship in a new class has had some significant development issues doesn't change that."
ATLANTA  Outraged by false allegations of fraud against a Georgia elections employee in 2020, Amanda Rouser made a vow as she listened to the woman testify before Congress in June about the racist threats and harassment she faced.

I said that day to myself, Im going to go work in the polls, and Im going to see what theyre going to do to me," Rouser, who like the targeted employee is Black, recalled after stopping by a recruiting station for poll workers at Atlanta City Hall on a recent afternoon. Try me, because Im not scared of people.

About 40 miles north a day later, claims of fraud also brought Carolyn Barnes to a recruiting event for prospective poll workers, but with a different motivation.

"I believe that we had a fraudulent election in 2020 because of the mail-in ballots, the advanced voting, Barnes, 52, said after applying to work the polls for the first time in Forsyth County. I truly believe that the more we flood the system with honest people who are trying to help out, it will straighten it out.

Barnes, who declined to give her party affiliation, said she wants to use her position as a poll worker to share her observations about the gaps in election security and where stuff could happen afterwards.

Nearly two years after the last presidential election, there has been no evidence of widespread fraud or manipulation of voting machines. Numerous reviews in the battleground states where former President Donald Trump disputed his loss to President Joe Biden have affirmed the results, courts have rejected dozens of lawsuits filed by Trump and his allies, and even Trump's own Department of Justice concluded the results were accurate.

Nevertheless, the false claims about the the 2020 presidential contest by the former president and his supporters are spurring new interest in working the polls for the upcoming midterm elections, according to interviews with election officials, experts and prospective poll workers.

Like Rouser, some aim to shore up a critical part of their state's election system amid the lies and misinformation about voting and ballot-counting. But the false claims and conspiracy theories also have taken hold among a wide swath of conservative voters, propelling some to sign up to help administer elections for the first time.

The possibility they will play a crucial role at polling places is a new worry this election cycle, said Sean Morales-Doyle, an election security expert at The Brennan Center for Justice.

I think it's a problem that there may be people who are running our elections that buy into those conspiracy theories and so are approaching their role as fighting back against rampant fraud," he said.

But he also cautioned there are numerous safeguards to prevent a single poll worker from disrupting voting or trying to manipulate the results.

The Associated Press talked to roughly two dozen prospective poll workers in September during three recruiting events in two Georgia counties  Fulton County, which includes most of Atlanta and where more than 70 percent of voters cast a ballot for Biden, and Forsyth County north of Atlanta, where support for Trump topped 65 percent.

About half said the 2020 election was a factor in their decision to try to become a poll worker.

We dont want Donald Trump bullying people, said Priscilla Ficklin, a Democrat, while taking an application at Atlanta City Hall to be a Fulton County poll worker. Im going to stand up for the people who are afraid.

Carlette Dryden said she showed up to vote in Forsyth County in 2020 only to be told that she had already cast a mail-in ballot. She said elections officials let her cast a ballot later, but she suspects someone fraudulently voted in her name and believes her experience reflects broader problems with the vote across the country.

Still, she said her role was not to police voters or root out fraud.

What I'm signing up to do is to help others that are coming through here that may need assistance or questions answered, she said.

Georgia was a focus of Trumps attempts to undo his 2020 election defeat to Biden. He pressured the states Republican secretary of state in a January 2021 phone call to find enough votes to overturn Bidens victory in the state and seized on surveillance footage to accuse the Black elections worker, Wandrea Moss, and her mother, Ruby Freeman, of pulling out suitcases of fraudulent votes in Fulton County. The allegation was quickly knocked down, but still spread widely through conservative media.

Moss told the House Jan. 6 committee that she received death threats and racist messages.

At a farmer's market in the politically mixed suburb of Alpharetta north of Atlanta, Deborah Eves said she was concerned about being harassed for working at a voting site but still felt compelled to sign up.

A substitute teacher and Democrat, Eves visited a recruiting booth set up by Fulton County officials next to stands selling single origin coffee, honey and empanadas.

I feel like our government is we the people, and we the people' need to step up and do things like poll working so that we can show that nobodys cheating, nobodys trying to do the wrong thing here, she said.
WASHINGTON  Kamala Harriss whirlwind tour of Japan and South Korea last week amounts to a microcosm for the state of her vice presidency: an ambitious, historic and increasingly confident effort still beset by the occasional high-profile gaffe.

In Japan, Harris stood alongside other world leaders at the state funeral for Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister whose assassination at a campaign event rattled a key American ally.

She delivered a carefully calibrated denunciation of China from the deck of a U.S. warship intended to reassure allies  without deepening a rift with Beijing that President Joe Biden has widened with explicit pledges to defend Taiwan from an invasion.

Harris soothed South Korean leaders angry over new U.S. tax credits for electric vehicles likely to disadvantage Asian automakers, while needling the countrys new president over gender inequities.

And at the Demilitarized Zone dividing the Korean peninsula, a photo-op of Harris gazing through binoculars across the heavily fortified border echoed the previous visits of five presidents.

But the clip of the vice president circulating on cable news the next morning featured an unfortunate slip of the tongue, after she said the U.S. had a strong alliance with the Republic of North Korea.

The moment illustrated the microscope of scrutiny that Harris, the nations first female vice president, labors under as she tries to rebuild her stature within the White House and with voters. Her first year in office was marked by rampant staff turnover, rhetorical stumbles, and struggles to address migration from Central America, her highest-profile assignment from the president.

At the DMZ, Harris clearly meant to refer to the Republic of Korea  South Koreas official name  and she is hardly the only politician to commit such a slip. Only hours earlier, Biden made a much more awkward gaffe when he called out for a deceased congresswoman at a White House event.

Still, White House officials say perceptions of Harris within the West Wing warmed in recent months as her office staff stabilized under a new chief of staff and the former California Senator demonstrated more political acuity.

She has earned praise even from skeptics in the administration for her leadership of the White Houses response to the Supreme Court ruling striking down national abortion rights.

The vice presidents outspokenness on abortion has impressed Bidens aides, according to a person familiar with their thinking, and is viewed as particularly helpful because the president  a nearly 80-year-old man and a practicing Catholic  can be uncomfortable speaking about the issue.

Harris, who is 57, has stood out as a key interlocutor with state and local womens rights groups, a second person said. And shes served as a bridge to Black, young, female and progressive voters who have not always rallied behind Biden.

Shes also shown enthusiasm for space exploration, welcoming a chance to lead the presidents National Space Council.

Many in the West Wing continue to fret that Harriss retail political skills leave much to be desired, and her staff keep her public appearances closely managed. Her aides publicly bristled when she was given responsibility for addressing the root causes of migration from central America, and migrant flows at the Southern border have only increased.

Some in the White House say that her meticulous, prosecutorial approach to her portfolio is often risk-adverse and lacks a populist touch.

Diplomatic skills

But as her trip to Asia demonstrated, over-preparation can serve Harris well conducting high-stakes diplomacy. Abroad, she capably projects the image of a controlled and confident world leader who speaks for the president.

Aides say the vice president is increasingly comfortable with that role. Less than two years into her term, Harris has met with more than 100 world leaders, one White House aide noted, including high-profile trips to Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Poland, Romania, Germany and France.

Enlisting Harris to help navigate Taiwan tensions is a particular signal of trust from the West Wing, which has intensified its focus on the relationship with Beijing ahead of Bidens November trip to Asia.

The White House is engaged in a high-stakes balancing act: The U.S. seeks to reassure allies in the region alarmed by Chinas increasingly expansionist rhetoric and actions, while also maintaining a partnership with Beijing to avoid deepening trade disputes or a pivot toward Russia that could threaten American interests.

Pressure has only increased following House Speaker Nancy Pelosis August trip to Taiwan, which strained efforts to arrange a meeting between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Speaking from the windswept deck of the USS Howard  a Navy destroyer stationed in Japan  Harris was largely able to thread the needle. She accused China of undermining key elements of the international rules-based order but said the U.S. would deepen its unofficial relationship with Taiwan, consistent with our longstanding policy  demonstrating a deft touch with ambiguity that has often seemed to elude Biden.

Overseas icon

The trip also showed that while Harris struggles to gain political traction at home, she is regarded as a trailblazing icon overseas. At Abes funeral, she was one of just a handful of women in attendance  a female leader in a sea of men in black suits.

The same was true during a meeting with Japanese business leaders, where Harris  the lone woman at the table  spoke about the benefits of a new U.S. law for foreign semiconductor manufacturers.

Pictures of Harris meeting with leaders were splashed across the front pages of Japanese newspapers, and an announcement that she planned to visit the Philippines later this year garnered significant coverage.

North Korea met Harriss trip to the DMZ with a response that seemed to betray that Pyongyang, at least, regarded her visit as momentous. Kim Jong-Uns regime launched three short-range missiles into the waters east of the country in the days ahead of the vice presidents arrival, adding two more after she left for good measure.
Johnson Controls, the global leader for smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, has signed a strategic agreement with Etihad Esco, to deploy its major energy saving measures across Dubai Municipality facilities in the emirate.

Etihad Esco is Dubais super energy services company tasked to develop and implement energy efficiency and solar projects.

Termed the Energy Performance Contract, the project offers Dubai Municipality annual savings of 16.6 million kWh in electricity consumption and 9.3 million gallons in water consumption, said the statement from Johnson Controls.

Moreover, it contributes to the Dubai Demand Side Management Strategy (DSM) developed by the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy (DSCE) to make the emirate a leader in sustainability with an ambitious target of 30% reduction in electricity and water consumption by 2030.

"Johnson Controls and Etihad Esco share common objectives for energy efficiency. We are excited to support this ambitious project to cut carbon emissions in the UAE leveraging our extensive experience in digital solutions," said Mohammad Khalid, the Vice President and GM for Johnson Controls (Middle East and Africa) after signing the deal with Ahmad Abuothman, the GM for building technologies in GCC and Dr Waleed Alnuaimi, the Acting CEO for Etihad Esco on the sidelines of Wetex.

"We are confident our combined expertise with Etihad Esco will yield positive results in enabling Dubai Municipality to efficiently achieve its energy savings targets," he stated.

Dr Alnuaimi said Etihad Esco is committed to serve the strategic goal of the UAE in pursuing a green economy for sustainable development by making Dubai a global model of green economy transition through leadership, partnership and adoption of energy efficiency technologies.

"Our collaboration with Johnson Controls reflects the importance of our continuous strive to remain committed to executing solutions that meet market demands and drive sustainability goals," he stated.

Abuothman said Johnson Controls had always been at the forefront of bringing low-carbon technologies to the market in energy-intensive industries and it aimed to reduce around 7304 tonnes of CO2 annually as part of this project for Dubai Municipality.

"Etihad Escos trust in Johnson Controls is a testimony of our proficiency and we will remain committed to driving comprehensive decarbonization with our suite of best-in-class solutions," he added.

Building on a proud history of nearly 140 years of innovation, Johnson Controls said it continues to deliver the blueprint of the future for industries such as healthcare, schools, data centers, airports, stadiums, manufacturing, and beyond through OpenBlue, our comprehensive digital offering.

Today, with a global team of 100,000 experts in more than 150 countries, it offers the world's largest portfolio of building technology and software as well as service solutions from some of the most trusted names in the industry.
FORT MYERS, Fla.  Dozens of Florida residents left their flooded and splintered homes by boat and by air on Saturday as rescuers continued to search for survivors in the wake of Hurricane Ian, while authorities in South Carolina and North Carolina began taking stock of their losses.

The death toll from the storm, one of the strongest hurricanes by wind speed to ever hit the U.S., grew to nearly three dozen, with deaths reported from Cuba, Florida and North Carolina. The storm weakened Saturday as it rolled into the mid-Atlantic, but not before it washed out bridges and piers, hurtled massive boats into buildings onshore and sheared roofs off homes, leaving hundreds of thousands without power.

At least 35 people were confirmed dead, including 28 people in Florida mostly from drowning but others from Ian's tragic aftereffects. An elderly couple died after their oxygen machines shut off when they lost power, authorities said.

As of Saturday, more than 1,000 people had been rescued from flooded areas along Florida's southwestern coast alone, Daniel Hokanson, a four-star general and head of the National Guard, told The Associated Press while airborne to Florida.

Chris Schnapp was at the Port Sanibel Marina in Fort Myers on Saturday, waiting to see whether her 83-year-old mother-in-law had been evacuated from Sanibel Island. A pontoon boat had just arrived with a load of passengers from the island  with suitcases and animals in tow  but Schnapp's mother-in-law was not among them.

"She stayed on the island. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law own two businesses over there. They evacuated. She did not want to go," Schnapp said. Now, she said, she wasn't sure if her mother-in-law was still on the island or had been taken to a shelter somewhere.

On Pine Island, the largest barrier island off Florida's Gulf Coast, houses were reduced to splinters and boats littered roadways as a volunteer group went door to door Saturday, asking residents if they wanted to be evacuated. Helen Koch blew her husband a kiss and mouthed the words "I love you" as she sat inside a rescue helicopter that was lifting her and seven of the couple's 17 dogs to safety.

River flooding posed a major challenge at times to rescue and supply delivery efforts. The Myakka River washed over a stretch of Interstate 75, forcing a traffic-snarling highway closure for a while Saturday on the key corridor linking Tampa to the north with the hard-hit southwest Florida region that straddles Port Charlotte and Fort Myers. Later Saturday, state officials said, water levels had receded enough that I-75 could be fully reopened. However, they said monitors were out keeping close watch on constantly changing river levels.

While rising waters in Florida's southwest rivers have crested or are near cresting, the levels aren't expected to drop significantly for days, said National Weather Service meteorologist Tyler Fleming in Tampa.

Elsewhere, South Carolina's Pawleys Island  a beach community roughly 75 miles up the coast from Charleston  was among the places hardest hit. Power remained knocked out to at least half of the island Saturday.

Eddie Wilder, who has been coming to Pawleys Island for more than six decades, said Friday's storm was "insane to watch." He said waves as tall as 25 feet washed away the local pier  an iconic landmark  near his home.

"We watched it hit the pier and saw the pier disappear," said Wilder, whose house 30 feet above the ocean stayed dry inside. "We watched it crumble and and watched it float by with an American flag."

The Pawleys pier was one of at least four along South Carolina's coast destroyed by battering winds and rain. Parts of the pier, including barnacle-covered pylons, littered the beach. The intracoastal waterway was strewn with the remnants of several boat houses knocked off their pilings.

John Joseph, whose father built the family's beige beach house in 1962, said Saturday he was elated to return from Georgetown  which took a direct hit. He found his Pawleys Island home entirely intact.

"Thank God these walls are still here, and we feel very blessed that this is the worst thing," he said of the sand that swept under his home. "What happened in Florida  gosh, God bless us. If we'd had a Category 4, I wouldn't be here."

In North Carolina, the storm claimed four lives and mostly downed trees and power lines, leaving over 280,000 people statewide without power Saturday morning, officials said. Two of the deaths were from storm-related vehicle crashes while officials said a man also drowned when his truck plunged into a swamp, and another man was killed by carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator in a garage.

In southwest Florida, authorities and volunteers were still assessing the damage as shocked residents tried to make sense of the disaster.

"I want to sit in the corner and cry. I don't know what else to do," Stevie Scuderi said, mud clinging to her purple sandals as she shuffled through her mostly destroyed apartment in Fort Myers.

On Saturday, a long line of people waited outside an auto parts store in Port Charlotte, where a sign read, "We have generators now." Hundreds of cars were lined up outside a gas station, and some people walked, carrying gas cans to their nearby cars.
WASHINGTON  Despite the apparent death of Sen. Joe Manchin IIIs permit overhaul legislation before it even got a vote, there are bipartisan ingredients that could be blended into a bill to change how large construction projects such as power lines and highways are greenlighted in America.

Republicans often view a permitting overhaul as a way to cut through environmental reviews, while Democrats think of it as a way to speed low-carbon power projects into existence and decouple from fossil fuel-generated electricity.

Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who frequently argues that fossil fuels will continue to play an important role during a transition to zero-carbon energy, withdrew his permitting overhaul proposal from the must-pass spending bill this past week as opposition from both parties appeared insurmountable. Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer said he would proceed with a spending bill to fund the government into mid-December without Manchins provision.

In particular, Manchins inclusion of language to approve the Mountain Valley Pipeline, an unfinished gas project in his state that broke ground in 2018, drew condemnation from climate action advocates and property owners along its path.

Schumer said he would push to pass legislation changing the permitting law before the end of the year, though a route to passage through both chambers remains narrow and would have to overcome a series of objections including those from rural Republicans over property rights, environmental justice advocates over pollution and climate groups over greenhouse gas emissions.

Manchin said in a statement that removing his permitting and pipeline language from the spending legislation  an agreement he and Schumer reached to secure the West Virginians vote on Democrats climate, health care and tax law  only serves to embolden leaders like (Russian President Vladimir) Putin who wish to see America fail.

It is unfortunate that members of the United States Senate are allowing politics to put the energy security of our nation at risk, Manchin said.

The U.S. is the No. 1 producer of oil and gas in the world, according to the Energy Information Administration, and has seen an uptick in gas production in recent months, with more natural gas rigs operating in September than before the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.

Environmental law experts said approving the Mountain Valley Pipeline in a spending bill  overruling the permitting authority of federal agencies and limiting access to the courts for opponents of the project  would be a highly unusual move. They compared it to a legislative maneuver by Sen. Howard Baker, R-Tenn., in the 1970s to exempt a dam in his state from the Endangered Species Act, or the congressional decision in the same decade to greenlight the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

In a situation like this we need a week or two to regroup and figure out the art of the possible, said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. Schatz supported Manchins original proposal, in part due to provisions that would ensure faster permitting for transmission lines.

Clean energy groups supporting Manchins bill cited the need for the fast construction of transmission lines. It would give the federal government authority over transmission lines found to be in the national interest, and require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to ensure costs are allocated to the customers they benefit.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, referred to these provisions as a power grab for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees large transmission projects.

The bill would allow FERC to override a states objections to siting transmission lines. This bill falls short in almost every regard, Cornyn said.

Despite his concerns, Cornyn said Congress could pass a bipartisan permitting bill in the coming months.

House Natural Resources Chairman Raul M. Grijalva, D-Ariz., referred to Manchins proposal as a fossil fuel brainchild after the legislative text was released. He led a letter signed by 76 other members urging House leadership to separate the permitting legislation from the must-pass spending bill.

While he and other progressive Democrats agreed the current permitting system in the U.S. needs reform, Grijalva said it should be done by requiring the federal government to study cumulative impacts and strengthening public input. Supporters of a bill Grijalva and Rep. A. Donald McEachin, D-Va., introduced argue that ensuring communities most affected by polluting industries have a say in the process could prevent legal challenges down the line, a frequent cause for delays in energy projects.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said he would be open to discussing permitting reform if it focused on expediting clean energy projects, while adding that the last thing the U.S. needs is additional fossil fuel infrastructure. Manchins proposal would have benefited both clean energy and fossil fuel projects, and included explicit requirements for the federal government to expedite some fossil fuel projects in addition to the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

But Republicans who have signaled a desire to pass permitting changes have expressed support for legislation that would advance both low-carbon and fossil energy projects.
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KEARNEY  As the director of the Manhattan Short Film Festival, Nicholas Mason watches hundreds of films a year, looking for filmmaking gems to screen as part of the yearly festival.

I find that short filmmakers often respond to current events, he said from his office in New York City. They tend to make stories using whats happening in the world as a backdrop. For example, next year Im sure well see a story that we can all identify with  being a love for a family member or whatever  with the war in Ukraine as a backdrop. Im sure Ill get about 50 or 60 of those films.

Last year Mason estimated he received 1,000 entries and about 10% of those entries featured stories about the pandemic.

I find that short films remind me of Bob Dylan songs from the 60s, he said. They were very current and reflective of the times.

Each year Mason explores the power of short films with the Manhattan Short Film Festival. The event curates 10 films, most of them with a duration of 15 minutes or less, and presents a showing across the world.

Viewers can vote on their favorite films. The screenings also qualify the short films for consideration for Academy Awards, something that greatly benefits novice filmmakers.

The World Theatre will present the Manhattan Short Film Festival Friday through Sunday. Admission is $8.

The festival will screen this years entries at about 180 venues across the country. The number represents an increase of an additional 100 theaters from the year 2021 due to the effects of the pandemic.

In 2020 I think there were about 30 theaters showing the films, Mason said. I think were about back to full strength. Were back to about 90% across the United States, which is very positive.

Because of the return to live presentations in theaters, the festival will not be shown virtually this year.

Ive always said that the films I remember the best were the films I saw in the space of a forum with other people, the director of the festival said. For the Manhattan Short Film Festival, its imperative. The films have very strong messages, and a strong message is stronger with 100 people in a room than just yourself sitting at home in front of your TV.

After viewing the films, audience members can vote for their favorites, something that gives the patrons a sense of ownership in the event.

When we first started, we used to have celebrities judge the event, and the event was not known, Mason said. When we branched out in 2004 to seven cities in seven states, the concept of everyone getting a vote, that was the best accident or invention, or whatever you want to call it, that ever happened to this festival. That was when the festival found its voice. It was then it became something. Before, we were just showing short films. Now were showing short films from around the world, and were asking for the public to be the judge.

Audience members take the voting seriously. Mason noted that in years past, less than 10 votes separated some of the winners. Out of 70,000 votes. Mason believes that handing the judging to the public has helped make the festival so successful.

From our end, its amazing when you consider that there are 20 cinemas in Kyiv, Ukraine, taking part of this, he said. There are showings across Australia, across Europe and the U.S.A. You can see how varied all of this is. Im going to be fascinated to find out which film wins this year.

Mason uses voting to help him decide on the films for coming years.

Its like there are these different styles of films, he said. Youre starting to see how they resonate with audiences in different areas. We always look at these spreadsheets and the voting record, broken down from Alaska to Argentina, on 10 different styles of films. The most important thing in running a film festival is to know your audience.

As for his appetite for watching films, it remains strong.

I find short films as an interesting reflection on how the world is feeling, Mason said. So to say that you get tired of watching them is like saying that you get tired of living.
Louie has not met his demise.

Eagle Park Brewing announced last week that it had acquired Milwaukee Brewing Co., putting some of Wisconsins classic craft beers, like Louies Demise, under the same roof of some of its best new ones.

The news followed official word that Pilot Project Brewing of Chicago had acquired Milwaukee Brewings barely 4-year-old downtown brewery. I had an illuminating conversation with one of Pilot Projects co-founders that dug deep into the story of a fascinating unicorn in the brewing industry.

Lets tug at these separate threads of the next phase for 25-year-old Milwaukee Brewing.

Eagle Park and MKE

Well start with the two known quantities.

Eagle Park is probably the biggest success story in the Wisconsin brewing industry in recent years. Just five years in, its built a small beer empire, including a huge brewery in Muskego, a southwest burb of Milwaukee; a smaller brewery and taproom on Cream Citys east side; and now the third-oldest craft brewery in the city.

Eagle Park co-founders Max and Jack Borgardt and Jake Schinker make very good beer. The brewerys signature beers are hazy IPAs in nearly endless iterations  a breadwinning specialty in these hop-forward times. Also in its portfolio as a contemporary beverage company is a host of hard seltzers, including a neon green one called Ekto Kooler, and smoothie beers. (Not to mention a distillery and a nascent wild/sour beer program.)

But head brewer Jack Borgardt and his team are arguably just as adept at the old-world-inspired lagers and ales. If such beers are your bag and you havent tried Fishing for Fishies pilsner or Hef hefeweizen, do not delay. This is good news for fans of Milwaukee Brewings beers, the best of which are cut from this classic cloth.

More good news is that aside from making good beer, Eagle Park is also very good at selling it. Fueled by its just-opened brewery, it added statewide distribution in 2020 and made nearly 7,000 barrels of beer (and hard seltzers) last year, according to figures reported to the state Department of Revenue. Its on a similar pace for 2022, logging 3,660 barrels through July.

In announcing the purchase of MKE, Eagle Park said it estimated its new brand to make up about 6,500 of the 14,000 barrels it expects to produce in 2023. MKE made about 10,000 barrels last year, though state production reports are mum on how much of that was contract brewing of products for other companies.

Milwaukee Brewing had been in decline for years  a decline that its previous owners did not recognize before building the brewery they opened in 2018 and sold (surely at a loss) this year.

While MKE has never had essential status in Madison, it is a respected brand in Brew City, in no small part because it has one of the nations great brewing centers right there in its name.

When a brand carries the name of its home city, it carries a certain responsibility to the city and its fans, and thats even more true in a storied beer city like Milwaukee, Schinker said in the companys announcement. Were proud to take the Milwaukee Brewing legacy forward and ensure the future of the brewery as a point of pride for our city.

Eagle Park plans a refresh for MKEs branding and packaging, including a shift to all cans, and is looking for a permanent location in the city for both production of MKE beers and a taproom distinct from Eagle Parks. Eventually, new MKE beers will be added to the existing portfolio, including Louies Demise amber ale, O-Gii imperial witbier, MKE IPA and Outboard cream ale.

Some of these beers are already being produced by Eagle Park, but itll get a boost next spring when a new brewhouse is installed in its Muskego brewery, Max Borgardt told Dan Murphy of Milwaukee Magazine. You read that right: Eagle Park has already upgraded its not-even-3-year-old brewery. Between that, the MKE purchase (terms were not disclosed) and the 20,000-square-foot brewery itself, Im sure plenty of Wisconsin brewers are envious of Eagle Parks access to capital.

Im glad these beers arent going away, and Im confident they are in good hands. This kind of arrangement is what fans of Ale Asylum should be hoping for. The shuttered Madison brewery and its portfolio are headed to auction in mid-October.

Pilot Project Milwaukee

I ran through the high points of Milwaukee Brewings closure in a column last month but glossed over the new owner of its 4-year-old, top-of-the-line brewery because they werent yet confirming the purchase.

Now I can say it: Pilot Project is fascinating. And Milwaukee didnt just land one new brewery with this facility, it might have landed 10.

Co-founders Dan Abel and Jordan Radke are Twin Cities natives and UW-Madison alumni who became homebrewers and briefly considered opening a brewery of their own.

In a twist on every brewerys origin story, though, they didnt. They discovered how much brick, mortar and stainless steel it takes to open an actual brewery and quickly dropped the idea.

For Abel, though, that no way was an epiphany, a problem he felt he could solve.

Hed had a successful career in the music industry, including a stint developing artists for YouTube in the mid-2010s that led him to believe that lowering barriers to entry  like the one he and Radke had just stared down  is a boon to creative output.

And so instead of opening a brewery, they moved to Chicago and founded Pilot Project, an incubator for breweries and other alcoholic beverage brands.

Abel is fond of comparing Pilot Project to a recording studio, or perhaps a label. A musician does not need to hire their own sound engineers and producers, or acquire and run the equipment needed to make a great record; they may or may not have a marketing plan, album art, tour bus and so on.

Pilot Project can provide a talented brewer with a suite of services, from recipe development to branding guidance to a distribution plan  and, of course, the brewhouse to bring it to reality. Lets lower the barriers, Abel said. Lets let actual creatives have their place in this industry.

From nearly 500 applicants since Pilot Project opened in 2019, it has selected about a dozen brands to develop. Luna Bay Booch Co. is a woman-owned hard kombucha brand that went big quickly and is now sold in Trader Joes stores across the country. Brother Chimp Brewing dialed in its recipes at Pilot Project before opening its brewpub in North Aurora, Illinois.

Abel describes Pilot Project as purpose-driven, and points to diversity of ideas and ownership as one of the good things that happens when barriers fall. Pilot Project partner Funkytown Brewery is one of the nations precious few Black-owned breweries, while Azadi Brewing focuses on the flavors of India, the homeland of one of its owners.

With Pilot Projects 3,500-barrel brewery in Chicago maxed out, Abel and Radke envisioned a big production brewery that could bring its clients to large-scale production without requiring them to graduate from the incubator to more traditional contract brewers.

We needed a larger spot so that once weve incubated and proven this brand, we dont just kick you to the streets, Abel said. Ultimately, we should be able to carry your story forward if thats what you want.

Last year, he began scouting the nations great beer cities for a new location. Denver, San Diego and Portland, Oregon, were all considered before Abel heard about Milwaukee Brewing being for sale. Soon it became clear to these seasoned Wisconsin beer drinkers: Chicago would be the brains of the operation, and Milwaukee the muscle.

We love the prospect of going back to a place that we felt comfortable and confident in, Abel said. And we love the idea of being able to logistically go in between both locations and essentially call both spots home.

Abel and his team did kick the tires on the Ale Asylum brewery, but the timing didnt work out.

We definitely considered it. By the time that we were looking seriously, Ale Asylum was already committed, Abel said, referring to a deal that ended up falling through for good earlier this summer. But Milwaukee gave us way more flexibility, and the storyline to us was that much more meaningful  even though I drink no shortage of Ale Asylum in college.

Pilot Projects new Milwaukee brewery has a capacity of some 75,000 barrels a year immediately  Abel expected to begin brewing as soon as this week  and he said it could be scaled up to 200,000 barrels in its existing footprint.

With Milwaukee relieving its production bottleneck, Pilot Project can resume onboarding new breweries, and Abel believes bringing in as many as 10 of them a year is possible. Since theyll be produced in Wisconsin, itll be easy to distribute here, for those that are so inclined  though many may be smaller producers who choose to focus on Chicago or other home markets.

Still, the huge taproom attached to the erstwhile Milwaukee Brewing will be a good stop, showcasing many of the brands produced there or at Pilot Project Chicago.

And Pilot Project isnt done expanding. Abel plans to essentially clone the Chicago operation in other creative centers like Miami, Los Angeles and London  lead generators whose ideas could eventually end up fermenting in tanks on the edge of downtown Milwaukee.

Abel cant wait to continue his journey in brewing. And hes sure glad he didnt go the conventional route.

Thats the fun about breaking molds: Once you break one, well, you might as well break all of them, he said. When you get to build a platform that other people get to be creative on, how are you not just constantly enticed by all the cool things that people could come up with and do every single day?
The Jewish High Holidays are fast approaching: Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. While the first really commemorates the creation of the world, Jews view both holidays as a chance to reflect on our shortcomings, make amends and seek forgiveness, both from other people and from the Almighty.

Jews pray and fast on Yom Kippur to demonstrate their remorse and to focus on reconciliation. According to Jewish tradition, it is at the end of this solemn period that God seals his decision about each persons fate for the coming year. Congregations recite a prayer called the Unetanah Tokef, which recalls Gods power to decide who shall live and who shall die, who shall reach the ends of his days and who shall not  an ancient text that Leonard Cohen popularized with his song Who by Fire.

Forgiveness and related concepts, such as compassion, are central virtues in many religions. Whats more, research has shown that it is psychologically beneficial.

But each religious tradition has its own particular views about forgiveness, as well, including Judaism. As a psychologist of religion, I have done research on these similarities and differences when it comes to forgiveness.

Person to person

Several specific attitudes about forgiveness are reflected in the liturgy of the Jewish High Holidays, so those who go to services are likely to be aware of them  even if they skip out for a snack.

In Jewish theology, only the victim has the right to forgive an offense against another person, and an offender should repent toward the victim before forgiveness can take place. Someone who has hurt another person must sincerely apologize three times. If the victim still withholds forgiveness, the offender is considered forgiven, and the victim now shares the blame.

The 10-day period known as the Days of Awe  Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and the days between  is a popular time for forgiveness. Observant Jews reach out to friends and family they have wronged over the past year so that they can enter Yom Kippur services with a clean conscience and hope they have done all they can to mitigate Gods judgment.

The teaching that only a victim can forgive someone implies that God cannot forgive offenses between people until the relevant people have forgiven each other. It also means that some offenses, such as the Holocaust, can never be forgiven, because those martyred are dead and unable to forgive.

To forgive or not to forgive?

In psychological research, I have found that most Jewish and Christian participants endorse the views of forgiveness espoused by their religions.

As in Judaism, most Christian teachings encourage people to ask and give forgiveness for harms done to one another. But they tend to teach that more sins should be forgiven  and can be, by God, because Jesus death atoned vicariously for peoples sins.

Even in Christianity, not all offenses are forgivable. The New Testament describes blaspheming against the Holy Spirit as an unforgivable sin. And Catholicism teaches that there is a category called mortal sins, which cut off sinners from Gods grace unless they repent.

One of my research papers, consisting of three studies, shows that a majority of Jewish participants believe that some offenses are too severe to forgive; that it doesnt make sense to ask someone other than the victim about forgiveness; and that forgiveness is not offered unconditionally, but after the offender has tried to make things right.

Take this specific example: In one of my research studies I asked Jewish and Christian participants if they thought a Jew should forgive a dying Nazi soldier who requested forgiveness for killing Jews. This scenario is described in The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal, a writer and Holocaust survivor famous for his efforts to prosecute German war criminals.

Jewish participants often didnt think the question made sense: How could someone else  someone living  forgive the murder of another person? The Christian participants, on the other hand, who were all Protestants, usually said to forgive. They agreed more often with statements like Mr. Wiesenthal should have forgiven the SS soldier and Mr. Wiesenthal would have done the virtuous thing if he forgave the soldier.

Its not just about the Holocaust. We also asked about a more everyday scenario  imagining that a student plagiarized a paper that participants friends had written, and then asked the participants for forgiveness  and saw similar results.

Jewish people have a wide variety of opinions on these topics, though, as they do in all things. Two Jews, three opinions! as the old saying goes. In other studies with my co-researchers, we showed that Holocaust survivors, as well as Jewish American college students born well after the Holocaust, vary widely in how tolerant they are of German people and products. Some are perfectly fine with traveling to Germany and having German friends, and others are unwilling to even listen to Beethoven.

In these studies, the key variable that seems to distinguish Jewish people who are OK with Germans and Germany from those who are not is to what extent they associate all Germans with Nazism. Among the Holocaust survivors, for example, survivors who had been born in Germany  and would have known German people before the war  were more tolerant than those whose first, perhaps only, exposure to Germans had been in the camps.

Forgiveness is good for you  or is it?

American society  where about 7 in 10 people identify as Christian  generally views forgiveness as a positive virtue. Whats more, research has found there are emotional and physical benefits to letting go of grudges.

But does this mean forgiveness is always the answer? To me, its an open question.

For example, future research could explore whether forgiveness is always psychologically beneficial, or only when it aligns with the would-be forgivers religious views.

If you are observing Yom Kippur, remember that  as with every topic  Judaism has a wide and, well, forgiving view of what is acceptable when it comes to forgiveness.

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Adam B. Cohen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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Tucked away on the fifth floor of a nondescript building in downtown La Crosse sits scientist and researcher Karen Cowden Dahl. She spends her time thinking up and trying out proactive tests, gentler treatments, and even cures for ovarian cancer at Gundersen Health Systems Ovarian Cancer Research Lab.

Ovarian cancer is the fifth-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women, and unlike breast or colon cancer, there are no screenings or proactive tests available for ovarian cancer.

By the time patients are diagnosed, cancer is likely extensive and widely spread, Cowden Dahl explains. The drugs are incredibly toxic. Right now, there arent any targeted, gentler alternatives or better ways to treat patients.

Cancer research is more than just a job for Cowden Dahl; its her lifes mission. When she was two years old, her mother Sandra was diagnosed with brain cancer. Born in New Mexico, Sandras ancestors were of Spanish ancestry  early settlers of New Mexico dating back to the 1500s. When Sandra was diagnosed, the family moved to Wisconsin so she could receive treatment at Gundersen and be closer to family (Cowden Dahls father grew up outside of La Crosse).

The Cowens stayed in the Midwest for three years until Sandras homesickness won out and they returned to New Mexico. Tragically, she passed away just a couple years later.

Losing my mom as a little girl shaped my life, Cowden Dahl says. Her loss gave me direction and purpose. I knew at a young age I wanted to study cancer.

For the first part of her career, she worked in academia at Indiana University School of Medicine. Three years ago, she and her family relocated to La Crosse.

As a kid, I spent all my summers here. It really did feel like a second home, she says.

Gundersens translational approach of medicine and research energizes the mom of three. We like to say were working bedside to bench and back to the bedside. Were all working together with the common goal of using our discoveries to create new treatments for people with cancer.

Shes a champion for organizations like Gundersen and other community-centered healthcare systems and says research can and does happen beyond traditional academic medical centers.

Providers here do a great job of recruiting patients. Because of Gundersens manageable size, I get to know physicians personally and work with them directly, Cowden Dahl says.

Every three months, she presents a lecture to students from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison who are completing a rotation at Gundersen. Her unique lens, she says, allows her to speak about inclusivity and equity in medicine from a different perspective.

She says even though shes half Hispanic, many people assume shes white. Because I didnt look Hispanic, I was often not welcome in Hispanic clubs. On the other hand, when my friends parents learned I was Hispanic, they werent allowed to be my friend.

While she fought stereotypes as a kid, Cowden Dahl says her mom experienced inequities and sexism while receiving treatment.

Doctors would look at my dad, who was white, and talk to him instead of my mom. Dr. Cowden Dahl says this especially happened when Sandra was first diagnosed and still in New Mexico. Finally, we found a surgeon who spoke directly to my mom. And ironically, that surgeon completed his residency at Gundersen in La Crosse.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  One of two Texas brothers who authorities say opened fire on a group of migrants getting water near the U.S.-Mexico border, killing one and injuring another, was warden at a detention facility with a history of abuse allegations.

The shooting happened Tuesday in rural Hudspeth County about 90 miles (145 kilometers) from El Paso, according to court documents filed Thursday. One man was killed; a woman was taken to a hospital in El Paso where she was recovering from a gunshot wound in her stomach, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

DPS said the victims were among a group of migrants standing alongside the road drinking water out of a reservoir when a truck with two men inside pulled over. According to court documents, the group had taken cover as the truck first passed to avoid being detected, but the truck then backed up. The driver then exited the vehicle and fired two shots at the group.

Witnesses from the group told federal agents that just before hearing the gunshots, they heard one of the two men in the vehicle yell derogatory terms to them and rev the engine, according to court documents.

Authorities located the truck by checking cameras and finding a vehicle matching the description given by the migrants, according to court records.

Michael Sheppard and Mark Sheppard, both 60, were charged with manslaughter, according to court documents. Court records did not list attorneys for either man. Contact information for them or for their representatives could not be found and attempts to reach them for comment since their arrest have been unsuccessful.

Records show that Michael Sheppard was warden at the West Texas Detention Facility, a privately owned center that has housed migrant detainees. A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told The Associated Press that no ICE detainees had been held at that detention facility since October 2019, following the opening of a larger detention facility nearby.

Scott Sutterfield, a spokesman for facility operator Lasalle Corrections, responded to an AP email asking whether Sheppard had been fired as warden. Sutterfield said the warden had been fired due to an off-duty incident unrelated to his employment. Sutterfield declined further comment, citing the ongoing criminal investigation.

A 2018 report by The University of Texas and Texas A&M immigration law clinics and immigration advocacy group RAICES cited multiple allegations of physical and verbal abuse against African migrants at the facility. According to the report, the warden "was involved in three of the detainees reports of verbal threats, as well as in incidents of physical assault. The warden cited in the report was not named.

However, Texas Congressman Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat, said in a press conference Saturday that Sheppard was in fact the warden at the facility at the time of the allegations and when the report was published. According to information provided by Doggett's office, the webpage for Louisiana-based LaSalle Corrections listed Sheppard as an employee at West Texas since 2015.

Doggett, along with other Texas Democratic congressmen, called on Saturday for a federal investigation into the shooting.

The dehumanizing, the demeaning of people who seek refuge in this country, many of whom are people of color, is what contributed to the violence we see here, Doggett said.

In one account detailed in the report, a migrant told the lawyers that the warden hit him in the face while at the nurses station and when he turned to the medical officers he was told they "didnt see anything.

I was then placed in solitary confinement, where I was forced to lie face down on the floor with my hands handcuffed behind my back while I was kicked repeatedly in the ribs by the Warden, a migrant referred to as Dalmar said in the report.

The attorneys submitted a civil rights complaint over the allegations that year but according to response letter sent to the lawyers in 2021, the Department of Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties conducted an onsite investigation, made multiple recommendations to ICE, but did not find evidence of any excessive use of force incidents or incidents of wrongful segregation and found some uses of force to have been appropriate.

Fatma Marouf, a co-author of the report and director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at Texas A&M, said it was difficult for authorities to follow up on the allegations because many of the people interviewed for the report were deported shortly after.

Marouf said current views on immigration enforcement based in deterring people at all costs have spiraled out of control.

"We don't even see people as humans anymore, Marouf said.

The number of Venezuelans taken into custody at the U.S.- Mexico soared in August, while fewer migrants from Mexico and some Central American countries were stopped, officials said earlier this month. Overall, U.S. authorities stopped migrants 203,598 times in August, up 1.8% from 199,976 times in July but down 4.7% from 213,593 times in August 2021.

Silky Shah, executive director of advocacy organization Detention Watch Network, said this is both a problem of the current rhetoric around immigration, including the use of terms like invasion by GOP leaders including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and inaction from federal officials to move away from the previous administration's immigration policies that added to this sentiment.

I think there is no question that there is a discourse that is stoking actions like this, Shah said.

Associated Press writers Elliot Spagat and Paul Weber contributed to this report.
Dubai-based master developer Nakheel has announced the launch of a new selection of residences at Palm Beach Towers 3, offering residents the perfect blend of style and luxury.

Located on Palm Jumeirah and featuring over 300 units, the luxurious new residential tower features residences with stunning 360-degree views, with a variety of nearby dining, leisure and recreational facilities, stated the developer.

The Palm Beach Towers 3 includes a selection of 1, 2 and 3 bedroom residences fully-furnished by world-renowned designers and offering a wide range of state-of-the-art amenities to complement ultra-modern contemporary living.

The launch of this third development at Palm Beach Towers follows strong demand for Palm Beach Towers 1 and 2, which have both sold out, it stated.

Chief Commercial Officer Rasha Hasan said: "The launch of Palm Beach Towers 3 reiterates our commitment to offer unparalleled and elevated living experiences to the residents and visitors of Dubai."

"Palm Jumeriah, as a destination within a destination, is one of Dubais premium locations for homebuyers looking for luxury living, and we are proud to offer our clients and investors unique residential developments with the highest standards of urban infrastructure and facilities," she stated.

"Every residence at Palm Beach Towers offers sunlit spaces, world-class fixtures and views overlooking the spectacular beachfront and Dubai skyline," explained Hasan.

"Residents of Palm Beach Towers 3 will have access to a host of amenities, including a modern gymnasium, an outdoor yoga area, private beach access, sky lounge, infinity swimming pool and much more," she added.-TradeArabia News Service
I appreciated reading last Sundays La Crosse Tribune editorial, Van Orden throws verbal darts rather than be part of a La Crosse tradition. The Editorial Board laments Van Ordens non-response to the La Crosse Debate Coalitions invitation to help citizens prepare for their vote on November 8 by participating in a public debate with his opponent, Sen. Brad Pfaff.

Its a lot of work campaigning for election. I know because I ran in the August 9 primary election with Sen. Pfaff. Brad won that election and I congratulate him. Even more than that, I congratulate the citizens who came out to vote. In the end it is the electorate that wins when we candidates do our best to inform them and prepare them to cast their votes with confidence. Losing that contest, I am left to ask, Was the effort and expenditure of resources really worth it? My answer is categoric, Absolutely it was, because it is how we make our democratic electoral process work.

During the many months of our primary campaign, we were four candidates who met for more than a half dozen public forums to answer questions and to interact with one another. We grew in appreciation of each others character and policy positions. We made ourselves known to the public, and we did our best to defend our ideas for what we thought would be best public policy for our rural and urban communities. We didnt waste our time or offer confusion to the voters by engaging in vitriol and back biting attacks against each other. We did our jobs. We gave citizens the information they needed to vote with confidence for the candidate that they could believe in to become their representative in government.

And citizens did their job. They made their choice known on August 9. When their votes were counted, Sen. Pfaff had won. I am happy for him. After meeting Brad a multitude of times on the campaign trail, I know that he is honest and forthright. He offers a wholesome public policy vision and platform. Following our August primary electoral process, I am happy for us all, voters and candidates, for having participated in making democracy happen once again.
The storied Golden Rule anti-nuclear sailboat will be arriving in Winona Sunday evening and departing Tuesday morning, to continue its mission of raising awareness about the growing danger of nuclear war and to build support for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

The 34-foot wooden ketch is sailing on a 15-month voyage around the Great Loop of the central, southern and eastern United States, making 100 ports-of-call. The Golden Rule is a national project of Veterans For Peace, which owns the boat.

The public is invited to see this historic peace boat, to hear about nuclear issues today, and to learn how we can stop the possibility of nuclear war. Boat tours will also be available.

Church, school and civic groups are welcome to schedule an educational presentation by contacting the Golden Rule project manager Helen Jaccard at vfpgoldenruleproject@gmail.com or 206-992-6364.

We are sailing for a nuclear-free world and a peaceful, sustainable future, says project manager Helen Jaccard. Our mission is all the more urgent now that the two nuclear superpowers are confronting one another in Ukraine, greatly increasing the possibility of nuclear war

History of Golden RuleFrom 1946 to 1958 the U.S. dropped 67 nuclear bombs in the Marshall Islands, displacing the indigenous inhabitants and spreading radiation around the globe. The concerned public tried to stop the nuclear weapons testing, but their efforts were unsuccessful. Finally, in 1958, four Quaker peace activists tried to sail Golden Rule to the Marshall Islands to interfere with the tests. They left out of Los Angeles and stopped for supplies in Honolulu, where the crew was arrested and prevented from continuing. The arrests sparked worldwide awareness of the dangers of radiation, which was also being found in mothers milk. In 1963, President Kennedy, along with leaders of the UK and the USSR, signed the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, banning nuclear testing in the air, the water, or space, but allowed it to continue underground. Today, most nuclear testing is done via computer simulation.

In 2010 Golden Rule was found as a sunken, derelict wreck in northern Californias Humboldt Bay. Over the following five years, she was lovingly restored by members of Veterans For Peace, Quakers and wooden boat lovers. Her original mission was also restored  sailing for a world free of nuclear weapons. Since 2015 the Golden Rule has plied the waters of the West Coast, in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California and Mexico, even sailing to all the Hawaiian islands.
SPRING GROVE  On Tuesday, community leaders gathered for an informational meeting on the Spring Grove Community Real Estate Fund. The fund is a new initiative made up of local investors with the goal of impact investingwhich means creating a financial return on their investment while addressing the needs of the community, including housing, lodging, and space for small business development.

Attendees toured the first investments that the budding investment group has made, including three buildings in downtown Spring Grove. The former Docs and Norskis buildings (131 & 133 W Main) were the first investments, and the fund is currently searching for a restaurant tenant for these spaces (interested individuals should contact the Spring Grove EDA for more information).

An apartment above 133 W Main (formerly Docs) was recently renovated as an AirBnB to address the shortage of lodging in the community, especially within walking distance of downtown establishments. The AirBnB has seen enormous success in its first few months of operation, with a 54% occupancy rate and nearly 70 unique reservations.

Attendees also toured a recent fund investment located at 149 W Main, a historic brick storefront next to Ye Olde Opera House. The building has housed several commercial tenants in recent years including the Sugar Shack and the Keller-Williams real estate office, and also includes five residential apartment units. The vacant storefront will soon be filled by the Spring Grove Area Chamber of Commerce, which will create an office and welcome center in downtown Spring Grove. The public is invited to join the Chamber at an open house to see their new space on Saturday, Oct. 8, from 10 a.m. to noon.

The Spring Grove Community Real Estate Fund has raised $600,000 in capital so far, with participation from local individuals, organizations, and the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation. REVocity, a Northfield-based company that works with rural communities in the upper Midwest, is serving as the Funds general partner and providing the legal, financial, and administrative duties for the fund along with investing in the Fund.

In addition to the investments in downtown Spring Grove, the Fund is also exploring opportunities to expand and diversify its portfolio, including creating more housing units in the community and supporting local entrepreneurs with increased warehouse space for lease. The Fund welcomes inquiries about becoming an investor or providing ideas for future projects in the Spring Grove community. Interested parties are encouraged to contact EDA Director Courtney Bergey Swanson at courtney.bergey@cedausa.com or 507-251-9272 to be connected with the Fund administrators.
The Lake Geneva Police Department is seeking to purchase body cameras and hire two additional full-time officers as part of the 2023 city budget. Appointed Police Chief Edward Gritzner presented the request to city aldermen during a special city council finance, licensing & regulation committee budget workshop meeting, Sept. 22. Officials from the police department have been attempting to purchase body cameras during the past two years.

The department made a similar request for the 2022 budget, but the city only had enough funding available to purchase either the body cameras or hire the additional police officers, and the department determined that there was more of a need for the additional officers.

Officials from the police department estimate that the body camera program will cost the city about $90,877, which includes about $25,754 to purchase the body cameras and about $65,123 to hire a records clerk to monitor footage from the cameras and handle freedom of information requests.

The department estimates that the body cameras will cost the city about $25,754 a year during the next five years.

Gritzner announced during the budget meeting that the department has received a $52,000 federal grant and a $18,000 state grant to help fund the body camera program.

We received two substantial grants to put towards the body camera program, Gritzner said. Theres a federal grant for $52,000 that can be used for personnel, hardware, software  anything body camera related. We received a state grant for $18,000 that can be applied to equipment only. That would not go toward personnel. Either way, were looking at $70,000 in grants that we can apply to that body camera program.

Gritzner said the city needs to hire a records clerk in order to purchase the body cameras.

My recommendation is dont have body cameras unless you have the records clerk, too, he said.

Gritzner said the department is in the process of recruiting a records clerk in case the body cameras are approved.

It would be open recruitment, Gritzner said. Were out recruiting even before its approved, just in case.

Two additional police officers

The police department also is looking to hire two additional full-time police officers next year. The department hired two full-time officers this year and plan to hire two more officers in 2024.

The two additional officers are expected to cost about $251,611.

Last year, we put forward a staffing model that increases our staff by six officers over three years, Gritzner said.

The department is need of more full-time officers because of the decrease in part-time officers during the past few years.

Pretty much, anybody who wants to be a cop right now is getting paid by a department, and they got a full-time job waiting for them already, Gritzner said. Years ago, that wasnt the case. We were able to hire recruits that werent hired by a department. We would give them a job for the summer. They would give us one or two years, then they were off to a department full time. They are nonexistent now. The only way we can get staffing back to where we need it is to over staff with full-time officers, to add six full-time officers.

The department currently has 27 full-time officers, which handle about 21,500 calls a year.

Gritzner said the department currently is not adequately staffed, and sometimes they have to use community service officers to handle less important calls.

Were trying to band-aid it with the CSO program, Gritzner said. Obviously, that just gives us eyes and ears and personnel to handle less serious calls.

However, community service officers also are becoming less available. Gritzner said the department lost nine community service officers during the summer to other departments.

A couple of those were not certifiable police officers, and departments are picking them up, sending them to school and paying for their school, Gritzner said. Theyre actually putting them on their full-time payroll while they are going to school, which was unheard of back in the day.

The budget requests have to be approved by the city council.

City officials are set to review the budget requests Sept. 27, and members of the finance, licensing & regulation committee will conduct special budget meetings 4:30 p.m. Oct. 5, 12 and 19, if needed, at the city hall building, council chambers, 626 Geneva St.

Lake Geneva aldermen will approve the budget summary to be published on the citys website, www.cityoflakegeneva.com, Oct. 24.

The city council members are set to conduct a public hearing and vote on the budget, Nov. 22.

Gritzner said he hopes both the cameras and additional police officers are approved for next years budget. However, hiring the additional officers would still be the priority if the city does not have the money available to approve both.

He said the Lake Geneva Police Department is the only law enforcement agency in Walworth County that does not have body cameras.

Were the last ones standing in the county that doesnt have them, Gritzner said. Obviously, I have to prioritize staff first. Body cameras would be second place to the staffing, but we have seen nationwide that they have a use, and theyre very important.
With emissions from shipping sector projected to grow considerably, the United Nations has urged governments and private companies to work together to harness innovative technologies such as digitalization and automation and foster a just transition that includes developing countries and promotes renewable energy and alternative fuels.

Maritime transport represents more than 80 per cent of global trade, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his message for the World Maritime Day.

The Day was celebrated on September 29 with focus on 'How shipping can contribute to a more sustainable future for all.'

"This years theme - New technologies for greener shipping  promotes innovation and solutions that support a transition in the sector," remarked Guterres.

Meanwhile, the crisis in Ukraine and the Black Sea Grain Initiative  have highlighted the vital role shipping plays in feeding the world.

As shipping continues to connect humanity, it must play an essential part in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and building a fair and prosperous future for people and planet," stated Guterres.

The UN chief stressed that the maritime sector "must accelerate its voyage to decarbonization." Emissions from shipping are projected to grow considerably unless there is concerted global action, he warned.

Guterres pointed out that the vessels to be deployed in this decade will determine whether the shipping sector achieves net zero emissions by 2050.

"Smarter and greener zero emission ships must become the default choice and commercially available for all by 2030," he added

The celebrations on World Maritime Day provide a platform to showcase inclusive maritime innovation, research and development, and the demonstration and deployment of new technologies.

This years theme opens up a larger conversation about where shipping is headed, and how digitalization and automation can support the sector, said Kitack Lim, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

"But technological solutions for cleaner, safer and more sustainable shipping must also benefit people," he stated. "In this regard, the impact on seafarers and other marine personnel, including the need for training, must be considered," he added.

According to UN, the growing impacts of climate change and more extreme weather are making marine meteorological services more critical than ever before.

This has been underlined yet again by a recent succession of tropical cyclones in the Atlantic and Northwest Pacific, which have led to hazardous shipping conditions. Forecasts and warnings are essential to protect vessels, their cargo and sailors," it said.

WMO is committed to the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea, known as the SOLAS convention, through the broadcast of meteorological maritime safety information as part of the IMO Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS).

The SOLAS convention is generally regarded as the most important of all international treaties concerning the safety of merchant ships. It was first adopted in 1914, in response to the Titanic disaster.-TradeArabia News Service
The Atlantic Flips Over Pro-Fascist Realists Who Justify Russias Special Military Operation

Sept. 30, 2022 (EIRNS)The Atlantic monthly, mouthpiece of the globalist warmongers who seek Russias total destruction, opened its pages to one James Kirchick, whose Sept. 29 article How the Anti-War Camp Went Intellectually Bankrupt is an unhinged attack on what he describes as an unholy alliance between right-wing realistsnaming John Mearsheimer and Chas Freeman as examplesand the anti-imperialist left, which justifies Russias special military operation against Ukraine. Today, he asserts, the anti-war caucus which urges the West to cut off supplies of defensive weapons to peaceful, democratic Ukraine, and find a solution that will satisfy Russias legitimate security interests, is objectively pro-fascist. He agrees that Zelenskyy should be

Oct. considered a modern-day Winston Churchill, for his charismatic resistance to foreign invaders.

So, who is Kirchick? Back in 2007, then a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, he authored two nasty articles published in Commentary magazine, founded by neocon and LaRouche-hater John Podhoretz. One of Kirchicks articles, dated Oct. 30, 2007 The Closest of Strangers, and one dated Nov. 3, 2007 The Friends of Lyndon LaRouche, were both ostensibly dedicated to exposing Bob Dreyfuss, then a writer for the American Spectator, for his past association with Lyndon LaRouche. Aside from trying to get Dreyfuss fired, the articles retailed the slanders of LaRouche as a fascist anti-Semite, demagogue cult leader, sourced from Chip Berlet of Political Research Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Recall, too, that Podhoretzs Commentary published a review of paid Anti-Defamation League information Dennis Kings slanderous Lyndon LaRouche and the New American Fascism.

In the current Atlantic article, Kirchick takes umbrage at anyone, left or right, who suggests that the U.S. is at fault in the Ukraine conflict, or who questions the assertion that Russia is guilty of hideous war crimes. He is apoplectic at those who use the phrase we will fight to the last Ukrainian to refer to Anglo-American/NATO policy. Ron Paul, Noam Chomsky, Freeman, Mearsheimer, The Grayzone, the CATO Institutes Doug Bandow, and a new online magazine Compact, whose columnists include Marxists and Catholics, all come under attack.

The attacks on Chas Freeman and John Mearsheimer are notable. He excoriates Freeman for saying that Russias special military operation is an understandable reaction to the years of NATO expansion, and is incensed over Freemans statements to the leftist, anti-imperialist Grayzone, in which no anti-Western tyrant is too brutal for fawning adulation.

Kirchick also howls that Mearsheimer, described as the dean of realist international-relations theorists, appears joined at the hip with the anti-imperialist left, both arguing that the U.S. is using Ukraine as a proxy war against Moscow. Even in the face of evidence of horrific Russian crimes against Ukrainian civilians, Kirchick complains, Mearsheimer still wont change his position that NATOs enlargement is to blame for the war.

Kirchick concludes by asserting that the war in Ukraine has exposed the incompetence of the Russian military and the hubris of President Putin, while revealing the bravery and resilience of the Ukrainian people. And here in the U.S. the war has also exposed the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of an ideologically diverse set of foreign policy commentators: the anti-imperialists who routinely justify blatant acts of imperial conquest, and the realists who make arguments unmoored from reality.
Saturday, October 1, 2022

Canada recently changed its assisted death law, loosening the requirements for people to seek medical assistance to end their lives. The new law allows people with grievous and irremediable conditions to seek death, even if they are not terminally ill.

Canada is one of 12 countries and a handful of American states where assisted death is permitted, however, it is only one of three nations that permits assisted death without a condition being terminal. When the original law was suggested in 2016, it was a hotly debated issue that won broader public acceptance over time. But the new change is bringing back the debate, especially as the next expansion in 2023 will allow people with mental disorders to apply. Critics believe this is going too far.

Such critics include United Nations disability and human rights experts, who believe that this law devalues lives by suggesting disability is worse than death. Other critics point to the fact that the law makes medical clinicians the final arbiters of death despite no other jurisdiction treating end of life care as a standard medical practice. While proponents point out that any doctors who do not follow strict guidelines will face severe consequences, such as losing their medical licenses or facing criminal charges. They feel that the system is working well.

For more information see Ian Austen Is Choosing Death Too Easy in Canada?, The New York Times, September 18, 2022.

Special thanks to Lewis Saret (Attorney, Washington, D.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/trusts_estates_prof/2022/10/is-choosing-death-too-easy-in-canada.html
Kenya's worst dry weather in forty years has killed almost two percent of the world's rarest zebra in three months. Over the same period, 25 times more elephants died than usual, as well.

The drought is starving Kenya's famed wildlife of usual food sources and driving them closer to population centers. The ever-widening search for food can result in deadly conflict between animals and people.

Without interventions to protect wildlife or rain, animals in many parts of the East African country could face a crisis, conservationists say.

"It's a serious threat to us," said Andrew Letura, an animal observation officer at Grevy's Zebra Trust (GZT). The Grevy's zebra is larger than a standard plains zebra and has narrower stripes and wider ears. They are the rarest of zebra species: just 3,000 remain in the world --- 2,500 of which are in Kenya.

Drought has killed about 40 Grevy's since June - which is how many would be expected to die over a whole year, said Letura. He spoke to Reuters at the Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya.

"If we are losing 40 within three months, what would that mean to the remaining population? he asked.

GZT has begun to feed Grevy's zebras hay poured over a mix of molasses, salt and calcium, helping to reduce the number of deaths, the trust says.

The situation in southern Kenya is also bad.

"Rangers have counted eight times as many animals dead or too weak to stand, compared to a normal September. The Amboseli Trust for Elephants have recorded 50 elephants dead or missing," said Benson Leyian, the chief of Big Life Foundation. The group works with local landowners to protect conservation areas and open rangelands of the Amboseli Ecosystem.

The smell of death

In the Kitenden Conservancy nearby, the smell from dead animals is strong. It sometimes leads visitors to wear face covers, a Conservancy officer said.

Some wild animals are dying at the hands of people.

"We're seeing a five-fold increase in incidents of people poaching for bushmeat, as compared to other dry seasons," Leyian said.

Another group, Save the Elephants, said it is finding a growing number of elephants killed by guns or spears, but with their tusks in place. The tusks are what poachers sell. So, experts say these elephant deaths were due to conflict with local people, not poaching.

The crisis is not the result of drought alone, experts say. Large numbers of farm animals are eating up rangelands, said David Daballen, field operations chief for Save the Elephants. He added that the lack of grasses makes it harder for ecosystems to recover from drought.

The next usual seasonal rains are from October through November. Letura of GZT does not want to think of the possibility that the rain might not come.

"The situation is already bad. But that would make it a serious crisis," he said. "The first words anyone says now is that they are praying for rain."

Im Caty Weaver.

Ayenat Mersie reported this story for Reuters. Caty Weaver adapted it for VOA Learning English.

______________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

rangeland  n. an open region over which animals (such as livestock) may roam and feed

spear  n. a thrusting or throwing weapon with long shaft and sharp head or blade

bushmeat  n. meat from wild animals, especially in Africa and Asia

tusk  n. a very long large tooth (as of an elephant or walrus) that sticks out when the mouth is closed and is used especially in digging and fighting

poach  v. to hunt or fish unlawfully

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International students who come to the United States often study science, technology, engineering and mathematics, also known as STEM. Not as many come for programs in humanities or the arts, the 2021 Open Doors Report says.

Under U.S. laws, after finishing school, international students are permitted to work in the country for one year under the Optional Practical Training, or OPT program. For STEM students, the program extends their work permit for an additional two years in their field of study.

The U.S. immigration office publishes the STEM Designated Degree Program List for study programs that it considers for the OPT extension. The programs include new technologies using engineering, mathematics, computer science, or natural sciences (including physical, biological, and agricultural sciences).

But international students who are interested in business, psychology, news reporting and even theater should know that more study programs in the U.S. are coming to the list.

New STEM-designated programs

Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, is currently looking for students for a STEM-designated journalism program that will start in one year.

The program will offer a Master of Science degree in Media Innovation and Data Communication. Students will take classes such as Telling Your Story with Data and Digital Journalism."

John Wihbey teaches journalism and media innovation at Northeastern. He said todays journalists need to be able to work on data visualization projects, read business printouts and work on digital media such as video and audio. Many journalism students are already doing this work, so it makes sense for schools to create new study programs.

And so those students who were inclined in that direction ended up taking a lot of interactive graphics, design, data viz and coding courses. And so we started to see graduates who we, you know, had no question belonged in the world of STEM.

Northeasterns new program joins other journalism programs at schools like New York University, the University of Southern California and the University of South Florida that have a STEM designation. At New York University, the school also lists drama therapy and psychology among STEM-designated programs.

At one point, the U.S. government was worried that OPT was taking jobs away from American workers. However, once President Joe Bidens administration came into office, the chance for international students to do two extra years of OPT actually increased.

In the STEM Designated Degree Program List released in January 2022, several new study areas were included. The new study programs include forestry, data visualization, psychology, business analytics, animal behaviors, and research methods in social sciences.

Eunkyu Lee is a business and marketing professor at Syracuse University in New York state. He said international students who want to work in the U.S. should look for STEM-designated programs when they are searching for colleges. People may think that business study programs such as marketing do not require STEM skills. But Lee said that is not true.

There is a growing emphasis on the importance of data analytics. You can imagine that each time you make a call or visit a web page, or use your mobile devices, a huge amount of data are being accumulated.

Data, Lee said, is of great concern to businesses. So students with STEM degrees have an advantage when it comes to finding jobs.

And then, because of the extended OPT, a student might be able to find an employer who will help them get a work visa.

Im Dan Friedell.

Dan Friedell wrote this story for Learning English.

Quiz - More University Study Programs Become STEM-designated Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

________________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

journalism n. the activity or job of collecting, writing, and editing news stories for newspapers, magazines, television, or radio

humanities n. areas of study (such as history, language, and literature) that relate to human life and ideas

designate v. to mark, show, or represent (something)

innovation n. the act or process of introducing new ideas, devices, or methods

field n. an area of work or study

graduate n. a person who has completed a study program

analytics n. the careful study of something in order to take away meaning

accumulate v. to gain or collect something

visualization n. the act of showing something with pictures or colors

incline v. to cause (someone) to want to do something or to be likely to do something

therapy n. the treatment of a physical or mental illness

emphasis n. special importance given to something

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Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) has announced that it has secured refinancing its $3.5 billion revolving credit facility.

Secured via a syndicate comprising 20 banks, the new 5-year US dollar SOFR-based facility, which will be utilised for general corporate purposes, is set to replace the organisation's existing $3.5 billion revolving credit facility, signed in December 2019, said the statement from Taqa.

The facility was 1.7 times oversubscribed. In addition to extending the final maturity from 2024 to 2027, the new facility also benefits from very competitive pricing, it stated.

Taqa Group's Chief Financial Officer Steve Ridlington said: "We are pleased to announce the successful refinancing of our revolving credit facility, for which we received a very high level of interest, allowing the Emirati group to extend the term of the facility whilst reducing the cost."

"This excellent outcome showcases both the market's confidence in Taqa's continued strong performance and our capability to drive the future of the global utilities industry," noted Ridlington.

The bookrunners, initial mandated lead arrangers and global co-ordinators of the facility are First Abu Dhabi Bank, Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.

The bookrunners and mandated lead arrangers are: Agricultural Bank of China (AgBank), Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citibank, Emirates NBD (ENBD), HSBC Holdings, Mashreq Bank, Standard Chartered, Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

The mandated lead arrangers are China Construction Bank, NBK Group, Intesa Sanpaolo, JP Morgan Chase & Co., The Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) and Natixis. SMBC also acted as the documentation bank, while First Abu Dhabi Bank is the facility agent.-TradeArabia News Service
A McFarland School District administrator is facing allegations of using the N-word to refer to a Black student earlier this month, with district officials saying only that they have addressed the incident and are declining further comment.

Superintendent Aaron Tarnutzer said in an email to families on Sept. 15 that an incident took place involving the racial slur and that the district has addressed this matter with the students and staff members involved.

The District hopes students, families and staff members appreciate that the District cannot comment further on this matter as it involves a confidential pupil and personnel matter, Tarnutzer said.

In a lengthier statement on Monday, McFarland High School Principal Jeff Finstad and Associate Principal Sarah Busalacchi said they were reaching out to student groups to listen and generate a dialogue to identify how we can move forward.

For some students, this incident has led them to share other experiences in their life that they hadnt shared, the two administrators said. We are grateful for the wisdom they have shared, and their courage to speak their truth.

An online petition that had received more 500 signatures as of Saturday evening is calling on the district to fire the administrator. The petition also accuses the administrator of covering up sexual misconduct at the school.

The Wisconsin State Journal is not naming the administrator because it could not confirm the persons identity.

State Journal reporter Chris Rickert contributed to this report.
PARIS (AP)  While the European Union has agreed to curtail its use of Russian oil and gas, its member nations continue to import and export nuclear fuel that is not under EU sanctions  to the chagrin of the Ukrainian government and environmental activists.

A cargo ship carrying uranium that departed from the French port of Dunkirk traveled across the North Sea on Thursday, heading toward the Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga. It was the third time in just over a month that the Panama-flagged Mikhail Dudin ship docked in Dunkirk to transport uranium from or to Russia.

Environmental group Greenpeace France denounced the ongoing shipments and called for stopping all trade in nuclear fuel, which it said was financing the war in Ukraine, extending (Europe's) energy dependence and delaying the transition to renewable energy.

The EU's executive arm, the European Commission, did not propose targeting Russias nuclear sector in its latest sanctions package presented Wednesday.

France ensures strict compliance by economic players with all the European sanctions adopted against Russia. Civil nuclear power is not affected by these sanctions, the French Foreign Affairs Ministry told the Associated Press.

The ministry that EU nations did not consider this to be a relevant area for ending Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Ukraine, meanwhile, is pushing for European sanctions in that area. The Ukrainian presidents economic adviser, Oleg Ustenko, said Wednesday that in terms of uranium, we think its extremely important to impose sanctions, not only on Russian oil."

Oil, gas, uranium and coal, all this should be banned. Because they are using this money in order to finance this war, Ustenko said.

According to Greenpeace France, reprocessed uranium meant to be transported to Russia were loaded onto the Mikhail Dudin on Wednesday. Pauline Boyer, an energy campaigner at Greenpeace France, said the ship's repeated trips between Russia and France show the extent to which the French nuclear industry is trapped in its dependence on Russia.

French authorities have repeatedly said the country does not depend on Russia to supply the nuclear power plants that provide 67% of its electricity  more than any other nation.

EDF, which manages all of Frances nuclear power plants, said in a statement its uranium supplies were guaranteed by long-term contracts for periods of up to 20 years, with a policy of diversification in terms of sources and suppliers.

France imports most of its uranium from Niger, Australia and Kazakhstan.

The value of trade in nuclear fuel exported from Russia is small compared to that of gas and oil exports, the French foreign ministry said, suggesting that imposing sanctions in that area would not have much effect on Moscow.

The ministry said France and the EU aim in the long term to be independent from all Russian energy sources, including nuclear fuel.

Greenpeace France said a shipment of Russian uranium that an Associated Press reporter saw getting unloaded in Dunkirk earlier this month was transported by trucks to a plant in Lingen, Germany.

The Lingen plant is operated by Framatome, which is majority-owned by French utility giant EDF. It is supplying nuclear fuel to plants in France, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Britain, Spain, Sweden and Finland.

Faced with activists protests, the German government took a critical view toward the uranium shipment but said it couldnt stop the fuel from being processed because it isnt covered by the EU's war-related sanctions on Russia.

At the end of last month, enriched uranium unloaded from the Mikhail Dudin in Dunkirk was destined for the Rhone valley in southern France, which is home to major sites of the French civil nuclear industry, according to Greenpeace France.

The French nuclear sector has a series of contracts with Russian state-controlled energy giant Rosatom, including some to import enriched uranium destined for European nuclear power plants and to export reprocessed uranium to Russia. Rosatom is one of the worlds biggest actors in the nuclear energy market.

Multinational company Orano, headquartered in France, has a contract with Rosatom to buy reprocessed uranium to convert it into nuclear fuel at its Seversk plant, in Siberia, and ultimately use it in reactors to produce energy.

The U.S. power industry also imports uranium from Russia to feed its nuclear plants.

AP recently tracked millions of dollars worth of shipments of radioactive uranium hexafluoride from Russian state-owned Tenex JSC, the worlds largest exporter of initial nuclear fuel cycle products, to Westinghouse Electric Co. in South Carolina.

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AP Writer Samuel Petrequin in Brussels contributed to the story.
Stories are waiting to be told in every Madison neighborhood.

Many have revealed themselves as I explored the region for the past few months since becoming executive editor of the Wisconsin State Journal.

Ive come to know South Madison, where I also happen to live, and its neighborhood restaurants and stores. Along the way, Ive had a chance to visit with leaders working to revitalize the area, including the Rev. Alex Gee, who is leading plans to build the Center for Black Excellence and Culture, and Brenda Gonzalez at the UW South Madison Partnership. The partnership has made it possible for people to get help with anything from taxes to navigating the health system.

These leaders and others on the South Side are changing the area with a series of projects that could be a renaissance the size of which has been unseen in Madison.

I was graciously invited to community organizations such as the Rotary Club, and to visit with leaders of both UW-Madison and Madison Area Technical College, schools where staff and students alike gush about their innovations.

Along the way, I talked to artists, restaurant workers and other community members. I ventured out on the lakes and hiking trails and visited suburbs and small towns in the region. This whirlwind tour, just a taste of south-central Wisconsin really, reminded me time and again of the newspapers responsibility to celebrate the regions success and highlight its challenges.

Neighbors, preservationists to fight proposal to build next to landmark tavern on Near West Side The current owner of the Old Spring Tavern and an adjoining vacant lot contends that any new structure next door will fit the neighborhood and adhere to city rules.

When I moved here, I told you that newspapers historically have not done as well as they could have to ensure that every community member had a voice. I said our coverage would reflect the diversity of people living here.

Restaurant review: Dude, go to Borough for truffle mac and cheese, avoid grilled Caesar The new brewpub and restaurant, which took the place of Rockhound Brewing Company on Park Street on July 1, has perfected mac and cheese.

I have also reiterated over the last few months our commitment to covering local news, which is vital to any community. We would continue to serve as watchdogs of your public money and show you the heart of Madison in our stories about the people working to lift up this region.

Those commitments are top of mind today, as I introduce six talented journalists who have joined our staff to help work on those efforts.

These journalists will be part of a staff that works hard every day to bring you the most important news of the day. Like you, they care about the community in which they live and work, and you wont find a more dedicated newsroom.

Melissa Perry, a Northwestern University graduate who most recently interned at WBEZ Chicago, will cover race, culture and community in a newly created beat. Everyone in the newsroom shares the responsibility of reflecting the diversity of Madison in our coverage, but Perry will amplify those efforts with her news stories and profiles. She also will be part of a team that regularly discusses our coverage to make sure we represent diverse perspectives.

Daniela Jaime, an Illinois State University graduate, joins us as a general assignment reporter. She is committed to covering issues that highlight injustice and also will be part of a team of newsroom staff to discuss diversity issues. She previously worked as a writer and editor at Fontenelle Art in Chicago and as a reporter at Chicago Documenters and City Bureau.

Kirsten Adshead joins us as a seasoned journalist with more than 20 years of experience, including covering Wisconsin government and politics. Adshead also organized the Badger State Spelling Bee, which the State Journal sponsors. Were thrilled to have her as a leader in the newsroom as assistant city editor.

UW doctor resigns as head of orthopedics after surgery center proposal denied Dr. Tom Zdeblick steps down after Dr. Robert Golden, UW medical school dean, blocks plan for center mostly owned by UW doctors.

Olivia Herken came here from the La Crosse Tribune, where she worked as a reporter primarily covering local government. She is a graduate of UW-Madison. Shes back in Madison covering education. Shell be writing news about local school districts as well as issues facing students and the education system.

Addison Lathers is a UW-Madison graduate and was editor of The Daily Cardinal, one of the student newspapers on campus. She most recently interned at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel with that newsrooms investigations team. Addison will cover the Wisconsin Dells and Juneau County areas.

Kimberly Wethal will cover higher education issues. She worked most recently with the Janesville Gazette. Shes covered education, general assignment and government, and she hit the ground running in her beat covering colleges and universities and tackling issues that affect students today.

I trust youll welcome these new Madisonians, and feel free to reach out to them if you have a story of your own. Well continue to enhance the coverage of our community.
Finding strength when theres nothing left

This week Timothy Ellis, the new intern minister for the Magic Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, will be joining us for the first time. Timothy is joining us after completing a Masters of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School and has served two other congregations in the Boston, Massachusetts area. Timothy will speak on finding sources of strength when it feels like theres nothing left.

Our service Sunday will be both in person at our location 160 Ninth Ave. E. in Twin Falls and on Zoom. To access Zoom, please email mvuuf83301@yahoo.com for sign-in information. In the subject line write Zoom Service October 2nd.

Newcomers of all religious paths or none at all are always welcome. Unitarian Universalists believe in the dignity of every person regardless of race, creed or none at all, immigrant status or sexual orientation.

Everyone is welcome, no exceptions. We believe in justice, equality and compassion in human relations; and acceptance of one another. We are handicapped accessible in rear.

Please park in the rear of the building or on the street in front or the side of the building. Child care is available.

Join us at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.

For further information, please call 208-613-3852, email us at mvuuf83301@yahoo.com or visit magicvalleyUU.org. When calling, please state your name in order to be connected.

Sunday worship at Ascension; Blessing of the animals; public invited

The Episcopal Church of the Ascension invites the community to the annual Blessing of the Animals and pet food drive from 3-4:30 p.m., Sunday, in honor of St. Francis. All species are welcome. Please bring animals caged or on leash. The blessings and service will take place in the courtyard of the church.

Pet food for the Magic Valley Humane Society/TF Animal Shelter will also be collected. The greatest need is for dog and cat food. Cash donations to the Animal Shelter will be used for veterinary care. Dry pet food which has been opened can also be accepted

The community is also invited to Sunday worship of Holy Communion at 9 a.m., followed by an all-parish potluck brunch.

Ascension Episcopal Church is handicapped accessible and is located at 371 Eastland Drive N. More information about Ascension can be found at ascension.episcopalidaho.org or 208-733-1248.
Saudi Arabia has launched a unified government platform "Nusuk.sa", a new gateway to Makkah and Madinah, facilitating the procedures for their arrival from all over the world, as part of the initiatives of the Pilgrim Experience Programme.



Saudi Press Agency (SPA) has quoted the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah as saying that the new platform has been linked to the services provided on the "Visit Saudi Arabia" to facilitate the pilgrims heading to two holy cities, reported WAM.



Minister of Hajj and Umrah, Dr Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah, said the 'Nusuk' platform aims to improve the quality of services provided to pilgrims using the latest technologies, and in integration with several government agencies to facilitate procedures, and allow pilgrims and visitors perform their rituals with ease and comfort.



The platform provides a wide range of services and information to pilgrims and visitors that enable them to perform the Umrah rituals with ease, contribute to raising the level of quality of services provided, and enriching their religious and cultural experience, to achieve the objectives of the Kingdom's Vision 2030.



The "Maqam" platform will continue to operate to allow the design of Umrah service programmes until it is ensured that its services are completely transferred to "Nusuk.sa", SPA reported.
Hospital inpatients are paid on a unique system by most payers. If the hospital is under 25 beds/critical access hospitals, there are some different methods to help them stay solvent, differing by insurance plan.

After 44 years in healthcare reimbursement, the individual coverage for each insurance plan continues to be complex- especially to the patient. With hundreds of different insurance plans, including traditional Medicare, Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, all commercial plans, VA and even workers compensation, there is definitely a need to understand the methodology behind how hospitals are paid.

Since 1980, Traditional Medicare has stopped paying billed charges for inpatients and moved to a single, per stay flat payment. Other insurance plans have followed and for multiple years, most plans have been paying a single payment based on the patients course of treatment and diagnosis codes, regardless of billed charges. For any business this seems odd and begs the question, if a business submits a bill for services to different customers  do they all get to decide what the payment would be based on something besides charges? Welcome to healthcare!

To better understand this, lets look at some real examples of an inpatient stay and how all the different insurance plans pay.

Traditional Medicare. 68 yr. old admitted for simple pneumonia. He stays 4 days. The hospital submits the charges of $15,000 to Medicare. The diagnosis of pneumonia is submitted to Medicare where a pre-determined flat payment (referred to as a DRG) of $6000 is allowed. The Medicare patient has an inpatient deductible of $1484 deducted from the $6000. The hospitals total payment is $6000, between Medicares flat payment and the patients deductible. The remaining $9000 is absorbed/written off and billed to no one, per Medicare law. Hospitals on average receive about 40-45% of billed charges from Traditional Medicare thru the DRG flat payment.

Private Insurance A. 58 yr. old female admitted with UTI/urinary tract infection. She stays 3 days. The hospital submits the charges of $7900. The diagnosis of UTI is submitted where a DRG payment of $5000 had been established thru the contract between the hospital and private insurance for the UTI. The individual deductible of $2000 is withheld from the $5000 insurance payment. The hospitals total payment is $5000 with the remaining $2900 absorbed/written off and billed to no one, per the contract with the insurance plan. Hospitals on average receive about 60-65% of billed charges from commercial plans; however, there is great variation as there are hundreds of private plans.

Medicaid, the insurance plan of last resort, uses the same DRG methodology. There are many different managed Medicaid plans with each having their own formula for the actual payment amount. Hospitals on average receive about 30-35% of billed charges from Medicaid plans.

There are still a few insurance plans paying a percentage of billed charges for inpatient stays, but never full billed charges. Those days are long gone! PS Be sure to reach out to learn more about the methodology for inpatient from your community hospitals as they are always your best source.
TWIN FALLS  Idaho State Police Sgt. Mike Wendler is coming home.

After being struck by a motorist on Interstate 84 on Sept. 8 while he was outside his car providing traffic control, the trooper is expected to arrive in Twin Falls on Saturday afternoon. He has spent the last several weeks at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, much of it in the hospitals intensive care unit.

The fact that he is returning home so soon is nothing short of miraculous, family friend Tabitha Baker said. Now shes hoping for a big turnout at the Perrine Bridge to welcome him back to Twin Falls.

We are very excited and very hopeful that our community will turn out and show how much his service means for us, Baker said.

She and other members of a group named Wendlers Warriors are asking local residents to show up at 2 p.m. at the Twin Falls Visitor Center. The group will then walk to the Perrine Bridge, where the vehicle transporting Wendler, along with a supporting cast of fellow state troopers, is expected to cross the Snake River Canyon between 2:15 p.m. and 2:45 p.m. as he proceeds to his Twin Falls home.

Participants are urged to wear blue and bring a sign if possible. But if you cant do that, still come to the bridge and cheer, Baker said.

A long recovery process lies ahead for the Marine Corp veteran and 16-year veteran of the Idaho State Police, she said, and Wendler will still need support.

Wendler was critically injured in the collision in Jerome and he has made much progress since then, friends said.

Miraculous is the only word to describe his progress, Baker said.

Wendlers wife, Amy, provided an update on her husband Wednesday on a GoFundMe page. Wendler has a fractured jaw and has had a hard time eating.

He is looking forward to getting to eat more food, she said.

The traumatic brain injuries her husband suffered are tricky and unpredictable, she said, but he is continuing to progress cognitively.

He beat several women at a memory game on Monday, she said.

One fortunate circumstance that likely saved his life was that a crew from a fire engine was on the scene when the accident occurred and rendered first aid, she said.

Five Fish Press from Twin Falls printed 50 T-shirts with a Wendlers Warrior logo, at no cost to the group. These shirts were given to first responders, dispatchers, medical staff and others who helped Wendler after his injury. People wanting a T-shirt can order them from the Wenders Warriors Facebook page.

There has been a ton of support and engagement from the community, Baker said.

The GoFundMe page has raised almost $56,000 as of Friday afternoon.
Coast Guard crews rescued four mariners in a sailboat caught in heavy seas Thursday churned by Hurricane Ian off the Outer Banks.

The boat, named the Catalyst, was overwhelmed by 12-14 foot waves around noon at Oregon Inlet and unable to make its way to safe harbor, the Coast Guard said in a Facebook post.

One Coast Guard vessel from the nearby Oregon Inlet station responded to help the distressed sailors while another stood by at the inlets notoriously dangerous, shifting sandbar between the Atlantic Ocean and Pamlico Sound.

The stranded mariners anchored the Catalyst outside of the inlets sandbar and abandoned ship, with Coast Guard crews working to retrieve the four out of the water.

Midway through the rescue, after the sailors were already off the boat, the anchor line snapped and the Catalyst rapidly began drifting onto the bar, where the boat grounded in shallow water, the Coast Guard reported. The Coast Guard crews steersman, or coxswain, expertly maneuvered the guards vessel into the surf zone to rescue the remaining mariners and return to the station.

High surf advisories and gale warnings were in effect Thursday along the Outer Banks as Hurricane Ian moved east into the Atlantic Ocean. Today, the Outer Banks is under tropical storm warnings and storm surge watches with rain and wind pounding the chain of barrier islands.

All mariners are reminded to maintain awareness of current and forecasted weather conditions to ensure the safety of their vessel and crew, the Coast Guard said.

The Catalyst drifted onto the beach at Oregon Inlet, where it remained grounded on late Friday morning. Theres been no word yet on removal efforts.
Research by groups at the University of Sao Paulo and the State University of Campinas combined MRI scans of the brains of mild COVID-19 patients, analysis of brain tissue from people who died of the disease and experiments on human nerve cells infected in the laboratory. Image demonstrating cortical thickness atrophy in brains of mild COVID-19 patients, obtained by surface-based morphometry. Credit: PNAS

A Brazilian study published in the journal PNAS describes some of the effects infection by SARS-CoV-2 can have on the central nervous system. A preliminary version (not yet peer-reviewed) posted in 2020 was one of the first to show that the virus that causes COVID-19 can infect brain cells, especially astrocytes. It also broke new ground by describing alterations in the structure of the cortex, the most neuron-rich brain region, even in cases of mild COVID-19.

The cerebral cortex is the outer layer of gray matter over the hemispheres. It is the largest site of neural integration in the central nervous system and plays a key role in complex functions such as memory, attention, consciousness, and language.

The investigation was conducted by several groups at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and the University of Sao Paulo (USP). Researchers at the Brazilian Biosciences National Laboratory (LNBio), D'Or Institute (IDOR) and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) also contributed to the study.

"Two previous studies detected the presence of the novel coronavirus in the brain, but no one knew for sure if it was in the bloodstream, endothelial cells [lining the blood vessels] or nerve cells. We showed for the first time that it does indeed infect and replicate in astrocytes, and that this can reduce neuron viability," Daniel Martins-de-Souza, one of the leaders of the study, told Agencia FAPESP. Martins-de-Souza is a professor at UNICAMP's Biology Institute and a researcher affiliated with IDOR.

Astrocytes are the most abundant central nervous system cells. Their functions include providing biochemical support and nutrients for neurons; regulating levels of neurotransmitters and other substances that may interfere with neuronal functioning, such as potassium; maintaining the blood-brain barrier that protects the brain from pathogens and toxins; and helping to maintain brain homeostasis.

Infection of astrocytes was confirmed by experiments using brain tissue from 26 patients who died of COVID-19. The tissue samples were collected during autopsies conducted using minimally invasive procedures by Alexandre Fabro, a pathologist and professor at the University of Sao Paulo's Ribeirao Preto Medical School (FMRP-USP). The analysis was coordinated by Thiago Cunha, also a professor in FMRP-USP and a member of the Center for Research on Inflammatory Diseases (CRID).

The researchers used a technique known as immunohistochemistry, a staining process in which antibodies act as markers of viral antigens or other components of the tissue analyzed. "For example, we can insert one antibody into the sample to turn the astrocytes red on binding to them, another to mark the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein by making it green, and a third to highlight the virus's double-stranded RNA, which only appears during replication, by turning it magenta," Martins-de-Souza explained. "When the images produced during the experiment were overlaid, all three colors appeared simultaneously only in astrocytes."

According to Cunha, the presence of the virus was confirmed in five of the 26 samples analyzed. Alterations suggesting possible damage to the central nervous system were also found in these five samples.

"We observed signs of necrosis and inflammation, such as edema [swelling caused by a buildup of fluid], neuronal lesions and inflammatory cell infiltrates," he said.

The capacity of SARS-CoV-2 to infect brain tissue and its preference for astrocytes were confirmed by Adriano Sebolella and his group at FMRP-USP using the method of brain-derived slice cultures, an experimental model in which human brain tissue obtained during surgery to treat neurological diseases such as drug-refractory epilepsy, for example, is cultured in vitro and infected with the virus.

Persistent symptoms

In another part of the research, conducted in UNICAMP's School of Medical Sciences (FCM), 81 volunteers who had recovered from mild COVID-19 were submitted to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of their brains. These scans were performed 60 days after diagnostic testing on average. A third of the participants still had neurological or neuropsychiatric symptoms at the time. They complained mostly of headache (40%), fatigue (40%), memory alterations (30%), anxiety (28%), loss of smell (28%), depression (20%), daytime drowsiness (25%), loss of taste (16%) and low libido (14%).

"We posted a link for people interested in participating in the trial to register, and were surprised to get more than 200 volunteers in only a few days. Many were polysymptomatic, with widely varying complaints. In addition to the neuroimaging exam, they're being evaluated neurologically and taking standardized tests to measure performance in cognitive functions such as memory, attention and mental flexibility. In the article we present the initial results," said Clarissa Yasuda, a professor and member of the Brazilian Research Institute for Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN).

Only volunteers diagnosed with COVID-19 by RT-PCR and not hospitalized were included in the study. The assessments were carried out after the end of the acute phase, and the results were compared with data for 145 healthy uninfected subjects.

The MRI scans showed that some volunteers had decreased cortical thickness in some brain regions compared with the average for controls.

"We observed atrophy in areas associated, for example with anxiety, one of the most frequent symptoms in the study group," Yasuda said. "Considering that the prevalence of anxiety disorders in the Brazilian population is 9%, the 28% we found is an alarmingly high number. We didn't expect these results in patients who had had the mild form of the disease."

In neuropsychological tests designed to evaluate cognitive functioning, the volunteers also underperformed in some tasks compared with the national average. The results were adjusted for age, sex and educational attainment, as well as the degree of fatigue reported by each participant.

"The question we're left with is this: Are these symptoms temporary or permanent? So far, we've found that some subjects improve, but unfortunately many continue to experience alterations," Yasuda said. "What's surprising is that many people have been reinfected by novel variants, and some report worse symptoms than they had since the first infection. In view of the novel virus, we see longitudinal follow-up as crucial to understand the evolution of the neuropsychiatric alterations over time and for this understanding to serve as a basis for the development of targeted therapies."

Energy metabolism affected

In IB-UNICAMP's Neuroproteomics Laboratory, which is headed by Martins-de-Souza, experiments were performed on brain tissue cells from people who died of COVID-19 and astrocytes cultured in vitro to find out how infection by SARS-CoV-2 affects nervous system cells from the biochemical standpoint.

The autopsy samples were obtained via collaboration with the group led by Paulo Saldiva, a professor at the University of Sao Paulo's Medical School (FM-USP). The proteome (all proteins present in the tissue) was mapped using mass spectrometry, a technique employed to identify different substances in biological samples according to their molecular mass.

"When the results were compared with those of uninfected subjects, several proteins with altered expression were found to be abundant in astrocytes, which validated the findings obtained by immunohistochemistry," Martins-de-Souza said. "We observed alterations in various biochemical pathways in the astrocytes, especially pathways associated with energy metabolism."

The next step was to repeat the proteomic analysis in cultured astrocytes infected in the laboratory. The astrocytes were obtained from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The method consists of reprogramming adult cells (derived from skin or other easily accessible tissues) to assume a stage of pluripotency similar to that of embryo stem cells. This first part was conducted in the IDOR laboratory of Stevens Rehen, a professor at UFRJ. Martins-de-Souza's team then used chemical stimuli to make the iPSCs differentiate into neural stem cells and eventually into astrocytes.

"The results were similar to those of the analysis of tissue samples obtained by autopsy in that they showed energy metabolism dysfunction," Martins-de-Souza said. "We then performed a metabolomic analysis [focusing on the metabolites produced by the cultured astrocytes], which evidenced glucose metabolism alterations. For some reason, infected astrocytes consume more glucose than usual, and yet cellular levels of pyruvate and lactate, the main energy substrates, decreased significantly."

Lactate is one of the products of glucose metabolism, and astrocytes export this metabolite to neurons, which use it as an energy source. The researchers' in vitro analysis showed that lactate levels in the cell culture medium were normal but decreased inside the cells. "Astrocytes appear to strive to maintain the energy supply to neurons even if this effort weakens their own functioning," Martins-de-Souza said.

As an outcome of this process, the functioning of the astrocytes' mitochondria (energy-producing organelles) was indeed altered, potentially influencing cerebral levels of such neurotransmitters as glutamate, which excites neurons and is associated with memory and learning, or gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which inhibits excessive firing of neurons and can promote feelings of calm and relaxation.

"In another experiment, we attempted to culture neurons in the medium where the infected astrocytes had grown previously and measured a higher-than-expected cell death rate. In other words, this culture medium 'conditioned by infected astrocytes' weakened neuron viability," Martins-de-Souza said.

The findings described in the article confirm those of several previously published studies pointing to possible neurological and neuropsychiatric manifestations of COVID-19.

Results of experiments on hamsters conducted at the Institute of Biosciences (IB-USP), for example, reinforce the hypothesis that infection by SARS-CoV-2 accelerates astrocyte metabolism and increases the consumption of molecules used to generate energy, such as glucose and the amino acid glutamine. The results obtained by the group led by Jean Pierre Peron indicate that this metabolic alteration impairs the synthesis of a neurotransmitter that plays a key role in communication among neurons.

Unanswered questions

According to Martins-de-Souza, there is no consensus in the scientific literature on how SARS-CoV-2 reaches the brain. "Some animal experiments suggest the virus can cross the blood-brain barrier. There's also a suspicion that it infects the olfactory nerve and from there invades the central nervous system. But these are hypotheses for now," he said.

One of the discoveries revealed by the PNAS article is that the virus does not use the protein ACE-2 to invade central nervous system cells, as it does in the lungs. "Astrocytes don't have the protein in their membranes. Research by Flavio Veras [FMRP-USP] and his group shows that SARS-CoV-2 binds to the protein neuropilin in this case, illustrating its versatility in infecting different tissues," Martins-de-Souza said.

At UNICAMP's Neuroproteomics Laboratory, Martins-de-Souza analyzed nerve cells and others affected by COVID-19, such as adipocytes, immune system cells and gastrointestinal cells, to see how the infection altered the proteome.

"We're now compiling the data to look for peculiarities and differences in the alterations caused by the virus in these different tissues. Thousands of proteins and hundreds of biochemical pathways can be altered, with variations in each case. This knowledge will help guide the search for specific therapies for each system impaired by COVID-19," he said.

"We're also comparing the proteomic differences observed in brain tissue from patients who died of COVID-19 with proteomic differences we've found over the years in patients with schizophrenia. The symptoms of both conditions are quite similar. Psychosis, the most classic sign of schizophrenia, also occurs in people with COVID-19."

The aim of the study is to find out whether infection by SARS-CoV-2 can lead to degeneration of the white matter in the brain, made up mainly of glial cells (astrocytes and microglia) and axons (extensions of neurons). "We've observed a significant correspondence [in the pattern of proteomic alterations] associated with the energy metabolism and glial proteins that appear important in both COVID-19 and schizophrenia. These findings may perhaps provide a shortcut to treatments for the psychiatric symptoms of COVID-19," Martins-de-Souza pondered.

Marcelo Mori, a professor at IB-UNICAMP and a member of the Obesity and Comorbidities Research Center (OCRC), the study was only possible thanks to the collaboration of researchers with varied and complementary backgrounds and expertise. "It demonstrates that first-class competitive science is always interdisciplinary," he said. "It's hard to compete internationally if you stay inside your own lab, confining yourself to the techniques with which you're familiar and the equipment to which you have access."

Explore further Researchers identify molecular mechanisms leading to Zika-associated microcephaly

More information: Fernanda Crunfli et al, Morphological, cellular, and molecular basis of brain infection in COVID-19 patients, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Fernanda Crunfli et al, Morphological, cellular, and molecular basis of brain infection in COVID-19 patients,(2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2200960119
Rebeca Castro, of Fruitland, sings and dances to a Christian praise song during an anti-abortion celebration for the overturn of Roe v. Wade, held outside of the Idaho Statehouse in Boise, Idaho on June 28, 2022. A University of Idaho memo warning staffers not to refer students to abortion or birth control providers has placed the school at the center of a debate over First Amendment rights and access to reproductive health care. One of the laws bars the use of state funds to promote or endorse abortion or emergency contraception. Another makes it illegal for non-healthcare providers to advertise abortions or birth control. Credit: Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman via AP, File

A box truck equipped with a bright LED billboard began circling around the University of Idaho campus Friday.

"Pregnant? You still have a choice," read one of the bright blue-and-white messages flashing across the side. "You can still get abortion pills by mail," read another message.

The moving billboard was a salvo by Mayday Health against Idaho's anti-abortion laws, including some that prohibit state employees from promoting or endorsing abortion or emergency contraception. The organization seeks to inform people in anti-abortion states how to access abortion and contraception.

Mayday Health chose Moscow, Idaho, for the action after the university warned employees not to refer students to abortion or birth control providers lest they run afoul of the state laws.

"This effort is part of protecting free speech and the First Amendment," said Kaori Sueyoshi, Mayday Health 's head of strategy, on Friday morning. "We want to make sure that students at the University of Idaho and surrounding area have accurate information about how to get birth control pills, Plan B (emergency contraception) as well as how to get safe abortion access."

University of Idaho Provost Torrey Lawrence said the legal guidance simply was intended to protect staffers. Boise State University recently issued similar, albeit less strict, advice.

"Some employees were not aware of it, and others had actually asked for legal guidance," Lawrence told The Associated Press in a phone interview Thursday. "Because our employees are paid on state funds, this could result in criminal prosecution."

But the UI memo was shared to social media sites like Reddit and Twitter, quickly making waves in a country still grappling with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision overturning abortion rights. The White House press secretary condemned the memo. Some TikTok usersand some major media organizationsfalsely claimed the university had "banned" birth control for students.

People march through 8th Street in downtown Boise, Idaho, on May 3, 2022, in response to the news that the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide. A University of Idaho memo warning staffers not to refer students to abortion or birth control providers has placed the school at the center of a debate over First Amendment rights and access to reproductive health care. One of the laws bars the use of state funds to promote or endorse abortion or emergency contraception. Another makes it illegal for non-healthcare providers to advertise abortions or birth control. Credit: Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman via AP, File

And some of Idaho's other 900,000 or so employees began wondering what the laws could mean for them.

At this point, there's not much direction from elected officials. Rep. Brent Crane, one of the sponsors of the 2021 "No Public Funds for Abortion Act," said laws frequently have to be refined after they're passed to work out the kinks, and he's unconcerned that the process could take a year or more.

The Idaho Attorney General's office said questions regarding the laws should be directed to county prosecutors, who have enforcement duties. Idaho's prosecutors are elected in each of the state's 44 counties, so answers to enforcement questions could change from region to region and year to year.

Avoiding doing anything that appears to promote abortion on the job may be easy for a farmer appointed to the Idaho Bean Commission or a geologist who maps minerals for the Idaho Geological Survey. But the law is murkier for others who receive state funds.

Could a dinner table discussion about politics in front of a teenage foster child be considered "promoting abortion," especially if part of the dinner was covered by the foster parents' $584 monthly stipend from the state? Would an Idaho Public Television reporter risk prosecution if a viewer says an interview of a Planned Parenthood representative gave the abortion advocate too much air time?

A spokesperson with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare did not immediately know if the law would apply to foster parents and said he would work on finding the answer Friday.

Idaho Public Television Executive Director Bill Manny is not worried about facing prosecution as long as his organization continues to do its job well in informing viewers and voters about the issues of the day.

"I can't imagine that anyone who drafted the law or interprets the law envisioned stopping people of good faith from talking about important public policy issues in our state," Manny said. "That's what we do with our programs and that's what we do with our debates, and we think that's the right way to move forward."

An attendee at Planned Parenthood's Bans Off Our Bodies rally for abortion rights holds a sign reading "Idaho the women as property state" outside of the Idaho Statehouse in downtown Boise, Idaho, on May 14, 2022. A University of Idaho memo warning staffers not to refer students to abortion or birth control providers has placed the school at the center of a debate over First Amendment rights and access to reproductive health care. One of the laws bars the use of state funds to promote or endorse abortion or emergency contraception. Another makes it illegal for non-healthcare providers to advertise abortions or birth control. Credit: Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman via AP, File

But in a recent podcast by Melissa Davlin, the lead producer of Idaho Public Television's news show Idaho Reports, former Idaho Supreme Court Justice Jim Jones said the law tramples First Amendment rights and could put public outlet journalists at risk.

"I think that somebody could make a complaint that you had a guest on that was promoting abortion so you must have been complicit in it," Jones said during the podcast. "It's a matter of saying, 'Keep your mouth shut, don't talk about these subjects,' and that's a dangerous thing for the government to be doing."

Meanwhile, University of Idaho is dealing with the backlash.

"It's not a mandate. In fact, our policies have not changed," the provost, Lawrence, told the AP on Thursday. "The communication was trying to offer initial guidance on a rather vague law that's designed to be punitive to state employees."

The school does not prescribe birth control to students, but for years has made bowls of condoms freely available in some campus bathrooms. Those continue to be distributed, but now are intended to stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases rather than pregnancy prevention.

Student medical care has long been provided by outside health care companies. The Vandal Health Clinic, named after the UI mascot, is currently run by a local hospital system, Gritman Medical Center. Gritman said its services, which include prescribing contraceptives, would not change.

Lawrence said he did not expect the university's contract with Gritman to be affected by the law. Nor did he believe the university's many contracts with research and education grant partnerswhich include the federal government, which in some cases provides abortions through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairswould be affected.

But individual employees could face major consequences if they're charged, he said.

"The law focuses on and targets the individual, so all state employees paid on state funds are implicated and at risk of very serious consequencesnot only felony or misdemeanor charges but fines, possibly imprisonment, possibly losing your job and possibly being barred from ever working for the state again," Lawrence said. "Our advice is to remain in a safer position until we know exactly how all of this is going to be interpreted."

Explore further Biden to sign executive order protecting women traveling for abortion

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Bronchodilators, the most common type of asthma-fighting drug, inhibits contractions of airway smooth muscle that are induced by stimulating receptors on the muscle's surface. New research highlights a novel mechanism for the drugs and will aid in the development of better medications for the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The findings are detailed in a new article by researchers from Dundalk Institute of Technology in Ireland and Queen's University in Northern Ireland.

Asthma and COPD are common lung disorderscaused by excessive constriction of the airwaysthat make breathing difficult. Bronchodilators, also known as beta-adrenoceptor agonists, relax airway smooth muscle and open the airways to make breathing easier. These drugs bind to beta-adrenoceptors located on airway muscle cells and cause them to relax.

Constriction of the airways is regulated in the nerves, which release a chemical called acetylcholine. This chemical causes the airways to constrict and narrow. For patients with COPD, the constrictor effects of acetylcholine are enhanced. It has been long known that beta-adrenoceptor agonists could reverse the constricting effects of acetylcholine on airway smooth muscle, but it has not been fully clear how this occurs. It is important to understand how these medications work to assist with future development of more effective drugs with fewer side effects.

Explore further Biomarker discovery can lead to improved diagnosis and treatment of asthma and COPD

More information: Tuleen Alkawadri et al, M2 muscarinic receptor-dependent contractions of airway smooth muscle are inhibited by activation of -adrenoceptors, Function (2022). Tuleen Alkawadri et al, M2 muscarinic receptor-dependent contractions of airway smooth muscle are inhibited by activation of -adrenoceptors,(2022). DOI: 10.1093/function/zqac050
More than 100 educators gathered at the University of Montana on Friday for a symposium on Indigenous boarding schools and trauma-informed learning. The all-day event, which featured Native speakers from across the country, aimed to equip teachers, aspiring educators and others with tools to accurately and thoughtfully integrate the topic of boarding schools into curricula and to meaningfully apply Indian Education for All.

From the 1800s to the 1970s, many Native children were 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, and tribes have suffered language and culture loss as a result. Historical trauma from these schools persists. Sept. 30 has since been deemed a National Day of Remembrance for the victims and survivors of these schools.

Ramey Growing Thunder, director of the Fort Peck Language and Culture Department, shared her research into tribal history as well as photos of present-day youth programming and language instruction.

We gotta do things that save the Dakota, Lakota and Nakoda language and culture, she said at the end of her talk. And we must get rid of historical, assimilating systems that persist today.

Laurie Smith-Small Waisted Bear, Rosebud Sioux, discussed the ways in which the boarding school era influenced public education.

A boarding school survivor herself, Smith-Small Waisted Bear asked educators, Whats the difference between boarding school education and education today?

The biggest difference is that today, children arent being taken from their homes, and we arent cutting their hair in school, she answered her own question. Education is still not much different. We still dont see our language and culture in the classroom today, do we?

Smith-Small Waisted Bear said Indigenous education emphasizes application and imitation. She said etiquette is also critical, as Native children are taught to respect their elders. But American education, she said, prioritizes competition, individualism and memorization.

That colonial, settler mindset is deeply, deeply engrained in our country, she said. Its even in our tribal schools, Id say its especially in our tribal schools.

Smith-Small Waisted Bear encouraged educators in the audience to be bold. She said that textbooks still used today imply that Native Americans dont exist and allude to a lawsuit involving Montana schools' implementation of Indian Education for All.

Montanas Constitution requires all public school students to receive education about Native American culture and heritage, and the Legislature in 1999 passed the Indian Education for All Act to help implement the requirement. Last year, tribes in Montana and parents of 18 students filed a lawsuit, alleging that state educators were violating the constitutional requirement to teach Indigenous education.

By establishing an Indigenous curriculum, Smith-Small Waisted Bear said educators are challenging the nations narrative.

You must be bold! she said. We must persevere.

Keynote speakers Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart and Deidre Yellowhair discussed how colonization has perpetuated historical trauma. The two defined historical trauma as the cumulative emotional and psychological wounding from massive group trauma across generations.

The boarding schools were meant to exterminate us and do away with our language and culture, Yellowhair said. Who wouldve thought that years later, a university that is part of that westernized academic system would host Indians wearing their moccasins and speaking their languages? Its a testament to our resilience.
Standing outside of the Missoula County Courthouse, Joseph Jefferson-Dust of Billings shared his experience of being wrongfully convicted in Montanas legal system.

Released from the Yellowstone County jail about three weeks ago after his probation revocation was dismissed, Jefferson-Dust spoke of his journey through the criminal justice system as part of the Montana Innocence Projects Indigenous justice rally Friday evening. The speech was part of the organizations Wrongful Conviction Day events.

In Montana, around 23% of the people incarcerated at the Department of Corrections are Indigenous, despite making up only 7% of the state's population, according to State Sen. Shane Morigeau. Morigeau is a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Indigenous people make up about 28% of the Montana Innocence Project's applications for legal services.

It really has a crippling effect on our communities, Morigeau said.

In 2015, a young girl falsely accused Jefferson-Dust of inappropriately touching her, Amy Sings In The Timber said at the event. Jefferson-Dust pleaded no contest to a criminal endangerment charge and was given a 10-year suspended sentence. His sentence was revoked on a technical probation violation.

In 2020, the girl recanted her statement. Jefferson-Dust learned about her recanted statement, but nothing changed for a year. He reached out to the Montana Innocence Project and was eventually released from custody, Sings In The Timber explained.

This was my first time going through all of this, Jefferson-Dust said, adding hed never been through the legal system before.

Jefferson-Dust is still waiting to be exonerated of the criminal charge.

I am optimistic about the future, he said. Im looking forward to the next chapter.

Jefferson-Dusts mom, Lydina Big Man, and his grandmother, Edwina Beaumont, shared how Jefferson-Dusts case impacted their family.

Big Man said the day she went to pick up her son from jail, she rode a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. I just wanted him to feel some of that freedom of a motorcycle, she said.

When Jefferson-Dusts community found out about the allegations, they were shocked. It ripped my heart out, Big Man said of her sons case.

Morigeau said he's heard from Indigenous people who feel like they didnt have adequate representation, and often faced all-white juries at trials.

Ive had family members or friends who are convicted, Morigeau said. They oftentimes just agreed to take whatever deal they had, because they felt helpless, hopeless. They felt like the cards were stacked against them in the deck."

Indigenous communities are still reeling from suppression policies instituted in the U.S., many of which are missing Indigenous voices and input, he said.

Wrongful Conviction Day started in 2013 by the Innocence Network, including the Montana Innocence Project.
Even harmful environmental effects and thousands of public comments opposed to the project may not necessarily be enough to stop a proposal to drastically expand Holland Lake Lodge from moving forward, according to a law professor at the University of Montana.

The National Environmental Policy Act, which is governing the Flathead National Forests review of the proposal, is not a substantive statute, according to Sandra Zellmer, a professor of natural resources and environmental law.

NEPA prevents uninformed, rather than unwise, decisions, she explained. As long as you look at all the relevant factors and have the information at your fingertips and present it to the public and have taken public input and document everything, you can do the stupidest thing you want. Its a look before you leap statute.

Zellmer would know. Before going into education, she was an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justices Environment and Natural Resources Division, where she litigated public lands issues for the Forest Service and other federal agencies.

The owner of Holland Lake Lodge, Christian Wohlfeil, has partnered on a joint business venture for the project with POWDR, one of the largest ski resort operators in North America.

Together, they have submitted a proposal to remove 10 aging structures at Holland Lake Lodge and add 32 new buildings, including a new 28-room lodge, a new restaurant and 26 new cabins near the lake.

Wohlfeil owns the buildings but leases about 15 acres of public land on the shores of the lake from the Forest Service. He operates under a special commercial permit. He has said that the upgrades are sorely needed, wont impact the rustic character of the place and will allow the facility to serve guests for the next several decades.

Under the NEPA statute, the Flathead National Forest can categorically exclude the project, which is the least intensive of three options. The other two options are an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement, the latter being the most thorough review which could take up to a year.

Based on a preliminary assessment conducted by the Flathead National Forest, as of right now the intention of the Forest Service is to categorically exclude the proposed project from documentation in an environmental impact statement or an environmental assessment. However a spokesperson for the Flathead National Forest, Tami MacKenzie, said that nothing has been decided yet.

Over 5,460 comments have been submitted on the proposal, with most appearing to be opposed.

Zellmer said that its up to the discretion of the Forest Service as to how much weight they give public comment when deciding what type of review to conduct or whether to approve the project.

She said every presidential administration has different priorities and gives more weight to comments that are in line with those priorities. For example, she said, the Biden administration is inclined to approve renewable energy projects and would give more weight to comments on projects that are in support of renewable energy projects. The Trump administration, by contrast, would have been more inclined to give more weight to comments in favor of oil and gas production.

Comments that are inconsistent with (an administration's goals) may well be given less weight, she said. Those kinds of political considerations play a role. So it depends.

The Forest Service is taking public input mainly to comply with the law.

The legal reason why the Forest Service has to take a hard look is because if they didnt, their decision could be deemed arbitrary or capricious if theyre taken to court, Zellmer explained.

Anyone who believes that the project might not be approved even if the Forest Service decides to conduct an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement might be disappointed.

NEPA is not going to stop you in your tracks, Zellmer explained. Its purpose is to allow public participation and gathering information. Its not a substantive statute. It doesnt dictate the most environmentally friendly outcome. Rather, it ensures the outcome is informed, the facts have been gathered and analyzed.

Even if the environmental analysis finds that a project will harm the environment, the project could easily be approved.

If you want to go forward with a project that might destroy the environment, NEPA wont stop you, Zellmer said.

Thats probably why, Zellmer said, that NEPA is probably one of the most litigated statutes on the books. She said developers, local residents and environmental groups often sue over NEPA-related decisions.

But other statutes, like the Endangered Species Act and the National Forest Management Act, might stop you," she said. "Those are substantive statutes. They have teeth.

In Zellmers opinion, invoking a categorical exclusion for the Holland Lake proposal would by a mistake by the government.

Categorical exclusions, by law, can only be used by those activities that dont have significant environmental effects, either cumulatively or individually, she said. So just given the degree of the expansion and the setting, given its largely undeveloped and mostly non-motorized characteristics, I would think that invoking a categorical exclusion would not pass the straight face test on this one.

Categorical exclusions are used for projects like rehabilitating a cabin or rerouting a sidewalk or adding an outhouse, she said.

Also, she noted, the lodge is in prime habitat for grizzly bears, which are protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Christopher Servheen, the president of the Montana Wildlife Federation, sent a letter to the Forest Service opposing the project for that very reason.

The proposed development will do more than just triple lodging capacity, he wrote. It will also expand human influence far beyond the allotted 15 acres by increased visitor use and intensity of use.

He noted that the lodge is proposing to be open throughout the winter if the expansion is approved. That would extend and intensify the potential for conflicts with bears and habitat disturbance, he argued.

The current Holland Lake Lodge has had fairly low impact on wildlife and habitat because it has operated for decades at a modest size and has been closed during the winter months, he said. Winterizing these facilities will increase the use season in the area.

He believes that tens of thousands of additional new users and tens of thousands of additional user days would be generated, which would have significant negative impacts on wildlife and wildlife habitat and forever change the character of the Swan Valley.

Wohlfeil wrote a letter to various newspapers explaining his position.

POWDR is a company that was familiar with and embraced the process of making necessary improvements to the Lodge to protect the environment, the letter read, in part. They have an excellent reputation regarding conservation, sustainability, and the responsible operation of recreation facilities.

Stacey Hutchinson, the vice president of communications and government affairs at POWDR, said the number one concern she's heard from residents is about the environment.

"We are doing reviews and we have the environment at the top of our minds," she said. "We want to enhance the guest experience and the environment. The upgrades and improvements we are seeking to do will ensure it's environmentally sustainable. We want to have energy conservation measures, shoreline protection measures and water quality protection measures."

In the end, all she is hoping is that the community gives the company a chance.

"I hope people learn about us and see that our heart is in the area and at the lodge and that we do care about being a good neighbor," she said. "We are not just the boogeyman everyone seems to be portraying in social media conversations."

For more information on the project visit bit.ly/3dQDrxX.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  After being encircled by Ukrainian forces, Russia pulled troops out Saturday from an eastern Ukrainian city that it had been using as a front-line hub. It was the latest victory for the Ukrainian counteroffensive that has humiliated and angered the Kremlin.

Russias withdrawal from Lyman complicates its internationally vilified declaration just a day earlier that it had annexed four regions of Ukraine  an area that includes Lyman. Taking the city paves the way for Ukrainian troops to potentially push further into land that Moscow now illegally claims as its own.

The Ukrainian flag is already in Lyman, Donetsk region. Fighting is still going on there. But there is no trace of any pseudo-referendum there, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Saturday.

He was referring to referendums that Russia held at gunpoint in the four regions before annexing them  Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

The fighting comes at a pivotal moment in Russian President Vladimir Putins war. Facing Ukrainian gains on the battlefield  which he frames as a U.S.-orchestrated effort to destroy Russia  Putin this week heightened threats of nuclear force and used his most aggressive, anti-Western rhetoric to date.

Russias Defense Ministry claimed to have inflicted damage on Ukrainian forces in battling to hold Lyman, but said outnumbered Russian troops were withdrawn to more favorable positions. Ukrainian forces moved into the city, and Zelenskyys chief of staff posted photos of a Ukrainian flag being hoisted on the town's outskirts.

Lyman had been an important link in the Russian front line for ground communications and logistics. Located 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, it's in the Donetsk region near the border with Luhansk, two regions that Russia annexed Friday.

Ukrainian forces have retaken vast swaths of territory in a counteroffensive that started in September. They have pushed Russian forces out of the Kharkiv area and moved east across the Oskil River.

Moscows withdrawal from Lyman prompted immediate criticism from some Russian officials. The leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, blamed the retreat, without evidence, on one Russian general being covered up for by higher-up leaders in the General Staff. He called for more drastic measures.

Meanwhile, on the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula, the governor of the city of Sevastopol announced an emergency situation at an airfield there. Explosions and huge billows of smoke could be seen by beachgoers in the Russian-held resort. Authorities said a plane rolled off the runway at the Belbek airfield, and said ammunition on board had caught fire.

Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 in violation of international law.

Russian bombardment has intensified in recent days as Moscow moved swiftly with its latest annexation and ordered a mass mobilization at home to bolster its forces. The Russian call-up has proven unpopular at home, prompting tens of thousands of Russian men to flee the country.

Zelenskyy and his military have vowed to keep fighting to liberate the regions that Putin claimed to have annexed Friday, and other Russian-occupied areas.

Ukrainian authorities accused Russian forces of targeting two humanitarian convoys in recent days, killing dozens of civilians.

The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said 24 civilians were killed in an attack this week on a convoy trying to flee the Kupiansk district. He called it ruelty that cant be justified. He said 13 children and a pregnant woman were among the dead.

The Russians fired at civilians almost at point-blank range, Syniehubov wrote on Telegram.

The Security Service of Ukraine, the secret police force known by the acronym SBU, posted photographs of the attacked convoy. At least one truck appeared to have been blown up, with burned corpses in what remained of its truck bed. Another vehicle at the front of the convoy was torched. Bodies lay on the side of the road or still inside vehicles that were pockmarked with bullet holes.

Russias Defense Ministry said its rockets destroyed Ukrainian military targets in the area but has not commented on accusations that it targeted fleeing civilians. Russian troops have retreated from much of the Kharkiv region but continue to shell the area.

And a Russian strike in the Zaporizhzhia regions capital killed 31 people and wounded 88, Ukrainian officials said. The British Defense Ministry said the Russians almost certainly struck a humanitarian convoy there with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. Russian-installed officials in Zaporizhzhia blamed Ukrainian forces but gave no evidence.

In other developments, in an apparent attempt to secure Moscows hold on the newly annexed territory, Russian forces seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov, on Friday, according to the Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom.

Energoatom said Russian troops stopped Murashovs car, blindfolded him and took him to an undisclosed location.

Russia did not comment on the report. The International Atomic Energy Agency said Russia told it that the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was temporarily detained to answer questions.

The Vienna-based IAEA said it has been actively seeking clarifications and hopes for a prompt and satisfactory resolution of this matter.

The power plant has been caught in the crossfire of the war. Ukrainian technicians continued running it after Russian troops seized the power station, and its last reactor was shut down in September as a precautionary measure amid ongoing shelling nearby.

In other fighting reported Saturday, four people were killed by Russian shelling Friday in the Donetsk region, governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said. The Russian army struck the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv twice overnight, once with drones and the second time with missiles, according to the regional governor.

Russia now claims sovereignty over 15% of Ukraine in what NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called the largest attempted annexation of European territory by force since the Second World War.

Zelenskyy on Friday formally applied for NATO membership, upping the pressure on Western allies to defend Ukraine.

In Washington, President Joe Biden signed a bill that provides another infusion  more than $12.3 billion  in military and economic aid linked to the war in Ukraine.

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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SAN DIEGO (AP)  A military judge on Friday acquitted a sailor of arson in a fire that destroyed the USS Bonhomme Richard, a blow to the Navy as it faces allegations of improper training and maintenance of the $1.2 billion amphibious assault ship.

Ryan Sawyer Mays, 21, deeply exhaled when the verdict was read, put both hands on the defense table, broke into sobs and hugged supporters in the audience at Naval Base San Diego.

Outside the courtroom building, Mays read a brief statement to reporters and declined to answer questions. He did not address his plans.

I can say that the past two years have been the hardest two years of my entire life as a young man, he said. Ive lost time with friends. Ive lost friends. Ive lost time with family, and my entire Navy career was ruined. I am looking forward to starting over.

Prosecutors presented no physical evidence during the nine-day trial that the sailor set the ship on fire, while the defense chipped away at the credibility of a key witness, Seaman Kenji Velasco, who changed his account over time.

Gary Barthel, a former Marine judge advocate who represented Mays at a preliminary hearing, said undercutting Velasco's credibility was key. Barthel has said the judge in the preliminary hearing recommended against a court martial, but Vice Adm. Steve Koehler, former commander of the San Diego-based U.S. 3rd Fleet, had the final say.

The ship's lower vehicle storage area became a junkyard and I believe throughout this entire process the Navy was attempting to clean up their mess by accusing Seaman Mays of these allegations, Barthel told reporters.

Prosecutors did not comment after the verdict. The Navy said through a spokesman, Lt. Samuel R. Boyle, that it "is committed to upholding the principles of due process and a fair trial.

Prosecutors said Mays was angry and vengeful about failing to become a Navy SEAL and being assigned to deck duty, prompting him to ignite cardboard boxes on July 12, 2020 in the lower vehicle storage area on the vessel, which was docked in San Diego while undergoing $250 million in maintenance work. They said he wanted to drive home his text earlier to his division officer that the ship was so cluttered with contractors material it was hazardous as (expletive).

The prosecutor, Capt. Jason Jones, acknowledged in court a Navy report last year that concluded that the inferno was preventable and unacceptable, and that there were lapses in training, coordination, communications, fire preparedness, equipment maintenance and overall command and control. The failure to extinguish or contain the fire led to temperatures exceeding 1,200 degrees (649 Celsius) in some areas, melting sections of the ship into molten metal that flowed into other parts of the ship. Navy leaders disciplined more than 20 senior officers and sailors.

Jones told the judge there is no doubt the Navy loses the ship that morning, but Mays is to blame for igniting it.

That sucker punch from behind, thats what the Navy could have never prevented, he said.

Mays thought he would be jumping out of helicopters on missions with the SEALs, but instead he was chipping paint on the deck of a ship, and he hated the Navy for that, Jones said.

When on deck, you are about as far away from the SEALs as you are ever going to be, Jones said.

Defense lawyers said the trial only exposed a shoddy probe by government investigators who rushed to judgment and failed to collect evidence showing that the culprit also could have been lithium ion batteries or a sparking forklift.
A Billings woman is facing felony charges after two of her children allegedly tested positive for methamphetamine and her toddler was found alone wandering a parking lot.

Starla Cheri Keller, 37, was arrested Thursday on a $50,000 warrant. The mother of four has been charged with six counts child endangerment. County prosecutors are accusing Keller of allowing her 3-year-old daughter to wander out of her house, which was filled with garbage, and neglecting all four of her children.

The home was so full of trash and broken items that most of the home was not usable as a living area. Of three bedrooms on the ground floor, only one bedroom was moderately clear enough to be used as a bedroom, prosecutors wrote in charging documents.

In late June, multiple Billings police officers responded to a toddler found walking alone behind the Albertsons on the 2300 block of Central Avenue. She didnt know many words, but made it clear to police she wanted some water, court documents said.

The 3-year-old girl showed signs of neglect, detailed in court documents, which included having only one shoe on, a bite mark on her chest and a head wound. She was allegedly wearing a diaper that was several days old and filled with feces. She was covered with urine, and when an ambulance crew arrived, crew members told police they could smell that the girl possibly had a urinary tract infection.

Employees at Albertsons gave police diapers, wipes, food and water for the girl. A witness gave an officer the contact information for the girls mother, identified as Keller. She allegedly did not answer when called. Police called CPS agents to assist in the investigation.

After learning her address, police went to Kellers home. Charging documents do not state Kellers address, or how far the 3-year-old had wandered from her house. A Billings officer allegedly found the front door was open, and outside of the house there was a hatchet laying on the ground amidst toys, empty Twisted Tea cans and cans of bug spray. The officer knocked and announced himself through the open door.

Keller came to the door. After hearing that her daughter was found alone at Albertsons, court documents said, she told the officer she thought her 13-year-old daughter was watching her three other kids when she went to sleep. She left the house with her 4-year-old daughter and walked on foot to Albertsons.

By the time she arrived at Albertsons, her teenage daughter had reached the scene. With three of her children at Albertsons, Keller allegedly became irate with CPS workers. She said she would be calling an attorney, and accused authorities of trying to take her kids, court documents said.

CPS took custody of all of her kids, according to charging documents. Kellers 7-year-old son was found with a relative that same day. Her 3-year-old daughter was taken to a local hospital for further treatment. Within days, CPS tested two of the children for methamphetamine by taking hair samples. Both allegedly tested positive for high concentrations of meth, according to court documents.

Police documented the interior of Kellers home, but she allegedly refused to let them access the basement. Along with the trash littered throughout the house, police found bottles of chemicals such as ammonia lying within easy access of the children, charging documents said.

In August, county prosecutors charged Keller with two counts of felony and four counts of misdemeanor child endangerment. District Judge Jessica Fehr signed a $50,000 warrant for her arrest a few days later. Keller is scheduled to make her first appearance in court on Monday. The investigation into the accusations against Keller is still ongoing.

That same month, an interim committee of state lawmakers advanced a draft bill for the upcoming Legislature that, if passed, would reform the operations of CPS workers. Should the bill become law, the Montana Free Press reported, child protective specialists and law enforcement would need a judicial warrant to take children out of their homes in most cases, and legal counsel would be required for all children in cases of abuse and neglect.

The exceptions to the warrant requirement, according to the current language of the draft, would be in instances where children are likely to be victims of sexual or violent abuse in the time that it would take to receive a warrant.

In the most recent annual report from the Office of the Child and Family Ombudsman, 51 people in 2021 contacted the office with concerns that CPS had removed children from their homes without adequate evidence of abuse. The OCFO, tasked with identifying problems within the states child welfare system, also reported eight child fatalities in Montana for 2021, an increase from six in 2020 but a significant drop since the 17 reported in 2019.

In nearly every child fatality in 2021, according to the OCFO, there were prior indications of abuse and neglect. Those indications included drug and alcohol use on the part of their parents, along with domestic violence. Montanas Child and Family Services Division had prior reports on seven of the eight children who died in 2021. CFSD has investigated an average of 620 reports of neglect and abuse every month over the past year, according to data from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.

If convicted of felony child endangerment, Keller could be sentenced up to 10 years in prison. A misdemeanor child endangerment conviction comes with the possibility of up to six months in jail.

Tips of potential child abuse can be made to Child and Family Services Division by calling 1-866-820-5437.
Amazon made a special delivery to Park View Elementary School on the morning of Sept. 29, one that brought lots of smiles to both the children and staff.

As a way to celebrate National Literacy Month, Amazon shared some special gifts with the school. They also wanted to say thank you for all the hard work you are doing, said Jennifer Hudkins, senior operations manager at CLT4, an Amazon fulfillment center in Charlotte, as she spoke to the students who were gathered outside for the presentation.

Hudkins and the other Amazon team members stood by the big truck waiting for the presentation of 100 backpacks filled with books, bookmarks and additional goodies for the students. When they learned what was inside the multiple boxes, the students were excited and cheered.

Park View was one of 200 sites across North America to receive the gifting of books. In an email, it noted that Amazon was excited to partner with Park View Elementary to inspire the next generation of lifelong readers by reducing barriers to learning with diverse childrens books.

But their giving didnt stop there as Hudkins told the Park View team gathered that they had another gift. This was a secret surprise we didnt tell anyone about, she shared. And then asking the children if they liked surprises, they responded with a resounding yeah!

Telling the children that she did too, Hudkins reached inside the truck and pulled out a large-sized check in the amount of $10,000, which was met with exclamations of oh my, oh my, and shouts of excitement from the children.

Upon receiving the check, Dr. Misha Rogers, the schools principal, told them Thank you so much. This is so incredible. You really surprised me.

When asked what receiving this special gift meant, Rogers said, This is incredible. Im so shocked and surprised right now, and we will work with our school leadership team to decide what we will be doing with this, but its all going to go back to doing something wonderful for our kids.

Students, staff and Amazon team members then took the opportunity for some group photos before the boxes were taken inside where they divided up into two groups with the Amazon team reading to the children.

The idea of giving these special gifts to the students came about through Amazon Gives, one of their network partners, which brings donations throughout North America, Hudkins said.

Through the Amazon Give partners, she continued, they ask for different schools to see who would be interested, so there was a network call from our home office in Seattle, so the principal here signed up and we were connected that way.

Providing the extra gift of the money is based on that Amazon wants to give back to the community, Hudkins said, so its a partnership that we decided that we could do some good, and so we found a great school, and we just made it happen.

Giving back to the community is just part of our culture where we do things within the community, Hudkins shared.

And being able to help reach out to the school and give back to the community is wonderful. Our associates and our managers, one of the things that we pride in is to be good tenants in the community and show appreciation, and so its a wonderful thing for us to be able to step out from our environment today and see those kids smiles. Its very fulfilling.

The email further noted that last week, Amazon announced a $1 million investment to support literacy in more than 200 U.S. Title I eligible schools.

Amazon invests in providing children with the essentials needed to get a great education. We want every child to have the tools they need to learn, innovate and imagine, said Khim Aday, Amazon spokesperson. Sites like CLT4 and DLT2 in North Carolina play a critical role in events like this by doing what we do best: prepping, packing and delivering smiles to our customers and community partners. This is one of the many ways Amazon gives back to the communities where our employees work and live.

Hudkins shared that we hope this donation will help the students, teachers and families in our community who need it most.
A Butte couples lawsuit alleging that a former Butte Central High School math teacher engaged in sexual activities with students and accusing Butte Central Schools and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena of negligence has been settled.

Lawrence Henke, an attorney for the couple, filed a court notice Thursday saying the case had been fully settled between all the parties. The couple had a son at the school.

Henke told The Montana Standard on Friday he could not divulge any financial details or any other facets of the settlement but did say it resulted from a court-ordered mediation and he was pleased it was resolved.

Litigation is a very imperfect way to attempt to resolve disputes and finality is good for everyone involved, he said.

Don Peoples Jr., president of Butte Central Schools, said the only thing he could say was the claim had been settled to the mutual satisfaction of all parties. When asked if the math teacher was still at Central, he said no but could comment no further.

The teacher, Brad Kadrmas, has not been charged criminally with any felonies in this or any other matter in Butte-Silver Bow County in recent years, according to court records, and was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Henke has declined to say why he wasnt named as a defendant and did so again Friday. But he also said he was not aware of any criminal charges against Brad Kadrmas arising from the lawsuit.

The suit did name his wife, Amy Kadrmas, as a defendant, along with the high school, Butte Central Schools, the diocese in Helena and the Roman Catholic bishop in Helena. The settlement includes all of them.

John and Heather Stenson filed the lawsuit in District Court in Butte in July 2020 alleging that Brad and Amy Kadrmas gave alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana to minors while Brad worked as a teacher at the high school. They lived in a dormitory on school grounds at the time.

Prosecutors charged Amy Kadrmas with two felony counts of criminal distribution of dangerous drugs on or near school property, and two misdemeanors, but that criminal case is still pending.

The civil lawsuit said the Kadrmases targeted minors and Butte Central students and groomed them for abuse through the introduction of alcohol, providing cigarettes as a gateway to marijuana use, and that led to drug addiction and sexual exploitation.

It said Brad Kadrmas had sexual contact or relations with two female students and was able to keep the minors silent through intimidation and a scheme of trading grades for silence as to his conduct.

The suit alleged that Butte Central and the diocese did not do a thorough background check of the Kadrmases and said Central was negligent in not providing better oversight of the couple and their interactions with students.

Just after the lawsuit was filed in July 2020, Peoples and the diocese said they contacted police as soon as they learned of the allegations.

Heather Stenson told the Standard in July 2020 that she and her husband werent trying to get a lot of money from Butte Central or the diocese, only unused tuition for one of their sons and payment for counseling sessions he was taking in relation to the events.

But details in the final settlement are not public.
PARIS (AP)  A giant, glowing crystal rock upon a sand-colored carpet evoked a glamorous alien planet for Hermes champagne-sipping VIP guests.

Earthen hues like browns, reds and yellows -- colors long-associated with the heritage brand -- were used at Saturdays show to create Nadege Vanhee-Cybulskis utilitarian, low-key yet luxuriant universe for spring.

Elsewhere, Ukraines top fashion designers used the platform of Paris Fashion Week to promote their war-battered industry.

Here are some highlights of the days spring-summer 2023 collections in Paris:

HERMES SUBTLE STRINGS

It was a Vanhee-Cybulski minimalist take on the 80s.

The lone pulsating crystal that glowed color from the center of the runway established the collections key idea: Simplicity is powerful.

As the show took off, the odd utilitarian features -- such as toggles and the strange, perplexing box platform shoes that stomped throughout -- were used with subtlety but aplomb.

It gave a sporty and outer-space feel to the collections stylish, almost empty, restraint -- a mood that now defines the talented 44-year-old French designers repertoire.

Tan suede tunic minidresses sported beautiful, braided leather hems -- showcased without jewelry on a makeup-less model. While, exposed midriffs latticed with cords and toggles came on otherwise unfussy slim silhouettes.

UKRAINES GOOD SIX DESIGNERS SHOW UNITED FRONT

Last season in Paris, the Ukrainian designers trade fair event took place just two days before Russias invasion amid stories of some artists fleeing the country so rapidly they had only their children and their collection in hand.

This season sees no improvement back home for the industry: Its been battered by increased financial strains as designers try hard to maintain employed staff despite little money, a decrease in demand and ravished supply chains.

A collective of these designer-survivors is showing in Paris beginning Saturday until Oct.6.

Jen Sidary, the collectives head, said in my 30 years of working in the fashion industry, I have never witnessed the resilience of a country and its people as they began to focus on keeping their businesses alive, days into the war, from bomb shelters to designing new collections amidst constant air raid sirens.

The six making up the Paris Fashion Week event -- Frolov, Kachorovska, Chereshnivska, Litkovska, My Sleeping Gypsy and Oliz -- are showcasing unisex apparel, footwear and scarves. Its a bid to keep their ravaged industry alive, and form of resistance against the Russian bombs decimating their homeland.

Many of their colleagues back home in Ukraine have had to repurpose their operations to help the war effort, relocating within the country, according to Sidary.

The courage of the Ukraine fashion industry has drawn international attention.

USAID Project Manager Natalia Petrova spoke of the remarkable resilience, commitment and awareness of Ukrainian businesses since Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Disruptions on the domestic market caused by decrease in demand by population and broken supply chains, are pushing companies to explore export opportunities to diversify their sales, she added.

ANDREAS KRONTHALER FOR VIVIENNE WESTWOOD

Kink mated with art in the typically quirky fare from Kronthaler -- a staple show where a fashion surprise is all but expected.

With his usual encyclopedic flair, Kronthaler wove an aesthetic from yesteryear -- medieval and renaissance nobles and peasants  into his drape-heavy silhouettes. Guests almost felt like they were at the theater.

Juliette sleeves mixed with black Renaissance tarbuds, decorated collars and even one wacky but stylish blue loose tuxedo look that could have been worn by the Bard himself. Of course, Kronthaler accessorized it anachronistically with pale blue striped rugby socks. Added to the creative cauldron were chunky Glam Rock boots and a Highlands kilt style with white trimming at the male models nether regions, making it look like they might have gotten a front bite.

The opening image of Irina Shayk, often voted among the most beautiful models in the world, in a shiny black bustier and silver-ring earrings riffing off S&M will surely be one picture few quickly forget.

ELIE SAAB REVISITS THE '60s

The late 1960s got a facelift on Saturday in a collection that featured babydoll dresses, miniskirts, psychedelia, crop-tops and jabot collars -- but never lost that floaty, contemporary Saab touch.

The first look from Saab at his Paris fashion show fused a 1960s angelic-white crop top and a maxi skirt with an ethnic look, thanks to a construction of interlocking motifs. This fusion of different eras continued throughout the show, which sent out 68 items.

Lace detailing was a big theme and became the front of a baggy pale tracksuit top. In an anachronism that defined this Saab spring aesthetic, it was worn alongside a sheer 1990s tulle skirt. It had a great swag and could have very well been seen at a music festival in that decade.

Flashes of Barbie pink and citrus contrasted with psychedelic stripes on column silhouettes, sometimes making it feel like Saab was trying to put too much in the mix. The collection was ultimately hard to pin down.

AKRIS TURNS 100

The art-infused Swiss fashion house of Akris was on fine form Saturday turning out a resplendent show full of hip, wearable clothes.

Its sad but true that often on the Paris runway the higher the level of artistry, the less the level of wearability  so designer Albert Kriemlers spring show was a breath of fresh air.

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the brand, the 74 designs ironically never felt so youthful.

Pearly gowns with ruffled collars, large oversize gold buttons on coats, and shimmering lace defined the aesthetic, which had a sort of East London kick.

Then came the art-inspired fare  a hallmark of the age-old house  with white graphic etchings on tulle skirts, or all over a black floppy boho gown.
Dozens of Florida residents have evacuated from their flooded and splintered homes by boat and air as rescuers search for survivors after Hurricane Ian. Stunned residents of South Carolina and North Carolina also began taking stock Saturday of their losses after Ian smashed across their states. The global death toll from the storm, one of the strongest hurricanes by wind speed to ever hit the U.S., grew to more than four dozen, with 47 deaths confirmed in Florida, along with four in North Carolina and three in Cuba. Separately, the White House announced that President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden would travel to Florida on Wednesday.
Napa police started out making an arrest of an unregistered sex offender and ended up chasing two other men through a north city neighborhood.

Police learned that Rodrigo Arevalo, 25, had been convicted in a 2014 molestation case and had not registered with Napa police or other agencies as required. After weeks of effort, they found his vehicle Thursday afternoon parked in front of a problematic home on the 3500 block of Jefferson Street, a police press release said.

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Officers arrested Arevalo without incident when he returned to the vehicle. While doing so, a detective saw two men run from the Jefferson Street house. They refused to stop, the press release said.

Napa police officers, later assisted by Napa Sheriffs Office deputies, pursued the men. The chase led to the Willis Drive/Wild Rye Way area, with the suspects going in backyards and breaking several fences along the way.

The detective and a witness said one of the men possibly had a handgun. One of the men reportedly tried to enter a residence without success.

Officers and deputies eventually caught two men. They arrested Jorge Yancor-Chami, 25, of Napa on suspicion of resisting, obstructing and delaying arrest, vandalism and prowling. They cited and released Armando Cazares, 28, of Napa on suspicion of the same charges, police said.

Police didnt find a handgun when searching the neighborhood. They didnt know if either suspect discarded a handgun between Jefferson Street and Blackberry Lane, specifically the area north of Rubicon Street and south of El Capitan Way, the press release said.

Police are asking residents in the area to call Napa Police Department at 257-9223 if they find a handgun, other dangerous weapon or contraband.
A former resident once described the historic William Andrews House at 741 Seminary St. in downtown Napa as a grand old lady.

Today, 16 months after being purchased by John Heath, this lady is looking grander than ever.

The exterior of the Queen Anne-style mansion has been completely repainted in new colors including white, gray and black.

I think it looks absolutely stunning, said Heath. Gorgeous. It came out better than we expected.

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Decorative exterior ornamentation has also been refinished, with some parts getting a coating of real gold leaf.

A new roof was installed. Dry rot was removed. Original glass windows have been reglazed, meaning new putty was added around where the glass meets the frame. New ropes, used to help open and shut the windows, have been added. The original rain gutters, which are made of wood, were sanded and relined with sheet metal, explained Heath.

The outside took a phenomenal amount of work, said Heath, whose company, Golden West Engineering and Construction, is based in Shingle Springs, Calif. Because the home is on the National Register of Historic Places, all renovations had to replicate the original work, like for like, he said.

Heath said he hoped to repair the original decorative slate roof but, it was just crumbling in our hands, he said. The new roof is made of composition shingles. According to city records, permits for the remodel were issued on July 19.

It wasnt easy to replace the roof, he said. It has a very steep pitch  about 45 degrees.

It makes a little more difficult to install, a new roof, said Heath. Its more time consuming, and expensive  the replacement roof cost more than $50,000, said Heath.

Next, the basement of the Queen Anne will be excavated and lowered about two feet to accommodate guest rooms.

The basement excavation will also include seismic upgrades. That part of the project alone will cost Heath about $400,000.

When finished, the basement will include two suites. The attic will include two suites. The rest of the home will include two more suites and two separate bedroom units. In total the home will feature eight bedrooms, including one for the inn manager.

So far Heath has found some interesting artifacts during the process  items such as square nails, and door hinges and metal ornamentation trim left behind from the original build.

The Andrews House, described as one of the most architecturally significant buildings in Napa, was commissioned in 1892 for William Andrews. Andrews was a miller and then opened a Napa grocery store. His home was designed by local architect Luther Turton.

The two-and-a-half story home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

Heath is guessing more treasures are to be discovered once the walls are opened up and floors repaired. After all, who knows what items have slipped beneath the floorboards of a 130-year-old house?

He plans to name his inn the Hotel California, after the Eagles song, but were still working out, permission to do so.

In the past, The Eagles have been protective of the name Hotel California. In 2017, the rock band sued a Mexico-based hotel using the name Hotel California. That case was eventually settled.

Hotel California approved by Napa planners A bed and breakfast the owner wants to call the Hotel California is headed for a historic Napa house following Planning Commission approval.

Regardless of the final name, Heath said the inside will feature a classy rock and roll theme including live musical performances, he said.

Chris Sanza McCall, who lived in the house with her family from age 15 on, said she hasnt seen the new paint colors of the house in person yet, so she couldnt share any thoughts.

But McCall has fond memories of the home that her parents owned for 56 years. For the Sanzas, it was more than just a historic house, it was a central hub for the family, relatives and friends, she recalled in an earlier Napa Valley Register story.

Wed have New Years Eve gatherings, bridal showers, baby showers, costume parties (and other parties) all the time, said McCall. There were four of us, we always had something going on, along with mom and dad too.
Enrollment in Napas K-12 schools has continued to decline at a precipitous pace into this new school year.

Indeed, Napa County is projected to see the fifth largest percentage drop in students from 2021-22 through the current 2022-23 school year among Californias 58 counties  a 1.93% decline or loss of 367 students, taking the county down to 18,645 students total  according to a September California Department of Finance report.

In an interesting coincidence, that figure is nearly the same as the number of students Mayacamas Charter Middle School  which won state approval in mid-September  plans to have when at full size. The charter, which would likely draw from a population that would otherwise go to district schools, plans to have 336 students.

The report notes that only Santa Clara County and the low-population Del Norte, Inyo and Alpine counties are projected to lose a comparable or greater percentage of their students through that time frame.

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Enrollment is an important factor for California schools to consider, given that most state funding is tied to enrollment numbers through a formula known as Average Daily Attendance (ADA). According to Rabinder (Rob) Mangewala, the Napa Valley Unified School District assistant superintendent for business services, the impact of enrollment drops has declined owing to a move in the state budget that allows districts to average the past years of ADA for funding purposes, but that doesnt eliminate the declining revenues.

NVUSD  which covers 27 campuses across the city of Napa and American Canyon  has enrolled roughly 16,109 students this year, according to the districts Aug. 30 enrollment data, down from the 16,516 students it enrolled during the last school year.

NVUSDs enrollment during the past decade peaked in the 2014-15 school year, when the district had 18,344 students. But since then, enrollment has dropped by hundreds of students each year, a decline thats intensified to roughly 500 students each year during the recent COVID-19 pandemic years. The decline is expected to continue, with enrollment reaching 14,316 students by the 2027-28 school year, according to a 2021 report from King Consulting of Sacramento.

Mangewala said in an email that Californias statewide enrollment has been dropping since the pandemic started, from about 6.2 million students in 2017-18 to about 5.8 million last school year  a two-decade low. But Napas decline has come more rapidly than at the state level because of several local factors that tie back to the high cost of living here, according to Mangewala.

The enrollment decline in Napa is greater than the state due to a number of local factors, including low birth rates, lack of adequate affordable housing, and a local job market that does not support the enormous cost of living in our county, Mangewala said in an email.

He also noted that the service industry was hit especially hard during the pandemic. And because that industry is one of the largest employers in Napa County, the impact on working families in that industry was significant and likely led to greater declines in enrollment than in other counties.

NVUSD has dealt with the declining enrollment in a variety of ways in the past, which has included cutting school employees and shutting down school campuses. (Owing to one-time state funds, among other reasons, the district is anticipating it wont have to lay off any school employees this year.)

For example, Harvest Middle School officially closed at the end of the 2021-22 school year, and the River Middle School was reconfigured into the Unidos Middle School for a duel-language academy this year. That move followed the closure of the Mt. George and Yountville elementary schools at the end of the 2019-20 school year.

NVUSD middle school students now attend Silverado Middle School, Redwood Middle School or Unidos, Mangewala said.

As the district shuffles its middle school offerings around, two elementary schools  Browns Valley Elementary School and Shearer Elementary School  are in the process of being converted to TK-8 schools, with each adding a new grade level each year. This started at the Browns Valley school this year, and at Shearer last year.

Though public school enrollment has declined statewide, private school enrollment has been increasing, growing by 3.9% from the 2020-2021 school year to 2021-22, a reversal of a trend of falling enrollment during the 2010s, according to reporting from EdSource. But that trend generally isnt reflected in Napa Countys private schools, Mangewala noted, where private school enrollment has declined 23% from 2018-19 to 2021-22.

One former longtime private school in downtown Napa, St. John the Baptist Catholic School, closed at the end of the 2020-21 school year for economic reasons, citing enrollment levels that were too low to make ends meet, according to past Register reporting.

Of course, the decline doesn't apply to all private schools. Blue Oak School in downtown Napa is currently building a new middle school campus, and is planning to increase middle school enrollment by about 40 students.

The former St. John campus is set to be used by the Mayacamas Charter Middle School, which was narrowly approved by the California State Board of Education in mid-September, on a 6-5 vote, after both the NVUSD school board and the Napa County Office of Education boards voted to deny it. (Statewide charter school enrollment was also down for the first time from 2020-21 to 2021-22 in two decades, according to EdSource.)

A primary reason for both local board denials was the financial impact Mayacamas would have on NVUSD  though a few state board members questioned whether the impact was significant enough to justify denial.

Petitioners for the charter school were hoping to open with an enrollment of 180 students and add 52 students each year until it grew to a full capacity of 336 students.

That, according to the districts findings, would bring the local enrollment decline from 17% over the next 10 years to a 19% reduction over the same period. The findings state that the enrollment loss would cause cuts in programs and services, increase the need to close more district schools and cause the district to cut 34 teaching jobs, among other cuts.

But amid the local middle school shift spurred by enrollment struggles, some parents are hoping the Mayacamas school will be the option they're looking for.

Tyler Williams, a parent of a sixth-grade student, said in an email that his child is now attending Redwood Middle School, which has seemed okay so far. But it was a difficult decision, Williams said, considering the shift in options, and he would have preferred a smaller school.

Williams noted that now that the charter school is approved, he'll be looking into shifting his son to Mayacamas next year.

"Big middle schools are not for him, but that's all he's got," Williams said.
ST. HELENA  The St. Helena City Council has said no to gasoline-powered leaf blowers, yes to automated license plate readers, and yes to paving bad roads.

The council voted 5-0 Tuesday to move ahead with an ordinance banning gas-fueled blowers, which will reduce emissions and address noise complaints from residents.

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Council members directed staff to conduct outreach and education before and after the ordinances effective date of Jan. 1, 2023.

Violators will first be issued a verbal warning, followed by a letter, followed by fines of $100, $200 and $500. The city will gradually ramp up enforcement and focus on education in the early months after the ordinance takes effect.

By next year, the city will offer rebates toward the purchase of electric leaf blowers.

License plate cameras

The council unanimously approved the lease of four automatic license plate readers from Flock Safety.

Police say the still cameras, which will be placed at four entrances to town, will help them investigate crimes like the May hit-and-run on Main Street and the July robbery at the Elyse Walker boutique.

The proposal, announced at the councils Aug. 23 meeting, drew very little public feedback, with two letters to the editor and one letter to the council raising privacy concerns. The city also received a few emails in favor of the cameras. No members of the public addressed the topic at Tuesdays meeting.

The two-year lease of the cameras will cost $26,800. Images gathered by the cameras will be deleted after 30 days and will not be part of a shared database, although the St. Helena Police Department can share images with neighboring agencies on a case-by-case basis.

Road paving

The council approved a $1.2 million contract with Argonaut Constructors to perform St. Helenas annual road paving.

Funded by Measure T and state SB1 funds, work will begin in early October and continue into the fall.

Work will take place at the intersection of Oak Avenue and Adams Street (not all of Oak Avenue), College Avenue, Pope Street, Voorhees Circle, Valley View Street, Stockton Street, Railroad Avenue, Library Lane, June Lane, Chiles Avenue and Tainter Street.

Residents in the affected areas will be notified one week prior to construction, which will occur between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

City Manager Anil Comelo told the council the current funding level of $1.2 million per year will keep St. Helenas streets at a Pavement Condition Index of 50. Increasing the PCI to 80 would cost $2.2 million a year for six years.

At this point our task is to maintain the roadways in decent condition and not let them deteriorate any further, Comelo said. To improve them well need to significantly increase our investment.
SACRAMENTO  California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill Thursday night that would have granted more time for a first-in-the-nation African American reparations committee to complete its work after the former assemblymember who authored legislation creating the committee asked the governor to do so.

A brief message explaining the Democratic governor's decision credits the request by state Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who introduced the original reparations task force bill in 2020.

The bill to extend the task force deadline, authored by Democratic Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, garnered criticism from reparations advocates who said that the legislation would send a demoralizing message to African Americans already skeptical that they will receive reparations.

This legislation was not asked for by the public or members of the task force, nor were they even made aware, said Marcus Champion, a board member of the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California, at a reparations task force public meeting in Los Angeles last week.

The coalition, which sent a letter to Newsom with other organizations asking him to veto the bill, tweeted in celebration of the news Thursday.

Jones-Sawyer, a member of the nine-person task force, pushed the legislation giving the group an extra year. He said the committee's final report assessing the compensation owed to descendants of enslaved people will be released within its original time frame, by July 1, 2023. But he said the committee needs to remain intact to ensure its recommendations are enacted.

At last week's public meeting, Jones-Sawyer thanked attendees for voicing their opinions on the bill and other issues related to the committee's work, but reiterated that the final report will be finished on time and on budget.

The legislation would have changed the sunset date from July 1, 2023, to July 1, 2024, extending what was originally a two-year committee to three. The bill also would have allowed the nine task force members, appointed by Newsom and the two legislative leaders, to be removed at any time.

The mission of the committee, which met for the first time in June 2021, is to document Californias role in perpetuating discrimination against African Americans, craft an official government apology and draft a comprehensive reparations plan.

In a statement Friday, Jones-Sawyer said the purpose of the bill was to allow time for lawmakers to ask the task force questions about its work.

Good policy is not created in a vacuum. Good policy takes time, compromise and mutual respect, he wrote. Intimidation and aggression toward opposing views strips our credibility and poisons the well.

National reparations advocates have praised California for providing leadership in a country where reparations efforts have stalled in Congress.

The task force voted 5-4 in March to limit reparations to the descendants of Black people who were in the U.S. in the 19th century, overruling Jones-Sawyer and others who wanted to expand compensation to all Black people in the U.S., regardless of ancestry.

A spokeperson for Weber said via email Friday that she was not available for comment.

Associated Press writer Janie Har in San Francisco contributed to this report.

Sophie Austin 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 Sophie Austin on Twitter.
Trump slightly ahead of Biden in New York Times poll

Armenia defense minister heads for India

Newspaper: Karabakh dissatisfied with President's Yerevan visit, meeting with Armenia PM

Azerbaijan fires toward Armenia positions at night

Zelenskyy: Ukraine needs much more modern air defense systems

Liz Truss is called upon to resign

EU to review relations with China

White House accuses Iran of lying

Poland may not receive 75 billion euros in regional aid from EU

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Foreign Ministry: Iran has repeatedly stated that it has not sent weapons to either side of war in Ukraine

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Dollar, euro gaining value in Armenia

Reuters: Chinese banks sell off dollars to support yuan

Armenia MOD: Artillery presence toward Vardenis is linked to Azerbaijan additional forces movement

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Unfortunately, there are problems between the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, this is the most important factor to take into account, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in his interview with the Public Television of Armenia today.

"After the Ukrainian events there is a problem of simple communication and working with each other, although the sides express a certain willingness to work, but in practice we see that the practical conditions of these activities are difficult," Pashinyan said.

Asked whether we have a scenario of how things will develop if, for instance, Azerbaijan refuses to prolong the peacekeepers' mission after the 5-year term, he said: "I want to remind that in the statement of November 9 this 5-year term is prolonged spontaneously, if one of the sides doesn't object six months in advance. Our position is that the security and the rights of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh must be ensured. In this case the presence of Russian peacekeepers is for that very purpose, and all our efforts are aimed at having that function and putting everything on a firm institutional footing."

Answering a question whether the issue of Artsakh is on the agenda of his meetings with Aliyev, the Prime Minister said: "Of course, we are discussing the issue, but there are nuances, difficulties, it is not an easy discussion. But there is a situation when Azerbaijan says that we do not want to discuss the Karabakh issue with Armenia. It is clear in what context and discussions this issue is present".
Albania and the US submitted a draft resolution to the UN Security Council, which does not recognize the referendums of the Donetsk and Luhansk People'sRepublics, as well as of the Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions, and Russia vetoed this draft resolution, RIA Novosti reported.

During the voting, ten countries voted for this document, fouragainst, including Brazil and China.

The document calls Russia's actions illegal, and states that they cannot be the basis for changing the status of the aforesaid four regions.

The resolution also condemns the holding of referendums by Russia in the regions of Ukraine, within the internationally recognized borders.

All countries, international organizations, specialized structures, and those behind this draft resolution ask not to recognize the change of status of these four regions and their annexation to Russia. The document also calls on Russia to immediately withdraw its armed forces from Ukraine, writes Kommersant.

Earlier, the official signing ceremony of the agreements on the inclusion of the four aforementioned territories into Russia took place at the Kremlin.

A number of Western countries have announced that they do not recognize the results of the respective referendums, and the US and the UK have already expanded their sanctions on Russia in this regard.
YEREVAN.  Past daily of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: In the last few days, the RA information domain has been actively discussing the matter of deploying an international observation mission on the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border. [Armenian PM] Nikol Pashinyan also spoke about this at the last [Cabinet] meeting of the government, noting that this topic is being discussed with international partners.

According to Past newspapers information, the Russian political circles have reacted quite boisterously to this statement of Pashinyan. Moreover, yesterday RF [(Russian Federation)] MFA representative Maria Zakharova noted in this regard: (). "What really works cannot be replaced by an imaginary one. Non-regional players are attempting to destabilize the situation in Transcaucasia" (). In this way, the RF MFA representative clearly states that the Russian side is against the idea of an international observation mission.

According to a source of the newspaper, RF ambassador to RA Sergey Kopirkin went to the government yesterday evening, and later he visited the MFA, too. Our source conveys also that the main purpose of the ambassador's visit was to get acquainted with the agenda of the RA authorities' meetings that were held within the framework of the US visit.

The newspaper has information that the Russian side is trying to find out what proposals are being discussed with the "patronage" of the West in the matters related to the so-called "peace treaty" and the status of Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)].

By the way, the newspaper also has information that these days a rather high-ranking official of the RF MFA is also in Yerevan, the main purpose of whose visit is to get acquainted "on the spot" with the text of the discussed preliminary version of the expected agreement.
YEREVAN.  Zhoghovurd newspaper of the Republic of (RA) writes: The meeting between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and MPs of the [ruling majority] "Civil Contract" [(CC)] Faction held in the RA National Assembly on September 28 was quite intense.

Zhoghovurd daily (...) managed to find out what the MPs discussed with their political leader for more than three hours.

"There was no talk of declaring martial law [in Armenia] or talking about it at all. Pashinyan informed those present that Russia does not seem to be against Armenia bringing weapons from another country. He also happily informed that at this moment they have preliminary agreements with several countries regarding the acquisition of weapons. But he did not elaborate on which countries we are talking about," informed our source close to the CC.

On that day, they discussed also the chances of [Armenia] leaving the CSTO and reviewing the relations with the RF [(Russian Federation)]. Pashinyan emphasized from the very beginning that they cannot express strictly and harshly towards Russia, as it could cost a number of economic "slaps" [for Armenia]from the revision of the [Russian natural] gas price to the import of [Russian] wheat.

"But they expressed the opinion that they can sting Russia, making it understand that we know how to get upset, too. Of course, it was emphasized several times: there can be no question at all of saying a final goodbye to the Russians," added our interlocutor.

The authorities also discussed the matter of the status of Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)]. According to Zhoghovurd dailys information, it was emphasized during the meeting that the negotiation issue should be left to Artsakh authorities. That is, it can be assumed that Artsakh will also be included in the next negotiations on the Artsakh issue, but Armenia will be absent. Apparently, it will take place in the Artsakh-Russia-Azerbaijan format.
Trump slightly ahead of Biden in New York Times poll

Armenia defense minister heads for India

Newspaper: Karabakh dissatisfied with President's Yerevan visit, meeting with Armenia PM

Azerbaijan fires toward Armenia positions at night

Zelenskyy: Ukraine needs much more modern air defense systems

Liz Truss is called upon to resign

EU to review relations with China

White House accuses Iran of lying

Poland may not receive 75 billion euros in regional aid from EU

Crash of SU-34 in Yeysk captured on video

SJC: Criminal case will be initiated against judge Arusyak Aleksanyan

Germany fines Telegram more than 5 million euros

Scholz instructs ministers to prepare to extend operation of Germany's remaining three nuclear power plants

Two people killed in Yeysk after military plane crashed

Saudi Arabia rejects U.S. accusations of supporting Russia amid war in Ukraine

Only candidate for post of military prosecutor of Armenia is named

Expert: Iran is preparing for scenarios in form of attacks on Azerbaijan and sending troops to Artsakh

German intelligence service opposes Chinese company's investment in Hamburg port

Fire area at crash site of Su-34 in Krasnodar territory is 2,000 sq. m.

EU approves military training mission for thousands of Ukrainian servicemen

Supersonic Su-34 fighter-bomber crashes in Krasnodar territory

Elon Musk on likelihood of World War III

EU Commission intends to propose 'dynamic' natural gas price cap this week

Dmitry Medvedev: Supplies of weapons to Ukraine will ruin relations between Russia and Israel

Charles Michel welcomes rapid deployment of EU mission on Armenian border

Swiss MPs horrified by consequences of Azerbaijani aggression: We support Armenians

European Union announces new sanctions against Iran

Tehran Times: Iran remains vigilant about developments in South Caucasus region

Natural gas supply to Armenia will be temporarily suspended

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Pashinyan: Azerbaijan is looking for pretext to launch new military aggression against Armenia

Turkish Foreign Minister: Baku insists on equal status of 'Lachin' and 'Zangezur' corridors

Foreign Ministry: Iran has repeatedly stated that it has not sent weapons to either side of war in Ukraine

U.S. House of Representatives delegation arrives in Yerevan

IRGC commander: Changing regions geography is red line for Iran

Uzbek officials banned from being dishonest and swearing on social media

Lawyer: Erik Aleksanyan does not accept charges against him

Erdogan to visit Azerbaijan on October 20

Baku reacts to Pashinyan's proposal: To suggest 3 unrealistic options is not a good policy

Dollar, euro gaining value in Armenia

Reuters: Chinese banks sell off dollars to support yuan

Armenia MOD: Artillery presence toward Vardenis is linked to Azerbaijan additional forces movement

Armenia official: Azerbaijan way of working radically contradicts EaP values, principles

Belarus Armed Forces secure railroad, bridges and crossings on border

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President of Artsakh meets with representatives of political forces represented in parliament of Artsakh

European Council approves 6th tranche of 500mn military aid to Ukraine

Turkey FM expresses readiness to meet with Armenia counterpart

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RTHK: Russian troops 'encircled' in key Donetsk town

Ukrainian forces reached the eastern bastion of Lyman on Saturday after claiming to have encircled thousands of Russian troops in a battlefield rebuttal to the Kremlin a day after it proclaimed a swathe of its territory part of Russia.

The capture of Lyman would be a major setback for Moscow after President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the annexation of the Donetsk region, along with three other regions, at a ceremony on Friday that was condemned by Kyiv and the West as a farce.

Two grinning Ukrainian soldiers taped the yellow-and-blue national flag on to the "Lyman" welcome sign at the town's entrance in Donetsk region's north, a video posted by the president's chief of staff showed.

"October 1. We're unfurling our state flag and establishing it on our land. Lyman will be Ukraine," one of the soldiers said, standing on the bonnet of a military vehicle.

Russia had 5,000 to 5,500 troops at Lyman but the number of encircled troops could be lower because of casualties, a spokesperson for Ukraine's eastern forces said.

"The Russian grouping in the area of Lyman is surrounded," the spokesperson, Serhii Cherevatyi, said on television.

The Russian Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Russia's last operational update was on Friday evening. On Saturday, the ministry's Telegram channel published a series of congratulatory messages, including one from Putin, to mark an army holiday, Ground Forces Day.

Russian military bloggers said the loss of the town would be a serious blow for Moscow, but one said that some Russian forces had been able to withdraw and that Lyman was not fully surrounded.

Neither side's battlefield assertions could be independently verified.

Russia has used Lyman as a logistics and transport hub for its operations in the north of the Donetsk region. Its fall would be Ukraine's biggest battlefield gain since a lightning counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region last month. (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2022-10-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
(Recasts, adds details of S.Korea military display)

By Cynthia Kim

SEOUL, Oct 1 (Reuters) - North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea off its east coast on Saturday, hours before South Korea staged a large military show, displaying stealth fighters and its own missiles.

Pyongyang's fourth launch in a week comes amid a flurry of military muscle-flexing by countries in the region, including joint anti-submarine exercises on Friday by the navies of South Korea, the United States and Japan.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visited the region this week, meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in Seoul on Thursday.

The rival Koreas are in a regional arms race that has seen a major increase of weapons and military spending.

Marking South Korea's 74th Armed Forces Day, Yoon condemned what he called recent military provocations by the North and vowed to strengthen joint military drills with the United States.

"The government will further strengthen the Korea-U.S. joint exercises, will respond strongly to North Korean provocations and threats by showing them the 'Alliance in Action'," Yoon said in a televised speech.

He and military officials observed a major show of advanced weaponry, including multiple rocket launchers, ballistic missiles, main battle tanks, drones and F-35 fighter aircraft, among other systems.

The U.S. military demonstrated fighter jets and attack aircraft. Images of the event showed Yoon saluting from the back of a convertible car while driving by rows of tanks and other weapons.

He has said his country's conventional weapons are key to deterring the North, and Seoul has also been seeking more major arms sales around the world.

Japan's Defense Ministry said in a report in July the North had been launching short-range missiles that fly low and irregular trajectories, characteristics observed since May 2019 that are likely designed for higher war-fighting effectiveness.

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The United Nations Security Council has imposed sanctions on the North for its ballistic missile and nuclear tests. Pyongyang rejects such moves as infringement of its sovereign right to self-defence and space exploration.

The North has completed preparations for a nuclear test, a window which could open between China's Communist Party Congress this month and U.S. mid-term elections in November, South Korean lawmakers said on Wednesday.

MISSILE RACE

Saturday's two short-range missiles were launched from Sunan, north of the capital Pyongyang, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. It estimated the range at 350 km (220 miles) at 30 km (20 miles) altitude and speed of Mach 6.

Japan's coast guard reported at least two suspected ballistic missile tests by Pyongyang. The missiles flew 400 km and 350 km, reaching an altitude of 50 km, said Toshiro Ino, state minister of defence.

Tokyo has lodged a protest against the North through diplomatic channels, Ino said, adding the missiles possibly flew an "irregular trajectory" designed to evade missile defence.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said it is aware of the ballistic missile launches and has assessed they do not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory or to its allies.

North Korea fired missiles before and after Harris' visit to South Korea, extending a record pace in weapons testing this year as it increases the threat of a credible nuclear power that can strike the United States and its allies.

Pyongyang also conducted the first intercontinental ballistic missile test since 2017.

Analysts see the increased pace of testing as an effort to build operational weapons, as well as to take advantage of a world distracted by the Ukraine conflict and other crises to normalise its tests.

Despite North Koreas internal weaknesses and international isolation, it is rapidly modernising weapons and taking advantage of a world divided by U.S.-China rivalry and Russias annexation of more Ukrainian territory, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international politics at Ewha University in Seoul.

The Kim regime is also playing hardball with the Yoon administration while South Korean politics are hobbled by infighting, he said. (Reporting by Cynthia Kim and Chang-Ran Kim; Additional reporting by Josh Smith and Ju-min Park; Editing by Jack Kim, Muralikumar Anantharaman and William Mallard)
What are your biggest regrets?

This might be one of the more obvious questions a journalist can ask an actor, but the answer can often be hugely revealing.

Just because an actor starred in an acclaimed film doesnt necessarily mean they reflect upon it positively. In fact, it seems that some actors are even more critical of their own appearance in otherwise good films because of the high quality elsewhere.

Here are 11 actors who have express regret over their roles in certain films.

Timothee Chalamet  A Rainy Day in New York (2019)

Timothee Chalamet is one of a few actors to have expressed regret working with Woody Allen as historic allegations made against the director, by his adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow, were brought back into the spotlight following the #MeToo movement. Chalamet said: I dont want to profit from my work on the film, and to that end, I am going to donate my entire salary to three charities: Times Up, the LGBT Centre in New York, and RAINN. He apologised for accepting the role, stating: That is not something that sits easily with me in the current or indeed any moment, and I am profoundly sorry. Its a small gesture and not one intended as close to compensation.

Matt Damon  The Bourne Ultimatum (200)

Matt Damons original Bourne trilogy won plaudits from critics around the world. The actor, though, has spoken unkindly about the third film, saying the original script, written by director Tony Gilroy, was awful. Its really the studios fault for putting themselves in that position, Damon told GQ. I dont blame Tony for taking a boatload of money and handing in what he handed in. Its just that it was unreadable. This is a career-ender. I mean, I could put this thing up on eBay and it would be game over for that dude. Its terrible. Its really embarrassing. He was having a go, basically, and he took his money and left.

Matt Damon had candid words about The Bourne Ultimatum (Getty Images)

Zac Efron  High School Musical (2006-08)

Most people know Zac Efron as Troy Bolton from High School Musical. Zac Efron, though, wishes you knew him for something else. I step back and look at myself and I still want to kick that guys ass sometimes, he told Mens Fitness. Hes done some kind of cool things with some cool people  he did that one thing that was funny  but, I mean, hes still just that f***ing kid from High School Musical.

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Sally Field  The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

The Amazing Spider-Man series, starring Andrew Garfield as the eponymous web-slinger, was supposed to launch a cinematic universe to match the Avengers. There were even rumours of an Aunt May film entering production  not that the actor who played Aunt May, Sally Field, would have been thrilled by that. Its really hard to find a three-dimensional character in it, she told Howard Stern of playing the character, and you work it as much as you can, but you cant put 10 pounds of s** in a five-pound bag.

Sally Field has some issues with her role in The Amazing Spider-Man (AFP/Getty)

Harrison Ford  Blade Runner (1982)

There are seven cuts of Blade Runner, one of which features Harrison Fords character, Rick Deckard, narrating scenes. Another  the one director Ridley Scott approves of  is bleaker and does not have Deckard explaining events. Ford does not care for either version. I didnt like the movie one way or the other, with or without, he said in 2017, before the release of Blade Runner 2049. I played a detective who did not have any detecting to do. In terms of how I related to the material, I found it very difficult. There was stuff that was going on that was really nuts.

Shia LaBeouf  Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Indiana Jones fans had high expectations for the fourth film. Many were left feeling disappointed by the science-fiction adventure. I feel like I dropped the ball on the legacy that people loved and cherished, LaBeouf later told LA Times. You get to monkey-swinging and things like that and you can blame it on the writer and you can blame it on Steven [Spielberg]. But the actors job is to make it come alive and make it work, and I couldnt do it. So thats my fault. Simple.

Christopher Plummer  The Sound of Music (1965)

The Sound of Music remains one of the most beloved films of all time. Christopher Plummer, though, hated playing Captain von Trapp. I think the part in The Sound of Music was the toughest, he told The Hollywood Reporter. Because it was so awful and sentimental and gooey. You had to work terribly hard to try and infuse some miniscule bit of humour into it.

Daniel Radcliffe  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

Daniel Radcliffe was only 11 years old when he was cast as Harry Potter. That has not prevented the actor from looking back at those films with a critical eye. Im just not very good in [The Half Blood Prince], he told Playboy in 2012. I hate it. My acting is very one-note and I can see I got complacent and what I was trying to do just didnt come across. My best film is the fifth one [Order of the Phoenix] because I can see a progression.

Daniel Radcliffe really doesnt like one of his performances in the Harry Potter franchise (Getty Images for WarnerMedia)

Eddie Redmayne  The Danish Girl (2015)

British actor Eddie Redmayne recently told The Sunday Times that he wouldnt take the role of a trans woman if he was offered it now. He played trans artist Lili Elbe in the film, ands received an Oscar nomination. However, while he acknowledged that he made that film with the best intentions, he said: I think it was a mistake. He stated: The bigger discussion about the frustrations around casting is because many people dont have a chair at the table. There must be a levelling, otherwise we are going to carry on having these debates.

Kate Winslet  Titanic (1997)

Kate Winslet does not mind Titanic as a film. Her performance as Rose is a completely different matter. Every single scene, Im like really, really? You did it like that? Oh my God. Even my American accent, I cant listen to it. Its awful, she once told The Telegraph. Hopefully its so much better now. It sounds terribly self-indulgent but actors do tend to be very self-critical. I have a hard time watching any of my performances, but watching Titanic I was just like, Oh God, I want to do that again.

Idris Elba - The Wire (2002-08)

OK, so this one isnt a film but Idris Elba had some regrets over the way his character in The Wire was received. Elba receive huge acclaim for playing Stringer Bell in the HBO series  however, during an appearance on James OBriens podcast alongside David Lammy, he questioned viewers reaction to the role. Were all idolising Stringer Bell, but who are we really idolising? he asked, adding: Are we idolising a smart drug dealer or a dumb narcotics dealer? What are we saying here? Is it OK to pump a community full of heroin but because youre smart at it, that makes you cool? That was a problem for me.

Read more:

37 best film twists we never saw coming

37 films that are genuinely scary
(Photo: Illustration: Damon Dahlen/HuffPost; Photos: Getty)

(Photo: Illustration: Damon Dahlen/HuffPost; Photos: Getty)

At a July school board meeting in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, middle school librarian Amanda Jones spoke out against book censorship. Conservatives in a neighboring town had been successful in taking away some resources for school libraries, and Jones didnt want to see the same happen in her district.

While book challenges are often done with the best intentions, and in the name of age appropriateness, they often target marginalized communities such as BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and people of color] and the LBGTQ community. They also target books on sexual health and reproduction, Jones said at the meeting, according to her own transcription.

Once you start relocating and banning one topic, it becomes a slippery slope and where does it end?

By the next day, conservatives had decided that her quest to keep books with LGBTQ themes in the library meant that she was trying to provide sexually explicit materials to children.

Michael Lunsford, the executive director of right-wing nonprofit Citizens for a New Louisiana, and Ryan Thames, who runs a politically conservative Facebook page called Bayou State of Mind, each spoke out against Jones on Facebook. They claimed in a series of posts that Jones was advocating for libraries to contain pornography and books that teach kids how to perform sexual acts, according to court documents.

Public school educators have long faced disagreement from parents and other community members. But this type of vitriol was new to Jones, who has been a teacher for two decades and is the president of the states public school librarian association

Ive had some books questioned and challenged at my school, maybe once or twice in the 22 years Ive been teaching, she told HuffPost this week. But this is personal. These people are posting online that Im advocating for teaching anal sex to children.

Like many other librarians across the country, Jones also received an explicit death threat via email, and her friends and family have received harassing messages as well. The email, which was sent by a man in Texas about a month after the school board meeting, accused her of indoctrinating children and being a pedophile, and it stated that the writer knew where Jones lived and worked. Jones said it ended with words meant to imitate a gun: Click, click see you soon. Police are trying to extradite the person who wrote the email.

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In August, Jones filed a lawsuit against Lunsford and Thames, seeking damages and asking a judge to bar them from posting about her on Facebook.

Nobody stands up to these people, she told NBC News at the time. They just say what they want and there are no repercussions and they ruin peoples reputations and theres no consequences.

But last week, Judge Erika Sledge dismissed the lawsuit, saying that Jones was a limited public figure and that the bar to meet the definition of defamation was higher. Sledge also ruled that Lunsford and Thames were merely stating their opinion.

Its a dangerous ruling, Jones lawyer, Ellyn Clevenger, told Louisiana newspaper The Advocate. It sets a dangerous precedent.

The posts attacking Jones and insisting that she had a secret harmful agenda are straight out of the right-wing playbook. For the past year, conservatives have used the same rhetoric in an attempt to defund and dismantle both school and public libraries.

This time last year it was CRT, Jones said, referring to critical race theory, the college-level academic framework that conservatives have insisted educators are teaching children in public schools. Now, theyre insisting theres porn in the library.

Right-wing extremists have protested libraries over Drag Queen Story Hour events, where drag queens read to children, and parents have moved to censor LGBTQ authors. A record number of books have been challenged this year. Libraries around the country have received bomb threats, which so far have turned out to be hoaxes.

And school librarians are not the only ones facing this kind of backlash. A nationwide teacher shortage  approximately 300,000 jobs are open for educators and support staff  is partly fueled by the rights culture war. Gay teachers have resigned, and others have retired earlier than planned.

This is a disservice to educators everywhere, Jones said.

Despite the threats and the dismissal of the lawsuit, Jones has found some room for optimism. After all, no books have been removed from her library. Technically, I feel like I won, she said.

Jones also said that she is lucky to have received an overwhelming amount of support, with hundreds of people reaching out to tell her to keep fighting and that shes doing the right thing. But the attacks have taken a toll on her.

I started therapy, I had to start taking anxiety medication and my hair is falling out, Jones said. And shes still worried about what the lawsuit dismissal means for the future  and for other librarians who face the same kind of harassment.

Ive lost all faith in the judicial system, Jones said. The judges ruling has opened the door. People are definitely going to feel more empowered to harass educators online.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
NextShark

A Chinese woman thought she was the victim of racism after receiving a letter from her alma mater addressed to a Ms. Ching Chong, but was shocked and relieved to learn the truth. Former University of Queensland student Sierra Chen took to the Facebook group UQ Stalkerspace, which is described as a platform for discourse about University of Queensland campus life, to share the letter she received from the university and to see if anyone could help her contact the addressee to verify whether the letter was sent maliciously. In her post, Chen said the contents of the letter were not unusual, but the name listed as the recipient concerned her, as ChingChong is a racial discrimination word against [sic] Chinese.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2022, 13:26  ANASTASIA ZHARYKOVA

50 participating countries of the IAEA General Conference have signed a joint statement calling on Russia to withdraw its troops from the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) and stop the nuclear blackmail.

Source: press service of Energoatom, the National Nuclear Energy Generating Company of Ukraine

Details: Thus, fifty states participating in the 66th IAEA General Conference strongly condemned Russia's actions against nuclear facilities in Ukraine, and called on the Russian Federation to immediately stop any interference at Ukrainian nuclear sites.

The document emphasises that the seizure of the ZNPP by Russian troops is the root cause of the existing threats to nuclear safety and physical protection in Ukraine.

"The plant should stay connected to the Ukrainian power grid as an integral part of the Ukrainian energy system," the statement reads.

The conference participants also noted that "any rigged referendums held by the Russian Federation within the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine will not have a legal or political impact on the status of the nuclear power plant or the surrounding territories."

"We once again call on the Russian Federation to immediately stop all actions against nuclear facilities and at nuclear facilities in Ukraine so that the Ukrainian competent authorities can restore full control over all nuclear facilities within the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine to ensure their safe and reliable operation, as well as to ensure that the IAEA safely and fully carries out its activities to verify guarantees in Ukraine," the joint statement reads.

The document was signed by several countries, including the EU member states, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, Australia, Ukraine, Africa and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom).

Previously:

Poland said it would call for Russias exclusion from the IAEA if it does not withdraw its troops from the ZNPP.

Story continues

The International Nuclear Energy Agency (IAEA) started a series of negotiations regarding the creation of a nuclear safety zone at the ZNPP, which has been occupied by the Russian military since March 2022.

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Sep. 30Aiken Technical College celebrated its 50th anniversary Thursday night.

The college hosted a party that saw many elected officials, students, alumni and staff in attendance. Aiken Tech President Dr. Forest Mahan told attendees that many people with the college have waited a long time for this celebration.

"On Friday, Sept. 1, 1972 the college welcomed 177 students to launch their higher education journey," Mahan said. "One of those gentlemen is here tonight. In the years that followed, we produced more than 13,000 graduates who also wished to discover the transformational experience Aiken Technical College had to offer. Graduates, thank you for trusting us with your education and allowing us to help shape your lives. Today is our opportunity to gather, reflect, reminisce and celebrate 50 years of Aiken Technical College."

State government representatives in attendance included Sen. Tom Young Jr., Rep. William Clyburn, Rep. Bart Blackwell, Rep. Melissa Oremus and Rep. Bill Taylor. Young spoke about how Aiken Tech has benefited the area over the years.

"When you think about technical college education you think about how it is intended to improve the quality of life in that individual and his or her family," Young said. "You think about how it improves the economic development in the area where the technical college is located. You also think about how the technical college improves the workforce in the area where the technical college is located."

Young said that Aiken Tech has not only met this goal, but has gone above and beyond to serve the people of Aiken County and the businesses in the area. He also thanked Mahan for the work he's done while acknowledging the work past presidents and legislative officials have done.

The future of Aiken Tech was also addressed by Young.

"We are thrilled to be able to tell you there is a new nursing building coming to Aiken Technical College, a new welding lab that's coming and we're going to keep doing what we can and fighting for Aiken Technical College and Aiken County," Young said.

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Oremus also spoke about Aiken Tech, stating Mahan has done an excellent job doing what he can to help the school succeed.

"I know I look forward to partnering with him in the future for our community... I know for many of you you probably grew up calling it Harvard on the Hill, that's what I always grew up calling it. But I'm happy to be a part of it and celebrate 50 years at Harvard on the Hill, aka Aiken Tech. I look forward to many years to come to seeing the product that comes out of here," Oremus said.

Resolutions from the South Carolina House and Senate were presented during the ceremony that recognized Aiken Tech on its 50th anniversary.

Aiken County Council Chairman Gary Bunker spoke about the impact Aiken Tech has had on the county over the past 50 years and how the college has grown over time. He also talked about the different programs offered by the college to a variety of students.

"What an impressive array of programs our little technical college has," Bunker said. "Yes, many students enter straight out of high school, but in the popular imagination Aiken Tech is after the non-traditional student. Ranging from the precocious teenager getting some early college credits to the returning adult student, wiser with age and keen on obtaining specific skills and qualification."

Bunker also talked about how the programs offered at Aiken Tech represent real-world skills that can be used in real jobs. After he finished speaking, Bunker presented a resolution that the Aiken County Council approved earlier this month.

"It's basically just a cumulation of all of those who came before me. For me I just get to be in a role that helps lead the process, but it really sort of depends a lot on the people who help make things happen on this campus, the faculty, the staff, the administrators, the community leadership and support, which you saw here ... we wouldn't have made it 50 years if it we not had that combination work together for the greater good of our community," Mahan said on how it feels to be celebrating the 50th anniversary.
CNN commentator and The View co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin denounced former President Trump for comments he made attacking Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.

Trump said on Truth Social on Saturday that McConnell had a death wish for supporting bills that Democrats sponsored and referred to Chao as McConnells China loving wife.

Hes not even trying to hide the racism at this point. Just despicable, Farah Griffin said on Twitter.

Chao was born in Taiwan and served in Trumps Cabinet until she resigned the day after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Farah Griffin, who served as Trumps communications director for about nine months in 2020, has fallen out with Trump since leaving the White House and has been critical of him and other Republicans continued support of him.

This isnt some crazy person on the internet, this is the GOP front-runner for President if the Party doesnt wake up & demand better, Farah Griffin said alongside a screenshot of Trumps post.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
When Hurricane Ian rammed into the southwest coast of Florida, the barrier islands off Fort Myers and Cape Coral  Pine Island, Captiva and Sanibel  took the brunt of the damage. The 155 mph winds peeled roofs off homes and snapped telephone poles in half.

The storm surge did the rest of the damage. It lifted boats, carrying them out of their docks and dropping them when it retreated. It ripped toilets out of tile floors, sucked doors out of their frames, busted through walls and windows. In its wake, everything it had touched turned to trash, thanks to the sewage it swirled.

Hurricane Ian vs. Hurricane Charley: Ian potentially 'catastrophic' for Florida, forecasters say

Hurricane Ian aftermath: Historic fishing village Matlacha before, after images

In the wake of the Category 4 storm, with the bridge to Matlacha and Pine Island out, rumors abounded about the state of Pine Island. Many eschewed evacuation, opting to stay with their homes and in their community instead. While the hurricane itself did terrible damage to structures on the island, the outpouring of support from neighbors on the island has been heartwarming.

Pine Islanders have lent trucks to evacuation efforts, spent days clearing the roads, and offered food and shelter to anyone on the island in need of help. They've spent their own time and money helping their neighbors, and they say they won't stop until everyone is secure.

Reporters and photographers with The News-Press/Naples Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Network, hitched rides out to Pine Island on the back of Jet Skis run by Chris Gerber and his girlfriend Linda Szalkowski.

Damage along the way to Pine Island

Pine Island is about 40 square miles, and home to about 8,500 people, according to the census. About half of those residents are age 65 and older; many don't have cars, preferring instead to travel by golf cart.

The potential for loss to the island was high.

The ride out was bumpy. Gerber wasnt sure what hed find on Pine Island, although hed been there before. He was hoping to bring water to people who needed it and offer rides back on his Jet Skis to anyone else who might want to return to the mainland, where power is slowly coming back on and water is running, albeit with a boil notice.

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He pointed out damage along the way: a missing roof, a collapsed sea wall, a sailboat called Journey with the words NOT ABANDONED graffitied in black spray paint on the side.

A favorite watering hole, Berts, is gone as well, and Island Pho, a Vietnamese soup spot that Gerber loved, is in sorry shape.

Hurricane Ian demolished Pine Island and Matlacha. Some residents chose to be rescued while others refuse to leave. It's will be months before utilities can be restored due to the road being washed away. Friday, September 30, 2022.

The road just before the bridge to Pine Island has washed out. Theres nothing but sewage- and particle-filled water there now. That, and a makeshift bridge someone had cleverly constructed out of a ladder and plywood.

On Pine Island, Gerber introduced reporters to his friend, Jason Swanson. Swanson had a project boat he had tied up in the canal before the storm. Now, its sitting perpendicular to the canal in his front yard, the nose pointing at its former berth.

Help at every turn

Miami-Dade Fire Service Task Force 1 was out and about. Team members evacuated flooded-out residents and ferried them to and from the drop site where the U.S. Army would load them onto a Chinook helicopter and carry them to safety. Also out were the U.S. Army, Lee County Sheriffs deputies, and every local who wanted to help.

Kari Peters, her fiance Brian Blade and four of their children rode out Hurricane Ian in Blades reinforced home on Manatee Drive in St. James City.

Ive lived in Southwest Florida all my life and Ive never seen anything like this, said Peters, 38, who was born in Estero. It was horrifying.

Hurricane Ian demolished Pine Island and Matlacha. Some residents chose to be rescued while others refuse to leave. It's will be months before utilities can be restored due to the road being washed away. Friday, September 30, 2022.

Helicopters were a constant presence in the skies Friday above St. James City. Some are arriving to transport residents off the island; others to survey its remaining infrastructure.

Thats frustrating a lot of local people because they see a helicopter, they want to go but that might not be their mission, said Rick Gatt, who arrived Friday morning from the Tampa area as part of the Cajun Navy, a volunteer disaster relief group.

A U.S. Navy veteran, Gatt said theyve been ferrying injured residents in need of higher-level medical care off the island by boat. Among them was a woman in her 70s with a serious wrist fracture and an elderly man with chronic pulmonary disease who was down to his one remaining inhaler.

Hurricane Ian demolished Pine Island and Matlacha. Some residents chose to be rescued while others refuse to leave. It's will be months before utilities can be restored due to the road being washed away. Friday, September 30, 2022.

Were helping with the people that wouldnt be able to tolerate a ride on a military helicopter, he said.

Hurricane denial of some residents frustrates emergency workers

Some Pine Islanders can be a stubborn lot, confident they can weather any storm life throws at them, including a Category 4 hurricane. Dr. Benjamin Abo, the medical director for the Pine Island Fire Department who is helping to coordinate evacuation efforts, said theres still a lot of denial among residents, especially older ones, about the necessity of vacating the island as soon as possible.

Theres not going to be power out here for a long (time), he said. Maybe water. But people need to go.

Abo said the destruction hes seen is reminiscent of both Irmas impact on the Keys in 2017 and Hurricane Dorian, a Category 5 storm that decimated the Bahamas in 2019.

Its going to take a while for us to rebuild, Abo said. We will, but its going to take a long time. Its kind of gut-wrenching to see whats happened to one of my islands.

Hurricane Ian demolished Pine Island and Matlacha. Some residents chose to be rescued while others refuse to leave. It's will be months before utilities can be restored due to the road being washed away. Friday, September 30, 2022.

According to Tony Herrera, a lieutenant with the Miami-Dade Fire Service Task Force 1, the rescuers had not yet found bodies of residents. Residents said they believed a number of people had died, but had not yet been discovered.

"We haven't seen anything so far," Herrera said. "What we've seen is we're starting to transport people out, but a lot of people want to stay."

Working to help neighbors

The Low Key Tiki on Stringfellow has become a gathering spot. Owner Johnny Smith was grilling up food and serving beers to the community, trying to make sure everyone was fed and watered. People used it as a stopping point, hitching and giving rides to and from neighbors and strangers  and reporters  alike.

Islander Shaun Finley, who works at Low Key Tiki, shared that Smith had offered shelter to him and others during the storm. All told, 14 stayed in Smiths home, plus Finleys dogs.

A torn roof sits in front of its house as hurricane winds blasted the Pine Island structure. Major signs of damage were present throughout parts of the island as strong winds and flood waters from Hurricane Ian impacted the region. This image was captured Friday September 30, 2022.

Smiths home is on stilts, which allowed it to weather the storm better, but made it sway with the winds. When the eye came through, Finley said, the house was swaying so viciously he went out into the hallway and braced himself on the walls.

"You never thought something could be so powerful," Finley said. When the storm surge came though, that took them by surprise. "It was like something from a horror movie."

But, he said, they're alive. And they're going to keep going, and offer help to anyone who needs it.

The Bridgewater Inn in Matlacha, photographed Friday September 30, 2022, was completely toppled after impact from Hurricane Ian.

At Cherry Estates, a mobile home community that was hit hard by Ian, the houses had been flooded and battered by winds. People who had returned said their particle floors were rotting out already, deteriorating into bits from the soaking they'd gotten. Houses were missing doors, awnings, roofs and even sides; wires were hanging so low you couldn't even access some streets.

Tom and Vivian Bridges live in Cherry Estates, in a neat gray double-wide with blue shutters. Vivian, who has no legs, gets around exclusively by wheelchair. They evacuated to their church, the First Baptist Church of St. James City, and spent two nights there to avoid staying in their double-wide.

"The wind and the water destroyed that building," Vivian said. The water was chest-height on Tom, who stands about 6 feet tall.

Vivian and Tom Bridges survey the damage around their mobile home park Friday September 30, 2022. Pine Island showed major signs of damage after strong winds and flood waters as a result of Hurricane Ian impacted the island.

"She has no legs to get up at all, and I had her floating on trash. Doors that blew off, and panels that blew off," Tom said.

Eventually, Tom Bridges found a baby mattress from a crib and placed that on top of the trash; Vivian was able to sleep on that. They have no phones, no power, no internet. Just a solar-powered radio. But still, the Bridges kept on smiling. How were they so positive?

"Because we live in Florida," Tom exclaimed, gesturing wide with his long arms.

"There's no place else we'd want to live," added Vivian. "We just didn't like this guy so much."

Pine Island showed major signs of damage after strong winds and flood waters as a result of Hurricane Ian impacted the island. This image was captured Friday September 30, 2022.

Kate Cimini is an investigative journalist covering Florida. Share your story at (239) 207-9369 or email kcimini@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Pine Island destruction from Ian: Florida residents band together
KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO  SATURDAY, 1 OCTOBER 2022, 17:00

The Ministry of Defence of Russia announced the withdrawal of troops from Lyman in Donetsk Oblast, which Ukrainian forces had recently liberated.

Source: Interfax, quoting Ihor Konashenkov, official representative of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, at a briefing; Ukraines Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar, on Facebook; the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine on Twitter

Quote from Konashenkov: "Due to the threat of encirclement, the allied [Russian] troops have been withdrawn from the settlement of Krasnyi Lyman [the old name of Lyman  ed.] to more favourable defence positions."

Details: A representative of the Russian Defence Ministry claims that the invaders launched massive fire strikes on the Ukrainian military on the Krasnyi Lyman front, but "despite the losses suffered, having a significant advantage in forces and resources, the enemy brought in reserves and continued the offensive on this front."

Ukraines Deputy Defence Minister, Hanna Maliar, later reported that the fighting in Lyman is still going on..

Earlier, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry reported that airborne assault troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were entering Lyman.

"The Ukrainian army has and will always have a decisive vote in today's and any future 'referendums'," the Defence Ministry tweeted.

For reference: Lyman was used by the Russians, along with Izium, as one of the strongholds for the attack on Sloviansk. Having regained control of Lyman, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will also have the opportunity to keep the road from Svatove to Kreminna under fire control. This road is an important supply line for the Russian group in the southwestern sector of Luhansk Oblast.





Previously:

Earlier on 1 October, a Ukrainian flag was hoisted at the entrance to the city of Lyman in Donetsk Oblast.

Serhii Cherevatyi, the spokesman for the Eastern group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said that Ukrainian troops had entered Lyman, and the fighting there continues.

Story continues

On 1 October in the afternoon, the Povernys Zhyvym (Come Back Alive) Foundation released a video showing Russian occupiers trying to flee the city.

Background:

Journalists fight on their own frontline.

Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron.
BEIJING (AP)  Spectators watched a masked, 96-member honor guard raise a Chinese flag on Tiananmen Square as the ruling Communist Party marked its 73rd anniversary in power on Saturday under strict anti-virus controls.

The flag-raising at sunrise was one of the few National Day events planned after authorities called on the public to avoid travel during what usually is one of the countrys busiest tourism periods.

National Day marks the anniversary of the Oct. 1, 1949, founding of the Peoples Republic of China by then-leader Mao Zedong following a civil war. The former ruling Nationalist Party left for Taiwan, now a self-ruled democracy.

In Hong Kong, Chief Executive John Lee promised to revive the battered economy. He wore a red mask the color of the Chinese flag and was flanked by masked dignitaries at a downtown convention center.

In Taiwan, which Beijing claims as part of its territory, members of the pro-mainland Taiwan People's Communist Party raised a Chinese flag in the southern city of Tainan and released red balloons and white doves. About 150 people took part.
Apple CEO Tim Cook Jemal Countess/Getty Images for TIME

Apple CEO Tim Cook discussed the metaverse and more in an interview Friday with Dutch news outlet Bright.

Cook told the outlet that programming is the "most important language you can learn."

He said everyone should learn to code and classes should be taught as early as elementary school.

Apple CEO Tim Cook discussed the importance of teaching coding skills in school during an interview Friday with Bright, a Dutch media outlet.

"I think everyone should learn programming before they graduate from high school and I actually think it should be taught in elementary school," Cook told the news publication, adding that he sees coding as "the only universal language."

"It's the most important language you can learn," he continued. "Of course your native language is more important for communication, but a programming language is a way to tap into your creativity."

Cook has promoted incorporating programming into early education curriculum for years now, arguing in 2019 that it's a "core skill," just like mathematics and history, CNBC reported in 2019.

This summer, the CEO joined over 500 business leaders in calling on the US government to update the K-12 curriculum in each state to include computer science courses.

"The United States leads the world in technology, yet only 5% of our high school students study computer science. How is this acceptable? We invented the personal computer, the internet, and the smartphone. It is our responsibility to prepare the next generation for the new American Dream," the letter reads.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the US is on track to face a shortage of 1.2 million software engineers by 2026. In 2021, the median annual pay for software developers in the US was $109,020, per the BLS.

Despite labor shortage woes, some students applying to programming roles with untraditional education and career backgrounds say they're still struggling to get a job.

Story continues

Sophia Cheong, who left her restaurant job during the pandemic to enroll in coding bootcamp, told Insider last year that she was rejected 357 times before receiving an entry-level position in the tech industry.

"I know there are shortages just about everywhere," Cheong said at the time. "But I also feel like there are so many people looking for jobs at the same time. I just don't know why it hasn't balanced out yet."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Reuters

Exxon Mobil Corp said on Monday that it left Russia completely after President Vladimir Putin expropriated its properties following seven months of discussions over an orderly transfer of its 30% stake in a major oil project. Exxon did not say if it received any compensation for the assets, which it had valued at more than $4 billion. An Exxon spokesperson declined to comment on whether it will proceed to contest the seizure through an international arbitration process, a possibility flagged in August.
Attorneys and family of Donovan Lewis, an unarmed Black man who was fatally shot Aug. 30 by Columbus police officer Ricky Anderson while police were serving a warrant for his arrest, stepped to a microphone in front of the Ohio Statehouse Friday evening with an unambiguous message: Anderson should be arrested immediately.

A screenshot from a video captured by another officers body camera flanked the attorneys on the Statehouses West Plaza. The image shows the 20-year-old Lewis, his body at a 45-degree angle, rising from his bed with one hand on the mattress.

Anderson, a 30-year veteran of the Columbus Division of Police, shot Lewis in the abdomen less than a second after opening the door to his bedroom. The sergeant whose body camera captured the shooting did not fire his weapon during the incident, which occurred after 2 a.m.

Donovan Lewis shooting:Donovan Lewis' mother: 'His death is not going to be in vain'

Search warrant: No firearm found in Donovan Lewis' apartment after police shooting

A video clip of the shooting gives investigators all the information they need, Rex Elliot, one of the attorneys representing the Lewis family, said during a press conference.

Could there be any more clear evidence of a reckless shooting? Elliott said. There were no weapons in that apartment, there was no justification for the shooting, there were absolutely other means by which they could have addressed the situation, but officer Anderson chose, as a first resort, to fire a lethal weapon.

Police were serving multiple arrest warrants for Lewis, who was wanted on a felony charge of improper handling of a firearm, a misdemeanor probation violation and misdemeanor charges filed Aug. 10 of domestic violence and assault against his pregnant girlfriend. Police arrived just after 2 a.m. Aug. 30 to serve the warrant at Lewis' second-floor apartment on the 3200 block of Sullivant Avenue in the Hilltop.

The day after the killing the city asked for patience while (the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation) investigated, Elliot said. We are here 30 days later and our patience is running out. There is no reason to drag out this investigation.

Story continues

Sep 30, 2022; Columbus, OH, United States; Ramon Obey II, left, addresses the crowd during a community press conference Friday outside of the Ohio Statehouse. Speakers included vice president with the NAACP Ohio chapter Dr. Derrick L. Foward, president of NAACP Ohio chapter Tom Roberts, and Dejaun Sharb, a community member from Lewis neighborhood. Mandatory Credit: Joseph Scheller-The Columbus Dispatch

Lewis mother, Rebecca Duran, said that Ohio BCI seems to be stalling.

With Andre Hill, that officer was arrested six days afterwards, she said, referring to the Dec. 22, 2020, death of Hill, 47, who was shot by Columbus police officer Adam Coy, who faces murder charges. Here we are a month out (from Lewis' death) and nothing.

(Editor's note: While Coy was fired six days after shooting Hill, he wasn't indicted and arrested until more than six weeks later, on Feb. 3, 2021.)

A spokesperson for Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, whose office oversees BCI, said that a typical investigation into an officer-involved shooting takes about 400 agent hours to complete, but could not say when the Lewis investigation will conclude.

BCI will refer its findings to the Franklin County Prosecutor's office, which then presents the case as a standard practice to a Franklin County grand jury for consideration on any criminal charges.

In a community forum at the Statehouse plaza that followed the press conference, speakers called for a series of reforms, including the end of qualified immunity, which shields police officers and other government officials from civil suits as long as they are carrying out their assigned duties.

My father was a law enforcement officer, so I get it, said Derrick Foward, Ohio NAACP's 1st vice president. I spent nights wondering if he was going to come home.

But Foward said police will continue to kill unarmed Black men with impunity if they are not held accountable.

Columbus police have shot and killed Black men at a disproportionate rate in recent years. Black males make up 62% of those shot by Columbus officers since 2012, while Black people make up only 29% of the citys population, The Dispatch previously reported.

All six of the people shot by Columbus police in 2021 were Black. Three of them were killed.

pcooley@dispatch.com

@PatrickACooley

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Donovan Lewis shooting: Attorneys, family want Columbus cop arrested
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia's second-largest telcoms firm Optus, owned by Singapore Telecommunications, on Saturday ran a full-page apology in major newspapers for a "devastating" cyberattack 10 days ago and pointed affected customers to a new help site.

"We're deeply sorry that a cyberattack has happened on our watch," the company said in the notice.

"We know this is devastating and that we'll need to work hard to regain your trust," it said.

The new page on the company's web site offered support to customers whose data has been breached, including how to replace drivers' licenses, passport and health care card numbers.

The company has agreed to pay the cost of replacing passports of compromised customers, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday.

"We will be in touch with customers who have had their passport document number exposed," Optus said on its web site.

Australian police said on Friday they had set up an operation to beef up protection of more than 10,000 Optus customers whose identity credentials had been shared online due to the data breach.

Authorities have declined to comment on their investigation and effort to find the hacker since the telcoms giant on Sept. 22 first reported the theft of the data of up to 10 million accounts, equivalent to 40% of Australia's population. (This story corrects spelling of 'Australia' in headline)

(Reporting by Sonali Paul)
HONOLULU  U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Hawaii this week amid lingering community frustration and distrust after jet fuel from a military storage facility last year spilled into Pearl Harbors drinking water, poisoned thousands of Navy, Army and Air Force families and threatened the purity of Honolulus water supply.

Austin traveled to the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in the hills above Pearl Harbor on Friday and met the commander of the joint task force in charge of draining its tanks so it can be shut down.

He also met with several families affected by the fuel spill and Hawaii state officials, the military said in a news release. The meetings were closed to the media, and Austin didnt hold a news conference afterward.

Outside Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam, several dozen protesters held signs saying Navy Lies and Shut Down Red Hill. People driving by  including many exiting the base  honked in support.

Samantha McCoy, whose husband is in the Air Force, said her family suffered migraines, rashes, skin sores and gastrointestinal problems that only subsided when they moved out of military housing last month.

She called on Austin to make more medical care available to families.

It took four months of daily migraines to even get a referral to a neurologist. And thats really unacceptable, she said at the protest.

Cheri Burness, who lives in Navy housing, wont drink the tap water in the house she shares with her sailor husband and their two teenage children because she doesnt believe that its safe 10 months after the spill.

Military families file federal claims in Hawaii water crisis

Her family has spent $3,000 of their own money to install filters on all the faucets in the house so they can bathe, brush their teeth and wash their dishes. She spends $70 to $100 a month to have water delivered to their home for drinking. They also use bottled water.

People hold signs in front of the Hawaii state Capitol during a rally calling for the closure of the Navy's Red Hill underground fuel storage facility near Pearl Harbor on Feb. 11 in Honolulu. (Caleb Jones/AP)

She recalled how Navy leaders initially told Pearl Harbor water users their water was safe to drink after the November spill. The Navy only told people to stop drinking their tap water after the state Department of Health stepped in.

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The Navy later flushed clean water through its pipes to cleanse them. In March, the state Department of Health said the tap water in all residential areas served by the Navys water system was safe to drink.

But Burness said she never got to see the reports for her house after it was tested. She was only told her water was good.

I dont trust them because cause they did nothing to show me that it ever was fine, Burness said in a telephone interview.

A Navy investigation released in July showed a cascading series of errors, complacency and a lack of professionalism led to the fuel spill, which contaminated tap water used by 93,000 people on the Navys water system.

Nearly 6,000 sought medical attention for nausea, headaches and rashes. Some continue to complain of health problems.

The military put families up in hotels for several months, but stopped paying once the health department cleared people to resume drinking their tap water.

Kristina Baehr, an attorney with Texas-based Just Well Law, sued the federal government last month on behalf of four families but said she will be adding more individuals from among the 700 clients she represents. Burness and McCoy are among her clients.

They didnt warn them to stop drinking it, and 6,000 people went to the emergency room, she said. Then, many of these people have only gotten sicker over time.

Baehr said her clients were not among those chosen to speak to Austin. If they had such an opportunity, she said they would tell him to have officials stop saying no one is medically affected by the spill and that there are no long-term effects.

They would also encourage him to provide appropriate medical care to families, safe housing because families claim the homes were not properly remediated, and compassionate reassignment to other bases to all those who ask.

A lot of people are still stuck in the houses that made them sick, she said. So, its very simple, let people out of the houses that made them sick and fix the houses so that theyre safe for the next people.

Overhead lights illuminate a tunnel inside the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Jan. 26, 2018. (Navy via AP)

The spill upset a broad cross-spectrum of Hawaii, from liberals to conservatives and veterans to environmentalists. Many Native Hawaiians have been angered given the centrality of water in Hawaiis Indigenous traditions. It has also increased deep-seated distrust of the U.S. military among many Native Hawaiians that dates to the U.S. military-backed overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893.

Dani Espiritu, who was also at Fridays protest, said the military was taking risks with Native Hawaiian lives, land and culture.

All of our cultural practices are tied to aina, she said, referring to love of the land, a central tenet of Hawaiian thinking. And so as you poison aina and jeopardize the health and well-being of communities, you are also jeopardizing every traditional practice that are tied to those places.

The military plans to drain fuel from the tanks by July 2024 to comply with a Hawaii Department of Health order to shut down the facility.

Honolulus water utility and the Sierra Club of Hawaii have expressed concerns about the threat Red Hill poses to Oahus water supply ever since 2014, when fuel leaked from one of the storage tanks. But the Navy reassured the public that their water was safe and that it was operating the storage facility properly.

 Associated Press writer Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska, contributed to this report.
In a gated compound camouflaged by the thick, dripping vegetation of inland Indonesia, all is quiet. A curtain may stir. The hushed commentary on a TV chess match may mutter indistinctly. An insect or two may chirrup. But mostly, this dark-cornered, sinister place, which is being minded by callow young caretaker Rakib (Kevin Ardilova), feels eerily still and expectant, like a spiderweb waiting for the return of its spider. Makbul Mubaraks Autobiography  the Indonesian filmmakers impressive debut  gives a Godfather-style, power-corrupting-the-naive story the Conradian overtones of Apocalypse Now. But with its powerful sense of mood, it emerges from Coppolas shadow by summoning evocative, specific shadows of its own, out of Indonesias troubled, genocidal, terrifying past.

The spider returns. General Purna (Arswendy Bening Swara), recently a towering figure in the military dictatorship, has retired and is coming home to run for Mayor of the region. Rakib, whose family has been in service to the generals for four generations, is expected to chauffeur him around, wait on him, be an obedient, dog-like companion. At first Purna is offhand with Rakib, impatient. Soon, though, the young man starts to look on the general as a kind of father figure, perhaps for all the ways, in power and influence, he is different from his actual father, who is incarcerated with no apparent hope of release, and for whom Rakib has nothing but disdain. You look like me when I was your age, says the general with the approving air of one whose walls are hung with portraits of himself. Rakib starts wearing the military jacket the general provides.

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Their evenings are spent in front of the TV or across a chessboard with Purna dispensing fragments of his toxic philosophy to Rakib, who absorbs them like a sponge. Their days are spent driving around to makeshift hustings, putting up posters and giving speeches. The general, clearly regarding the sham-democratic procedures of the upcoming election as beneath him, is shilling a controversial plan to build an energy plant nearby, which will dispossess a lot of the local inhabitants of their meager landholdings. Most of them are too afraid to speak up; the few who do are promptly silenced. Then one of the generals posters is defaced, and Rakib, enjoying the newfound standing that his proximity to power gives him, and cocky in the belief that the old man may be imperious and demanding but is hardly cruel, finds the culprit and delivers him to the general, like a cat bringing in a bird. There follows, for Rakib, a short, sharp, shocking lesson in the ruthlessness and abject depravity of his employer.

Although the film features crowd scenes and a full cast of supporting characters, it is essentially a two-hander, and both Swara (recently seen in Kamila Andinis Before, Now and Then) and Ardilova (who played in Andinis Yuni as well as Edwins Locarno-winning Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash) are remarkably persuasive. Swaras narrow-eyed Purna, essentially a lean, vain, Indonesian Col. Kurtz, can turn on a dime from malicious and very probably mad, to genial and fatherly. And by the end when all those qualities exist simultaneously, his is a deeply disturbing portrait of absolute powers ability to corrupt absolutely. Ardilova is equally strong, in a role that requires him to age psychologically without aging physically; in the few months the films traces he goes from surly youngster to cocky sidekick to disillusioned, soul-sick penitent, who knows hes ventured too far into the mire to ever be able to get out clean.

Its a moral murkiness that DP Wojciech Staron interprets visually, in layered images that, especially in interiors, are usually partially impeded in some way. The camera peers at the characters through grilles or furnishings or windows that cast diffuse reflections across the frame. At times this technique becomes a little overbearing especially later, when Rakibs inner turmoil and the sense of walls-closing-in claustrophobia are better demonstrated by counterpoint, as in a scene of revelry occurring  in line with the immutable laws of recent Southeast Asian arthouse cinema  in a karaoke parlor. Such moments offset Mubaraks directorial restraint, which, while commendable, can occasionally mute the drama down to a barely audible murmur, where a howl, or a tuneless forced duet on a schmaltzy local pop hit, would be more fitting.

But in large part, Autobiography is an auspicious, atmospheric first feature that knows how to co-opt generic conventions and a richly cinematic style, in order to illuminate some of the the darkest recesses of Indonesias recent history. Without laboring the allegory overmuch, Mubarak, working from his own nicely pared-back screenplay, builds up a convincing if despairing vision of the legacy of atrocity, in which the children of the Indonesian dictatorship era can only fully reckon with their nations violent past by taking on some of its attributes themselves, at significant cost to their souls. As such, the chess games that Purna, the representative of the venal old guard, plays with Rakib, standing in for the new generation, are an imperfect metaphor, considering the desperately unfair terms of engagement that Indonesias youth have inherited. But then, is there a game where one side wrote the rules, owns the board and controls all the pieces, while the other can only field one trembling pawn?

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The federal government is suing Landmark Dodge, an Independence auto dealership, over alleged civil rights violations, saying the companys owners and managers will not allow a woman to sell a car.

The lawsuit alleges that, from May 2017 to May 2019, Landmark Dodge and Landmark South  the latter of which has since dissolved  hired only men for sales jobs and only women for office jobs.

It also says women were never offered a chance to move up from within the company to work on the sales floor.

Lawyers with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency that investigates workplace discrimination, filed the lawsuit on behalf of Jacqueline McKinney and Janette Barron, former human resources employees. Both women allege they were forced to quit as they faced harassment for refusing to participate in a sexist system.

Dealership owners, along with their sales managers, regularly expressed stereotypical views of male and female roles to the human resources managers, the complaint alleges.

Examples of that outlined by Barron and McKinney: The companys higher-ups said gay men and women are unable to handle sales, women are not respected enough to close a sale, and training women for sales would be a waste of the companys time.

Barron and McKinney alleged that one female job applicant was told she would be better suited for a receptionist job. Another was told women generally sit at their desks and that she was the perfect height for that role, the complaint says.

Another applicant drove an hour in for an interview and was turned away by a sales manager after it was learned she was a woman, the complaint says.

Additionally, female applicants interviewed for other jobs were typically asked sex-based questions, such as their marital status and whether they had children at home, the complaint alleges. Those questions were generally not asked of male applicants, the lawsuit says.

Meanwhile, the lawsuit says men were told they could not be hired to work in office roles, including one example where a man was told the job he wanted was strictly a womans position.

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In a statement, Andrea G. Baran, an attorney for the EEOC, said: Making hiring decisions based on sex is bad business and against the law.

Wise employers follow the direction of trained human resources professionals who encourage them to hire the most qualified applicants without consideration of sex or other protected status, Baran said.

A message left by The Star with Landmarks managers seeking comment was not returned.

With its lawsuit, the federal agency is seeking back pay, compensatory damages and punitive damages for the two human resources employees as well as damages for applicants who were denied jobs based on their sex. It is also seeking a federal judges order to prevent future discrimination.
(The Sept. 30 story corrects to fix reference to 'West Bank' in paragraph 5.)

By Jessica DiNapoli

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ben & Jerry's says parent company Unilever Plc wrongly transferred brand names out of reach of its independent board more than 20 years ago in an updated lawsuit over its business in Israel filed on Friday in federal court.

The Vermont ice cream maker says that Unilever "covertly" moved its trademarks to a Unilever business unit in 2000 and 2001, a move that violated a merger agreement with the consumer goods conglomerate. The maker of Chubby Hubby ice cream only learned about the move from recent court filings, according to the lawsuit.

Ben & Jerry's originally filed the lawsuit against a Unilever subsidiary in July to try to block the sale of its business in Israel and the West Bank to a local licensee, Avi Zinger.

The ice cream maker announced last year that it no longer wanted to sell its products in the occupied West Bank because it was inconsistent with its values. Ben & Jerry's products have been for sale in Israel for decades.

A judge in August rejected Ben & Jerry's bid to immediately stop sales in the West Bank, saying the manufacturer did not show it would suffer irreparable harm.

In the updated lawsuit filed late on Friday, Ben & Jerry's added London-based Unilever as a defendant and said it is seeking damages and wants the trademarks returned. The company also asked a judge to stop Zinger from selling the ice cream in the West Bank.

Unilever has "actively attempted to undermine" Ben & Jerry's independent board by refusing to disburse revenue from the ice-cream maker to charities, eliminating jobs affecting product mission and marketing products without its approval, Ben & Jerry's said in the lawsuit.

The row with Ben & Jerry's has been a test of Unilever's commitment to giving its brands a social purpose.

When Unilever acquired Ben & Jerry's more than 20 years ago, the ice cream maker, known for its left-leaning politics, kept control of its social mission in a shareholder agreement which it says is now being eroded.

Unilever has said it retained the right to make operational decisions for Ben & Jerry's, and that the sale of the Israeli business could not be undone because it has irrevocably closed.

(Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in New York; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
President Biden declared an emergency in North Carolina on Saturday as post-tropical cyclone Ian, downgraded from a hurricane on Friday, moves through the state.

The White House said in a release that Biden ordered federal assistance to back up state, local and tribal response efforts to the conditions that have resulted from the storm since Wednesday.

The release states that the declaration authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate all disaster relief efforts to alleviate the effects on the local population. FEMA will also be able to provide assistance to save lives and protect property, public health and safety and to lower the threat of catastrophe in all counties in the state.

FEMA will identify, mobilize and provide equipment and resources necessary to respond to the storms impacts, according to the release.

The release states that emergency protective measures will be provided with 75 percent from federal funding.

Hurricane Ian ravaged much of Florida after making landfall as a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 150 miles per hour. Authorities have confirmed more than 25 deaths resulting from the storm as of Saturday.

The storm has weakened to a post-tropical cyclone but can still bring strong flooding as it moves north.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  Illinois coach Bret Bielema had a triumphant return to Camp Randall Stadium because hes helped make the Fighting Illini physical enough to beat Wisconsin at its own game.

Chase Brown rushed for 129 yards, Tommy DeVito had three short touchdown keepers and Illinois trounced Wisconsin 34-10 on Saturday to give the Illini their first win at Madison since 2002.

I told them last night in a team meeting at the end, I had a feeling they were going to play well, and if we played our kind of football and played the way that Ive seen them play and the way that we asked them to be coached, I thought we could have success, said Bielema, who coached Wisconsin from 2006-12.

Illinois (4-1, 1-1 Big Ten) got 17 points off Wisconsin turnovers and scored the game's final 27 points.

The Illini sacked Graham Mertz five times and held the Badgers to 2 yards rushing on 24 carries while handing Wisconsin its most lopsided home loss since a 48-7 setback against Penn State in 2008. This was Illinois' most lopsided win in the series since a 34-6 blowout of Wisconsin in 1988.

This was sweet, Brown said. It's not a fluke. We came here expecting to win and we did.

Illinois won with the same formula that Wisconsin has used for most of the last three decades. The Illini outrushed Wisconsin 137-2, made fewer mistakes than their opponent and were more physical on both sides of the ball.

We definitely take it personally," Wisconsin outside linebacker C.J. Goetz said. "This program was built on physicality.

Bielema had gone 68-24 in seven years as Wisconsins coach before leaving for Arkansas at the end of the 2012 regular season. He was fired at Arkansas in 2017 after going 29-34 and took over Illinois program in December 2020.

The Badgers won 24-0 at Illinois last season, but this was the first time Bielema had faced Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium. Bielema said he received a game ball from athletic director Josh Whitman after the victory.

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Bielema was the first coach to take an opposing Big Ten team to a school he coached to a Big Ten title since John Pont coached Northwestern in a 1973 game at Indiana. Pont had led Indiana to a share of the 1967 Big Ten crown.

Wisconsin fans gave Bielema a smattering of boos when his name was announced in the pregame introductions, though the stands were less than 20% full at that point, about half an hour before the 11 a.m. kickoff.

A much larger crowd showed significantly more displeasure as the Badgers got dismantled for a second straight week. Wisconsin (2-3, 0-2) was coming off a 52-21 loss at No. 3 Ohio State.

Something needs to change because that's not us," Wisconsin safety John Torchio said. That's not the Wisconsin football we all know.

Illinois took a 14-10 halftime lead by scoring a pair of touchdowns after intercepting passes in Wisconsin territory. The Illini broke the game open by outscoring Wisconsin 17-0 in the third quarter, including a 49-yard touchdown run by Brown.

Brown, who entered the day with a Football Bowl Subdivision-leading 151 yards rushing per game, produced his sixth straight 100-yard performance. Wisconsin's Braelon Allen, who had been ranked fifth among all FBS players with 124.3 yards rushing per game, had just 2 yards on eight carries.

Illinois held Wisconsin to its lowest single-game rushing total since 2015, when the Badgers had minus-26 yards on 26 carries in a 13-7 loss to Northwestern.

Wisconsin had outrushed Illinois 391-26 in last season's matchup.

I knew if we wanted to have a chance, we couldn't let them run the football on us like we did a year ago, Bielema said. I bet (defensive coordinator) Ryan Walters, from last year at the end of the season to where we are now, I bet you there hasn't been a day gone by where he hasn't watched that film from a year ago."

Mertz went 4 of 4 for 54 yards on the game's opening possession and capped the series with a 21-yard touchdown to Isaac Guerendo on third-and-8. But he was just 13 of 28 for 152 yards with two interceptions the rest of the way and played the last 2 1/2 quarters with tape around his left (non-throwing) hand.

Everyones got to own it, said Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst, who was an offensive coordinator on Bielemas Wisconsin staff from 2006-11. Everyones a part of this whole deal, so weve all got to be part of the solution.

DeVitto went 18 of 24 for 167 yards. Each of his three touchdown runs was from 1 yard out.

THE TAKEAWAY

Illinois: The Illini established themselves as possible contenders for the Big Ten West title. llinois hosts Iowa and No. 21 Minnesota the next two weeks in games that could determine how much of a factor they are in that race.

Wisconsin: The Badgers have to start asking themselves some difficult questions about the direction of their program as they've fallen below .500 after opening the season in the AP Top 25. Wisconsin's offense was hurt by injuries that knocked tight end Hayden Rucci, Guerendo and wide receiver Keontez Lewis out of the game.

UP NEXT

Illinois: Hosts Iowa on Saturday.

Wisconsin: At Northwestern on Saturday.

___

This story has been corrected to show that Keontez Lewis, not Skyler Bell, was the injured Wisconsin receiver.

___

More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/ap_top25. Sign up for the APs college football newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/mrxhe6f2
Saturday, October 1, from 9:30 - 11:00 a.m., join Volunteer Veronica & Ranger Caroline for an informative bird walk in the parks diverse habitat and explore the ecology of Florida coast.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

This fun and informative walk is open to participants of all birding levels. Participants will observe a diverse variety of shore birds, marsh birds and hammock birds by walking the beach, boardwalks, nature trails and other areas.

Dont forget to bring bug repellent, binoculars and comfortable shoes! This bird walk is appropriate for all ages and difficulty level is mild, with some uneven or sandy terrain encountered during the walk. The walk begins at the Oceanside Boardwalk.

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

If using a GPS to locate, the Boardwalks address is: 8690 A1A South, St. Augustine, FL 32080. The park is located 14 miles south of St. Augustine on Anastasia Island and four miles south of SR 206 on Highway A1A.

For additional information, call 904-471-0116 or Click here to visit their Facebook page.

Click here to Learn more.

[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]

Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Online travel agency Booking.com has added safety labels to listings in the occupied West Bank, which Israel, having initially opposed the move, welcomed for not singling out Jewish settlements.

The move was rebuked by Palestinian officials, who said the advisory should only be used for Israeli settlements.

The company now posts an advisory on its website when customers search for West Bank properties in both Palestinian cities as well Israeli settlements, which most of the world's countries deem illegal. The note recommends that customers review their governments' travel advisories for the area, which "may be considered conflict-affected".

Israel's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that following its "discreet and efficient" dialogue with the company's management, and despite concerns that the West Bank and properties owned by Israelis could be singled out, no such distinction was made.

The ministry said that the new marking will be used in about 40 areas around the world that are under dispute and applied to the whole of the West Bank as "single geographic unit".

Booking.com did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Abu Youssef, an executive committee member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, said it was "unacceptable" for Booking.com not to distinguish between Palestinian properties and those in Israeli settlements.

Youssef said not making the distinction was "contrary to international and humanitarian law".

The West Bank, which Israel captured in a 1967 war, is among territories where Palestinians seek statehood. Israel describes the West Bank as a Biblical birthright and defensive bulwark.

Violence in the West Bank has surged in recent months after Israel stepped up raids into the territory following a spate of deadly Palestinian street attacks in Israel.

(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch and Ali Sawafta; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Lula and Bolsonaro. Illustrated | Getty Images

On Sunday, Brazilians will head to the polls to vote for their president. The world has its eye on two candidates: incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro and former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Here's everything you need to know:

Who are the candidates?

While there are 11 candidates in the running, this election is likely a battle between Jair Bolsonaro and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, known as Lula. It is predicted that 80 percent of Brazilian voters will vote for one of these candidates.

Current president and incumbent candidate Bolsonaro has had a rather turbulent presidency thus far. Bolsonaro is a right-wing populist who took office in 2019. When he assumed the role, he vowed to "restore order" and actively denounced corruption and crime. The media often referred to Bolsonaro as the "Trump of the tropics" due to his conservative ideologies and strong stance against leftists. His presidency was marked by reduced gun regulation, expanded deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, and corruption scandals. One of the defining moments of his presidency was the COVID-19 pandemic, which came a year into his term. Bolsonaro denied the dangers of COVID, calling it a "little flu," which ultimately led to Brazil having the second-highest death toll in the world as of Aug. 2022, the Buenos Aires Times reports.

Bolsonaro's biggest competition is Lula. Lula was elected president in 2002 after running four times. He became the first leftist leader in Brazil in nearly a half-century and served two terms. He left office with a very high approval rating for an exiting president, BBC reports. During his terms, Lula funded large-scale social programs and increased the minimum wage. In July 2017, Lula was caught in a scandal and sentenced to nine years in prison for corruption, charges which he fervently denied. In November 2019, new evidence found that the judge working the case may not have been impartial, leading to Lula's release. He promptly returned to the political stage.

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Brazil has no limit to the number of terms a person can serve, but they can only serve two consecutive terms at a time.

What do polls look like?

The election on Sunday is only round 1. If no candidate gets 50 percent of the votes, the top two candidates will compete in a run-off election on Oct. 30. As the day inches closer, Lula continues to gain a lead over Bolsonaro, with current polls showing Lula at 48 percent of the vote and Bolsonaro at 31 percent. Just last week, the polls showed Lula at 47 percent, suggesting that his momentum continues to build, reports Reuters.

Given the numbers, the polls also suggest that Lula has the potential to win the election in the first round alone. However, if the race goes to a second round, polls by The Economist suggest that Lula would likely win by a margin of 57 percent to 43 percent. These numbers have been understandably concerning for Bolsonaro.

The incumbent has made a variety of strategic moves to help push polls in his direction. For one, he attended the UN General Assembly this month and gave a speech touting the wins of his administration in an effort to garner support. Bolsonaro has also attempted to openly cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election. His party released a document alleging that there are a group of government contractors with "absolute power to manipulate election results without leaving a trace." The released document contained no evidence and was immediately rejected by Brazil's electoral authority, The New York Times reports. The Supreme Court is now investigating Bolsonaro's party for fraud.

Bolsonaro has also suggested that he will not accept the outcome of the election if he does not win. He stated that he would accept the results if they are "clean and transparent," however his discrediting of the election suggests that he doesn't perceive the election as either, reports the Economist. Many have drawn similarities between Bolsonaro and Trump's election-denying methods, further amplified by the fact that Trump previously referred to Bolsonaro as his "number-one ally."

What's at stake?

The biggest stakeholder in this election is the Amazon rainforest. Many media outlets have deemed this the election to determine the fate of the Amazon because of how much either candidate would change the trajectory of its management. Under Bolsonaro, deforestation sharply increased. When he was elected, he favored the agribusiness industry and consequently removed enforcement measures, cut spending and fired experts from science and environmental agencies, and tried to weaken Indigenous land rights, Vox reports. By 2021, Amazon deforestation rose 73 percent above 2018 levels. These levels are expected to rise if Bolsonaro stays in office according to Reuters.

On the other hand, during Lula's presidency in 2003, he coordinated with government agencies to reduce deforestation by 70 percent and advocated for climate change mitigation. In his current campaign, Lula also places emphasis on reducing deforestation and getting rid of illegal mining in the rainforest, Grist reports. An analysis shows that Bolsonaro's loss could cut deforestation by approximately 89 percent.

This could be the election's most pressing issue. The Amazon is home to nearly 40,000 plant species, 427 kinds of mammals, 1,300 birds, 378 reptiles, 400 amphibians, and 3,000 freshwater fish. Excessive deforestation could cause a runaway reaction, transforming the rainforest into a savannah-like ecosystem, unsuitable for most Amazonian species. The tipping point for the reaction is predicted to be when approximately 20 to 25 percent of the forest is gone. Currently, approximately 17 percent of the Amazon is already gone. The outcome of this election could very well determine the future of the forest.

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At a samba bar in Rio de Janeiro, three university students are engaged in a vigorous political debate as they count down the days to Brazil's presidential elections.

Their preference? "We are seated in an 'L'" for Lula, Letizia Corvello, a 22-year-old law student, told AFP.

Brazil's youngest voters are staking their future on the oldest of the two frontrunners: 76-year-old leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is hoping for a comeback 12 years after leaving office at the end of two successive presidential terms.

Lula has a strong lead in the polls over far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, 67. The men face off in a first voting round on Sunday.

"The last thing I want is for Jair Bolsonaro to be re-elected," said Corvello.

"We need to fight for our future and for that of the university" where she studies.

Young people have led the anti-Bolsonaro movement in Brazil with protests against his cuts to education spending, his management of the coronavirus epidemic, and police violence.

"Some of the environmental issues, the destruction of the Amazon and just the... egregious policies of Bolsonaro are of concern to a lot of especially younger people," analyst Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank told AFP.

And they seem to be putting their money where their mouths are.

More than 2.1 million people aged 16 and 17 -- about a fifth in this age group -- have registered to vote ahead of Sunday's first election round -- a 51-percent jump from 2018.

Voting is optional for Brazilians aged 16 and 17, and compulsory from 18 up.

- 'Existential zombies' -

The 2022 youth registration numbers "are unprecedented in the history of Brazil," political scientist Marco Antonio Teixeira of the Getulio Vargas Foundation told AFP.

Under Bolsonaro, young people seem to have learned the importance of having a political voice, he said.

Youths "suffered a lot with the pandemic, (they were) the most affected by unemployment," said Teixeira.

Bolsonaro and his government also managed to repeatedly offend the sensibilities of a younger generation that values respect for cultural and gender diversity.

Story continues

A case in point: in an address in 2020, Bolsonaro's then education minister Milton Ribeiro referred to young people as "existential zombies" who "no longer believe in anything, from God to politics."

"I never imagined there were still people with such a retrograde beliefs," said Corvello in response.

"Bolsonaro made it possible for people to go out on the street to defend violence and discrimination."

- Lula's legacy -

Polls show 52 percent of voters aged 16 to 24 opting for Lula, compared to 32 percent for Bolsonaro.

Some were not yet born during Lula's last term, others were mere infants, but they all know about Lula's educational legacy: increasing scholarships and introducing quotas to help people from racial and socio-economic minorities gain access to good schools.

"Everyone knows what Lula did," said Adrianny Brasil, 22, a resident of the Mare de Rio slum complex where school attendance depends on there being no shootings and university is an unattainable dream for most.

"I am the only 'favelada' (slum-dweller) in my (university) physics course, all the other students are from the elitist areas of Rio, like Ipanema," said Brasil, who hopes there will be more like her under a new Lula government.

Not everyone is in agreement.

Mateus de Medeiros, an 18-year-old mechanical engineering student, regrets that the choice is limited to "the extreme right or the extreme left".

"I wish there was another candidate and we didnt have to vote for one just to exclude the other," he told AFP.

Bolsonaro also has ardent supporters among the youth.

Gabriel Lira, a 22-year-old Afro Brazilian who works as a store employee, believes many university students are victims of brainwashing by "leftist professors."

"If they were better informed, they would see that (Lula) resembles Maduro and the left-wing dictators," he told AFP at Campinas on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, referring to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

And he denied Bolsonaro was racist, despite having once said about a community of Black slave descendents: "They don't do anything. They're no use even to procreate."

"It was an unfortunate statement. But if he really was (racist) he'd be capturing Black people and putting them back into slavery," said Lira.

app/mel/dga/mlr/dw
Time to check the fridge!

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control issued a recall for brie and camembert cheese made by Old Europe Cheese, Inc. on Friday, Sept. 30.

The cheese, manufactured in Benton Harbor, Michigan, was sold under more than two dozen brand names in popular stores across the United States and Mexico.

The cheese might be contaminated with Listeria cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems. Even healthy people can be impacted with short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

The recalled cheese was sold in Albertsons, Safeway, Meijer, Hardings, Shaws, Price Chopper, Market Basket, Raleys, Save Mart, Giant Foods, Stop & Shop, Fresh Thyme, Lidl, Sprouts, Athenian Foods and Whole Foods.

The recalled cheese was sold under the following brand names:

Black Bear

Block & Barrel

Charmant

Cobblestone

Culinary Tour

Fredericks

Fresh Thyme

Glenview Farms

Good & Gather

Heinens

Joan of Arc

La Bonne Vie

Lidl

Life in Provence

Market 32

Matried

Metropolitan

Prestige

Primo Taglio

Red Apple Cheese

Reny Picot

St. Randeaux

St. Rocco

Taste of Inspiration

Trader Joe

The cheese has best-by dates from Sept. 28, 2022, to Dec. 14, 2022.

To see a full list of exact products and UPC codes, click here.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug administration, Old Europe Cheese decided to do a voluntary recall following an audit in order to avoid any risk to their customers. The CDC said there have been six reported illnesses and five hospitalizations.

Anyone with the impacted cheese should deep clean their refrigerator, containers and surfaces that may have touched the packaging. The CDC said Listeria can survive in the fridge and easily spread to other foods and surfaces.

Anyone with questions about the recall can call the Old Europe Cheese help line at 269-925-5003 ext. 335. Customer service agents will be available to help Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. ET.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
The Conversation

The collective memory of school desegregation is of anger and division, like in this photo of 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford walking away from a crowd outside a high school in Little Rock, Ark. Bettmann via Getty Images Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question youd like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. What did white children have to say about their all-white schools integrating?  Julia M.N., age 11, New York City In 1954, the
While some investors are already well versed in financial metrics (hat tip), this article is for those who would like to learn about Return On Equity (ROE) and why it is important. By way of learning-by-doing, we'll look at ROE to gain a better understanding of BRT Apartments Corp. (NYSE:BRT).

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors money. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.

See our latest analysis for BRT Apartments

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

Return on equity can be calculated by using the formula:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations)  Shareholders' Equity

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for BRT Apartments is:

30% = US$74m  US$249m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2022).

The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. That means that for every $1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated $0.30 in profit.

Does BRT Apartments Have A Good Return On Equity?

One simple way to determine if a company has a good return on equity is to compare it to the average for its industry. Importantly, this is far from a perfect measure, because companies differ significantly within the same industry classification. Pleasingly, BRT Apartments has a superior ROE than the average (6.6%) in the REITs industry.

roe

That's what we like to see. Bear in mind, a high ROE doesn't always mean superior financial performance. Especially when a firm uses high levels of debt to finance its debt which may boost its ROE but the high leverage puts the company at risk. You can see the 5 risks we have identified for BRT Apartments by visiting our risks dashboard for free on our platform here.

How Does Debt Impact ROE?

Virtually all companies need money to invest in the business, to grow profits. The cash for investment can come from prior year profits (retained earnings), issuing new shares, or borrowing. In the first two cases, the ROE will capture this use of capital to grow. In the latter case, the debt required for growth will boost returns, but will not impact the shareholders' equity. Thus the use of debt can improve ROE, albeit along with extra risk in the case of stormy weather, metaphorically speaking.

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BRT Apartments' Debt And Its 30% ROE

BRT Apartments does use a high amount of debt to increase returns. It has a debt to equity ratio of 1.34. Its ROE is pretty impressive but, it would have probably been lower without the use of debt. Investors should think carefully about how a company might perform if it was unable to borrow so easily, because credit markets do change over time.

Summary

Return on equity is one way we can compare its business quality of different companies. A company that can achieve a high return on equity without debt could be considered a high quality business. If two companies have around the same level of debt to equity, and one has a higher ROE, I'd generally prefer the one with higher ROE.

Having said that, while ROE is a useful indicator of business quality, you'll have to look at a whole range of factors to determine the right price to buy a stock. The rate at which profits are likely to grow, relative to the expectations of profit growth reflected in the current price, must be considered, too. So you might want to take a peek at this data-rich interactive graph of forecasts for the company.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.

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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Roads have been blocked and shops closed in the capital, Ouagadougou, as Burkina Faso's power struggle continues

Burkina Faso's self-declared leader says the man he ousted a day ago in a coup is plotting a counter-attack.

Capt Ibrahim Traore also accused the French army of harbouring Lt Col Paul-Henri Damiba at one of its bases - but France denies any involvement.

Gunshots were heard in Burkina Faso's capital city Ouagadougou on Saturday and helicopters have circled overhead.

Protesters started a fire outside the French embassy - an attack condemned "with the greatest firmness" by Paris.

The French foreign ministry told AFP news agency that the security of its compatriots was the greatest priority, adding that a crisis centre had been opened in Ouagadougou.

Earlier, witnesses said troops blocked main roads around the city and shops that had been open were later shut.

In the country's second city, Bobo-Dioulasso, the gate of the French Institute was also reportedly set ablaze by protesters.

Friday's apparent takeover had been announced on state TV and was the second time this year that the country's army had seized power.

On both occasions the coup leaders said they had to step in because national security was so dire.

Burkina Faso controls as little as 60% of its territory, experts say, and Islamist violence is worsening. Since 2020 more than a million people have been displaced in the country due to the violence.

The African Union has demanded the return of constitutional order by July 2023 at the latest, agreeing with the regional group Ecowas that the ousting of leader Lt Col Damiba was "unconstitutional".

Ecowas earlier said it was "inappropriate" for army rebels to seize power when the country was working towards civilian rule.

The latest international criticism has come from the UN, whose chief Antonio Guterres says he "strongly condemns" the coup.

For the second time in under 24 hours the coup leaders have issued a statement on state TV, signed by their leader Capt Traore.

This time they claimed Lt Damiba was planning a counter-attack because of their own willingness to work with new partners in their fight against the Islamists. The statement did not name these potential new partners, but rights groups say troops in neighbouring Mali have been working closely with Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group - although both nations deny this.

Story continues

On Friday evening flanked by rebel soldiers in fatigues and black facemasks, an officer had read an announcement on national TV stating that they were kicking out Lt Damiba, dissolving the government and suspending the constitution.

That statement was also read on behalf of Capt Traore, who said Lt Col Damiba's inability to deal with an Islamist insurgency was to blame.

"Our people have suffered enough, and are still suffering", he said.

Little is known about Capt Traore, the 34-year-old soldier who led an anti-jihadist unit in the north called Cobra.

His statement effectively declared himself the interim leader of Burkina Faso. But in Friday's announcement came the promise that the "driving forces of the nation" would in time be brought together to appoint a new civilian or military president and a new "transitional charter".

Back in January, Lt Col Damiba's junta overthrew President Roch Kabore and his elected government, saying they had failed to deal with Islamist violence. Lt Col Damiba told citizens "we have more than what it takes to win this war."

But his administration has also not been able to quell the jihadist violence. Analysts told the BBC recently that Islamist insurgents were encroaching on territory, and military leaders had failed in their attempts to bring the military under a single unit of command.

On Monday, 11 soldiers were killed when they were escorting a convoy of civilian vehicles in Djibo in the north of the country.

Many citizens feel no safer under military rule, and there have been protests in different parts of the country this week.

On Friday afternoon, some protesters took to the capital's streets calling for the removal of Lt Col Damiba.

The Islamist insurgency broke out in Burkina Faso in 2015, leaving thousands dead and forcing an estimated two million people from their homes.

The country has experienced eight successful coups since independence in 1960.
Team,

As we continue to move closer to the completion of our merger with Microsoft, I want to share some important updates we are making to further our continuing commitment to excellence in our workplace, compliance, and governance.

Effective October 1, Fran Townsend will be moving to a new role as Senior Counselto me and the Board of Directors. In her current role as EVP of Corporate Affairs, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary, Fran did a truly exceptional jobactually four jobs with continuously increasing responsibilities and the most exemplary work ethic. She tirelessly and successfully navigated a challenging time for the Company with leadership, conviction, and grace.

Fran also has done an extraordinary job enhancing the strong governance and compliance programs we have throughout the Company. One of Frans most important contributions has been empowering and developing talent, and we are pleased to announce that her deputies Jen Brewer and Luci Altman will both be promoted effective October 1.

Jen Brewer, just celebrated her tenth year with the company, currently as Senior Vice President of Ethics and Compliance. Jen will be promoted to Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer. Jen has more than twenty years of legal and compliance experience. She has long been a key advisor to our senior leadership team, and this well-earned promotion recognizes her exceptional abilities and dedication to making Activision Blizzard the very best place to work. Jen will report to Chief Administrative Officer Brian Bulatao while continuing to work closely with me, Fran, Grant and directly with the Boards Audit and Workplace Responsibility Committees.

Fran and Jen have been committed to retaining and attracting talent to our world class compliance team, with a diverse roster of top performers from organizations with leading compliance programs like Disney, Boeing, KPMG, Walmart, the US Navy, and some of the worlds best law firms.

Over the ten years Jen has been a leader in compliance at the Company she has overseen and created innovative compliance and reporting programs including our unique Way2Play Heroes program.

Leading our Way2Play team, Jen worked for years with grit and determination to create our one of a kind Way2Play Heroes initiative which has grown from 75 Heroes to today, with over 140 Heroes ensuring best practices in compliance across the entire company.

Jen remains passionate about maintaining the most welcoming inclusive workplace and ensuring continued investment and innovative programs so we remain an example for other companies in our industry.

Luci Altman, currently Senior Vice President of Senior Securities & Corporate Governance, will be promoted to Corporate Secretary. Luci joined us last year after more than thirty years of legal experience in private practice and top corporations, and she has been instrumental in our maintaining the highest standards of corporate governance. Building relationships with teams across the world takes time and Luci has built strong, trusting relationships across the company during the pandemic, no easy task. Luci continues to play a pivotal role in the completion of our merger with Microsoft. While much of Lucis work is behind the scenes, we know she has played a starring role in ensuring we have the very best governance practices. She participated in the creation of our 2021 ESG report highlighting our achievements in our efforts to improve the environment through key initiatives like reducing the use of plastic packaging and our social and governance programs which are considered best in class by independent reviewers. She will continue to ensure we maintain our commitment to excellence in all of our ESG initiatives. Luci will now report to our General Counsel, Grant Dixton.

We will continue to demonstrate our commitment ensuring our governance and compliance programs are the model for our industry, and these personnel changes will help us maintain our momentum in that regard.

Were fortunate to have world-class professionals like Fran, Jen, and Luci on our team  and I couldnt be more grateful for the tireless work they do.

Thank you all for the shared commitment to the very best workplace, your passion and unwavering commitment to improvement which is how we will continue to make the worlds best games.

With appreciation,

Bobby
A Massachusetts man was charged with murder Saturday following the death of his mother, whose body is believed to have been set ablaze outside a home in Cape Cod.

Adam Howe, 24, was charged with murder after authorities said evidence suggested the victim set on fire was his mother Susan Howe, Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael OKeefe and Truro Police Chief Jamie Calise said in a statement.

MASSACHUSETTS WOMAN CHARGED WITH ARSON, MURDER AFTER ALLEGEDLY STARTING APARTMENT FIRE THAT KILLED 4

Authorities reportedly responded around 9:30 p.m. to a request for a well-being check along with a separate report of a fire.

When they arrived, authorities say they found a man outside the front of the house with a fire blazing on the lawn.

"As the emergency personnel realized that it was a body that was burning, the male subject ran into the house and locked the door," O'Keefe and Calise said in a joint statement.

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The Cape Cod Regional SWAT Team then responded and eventually entered the home and placed Adam Howe under arrest.

Howe will be evaluated by mental health professionals following information that authorities obtained from family members, OKeefe and Calise said.

Fox News could not immediately reach the Truro Police Department for comment.
RTHK: Iran protests at home and abroad enter third week

Protesters rallied across Iran and strikes were reported throughout the country's Kurdish region on Saturday as demonstrations against the death of a woman in police custody entered their third week.

The protests, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old from Iranian Kurdistan, have spiralled into the biggest show of opposition to Iran's clerical authorities since 2019, with dozens killed in unrest across the country.

People demonstrated in London and Paris and elsewhere on Saturday in solidarity with Iranian protesters, some holding pictures of Amini, who died three days after being arrested by the Islamic Republic's morality police for "unsuitable attire".

In Iran, social media posts showed rallies in large cities including Tehran, Isfahan, Rasht and Shiraz.

In Tehran's traditional business district of Bazaar, anti-government protesters chanted "We will be killed one by one if we don't unite", while elsewhere they blocked a main road with a fence torn from the central reservation, videos shared by the widely followed Tavsir1500 Twitter account showed.

Students also demonstrated at numerous universities. At Tehran University, dozens were detained, Tavsir1500 said. The semi-official Fars news agency said some protesters were arrested in a square near the university.

Tavsir1500 also posted what it said was a video taken at the gates of Isfahan University during which shots could be heard. A separate video showed tear gas being fired at the university, dispersing a group of people.

The protests began at Amini's funeral on September 17 and spread to Iran's 31 provinces, with all layers of society, including ethnic and religious minorities, taking part and many demanding Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's downfall.

Amnesty International has said a government crackdown on demonstrations has so far led to the deaths of at least 52 people, with hundreds injured. Rights groups say dozens of activists, students and artists have been detained.

In London, about 2,500 people staged a noisy protest in Trafalgar Square. Few women among the mostly Iranian crowd agreed to be interviewed on camera, fearful of identification and reprisals by the authorities.

In central Paris, a crowd of several dozen people gathered to show support for Iranian protesters, holding Iranian flags and pictures of victims who have died in the protests.

Iranian authorities say many members of the security forces have been killed, accusing the United States of exploiting the unrest to try to destabilise Iran.

The Revolutionary Guards said four members of its forces and the volunteer Basij militia were killed on Friday in attacks in Zahedan, capital of the southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province. (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2022-10-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP)  Thousands of Catalans gathered in Barcelona on Saturday to commemorate the fifth anniversary of an independence referendum that marked the high point of their movement to break away from the rest of Spain.

The 2017 vote, which was declared unconstitutional by Spains top courts, was marred by clashes with police who tried but mostly failed to confiscate ballot boxes. The pro-independence side won by a landslide, but most Catalans in favor of remaining in Spain stayed home as pro-union political parties boycotted the vote. Polls then and now show that the wealthy northeast region is roughly equally divided over the secession question.

Catalonias separatist lawmakers used the referendum vote to justify a unilateral declaration of independence issued on Oct. 27, 2017 that failed to garner any international support and had no practical impact. Spains government immediately took over the regional government and fired its top officials. The separatist leaders either fled Spain or were tried and sentenced to prison for sedition until they were pardoned last year.

Since the referendum victory the separatist movement has been rudderless and increasingly fraught with in-fighting over what to do next. Bickering between the two main separatist parties has reached the point where one is threatening to leave the regional government led by Pere Aragones, who favors on-going talks with Madrid.

Divisions in the separatist camp were heard on Saturday when part of the crowd chanted Aragones, resign!" Hardliner separatists consider Aragones' plan to ask Spain to hold an authorized referendum as forsaking the legacy of the 2017 ballot.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images (left), David Ramos/Getty Images (right)

Apple CEO Tim Cook discussed AR, VR, and more in a new interview with Dutch media outlet Bright.

He said Apple avoids using the term "metaverse" because the average person doesn't know what it is.

The tech giant's approach is a stark contrast to Mark Zuckerberg's obsession with the metaverse.

Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed in an exclusive interview with Dutch media outlet Bright that the tech giant's hesitancy toward joining the metaverse hype is intentional.

"I always think it's important that people understand what something is. And I'm really not sure the average person can tell you what the metaverse is," Cook told the outlet.

The metaverse is a term derived from science-fiction and refers to a hypothetical version of a three-dimensional internet accessed via immersive technologies rather than 2D screens.

The word "metaverse" was only mentioned once on Apple earnings calls so far this year, compared to 36 mentions on Meta earnings calls. Despite the buzz word's explosive usage across the industry, executives are divided on whether the metaverse represents a real product  like virtual reality  or if it's just a concept for a virtual world that may never actually exist.

However, Mark Zuckerberg told staff in July that Meta is in "deep, philosophical competition" with Apple to build the metaverse.

Following Facebook's name change and announcement last fall that it would invest $10 billion into building the so-called metaverse, the iPhone maker stood out from the wider tech industry in its apparent refusal to join Mark Zuckerberg's latest obsession.

Instead, Apple has focused its emerging tech investment specifically on Augmented Reality.

When an analyst asked Cook this January about Apple's role in the metaverse space, he responded that Apple is "always exploring new and emerging technologies" and pointed to the company's 14,000 AR kit apps in the App Store.

"I think AR is a profound technology that will affect everything," Cook told Bright in the interview published Friday, adding that virtual reality is not a way to "live your whole life."

"It's something you can really immerse yourself in. And that can be used in a good way," he said. "VR is for regular periods, but not a way to communicate well. So I'm not against it, but that's how I look at it."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Child playing

Liz Truss will drive the creation of new childminder agencies under a French-style system to slash the cost of childcare, The Telegraph can reveal.

Under radical reforms being considered by the Government, the agencies could be given public money to grow while childminders could also be released from individual Ofsted inspections, with regulation by the watchdog focusing on the agencies instead. Childminders could also be given permission to work from council homes.

In his speech launching the mini-Budget, Kwasi Kwarteng, the Chancellor, promised to break down barriers for enterprise by reforming the supply side of our economy, with childcare identified as a key sector for reform.

As well as representing a significant and growing cost for families, the Government believes that reforming the sector would increase the UKs productivity by giving more parents the option to return to work after having children.

A source familiar with discussions said: Its one of the few areas where you can make big reforms that dont cost the Government money, but actually have a really positive impact.

Theres not many places left like that.

Boris Johnsons government had previously launched a consultation on changing the staff-to-child ratio in England from one adult to four children so it mirrors the Scottish ratio of one adult to five children.

The Telegraph understands that childminders will be at the centre of Ms Trusss package, with a focus on elevating the role of childminder agencies.

Childminder agencies act as a one-stop-shop registering childminders and providing them with training, admin support and marketing services.

Ms Truss helped introduce the agencies when she was childrens minister from 2012 to 2014. In a speech in 2013 she said they could simplify the process for becoming a childminder, working to spread the cost, reduce the hassle, and use economies of scale to make it cheaper.

While their role remains limited in the UK, the Government believes that boosting the organisations could help reverse a fall in childminder numbers, which have plummeted by 35 per cent since 2015.

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Report recommends boosting agencies

Department for Education (DfE) civil servants are also understood to have taken a keen interest in a report published in August by the Policy Exchange think-tank, which recommended boosting the agencies and removing regulatory burdens in the sector.

The report recommended helping the agencies to grow by providing a subsidy for every childminder they recruit, while also requiring every current childminder to register with an agency within five years.

Alternatively, the Government could use tax breaks to encourage them to expand.

The agencies already play an integral role in countries such as the Netherlands and France, with childminders coming to work together in the latter in local hubs named maisons dassistants maternels.

Both countries were visited earlier this year by Will Quince, the then childrens minister, as part of a DfE fact-finding mission.

One recommendation in the Policy Exchange report under consideration would see childminders removed from registration and inspection by Ofsted.

Quality assurance would instead be carried out by childminder agencies, which would remain accountable to Ofsted.

Childminders using council housing

Another area which the Government is understood to be keen to tackle relates to council housing. Currently, many social housing tenants are not allowed to use their dwelling to work as a childminder.

This could be changed to allow childminding to be conducted on social housing premises without exception, increasing the number of childminders while also providing other residents with affordable local childcare.

Organisations in the sector have called on the Government to scrap costly red tape in other areas, such as a legal requirement that childminders must receive a health check from their GP before they are able to work.

Another option for change would be to scrap a rule that childminders can operate for no more than 50 per cent of the time from non-domestic premises, potentially allowing childminders to set up shop on high street locations.

Childcare is likely to form an important policy battleground between Labour and the Conservatives at the next general election.

The Telegraph understands that the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has specified that a childcare offer should be one of the flagship policies appearing on the partys pledge card to voters.

A DfE spokesman said: As the Chancellor has confirmed, we will be taking forward reforms to make childcare easier to access and more affordable which will help boost economic growth through getting people back to work. We are exploring a wide range of options, but no decisions have been made.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L), Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (C) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (R). Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

China and India, key partners to Russia, have recently expressed concerns to Putin about the war.

Putin on Friday declared four regions of Ukraine part of Russia, a move rejected by the West.

In a UN vote condemning the annexation as illegal, China and India both abstained.

China and India on Friday abstained from voting on a United Nations resolution condemning Russia for claiming it had annexed parts of Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier on Friday signed decrees claiming four regions in Ukraine were now part of Russia, a move that was widely rejected by the West as an illegal annexation.

The UN's 15-member Security Council held a vote on a resolution declaring Putin's actions illegal and invalid and recognizing the regions are still part of Ukraine, not Russia.

The resolution passed in a 10-1 vote, with Russia being the sole veto vote, the Associated Press reported. China, India, Brazil, and Gabon abstained.

China and India have been powerful partners of Russia during the war, declining to institute sanctions as the West has done. But the UN vote came only weeks after Putin acknowledged his counterparts in both countries expressed concerns about the war.

During a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan on September 15, Putin acknowledged Xi had "questions and concerns" regarding the war. The following day, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticized the war during a face-to-face meeting with Putin.

"I know that today's era is not an era of war, and I have spoken to you on the phone about this," Modi told Putin, Reuters reported.

Putin responded: "I know about your position on the conflict in Ukraine, and I know about your concerns. We want all of this to end as soon as possible."

One expert previously told Insider that pressure from Xi and Modi  and a fear of losing them as partners  may have partly motivated Putin's recent escalation of the war by mobilizing troops and threatening nuclear action.

"The evidence of criticism of allies like China or neutral states like India clearly put more pressure on him," Robert English, a professor at the University of Southern California who studies Russia, the Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe, told Insider.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Oct. 1The Odessa College women's volleyball team will host Clarendon College at 2 p.m. Saturday at the OC Sports Center.

The Lady Wranglers (18-4 overall, 4-1 in WJCAC) are ranked 10th in the nation.

Odessa College swept Amarillo College in a home match Wednesday in the first meeting between the schools.
It's officially October, and that means it's almost decision time in Colorado. While voters in other states will have to wait until Tuesday, Nov. 8, to vote in the general election, Colorado voters can get a jump-start as ballots in the state's all-mail election will be sent out starting Monday, Oct. 17.

To help you prepare for the election, the Coloradoan has compiled the following voter guide, which will be updated with race previews, candidate forum information, campaign finance reporting and much more before the election. So check out our plans and information below, and be sure to bookmark this guide as we plan to begin publishing race previews in early October with the goal of having each preview published by the time you receive your ballot.

Here are the races that will be previewed by the Coloradoan in October

Coloradoan reporters have spent a significant portion of the months leading up to the election interviewing candidates and issue committees to help voters make informed choices when ballots begin to land in mailboxes the week of Oct. 16. Links to previews and past coverage of the following 19 races will be added to this list ahead of the mailing of ballots, so check back for new information as it is published.

Don't know what district you live in? Here are maps and ways to find out for certain.

Colorado Congressional District 2: Joe Neguse, D-incumbent; Marshall Dawson, R; Gary Nation, ACP; Tim Wolf, Unity; Steve Yurash, Center

Colorado Senate District 15: Janice Marchman, D, vs. Rob Woodward, R-incumbent

Colorado House District 49: Judy Amabile, D; Kathryn Lehr, R; Daniel Lutz, Libertarian

Colorado House District 52: Cathy Kipp, D-incumbent; Deborah "Dee Dee" Vicino, R

Colorado House District 53: Andrew Boesenecker, D-incumbent; Donna Walter, R

Colorado House District 65: Lisa Chollet, D; Mike Lynch, R-incumbent

Larimer County District 1 commissioner: Justin Smith, R; John Kefalas, D-incumbent

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Larimer County clerk and recorder: Toni Baker, D; Angela Myers, R-incumbent

Larimer County assessor: Bob Overbeck, D-incumbent; David Eisenbraun, R

Larimer County coroner: Stephen Hanks, D; Matt Canaga, R

Colorado Proposition FF: 'Healthy meals for public school students' sales tax increase

Colorado Proposition 123: Statewide funding for affordable housing

Colorado Propositions 124-126: Increasing the number of retail liquor licenses someone can hold; expanding alcohol sales in grocery stores; allowing alcohol delivery through third-party services

Fort Collins Ballot Question 2A: Increasing City Council compensation

Fort Collins Ballot Question 2B: Moving municipal elections to November

Fort Collins Ballot Question 2C: Adopting ranked choice voting for municipal elections

Windsor Ballot Issue 3F: Open space land acquisition sales tax increase

Timnath Ballot Question 3H: Increasing population threshold for town council expansion AND

Timnath Ballot Question 3I: Moving municipal elections to November

Here's how the Coloradoan is gathering information for candidate race previews

Reporters first sent a questionnaire to all candidates, with identical general questions to learn what was most important to candidates and ask for photos of each candidate.

Reporters performed background checks on all candidates.

Reporters then interviewed each candidate, asking more specific questions based candidates' answers to the questionnaire, campaign materials and questions submitted by Coloradoan readers.

If reporters were unable to get in contact with or interview a candidate, they used campaign materials as sources of information. Each race preview states whether the candidate gave an interview.

Other election coverage from the Coloradoan and its news partners

The Coloradoan will also publish additional election information from our news partners at the Associated Press and Pueblo Chieftain as it is made available. You can also return here for campaign finance reporting and other Coloradoan updates as they come.

Who made the 2022 general election ballot in Larimer County?

Larimer County's non-voter-specific sample ballot lists 61 races and ballot issues that county voters will decide or help decide, depending on where they live. Not all voters will vote on all of the issues, as some are specific to municipalities or other governmental districts.

Here's a look at every race that voters in the county will help decide:

2022 Larimer County General Election Sample Ballot by Coloradoan on Scribd

Where can I learn more about the candidates?

The League of Women Voters of Larimer County and others are hosting candidate forums throughout October. Find a full schedule of forums and links to recordings here.

Where can I find Larimer County candidate endorsements?

The Coloradoan is publishing a select number of candidate endorsements from Larimer County residents at Coloradoan.com/opinion. You can find an updated roundup of endorsements here.

Where can I check on my voter registration status or register to vote in Larimer County?

If you're not sure you've registered to vote, or sure you want to register, head to the Larimer County Clerk's Office website to learn more about how to participate in this year's election. You can also track the status of your mail-in ballot and find voting and drop-off locations and hours while you're there.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado election voting guide: Larimer County races, ballot issues
People enjoy the shade of their umbrellas during a heatwave in Hollywood on Sept. 3. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

As officials in California and beyond try to assess how severe a fall-and-winter coronavirus wave may be, one key factor is the growth of several new subvariants now emerging.

It's too soon to say whether any of the newer variants will rise to prominence in the ways Omicron and Delta did. None have been documented in significant numbers in California or the nation. Still, experts say another super-spreading subvariant  combined with more people being indoors when the weather gets cold  could bring new challenges.

"As we get into this coming late fall and winter ... it is likely we will see another variant emerge," Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden's chief medical advisor for the pandemic, said at a recent virtual talk of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

There is wide expectation for an increase in COVID-19 cases this fall and winter. New York is already recording an uptick since hitting a seasonal low in early September.

For now, California remains in a lull, with cases and hospitalizations declining since mid-summer. But in Los Angeles County, weekly deaths remain elevated and well above springtime lows, likely fueled by a case rate that, while improved, is still substantial.

"We're all prepared for some increase in cases this fall. I think we'd like that to be minimal, and we think if more people can go ahead and get protected with the new bivalent boosters, that will really help everyone try to dampen down the possibility of seeing a very big surge," L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said.

But officials can't rule out the possibility of a severe wave, given the unpredictability of the coronavirus.

"It would be foolish not to be prepared for uncertainty because we've just seen so much uncertainty," Ferrer said. "This is a coronavirus. It mutates a lot. We cannot change that reality. [But] we feel very optimistic. We've got great tools."

Following the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, the pandemic's previous surges have coincided with the emergence of new variants or subvariants that were more transmissible and circumvented the protections afforded by vaccines or previous infections.

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Such constant mutations make the coronavirus a moving target. So while officials are largely confident that California and the U.S. are relatively well positioned heading into colder months  thanks to ready supplies of vaccines, therapeutics and the rollout of updated booster shots  they continue to keep a watchful eye on the horizon.

Most of the problematic variants have been referred to using letters from the Greek alphabet: Epsilon, Alpha, Delta and Omicron.

Omicron has dominated the globe since last fall, and today's viral landscape is now marked by distinct subvariants of that strain. They are designated not with letters but with alphanumeric identifiers that have gotten more complex over time.

Among them is BA.2.75.2, which Fauci identified as "one that looks suspicious  that it might start to evolve as a [troublesome] variant."

BA.2.75.2 has not been found widely in the U.S., and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is not counting it separately from the less worrisome but similarly named BA.2.75.

"The one that we've been most concerned about recently is BA.2.75.2," said Dr. Benjamin Pinsky, director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory at Stanford University.

At Stanford's lab, scientists have identified only one case of that subvariant, he said.

The concern with BA.2.75.2 is that our collective antibodies  whether primed from past vaccination or a previous case  may be less able to recognize this new subvariant and ward off infection.

Specifically, a preprint study published in mid-September by scientists from Europe and Africa found that samples from random blood donors in Sweden were much less likely to recognize BA.2.75.2 compared to earlier subvariants.

The study also suggested the anti-COVID drug Evusheld was less effective against BA.2.75.2. Evusheld is a monoclonal antibody given to people with weakened immune systems to prevent coronavirus infection. Another monoclonal antibody, bebtelovimab, was still capable of detecting BA.2.75.2.

"Taken together, these data identify profound antibody escape by the emerging Omicron sublineage BA.2.75.2, suggesting that it effectively evades current [antibody] immunity in the population," the report said.

Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, said two of the more concerning subvariants are BA.2.75.2 and BQ.1.1.

"They have already been established as the most extreme immune escape seen to date," he said. And being more adept than BA.5  the current dominant Omicron subvariant  "is not a good thing."

Immune escape means "our immune system doesn't see it very well because it has a lot of different mutations. So it basically has a work-around," Topol said. "We haven't seen this one before, and so it has enough mutations to be able to get into us despite our immune response because our immune response  it has a blind spot."

Another subvariant, BA.2.3.20, could potentially be even worse because it has lots of mutations, though its level of immune escape hasn't been characterized, Topol said. And a fourth subvariant worth watching is known as XBB.

What's common about all these newer subvariants is "they have a growth advantage," Topol said.

UC San Francisco infectious diseases expert Dr. Peter Chin-Hong is keeping an eye on another subvariant, BF.7, also known as BA.5.2.1.7, which could be contributing to a significant share of cases in Belgium and other European countries.

"It seems that BF.7 is having some legs right now," Chin-Hong said. "The fact that this grandchild [of the original Omicron strain] is increasing means that it's probably able to evade immunity because a lot of people got infected in Europe already" with BA.5.

None of these subvariants are circulating at high levels in the U.S., CDC data show. And there's hope that updated bivalent boosters  formulated specifically to target BA.5 and another Omicron subvariant, BA.4  will also afford extra protection against those subvariants' descendants, such as BF.7 and BA.4.6.

But what's worrisome about other strains that have a high level of immune escape, including BA.2.75.2, is that they could begin a new surge and potentially reinfect people who have recovered even recently  something that occurred this summer when BA.5 supplanted BA.2.12.1.

"What we've learned during Omicron is vaccinated people can die, too, if they're not boosted," Chin-Hong said. "And it's disproportionately affecting the older folks."

If a subvariant emerges that "is really immune evasive, it means that more people will get infected because our 'forcefield,' in general, as a community will be broken. And as more people get infected, the older people will have an easier time getting infected, and therefore, that infection in them  if they're not boosted  could lead to severe disease.

"I think hospitals should be on guard," he added.

People at lower risk of severe COVID-19  those with some immunity through vaccination or previous infection  are less likely to suffer severe illness or death. Even if they get infected, other parts of the immune system that take longer to rev up, and still work regardless of the subvariant, are expected to respond and reduce the risk of severe illness.

But for people at higher risk, their immune system needs to be prodded more frequently through booster shots to keep them better protected. Their immune systems "are more sluggish. They definitely need more reminders," Chin-Hong said.

One bleak scenario would be the worst characteristics of new subvariants combining to form another new version.

"One of the questions that people have is recombination: so you can mix and match the best features of one with the other. And at some point, randomly, you will get something that has the immune evasion of BA.2.75.2, for example, and the transmissibility of BF.7," Chin-Hong said.

For those at higher risk, COVID-19 is still causing hospitalizations and death, especially among people not up to date on vaccinations. Since August, roughly 350 to 500 Americans die daily from COVID-19, which if extrapolated over a year, would result in four to five times the annual number of flu deaths in an average year.

"It is a level of suffering and death that we do not accept as 'living with COVID,'" Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, said Tuesday at a Center for Strategic and International Studies forum.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, which has never been as hard-hit by the pandemic compared with L.A. County, some experts suggest the era of local mask mandates is over.

But in L.A. County, health officials  while optimistic this winter could be better  say they need to be prepared for a scenario of booster shots being less helpful than anticipated because of new subvariants.

As a result, L.A. County's Department of Public Health has not ruled out reimplementing mandatory mask mandates if hospital conditions get critical.

If "we're in a situation where there's threats to the healthcare system, and we're surrounded by people getting very sick ... I think people will go ahead and comply," Ferrer said. "These are sensible public health precautions."

She suspected that if hospitals were strained again, health officials elsewhere in California will reassess safety measures. L.A. County health officials were the first to reinstate a mask mandate in response to the rising Delta variant last summer. Other local governments and states adopted that approach in the following weeks and months as more threats emerged, including Omicron.

"We're also realistic enough to know that there's always a place for rules to make sure that the collective good is actually able to be realized," Ferrer said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP)  Michigan was ready to play at Iowas Kinnick Stadium, right down to the pink towels.

The No. 4 Wolverines knew that five of the last six top 5 teams who played at the Hawkeyes' home were beaten. Michigan was prepared.

Michigan scored on four of its first five possessions, then fought off a late Iowa rally for a 27-14 win on Saturday.

Blake Corum rushed for 133 yards and a touchdown, J.J. McCarthy threw for 155 yards and a touchdown and the Wolverines (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten Conference) were able to consistently move the ball against the Hawkeyes (3-2, 1-1).

Iowa came into the game leading the nation in scoring defense and ranked sixth in total defense and rushing defense, but Michigan had 327 yards, including 172 rushing yards.

Michigan, playing its first road game of the season, wasnt going to be bothered with the atmosphere, and it started before the game.

The visiting team's locker room at Iowa is known for the pink paint on the walls and ceiling. Several of the Wolverines countered the psychology by waving pink towels on the sideline before the opening kickoff.

We wanted to embrace everything in front of us, said Michigan defensive end Mike Morris.

Added McCarthy: It let them know that we dont care. Pink locker room, bring it out to the field. Doesnt matter. Didnt faze us.

Ronnie Bell had a 16-yard touchdown run on the opening possession. Jake Moodys two second-quarter field goals gave the Wolverines a 13-0 halftime lead, then McCarthy threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Donovan Edwards on Michigans opening possession of the third quarter.

Bells run finished an 11-play, 75-yard drive that took more than five minutes off the clock, a sign of how the Wolverines would control the game.

Thats how you start a game, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said. It was an impressive drive, and the game was impressive all around.

Right from the get-go, I knew we had the jump on them, said tight end Luke Schoonmaker.

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They did a good job of setting the tone, making it very difficult for us, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said.

Corums 20-yard touchdown run with 1:19 left in the game closed the scoring for the Wolverines.

It was the sixth 100-yard rushing game of Corums career. Corum, who had 29 carries, was coming off a career-high 243 yards in last weekends 34-27 victory over Maryland.

Michigan ran 66 plays, gaining an average of five yards per play. But the longest running play of the game was Corums touchdown run.

I thought we did a good job of (patience), Harbaugh said. I thought we were just moving them off the ball really well.

Yeah, maybe we didnt get the big ones, Schoonmaker said. But we added up the little ones, and it turned into something great. With that defense, were going to have to fight for every yard. We just had to execute.

Weve got good backs, a good quarterback, Keegan said. We were playing with a lot of confidence today.

Michigan continued its defensive mastery of the Hawkeyes, who have scored just 20 points combined in the last three games against the Wolverines.

Iowa didnt score until Kaleb Johnsons 2-yard touchdown run to start the fourth quarter, cutting the Michigan lead to 20-7. The Hawkeyes got to the Michigan 6 on their next possession, but Spencer Petras pass to Sam LaPorta went for only 1 yard on fourth-and-2.

We didnt flinch, Michigan defensive end Jaylen Harrell said.

Petras, who finished with 246 passing yards, threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Luke Lachey with eight seconds left in the game for Iowas final points.

SNAPPING THE STREAK

Michigan had lost its last four games at Iowa. The last time the Wolverines won in Iowa City was in 2005, when they won 23-20 in overtime.

We keep track of these things, Harbaugh said.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

The Wolverines should maintain their spot in the rankings after an impressive road win against one of the nations best defenses. Iowa had won five of its last six home games against top-five teams, but Michigan had no problem with the Hawkeyes, who didnt provide a challenge until the fourth quarter.

THE TAKEAWAY

Michigan: McCarthy, who completed 18 of 24 passes, was steady in his first road start, rarely challenged by an Iowa defense that had been opportunistic with turnovers the last two weeks. When its all said and done, its just, Do you, J.J., Harbaugh said.

Iowa: The Hawkeyes offense, which showed some life in wins over Nevada and Rutgers in the last two weeks, made too many mistakes. One first-half possession into Michigan territory ended with three consecutive overthrows by Petras, and another drive was stalled by a holding penalty that negated a 17-yard run by Johnson.

We were just inconsistent to our standards in the first half, Petras said. We had three drives in the first half  on the first drive we couldnt execute, on the second drive I couldnt execute and the third drive penalties hurt us and we hurt ourselves.

UP NEXT

Michigan: At Indiana next Saturday.

Iowa: At Illinois next Saturday.

___

More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/ap_top25. Sign up for the APs college football newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/mrxhe6f2
Oct. 1HIGH POINT  You may be surprised at what you'd find under the robe of Superior Court Judge Joe Craig.

All jokes aside, judicial and otherwise, under Craig's robe you'd find a man who, when he was a lawyer  and despite his obvious affinity for the law  had not realistically envisioned himself someday donning that iconic black robe and presiding over a courtroom.

"Definitely not," said Craig, of High Point, who became a Superior Court judge in 2002. "I had a pretty successful law practice here at the time. I was with a good firm. I wasn't even thinking about becoming a judge."

Twenty years later, though, Craig says his tenure as a Superior Court judge in Guilford County has been one of the most fulfilling aspects of his lengthy law career.

"I've loved doing it," the affable jurist said, "but I feel like it's time to move on to a new chapter."

Craig, 66, retired this week, after two decades on the bench and four years as the county's senior resident Superior Court judge. Friday was his last day.

"When I took the job in 2002, my predecessor, Rick Greeson, told me, 'When it comes time to retire, you'll know,' " Craig recalled. "And he was right. I've just kind of felt it in my bones, that this is a good time to hang it up. I wanted to go out on top of my game, and I've got a lot of other things I want to do  I have so many outside interests."

Those outside interests include fishing, painting, traveling and spending more time with family.

Craig, who grew up in High Point, had been practicing civil law with Fisher, Clinard and Craig for 20 years when Greeson confided that he would be retiring soon and hoped Craig might consider submitting his name as a potential appointee. After getting the blessing of his wife, Kari, Craig did just that, and Gov. Mike Easley appointed him. He was sworn in on Feb. 26, 2002.

Craig was honored to serve in such a distinguished role, but it took some getting used to. Early on, he remembers the day a bailiff was escorting him to a courtroom at the Greensboro courthouse, and passersby kept greeting him as "judge" or "your honor."

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Finally, Craig turned to the bailiff and asked, "How do these people know I'm a judge?"

"Well, sir," the amused bailiff replied, "it could have something to do with that black robe you're wearing."

Following his appointment, Craig had to run for election to a full eight-year term that November, and for reelection in 2010 and 2018, but he always ran unopposed.

During his 20 years on the bench, Craig has presided over countless criminal and civil cases, from high-profile murder trials to messy malpractice suits and complex business disputes. Some cases, however, were obviously more memorable than others.

Craig made headlines in 2007, when he overturned a High Point jury's first-degree murder conviction of a babysitter who was accused of killing a 3-year-old child in her care. The judge dismissed the case after determining there was insufficient evidence against the babysitter. The controversial decision was upheld on appeal, vindicating Craig for what he described as "the toughest call I've ever had to make in my career."

"I don't think I could sleep at night if a person was sent away for the rest of their life on what I thought was very scant evidence," he said.

"I felt (overturning the verdict) was the right thing to do. I never made any decision based on political considerations or public opinion. I always based it on 'What does the law tell me to do  what's the right thing to do, even if it's not popular?' And I think that's served me well in my career."

Craig said there were low moments during his tenure as senior resident Superior Court judge, such as having to contend with three flooding incidents at the High Point courthouse.

"We would get one leak fixed, and another one would spring up," he said. "I felt like the little Dutch boy trying to plug his finger in the dike."

He also had to navigate problems created by the COVID-19 pandemic and cope with the unexpected death of longtime friend and colleague Tom Jarrell, who was the county's chief District Court judge and who Craig had assumed would succeed him when he retired.

Overall, though, Craig said, serving as a Superior Court judge has been an honor, and he hopes he'll be remembered as a judge who listened carefully, tried to do the right thing, and treated everyone in his courtroom with kindness and respect.

"My mama always told me to be nice to people, so I've tried to do that, even when they don't deserve me being nice to them," he said. "I've tried to treat people with respect."

Which, frankly, sounds just like the kind of person you would hope to find under a judge's robe.

jtomlin@hpenews.com  336-888-3579
Two NASA astronauts, a Japanese space veteran, and Russia's lone female cosmonaut, flew to the Kennedy Space Center Saturday to prepare for launch Wednesday on a flight to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.

Their Falcon 9 rocket was rolled to the top of historic pad 39A before dawn Saturday and rotated vertical just after 12 p.m. Eastern. A few minutes later, Crew 5 commander Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and cosmonaut Anna Kikina landed on the spaceport runway after a flight from Houston to begin final preparations.

The Crew 5 astronauts spoke with reporters at NASA's one-time shuttle runway at the Kennedy Space Center moments after arriving from Houston. Left to right: commander Nicole Mann, an unidentified interpreter, Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina, Josh Cassada and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata. / Credit: NASA

"First of all, my prayers and thoughts go out to all the people in Florida who are affected by the devastating hurricane," Wakata said. "I hope with this launch, we will brighten up the skies over Florida a little bit for everyone."

The astronauts plan to don their pressure suits and strap into the Crew Dragon spacecraft Sunday morning for a dress-rehearsal countdown. Later in the day, SpaceX engineers plan to test fire the Falcon 9's first stage engines to verify their readiness for flight.

If all goes well, Mann and her crewmates will strap in for real around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday to brace for launch just after 12 p.m., the moment the Earth's rotation carries the rocket into the plane of the space station's orbit.

The Crew 5 Falcon 9 rocket was rolled to the top of pad 39A and rotated vertical Saturday, setting the stage for a dress-rehearsal countdown and engine test firing Sunday followed by blastoff Wednesday on a flight to the International Space Station. / Credit: CBS News

It will take the crew about 29 hours to catch up with the lab complex, moving in for an automated docking at the station's forward port around 5 a.m. Thursday.

Standing by to welcome them on board will be Expedition 68 commander Samantha Cristoforetti and her Crew 4 crewmates  Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins  along with Soyuz MS-22/68S crew members Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitri Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, who arrived at the station Sept. 21.

Wakata is making his fifth space flight, while Mann, Cassada and Kikina, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard a Crew Dragon, are space rookies.

Rubio's addition to the Soyuz crew, and Kikina's addition to Crew 5, were the result of a recent agreement between NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency, that's designed to ensure at least one U.S. astronaut and one Russian cosmonaut are aboard the station at all times.

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Cosmonaut Anna Kikina, the first Russian assigned to a SpaceX Crew Dragon flight, tells her crewmates she's thrilled to join them for a flight to the space station. / Credit: NASA

Without such an agreement, a medical emergency  or some other problem that might force a Crew Dragon or Soyuz to depart early  could leave the station with an all-Russian or all-NASA-sponsored crew without the expertise to operate the other nation's systems.

Kikina said she was thrilled by the opportunity.

"I want to share with you my feelings," she said in broken English. "I really want to say, from my side, and to everybody who made for me that unbelievable, incredible opportunity to be a part of our joint, big something, for all of us. And to be a part of that great, for me, maybe for you also, Crew 5. I really love my crewmates, I really feel comfortable."

Kikina, who joined the Roscosmos Cosmonaut Corps in 2012, said she was stunned when told she was being assigned to Crew 5.

"My leaders just appoint me and told me, do you want to be part of Crew 5? Yes. Why not? But I was so surprised."

Fraudulent bank call leads police to new evidence in deaths of mother and daughter

Saturday Sessions: Nikki Lane performs "Denim and Diamonds"

Saturday Sessions: Nikki Lane performs "Try Harder"
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Cuba's government has made a rare request for emergency assistance from the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden after Hurricane Ian knocked out power to the whole island of 11 million people, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Hurricane Ian tore through the island nation on Tuesday, causing an country-wide blackouts, flattening homes and destroying agricultural fields. Cubans have staged protests against the government over the power loss, which heightened concerns over ongoing food, fuel and medicine shortages.

Washington has assessed that Cuban authorities would place priorities on hospitals, water pumping facilities, sanitation and other critical infrastructure if the Biden administration were to provide aid, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a review of email communications.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report, nor did Cuba's embassy in Washington.

Biden has promised to re-engage with Cuba after years of tensions between Havana and Washington. But Cuba's crackdown following widespread protests on the island last July led instead to sanctions on Cuban officials.

The Cuban government blamed the protests on meddling by the United States.

(Reporting by Rami Ayyub, Kanishka Singh and Akriti Sharma; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Seven Washington, D.C., police officers from a violent-crime unit are under investigation after they allegedly confiscated illegal guns without making arrests, D.C. police chief Robert J. Contee III said Friday night.

In these cases, the suspect was not arrested, and the suspect shouldve been arrested, Contee said during a press conference. The firearm was taken and placed into evidence, however, the suspect was allowed to go free, and thats just not the way that we conduct business in the Metropolitan Police Department.

The officers, who have since been placed on administrative leave or desk duty, are part of the crime-suppression team in the Seventh District, where they patrol neighborhoods in search of drugs and guns. The other members of the team have been reassigned as well, as investigators conduct an internal probe to determine the extent of the wrongdoing.

The police chief said the investigation was brought on by an unrelated citizen complaint, which led internal-affairs investigators to review body-camera footage. They found that two officers seized a semiautomatic handgun on September 11 and, despite the weapon being properly accounted for and placed into evidence, no arrest was made.

The internal-affairs investigators found seven cases where people in possession of firearms were not arrested, involving two other sergeants and three other officers.

Its not a mystery where the guns are. The mystery is why the people werent arrested, Contee said, adding that officials believe there was sufficient cause for arrest in the cases where guns were confiscated.

While we stress the importance of holding offenders accountable for their actions, we have an obligation to hold our members to a high standard for all that they do, Contee said. The expectation of our officers is they make arrests when they have probable cause to make an arrest.

Contee said the internal investigators have alerted the U.S. attorneys office to their findings.

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D.C. police have seized more than 2,000 illegal guns this year, as of last month  roughly 800 more than at the same time last year. The spike comes as shootings and homicides are near 20-year highs in the District.

More from National Review
By Daniel Becerril

SABINAS, Mexico (Reuters) - Each time Juan Briones descends deep into the ground of northern Mexico to dig for coal he knows he must balance earning a living and avoiding death.

In August, his brother-in-law was one of 10 miners trapped in the nearby coal mine of El Pinabete as water broke through a shaft wall and flooded the tunnels the men were working in. Nearly two months later, their bodies have still not been recovered.

Miners know the risks, Briones said, but often feel they have no choice.

"You have the need to survive, to take care of your family," the 35-year-old said in a recent interview at his home after his wife helped scrub off the black dust that had settled into his skin after a day in a sweltering mine.

Briones has four sons, aged 6, 8, 10 and 15.

Even before the El Pinabete mine disaster, he urged his eldest, who has left school, to avoid the risky work to which he has dedicated the past two decades of his life.

"It's a really tough job, especially because of the accidents," he said. "I didn't want the same thing to happen to him, where he goes to work in the mines with the risks."

Briones, who began in the mines when he was just 14, works dozens of meters below ground with a helmet, gloves and steel-toed boots for protection, on alert for tumbling rocks, faulty pulleys, toxic gas and underground flooding.

When he first goes down, he sometimes feels as if he can't breathe. He emerges later drenched in sweat.

Briones lives in the town of Sabinas in the border state of Coahuila, where jobs are scarce. He feels he has few options that can match the roughly $150 he takes home a week.

His brother-in-law, Hugo Tijerina, had encouraged him to work at El Pinabete. But Briones turned it down, saying he feared that giant pools of water in abandoned mines nearby could break through and flood it - which is just what happened Aug. 3 when excavation work caused a tunnel wall to collapse. Efforts to pump out the mine and rescue the miners ultimately failed.

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The disaster highlighted the dangers workers endure at small, unregulated mines in Mexico's coal heartland where people like Briones are hired informally and paid in cash to extract coal that formed in the earth in the Cretaceous period millions of years ago.

El Pinabete, one of the many Coahuila mines tapped to provide coal to Mexico's state power utility, had not been visited by labor inspectors, Reuters reported last month. Mexican law does not require such mines to be inspected before opening.

It was not the first tragedy at a Coahuila mine. In 2006, an explosion at the Pasta de Conchos mine killed 65 men. Only two bodies were recovered.

Briones' taut, lean frame belies the strength he possesses to work up to eight hours a day, wielding a pneumatic air gun to blast the rock and a shovel and cart to lug coal through underground tunnels.

He can earn 2,700 pesos ($135) hoisting 18 tons of coal above ground a week. The pay rises to 3,300 pesos ($165) if he can deliver an extra two tons  an incentive to push his body harder and faster.

Briones, who wears a silver dangly crucifix earring, a reminder of his deep Catholic faith, trades playful barbs with fellow workers to make the hours pass faster.

Still, he stays alert for dangers. As he goes down into the darkness he thinks of his wife's brother and the other nine who never returned.

"You're always scared of not coming back," Briones said. "When I'm working, down below, I remember all of them."

($1 = 20.1317 Mexican pesos)

(Reporting by Daniel Becerril in Sabinas; Writing by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
Political handicappers are labeling Senate Democrats as the favorites to keep their majority, but Democratic senators themselves are worried the polls may be flawed in their favor just as they were in 2016 and 2020.

The lawmakers acknowledge the political environment looks much better for their chances than it did on Memorial Day before the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade and the right to an abortion.

While President Bidens approval rating is still in the low 40s and a presidents party usually loses seats in the midterm elections, many Democrats feel good about their chances of winning the Senate  if those pesky polls are correct.

When have the polls been right in our favor in the past? asked Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) when asked about a projection by FiveThirtyEight.com, the political modeling website, that gives Democrats nearly a 7 in 10 chance of keeping the Senate majority.

Murphy said he had very little confidence in polls after former President Trump and other GOP candidates outperformed polls on Election Day in 2016 and 2020.

The biggest polling failure in recent years came in the 2016 presidential election, when experts completed failed to gauge the intensity of Trumps support in battle ground states such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, where he stunned even fellow Republicans by beating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

But there were also major polling failures in recent high-profile Senate races.

In 2020, Democratic candidate Sara Gideon led Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a top Democratic target, in multiple polls leading up to Election Day but wound up losing by nearly 10 percentage points.

In 2018, polls shortly before Election Day showed then-Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) leading Republican candidate Josh Hawley in the Missouri Senate race. FiveThirtyEight.com gave McCaskill a 57 percent chance of winning the race. Hawley won.

Likewise, then-Sen. Joe Donnelly (D) led his Republican challenger Mike Braun in 8 out of 10 public polls in Indiana in the run-up to the 2018 midterm and was given a 72 percent chance of victory.

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Like McCaskill, Donnelly wound up losing by nearly 6 percentage points.

In 2016, a Democratic candidate Katie McGinty appeared to have a solid lead over Republican Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) heading into the election, leading him in 10 out of 10 public polls conducted in the final two weeks of the race. She was given a 61 percent chance of victory but instead lost by a point and a half.

Theres a lot of historical headwinds coming at us but also some really good news we have to talk about and sell, Murphy said, referring to the enactment of last years $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law and the package of corporate tax reform, climate spending and prescription drug reform that passed last month.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said she feels good about Democrats chances but also acknowledged that polls in the weeks before Election Day cant be counted on.

You never know, she answered when asked how much confidence she had in the polls, noting that polls in Michigans gubernatorial race are all over the place.

If the election were held today, I believe we would pick up seats, she said, but cautioned that spending by outside conservative groups in the final weeks of the campaign could change the picture.

Democrats are feeling rattled by the news of the $1.6 billion donation electronics manufacturing magnate Barre Seid gave to a conservative group controlled by Leonard Leo, the strategist who masterminded the effort to push the federal judiciary further to the right.

Whats going to happen, theyre dumping in disclosed and secret money [for] attack ads and its bound to make a difference. Theyre attacking our people right and left, Stabenow said.

OpenSecrets.org, a nonpartisan website that tracks political spending, projects total spending on the midterm elections to exceed $9.3 billion. More than half of the $4.8 billion already spent has come from Republican candidates and allied groups, according to the site.

Democratic candidates and party committees have raised more money than their Republican counterparts but Democratic senators expect a wave of dark-money funded ads to help GOP candidates close the gap in October and the first week of November.

Its definitely a huge factor, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said of the huge flows of cash coming from Republican-allied dark-money groups and super PACs. Republican candidates dont really feel like they have to fundraise anymore. If you look, our candidates are outraising them but they dont care because they have the dark money and its so massive.

Chris Hartline, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said the Senate Republicans campaign arm has spent heavily since May to boost GOP candidates and define Democrats.

With the addition of increased spending by our campaigns and the addition of outside group spending starting in early September, the result is a unified Republican effort that were very confident will result in a Republican Senate majority, he said.

Recent polls showed Senate Democratic incumbents leading their Republican challengers in several battleground states.

In Georgia, surveys conducted in September by Beacon Research and Shaw & Company Research and by Marist College showed Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) leading Republican Herschel Walker by 5 points. A Quinnipiac poll showed Warnock up 6 points.

In Nevada, polls show Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D) and former Republican state Attorney General Adam Laxalt essentially tied, with a late September poll from the Republican-leaning Trafalgar Group showing Laxalt ahead by 4 points and a mid-August Suffolk University poll showing Cortez Masto leading by 6 points.

Confident would not be word, optimistic is the word, said Kaine, who predicted that control of the Senate will be decided by only a few points in a handful of races. I think its going to be a late Election Night.

What polling does not necessarily show you is who is like, By God, Im turning out to vote, he said, explaining why polls are not always reliable.

But Kaine, like many Democrats, is hoping that the Supreme Courts reversal of abortion rights in will rev up Democratic voters more than they usually are in midterm election, when turnout is much lower than in presidential years.

David Bergstein, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign, said Republicans are firmly on defense across the Senate map.

He said Democratic incumbents remain well positioned in their races and we have multiple pickup opportunities that remain strongly in play, alluding to Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida.

But he acknowledged the races will likely tighten.

All cycle long weve been preparing for our battleground races to be extremely competitive, and in the final month were going to continue taking nothing for granted, he said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Michigan State Police reports

The wounded Michigan State Police detective sergeant who was shot during a surveillance operation has been identified as Devin Kachar of Monroe.

The Michigan State Police released Kachars name as well as the identities of two people who have been charged criminally in connection with the shooting that left Kachar seriously wounded.

Andrae Scott Jr., 28, of Detroit, was arraigned on charges of assault with intent to murder, controlled substance delivery/manufacturing and two counts of felony firearm. He remains in jail in lieu of a $1 million bond.

The second suspect was identified as Robin Hall, a 23-year-old female from Detroit. She, too, was arraigned, but on charges of accessory after the fact and one count of lying to a police officer. She was issued a $250,000 cash bond. Both are pending further court proceedings and investigation.

Kachar, who was assigned to the Michigan State Police Metro Narcotics Enforcement Team, was conducting surveillance during a drug investigation in Detroit early Tuesday when he was shot three times from an upstairs apartment window.

He was outside the apartment on Riverview Street near Telegraph and I-96 on Detroits west side when the suspects opened fire.

Kachar, a 10-year veteran of the force who grew up in Monroe, was transported to Sinai Grace Hospital in Detroit where he was in stable condition. Officials said he has a long road to recovery.

Donations are being accepted for the family. The State Police and the Thin Blue Line of Michigan released the following instructions:

If you wish to donate by cash or check, there are two options:

1. Go to a nearby PNC branch and give them the following information:

Account Number: 4170166079 FBO Kachar Family

2. Donations can be mailed to:

Thin Blue Line of Michigan, PO Box 532133, Livonia, MI 48153 (Please indicate that the monies are for the FBO Kachar Family.)

If donating by credit card:

Go to Thin Blue Line of Michigan website at www.tblofmi.com

Click on the "make a donation" picture on the home page.

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Select the amount you wish to donate.

In "Donation Purpose" indicate FBO KACHAR FAMILY.

Fill out the form as indicated.

Hit submit.

Once the Thin Blue Line receives notification of the donation on the website or by mail, a tax deductible verification letter will be sent.

100% of the proceeds received via any of the above listed methods will go to the family. For further information, call (313) 740 7678.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Detective from Monroe shot in Detroit identified; two suspects charged
Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant

Kotin said Murashov had been apprehended by Russian patrol police at around 4.00 p.m. on his way from the station to the nearby town of Enerhodar. There is currently no information concerning his whereabouts or what has happened to him.

Read also: IAEA begins negotiations on creation of a safe zone around occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant

"His car was brought to a stop, he was forcibly detained, blindfolded, and taken to an undisclosed location," the Energoatom official said.

Kotin said that the director general of the ZNPP was a licensed expert who is solely responsible for the plant's nuclear and radiation safety and that his abduction endangers the operation of Europe's largest nuclear power plant.

I demand that the Russian military, which at present controls the Zaporizhzhya NPP, and Rosatom employees, who are also illegally present at our nuclear facility, immediately cease all acts of nuclear terrorism against the plant's management and personnel, Kotin said.

Read also: 500 Russian soldiers stationed at occupied Zaporizhzhya NPP, says Zelenskyy

You must free the plant's Director General, and return him, so he can carry out his official duties at the NPP," Kotin stated.

He also urged International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi and World Association of Nuclear Operators Director General Tom Mitchell to take all available measures to release Murashov from Russian occupation and return him to his official duties as quickly as possible.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The Department of Justice is calling for an expedited appeal concerning its criminal investigation into White House records seized by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago.

DOJ officials are arguing that they must have access to unclassified material confiscated at Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago residence and resort by the FBI earlier this month to better assess the classified  including top secret  files theyre examining. They also need to examine all the records for possible clues as to how the documents may have been transported and accessed, officials said.

Unclassified material is currently off limits to the Justice Department as the files are first supposed to be examined by former U.S. Judge Raymond Dearie, who was named special master  at Trumps request  by U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump.

Cannon had initially blocked Department of Justice access to all records seized at Mar-a-Lago. But in a blow to Trump, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled last week that the Justice Department can resume reviewing the seized classified records, blocking a portion of a stay issued earlier by Cannon. The appeals court also prohibited Dearie from vetting the documents marked classified.

Yet Department of Justice officials argued in a motion filed Friday that the appointment of the special master is still hindering its investigation into what could have dire consequences for national security.

On Thursday, Cannon moved the deadline for Dearies completed review from mid-November to mid-December, which would serve Republican interests to put off damaging information until after the midterm elections. The DOJ is pushing to move up the appeal process to mid-November.

Dearie is supposed to be examining the unclassified documents to determine if any are protected by attorney-client  or executive  privilege.

Meanwhile, the government is  unable to examine [unclassified] records that were commingled with materials bearing classification markings, including records that may shed light on ... how the materials bearing classification markings were transferred to Plaintiffs residence, how they were stored, and who may have accessed them, said the DOJ filing with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

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The records not marked as classified may also constitute evidence of potential [obstruction] and [concealment or removal of government records], noted the motion, which was first reported by Politico.

1/2 DOJ has filed a motion to expedite its appeal on the remaining issues pending in front of the 11th Circuit after the MAL search. They cite the appropriate local rules for expediting & make a compelling case for it. https://t.co/Hi4Gk1uXvXpic.twitter.com/GPnYZcEWjh  Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) October 1, 2022

The filing also attacked Cannons recent rulings against Dearie.

Cannon ruled Thursday that Trump could ignore Dearies demand that his legal team either prove Trumps apparently baseless claim that the FBI planted records at Mar-a-Lago, or drop the claim.

Yet Cannons ruling appeared to contradict her own earlier ruling giving Dearie power over his review.

Several legal experts have sharply criticized the logic behind Cannons decisions. Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said on MSNBC Thursday that she should be removed from the bench. Shes unfit to serve, he said.

He pointed out that Cannon has reversed her own ruling granted Dearie power as a special master.

This is from Judge Cannons Order initially appointing Judge Dearie, clearly giving him discretion to verify the inventory. And she cited cases authorizing courts to engage in all needed fact finding, which she now takes away from Dearie to help Trump. pic.twitter.com/l1r1A07wNp  Andrew Weissmann  (@AWeissmann_) September 30, 2022

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
A driver fleeing the scene of a reported University District shooting hit and killed a pedestrian with their vehicle on Saturday morning.

[DOWNLOAD: Free KIRO 7 News app for alerts as news breaks]

Police initially received a report of shots fired west of the University of Washingtons Parrington Lawn just after midnight on Saturday. It is unclear at this time as to whether anyone was injured in the reported shooting itself. But shortly after responding, officers learned at the scene that the driver of a vehicle that was fleeing the scene had hit a 21-year-old a few blocks away.

The driver is not believed to be have been involved with the shooting itself. Police took them into custody shortly after the incident, but later released them.

One man who works near the incident described what he saw.

I go back to the kitchen to see whats going on. I see a guy who comes out. He pulls out a gun. And I was like bro thats wild!, Rami said.

The noise of everything also woke up people who live at the apartment right near by. Andrew, who lives in the building, says he also heard cars driving away.

I was sleeping on my couch when I heard several loud bangs in a row that woke me up, Andrew said.

The news of this fatal hit and run do have UW students worried as they hope to have a safe semester going forward.

Its a mixture of kind of shocked because where I am from, thats not very common, Hansika, a Freshman at UW, said.

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SPD detectives are looking into the details of the incident, and are urging anyone with information to call the departments tip line at (206) 233-5000.
KITTERY, Maine  Its not technically accurate to call Fridays relaunching of the Mervin F Roberts rescue boat a homecoming, but its safe to say the fully restored 1930s vessel is right where it belongs.

In a grand maritime ceremony two years in the making, the Roberts returned to the sea at the town dock at Kittery Point and was rowed by oar out to the former U.S. Life Saving Service station at nearby Wood Island. There, the boat was placed in a custom-made steel cradle and then hauled up a one-of-its-kind marine railway into the building, which is currently undergoing a $5.8 million renovation.

Among those manning the oars was the rear admiral in charge of the Coast Guards First District, and wooden boatbuilder Nate Greeley of York, Maine, the craftsman who restored the Roberts to its former glory. They led a parade of more than 35 watercraft of varying size and types from Pepperrell Cove to Wood Island, including kayaks, paddleboats, sailboats, motorboats, and a wooden rowboat built and manned by Traip Academy students.

It was very emotional, a lot of people got choked up, said Sam Reid, president of the Wood Island Life Saving Service Association. This was really a high-water mark, for Wood Island and the Coast Guard.

The old station, literally falling apart just a few years ago, eventually will be the site of a maritime museum, and the Roberts will be a featured attraction. As is the case for many stories in the 21st century, the path that brought the surfboat to its new home started on Facebook.

The backstory: The Wood Island miracle in Kittery

Back in 2020, WILSSA board member Laurence Bussey happened to notice a Facebook ad for an old surfboat. The craft turned out to be a rare Type SR Pulling Surfboat, meaning it was a revised version of an earlier model and powered by oar.

Whats more, experts say, this very same boat was previously berthed at the former Isles of Shoals station just outside Portsmouth Harbor, neighboring Kittery. Tim Dring, a maritime historian and former president of the U.S. Life Saving Service Heritage Association, said it is one of just a half-dozen of its type still in existence, and the only one that has returned to sea.

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Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger gives a thumbs up after he and others row the Mervin F Roberts fully restored 1930s rescue boat successfully to the Wood Island Life Saving Station in Kittery, Maine, Friday, Sept. 30, 2022.

The Coast Guard had a little more than 100 of these vessels built in the 1930s and 40s at its shipyard in Curtis Bay, Maryland, according to Dring. The surfboats featured a watertight deck and self-bailing ports on each side, as well as air casings below-deck for added buoyancy.

Dring said the use of these boats was more a matter of tradition than necessity once motorized boats were brought into use, but for stations with beachfront, these lighter vessels were easier to handle through surf than a motor surfboat.

Up to eight crewmen would man the oars, while a coxswain took the stern with the steering or sweep oar. They could also carry up to 14 rescued passengers, in addition to the crew.

Among those manning the oars of the Roberts on Friday were Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger and WILSSA board member/retired Coast Guard Capt. Jim McPhearson  sort of a living reflection of this unique branchs past and present.

Rowers gather to get their gear and new oars at Sam Reid's home in Kittery Point, Maine, before they rowed to Wood Island Lifesaving Station in the Mervin F Roberts, the fully restored 1930s rescue boat, Friday, Sept. 30, 2022.

More: A boatbuilding class links Traip students to Wood Island Life Saving Station

Roughly 125 people crowded onto the tiny island Friday for the event. A bagpiper performed at both the pier and the island, and the ceremony included a cannon salute as well. Coast Guard chaplain Floyd Grace gave a benediction. When it was all said and done, the Mervin F Roberts was home.

We werent really christening it, we were rededicating it, Reid said.

Who is Mervin F. Roberts?

This particular SR Pulling Surfboat was named for Mervin F. Roberts, a World War II Navy veteran and beloved longtime resident of Old Lyme, Connecticut.

Roberts once served as a board member and advocate for a boating school in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. In honor of his advocacy, the school named one of their boats after Roberts. In the late 1990s, when the institution was unable to repay Roberts for a loan, administrators signed over to him ownership of the boat bearing his name.

Roberts later had to sell the boat. But when the community of Old Lyme learned of Wood Islands interest in bringing it to a planned New England maritime museum, family and friends of the nonagenarian decided to raise funds to purchase the Roberts and donate it to WILSSA. Roberts, who was 98 years old at the time, had served the town for decades as a selectman, fire department chaplain, Boy Scout leader and member of various boards and commissions.

But most importantly for this particular story, Mervin Roberts was also a man of the sea. He served as a young Navy officer during World War II, earning four campaign medals, including two with combat stars. He remained in the Naval Reserve after the war, and later served Old Lyme as shellfish commissioner along with his other offices.

Unfortunately, Roberts passed away in December 2020, just a month after fundraising efforts kicked off to purchase his old boat. His obituary listed waterman among his several other accolades. And in honor of his 50 years as fire chaplain, his coffin was transported in a procession of Old Lyme fire engines to his burial site less than a week later.

Crew members on the Mervin F Roberts fully restored 1930s rescue boat successfully rowed to the Wood Island Life Saving Station in Kittery, Maine, Friday, Sept. 30, 2022.

Before he died, Roberts also gifted the Wood Island organization with a framed picture of a surfboat crew in action, which will someday hang in the museum.

On Friday, his daughter Edith Main brought a gallon of water from the Connecticut River to the Kittery Point ceremony to rededicate her dads old boat. Some was poured into the Piscataqua River, some was poured into the boat and some was consumed by participants. A contingent of about 25 folks from Connecticut made the trip to honor Roberts.

Although the surfboat's actual hull number has not yet been confirmed, Dring said this week we are reasonably confident that this particular boat did indeed serve at both Burnt Island and Isle of Shoals. Wood Island also had a similar boat when it was still active.

The Burnt Island station near Port Clyde in Maine, and the local station on Appledore Island were, like Wood Island, manned by surfmen of both the old Life Saving Service and the early US Coast Guard. Formally established in 1878, the Life Saving Service was made up of hardy men who would row out in wooden boats even during the stormiest of seas to aid mariners in distress. In 1915 under President Woodrow Wilson, the Life Saving Service was merged with the Marine Revenue Service to form the Coast Guard.

The boat which was to become the Mervin F Roberts was sold off as Coast Guard surplus in the 1960s before eventually making it to the River School in Connecticut.

The fully restored 1930s rescue boat Mervin F Roberts was relaunched Sept. 30, 2022 as an 8 person crew plus a coxswain rowed her to Wood Island U.S. Life Saving Station.

Once WILSSA obtained the Roberts, Greeley was brought in to work his magic. As recently as this week, he was still putting on the finishing touches in his shop at the Button Factory in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and, truth be told, the restored surfboat looked almost too beautiful to be returned to the sea. Its truly a work of art.

Everybody we talked to said, Youve gotta call Nate, Reid said recently of Greeleys 30-year reputation building wooden boats.

The restoration required all new wood, clinker-built, meaning it was put together by planks overlapping each other, according to Greeley. The project also included 4,000 copper rivets installed by hand, by Greeley alone.

The Roberts is 26 feet long and seven-and-a-half feet at its widest. An electrical battery system is tucked hidden out of sight beneath one of the boats benches, but its built for eight oarsmen, two to a bench, along with the steering oar.

The fully restored 1930s rescue boat Mervin F Roberts was relaunched Sept. 30, 2022 as an 8 person crew plus a coxswain rowed her to Wood Island U.S. Life Saving Station.

The keel is made from wood of the former New Castle home of famous American Impressionist painter Edmund Tarbell, which was destroyed by fire in 2016. Tarbell purchased the Greek Revival-style home in 1905 as his summer residence and built a studio in the back of the house, overlooking the Piscataqua River. The loss of this historic house shook the small town at the time, but now, in a small way, a piece of it is making history again.

From something terrible has come something wonderful, Reid likes to say.

The history of marine railway at Wood Island

Pan Am Railways  now known as CSX Transportation after a recent acquisition  provided the former train rails used to create Wood Islands unique marine railway and also built the boat cradle with galvanized steel, based on historic plans from 1922. In yet another Seacoast connection, the rails, originally constructed in the 1890s, were formerly used by Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

They were dismantled after World War II and then stored near Route 1 in Kittery for about 75 years, according to Reid.

The railway now in place at the former Wood Island station is believed to be the only such structure remaining in the entire country.

The station was deactivated in the 1940s after World War II, when the Coast Guard decided to relocate its Portsmouth Harbor station back to New Castle. The building is owned by the town of Kittery, but was headed for demolition after falling into disrepair from decades of sitting empty.

Since its creation in 2011, WILLSA has raised funds to restore the broken-down old structure back to its crimson-and-pearl prime. The museum planned for the site will celebrate the hardy souls  referred to as storm warriors by journalists of the day -- who manned the island and other Seacoast stations for more than a century.

Two wooden rowboats built by students at Traip Academy through a partnership program with WILSSA will also be kept at the island, located just off Kitterys Fort Foster.

The Portsmouth Harbor station was relocated to Wood Island in 1908, after the station at Jeffreys Point in New Castle was shut down. It was manned by the Life Saving Service until 1915, and then continued to operate as part of the US Coast Guard until 1948.

About $5.3 million has been raised for this project so far. Donations to complete the renovation efforts may be made at woodislandlifesaving.org.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Wood Island Life Saving Station in Kittery ME greets Mervin F Roberts
ROMAN PETRENKO  SATURDAY, 1 OCTOBER 2022, 10:56

The Chief Intelligence Department of Ukraines Defence Ministry has revealed a phone conversation between an occupier and his wife, where he complains that they [soldiers of his unit  ed.] are encircled and he is calling to say goodbye.

Source: The Chief Intelligence Directorate

Details: The discouraged Russian soldier calls home from Ukraine to say goodbye.

He even ignores prohibition on using the phone; says that he wants to talk a lot with the wife before his death, and is ready for the Armed Forces of Ukraine to hit his position with a rocket right now.

Quote: "We are encircled, Liuba. Were to be f***ed soon. I have called just to say goodbye."

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Family and friends of 34-year-old Ali Osman, a man fatally shot by police Saturday evening, gathered at the Islamic Community Center of Tempe on Friday afternoon to pay their respects and pray following his passing.

On Saturday, two Phoenix patrol units were driving near 19th and Glendale avenues when their cars were struck by unknown items that caused damage, according to Sgt. Brian Bower, a spokesperson with Phoenix police. That man was later identified as Ali Osman.

After driving away and talking about what happened, the officers returned to the area to investigate. Bower said officers saw Osman throwing rocks at one of the patrol cars.

Police told Osman to stop, but he continued throwing rocks at the police officers.

Then, officers fatally shot Osman.

People attend a press conference after a memorial service for Ali Osman, 34, at the Islamic Community Center in Tempe on Sept. 30, 2022. Osman was fatally shot by Phoenix police officers on Sept. 24.

Today, the Islamic Community Center of Tempe's courtyard was filled with family, friends, and community members in group prayer honoring the life of Osman. Following the service, his body was laid to rest at Al Rahma Muslim Cemetery near Maricopa.

"Our entire community is devastated by the death of Ali Osman," said Mohamed Arif, a board member of the Association of Islamic Charitable Projects, following the memorial.

"In the Islamic faith, it is believed that when one person is killed, it is as if everyone in the whole world were killed, and when one person is saved, it is as if everyone in the whole world were saved," Arif said.

"Ali's life deserved to be saved that night," Arif said.

Through teary eyes and embraces, the grieving of Osman was powerfully held with the desire for answers from the Phoenix police.

"We're here today as a painful reminder that islamophobia and anti-blackness will leave no city untouched. We are asking the police department to be transparent with the family," said Azza Abuseif, Executive Director of the Arizona chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, following the service.

Azza Abuseif, executive director of CAIR Arizona, speaks during a press conference after a memorial service for Ali Osman, 34, at the Islamic Community Center in Tempe on Sept. 30, 2022. Osman was fatally shot by Phoenix police officers on Sept. 24.

On Wednesday, the family received Osman's body, and conducted a private autopsy Thursday morning, Quacy Smith, an attorney representing the Osman family, said at a press conference yesterday.

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Today, Smith spoke of that autopsy and how it affected the family.

"We had an independent autopsy done of Ali yesterday, and it broke my heart when Halima (Ali's sister) said to me, 'I haven't even seen my brother yet. I don't even know if it's really him that's dead,'" Smith said.

Smith explained how he had to cover up as much as possible on the autopsy photos to show her her brother's face and confirm it was him.

At the news conference Thursday, Smith stated that preliminary information indicated Osman had been shot in the neck at least three times, though a fourth bullet may have struck him in the same spot.

The family is still awaiting the body camera footage that they have requested. According to Smith, the family has received no condolences or offers for easier coordination from the Phoenix Police Department.

Smith said they will continue their investigation today and "expect to receive the body camera footage sometime next week."

He also announced they will file a notice of claim against the city of Phoenix.

"We simply want transparency. We want accountability for what happened to Ali so that this doesn't happen to anyone else again. Throwing rocks should not be a death sentence in this city or in this country," Smith said.

Reach breaking news reporter Ellie Willard at ellie.willard@gannett.com or on Twitter @EllieWillardAZ.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Memorial service held for Ali Osman, man fatally shot by Phoenix police
The last of the individuals involved in a deadly, failed robbery attempt was sentenced to prison for felony murder, according to the Clark County Prosecutor Daniel Driscolls social media page.

>>Planned robbery involving drugs, gun led to Springfield teens shooting death, records show

Travis Pearson, of Springfield, was found guilty by a jury this week for his involvement in the felony murder of 15-year-old Kamell Golden, Driscoll said.

After a two-day trial, Pearson was sentenced to 18-years-to-life in prison, the post said.

Golden was shot at the home in the 500 block of Scott Street in Springfield last September during a planned robbery involving marijuana.

>>Montgomery County Sheriffs Office seeks information on whereabouts of three wanted sex offenders

A witness told police he and Golden were conducting a marijuana sale to a group of people at the vacant house where the shooting happened, according to an affidavit filed in Clark County Municipal Court.

The witness said a gun was pulled on him and placed against his back as Travis Pearson wrapped is free arm around his neck.

A juvenile at the house pulled a gun on Golden, according to police.

>>Buying a used car? Experts advise to keep an eye out for flood-damaged cars from hurricane

After the shooting, Golden and the witness ran to a vehicle and went to Springfield Regional Medical Center before Golden was flown to Miami Valley Hospital where he ultimately died from his injuries.
Gender reveal stunt in Brazil turns waterfall blue. (Photo: Screen Shot/Twitter/Vanessa Costa)

Gender reveal stunt in Brazil turns waterfall blue. (Photo: Screen Shot/Twitter/Vanessa Costa)

A family is being investigated after reportedly contaminating a Brazilian waterfall and river with blue dye in an outrageous gender reveal stunt.

Viral videos of the over-the-top stunt last Sunday in the state of Mato Grosso caught the attention of environmental officials, according to several media reports.

The stunt was a violation of Brazils federal environmental law, a spokesperson for Mato Grossos environment protection agency told The Washington Post.

An unidentified family member behind the stunt is being charged with harming the environment, and an ongoing investigation will determine penalties and fees, according to the agency.

E serio que acharam uma boa ideia colocar corante numa cachoeira?!

Tantas maneiras de fazer um cha revelacao e conseguiram escolher justo uma com impacto ambiental. pic.twitter.com/YePJ0lPhhQ  A Eng. Florestal do YouTube  (@vanecosta10) September 26, 2022

Investigators will determine if there was environmental damage, depending on the material released into the water, Brazils environmental authority SEMA (Secretaria de Estado de Meio Ambiente do Mato Grosso) noted in a statement translated by Gizmodo.

As of Monday investigators found no change in the waters physical parameters, such as color and other, and no trace of local fish mortality, according to SEMA.

Nevertheless, the agency said dumping a substance into the water constitutes an infraction under Brazilian law, and penalties can be as high as the equivalent of $9,300.

The 59-foot-tall waterfall is located in the town of Tangara da Serra, a popular area for eco-tourism. The waterfall spills into the Queima Pe river, which is an important fresh water source for the community, which has been struggling with severe drought.

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Most people responding to the video on social media were outraged by the gender reveal, an event that is increasingly pitting couples against one another to present the most narcissistically outrageous, often reckless, extravaganzas.

Last year, a California couple was charged with manslaughter after the smoke bomb they used in a gender reveal party sparked a massive wildfire. A gender reveal stunt off the coast of Mexico last year also ended in tragedy when a plane announcing the babys sex crashed into the sea, killing two people who were on board.

So many ways to do a gender-reveal party and they chose just the one that has an environmental impact, Vanessa Costa, a Brazilian forestry engineer and content creator, wrote on Twitter.

She added in an Instagram post: The act of dyeing the water is pollution. You are polluting those waters, and thats an environmental impact, she said.

Another wrote: Who needs drinking water when you have likes?

What happened to cutting into a cake? Why does nature keep getting damaged because these people think theyre special? one critic on social media responded to the waterfall stunt, reported The Independent.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
FORT MYERS FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 29: In this aerial view, vehicles make their way through a flooded area after Hurricane Ian passed through the area on September 29, 2022 in Fort Myers, Florida. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surge and rain to the area causing severe damage. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Far-right pundits suggested that the "deep state" is targeting Gov. Ron DeSantis and other red states.

DeAnna Lorraine and Lauren Witzke said a shadowy government group is using "weather manipulation technology."

The duo said the "deep state" is targeting Florida for lifting vaccine mandates.

Two far-right pundits are spewing baseless a conspiracy theory about "weather manipulation"  claiming that Hurricane Ian was created by the so-called Deep State to target Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other GOP-led states as "punishment."

The comments were made by DeAnna Lorraine and Lauren Witzke, both former GOP congressional candidates, according to The Independent and RightWing Watch, a group that monitors right-wing activity.

"We understand that the 'deep state,' they have weather manipulation technology," Lorraine said on her Telegram show, per a clip posted by the group on Friday, referring to the hurricane that struck the Sunshine State.

"These huge hurricanes always seem to target red states, red districts, and always at a convenient time  typically right before elections," she added. "Or, in this case, possibly because Ron DeSantis has been stepping out of line a lot and challenging, fighting the 'deep state."

Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) September 30, 2022

The "deep state" is a conspiracy term referring to a shadowy cabal of influential people who manipulate politics and public life, Insider previously reported, and was used by former President Donald Trump and QAnon.

Florida is still reeling after Ian ripped through the state earlier this week, cutting power and downing trees. Floodwaters reached as high as the second floor of some buildings. Officials note that Ian has weakened to a tropical storm and appears to be heading north toward Georgia and South Carolina.

During the interview, Witzke agreed with Lorraine and suggested that the deep state is "trying to change people's DNA through vaccination."

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"Of course, they would be willing to do something like this to target red states," Witzke said.

"I'm not putting it past the elites to target something like this towards Florida as punishment for getting rid of vaccine mandates or getting rid of child grooming," she continued. "They are angry with us, and it wouldn't surprise me to find out that the technology does exist. But you're not supposed to talk about that or know about that because that's controversial or a conspiracy theory. No, it's true."

Read the original article on Insider
A composite image shows Molly Russell, pictured left, and the Instagram logo. Molly Rose Foundation, Getty Images

A two-week inquiry into the death in 2017 of 14-year-old Molly Russell concluded on Friday.

It is "likely" that social media content viewed by Molly contributed to her death, the senior coroner said.

Molly viewed graphic content relating to self-harm and suicide on Instagram and Pinterest in her final weeks.

A courtroom in north London, England, was filled to the brim on Friday with reporters awaiting the conclusion of the two-week inquest into the 2017 death of teenager Molly Russell.

Senior coroner Andrew Walker told North London Coroner's Court that Molly, 14, had "died from an act of self-harm while suffering from depression and the negative effects of online content."

The senior coroner said it was "likely" that social media content viewed by Molly, who was already suffering from a depressive illness, affected her mental health in a way that "contributed to her death in a more than minimal way."

Walker added that it would not "be safe" to leave suicide as a conclusion for himself to consider.

Molly viewed content that 'no 14-year-old should be able to see'

Molly ended her life in November 2017 after viewing 2,100 pieces of content on Instagram related to suicide, self-harm, and depression in the final six months of her life, the inquest heard. She had also included 469 images on similar topics on her Pinterest board.

Walker found that Molly subscribed to several online websites and apps, including Instagram and Pinterest, which showed content that was "not safe" for a teenager to see.

The algorithms of these websites and apps, Walker said, resulted in "binge periods" of viewing images, videos, and texts of a disturbing nature, some of which Molly had not requested to view.

Walker said that she had viewed "particularly graphic" material online that "no 14-year-old should be able to see."

On Tuesday, child psychiatrist Dr. Navin Venugopal told the inquest that Molly had viewed "very disturbing, distressing" that left him unable to sleep well "for a few weeks."

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Some of the content, Walker, said in his conclusion, "romanticized" self-harm and discouraged seeking out support from those who might be able to help.

Certain pieces of content portrayed self-harm and suicide as an "inevitable consequence of a condition that could not be recovered from," he continued.

Molly Russell's father, Ian Russell, speaks outside North London Coroner's Court. Joshua Zitser/Insider

Following the inquest's conclusion, Molly's father, Ian Russell, made a short statement to reporters outside the Coroner's Court.

He said: "In the last week, we've heard much about one tragic story - Molly's story. Sadly, there are too many others similarly affected right now.

"At this point, I just want to say however dark it seems, there is always hope, and if you're struggling, please speak to someone you trust or one of the many wonderful support organizations rather than engage with online content that may be harmful."

Speaking at a press conference later in the day, Russell criticized comments made on Monday at the inquest by a senior Meta executive. Elizabeth Lagone, head of health and wellbeing policy at Meta, Instagram's parent company, said that most of Molly's posts were "safe" for children to see.

"We've heard a senior Meta executive describe this deadly stream of content the platform's algorithms pushed to Molly as safe and not contravening the platform's policies," said Russell. "If this demented trail of life-sucking content was safe, my daughter Molly would probably still be alive."

Last week, a senior Pinterest executive admitted during the inquiry the platform was "not safe" when Molly used it. Jud Hoffman, the company's head of community operations, apologized and said he "deeply regrets" that Molly was able to see graphic content on the platform.

The senior coroner will write to Pinterest and Meta, as well as the Ofcom regulatory body and the UK's Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport.

'The ruling should send shockwaves through Silicon Valley'

Activists say that the landmark ruling could push social media companies to take responsibility for children's safety on their platforms.

Sir Peter Wanless, the chief executive of the NSPCC, a British child protection charity, said that "the ruling should send shockwaves through Silicon Valley." He added that tech companies "must expect to be held to account when they put the safety of children second to commercial decisions," per Sky News.

On Friday, Prince William tweeted: "Online safety for our children and young people needs to be a prerequisite, not an afterthought."

The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) September 30, 2022

In statements released after the inquest, Meta and Pinterest outlined how they plan to respond to the conclusion.

A Meta spokesperson said: "We're committed to ensuring that Instagram is a positive experience for everyone, particularly teenagers, and we will carefully consider the coroner's full report when he provides it.

"We'll continue our work with the world's leading independent experts to help ensure that the changes we make offer the best possible protection and support for teens."

A Pinterest spokesperson said in a statement that the company has "listened very carefully" to what the coroner and Molly's family said during the inquest.

The statement said: "Pinterest is committed to making ongoing improvements to help ensure that the platform is safe for everyone, and the Coroner's report will be considered with care.

"Over the past few years, we've continued to strengthen our policies around self-harm content, we've provided routes to compassionate support for those in need, and we've invested heavily in building new technologies that automatically identify and take action on self-harm content."

Read the original article on Insider
Fighter jet engines whined this week on a stretch of highway in central Finland, where the military trained on stretches of road that double as spare landing strips.

As one of Finland's dozens of reserve runways, the empty highway near the town of Joutsa, hosted an annual air force exercise with F/A-18 Hornets taking off and landing.

The manoeuvres come amid heightened geopolitical tensions due to the war in Ukraine, and as Finland has moved to join NATO.

"The exercise went well. The objectives were achieved ahead of schedule," Vesa Mantyla, the officer in charge of the exercise, told AFP.

Starting Monday, the exercise closed off a section of Finland's main highway that connects Helsinki with the country's north.

The goal of the exercise was to train a new batch of the Nordic country's fighter pilots to take off and land on these rural runways.

With over 70 percent of Finland's area covered by forest, the highest percentage in Europe, it has adapted its military to take advantage of its geography.

In wartime, part of the Nordic country's fleet of fighter jets would operate from these forest-covered ad-hoc bases.

"As we have seen in Ukraine, ballistic and cruise missiles are used a lot on fixed targets," Mantyla explained, noting his country's lengthy shared border of some 2,000 kilometres (1250 miles) border with Russia.

ehu/jll/cdw/jmm
As the 2022 midterm elections are quickly approaching, the 2024 presidential election season will follow soon after.

Candidates will likely start announcing their intentions to run for president within months of this Novembers Election Day, or possibly sooner. Several potential candidates, including President Biden and former President Trump, have hinted or discussed being open to making runs for the White House in two years.

Beyond the two major political parties, a number of politicians and celebrities have signaled or directly said they are contemplating runs as independents.

While independent candidates would be long shots to win the presidency, history has shown that they can play key roles in the outcome of the race, such as with Ross Perot in 1992 and Ralph Nader in 2000.

Here are five potential independent candidates who appear most likely to run for president in 2024:

Liz Cheney

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) most recently fueled discussion of her making an independent run for the presidency last weekend when she said she will not remain a member of the Republican Party if Trump becomes the GOP nominee in 2024.

Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, has seen her influence in the Republican Party decline precipitously since she condemned Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Cheney was once seen as a possible candidate for Speaker but was removed from her position as GOP conference chair in May 2021 in response to her unwillingness to join most of her Republican colleagues in saying that the 2020 election was stolen.

Her loss in the Republican primary for her House seat to Trump-backed candidate Harriet Hageman is set to end her time in Congress, but her concession speech signaled Cheney may not be finished in politics.

Cheney promised to do whatever it takes to prevent Trump from returning to the White House. She also said now the real work begins, given that her primary race is over, and referenced former presidents Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Grant, who worked to keep the country together during the Civil War.

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Cheney said after her loss that she is thinking about running in 2024, but did not clarify if it would be in the GOP primary or as an independent.

A Yahoo News-YouGov poll from August showed an independent run from Cheney could hurt Biden more than Trump in a 2020 rematch. Biden led Trump in the poll by 4 points without Cheney but trailed by 8 points with her as an independent candidate.

Andrew Yang

Andrew Yang, the businessman and former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, made news in October 2021 when he announced he was leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent. He founded a third party, known as the Forward Party, later that month.

Speculation about Yangs presidential aspirations rose more recently in July when he announced he was joining forces with the Renew America Movement, made up of former Republican officials, and the Serve America Movement, comprised of Democrats, Republicans and independents, to come together behind the Forward Party.

Yang has been promoting the party as a center alternative to the two major, mainstream political parties, both of which he has said have become too extreme. The party platform focuses on finding common ground and uniting the country.

Yang said in an interview with CNNs Jim Acosta after announcing the merger that he does not want to do anything to potentially increase Trumps chances of returning to the White House. But he said he has not made any conclusions about the 2024 race except that the United States needs a unifying third-party movement as polarization expands across the country.

He said the party takes not left or right but forward positions on the issues facing the country.

Howard Stern

Radio host Howard Stern announced in late June on his radio talk show, The Howard Stern Show, that he was considering running for president in 2024. He said he would run if Trump becomes the Republican nominee.

He said an issue with most presidents is they have too large of an agenda, but his goal would be to make the country fair again. He said the first priority would be to eliminate the Electoral College.

Stern said he would also appoint five additional Supreme Court justices. He said on a later show that he would want actor Bradley Cooper to serve as his running mate.

Ye

Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, made a long-shot bid for the presidency in 2020 and he may try again. He said in an interview with ABC last month that he has future political aspirations.

He has been a supporter of Trump in the past. He ran under the banner of the Birthday Party but did not make the ballot in most states and did not impact the outcome of any state.

He tweeted the day after the 2020 election that he was looking ahead to the next presidential race, saying, Kanye 2024.

Dwayne Johnson

Actor Dwayne Johnson has hinted over the past several years about possibly running for president one day. He said he was considering it as early as 2016, tweeting out a piece from a news outlet about why he should run.

He said in an interview with USA Today in 2017 that he was seriously considering running in 2020 but ultimately decided against it. He said in the interview that his interest in running comes from a large amount of people who want to see him run.

But I mean, honestly, there are so many different variables that have to come into play when you think about this, Johnson said. Politics is not my business. So the consideration is there. And well just have to see. Ill continue to watch and learn as much as I can.

He said his goal would be to serve the people.

Johnson told Variety later in 2017 that 2024 would be the realistic consideration.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Florida election supervisors are scrambling after Hurricane Ian to get the power back on at their offices in order to meet next week's deadline to send out mail-in-ballots.

Tommy Doyle, the elections supervisor of Lee County, one of the hardest-hit areas in the state, said he has worked nonstop to coordinate with Florida's largest power utility in the wake of the storm.

"My office has no power, no water," Doyle told ABC News. "In order to conduct elections and do what you need to do, you need the internet and you need power  and we don't have that right now."

Lee County includes Fort Myers Beach and the barrier islands, which are among the places that were most devastated by Hurricane Ian  the fifth-strongest hurricane to make landfall in the U.S., according to the National Hurricane Center.

PHOTO: A vote-by-mail ballot envelope is shown to the media at the Miami-Dade Election Department headquarters, July 21, 2022, in Miami. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

MORE: Hurricane Ian could cause $65 billion in damage

It's also a county that depends on mail-in voting. Residents there have already requested about 180,000 mail-in ballots, Doyle said. In past elections, he added, mail-in ballots have represented about 50% of the total general election vote in Lee County.

Doyle spent most of Friday on the phone with engineers from Florida Power & Light, the state's power utility, to request assistance with returning power to the county's ballot- printing site.

In between those calls, Doyle helped his son remove items from his family's flooded Fort Myers home  one of hundreds in the area that were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Ian, and one of 2.3 million statewide without power.

"Unfortunately, we got to think about voting. A lot of people aren't thinking about that right now," Doyle said. "They're dealing with personal issues, trying to salvage their life."

"I have to put my gears in high gear and get it done," he added. "And that's what we'll do."

PHOTO: A boat sits in the middle of a street in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers, Fla., Sept. 29. 2022. (Ricardo Arduengo/AFP via Getty Images)

MORE: Hurricane Ian tracker: Latest maps, projections and possible paths as storm hits South Carolina

Florida is still in the early stages of exploring different options. Mark Earley, the Leon County elections supervisor and president of the Florida election supervisor association, said he was optimistic that ballots in all affected counties would be mailed out by Oct. 6, a statutory requirement of the Florida Constitution. Earley said he personally plans to haul a power generator on Saturday to one election office in central Florida to aid in the effort.

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But with just 39 days until the midterm elections, he said there are many other storm-related issues that his group of supervisors must now worry about. For one: how to get ballots to first responders working outside of their counties, and to residents who have been displaced.

PHOTO: A first responder with Orange County Fire Rescue makes her way through floodwaters looking for residents of a neighborhood needing help in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Orlando, FLa., Sept. 29, 2022. (Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP)

Another challenge, especially in Lee County, is how Florida will deal with damaged polling sites. Voters must go to their designated polling precinct on Election Day but what if that site is no longer in service?

Earley said the state has the power to approve super polling sites, or centralized locations where any voter in the county can cast their ballots.

In 2018, Sen. Rick Scott, then the governor of Florida, signed an executive order to allow super polling sites in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael ahead of that year's midterms.

Doyle said Lee County will need a similar executive order this fall from Gov. Ron DeSantis.

"We have places like Sanibel, Captiva [where] the bridges are blown out. You can't even go over there," Doyle said of the barrier islands that were leveled by the storm. "A lot of residents have evacuated there, so they can't even vote in their precincts."

DeSantis' office referred all questions about such an executive order to the Florida Department of State.

"The Department of State has been calling supervisors of elections in the counties affected by the storm to assess the situation and will continue to monitor the impact of the storm," Secretary of State Corey Byrd said in a statement to ABC News.

"We are considering all contingencies at the moment and will be in continual contact with supervisors of elections to evaluate the conditions of the affected counties moving forward," he added.

Florida election supervisors scramble to get power back ahead of mail-in ballot deadline originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Associated Press

Pope Francis has decided to extend by a year a lengthy global consultation of ordinary Catholics about the future of the Catholic Church, amid limited participation by the laity and seeming resistance to his reforms from the hierarchy. Francis announced Sunday that the planned 2023 gathering of bishops would now take place in two stages  one session in October 2023 and a second in October 2024  to allow more time to find a way forward. Francis in 2021 formally opened a two-year consultation process on the topic of synodality, or a more decentralized structure of the church with the laity having a greater role.
By Anthony Boadle

BRASILIA (Reuters) -Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva holds a solid polling lead going into Sunday's election against incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, with a chance of clinching the race in the first round, fresh surveys showed on Saturday.

Brazil's most polarized election in decades will decide whether to return to power the leftist leader who spent time in jail on corruption convictions or the right-wing populist who has attacked the voting system and threatened to contest defeat.

Two polls released on Saturday showed Lula with a majority of valid votes, which would mean outright victory, avoiding a bruising runoff.

Pollster IPEC showed Lula winning 51% of valid votes, excluding blank and spoiled ballots, and a Datafolha poll showed the popular two-term president with 50% of valid votes.

Both surveys, from some of Brazil's most established polling teams, had a margin of error of 2 percentage points and showed Lula with an advantage of 14 percentage points over Bolsonaro.

Two other polls released on Saturday by CNT/MDA and Genial/Quaest showed Lula with 48% and 49% of valid votes respectively, within the margin of error of outright victory.

If none of the 11 presidential candidates gets more than 50% of valid votes, the two front-runners  almost certainly Lula and Bolsonaro  would go to a second-round vote on Oct. 30.

Lula told reporters he was hoping to finish the election on Sunday: "I can only be optimistic. There is very little to go to reach 50% plus one vote," he said.

Bolsonaro, a 67-year-old former army captain who spent nearly three decades in Congress pushing his pro-gun, anti-gay and anti-abortion agenda, was swept into office in 2018 on a wave of conservative backlash to Lula's Workers Party.

He closed his re-election campaign with motorcycle rallies in Sao Paulo and the southern state of Santa Catarina.

Lula rode in an open car and then walked with thousands of cheering supporters who turned out in central Sao Paulo, eager to see him despite drizzling rain. The event was called the "Walk of Victory."

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The Workers Party has booked a rally on Sao Paulo's midtown Paulista Avenue for Sunday night to celebrate victory by the 76-year-former union leader, who co-founded the party in 1980 and has run six times on its presidential ticket.

Brazil's electronic voting system, which Bolsonaro has called vulnerable to fraud without providing evidence, allows the national electoral authority (TSE), to quickly tally results within hours after polls close at 5 p.m. (2000 GMT).

The head of the TSE, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, called on Brazilians by Twitter to celebrate the country's democracy by turning out to vote with "peace, security and harmony, respect and freedom."

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Brad Haynes, Diane Craft and Jonathan Oatis)
JORGE SILVA

A day after Vladimir Putin summoned top officials to bask in the supposed glory of great Russia stealing Ukrainian land with sham referendums, his boasts fell apart in spectacular fashion on the battlefield as Russias defense ministry was forced to admit a key city deemed part of Russia was now in Ukrainian hands.

In connection with the creation of a threat of encirclement, the allied troops were withdrawn from the settlement of Krasny Lyman to more advantageous lines, the defense ministry said Saturday in a statement published by RIA Novosti.

The retreat came after thousands of Russian troops in the area were urged to surrender.

Military personnel of the Russian Federation! Ukrainian defense forces have captured Lyman. Further resistance is futile, you are surrounded. To surrender, you need to go to the nearest road or settlement, lay down your arms, wait for a representative of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and surrender with your hands up Remember: your government does not need you. To them, you are cannon fodder, the Ukrainian military said in a message blared for Russian troops in the strategic city.

The city has served as a key military hub for Putins troops in Donetsk throughout the war, a fact that left some pro-Kremlin bloggers fuming on Saturday about Moscow apparently being completely unprepared.

In fact, Lyman has been surrendered and no additional forces arrived, pro-Russian blogger Anatoly Shariy wrote on Telegram.

According to my information, the command of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation had other ideas yesterday, but apparently Lyman was not considered very important, he said.

Another popular Russian military channel lamented that military leadership had proven unable to stop the current operational crisis and said it seemed like Lyman would be completely lost in the next 1-3 days.

If there are chances to defend and take back the city, they are incredibly small, another pro-Kremlin blogger wrote of the humiliating defeat taking shape in the area.

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Russian military channels on Telegram erupted with reports of Ukrainian forces in the center of the city, and footage soon emerged of the Ukrainian flag going back up. Denis Pushilin, the Kremlins puppet leader in Donetsk, admitted Friday to the unpleasant news that the town was at that time already half encircled.

Even Kremlin cheerleader Ramzan Kadyrov lashed out over the spectacular defeat, blaming the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces for leaving a worthless commanding officer in charge.

Everything would be good if it werent so bad, the Chechen leader wrote on Telegram.

By Saturday, a representative for the Ukrainian military said in televised comments that around 5,000 Russian troops were thought to be encircled in the area. Ukraines Defense Ministry announced on Twitter that Ukrainian Air Assault Forces are entering Lyman, and quipped that Ukraines military will always have the decisive vote in todays and any future referendums.

Ukrainian authorities were quick to seize on the development to mock Putin for his claim just hours earlier that Donetsk and three other regions were now part of what the Russian president called a great historical Russia at a speech in the Kremlin.

Annexation you say? [The Donetsk Peoples Republic] as a subject of the Russian Federation? Famous last words! Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to Ukraines interior minister, wrote on Telegram.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (C) with Ukrainian separatist regional leaders Vladimir Saldo (L), Yevgeniy Balitsky (2L), Leonid Pasechnik (R) and Denis Pushilin (2R) seen during the annexation ceremony of four Ukrainian regions at the Grand Kremlin Palace, Contributor#8523328

Meanwhile, it appears even the Russian troops sent to keep stolen Ukrainian territories in the Kremlins grip have conceded defeat.

An audio recording released by Ukrainian intelligence Saturday is said to capture a Russian soldier phoning his wife to say his final goodbye after he and his fellow troops found themselves encircled by the Ukrainian military.

Thank god I got through, the man can be heard saying as he apparently struggles to catch his breath.

Were encircled, Lyub. Were fucked soon, he says as she asks if hes been ordered to go to his death fighting.

Lyub! Lyub! I just called to say goodbye, he responds, breaking down over the phone.

No one, you hear? Dont tell anyone at all. It is a disaster here, he says through sobs, going on to beg for just two minutes to talk to his wife, saying he doesnt give a fuck if the phone call gives away his location to Ukrainian troops.

Fuck it, let them get me!

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Nearly a dozen candidates are running in Brazils presidential election but only two stand a chance of reaching a runoff: former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (whose image appears at left) and incumbent Jair Bolsonaro (whose image appears in the center). (Photo: (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres))

Nearly a dozen candidates are running in Brazils presidential election but only two stand a chance of reaching a runoff: former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (whose image appears at left) and incumbent Jair Bolsonaro (whose image appears in the center). (Photo: (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres))

SAO PAULO  Last fall, right-wing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro made it clear that there was only one way he would leave power: Only God, he told raucous supporters in Sao Paulo, can remove me from office.

Ordinary Brazilians, however, may do just that on Sunday when they head to the polls in an election that carries massive stakes for the future of the worlds fourth-largest democracy.

Bolsonaros chief rival in the election, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has held a commanding lead in polls for more than a year, and recent surveys suggest that the leftist former president has an outside chance to win an outright majority in this weekends first round, preventing the need for a two-person runoff three weeks from now.

But over the last two years, Bolsonaro has openly suggested that he does not intend to accept the results of an election he loses and has pledged to his supporters that he will go to war to prevent the end of his presidency. An ardent ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump, Bolsonaro has spread baseless conspiracy theories about voter fraud, accused Brazilian electoral authorities of rigging the election against him, and unleashed a relentless series of attacks against Brazils electronic voting system, which experts regard as one of the safest and most efficient in the world.

In recent days, Bolsonaro and his right-wing party have abandoned any remaining semblance of a traditional campaign and seemingly let go of any lingering hope that he could win the election legitimately. Instead, the president has intensified his attacks: This week, the New York Times reported, Bolsonaros party released an official document alleging  falsely  that Brazilian election observers could manipulate results without leaving a trace of evidence behind.

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With 24 hours remaining before the first vote is cast, the question looming over Brazils election is not whether Bolsonaro will attempt to provoke a democratic rupture in response to a defeat, but what it might look like: A military coup? A Brazilian version of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol? Violence and chaos that disrupts a free election and peaceful transfer of power? Or something else entirely?

Im sure that he will not concede, Thomas Traumann, a Brazilian political analyst, told HuffPost last month. Im sure that he will contest. Im sure that he will try to put people in the streets saying he won anyway.

The possibilities have attracted attention from across the world and turned Brazils election into the latest test of whether a right-wing movement that has prospered via legitimate elections over the last four years can succeed in using its victories to fully tear down a major democracy.

The stakes are massive: Aside from the United States, Brazil is the largest democracy in the Western Hemisphere, and even a failed attempt at an authoritarian takeover would likely reverberate across the Americas and the world.

Jair Bolsonaro, wearing yellow, has sought to mobilize his supporters in the hopes that they will help him cast doubt on the results of Sunday's election, especially if he loses outright in the first round of voting. (Photo: (AP Photo/Andre Penner))

Jair Bolsonaro, wearing yellow, has sought to mobilize his supporters in the hopes that they will help him cast doubt on the results of Sunday's election, especially if he loses outright in the first round of voting. (Photo: (AP Photo/Andre Penner))

A second term for Bolsonaro, whether won legitimately or not, would allow him to consolidate the authoritarian gains of his first four years, in which he has targeted the rights of Brazils minority populations  including LGBTQ Brazilians, Black people and Indigenous tribes  and eroded democratic institutions.

Environmental experts also fear that it would spell doom for the Amazon rainforest, which has experienced record levels of deforestation on Bolsonaros watch, further inhibiting the global effort to combat climate change.

The United States and European Union have focused intently on the election. Senior U.S. officials have repeatedly warned Bolsonaro and his allies to stop undermining the elections, and the U.S. Senate this week passed a resolution that called on the Biden administration to review and reconsider its relationship with any government that comes to power in Brazil through undemocratic means. Dozens of EU lawmakers, meanwhile, argued this week for trade sanctions on Brazil if Bolsonaro succeeds in contesting the results.

Those efforts may prevent the most alarming scenario: a military intervention on Bolsonaros behalf. Bolsonaro, a former Army captain who has long expressed affinity for the dictatorship that ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985, has stocked his government with a record number of soldiers and leaned on them in his quest to undermine the election. His running mate, retired Gen. Walter Braga Netto, reportedly threatened Brazils Congress to make election changes Bolsonaro sought last year, and military leaders have sought certain reforms that Bolsonaro has called for to address problems that election officials say do not actually exist.

Experts, however, have regarded a coup attempt as unlikely, in part because it does not enjoy the sort of support from the United States and other Western democracies that tolerated the overthrow of a leftist government during the Cold War in 1964. (Brazilian financial elites and the media, two other crucial pillars of support for that coup, have also largely rebuked Bolsonaros efforts to draw the armed forces back into electoral politics.)

Top Army officials seemingly put any remaining doubts about how the institutional armed forces would react to bed on Friday, saying they intended to respect the results of the election no matter who wins.

A version of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, however, may be more plausible. On Sept. 7, Brazils independence day, Bolsonaro called his supporters to the streets for massive rallies meant to demonstrate his ability to mobilize his base.

Bolsonaro and his backers have already used the size of those demonstrations to question the polls. If and when he does cast doubt on the results, he will likely use the images of those events  much as Trump cited crowds at his own rallies in 2020  as a suggestion that crowd sizes are indicative of how true Brazilians voted and that something must be amiss.

They will be the base for his refusal to accept the result of the elections, Mauricio Santoro, a political scientist at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, said after the rallies.

Brazils primary electoral institutions, including its Supreme Court and Superior Electoral Tribunal, have for months prepared for post-election scenarios in which Bolsonaro attempts to question the results. But he still commands the support of nearly one-third of the Brazilian population, and many are susceptible to his conspiratorial claims, which have spread like wildfire across social media sources like WhatsApp and Telegram, two chat services that are widely used in Brazil and have been linked to fake news campaigns that have helped radicalize the Brazilian right.

Hes trapped in his own radicalism, in the sense that even if hes willing to accept the results, most who are around him  are probably not going to let Bolsonaro just give up on his candidacy or the presidency.Guilherme Casaroes, Brazilian political analyst

And there are questions about how rogue elements of Brazils violent police forces, which have shown substantial support for his election conspiracy theories, will react in a potential election dispute.

A loss in the first round, experts say, would leave Bolsonaro weakened and likely unable to pull off a substantial threat to Brazils democracy. But it doesnt mean that he wont try  or that his supporters and allies wont launch an attempt on his behalf. Bolsonaro has expanded gun rights for Brazilians over the last four years, and many of his supporters are now heavily armed and touting that fact ahead of a potential election dispute.

The beast that Bolsonaro has created is pretty much out of control, said Guilherme Casaroes, a Brazilian political expert at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Sao Paulo. Were talking about 700,000 Brazilians with new gun licenses. Were talking about members of the [police] forces and some members of the military who are really willing to back Bolsonaros authoritarian instincts.

Hes trapped in his own radicalism, in the sense that even if hes willing to accept the results, most who are around himare probably not going to let Bolsonaro just give up on his candidacy or the presidency, Casaroes said.

Brazils election season has already been marred by violence. Bolsonaro supporters have pelted crowds at da Silvas events with urine and feces and have waged worse attacks. In July, a Bolsonaro backer raided a birthday party and killed a member of da Silvas leftist Workers Party. This week, a da Silva supporter was stabbed and killed in a bar after telling a man that he would vote for the former president this weekend.

Fears that more violence could erupt at voting centers, rallies or other events have consumed many Brazilians, more than one-third of whom now say theyre uncomfortable discussing their vote with others, according to a recent poll.

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, center, who is running for president again with the Workers' Party, campaigns in Salvador, Brazil, on Sept. 30, 2022. Brazil's general elections are scheduled for Oct. 2. (Photo: (AP Photo/Raphael Muller))

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, center, who is running for president again with the Workers' Party, campaigns in Salvador, Brazil, on Sept. 30, 2022. Brazil's general elections are scheduled for Oct. 2. (Photo: (AP Photo/Raphael Muller))

Four years ago, Bolsonaro rode discontent with Brazils political establishment to the presidency, capitalizing on anger over a collapsed economy, rising levels of violent crime, and political corruption to win a race many believed he couldnt.

Da Silva, who was imprisoned on a corruption conviction and barred from the race, symbolized many of those problems at the time, creating a perfect scenario for a politician like Bolsonaro who has always seen the left and its policies  especially those aimed at bolstering the rights of Brazils minority populations  as the countrys biggest problem.

Four years later, however, the Brazilian economy and Bolsonaros handling of it has dominated the race. Da Silva, whose conviction was annulled thanks to judicial improprieties last year, has focused on the subject, promising Brazilians that he will deliver the sort of prosperity the country experienced when its economy boomed during his eight years as president.

Da Silva has pledged to restore Brazilians right to barbecue  a reference to the rising food costs that sent hunger rates skyrocketing and left many poorer Brazilians unable to afford the beef that is a staple of traditional weekend cookouts.

The people have to go back to eating a barbecue, eating a picanha and having a beer, he said during a nationally televised broadcast last month, a line that inspired sales of online merchandise bearing a potentially powerful, if unofficial, slogan: Steak, beer and Lula 2022.

To Bolsonaro, the election has always been a battle of 'good vs. evil,' and he has proved incapable of approaching it any other way. That has inflamed his supporters but turned off most Brazilians.

Bolsonaro has been unable to adjust, even as the economy has improved in recent months. To him, the election has always been a battle of good vs. evil, and he has proved incapable of approaching it any other way.

That has inflamed his supporters but turned off most Brazilians. Much like Trump, Bolsonaros reelection strategy has suffered from a miscalculation: He won the presidency in 2018 not because a majority of Brazilians fully agreed with him, but because he was the alternative to a political system they saw as decrepit and in need of total change.

Now hes the system, and many Brazilians who held their nose and chose Bolsonaro in 2018 seem fatigued by the violent rhetoric, chaotic politics and anti-democratic governance that defines Bolsonarismo.

Clearly, hes not as strong now as he was four years ago when he was the man of the moment, Santoro told HuffPost last month. Now he seems more like a politician in decline.

Tired of Bolsonaros machismo-fueled politics, his cavalier approach to the coronavirus pandemic and his lack of focus on the economy, women have turned against him in droves. A majority of Brazilians overall say they wont vote for him under any circumstances.

In recent weeks, da Silvas campaign has focused nearly all of its efforts on turning out voters, especially those from poorer backgrounds who are typically more likely to favor the left but less likely to cast ballots, even though voting is mandatory in Brazil. They have also attempted to persuade supporters of other candidates to cast strategic votes for da Silva, in the hopes of pushing him across the majority threshold Sunday.

A first-round victory, they believe, would blunt whatever Bolsonaro does to try to subvert the election. Three more weeks of campaigning, by contrast, may put Brazils democracy in even more peril than its already facing.

The second round, Casaroes said, will give Bolsonaro an extra month to cause as much turmoil as he can.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
Darren Grainger ran for a touchdown and threw for another as Georgia State repelled Army on Saturday for a 31-14 win, the Panthers' first of the season.

After a Michael Hayes field goal opened the scoring, a shanked punt gave the ball back to the Panthers (1-4) at the Army 38 with Grainger scoring on a 13-yard keeper. Jamyest Williams' 33-yard burst up the middle was good for a 17-0 halftime lead after Army (1-3) turned the ball over on downs.

After Army closed within three in the second half, the Panthers scored two late touchdowns.

Army scored on its first drive of the second half on Tyhier Tyler's 1-yard run. A Panthers field-goal attempt went off the right upright and Tyler scored on a 5-yard keeper on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Army got the ball back after a fumble but the Black Knights were stopped on fourth-and-goal from the Georgia State 1. The Panthers had to punt from their end zone but Army, after taking over from its 45, failed on a fake punt on fourth-and-11 with the Panthers then clinching the win on Grainger's 57-yard touchdown pass to Ja'Cyais Credle with three minutes left.

Georgia State's Tucker Gregg added a 56-yard touchdown, his school-record 20th rushing score to break a tie with Tra Barnett (2016-19).

Gainger threw for 157 yards and ran for another 48. Gregg rushed for 124 yards on 16 carries and Williams had 106 yards on 12. Jordan Veneziale sparked the Georgia Southern defense with two fumble recoveries, one coming deep in Panthers territory in the final minute of the first half.

Tyler had 110 yards rushing on 19 carries.

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More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/ap_top25. Sign up for the APs college football newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/mrxhe6f2
Christine Lambrecht

The minister said that Ukraine has the freedom to choose whether or not to join various alliances. However, she said that this matter had to be discussed by all 30 alliance member states.

Germany will not act alone, Lambrecht said.

Canada and the Baltic states immediately backed Ukraine's NATO membership application.

The reception to Ukraines application has been lukewarm in the United States, however. According to Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor to the President of the United States, it is not the right time for Ukraine to join the alliance. He said the best way to assist Ukraine is to provide practical assistance "on the ground.

Read also: Ukraine's application to join NATO catches Biden administration off guard  Politico

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, commenting after Ukraines surprise announcement of its NATO membership bid, said the alliances's doors are always open to all democratic European countries.

Mykhailo Podolyak, Advisor to the President's Office, stated that Ukraine held conversations with NATO before seeking membership.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Sept. 30 that Ukraine would apply for NATO membership on an expedited basis. He urged Ukraine's partners to reach during the country's accession negotiations an agreement on the security guarantees proposals outlined in the Kyiv Security Treaty  a plan for the future security of Ukraine presented earlier.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Insider's reporter glamped in dome outside of Toronto, Ontario, in the rain, and thought it was cozy. Joey Hadden/Insider

I booked a 400-square-foot dome on Airbnb outside of Toronto, Canada.

Located next to a large home and the woods, it cost $250 for one night.

Since it rained the whole time, I expected to be uncomfortable glamping. But I was wrong.

About 45 minutes north of Toronto, Canada, is a woodsy glamping site on a private property with geodesic domes scattered throughout the grounds.

A view of the glamping property. Joey Hadden/Insider

I paid $250 to stay in one of these domes, which I found on Airbnb. I was surprised by how comfortable it was even though it rained during my stay.

The author lounges in the dome. Joey Hadden/Insider

Source: Airbnb

The Airbnb was located on a residential property in King City, Ontario, full of trees, where hosts live and manage multiple domes.

An arrow points to the area where the Airbnb was located. Joey Hadden/Insider

I've seen domes popularized as photogenic places to stay and after glamping in a treehouse and a lifeguard tower, I wanted to try out a dome to see if it would make me feel more connected to nature with its grand views through a massive window.

The author inside the dome. Joey Hadden/Insider

Read more: I spent $290 to sleep in a remote treehouse in Canada. I thought it was nicer than most hotels I've stayed in.

I took an Uber from Toronto to get to the dome. It was already raining when I left the city, and I was worried how the weather might hinder my glamping stay.

Toronto on a rainy day. Joey Hadden/Insider

When I arrived, I spotted my dome easily from the driveway as it was the closest dome to the large home on the property where my hosts lived.

The author's Airbnb from the outside. Joey Hadden/Insider

I knew based on the listing's description that the dome had a winter theme, with holiday decor out front year-round. Right away, I spotted whimsical lights and signage.

Winter decor around the dome. Joey Hadden/Insider

Outside of the dome, I had a private patio to grill food, make a fire, and sit. It would be nice to utilize this spot on a sunnier day, I thought.

A patio outside of the dome. Joey Hadden/Insider

The dome had a massive window on one side, opening up to a wide view of the outdoors. Curtains were provided to cover the window for privacy.

A peak through the window of the dome. Joey Hadden/Insider

Once inside, I thought the 400-square-foot dome felt much bigger than it looked on the outside. It was larger than most hotel rooms I've been in.

A couch inside the dome. Joey Hadden/Insider

The room included a couch, some lamps, storage furniture, and a king-sized bed.

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The bed was situated behind the couch. Joey Hadden/Insider

The second I hopped on the bed, I noticed how comfortable it was compared to other glamping experiences I'd had, where the beds felt pretty standard. This one was firm yet soft, and more comfortable than even my bed at home.

The author works on the comfy bed. Joey Hadden/Insider

Read more: I tried glamping for the first time after years of off-grid camping. Here are 9 things that surprised me.

Above the bed, I noticed a skylight where I could relax and watch the rain fall. I thought it was peaceful.

The author looks out the skylight. Joey Hadden/Insider

On one side of the bed, there was a record player with holiday music. Next to it were games from chess to cards.

Storage furniture holds music and games. Joey Hadden/Insider

I'd never seen a record player in a glamping accommodation before, so I was excited to listen to some tunes.

The record play in use. Joey Hadden/Insider

Another bedside comfort in the dome was an essential oil diffuser to make my room smell nice. Since good smells always calm me, I thought it was a nice touch.

An oil diffuser on the bedside table. Joey Hadden/Insider

On the other side of the bed, there was a water cooler, mini fridge, microwave, and some snacks.

Amenities on the other side of the bed. Joey Hadden/Insider

The Airbnb came with two soda cans in the fridge as well as complimentary chips and marshmallows.

Refreshments inside the dome. Joey Hadden/Insider

Inside the cabinets, I found cooking supplies. If I was staying for more than one night and planned to grill, I would have used them, I thought.

Cooking supplies inside the dome's cabinets. Joey Hadden/Insider

I also appreciated that there were extension chords and outlets all over the dome, so I was able to charge all my devices at the same time.

Outlets and extension cords in the dome. Joey Hadden/Insider

I thought the great big window in the dome framed stellar views of the property without getting wet from the rain. I didn't notice any leaks.

A view of the window of the dome. Joey Hadden/Insider

I was able to use a private bathroom, but it wasn't inside the dome. It was only a few steps from my door and I thought it was clean.

The entrance to the bathroom (L) and a look inside (R). Joey Hadden/Insider

I fell asleep to the patter of the rain on top of my dome while looking at the stars between the trees out the skylight window.

The dome from the outside at night. Joey Hadden/Insider

When I had to use the restroom in the middle of the night, I was thankful for the lights in the trees around the property.

The property lit up at night. Joey Hadden/Insider

While I initially worried that the weather would spoil my stay, I think it only added to the nature-filled experience. I woke up feeling refreshed from the cozy bed, the comforting amenities, and the sound of gentle rain.

The author takes a selfie before leaving the Airbnb. Joey Hadden/Insider

But my favorite part were the dramatic windows that made me feel totally immersed in nature. It was unlike any other glamping experience or hotel I've stayed in, and I thought my first stay in a dome was unique, memorable, and worth the hype.

Looking out through the windows. Joey Hadden/Insider

Read the original article on Insider
WASHINGTON  A Donald Trump supporter who filmed himself assaulting police officers and breaking into the Senate chamber during the Jan. 6 riot pleaded guilty Friday to two felony charges.

Tennessee resident Ronald Sandlin, 35, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers.

Sandlin's friends and co-conspirators, Nathaniel DeGrave and Josiah Colt, previously pleaded guilty: DeGrave to the same two felonies as Sandlin, Colt to felony obstruction.

capitol rioter January 6, 2021 (U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia.)

The trio attended the "Stop the Steal" rally in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, but watched Trump's speech from a TGI Fridays in Virginia where they were having lunch. After they arrived in D.C., Sandlin repeatedly referred to the U.S. Capitol as the "State Capitol building" before storming the building as alarms blared, court documents show. He then joined the mob to try to open fire doors to let more rioters in, grabbing an officers helmet in the process.

Get out of the way! Your life is not worth it today, Sandlin told officers, as he recorded himself. Youre going to die, get out of the way!

After rioters made their way to the Senate, Sandlin began shoving officers who were trying to lock the doors to the Senate gallery. "Don't you lock another door!" he yelled at them, telling other rioters to "grab the door."

capitol rioter January 6, 2021 (U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia.)

Once inside the Senate chamber, Sandlin celebrated with a selfie video. "We took it. We did it," he said, while crying and wheezing inside the Senate gallery. He later smoked marijuana in the Capitol rotunda, declaring that he'd "made history" and that this was "our house," according to court documents.

Sandlin also stole a book, and attempted to steal an oil painting, but other rioters prevented him from doing so.

Video filmed by Jan. 6 rioter Ronnie Sandlin has proven helpful in other Capitol attack cases. Heres his selfie video as he aides rioters trying to breach the door. Officers lives come under threat. Hes set to plea at 2 p.m. pic.twitter.com/vUzgGQOecQ  Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) September 30, 2022

Sandlin had solicited donations for his trip to D.C. on a fundraising website, writing that he needed support of "Patriots Defending Out Country On Jan 6th."

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More than 850 people have been arrested in connection with the Capitol attack, and over 350 have pleaded guilty.

Earlier this week, a bodybuilder who dragged an officer down the steps of the Capitol pleaded guilty, and a judge sentenced one of the rioters who assaulted former officer Michael Fanone to more than seven years in federal prison.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
California Gov. Gavin Newsom. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

Musicians in California can breathe easier about their lyrics putting them at risk in court.

On Friday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Decriminalizing Artistic Expression Act, which limits the ways an artists lyrics can be used against them as evidence in criminal cases. While it couldn't ban the use of lyrics outright, it establishes a presumption that lyrics have minimal value as evidence. California prosecutors will now need to show a judge that lyrics were written around the time of the crime, have some specific similarity to the crime, or depict "factual details about the crime that are not known to the public.

The bill covers all forms of creative expression but is especially salient for hip-hop artists, whose slice-of-life lyrics have frequently been cited by prosecutors in criminal trials as proof of guilt. The late L.A. rapper Drakeo the Ruler, and more recently Atlanta's Young Thug and Gunna, all had their own lyrics used against them in charges ranging from murder to conspiracy to violate the RICO Act.

The California State Assembly and Senate unanimously approved the bill in August. High-profile rap artists Meek Mill, Killer Mike, YG, Ty Dolla Sign, Too Short, E-40 and Tyga attended the virtual ceremony as Gov. Newsom signed the bill into law.

Advocates for free expression praised the bill as timely and precedent-setting.

Mitch Glazier, chief executive of the music-industry trade group the Recording Industry Association of America, said in a statement, This pivotal decision that will allow all creators to express themselves and follow their artistic vision without barriers of prejudice. All too often rap and hip-hop artists have suffered for the same kind of hyperbole and imagery other genres routinely use without consequence. With the signing of the California rap lyrics bill into law, voices that may have been stifled are now fully open to expression."

Harvey Mason Jr., chief executive of the Recording Academy, described the bill as an important victory for music creators in the state of California. Silencing any genre or form of artistic expression is a violation against all music people. The history thats been made in California today will help pave the way forward in the fight to protect creative freedom nationwide.

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The next step for artists' protection would be passage of a similar federal bill. The RAP (Restoring Artistic Protection) Act is beginning to work its way through the House of Representatives, spearheaded by Atlanta-area Rep. Hank Johnson and New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman.

In an interview, Rep. Johnson told The Times, "People make the connection between a rapper and someone who is in a gang, a drug dealer, someone who is violent. Those are the kinds of things that rappers talk about in their raps. Merely saying that someone is a rapper evokes negative perceptions and brings out prejudices. So when you actually introduce the lyrics that the rapper has written, and use those lyrics as evidence against them, that seals the deal."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP)  The African soccer confederation has removed Guinea as host of the 2025 African Cup of Nations because of inadequate infrastructure, the latest in a series of switches and delays for the continental championship over the last 10 years.

The decision was announced late Friday night and after Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Patrice Motsepe traveled to the country to meet with Col. Mamady Doumbouya, the head of the military junta in Guinea who took power in a coup in 2021.

CAF said its executive committee would meet in Algeria on Saturday to discuss the details of re-opening the bidding process for the 2025 tournament, which might also be put back a year after the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the African Cup of Nations sequence.

Guinea's hosting of the continental championship had been under scrutiny for weeks after an inspection committee made a visit in early September and determined that Guinea wouldn't be ready. CAF made an internal decision then to strip the West African nation of the tournament but held off making an official announcement until Motsepe's visit.

Last month, Doumbouya had said that the African Cup was still a "priority for the new military leadership and insisted it should go ahead in Guinea, but it was taken out of his hands. Motsepe said he visited the country on Friday out of respect to the people of Guinea before the decision to move the tournament was announced.

In a statement, CAF said the infrastructure and facilities in Guinea were not ready to host a world class AFCON competition."

The decision means every African Cup since 2013 has been moved because of problems with the original host country.

South Africa stepped in as host for civil war-torn Libya in 2013, Equatorial Guinea was a replacement for Morocco in 2015, Gabon replaced Libya, which still wasn't ready in 2017, Egypt took over for an under-prepared Cameroon in 2019 and Cameroon hosted its tournament three years later than originally planned in 2022, when there was also a one-year delay because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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The delay with Cameroon has pushed Ivory Coast's African Cup back to 2024 when it was meant to host in 2021.

The African Cup of Nations is held every two years, although CAF now faces the prospect of holding its biggest tournament on consecutive years in 2024 and 2025 if it keeps to those dates.

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Associated Press writers Boubacar Diallo in Conakry, Guinea, and Isifu Wirfengla in Yaounde, Cameroon, contributed to this story.

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More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Hawaii reached the milestone earlier this year of having no girls in its only youth correctional facility  a first in state history, officials say.

It was a jubilant moment for the facilitys administrator, Mark Patterson, who has worked to reduce the youth prison population for nearly eight years.

A decade ago, more than 100 adolescents were imprisoned at the facility. When Patterson arrived two years later, the number had dropped by about half, according to data from the state's Department of the Attorney General and Office of Youth Services.

For Patterson, who came to the youth facility after running Hawaiis Womens Community Correctional Center, reducing the girls population required decreasing the number of young people put on probation, as violators often got sent to his facility. It also meant addressing the fact that they were the most vulnerable of the high-risk and often had suffered heavy trauma related to things like sexual exploitation, abuse at home or exposure to drug addiction, he said.

When I talk about zero girls in the system, its because it was a conscious effort to focus on a particular profile of girls in our systems, Patterson said.

Patterson and other state officials and juvenile justice reform advocates set out to keep at-risk youth from engaging in behaviors that get them sent into the system in the first place, an effort that, when applied broadly, helped reduce overall female probation sentences by more than two-thirds from 2014 to 2021, according to the state Department of the Attorney General. Experts say Hawaii can be a model for other states on how to institute alternatives to the more traditional punitive models of justice for girls and boys.

A new path

Since 2001, the number of girls in residential placement settings nationally, which include correctional facilities and shelters, has trended downward, according to 2019 data from the criminal justice reform group the Sentencing Project. But while girls account for about 15% of incarcerated youth, they make up about a third of those locked up for low-level status offenses like truancy or curfew violations  a problem Hawaii has confronted head-on.

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With Project Kealahou, Hawaiian for "the new pathway," the states Department of Health aimed to address prevalent trauma in at-risk girls through community-based services like peer mentoring and therapeutic intervention focused on repairing family relationships.

The six-year, federally funded effort was modeled on an earlier program, Girls Court, that sought to address the needs of at-risk girls and juvenile offenders by providing them with a supportive environment and positive role models, including in recreational settings. Project Kealahou also used youth development programs to offer activities, like hula dance groups and paddling classes, as part of its trauma-informed care  a model that recognizes the impact that trauma has had on incarcerated youth and how coping mechanisms and criminal activity often intersect.

Because the power dynamic in prisons can resemble abusive relationships, trauma-informed care tries to ensure that incarcerated adolescents dont re-experience past damaging experiences, and to that end it provides guidelines that seek to foster mutual respect among youths, caregivers and justice system officials as well as collaboration between therapists and correctional officers on how to interact with inmates.

Kawailoa Youth and Family Wellness Center (Tia Hartsock)

The approach resulted in significant improvement among the incarcerated youth in terms of depression levels, emotional issues and mood scores, experts said, prompting state lawmakers to extend the program's funding.

Tia Hartsock, who served as director of Project Kealahou, said she and other officials studied the records of at-risk girls to help Patterson and others determine where the incarcerated youth fell through the gaps in the education and mental health systems and other areas and to prevent that from happening in the future.

I was thinking, how bad did we have to fail at every touch point of these kids to end them up in the prison? she said.

A place of healing

Patterson used the information to put an emphasis on healing the incarcerated girls through therapeutic programs.

He enlisted the help of the Vera Institute, a national nonprofit that works to reduce girls incarceration. Sifting through state data, they found that girls were being locked up largely for misdemeanors or probation violations like running away from home, truancy and petty theft  behaviors often related to trying to survive on the streets, said Hannah Green, a program manager for the nonprofits Initiative to End Youth Girls Incarceration.

Kimberly Takata, who works as a counselor at the nonprofit Pua Foundation, which seeks to help the girls at the youth correctional facility make the transition out of jail, trains previously incarcerated young women to be mentors for the girls and shares her story as part of the rehabilitation effort.

Born while her mother was incarcerated at the youth facility in the 1980s, she said she endured sexual trauma at a young age and began numbing her shame with drugs and running away from home before getting locked up there herself.

And I had to carry that on my own and not say anything to anybody because I was so ashamed.  So thats where survival mode comes in. Youre on the streets, and you do whatever it takes to get money, Takata explained.

Takata, who has witness the changes in the states juvenile justice system, said the support system set up for the girls has been transformative.

People are understanding trauma now, she said, adding, This is my passion, to help the youth and women because I was there.  Its just an amazing full circle.

Under Pattersons leadership, which included advocating for more state spending on the youth correctional center, the 500-acre property nestled at the base of the Olomana mountain, transformed into a sprawling, rehabilitation-focused facility.

Where once there was just the prison and a school for incarcerated youth, the newly rebranded Kawailoa Youth and Family Wellness Center now boasts on-site vocational training programs, a center for victims of sex-trafficking, an adolescent homeless shelter and opportunities for youths to farm and tend cattle.

When you actually work and till land and produce a product, and then eat it or provide for the community, there is a sense of worth of who you are and where you fit into the community, Patterson said. When you touch the land, the land touches you, and all that rubbish in you will transform into the land so that you can be whole again.

Kawailoa Youth and Family Wellness Center (Tia Hartsock)

Model for the nation

In addition to its work in Hawaii, the Vera Institute has undertaken similar efforts in New York City, Maine, and Santa Clara, California, all of which reached zero girls for periods of time over the past two years. Chief among the nonprofit's strategies was working with government leaders and communities on how best to disrupt the pathways juveniles take into the justice system.

I think any state can replicate it, said Green. It just takes the intentionality, it takes the commitment, it takes the focus.

Green also said she thinks states can make similar strides with incarcerated boys, provided they focus on gender-specific behaviors that can lead to imprisonment, like feeling pressured to exhibit macho behaviors that can translate into violent offenses such as sexual assault and robbery. Vocational programs also help male adolescents overcome contributing problems like drug use and build their self-confidence, said Melissa Waiters, whose nonprofit, Kinai Eha, helps juveniles at the Hawaii correctional facility and elsewhere get GED degrees and find work in fields like construction and even medicine.

The cost of keeping young people out of jail pales in comparison to the cost of lost opportunities and job prospects for those who are locked up, she said.

We have to help these kids because theyre our future," she said. "And so they just need some support. They just need some guidance."

Nate Balis, who works on juvenile justice reforms at the nonprofit Annie E. Casey Foundation, said Hawaiis example could help shift the national mindset away from imprisonment for troubled youth. The key, he said, is to focus on shrinking the probation population and create alternative pathways for youth with vocational and other developmental programs.

We have to do both, Balis said.

Patterson, who recently applied for a grant which would partially fund an on-campus mental health program for minors, said Hawaii has provided the proof.

Were not saying that weve solved a social issue, Patterson said. Were saying that the treatment and the system that we put together for care is working.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Hayden Panettiere. Amanda Edwards/Getty Images

Hayden Panettiere said it's "terrifying" to speak out against her ex, Wladimir Klitschko.

Klitschko is a former Ukrainian boxer and an "icon" in Ukraine, according to Panettiere.

He currently has "full custody" of their daughter Kaya, Panettiere said.

On Wednesday's episode of "Red Table Talk," Hayden Panettiere spoke about why it's "terrifying" to discuss her disagreements with her ex Wladimir Klitschko in the media.

Klitschko currently has full custody of their 7-year-old daughter, Kaya Klitschko, and has lived with her in Europe since 2018.

At about the 24-minute mark of the episode, Panettiere told hosts Jada Pinkett Smith and Adrienne Banfield Norris and their guest co-host Kelly Osbourne that she was speaking in detail for the first time about her custody struggle because she had previously been worried about "upsetting" Klitschko.

"It's just scary. You don't want to piss anyone off, especially the person who has control of your child," she added.

Earlier in the conversation, when talking about Klitschko, she described him and his brother Vitali Klitschko as "icons" in their home country of Ukraine. Wladimir is a former Ukrainian professional boxer and Vitali is the current mayor of the city of Kyiv.

When Panettiere was struggling with alcoholism and depression in 2018 (as she previously spoke about in a July interview with People), she eventually signed over "full custody" of Kaya to Klitschko but clarified on "Red Table Talk" that doing so "wasn't fully my decision."

She said she sent Kaya over to Ukraine for a regularly scheduled visit and was going to take the time to get "better."

"And when I got better then things could change and she could come to me and I could have my time with her," she added. Instead, Klitschko told her he wanted custody of Kaya while the little girl was in Ukraine. Panettiere described the request as "a shock to me."

Panettiere and ex-fiance Wladimir Klitschko in 2016. Sean Zanni/Getty Images

The "Heroes" star described Ukraine as "male-dominated" and claimed that because of the laws there, "there wasn't a whole heck of a lot" she could do to fight Klitschko's legal request for full custody. She called signing the papers to make the arrangement official "the most heartbreaking thing I've ever, ever had to do in my life."

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Panettiere consistently said throughout the interview that Klitschko was a good father, but did express concern that he wasn't aware of Kaya's emotional needs as their daughter is growing up and realizing she has such limited time with her mom.

"I also remember her dad calling me and he said, 'Kaya's going around and asking other women if she can call them mommy,'" she explained. "And my breath hitched and my heart stopped. And he was laughing, he thought this was funny."

Panettiere said she thought this was "horrifying" information to learn. "That's a trauma reaction, that's... that's a cry for help," she added.

Panettiere in 2017. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

When she talked to Kaya about it, she said the little girl started regressing and speaking "gibberish" baby talk.

The "Nashville" star said she had never "endangered" Kaya. "In this country, they would never take a child from me. It never would have happened. But I think that's why she was wanted over there," she said.

Panettiere said she hasn't gotten any "hints" that she would be able to take her daughter to the US any time soon, but she had "hope" the situation will change in the future.

Klitschko's representative didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Insider
TORONTO (AP)  Gonzalo Higuain scored in the 86th minute to give Miami a 1-0 victory over Toronto FC on Friday night.

Miami (13-13-6), which entered holding onto the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, has won two straight and is tied with Orlando City for sixth place in the conference standings with 45 points. Miami concludes it regular season with home matches against Orlando City and Montreal.

Higuain tapped in his shot just inside the right post and into the back of the net for his 14th goal of the season. Higuain has scored 12 goals in his last 14 matches.

Toronto (9-17-7) entered having already been eliminated from the playoffs for the second straight season. Toronto concludes it regular reason with a home match against Philadelphia.

Quentin Westberg had five saves for Toronto.

Miami beat Toronto in the last meeting, 2-1 on Aug. 20.

___

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
The 40-year-old man accused of driving into the Waukesha Christmas Parade last year and killing six people, including an 8-year-old boy, is heading to trial.

Tamara L. Carlson Durand, Virginia "Ginny" E. Sorenson, Leanna "Lee" Owen, Wilhelm "Bill" Hospel, Jane Kulich and Jackson Sparks died in the attack. More than 60 others were injured.

The suspect, Darrell Brooks Jr., is charged with six counts of first-degree intentional homicide and 71 other counts in the parade attack, which authorities say happened after Brooks was involved in a domestic disturbance in a nearby Waukesha park.

His case has brought attention to bail practices in Wisconsin, the link between domestic violence and mass killings, and the gaps within the criminal justice system that allowed him to escape accountability for years.

Authorities in at least three states have had contact with Brooks, a Milwaukee native, throughout his life. The following timeline provides details on those interactions. It was compiled from police reports, court documents and other public records.

More: Our coverage of the 2021 Waukesha Christmas Parade tragedy

More: How police, prosecutors and courts across three states failed to hold Darrell Brooks accountable

Sept. 5, 1999

Darrell Brooks Jr. is charged with substantial battery in Milwaukee County.

Sept. 22, 2000

Brooks receives three years probation in the battery case with six months in the House of Correction, a dormitory-style facility in Franklin, after pleading guilty.

2002 - 2003

Brooks is charged with two low-level crimes, marijuana possession and misdemeanor obstruction, in Milwaukee County. He is sentenced to a total of 70 days in the House of Correction.

Feb. 21, 2005

Brooks is charged with obstruction in Manitowoc County. He later fails to appear in court and a judge issues a bench warrant.

November 2006

Brooks is convicted of statutory sexual seduction after impregnating a 15-year-old girl in Sparks, Nevada. He is required to register as a sex offender.

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A year later, Brooks wrote to the judge to ask for more credit for the time served. In the letter, he said he grew up in Milwaukee without a father but had a supportive mother. He said he was hospitalized for mental health conditions at age 12.

2007

A documentary about methamphetamine addiction called "Crystal Darkness" is released. It features an interview with Brooks while he was jailed in Reno, Nevada.

"You actually become the drug, not even a human being," Brooks says.

Aug. 5, 2009

Brooks is back in Wisconsin. He pleads no contest and is found guilty in the 2005 Manitowoc obstruction case. He is sentenced to two days (time served).

Feb. 24, 2010

Brooks is charged with strangulation, battery and criminal damage to property in Wood County after a woman told police he had shoved her to the ground during an argument and grabbed her throat.

Aug. 30, 2010

Brooks pleads no-contest to the strangulation charge and is found guilty. The other counts are dismissed as part of a plea agreement. He is sentenced to 90 days in jail with work release and three years probation.

March 25, 2011

Brooks is charged with resisting an officer in Milwaukee County after trying to flee a traffic stop when officers stopped him for not wearing a seatbelt.

During the stop, Brooks turned on his car and put it in drive. The officer says he feared Brooks was going to run him over.

Aug. 1, 2011

His probation is revoked from the Wood County strangulation case and he is sent to jail for 11 months.

May 15, 2012

Brooks pleads guilty in the resisting case from the Milwaukee traffic stop and is sentenced to 37 days in the House of Correction.

Nov. 20, 2012

A sex offender sweep in Nevada finds Brooks had provided a false address on his registration.

June 23, 2016

Police in Sparks, Nevada, arrest Brooks for failing to obey sex offender laws. He had not been in compliance with the registry since 2008.

Brooks posts bail in the case but later fails to appear in court. A warrant is issued for his arrest.

It's unclear exactly when Brooks moves back to Wisconsin after this, but once he did so, he had 10 days to register in Wisconsin. He never did.

Despite his repeated contacts with Wisconsin law enforcement, no one here realized he was a sex offender until after the parade attack.

July 28, 2020

Brooks is accused of shooting at a relative and the relatives friend during an argument in Milwaukee. No one is injured in the shooting.

He is charged with two counts of second-degree recklessly endangering safety and one count of felon in possession of a firearm.

A transcript of his initial appearance shows a prosecutor recommended $15,000 bail.

Brooks attorney asked the judge to follow the pretrial risk assessment which recommended a signature bond  meaning a promise to appear with a monetary penalty if you fail to do so  or to set it at $500.

Judge David Feiss sets bail at $10,000.

Aug. 7, 2020

Brooks enters a speedy trial demand in the shooting case.

Aug. 13, 2020

Brooks attorney argues for lower bail. Feiss, the judge, agrees and sets it at $7,500.

Feb. 9, 2021

Brooks is scheduled for a jury trial but his trial cannot proceed because of another ongoing trial in the courtroom. His case is postponed and bail lowered to $500, which is posted days later.

March 26, 2021

A Waukesha County prosecutor asks for Brooks to be found in contempt of court and violation of court orders in a long-running child support case.

Brooks gets a stayed sentence of 120 days in jail with work release privileges to be imposed anytime in the next two years if doesnt make his monthly payments in full.

May 27, 2021

Brooks is arrested by police in Union City, Georgia, in a domestic violence case. A man tells police he confronted Brooks after hearing what sounded like Brooks beating a woman on the other side of a wall in a hotel.

May 28, 2021

Brooks makes his first court appearance in Georgia and receives a signature bond, meaning he signed a document promising to show up for future court dates. He later misses an October 2021 court date.

June 21, 2021

Brooks appears in Milwaukee County court in person with his attorney for a status hearing in his 2020 shooting case.

June 28, 2021

Brooks' jury trial in the 2020 shooting case is scheduled to start. Instead, the trial is postponed "due to court congestion," meaning other cases needed to be heard in the courtroom.

Nov. 2, 2021

A woman tells Milwaukee police that Brooks punched and drove over her leg during an argument at a gas station.

Brooks is arrested and booked into Milwaukee County Jail. As part of the intake process, sheriffs deputies checked the National Crime Information Center for his background.

The years-long open warrant for skipping court in Nevada and his recent arrest in Georgia had not been entered by those agencies, so they did not appear in the report.

Nov. 3, 2021

Brooks calls his mother from Milwaukee County Jail and says prosecutors cant pursue the domestic violence case if the victim does not cooperate. Jail calls are recorded.

Nov. 4, 2021

Brooks calls the victim in the domestic violence case. It is the first of several calls trying to get her to recant, or take back, her account to police.

Nov. 5, 2021

Brooks is charged with running over the woman at the gas station.

He faces counts of felony bail jumping, second-degree recklessly endangering safety, resisting an officer, disorderly conduct and battery, with several domestic abuse assessments attached to the charges.

The prosecutor looked at the bail Brooks had posted in his 2020 Milwaukee County case  $500  and doubled it, recommending he be held on $1,000.

Court Commissioner Cedric Cornwall agreed and set bail at that amount, even though the county's pretrial risk assessment showed Brooks to be at fairly high risk for release from jail.

The prosecutor's recommendation was later described as inappropriately low by her boss, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm.

Nov. 11, 2021

Brooks mother posts his $1,000 bail in the domestic violence case.

Nov. 16, 2021

Brooks is released from Milwaukee County Jail. He has a "hold" from the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department related to his open child-support case. Brooks is taken directly to Waukesha County Jail.

Brooks appears before Waukesha County Court Commissioner David Herring. The prosecutor wants the jail time to be imposed immediately. Brooks says he could not pay because he was in custody for six months in Georgia, from about April to September.

Herring issues a stay, or postpones, the jail-time order and allows Brooks to be released on his own recognizance in the paternity case.

No one in court that day checks Wisconsin's online court records, which showed Brooks had appeared in person in Milwaukee County in June  in the middle of the timeframe he said he was in custody in Georgia.

Nov. 21, 2021

Police say Brooks is involved in a "domestic disturbance" and then drives through the Waukesha Christmas Parade route, killing five people and injuring more than 60 others. He is arrested that night.

The victims who died in the attack that night are Tamara L. Carlson Durand, Virginia "Ginny" E. Sorenson, Leanna "Lee" Owen, Wilhelm "Bill" Hospel and Jane Kulich.

Nov. 23, 2021

Brooks is charged with dozens felonies, including five charges of first-degree intentional homicide, in the parade attack. His bail is set at $5 million.

A sixth homicide charge is added after the death of 8-year-old Jackson Sparks, who had been critically injured in the attack.

Nov. 30, 2021

Investigators with the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office meet with the victim in the domestic violence case and play her portions of the recorded jail calls. She identifies the voices as her and Brooks.

Dec. 1, 2021

Brooks' mother releases a statement to reporters, offering condolences to the victims of the parade tragedy and emphasizing her son's longstanding mental health issues.

"Darrell has suffered from mental health issues since he was very young. In those years he received counseling and was on medication," she wrote. "When he became an adult a decision was made that he no longer suffered from a mental illness. That decision left him with no insurance or financial means to pay for medication and when determind (sic) necessary counseling."

She added: "Instead of offering help and resources to combat the problem a jail cell was given. Over and over again. When mental illness is not properly treated the person becomes sicker and sicker. It doesn't go away once a person becomes an adult."

The same day, Fox News reporters publish their account of a brief jailhouse interview with Brooks.

"I just feel like I'm being monster  demonized," Brooks told Fox News, adding that he feels he's been "dehumanized."

Dec. 6, 2021

Brooks is charged with witness intimidation counts in Milwaukee County in the domestic violence case.

June 20, 2022

Brooks seeks to change his plea in the parade attack to not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect  commonly known as an insanity defense.

Aug. 26, 2022

Waukesha County Judge Jennifer Dorow rules against two defense motions to dismiss the case related to what Brooks' attorneys considered an improper search of his jail cell in July and to suppress his statements made to investigators last November.

Sept. 9, 2022

Brooks withdraws his insanity defense in the parade case, suggesting court-ordered psychiatric evaluations did not support his claim.

Sept. 28, 2022

Judge Dorow grants Brooks' request to represent himself at trial, and allows the two lawyers who had been representing him to withdraw.

Oct. 3, 2022

Jury selection is scheduled to begin in the parade case.

Contact Ashley Luthern at ashley.luthern@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @aluthern.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: History of Waukesha parade suspect Darrell Brooks and law enforcement
Apple's Watch Ultra, with its 2000-nit digital display and GPS capabilities, is a far cry from its Revolutionary War-era self-winding forebears. What sorts of wondrous body-mounted technologies might we see another hundred years hence? In his new book, The Skeptic's Guide to the Future, Dr. Steven Novella (with assists from his brothers, Bob and Jay Novella) examines the history of wearables and the technologies that enable them to extrapolate where further advances in flexible circuitry, wireless connectivity and thermoelectric power generation might lead.

Skeptic's Guide to the Future Cover

Excerpted from the book The Skeptics' Guide to the Future: What Yesterday's Science and Science Fiction Tell Us About the World of Tomorrow by Dr. Steven Novella, with Bob Novella and Jay Novella. Copyright  2022 by SGU Productions, Inc. Reprinted with permission of Grand Central Publishing. All rights reserved.

Technology that Enables Wearables

As the name implies, wearable technology is simply technology designed to be worn, so it will advance as technology in general advances. For example, as timekeeping technology progressed, so did the wristwatch, leading to the smartwatches of today. There are certain advances that lend themselves particularly to wearable technology. One such development is miniaturization.

The ability to make technology smaller is a general trend that benefits wearables by extending the number of technologies that are small enough to be conveniently and comfortably worn. We are all familiar by now with the incredible miniaturization in the electronics industry, and especially in computer chip technology. Postage-stamp-sized chips are now more powerful than computers that would have filled entire rooms in prior decades.

As is evidenced by the high-quality cameras on a typical smartphone, optical technology has already significantly miniaturized. There is ongoing research into tinier optics still, using metamaterials to produce telephoto and zoom lenses without the need for bulky glass.

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Nanotechnology is now a collective buzzword for machines that are built at the microscopic scale (although technically it is much smaller still), and of course, nanotech will have incredible implications for wearables.

We are also at the dawn of flexible electronics, also called flex circuits and more collectively flex tech. This involves printing circuits onto a flexible plastic substrate, allowing for softer technology that moves as we move. Flexible technology can more easily be incorporated into clothing, even woven into its fabric. The advent of two-dimensional materials, like carbon nanotubes, which can form the basis of electronics and circuits, are also highly flexible. Organic circuits are yet another technology that allows for the circuits to be made of flexible material, rather than just printed on flexible material.

Circuits can also be directly printed onto the skin, as a tattoo, using conductive inks that can act as sensors. One company, Tech Tats, already offers one such tattoo for medical monitoring purposes. The ink is printed in the upper layers of the skin, so they are not permanent. They can monitor things like heart rate and communicate this information wirelessly to a smartphone.

Wearable electronics have to be powered. Small watch batteries already exist, but they have finite energy. Luckily there are a host of technologies being developed that can harvest small amounts of energy from the environment to power wearables (in addition to implantable devices and other small electronics). Perhaps the earliest example of this was the self-winding watch, the first evidence of which comes from 1776. Swiss watchmaker Abraham-Louis Perrelet developed a pocket watch with a pendulum that would wind the watch from the movement of normal walking. Reportedly it took about fifteen minutes of walking to be fully wound.

There are also ways to generate electric power that are not just mechanical power. Four types of ambient energy exist in the environmentmechanical, thermal, radiant (e.g., sunlight), and chemical. Piezoelectric technology, for example, converts applied mechanical strain into electrical current. The mechanical force can come from the impact of your foot hitting the ground, or just from moving your limbs or even breathing. Quartz and bone are piezoelectric materials, but it can also be manufactured as barium titanate and lead zirconate titanate. Electrostatic and electromagnetic devices harvest mechanical energy in the form of vibrations.

There are thermoelectric generators that can produce electricity from differences in temperature. As humans are warm-blooded mammals, a significant amount of electricity can be created from the waste heat we constantly shed. There are also thermoelectric generators that are made from flexible material, combining flex tech with energy harvesting. This technology is mostly in the prototype phase right now. For example, in 2021, engineers published the development of a flexible thermoelectric generator made from an aerogel-silicone composite with embedded liquid metal conductors resulting in a flexible that could be worn on the wrist and could generate enough electricity to power a small device.

Ambient radiant energy in the form of sunlight can be converted to electricity through the photoelectric effect. This is the basis of solar panels, but small and flexible solar panels can be incorporated into wearable devices as well.

All of these energy-harvesting technologies can also double as sensing technologythey can sense heat, light, vibration, or mechanical strain and produce a signal in response. Tiny self-powered sensors can therefore be ubiquitous in our technology.

The Future of Wearable Tech

The technology already exists, or is on the cusp, to have small, flexible, self-powered, and durable electronic devices and sensors, incorporated with wireless technology and advanced miniaturized digital technology. We therefore can convert existing tools and devices into wearable versions, or use them to explore new options for wearable tech. We also can increasingly incorporate digital technology into our clothing, jewelry, and wearable equipment. This means that wearable tech will likely increasingly shift from passive objects to active technology integrated into the rest of our digital lives.

There are some obvious applications here, even though it is difficult to predict what people will find useful versus annoying or simply useless. Smartphones have already become smartwatches, or they can pair together for extended functionality. Google Glass is an early attempt at incorporating computer technology into wearable glasses, and we know how it has been received.

If we extrapolate this technology, one manifestation is that the clothing and gear we already wear can be converted into electronic devices we already use, or they can be enhanced with new functionality that replaces or supports existing devices.

We may, for example, continue to use a smartphone as the hub of our portable electronics. Perhaps that smartphone will be connected not only to wireless earbuds as they are now, but also to a wireless monitor built into glasses, or sensors that monitor health vitals or daily activity. Potentially, the phone could communicate with any device on the planet, so it could automatically contact your doctors office regarding any concerning changes, or contact emergency services if appropriate.

Portable cameras could also monitor and record the environment, not just for documenting purposes but also to direct people to desired locations or services, or contact the police if a crime or disaster is in progress.

As our appliances increasingly become part of the internet of things, we too will become part of that internet through what we wear, or whats printed on or implanted beneath our skin. We might, in a very real sense, become part of our home, office, workplace, or car, as one integrated technological whole.

Weve mostly been considering day-to-day life, but there will also be wearable tech for special occupations and situations. An extreme version of this is exosuits for industrial or military applications. Think Iron Man, although that level of tech is currently fantasy. There is no portable power source that can match Iron Mans arc reactor, and there doesnt appear to be any place to store the massive amounts of propellant necessary to fly as he does.

More realistic versions of industrial exosuits are already a reality and will only get better. A better sci-fi analogy might be the loader exo-suit worn by Ripley in Aliens. Powered metal exosuits for construction workers have been in development for decades. The earliest example is the Hardiman, developed by General Electric between 1965 and 1971. That project essentially failed and the Hardiman was never used, but since then development has continued. Applications have mostly been medical, such as helping people with paralysis walk. Industrial uses are still minimal and do not yet include whole-body suits. However, such suits can theoretically greatly enhance the strength of workers, allowing them to carry heavy loads. They could also incorporate tools they would normally use, such as rivet guns and welders.

Military applications for powered exosuits would likely include armor, visual aids such as infrared or night-vision goggles, weapons and targeting systems, and communications. Such exosuits could turn a single soldier into not just enhanced infantry, but also a tank, artillery, communications, medic, and mule for supplies.

Military development might also push technology for built-in emergency medical protocols. A suit could automatically apply pressure to a wound to reduce bleeding. There are already pressure pants that prevent shock by helping to maintain blood pressure. More ambitious tech could automatically inject drugs to counteract chemical warfare, increase blood pressure, reduce pain, or prevent infection. These could be controlled by either onboard AI or remotely by a battlefield medic who is monitoring the soldiers under their watch and taking actions remotely through their suits.

Once this kind of technology matures, it can then trickle down to civilian applications. Someone with life-threatening allergies could carry epinephrine on them to be injected, or they could wear an autoinjector that will dose them as necessary, or be remotely triggered by an emergency medical responder.

Everything discussed so far is an extrapolation from existing technology, and these more mature applications are feasible within fifty years or so. What about the far future? This is likely where nanotechnology comes in. Imagine wearing a nanosuit that fits like a second skin but that is made from programmable and reconfigurable material. It can form any mundane physical object you might need, on command. Essentially, the suit would be every tool ever made.

You could also change your fashion on demand. Go from casual in the morning to business casual for a meeting and then formal for a dinner party without ever changing your clothes. Beyond mere fashion, this could be programmable cosplaydo you want to be a pirate, or a werewolf? More practically, such a nanoskin could be well ventilated when its warm and then puff out for good insulation when its cold. In fact, it could automatically adjust your skin temperature for maximal comfort.

Such material can be soft and comfortable, but bunch up and become hard when it encounters force, essentially functioning as highly effective armor. If you are injured, it could stem bleeding, maintain pressure, even do chest compressions if necessary. In fact, once such a second skin becomes widely adopted, life without it may quickly become unimaginable and scary.

Wearable technology may become the ultimate in small or portable technology because of the convenience and effectiveness of being able to carry it around with us. As shown, many of the technologies we are discussing might converge on wearable technology, which is a good reminder that when we try to imagine the future, we cannot simply extrapolate one technology but must consider how all technology will interact. We may be making our wearables out of 2D materials, powered by AI and robotic technology, with a brain-machine interface that we use for virtual reality. We may also be creating customized wearables with additive manufacturing, using our home 3D printer.
Members of Ohio Task Force 1 continue work in Florida after additional members joined their teammates Friday, according to a post on Ohio Task Force 1s Facebook page.

>>Hurricane Ian: Quite a while longer; OH-TF1 anticipates lengthy deployment as rescues continue

36 members departed their warehouse in Vandalia on Thursday and are in Southeast Florida.

47 members of Ohio Task Force 1 left Kettering last Saturday for Florida.

The Type I team consists of 83 members plus seven canines, Ohio Task Force 1 said.

The team moved further south and west in Florida on Saturday, deep into the hardest hit areas, a spokesperson told News Center 7.

They are conducting wide-area searches by land and water, going house to house to clear structures and check on folks who have sheltered in place, said Christina OConnor. They use search canines to locate person who may trapped or in need of assistance and identify damaged structures.

>>PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Hurricane Ian: Additional Ohio Task Force 1 personnel heads to Florida

The team was fed hot meals by Mercy Chefs Saturday night and will be have an early start Sunday morning.

News Center 7 will continue to update this developing story.

Photos from: Ohio Task Force 1's Facebook Page

Photos from: Ohio Task Force 1's Facebook Page

Photos from: Ohio Task Force 1's Facebook Page

Photos from: Ohio Task Force 1's Facebook Page

Photos from: Ohio Task Force 1's Facebook Page

Photos from: Ohio Task Force 1's Facebook Page

Photos from: Ohio Task Force 1's Facebook Page

Photos from: Ohio Task Force 1's Facebook Page

Photos from: Ohio Task Force 1's Facebook Page

Photos from: Ohio Task Force 1's Facebook Page

Photos from: Ohio Task Force 1's Facebook Page

Photos from: Ohio Task Force 1's Facebook Page

MATLACHA, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 30: Whitney Hall (R) embraces a friend atop the remains of his home amidst wreckage left in the wake of Hurricane Ian on the island of Matlacha on September 30, 2022 in Matlacha, Florida. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surge and rain to the area causing severe damage. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

MATLACHA, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 30: Pine Island residents Wolfgang Nester (R) and his son Sebastian walk amongst the wreckage lef in the wake of Hurricane Ian on the island of Matlacha on September 30, 2022 in Matlacha, Florida. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surge and rain to the area causing severe damage. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

MATLACHA, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 30: A chair sits on a flooded roadway in the wake of Hurricane Ian on September 30, 2022 in Matlacha, Florida. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surge and rain to the area causing severe damage. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

MATLACHA, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 30: Wreckage left in the wake of Hurricane Ian is shown on the island of Matlacha on September 30, 2022 in Matlacha, Florida. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surge and rain to the area causing severe damage. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

A burned vehicle from an electrical fire following Hurricane Ian in Venice, Florida, US, on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. Two million electricity customers in Florida remained without power Friday morning, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us. Photographer: Tristan Wheelock/Bloomberg via Getty Images

MATLACHA, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 30: Whitney Hall waves to a friend from the remains of his home while waving the American flag amidst wreckage left in the wake of Hurricane Ian on the island of Matlacha on September 30, 2022 in Matlacha, Florida. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surge and rain to the area causing severe damage. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

FORT MYERS, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 30: Sue Lepisto hugs her neighbor after they saw each other when they came to visit what was left of their homes after Hurricane Ian passed through on September 30, 2022 in Fort Myers, Florida. Their homes were flooded with about 6 feet of water. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surges and rain to the area causing severe damage. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

FORT MYERS, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 30: Brian Siebert becomes emotional as he looks at what remains of his home after Hurricane Ian passed through the area on September 30, 2022 in Fort Myers, Florida. Mr. Siebert feels like he has lost everything in the apartment because there was about 6 feet of water that inundated it. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surges and rain to the area causing severe damage. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

FORT MYERS, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 30: Frank Bruno speaks with members of the Texas A&M Task Force 1 Search and Rescue team as they look for anyone needing help after Hurricane Ian passed through the area on September 30, 2022 in Fort Myers, Florida. Mr. Bruno said he road the storm out in his home and told the search team members that he was okay. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surges and rain to the area causing severe damage. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

FORT MYERS, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 30: Deb McGinty walks with outstretched arms near her apartment as she said she was,

FORT MYERS, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 30: Lucy Montoya hugs niece Judy Sanchez after seeing her for the first time since Hurricane Ian passed through the area on September 30, 2022 in Fort Myers, Florida. Mrs. Montoya said she road the storm out in the apartment and had to flee through a window because of flood waters in the middle of the storm to a second floor apartment. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surges and rain to the area causing severe damage. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

FORT MYERS, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 30: Val Stuart talks on a cell phone as she sits on the bed she setup on the floor after the apartment she was staying in was flooded when Hurricane Ian passed through the area on September 30, 2022 in Fort Myers, Florida. Mrs. Stuart who evacuated from Sanibel before the storm ended up staying in the apartment and had to flee in the middle of the storm through a window because of flood waters to a second floor apartment. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surges and rain to the area causing severe damage. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

FORT MYERS, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 30: Jordan Reidy carries his dog, Ivory, back to their second-floor apartment after fleeing when Hurricane Ian passed through the area on September 30, 2022 in Fort Myers, Florida. Mr. Reidy and his mother plan to stay at the home because they feel like they have no where else to go. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surges and rain to the area causing severe damage. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

FORT MYERS, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 30: Omar Sanchez walks through flood waters to his apartment after Hurricane Ian passed through the area on September 30, 2022 in Fort Myers, Florida. Mr. Sanchez said he had to flee from his first floor apartment to the second floor because flood waters inundated it. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surges and rain to the area causing severe damage. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

FORT MYERS, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 30: A member of the Texas A&M Task Force 1 Search and Rescue team looks for anyone needing help after Hurricane Ian passed through the area on September 30, 2022 in Fort Myers, Florida. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surges and rain to the area causing severe damage. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

A woman walks down the stairs from her house as a creek overflows from flooding following Hurricane Ian on September 30, 2022 in Kissimmee, Florida. - Forecasters expect Hurricane Ian to cause life-threatening storm surges in the Carolinas on Friday after unleashing devastation in Florida, where it left a yet unknown number of dead in its wake. After weakening across Florida, Ian regained its Category 1 status in the Atlantic Ocean and was headed toward the Carolinas, the US National Hurricane Center said Friday. (Photo by Bryan R. Smith / AFP) (Photo by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images)

Osceloa County Sheriffs use a fanboat to rescue residents from flooding following Hurricane Ian on September 30, 2022 in Kissimmee, Florida. - Forecasters expect Hurricane Ian to cause life-threatening storm surges in the Carolinas on Friday after unleashing devastation in Florida, where it left a yet unknown number of dead in its wake. After weakening across Florida, Ian regained its Category 1 status in the Atlantic Ocean and was headed toward the Carolinas, the US National Hurricane Center said Friday. (Photo by Bryan R. Smith / AFP) (Photo by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images)

Osceloa County Sheriffs use a fanboat to rescue a 93 year-old resident from flooding following Hurricane Ian on September 30, 2022 in Kissimmee, Florida. - Forecasters expect Hurricane Ian to cause life-threatening storm surges in the Carolinas on Friday after unleashing devastation in Florida, where it left a yet unknown number of dead in its wake. After weakening across Florida, Ian regained its Category 1 status in the Atlantic Ocean and was headed toward the Carolinas, the US National Hurricane Center said Friday. (Photo by Bryan R. Smith / AFP) (Photo by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images)

Osceloa County Sheriffs use a fanboat to rescue residents from flooding following Hurricane Ian on September 30, 2022 in Kissimmee, Florida. - Forecasters expect Hurricane Ian to cause life-threatening storm surges in the Carolinas on Friday after unleashing devastation in Florida, where it left a yet unknown number of dead in its wake. After weakening across Florida, Ian regained its Category 1 status in the Atlantic Ocean and was headed toward the Carolinas, the US National Hurricane Center said Friday. (Photo by Bryan R. Smith / AFP) (Photo by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images)

A man stops in front of his house as a creek overflows from flooding following Hurricane Ian on September 30, 2022 in Kissimmee, Florida. - Forecasters expect Hurricane Ian to cause life-threatening storm surges in the Carolinas on Friday after unleashing devastation in Florida, where it left a yet unknown number of dead in its wake. After weakening across Florida, Ian regained its Category 1 status in the Atlantic Ocean and was headed toward the Carolinas, the US National Hurricane Center said Friday. (Photo by Bryan R. Smith / AFP) (Photo by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images)

Osceloa County Sheriffs speaks to a resident as a creek rises from flooding following Hurricane Ian on September 30, 2022 in Kissimmee, Florida. - Forecasters expect Hurricane Ian to cause life-threatening storm surges in the Carolinas on Friday after unleashing devastation in Florida, where it left a yet unknown number of dead in its wake. After weakening across Florida, Ian regained its Category 1 status in the Atlantic Ocean and was headed toward the Carolinas, the US National Hurricane Center said Friday. (Photo by Bryan R. Smith / AFP) (Photo by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images)

PORT CHARLOTTE, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 30: In this aerial view, vehicles line up to purchase gasoline in the wake of Hurricane Ian on September 30, 2022 in Port Charlotte, Florida. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surges and rain to the area causing severe damage. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

PORT CHARLOTTE, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 30: In this aerial view, vehicles drive through standing water left in the wake of Hurricane Ian on September 30, 2022 in Port Charlotte, Florida. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surges, and rain to the area causing severe damage. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

A fallen sign following Hurricane Ian in Venice, Florida, US, on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. Ian, now a hurricane again, is threatening to carve a new path of destruction through South Carolina Friday when it roars ashore north of Charleston. Photographer: Tristan Wheelock/Bloomberg via Getty Images

ORLANDO, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES - SEPTEMBER 29: Members of the Florida National Guard look for stranded residents in a flooded neighborhood in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian on September 29, 2022 in Orlando, Florida. The storm has caused widespread power outages and flash flooding in Central Florida as it crossed through the state after making landfall in the Fort Myers area as a Category 4 hurricane. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

FORT MYERS, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 30: A wall of a condo was torn off as hurricane Ian passed through on September 30, 2022 in Fort Myers, Florida. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surge and rain to the area causing severe damage. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

FORT MYERS, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 30: Ron Waselenchuk inspects his sailboat which was pushed ashore by hurricane Ian on September 30, 2022 in Fort Myers, Florida. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surge and rain to the area causing severe damage. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Damage to a McDonald's restaurant following Hurricane Ian in Venice, Florida, US, on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. Ian, now a hurricane again, is threatening to carve a new path of destruction through South Carolina Friday when it roars ashore north of Charleston. Photographer: Tristan Wheelock/Bloomberg via Getty Images

ORLANDO, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES - SEPTEMBER 29: Street signs are seen in the water in a flooded street in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian on September 29, 2022 in Orlando, Florida. The storm has caused widespread power outages and flash flooding in Central Florida as it crossed through the state after making landfall in the Fort Myers area as a Category 4 hurricane. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

In this aerial view, boats sit grounded in a woodland area and along the side of the road after being pushed by rising water from Hurricane Ian near Fort Myers Beach on September 29, 2022, in San Carlos Island, Florida.

In this aerial view, the Sanibel Causeway bridge collapsed in places after Hurricane Ian passed through the area on September 29, 2022, in Sanibel, Florida.

In this aerial view, a neighborhood remains flooded near downtown after Hurricane Ian on September 29, 2022, in Orlando, Florida.

Boats sit atop one another in a marina near Fort Myers Beach on September 29, 2022, in San Carlos Island, Florida.

A man documents storm damage with his phone after Hurricane Ian on September 29, 2022, in Bonita Springs, Florida.

Vehicles float in the water after Hurricane Ian on September 29, 2022, in Bonita Springs, Florida.

Doc's Beach House after Hurricane Ian on September 29, 2022, in Bonita Springs, Florida.

Seth Jones, left, sorts through storm damaged video games as Jason Crosser looks on at Crossers storm damaged business, 8-Bit Hall of Fame, after Hurricane Ian on September 29, 2022, in Bonita Springs, Florida.

In this aerial view, a home burns after Hurricane Ian passed through the area on September 29, 2022, in Sanibel, Florida.

A man looks out to the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Ian on September 29, 2022, in Naples, Florida.

A woman walks her bike past boats blocking a road after Hurricane Ian on September 29, 2022, in Bonita Springs, Florida.

In this aerial view, cars sit in floodwater near downtown after Hurricane Ian on September 29, 2022, in Orlando, Florida.

In this aerial view, the Sanibel Causeway bridge collapsed in places after Hurricane Ian passed through the area on September 29, 2022, in Sanibel, Florida.

A storm damaged building after Hurricane Ian on September 29, 2022, in Bonita Springs, Florida.

Meagan Hoeschler recovers a family surf board on the beach after Hurricane Ian on September 29, 2022, in Naples, Florida.

Storm debris fills a street after Hurricane Ian on September 29, 2022, in Bonita Springs, Florida.

A car sits in floodwater after Hurricane Ian on September 29, 2022, in Orlando, Florida.

Storm damaged vehicles after Hurricane Ian on September 29, 2022, in Bonita Springs, Florida.

People walk along a sidewalk blocked by boats after Hurricane Ian on September 29, 2022, in Bonita Springs, Florida.

In an aerial view, damaged buildings are seen as Hurricane Ian passed through the area on September 29, 2022, in Fort Myers Beach, Florida.
Kevin Fogarty/Reuters

Days after Hurricane Ians landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, the state is still reeling from the effects of the storm. The death toll has risen to more than 77 people in Florida alone, according to NBC News, and is expected to grow as more drowned victims are discovered. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper confirmed on Saturday that four storm-related deaths occurred in his state the prior day.

Lee County Sheriffs Office, which encompasses Fort Myers, said at least 35 lives were lost in the county, according to ABC News.

During this difficult time, were at about 35 deaths, unfortunately, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said Saturday. Its with a heavy heart that I say that number.

Last night I just sat there by myself thinking about the devastation, looking through pictures, and Ill tell you it brought tears to my eyes. We are going to work harder and we are going to be stronger than ever, he said.

At a press conference Saturday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that first responders had made over 1,100 rescues, and that the Army Corps of Engineers had been called in to repair damage to water systems.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said Saturday that his state had not seen any deaths due to the hurricane and was open for business.

The remnants of Hurricane Ian, now considered a post-tropical cyclone with winds of up to 35 mph, are causing widespread rain from Virginia to Connecticut as the storm heads north.

President Joe Biden said Saturday that an emergency exists in North Carolina and ordered federal assistance.

The Presidents action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, the White House said in a statement released early Saturday.

The storm has also caused power outages across multiple states, affecting millions of people in Florida, Virginia, and North Carolina.

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More than 1.2 million Floridians are still without power while another 242,000 customers in North Carolina and 56,000 people in Virginia are also reporting power outages.

In Cuba, meanwhile, only a fraction of the country has had power restored since the hurricane hit on Tuesday, prompting widespread protests over the delays. On Friday night, a foreign monitoring group said that the countrys internet service had been shut down, not because of the storm but rather to withhold information about demonstrations from citizens, the Associated Press reported.

The situation in Fort Myers is terrible. Most without power. No running water. Smells like sewage from pipes overflowing. Also smells like gasoline from boats floating into town during storm surge. Debris everywhere. Uninhabitable. #flwx #Ian pic.twitter.com/F2cQbYwfpu  Dylan Federico (@DylanFedericoWX) September 30, 2022

Floridas response to the natural disaster has also come under scrutiny. The New York Times reported that officials waited a day longer than other coastal counties to announce evacuation orders in Lee County, causing some residents to feel like they were not given enough time to get out.

I think we responded as quickly as we humanly could have, Kevin Ruane, a Lee County commissioner, told the Times.

Other parts of the state are dealing with flooding, including in Sarasota County, where NBC News reported that the county sheriff's office has warned residents in the Hidden Valley neighborhood of a potential levee breach affecting about 70 homes.

Holly Smith, the mayor of Sanibel, Florida, told ABC News Live Prime that Ian has changed the city for good.

Unless youre on the ground, you really cant take in the gravity of what we experienced. Its a different Sanibel, she said.

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Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty

As Hurricane Ian ravaged south Florida on Thursday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) stood outside the U.S. Capitol at a press conference and made a vow to the victims.

Well do anything in our power to help them, McCarthy said, responding to a question from a reporter about the impacts of the hurricane, and Gov. Ron DeSantis ability to help his state recover.

As the GOP leader said this, he was flanked by dozens of members of his House Republican conference. Their presence added a new dimension to McCarthys statement: many of them have been on the record opposing hurricane relief packagesor lent their support to proposals designed to drastically reduce the amount of money the federal government spends on disaster relief.

Did Lee Countys Evacuation Delay Lead to Deaths?

The Republican Study Committee, for instance, is the largest internal GOP conference group. Its 156 lawmakers include the second- and third-ranking members of McCarthys team: Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), the minority whip, and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the conference chair.

The annual RSC budget, a statement of priorities approved by its conservative membership, clearly targets disaster relief as a source of wasteful spending to be cut. The latest budget includes a call to equalize cost-sharing for disasters.

To ensure states are not incentivized to rely on federal coffers for disaster relief, the RSC Budget proposes reducing the federal cost share to 50 percent, equalizing the cost to both the federal and state governments, the document reads.

With Hurricane Ian still causing serious damage in the United States, congressional leadership has yet to outline specific plans to fund recovery and relief efforts.

But given the scale of devastation in Floridaand the widespread damage to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Fiona hit last monthan extensive, likely multi-billion dollar package may be at the top of Congress agenda when it returns in November.

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Spokespeople for Scalise and Stefanik did not respond to questions from The Daily Beast regarding whether they would apply the standard set out in the RSC budget to future hurricane relief aid. Neither did a spokesperson for Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), the chairman of the RSC, who is also running to be the third-ranking House Republican next year, nor McCarthys office.

If Republicans were to stick to the position outlined in the RSC document, it would run contrary to what DeSantis himself has called for. On Wednesday, his administration asked President Joe Biden to allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover 100 percent of emergency protective measures for the first 60 days after the hurricanes landfall.

DeSantis Cares About Deaths From Hurricane Ian. Just Not From COVID.

The conflict between lawmakers public promises to help the storms victimsand their own commitment to blocking or reducing the scope of that helpwould be just the latest instance of the congressional GOP trying to have it both ways when it comes to disaster relief.

In the last decade, congressional Republicans have made it a key principle that disaster aid bills be fiscally responsible while applying that principle in conspicuously uneven ways.

Funding disaster relief packages, like funding the government, was once considered a noncontroversial and nonpartisan duty for Congress. But amid the Tea Partys rise, a crop of new, hard-right Republicans began to see opportunity in leveraging these bills as a way to communicate their conservative bona fides to the party base.

After Hurricane Sandy struck in 2012, a group of conservative lawmakersmany of them from Texasrevolted against extensive federal spending to help New York and New Jersey rebuild after the devastation. Reflecting the rhetoric at the time, then first-year Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), hyped rescue legislation as being full of wasteful pork.

An initial $10 billion Sandy relief bill was opposed by 67 House lawmakers, including DeSantisthen a freshman House memberand Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the future Speaker of the House. Showing how politicized disaster relief had become, 58 of the lawmakers who voted no on Sandy relief voted in favor of a large aid bill in response to Hurricane Katrina.

DeSantis vote quickly became a defining moment in his political career, The New York Times reported this week, opening him up to criticism back home. The young conservative, at the time, resisted disaster aid so as to reject what he called a put it on the credit card mentality. Later, he would tell skeptical local press that he never made the point of saying we shouldnt do anything.

Months after Sandy, Congress considered a more comprehensive $50 billion package to help devastated communities in New York and New Jersey recover. Overwhelming majorities of the GOP conferences in both chambers voted against it: 179 House Republicans and 36 Senate Republicans.

Afterward, many of these lawmakers earned the permanent scorn of New York and New Jersey lawmakers, regardless of party. It was cruel, it was vicious, and something that Ill never forget, former Rep. Peter King, a Long Island Republican, once said.

$19.1 Billion in Federal Disaster Aid Stalls After Single Republican Objects

Some of those Sandy-affected lawmakers, according to the Texas Tribune, began keeping a list of those in the so-called Comeuppance Caucus should it be necessary to one day, after a disaster, rub that vote in their faces.

But after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma unleashed historic flooding and winds on the Gulf Coast in 2017, many northeastern U.S. members took pride in not showing that state the same treatment that its lawmakers had shown them in the wake of Sandy.

NY wont abandon Texas, King tweeted at the time.

The first tranche of Harvey aid, a nearly $8 billion package, passed the House with only three lawmakers, all Republicans, voting no. Two of them had been in office to vote against the Sandy relief. All the other remaining Republicans who had voted against Sandy relief approved the package for Harvey.

In their Obama era of fiscal conservatism, GOP lawmakers seemed content to approve disaster relief for their own states but oppose it for others. Although the budget-busting presidency of Donald Trump seemed to signal the end of austerity as a key priority on the right, the principle is still embedded in the party platform, as the RSC document clearly indicates.

As long as Democrats control Congress, Republican lawmakers may continue to choose prioritizing fiscal conservatism over disaster reliefeven when disaster hits their districts, as it did this week with Hurricane Ian, which tore through Florida before targeting the Carolinas.

Before lawmakers left Washington for the October recess, they passed a stopgap bill to fund the government until December. Included in that so-called continuing resolution was $18 billion for a special fund under the Federal Emergency Management Agency that Florida authorities could potentially begin accessing immediately to speed recovery efforts.

These days, it is common practice for Republicans to vote against a continuing resolution, especially if Democrats are in charge. Despite this stopgap spending bills potential to help assist hurricane relief efforts, all 16 GOP members of Floridas congressional delegation voted it down, joining all but 10 GOP lawmakers in doing the same for a bill to keep the government running for 11 weeks.

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As Hurricane Ian made landfall in South Carolina as a Category 1 storm, life resumed under cloudy grey skies on Georgias coast. Savannah residents watched as Ian battered southwest Florida on Wednesday and Thursday and made its way up the Atlantic coastline.

Chatham County was under a tropical storm warning and hurricane watch Thursday night into Friday, but as Ian tracked farther east, expectations of heavy rain and wind eased off. According to Chatham Emergency Management Agency (CEMA), the storm has moved past us.

Update: Surface observations indicate that the center of #Hurricane #Ian made landfall on Sep 30 at 205 pm EDT (1805 UTC) near Georgetown, South Carolina with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (140 km/h) and an

estimated minimum central pressure of 977 mb (28.85 inches). pic.twitter.com/TNk43VBHUG  National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 30, 2022

We anticipate that any conditions that are out in the community right now will continue to get better and better as the day goes by, said CEMA Director Dennis Jones, We've shut down our Emergency Operations Center. We're going to be monitoring the event for the rest of the day and see what comes of it.

A temporary shelter that opened Thursday at Compassion Christian Church closed Friday afternoon after providing cover for about 19 people in need, said Jones. Other shelters in Savannah remain open including the Salvation Army and Union Mission.

More: Hurricane Ian: Emergency shelter to close at noon after storm passes

People and cars on River Street after Hurricane Ian tracked further east, missing the Georgia coast and making landfall in South Carolina instead.

A quiet afternoon on River Street

A colder and more blustery than usual Friday afternoon kept most residents at home and visitors in their hotels, but some ventured out for some fresh air and to watch the wind ripple in the Savannah River.

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Kisha and Loren Robinson strolled down River Street on their first ever trip to Savannah looking for a bite to eat. But most restaurants were closed in anticipation of possible flooding. The couple, here on their 10th anniversary, were visiting from Tampa, Florida, a city expected to be in the direct path of the Category 4 hurricane. Instead, Ian veered 125 miles south, hitting Fort Meyers on Wednesday.

Several businesses on River street modified their opening hours. Hurricane Ian tracked further east, missing the Georgia coast and making landfall in South Carolina instead.

We had a pre-planned trip here, but because of the hurricane we left a day early because we were in a mandatory evacuation zone, said Kisha. At the last minute it turned and went farther south  family and friends and everythings fine. Theres just a lot of downed trees and people without power.

Now, in Savannah, the Robinsons managed to avoid the worst of the storm as well.

It's a lot of devastation for a lot of people so we hope they can rebuild and everybody will be okay, said Kisha.

The couple made their way to River Street's Vics Coffee House, where Manager Kathy Hall manned the register and espresso machine. Like many restaurants on the river, the shop opened just a few hours ago, at 1 p.m., in case of any storm surge.

We werent sure of the weather, but the safety of our employees comes first, said Hall.

Hall herself has lived in the area for 25 years and experienced more severe weather from Matthew and Irma in 2016 and 2017, but there was no damage to the inside of the shop those years either.

Were relieved because nobody wants to see the city get hit, said Hall.

Kisha and Loren Robinson visit Savannah from Tampa, Florida, where the effects of Hurricane Ian were more severe. Hurricane Ian tracked further east, missing the Georgia coast and making landfall in South Carolina instead.

Dodging raindrops and tree debris

On East Bay Street, Stephanie Coursey and Patrick Strangs dog donned a pink raincoat as they ambled down the sidewalk littered with branches and clumps of moss.

It originally said it was going to rain today but we decided to go out walking anyways and do whatever we can before it starts raining, said Coursey.

The two, originally from Atlanta, were in town for a wedding, which was ultimately canceled due to the inclement weather. They watched news of Ian hitting Florida and monitored the weather app for Savannah. Now that things have died down, theyre hoping the wedding reception will resume later this weekend.

Stephanie Coursey and Patrick Strang walk their dog on Bay Street. The two from Atlanta are here to attend a wedding that was canceled in anticipation of Tropical Storm weather from Hurricane Ian.

Across the street at the 208 Wine Bar, bartender Alex Irwin tended to a single customer in the swanky establishment.

Usually we have a little more people by this time, said Irwin, Yesterday, business was definitely affected as well. We usually have a dozen or so coming in but only had five customers.

Earlier in the week, however, Irwin saw more people than usual. Several of the parking lots downtown were filled, he said.

A few people who were on their way to Florida, when they got news of the hurricane, kind of turned around and headed here instead, said Irwin.

A single customer sits in 208 Wine Bar on East Bay Street. Hurricane Ian tracked further east, missing the Georgia coast and making landfall in South Carolina instead.

Meanwhile, the staff at 208 monitored hurricane updates every hour. They closed early yesterday, but business is resuming as normal today.

"That's basically the attitude we have, prepare for the worst but we're still gonna open in case it passes us," said Irwin.

Nancy Guan is the general assignment reporter covering Chatham County municipalities. Reach her at nguan@gannett.com or on Twitter @nancyguann.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Hurricane Ian skips Savannah, makes landfall in South Carolina
A TV crew broadcasts from the beach ahead of Hurricane Ian, in Fort Myers, Florida, September 28, 2022. Marco Bello/Reuters

Meteorologists, storm chasers, and hurricane hunters were shocked by the severity of Hurricane Ian.

They got caught in floodwaters, knocked over by winds, and tossed around by the storm's force.

Their video footage from the storm's landfall in Florida shows what caught them off guard.

Matthew Cappucci was wary when floodwaters began to rise on either side of the road he was driving, near Englewood, Florida, on Wednesday.

The meteorologist felt prepared for Hurricane Ian. He'd been through other cyclones. He'd modeled the storm surge and rainfall ahead of time. So he thought he and his friend Andrew would be out of the flood zone when they ventured into the storm's Florida landfall.

But for a frightening split second, he worried the storm surge was rushing in around him  several feet of ocean water, often the most dangerous part of a hurricane. But that was highly unlikely. He was far out of the surge zone.

This was rainwater.

WARNING: The sound in many of the below videos is very loud.

"That much freshwater flooding definitely caught me off guard," Cappucci told Insider.

"It's just so unsettling to look left, look right, and realize your entire road is surrounded by water in all directions," he added. "It's tough not to be freaked out."

The pair had planned to drive back to their hotel, but were forced to turn around. That's when they punctured two tires driving over a chunk of debris. They rushed to higher ground and hunkered down in a nearby apartment building for the night.

Other meteorologists and hurricane hunters who embedded themselves in the thick of Hurricane Ian shared similar surprise at some of the storm's most extreme features.

Infrared satellite imagery shows Hurricane Ian's eyewall moving onto Florida's southwest coast on September 28, 2022. NOAA GOES-East

Scientists have to conduct further research to know whether climate change made any single storm more likely or more extreme. But overall, because tropical cyclones feed on warm air and water, climate change is making them stronger, wetter, and even slower to progress from one region to another. That ultimately makes them more damaging and deadly.

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Rising ocean temperatures help cyclones build strength rapidly, as Hurricane Ian did in the Gulf of Mexico. Warm air holds more moisture, which means storms can bring more rainfall. Rising sea levels can also raise storm surge waters higher than they otherwise would be.

Cappucci said he couldn't help but think about those impacts as the waters rose around him.

Meanwhile, other people documenting Hurricane Ian struggled with the winds or the flood of ocean water it pushed inland.

Watching homes swept away was 'horrifying'

"The storm surge was unbelievable," Max Olson, a storm chaser who has been through 13 hurricanes, told Insider via email.

He deployed probes in different locations to record the storm surge without anybody there to operate the camera. One of those probes captured a home being uprooted and swept away in the floodwaters. He later learned that there were people inside that house. According to Olson, they survived after grabbing onto trees and floating into other houses.

"It's also the most horrifying video I've captured as it shows numerous homes getting swept away," Olson said  "something I've had a hard time processing over the last 24 hours."

Flying through the eye included 'unnerving' turbulence

Nick Underwood experiencing turbulence on a flight through Ian. Nick Underwood/NOAA

When Air Force hurricane hunters flew into Hurricane Ian's eye on Wednesday, they encountered surprisingly strong winds. Turbulence pushed the aircraft into a sudden drop of nearly 1,200 feet.

"It was NOT even calm inside the eye," Dave Malkoff, a correspondent for The Weather Channel who was on the flight, wrote on Twitter upon landing.

He said at some points they were lifted out of their seats and experienced zero gravity.

The pilot, Kendall Dunn, told Malkoff that it was his worst flight ever.

A NOAA reconnaissance plane called Kermit encountered similar turbulence as it flew through Ian's eye. Nick Underwood, an engineer aboard the plane, shared video from inside the flight, showing mattresses falling off bunk beds as the plane was jostled.

Tropical Nick Underwood (@TheAstroNick) September 28, 2022

"We're kind of used to the up-and-down, roller coaster feeling that you get, but in this case, there was just a lot of lateral movement," Underwood told The New York Times. "It was a lot more unnerving."

He was also surprised at the constant lightning inside the storm's eye.

"This flight to Hurricane Ian on Kermit was the worst I've ever been on. I've never seen so much lightning in an eye," Underwood said on Twitter.

The worst of the storm was on the other side of the eye

The hurricane's back side  after the eye had passed  was the most devastating part, according to meteorologists who were on the scene.

"I haven't experienced anything close to this in over 30 years," Mike Seidel, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel, wrote when he posted a video of the storm's back side on Twitter.

Cappucci, too, said it was the most extreme storm he'd ever experienced.

"Ordinarily, the backside of the eyewall isn't as bad as the first side. And yet this time, it was way worse. I had like five to six hours of just prolific rainfall rates, extreme wind gusts at well over 100 miles per hour. I probably got 15 inches worth of rain in six or seven hours," he said.

Olson also found the back astonishing.

Both Seidel and Cappucci said they were in the eye wall of the storm  the dense cloud area where wind and rain are strongest  for about five hours total.

At one point, Seidel's colleague Jim Cantore appeared to almost get swept away in the powerful winds. As he bounced into a wide stance to brace himself against the storm, a tree branch flew at him, hooking his leg and knocking him to the ground. After freeing himself, he had to hold onto a signpost and lean heavily into the wind before launching himself behind the shelter of a building.

"Honestly at this point very little is surprising," said Olson, who is making a documentary from his footage. "This is starting to feel like routine, as terrible as that sounds."

Read the original article on Insider
VIENNA (Reuters) - U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi is expected to hold talks in Moscow and Kyiv next week on the creation of a protection zone around the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) in Ukraine, the watchdog said on Saturday.

"Director General Grossi continues his consultations and other efforts aimed at agreeing and implementing a nuclear safety and security zone around the ZNPP as soon as possible. He is expected to travel to Kyiv and Moscow next week," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement.

(Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Nick Macfie)
While what was left of Hurricane Ian made its way towards the northeastern United States, many in the Carolinas awakened Saturday morning to power outages, flooding, debris swept into the ocean and fallen trees.

In an update Tuesday afternoon, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper reported five storm-related deaths in the state:

A 25-year-old man died Friday when he lost control of his car in Johnston County and hydroplaned into another vehicle in stormy conditions.

A 24-year-old woman died when her vehicle went off a wet road in Clayton, hitting a tree Friday afternoon

RELATED: Channel 9 viewers share photos showing Hurricane Ians path through the Carolinas

A 22-year-old man drowned in Martin County when his truck left the road, sumberging in a flooded swamp Friday night

A 65-year-old man in Johnston County died Saturday from carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator running in his closed garage while the power was out. His wife was hospitalized, the news release said.

A 24 year old man was driving in Moore County when he hydroplaned off the road and hit a tree.

The storm has passed, but many hazards remain with downed trees, downed power lines and power outages, Cooper said. We mourn with the families of those who have died and urge everyone to be cautious while cleaning up to avoid more deaths or injuries.

The powerful storm is already estimated to be one of the costliest hurricanes to ever hit the U.S.

Overnight, President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration for the state of North Carolina. The move helps expedite FEMAs response to the state and provides federal money to help in the recovery. Biden already approved a declaration for South Carolina on Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands wake up without power

Across North Carolina, around 332,000 people woke up without power Saturday morning. Nearly 12,000 of those customers live in Mecklenburg County.

READ MORE: Ian pushes inland across South Carolina, creating strong wind, heavy showers

Story continues

Duke Energy crew members were staged with their equipment at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, where about 4,000 customers didnt have power Saturday morning. The company said it had 10,000 crews on standby across the Carolinas who would work to restore power after Ian.

Logan Kureczka with Duke Energy explained to Channel 9s Hannah Goetz how those restoration efforts work.

But generally, how we approach it is that some of the critical infrastructures -- so like our hospitals, police stations -- we want to make sure those are restored first, Kureczka said. After that, we move on to our transmission lines, which are the big lines that you would see along the highways, because those carry the power from our power plants to our substations, which feed it out to our customers. And so after we make sure those are all in good working order, were going move on to our distribution lines, which are the lines you might see in your neighborhood.

A sea of @DukeEnergy workers lined up at @CLTMotorSpdwy getting ready to head out to their assignments today. @wsoctv pic.twitter.com/NHxSMmsWVQ  Hannah Goetz (@HannahGoetztv) October 1, 2022

By Saturday evening, the number of power outages had decreased to around 200. Channel 9s Glenn Counts spoke with families in east Charlotte who were unfortunately a part of that select few.

Very frustrating. I am waiting patiently, impatiently for it to come back on, resident Keesha James told Counts.

Resident Annetta Wall said her main issue wasnt the power going out, it was the timing. She said she had just rented a generator when her power turned back on.

We got over here and hooked it up, transferred the food to another freezer and made sure everything was cold. Then the lights came on. Im thankful the lights came on, I just wish it had come on a little bit sooner before I rented the generator, Wall said.

While Duke Energy has been ahead of schedule with a lot of the restoration, some customers will not get power until late Sunday.

Trees fall, creeks flood in Charlotte; airport sees cancellations, delays

Channel 9s Anthony Kustura was in northeast Charlotte Saturday morning tracking the damage the storm left behind.

READ MORE: Historic downtown Charleston sees flooding, downed trees from Hurricane Ian

Rutgers Avenue, just off West Sugar Creek Road, was still closed after a tree knocked down power lines Friday. The lines were left hanging in the air and the tree had crashed onto a car.

One neighbor told Channel 9 utility crews told him he might not get power restored until Sunday.

Some of those living near creeks and streams saw flooding from the storm, like Stewart Creek in Seversville Park which flooded its banks.

Ian canceled or delayed hundreds of flights through Charlotte Douglas International Airport. On Friday, 315 flights were canceled and 204 delayed. Saturday morning saw at least 41 flights canceled and 24 delayed.

ALSO READ: Ian dumps heavy rain, strong winds east of Charlotte

Update on #HurricaneIan; Charlotte Fire responded to 108 storm related emergencies starting 3pm Thursday, Sept. 29th within the City. Unable to determine displaced occupants at this time. Damages consist of trees on homes, power lines & across roadways. https://t.co/8hYs3kNAZQ  Charlotte Fire Dept (@CharlotteFD) October 1, 2022

The Charlotte Fire Department said it responded to 108 storm-related emergencies starting at 3 p.m. Thursday. While firefighters dont know how many people were displaced, they said the calls they received were for trees that fell on homes, power lines and across roadways.

South Carolina coast battered by storm surge after Ian makes landfall

Hurricane Ian made landfall in Georgetown, South Carolina Friday afternoon, just north of Charleston.

READ MORE: I thought I could die: Floridians awaken to power outages, flooding left in Ians wake

In North Myrtle Beach, Cherry Grove Pier collapsed into the ocean during the storm surge. The waves, which reached 20 feet, ripped boards from the pier before it collapsed. It was one of five piers in the Myrtle Beach area that Ian damaged or destroyed.

In Charleston Saturday morning, people faced a cleanup mission after seeing devastating flooding from Hurricane Ian. Several inches of rain fell, flooding many of the towns streets. The wind knocked down several trees and branches and ripped up some roofs too.

The sun is up and flood waters have receded across Charleston Co., SC. @JWilliamsWSOC09 and I are on with Daybreak crew this morning getting a look whats left for clean-up after #HurricaneIan hit the SC coast yesterday. @wsoctv pic.twitter.com/r6xYzi02MM  Jonathan Lowe (@JonathanUpdates) October 1, 2022

Skip Yeomans was visiting from Mississippi and staying at a hotel in the area. He said the hotel owners were able to evacuate them after the building was damaged.

They just came up -- and there was five of us in the lobby -- they came up and said were going to have to evacuate you over to the Embassy Suites, its our sister hotel, everything was fine, he said. They got us over here, they brought cars up, loaded everything up, brought us over here, I mean they couldnt be any nicer.

RELATED: Hurricane Ian: Heres how you can help Florida victims

How to help

This weekend, you can can help communities recover in the aftermath of Ian. OneBlood is holding a blood drive at Charlotte Motor Speedway Saturday. Donors will get two free tickets to the Bank of America Roval 400 as a thank-you.

Organizers are rushing to replenish Floridas blood supply after they were hit by the hurricane.

The blood drive is Saturday from 10 p.m. to 5 p.m. Click for details.

If youd like to help the victims of Hurricane Ian in Florida, click here.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

ADDITIONAL COVERAGE:

(WATCH BELOW: Videos, photos shared online show effects from Hurricane Ian)
Hypnotherapist Ian Roper, 58, commanded his victim to remove her clothing. (swns)

A hypnotherapist who caused a woman to engage in sexual activity while under his control has been jailed.

Ian Roper, 58, commanded his victim to remove her clothing while making her think she was sitting on a hot sun bed and rubbing sun cream on her body, Bradford Crown Court heard.

When the woman finally woke up, he then attempted to put her under again so she wouldnt know what had happened.

Roper initially claimed the allegations against him were false but he later pleaded guilty to causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent and possession of five indecent images of children.

Read more: College student accused of pinning down man and forcing him to have sex is cleared

Ian Roper was jailed at Bradford Crown Court. (Getty)

Sentencing Roper to 29 months imprisonment on Friday, Recorder David Gordon told Roper his interests had been motivated by selfish and sexual desires.

The court heard the woman, who cant be named for legal reasons, was assaulted during her second hypnosis session with registered therapist Roper.

In the meeting, prosecutor David McGonigal said the defendant had initially put her under by touching her shoulder and had then taken her to her safe place.

He said the complainant then became aware of the defendants voice becoming sexy before he started sitting closer to her.

Mr McGonigal told the court: He said the only thing that mattered was his voice, and she had to listen to his command.

He told her she was lying on a sun bed getting hotter and needed to rub imaginary sun cream on herself."

Read more: Car thieves caught after stopping at McDonalds to get something to eat

Mr McGonigal said Roper took the womans bra off and then told her to remove her clothing as she continued to rub herself with the imaginary cream before she woke up.

He said: She managed to come round and pushed the defendant away.

But when she stood up to dress, Mr McGonigal said Roper took hold of her and tried to put her under again, saying she would not remember what had happened.

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After the woman complained to the police, Roper told officers hed never had sexual liaisons with anyone while under hypnosis.

But during a later police investigation, officers found five indecent images of children and one prohibited image of a child on Ropers laptop.

Recorder David Gordon jailed him for 25 months for the sexual offence with an additional four months for the indecent images.

The judge also said that Roper, of Calderdale, West Yorkshire, would have to register as a sex offender for the next 10 years and enforced a restraining order against him.

Recorder Gordon further imposed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order, which includes a ban on Roper working as a hypnotherapist.
SANIBEL ISLAND, Fla. (AP)  When Hurricane Ian struck Floridas Gulf Coast, it washed out the bottom level of David Muench's home on the barrier island of Sanibel along with several cars, a Harley-Davidson and a boat.

His parents' house was among those destroyed by the storm that killed at least two people there, and the lone bridge to the crescent-shaped island collapsed, cutting off access by car to the mainland for its 6,300 residents.

Hurricane Ian underscores the vulnerability of the nation's barrier islands and the increasing costs of people living on the thin strips of land that parallel the coast. As hurricanes become more destructive, experts question whether such exposed communities can keep rebuilding in the face of climate change.

This is a Hurricane Katrina-scale event, where youre having to rebuild everything, including the infrastructure, said Jesse M. Keenan, a real estate professor at Tulane Universitys School of Architecture. We can't build back everything to what it was  we can't afford that."

Ian slammed into southwest Florida as a Category 4 hurricane Wednesday with among the highest windspeeds in U.S. history  in nearly the same spot where Hurricane Charley, also a Category 4, caused major damage in 2004.

Of the 50 tropical cyclones that have come within 100 nautical miles of the Fort Myers area since 1873, 23 have been hurricanes that passed within 75 miles (120 kilometers) of Sanibel Island, according to the citys website. Each posed a significant threat to property and lives on the island at some point in its life cycle.

In 1921, a massive hurricane wiped out half of neighboring Captivas landmass and cut that island in two, according to the Sanibel Historical Museum & Village.

The latest storm has initiated a new cycle of damage and repair on Sanibel that's played out on many other barrier islands, from the New Jersey shore and North Carolina's Outer Banks to a ribbon of land along the Louisiana coast.

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Barrier islands were never an ideal place for development, experts say. They typically form as waves deposit sediment off the mainland. And they move based on weather patterns and other ocean forces. Some even disappear.

Building on the islands and holding them in place with beach replenishment programs just makes them more vulnerable to destruction because they can no longer move, according to experts.

They move at the whims of the storms, said Anna Linhoss, a professor of biosystems engineering at Auburn University. "And if you build on them, youre just waiting for a storm to take them away.

After devastating parts Florida, Ian made landfall again in South Carolina, where Pawleys Island was among the hardest hit places. Fridays winds and rains broke apart the barrier island's main pier, one of several in the state to crumble and wash away.

On Saturday, homeowners in the beach community about 73 miles (120 kilometers) up the coast from Charleston struggled to assess damage from storm. The causeways connecting the island to the mainland were strewn with palm fronds, pine needles and even a kayak retrieved from a nearby shoreline.

Like Pawleys Island, many barrier island communities anchor long-entrenched tourist economies, which are often the source of crucial tax dollars. At the same time, the cost of rebuilding them is often high because they're home to many expensive properties, such as vacation homes.

When theres a disaster like this, we will pour tens of billions of public dollars into these communities to help them rebuild, said Robert S. Young, director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines, which is a joint venture between Duke University and Western Carolina University.

And we will ask very little for that money in return in terms of taking a step back from places that are incredibly exposed to hazards and making sure that we never have this kind of a disaster again, Young said.

But any big changes to the standard disaster response will be complicated, said Dawn Shirreffs, Florida director of the Environmental Defense Fund.

Challenges could include decisions on who participates in programs that elevate flood-prone homes or programs that buy those homes and tear them down. Planting mangroves to prevent erosion could end up blocking someones view.

Many homeowners bought their properties before people were fully aware of climate change and the risks of sea-level rise, Shirreffs said.

Keenan, the Tulane professor, said Sanibel will undoubtedly be changed by Hurricane Ian, based on the research he's done. There will be fewer government resources to help people rebuild. Those with fewer means and who are underinsured will likely move. People with financial means will stay.

Sanibel will just be an enclave for the ultrawealthy, Keenan said.

But Muench, the Sanibel resident, said homeowners and business owners are sure to rebuild their properties.

His family has owned and operated a campground on the island for three generations. The island, he said, is paradise  we live in the most beautiful place on Earth.

We are going to continue to exist on Sanibel, Muench, 52, said from Fort Myers on Friday after evacuating Sanibel. Give us five years, and you might not even notice if you didnt know.

___

Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia. Associated Press reporters Curt Anderson in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Meg Kinnard in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, contributed to this story.
Just over a decade after releasing her forward-thinking anthem Im Proud (Remix), JB the First Lady is poised to empower the next generation.

At the end of September the Vancouver-based, Nuxalk Onondaga Nations MC will perform at a local high school that will host her for four assemblies in order to accommodate all the students coming to see her. The last time she played there, four years ago, a student thanked JB for her inspiring set. Its great to run into someone who shared my story, and it affected them positively, she says.

Its by no means the first time JB and other seasoned vets of Canadas Indigenous hip-hop scene have reached out to younger fans. From British Columbias trap-subverting Haisla Nation duo Snotty Nose Rez Kids to Afro-Indigenous artist Boslen (who is signed to the major Capitol Records/Universal Music Canada in partnership with Chaos Club Digital) to queer Indigenous MC Dio Ganhdih and more, JB and her fellow OGs have helped usher in a golden age of Indigenous hip-hop in Canada.

As JB puts it, Im not saying I opened doors for themthey stepped onto that path. But I was able to guide them and say, Hey, this is a good path to go down. One of my main things with them: Polaris is the top level in Canada. And Snotty Nose did that. And seeing Boslen play major festival stagesits such a beautiful sight.

Through solidarity, unflinching lyricism, and production that combines hip-hop with traditional sounds, Indigenous rappers are bursting into Canadas mainstream with songs to galvanize the marginalized.

New Brunswicks City Natives are particularly noteworthy because they are helping the overlooked East Coast get its due. The Honour Song Remix, the lead single off LP The People of the Dawn, is a remix of the Mikmaq Honour Song a drum song and community anthem by George Paul, an elder from their region.

Pauls traditional rhythm was honed into a hip-hop beat by Classified, who sampled both Polaris Prize-winning, classically trained Indigenous musicologist Jeremy Dutchers remix of Pauls song, and Pauls original. Over that groundswell of an instrumental, City Natives indict the Indian Act and lay other ugly truths bare with their lyrics.

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Im not saying I opened doors for themthey stepped onto that path. But I was able to guide them and say: Hey, this is a good path to go down. - JB the First Lady

This album is a piece of our lives, as we talk about what we live and see happening on reserve or being indigenous in the city, says Brandon Arnold, who co-founded the duo with Blake Francis. Arnold (who is Maliseet and from the Tobique First Nation/Wolastoqiyik Neqotkuk, while Francis is Mikmaq from Eel Ground/The Natoaganeg First Nation) described the album as the struggle and the success. On one side, you see family or friends on welfare struggling to get by you [also] see other family and friends that overcame the welfare system and became something. Theres some harsh realities living on reserve that you dont hear artists talk about, like how certain members dont get help from the band because of who they are connected to, or how Chief and Council actually work for the government.

When asked about producing the song, Classified calls Pauls original a classic. And then, when Jeremy did it over, it became even something bigger. Sonics aside, Class says when he heard what City Natives were speaking on, I thought it was super dope and something that people needed to hear. The verses definitely took it to the next level.

Although City Natives have rapped for a few years and have begun breaking bigger recently, a number of even younger Indigenous artists are making New Brunswick a hip-hop hotbed. Pabineau First Nation (near Bathurst) MC Wolfcastle leapt into the national limelight last year with Get Lit. Theres also Flacko Finesse, whos Wolf Castles cousin and also grew up on Pabineau. On Pay the Price, Flacko lends a chilling objectivity to rhymes about the meth addiction ravaging his community. He also declares love for my mama and the rez, thats it.

Songs like Pay The Price definitely fit into this renaissance of Indigenous rap, Finesse says. We deal with issues like substance abuse and lack of services every single day on the rez, so when I hop on the track and be honest about what we experience, it allows more people to notice it and talk about it.

Indigenous hip-hop talent goes beyond the coasts. Manitoba MC Caid Jones was praised by Exclaim! last year for No Distractions Please. Frozen City, details the rising homicide rates disproportionately affecting indigenous residents in Winnipeg. He delivers aspirations on the albums title track, including lines about buying his family a mansion and fixing the damage inflicted on his community. Though Jones is non-status, his father is of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation and was raised by adopted parents outside that community. Jones began going to ceremony in 2014 and reconnected with his Indigenous heritage.

[Were here] to bring awareness to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, to residential schools, to no clean water on 90 reserves. On my reserve, Six Nations, there hasnt been clean water for three years. And thats not OK.  JB the First Lady

With prominent issues in the inner city such as homelessness, addiction, poverty, and underfunded programming, it has always been something close to my heart, Jones says. Whether Im involved in the community doing programs and care packages or we are supporting other organization, I have always been around the community. Theres a lot of work to be done when it comes to true reconciliation and healing for Indigenous people. But there are a lot of good people doing good work here in Winnipeg. This sparks a lot of passion when Im writing.

This increased attention followed years of steady growth. In 2008, Indigenous supergroup Rezofficial dropped the rugged Lonely and has drawn praise to this day, including a spot on Complex Canadas 20 Best Canadian Rap Songs of All Time. JB The First Lady dropped Get Ready Get Steady in 2011. A year later, fellow B.C. rapper Ostwelve released Indigenous Summer. Before all that, and before his political career, Wab Kinew dropped Live by the Drum in 2009.

There have been milestone moments, and when news about the discovery of unmarked residential school graves garnered international headlines, it affirmed the harsh history Indigenous MCs have long known and written about. Seeing T-Rhyme featured in international outlets like The Guardian, not to mention an earlier Vice documentary, was exciting for up-and-coming MCs like Valkyrie. The Edmonton MC says an Indigenous rap renaissance has been happening for years. I feel the rest of the world is just finally waking up and listening to our stories and finally hearing our voices. I love to say were taking back space, utilizing music to heal and reconnect with our identities and culture.

With all this momentum, The International Indigenous Hip-Hop Awards held its second ceremony in late August. The awards marketing director Chris Sharpe says, Hip-hop is a beautiful culture, and Indigenous hip-hop in Canada has its root messages hitting very powerful topics and life issues such as standing up for human rights, missing and murdered women and girls, fighting for the land, and more. Hip-hop at its core started in the Black community in the USA, and I feel it has always been a voice for the voiceless. So yes, a renaissance has begun and the reason is simple: Its all in the messages coming from these young and powerful talents in the First Nation Communities.

Many of those points are seconded by JB. [Were here] to bring awareness to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, to residential schools, to no clean water on 90 reserves. On my reserve, Six Nations, there hasnt been clean water for three years. And thats not OK.

Indigenous people are oral history people. I see myself as capturing oral history in a contemporary way, called hip-hop. Its amazing to see that evolution.
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty

A network of two dozen organizations has been tasked with the critical role of helping Ukrainians who claim to have been sexually assaulted by Russian soldiers since the start of Vladimir Putins devastating war in Ukraine.

The network operates throughout the country, often in some of the wars most dangerous hotspots, and offers anonymous support to anyone who requests help, ranging from sending rape kits to Russian-occupied villages to providing trauma support to survivors of sexual violence.

We obtain information about alleged human rights violations including conflict-related sexual violence through a variety of sources, a spokesperson for the UNs Human Rights Mission in Ukraine told The Daily Beast. Once the sources are verified, they gather all of the information they have received and use a reasonable grounds to believe standard of proof which, if it meets all of the elements of sexual violence, will be recorded.

Despite the intricate system created by these organization, the number of verified cases of sexual violence in the Ukraine war stands at just 43 assaults, 20 of which were reportedly against women or girls, with 23 against men. The number is staggeringly low, and inside Ukraine, the network believes that the true number of rape survivors is likely to be much higher, given that in conflict zones only one in every 10 to 20 rapes are reported.

Theyll Give Me a Medal: The Dark Reality of Russian Troops Alleged War-Crime Rapes

Each member of the network plays a different role, and in the early days of the war, one those networks, La Strada Ukraine, established two national hotlines for people to call with reports of possible human trafficking. Since then, the NGO has received calls relating to women, men, and children who have been sexually assaulted by civilians and members of the Russian military. The exact number of people La Strada has helped is unknown, but it receives reports of sexual assault every day.

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[Its] not limited to rape. It also can take many other forms. Sexual exploitation also takes place because of heightened vulnerability of these women, Yuilia Ansova, a lawyer for La Strada, told The Daily Beast in an interview.

Recently, La Strada received a call about a 17-year-old girl in foster care who went missing while crossing from Ukraine to Poland alone. The girl had been in touch with her foster family before leaving Ukraine and was supposed to meet a volunteer from Poland to ensure her safe arrival. She has not been heard from since. Ansova said that there is no way to know what happened to her, but there is a possibility that she was a victim of sex trafficking. Since La Strada works anonymously, there is no way to follow up to try to find any new information about the girl.

When speaking with survivors of sexual abuse is possible, another network, Sylini Ukraine, works to cover their medical expenses. Sylini works with victims who remain anonymous and, since the beginning of the war, has funded the cost of recovery for eight women, including dental surgery, STD tests, psychological support, and in some cases, abortions.

Volunteers examine the remnants of a shell explosion in the town of Staryy Saltiv, Kharkiv region. Anadolu Agency/Getty

The number of requests from survivors has grown in recent months. From May to June, 18 survivors of rape reached out to Sylini for help. Some wanted help covering medical costs, while others just wanted to ask questions, often disappearing once their questions are answered. Sylini might not hear from them again, but if the organization is needed, it is ready to help.

Its extremely important to give people information and to remind them that its OK if youre not ready to get help, Anastasia Krasnoplakhtych, a representative of Sylini Ukraine, told The Daily Beast over Zoom. People want to forget about this crime, and they want to rebuild their lives. A lot of people who write to us ask, Can you help me with some issue? and then they disappear.

While there is no specific demographic of people Sylini helps, they often receive an influx of requests from territories liberated from Russian occupation. Younger survivors are more likely to choose psychological help over medical, whereas older survivors are more focused on getting rid of all physical evidence of their assault than on speaking with a psychologist.

People [who] have experienced sexual violence shouldnt be expected to behave in a way that is typical, or the same for everyone. So someone can be very aggressive, other people can freeze and not be ready to contact at all, and others can cry, Krasnoplakhtych said.

But the responses of people who have experienced sexual violence depend on a persons mental state before sexual abuse, on their age, or past experience of sexual violence in their life, she added.

Along with financial support and resources set up to support survivors, some NGO workers drive to the homes of survivors in Russian-occupied territories, where communication is scarce. That includes members of SEMA Ukraine, a group made up of survivors of sexual violence, some of whom were assaulted by Russian troops in Crimea in 2014.

SEMA could not be reached directly for comment, but its partner, The International Council of Polish Women+, has worked closely with SEMA, documenting each instance where rape could have been used as a war crime. When SEMA is able to visit small villages on the outskirts of Kyiv, it will often count at least three cases of rape. In the wars hotspots, such as Bucha and Mariupol, the number is usually much higher.

They [SEMA] are traveling to small towns themselves, using their own money to meet victims in person and counsel them, Agnieszka Rutkowska, a member of The International Council of Polish Women+, told The Daily Beast. While women are a primary target of sexual violence in Ukraine, Rutkowska said that the network is aware of instances where men and children are victims as well, though they are often less reported.

Local residents evacuate and cross the bridge over the Oskil River in Kupiansk, in the recently retaken area near Kharkiv. Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty

The network also offers help and advice to survivors of rape who are now pregnant, including the option of abortion. In the midst of having their homes destroyed, losing loved ones, and being sexually assaulted, survivors must not only process the trauma of the assault but also deal with the physical aftermath. Many of those survivors have fled to Poland for safety, but when they arrive, they are met with some of the strictest abortion laws in the European Union.

In January 2021, Polands Constitutional Tribune banned access to abortions in almost all circumstances, except when someone has been raped or their life is at risk. But establishing that a rape has taken place takes time, and abortions are only allowed in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. As a result, only 1,000 legal abortions take place in Poland each year. Imagine the level of stress that the woman is going through during those few weeks of uncertainty, and she might change her mind several times, said Rutkowska.

I think the problem is that Ukrainian women hadnt expected what they saw when they came to Polandthat they couldnt have had abortion as they could have in Ukraine, she added.

In an attempt to get a legal abortion, some Ukrainian refugees have been forced to travel to other European Union countries to terminate a pregnancy. The journey has made some pro-choice activists draw comparisons between abortion access in Europe and the Post Roe era in the U.S., where the Supreme Court recently overturned the constitutional right to abortion.

Its Official: The Supreme Court Has Overturned Roe v. Wade

At the beginning of the war, a Ukrainian woman emailed Cocia Basia, an abortion access group in Berlin made up of Polish-speaking volunteers. The woman said she had just lost her husband and her home in Russias invasion. She was pregnant and needed an abortion. I dont have a house, I cannot keep this pregnancy, she wrote, according to Ciocia Basia member Zuzanna Dziuban, who had been reduced to tears after reading the email.

Abortions are technically illegal in Germany, but they can be administered under certain circumstances in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy at doctors clinics. Dziuban estimates that Ciocia Basia and its partners have helped at least 500 pregnant people coming from Ukraine get an abortion since March.

Its incredibly infuriating because abortion bans are closely associated with stigma, with people doing it in secrecy not being very often not being aware of the fact that they cannot be criminalized for having their own abortions, Dziuban told The Daily Beast. Theyre often alone when doing this We didnt think that [this] still exists in 2022. We have to stay alert. The U.S. shows how easy it is to take things from us that we fought for such a long time, and Poland also shows us how easily those rights can be taken away from us.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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In order to justify the effort of selecting individual stocks, it's worth striving to beat the returns from a market index fund. But in any portfolio, there will be mixed results between individual stocks. At this point some shareholders may be questioning their investment in Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc. (NYSE:SHO), since the last five years saw the share price fall 42%. And some of the more recent buyers are probably worried, too, with the stock falling 24% in the last year. Even worse, it's down 13% in about a month, which isn't fun at all. However, we note the price may have been impacted by the broader market, which is down 9.6% in the same time period.

Since Sunstone Hotel Investors has shed US$81m from its value in the past 7 days, let's see if the longer term decline has been driven by the business' economics.

View our latest analysis for Sunstone Hotel Investors

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement.

Sunstone Hotel Investors became profitable within the last five years. Most would consider that to be a good thing, so it's counter-intuitive to see the share price declining. Other metrics might give us a better handle on how its value is changing over time.

Arguably, the revenue drop of 23% a year for half a decade suggests that the company can't grow in the long term. That could explain the weak share price.

You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

We consider it positive that insiders have made significant purchases in the last year. Even so, future earnings will be far more important to whether current shareholders make money. You can see what analysts are predicting for Sunstone Hotel Investors in this interactive graph of future profit estimates.

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What About Dividends?

When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. As it happens, Sunstone Hotel Investors' TSR for the last 5 years was -32%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

A Different Perspective

Sunstone Hotel Investors shareholders are down 23% over twelve months (even including dividends), which isn't far from the market return of -22%. Unfortunately, last year's performance is a deterioration of an already poor long term track record, given the loss of 6% per year over the last five years. It will probably take a substantial improvement in the fundamental performance for the company to reverse this trend. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 2 warning signs with Sunstone Hotel Investors , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

Sunstone Hotel Investors is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.

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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Siamak Namazi, an American citizen detained in Iran, has been released on a one week furlough from the country's Evin prison, a lawyer for Namazi told CBS News on Saturday. And his father, Baquer Namazi, who is also detained in Iran, was told he could leave the country for medical treatment.

Jared Genser, the family's pro-bono counsel, said that Siamak is spending a night at home with his parents in Tehran for the first time in seven years.

"While these are critical first steps, we will not rest until the Namazis can all return to the United States and their long nightmare has finally come to an end," Genser said in a release. He also confirmed that the travel ban on Baquer Namazi had also been lifted.

The elder Namazi is scheduled to have surgery in Tehran. The United Nations announced the release in a statement Saturday afternoon, and described it as being intended for medical treatment abroad.

Baquer is a former U.N. official, and he was detained in 2016 after trying to help his son, who had been arrested there the previous year.

During his time in Evin, Siamak has been beaten, Tased, and forced to watch distressing footage, including some that shows his father in captivity, according to his lawyers. He has also repeatedly requested to visit his father, and he has been denied every time, his family said.

Last year, Baquer's lawyers appealed to the U.N. to help free the then-84-year-old because he was in need of immediate surgery. Throughout his time in prison, Baquer has been hospitalized several times and been diagnosed with various illnesses, including adult-onset epilepsy.

Baquer's son, Babak Namazi, revealed last year that the Iranian judiciary had closed his father's case and commuted his sentence to time served in early 2020 because of his deteriorating health. However, Iranian authorities have continued to arbitrarily deny him a passport to otherwise allow him to leave the country, effectively keeping him captive.

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Siamak and Baquer are considered by the U.S. to be wrongfully detained.

Fraudulent bank call leads police to new evidence in deaths of mother and daughter

Saturday Sessions: Nikki Lane performs "Denim and Diamonds"

Saturday Sessions: Nikki Lane performs "Try Harder"
By Haider kadhim and Ahmed Saad

BAGHDAD (Reuters) -Iraqi security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades on Saturday to disperse stone-throwing protesters in clashes that wounded scores off Baghdad's Tahrir Square, where hundreds marked the anniversary of anti-government unrest in 2019.

At least 86 people were wounded, about half of them members of the security forces, medical and security sources said, adding that 38 protesters were hit by rubber bullets.

"Infiltrated elements" were attacking security forces with Molotov cocktails and hunting rifles, Iraq's military said.

Security personnel had deployed checkpoints across the city, closed off bridges and squares and erected walls across some of the bridges leading to the fortified Green Zone that houses government headquarters and foreign embassies.

Protesters in the square waved the Iraqi flag and chanted "we want to overthrow the regime".

"We took part in today's peaceful protests because we want our demands to be met... we want security, jobs and our simple rights ... we are not here to fight or shed blood," said Laith, a young protester from Baghdad.

A few metres away, a Reuters reporter witnessed security forces firing tear gas and stun grenades to disperse protesters who had tried to tear down a wall blocking the Republic Bridge leading across the Tigris to the Green Zone.

Protests also erupted in southern provinces. In the city of Nasiriya, hundreds gathered in the central Haboubi Square and many marched towards the provincial building and threw Molotov cocktails.

In Diwaniya and Basra, protesters gathered in front of the provincial government building and burned tyres.

In 2019, protests erupted against then prime minister Adel Abdul Mahdi's government with demonstrators demanding an overhaul of a political system they see as profoundly corrupt and keeping most Iraqis in poverty.

More than 560 people, mostly unarmed demonstrators but also members of the security forces, were killed as Iraqi security forces and unidentified gunmen cracked down.

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Mahdi quit under pressure from the protests with powerful Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr the biggest winner in an election last October.

Sadr in June withdrew all his lawmakers, nearly a quarter of parliament, and resorted to whipping up street protests after his movement failed to form a government, leading to some of the worst clashes the country has seen in years.

"Not this government and neither the previous one. We are against the political system in its entirety. We want drastic change. It is enough," daily wage worker Yasser said.

Saturday's gathering raised fears of more unrest and tension among power-hungry politicians that could further delay the formation of a government after Sadr quit politics at the end of August.

Four rockets landed in the Green Zone on Wednesday during a partial lockdown as parliament was convening, wounding seven security personnel, and another four rockets fired from eastern Baghdad landed around the zone on Thursday.

(Additional reporting by Maher Nazih in Baghdad, Aref Mohammed in Basra, Emad al-Khuzaie in Diwaniya, and baghdad bureau, writing by Amina Ismail; Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Nick Macfie and Alexander Smith)
Jerry Ryals took photos of himself inside the Capitol on January 6. The Department of Justice.

An Oklahoma Capitol riot defendant asked to avoid jail time in a Friday sentencing memo.

Jerry Ryals said he's already suffered the loss of his wife, job, and ability to own firearms and vote.

Prosecutors say Ryals took a video of himself on January 6 talking about "overthrowing" the Capitol.

A Capitol riot defendant's attorney listed the consequences he says his client has suffered as a result of his participation in the January 6 attack, while petitioning a judge for leniency this week.

Jerry Ryals of Oklahoma pleaded guilty to one count of civil disorder in May and is set to be sentenced next month. He was originally charged with five counts, including obstruction of an official proceeding, entering and remaining, and disorderly conduct. But as the government works to prosecute the more than 900 people arrested in connection with the attack, federal prosecutors have offered some rioters lesser charges in exchange for their guilty pleas.

An attorney for Ryals on Friday filed a sentencing memo requesting no jail time for his crime, instead suggesting a sentence of two years of probation. Federal sentencing guidelines carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison for the charge.

Ryan J. Reilly of NBC News was the first to report on Ryals' request.

The defendant's lawyer in court documents painted a picture of his client as a "gentle giant" who was betrayed by former President Donald Trump's election lies.

"Unlike many others who participated in the January 6th riot, Mr. Ryals had no agenda other than to participate in a peaceful protest," attorney Jay P. Mykytiuk wrote. "He was unarmed. He did not force his way into the Capitol. He had no physical contact with law enforcement."

Mykytiuk acknowledged that Ryals "expressed his support" for those who spearheaded the breach of the building, but said he did not "join them at the front."

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Ryals has "already felt the impact" of his involvement in the insurrection, his lawyer argued: He lost his job and became estranged from his wife as a result of the siege. Ryals, who is described as an "avid hunter" will also be barred from owning firearms as a result of his conviction and will no longer be able to vote  "a right he cherished so deeply."

"Due to the massive publicity and historic nature of the January 6 riot, most people in his community know of his offense, and many have shunned him because of it," Mykytiuk added.

The lawyer declined to comment on Ryals' sentencing prospects.

He is not the first January 6 defendant to describe massive personal fallout from the siege. A Texas lawyer earlier this year said he "hit rock bottom" after he lost his fiancee, friends, and job.

Ryals and "two like-minded friends" drove from Oklahoma to Washington, DC, to hear Trump speak at the "Stop the Steal" rally that preceded the riot, according to court documents. Ryals took several photos and videos of himself and others at the riot, prosecutors said, including one in which he said "we definitely have enough people to overthrow this bitch."

"They don't stand a fucking chance. We got the fucking doors open up there I guess. We're working our way in slowly but surely," Ryals said in the video, according to court documents.

More than 900 people have been arrested in connection with the attack, and nearly 400 people have pleaded guilty thus far.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Twenty members of a Jewish sect escaped from detention in Mexico following a raid targeting the group, which is accused of drug trafficking and rape, an official said Friday.

The sect called Lev Tahor was formed in the 1980s and members practice an ultra-Orthodox form of Judaism in which women wear black tunics covering them from head to toe.

Twenty sect members were taken to a government-run shelter on September 23, after a raid by the Mexican authorities on the sect compound in the town of Tapachula in southern Chiapas state.

On Thursday dramatic television images showed members of the group dressed in flowing robes pushing past guards at that shelter -- one of whom was seen lying on the ground -- before walking away.

"They didn't let us leave. That's a violation of the right to freedom, the right to be religious," one member told journalists after the breakout.

"That's why the community had to make this decision," he added.

The breakout occurred in Huixtla, located about 190 kilometers (120 miles) from the border with Guatemala, said a government agency official, who asked not to be named.

"They destroyed the shelter" run by Mexican welfare authorities and fled, the official said.

"They hit the guards with stones," the person added.

The initial raid was revealed on Tuesday by Israel's foreign ministry, which said that citizens of Israel, Canada, the United States and Guatemala were among a total of 26 people detained.

Two of them were suspected of sex crimes and human trafficking and could face up to 20 years in jail, the ministry said in a statement.

Two others wanted by police were believed to have left the compound days earlier, it added.

"A private Israeli team" accompanied police, the ministry said, while the Israeli consul "was staying nearby" in order to ensure that the members of the sect were well treated and that the children were not separated from their mothers.

A three-year-old boy was handed over to his father who had fled the sect several years ago, and both arrived in Israel on Monday, the statement said.

str/axm/dr
A territorial-era law that bans abortions except to save the life of a mother will remain in effect, a Pima County judge said Friday, dashing hopes of abortion rights advocates who sought to put the law on hold while they challenge it in court.

Planned Parenthood Arizona this week asked Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson to put a hold on enforcement of the 1864 law, which prescribes prison terms for abortion providers. The request came three days after Johnson lifted an injunction that had left the 1864 law dormant for nearly five decades.

The latest order will do little to resolve widespread confusion over abortion law in Arizona, which began in June when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned precedent set in its Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion up until a fetus could survive outside of the womb.

Allowing the 1864 law to take effect, as Johnson has now done via two court orders, creates more pressure to resolve the conflicting laws on the books amid a midterm election year in which abortion is a top issue for voters.

Earlier this year, Arizona lawmakers and Republican Gov. Doug Ducey enacted a law banning abortions after 15 weeks. Ducey has said that law should prevail.

This week, Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich and advocates for abortion rights found themselves in a unique position of agreement on at least one thing: calling on Ducey to convene a special session of the Legislature to determine which law prevails. That special session is unlikely  Ducey has not signaled any support for the issue, and with lawmakers facing election in shortly over a month, drawing them away from campaigns would likely be an unwelcome idea.

Brnovich also asked Ducey to clarify his stance through a legal filing.

C.J. Karamargin, Ducey's spokesman, had no comment on the latest ruling and said Ducey's office was still reviewing Brnovich's request to provide clarity on the conflicting laws.

Brnovich, whose office fought to restore the 1864 law and opposed Planned Parenthood's latest effort to put it on hold, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Planned Parenthood responds

Planned Parenthood, the abortion rights advocacy giant that provides services in Arizona, criticized the uncertainty created by the court rulings and conflicting views of elected officials.

"It is impermissible that Arizonans are waking up each morning to their elected officials making conflicting statements about which laws are in effect or claiming that they do not know, and yet the court has refused to provide any clarity or relief," Brittany Fonteno, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Arizona, said in a statement Friday.

Fonteno said uncertainty about abortion rights in the state has "been devastating for our physicians and staff who have been forced to notify patients that they can no longer care for them, and traumatic for our patients who have been forced to flee the state to receive basic health care."

But Johnson, who was appointed to the Pima County bench by Ducey in 2017, said in her ruling it was not her duty to reconcile the laws, though she noted that it was "certainly an issue that must be addressed."

Rules dictating court procedure prevented her from weighing in, Johnson wrote, adding that "interpretation and interplay of Arizona's abortion statutes should be addressed in a new lawsuit."

Reach reporter Stacey Barchenger at stacey.barchenger@arizonarepublic.com or 480-416-5669. Follow her on Twitter @sbarchenger.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona abortion ban: Pima County judge rejects request for stay
Kate, the Princess of Wales, revealed how her children react when they see old pictures of her and husband Prince William.

During a recent visit to Wales, Kate was speaking with admirers when one showed her a picture of her and William during their engagement in 2010. Kate got a kick out of seeing the old photograph and was amused to think that far in the past.

"Oh my goodness, is that from our engagement?" she asked the fan, which was shared on TikTok. "We always laugh about this. Although we've been married for 11 years, we've been together for double that, so it's extraordinary."

She also revealed what her children think when they see old photos of their parents, claiming they arent afraid to knock them down a few pegs.

PRINCE WILLIAM AND KATE MIDDLETON VISIT WALES FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE EARNING NEW ROYAL TITLES

Kate was surprised to see her engagement photo held up by one of the admirers during her visit to Wales. Anwar Hussein/Getty Images

"The children look back at the photos and say, 'Mummy, you look so young,'" Kate added.

The royal couple traveled to Wales Tuesday to meet with different communities in the region and with leaders of vital charitable organizations in the nation. They first met with volunteers at the RNLI Holyhead Lifeboat Station and then the St. Thomas Church in Swansea.

The visit marked the first time William and Kate traveled to Wales since being named the new Prince and Princess of Wales. They are the first couple to take on those titles since Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana held those titles. When Charles remarried, wife Camilla was referred to as Duchess of Cornwall rather than the Princess of Wales.

PRINCE WILLIAM, PRINCE HARRY, KATE MIDDLETON AND MEGHAN MARKLE, THE FAB FOUR'S ROCKY RECENT HISTORY

"It's nice coming back to Wales because it was where we lived before we had our family and everything," Kate told the crowd in the TikTok video. "So it's been a really special day."

William and Kate lived in Wales for three years after getting married in April 2011. The two were together for ten years before officially tying the knot, having started dating in 2001 after meeting at the University of St. Andrews.

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Kate and William lived in Wales for three years after they were married in April 2011. Chris Jackson/Getty Images

After a decade of dating, William popped the question while the couple was on vacation in Kenya. William said he didnt feel as if it was a huge surprise to Kate since the couple had already been talking about the possibility of getting engaged for a while before that.

"It was about three weeks ago on holiday in Kenya. We had a little private time away together with some friends, and I just decided that it was the right time really," William revealed during a joint interview at the time. "We had been talking about marriage for a while, so it wasnt a massively big surprise."

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They got married in 2011 and welcomed their first child, Prince George, in July 2013. George was followed by his sister Princess Charlotte in May 2015 and younger brother Prince Louis in April 2018.

"Personally, becoming a mother has been such a rewarding and wonderful experience," Kate said during a speech in March 2017. "However, at times, it has also been a huge challenge. Even for me, who has support at home that most mothers do not."

Kate gave birth to their first child, Prince George, in July 2013. George was followed by his sister Princess Charlotte in May 2015 and younger brother Prince Louis in April 2018. Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

During a 2017 visit to Mitchell Brook Primary School, Kate said her ultimate goal as a mother was to instill "qualities like kindness, respect and honesty" in her children as her parents did for her, calling them "central values" and explaining they are "just as important as excelling at math or sport."
Katie Price says she has a void in her life now. (PA)

Katie Price has opened up on the "massive void" left in her life since eldest son Harvey moved into a residential college.

The model and TV star has a close bond with Harvey, 20, who has multiple physical and learning difficulties caused by Prader-Willi syndrome.

Read more: Dermot O'Leary says Big Brother needs to be nothing like Love Island

She recently made the tough decision to move him to a residential college who could support his physical and emotional needs, something which featured in BBC documentaries Harvey and Me, and What Harvey Did Next.

Katie Price talked about missing eldest son Harvey now he has moved out. (BBC)

But despite Harvey settling well into college, mum-of-five Price, 44, has said she still finds their new living circumstances difficult.

According to The Sun, in an episode of ITV2's Shopping with Keith Lemon, the comedian and host asks her what it has been like moving Harvey to college.

She admits: "Well it's like a relief. But at the same time, a massive void out of my life."

Read more: Stacey Solomon worried she won't be able to afford Pickle Cottage energy bills

The pair shop for bouncy castles and an inflatable assault course for Harvey's 20th birthday in the episode, where she also shares the story of being given Harvey's diagnosis when he was a baby.

Harvey and Katie Price have a close bond. (Getty Images)

She tells Lemon: "I'll never forget it. I was in the room with my mum and the doctor looked at his eye and went, 'Ah yes, he's blind'.

"It was like we were on a conveyer belt. He just looked normal, just perfect. A nice cuddly baby. I had no idea because he was my first. To me he just looked perfect, but he's still perfect to me."

Price recently posted on Instagram that Harvey's college had been doing a great job in helping him to get his weight under control, but that she feared his size was "life-threatening".

She wrote: Im so proud of Harvey he has lost a stone now and his college are doing amazing trying to keep him active and healthy eating as its now become life threatening with his weight."

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Harvey's multiple disabilities include partial blindness and autism, while his Prader-Willi syndrome can cause extreme appetite and weight gain.

Watch: Harvey Price 'settled' at college
A Nelson County sheriffs deputy was shot while investigating a domestic incident in Bardstown Friday, and another person involved was taken to a hospital as well.

The Nelson County Sheriffs Office said in a Facebook post that they were called to Ivy Avenue at 3:27 p.m., and when they arrived, they found a male subject who was irate. That man opened fire on deputies, and one of them sustained an injury that was not life-threatening, the sheriffs office said.

In addition to the deputy, a male subject was transported to a local hospital and his condition is currently unknown, Kentucky State Police said in a news release.

State police are investigating.
Measures taken by Kyiv residents, from the practical to the impractical, in response to nuclear strike threat

Read also: Russian colonel killed in HIMARS strike in Ukraine

NV has looked into out how Kyiv residents are reacting to the Kremlins nuclear threats and what the Kyiv authorities will do if there is a nuclear strike.

Mykhailo Zhernakov, the co-founder and chairman of the board of the DEJURE Foundation, is a Kyiv resident who takes seriously the threats of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine.

At first, Zhernakov read lots of articles on the Internet about what should be done if this happens, and then he started stocking up on supplies.

He stocked up on food, water and adhesive tape to seal the windows and thus protect his home from radioactive dust. In case he has to move in a nuclear damage zone, he bought clothes that can be quickly changed: raincoats, overshoes, gloves, respirators. He also ordered a Geiger counter and bought potassium iodide at the pharmacy without any difficulties, although social networks reported it was impossible.

Read also: Ukrainian expert says how Russia might launch nuclear strike on Ukraine

There is a non-zero probability that it will happen somewhere here (in Kyiv), and well have to get to evacuation points on our own, so these are the things I consider important, Zhernakov said.

Its better to be prepared and nothing happen than the other way around.

Many Kyiv residents think similarly. Although Ukraines Western partners currently say they see no evidence of Russia preparing to use nuclear weapons, some experts are considering the prospect of Russian striking various targets in Ukraine, including the capital city. So some Kyiv residents are trying to take measures to protect themselves.

Some have appealed to the city authorities to issue individual protection kits to all residents of Kyiv in case of a radiation hazard  a corresponding petition appeared on the website of the Kyiv City Council on Sept. 26 and in the first two days gathered almost 2,000 signatures out of the 6,000 required for consideration. Others are discussing on social networks the potential effects of a nuclear strike at their own homes.

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The NukeMap online service makes it possible to assess such effects. The site, which is now especially popular among Ukrainians, was created in 2012 by U.S. scientist Alex Wellerstein, who studies the history of nuclear weapons. This interactive tool helps simulate a nuclear explosion of a certain type and power and shows its impact on the area on the map. In particular, in what radius around the epicenter of the explosion will the greatest destruction occur and where there is a critical threat to peoples lives.

Read also: Ukrainian exports to Europe have nearly recovered to pre-war levels, but global exports have been halved

Zhernakov believes his home will be in the zone of damage if there is a nuclear attack on the city center. Realizing this, the Kyiv resident decided that if the attack is known about in advance, for example, if the aggressor state issues an ultimatum with certain deadlines, he will have to find alternative housing. Therefore, he found a house with a basement outside the city where he could move if necessary and spend the dangerous period after the explosion.

The city administration also advises Kyiv residents to take care of their safety in advance. In particular, they recommend that people learn the map of shelters, stock up on bottled water, medicines, hermetically sealed human and pet food, as well as discussing an emergency action plan with relatives.

The Kyiv City State Administration itself has its own plan for all structural divisions in case of biological, chemical and radiation threats. In response to NVs request, the officials said the city had updated its memo on actions in case of a radiation accident or nuclear strike, informing Kyiv residents about emergency situations, decontaminating areas if necessary, and evacuating Kyiv residents from assembly points.

If a recommendation comes from official sources to take potassium iodide, Kyiv residents are advised to do so, following the announced dosage scheme. The city has purchased the popular drug and handed it over to district administrations, which will issue it at evacuation points.

An upsurge in demand for potassium iodide pills, which, if used correctly after a nuclear explosion, can protect the thyroid gland from internal absorption of radioactive iodine, was seen in Ukraine back in August amid an extremely dangerous situation at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant due to shelling by the Russian invaders.

Vasyl Hubarets, the corporate communications director of the Darnytsia pharmaceutical company, said retail sales of potassium iodide 125, which the company produces, had increased eightfold against July amid the threat of a radiation leak.

Read also: Putin claims readiness to negotiate with Kyiv amid annexation of occupied territories

By the way, a similar situation arose at the beginning of Russias full-scale invasion, when there was a radiation threat at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Hubarets said.

The demand for these pills decreased in September, but after Sept. 21, when Russian dictator Vladimir Putin delivered his speech with another nuclear threat, it increased sharply again, five times during the week from Sept. 21 to Sept. 27 against the previous week, Hubarets noted.

According to him, potassium iodide can be freely purchased in pharmacies now, although maybe not in all of them, or ordered online. Moreover, Darnytsia did not change the selling prices for this drug during the year, and also increased the planned production volumes in August.

Despite most of the components of a nuclear go-bag being available, not all Kyiv residents plan to put one together. Some even criticise those who do. Moreover, a popular joke on this serious topic is spreading on social networks: It says that if there is to be a nuclear strike, the people of Kyiv are to gather on Shchekavytsia Mountain and hold an orgy there. Dozens of memes and caricatures have already been created about the proposed event on Shchekavytsia, and some activists decided to take advantage of its credibility for a good cause, namely to organize a training on first aid on the Kyiv mountain on the first weekend of October.

Read also: Putin signs decree on the claimed annexation of occupied Ukrainian territory

Of course, the training isnt an orgy, the organizers say.

But there will be scissors, groans and tears! After all, we will teach how to stop critical bleeding.

Some people, probably as a psychological defense, are joking and downplaying the nuclear threat, but I dont think this is responsible adult behavior, Zhernakov said.

However, there are not so many among his friends who, like him, have decided to stock up on change of clothes, respirators and other means of protection.

Its good that many people have water and food stocks, but I would like to see it treated more responsibly, Zhernakov added.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The Mirage hotel and casino in Las Vegas announced it would temporarily close its dolphin attraction in the wake of a third dolphin death this year.

The Mirages Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat currently has no reopening date scheduled, a spokesperson told The Washington Post.

An 11-year-old male bottlenose dolphin named K2 died Sept. 24 of what the Mirage said was a respiratory illness. A necropsy is pending.

K2 was very vocal, energetic, loved his toys and was a joy to be around, Franz Kallao, Mirages interim president, wrote in a staff memo obtained by The Post. He always made us smile.

An Atlantic bottlenose dolphin at the Mirage in 2008. sticks its head out of the water at The Mirage Hotel & Casino during a visit by (Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Cirque du Soleil)

An Atlantic bottlenose dolphin at the Mirage in 2008. sticks its head out of the water at The Mirage Hotel & Casino during a visit by (Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Cirque du Soleil)

Eleven is a relatively young age for bottlenose dolphins, which can live at least 40 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Some females live even longer, into their sixties.

Earlier this month, a 19-year-old male dolphin named Maverick died at the Mirage after being treated for a lung infection. A 13-year-old female bottlenose dolphin, Bella, died in April of gastroenteritis.

Seven bottlenose dolphins remain at the exhibit, National Geographic reported. The attraction is also home to leopards, lions, tigers, a sloth, a cockatoo and hundreds of fish.

The business is working with veterinarians and other experts to conduct a thorough review and inspection of both the animals and the facilities, Kallao told the Associated Press.

Three Atlantic bottlenose dolphins jump out of the water at The Mirage Hotel & Casino in 2008. (Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Cirque du Soleil)

Three Atlantic bottlenose dolphins jump out of the water at The Mirage Hotel & Casino in 2008. (Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Cirque du Soleil)

The attraction advertises itself as a place for visitors to come face-to-face with animals. Guests can pay extra for experiences like feeding the dolphins, posing for photos, and even painting with them. Dave Blasko, the Mirages director of animal care, told The Post that the dolphins are not coerced into interacting with people.

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But some animal welfare advocates have long argued that dolphins  highly intelligent animalsthat have complex social structures and can swim up to 100 miles a day in the wild  should not be kept in captivity.

A woman participates in a yoga class near a window looking into the Mirage's dolphin habitat in 2017. (Photo: John Locher via AP)

A woman participates in a yoga class near a window looking into the Mirage's dolphin habitat in 2017. (Photo: John Locher via AP)

The Mirage, in particular, has also been a target of criticism, especially following a series of deaths in the late 90s and early 2000s that led to activists at the time dubbing it the Dolphin Death Pool, Las Vegas dolphin advocate Shelly Rae told The Post.

In 2017, the facility received a Humane Certified designation from the nonprofit American Humane (not to be confused with The Humane Society of the United States, which opposes dolphin captivity). However, the certification was controversial, with dolphin advocacy nonprofit The Dolphin Project publishing an op-ed blasting the designation as nothing but an illusion.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
Paramount Plus has released a four-part documentary series titled "11 Minutes" detailing the events of the deadliest shooting in U.S. history five years after the tragedy left 58 people dead in a single evening.

Two additional victims of the October 2017 shooting into a massive crowd of people at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas have died since that day, making officials' total death count 60 people, on top of the some 800 other victims who were injured in the shooting.

"As a storyteller, I have often felt disappointed in how that night was shared. It felt like the narrative that was often explored was that of the worst person there and that the story faded fast into the next hard headline," survivor Ashley Hoff, one of the subjects of the docuseries, wrote in a Sept. 13 Facebook post about the series. "As the yearly markers passed, it felt more and more that the world stopped remembering the night 22,000 of us will never forget. I got to thinking - maybe thats why I was there. Because I'm a storyteller and I could share what I remembered."

Hoff added that as she ran out of the field where the country concert was being held as the shooter opened fire on thousands of attendees, she "got to bear witness to some of the most beautiful moments of humanity" as people rushed to help one another.

RETIRED LAS VEGAS OFFICER WHO RESPONDED TO HARVEST FESTIVAL SHOOTING REVEALS WHAT'S ALWAYS IN HIS BAG

"THAT is the story I wanted to tell and the one - that with the help of an amazing team, the trust of every person who shared," she wrote.

SWAT ARRESTS CALIFORNIA MAN FOR PLOTTING LAS VEGAS-STYLE MASS SHOOTING

The docuseries aims to tell first-person stories of the heroism that unfolded that night alongside one of the most horrific massacres in American history.

"In one instance, viewers accompany heavily armed officers on their step-by-step assault of the shooters hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay," a description of the series on the Paramount Plus website reads.

Paddock had opened fire on concertgoers from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel on the Las Vegas Strip before killing himself.
A retired Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) police officer who responded to the Oct. 1, 2017, shooting that left 58 people dead that night at the Route 91 Harvest festival is reflecting on the "real heros" of that night, five years later.

"It's just important to remember who was lost, who sprung into action that night, what really mattered in that moment. As a nation, I think it paints a picture of who we are as a people that ultimately  whatever your politics are, whatever your skin color is, all kinds of people that night went to serve their fellow man and sprung into action," retired LVMPD officer Ashton Packe told Fox News Digital in a Friday interview. "And I just think it's a testament to us as a country."

Packe credited a large part of the "healing process" to the Vegas Golden Knights hockey team immediately after the shooting.

"That team, and how they honored the victims, the first responders, the nurses, the docs, the cops, the paramedics and just the people, the victims, their families. That really helped," the former officer said. "So, I just saw how the community came together and rallied.  People think Vegas is just  the strip, and that's it. But outside of the strip, Las Vegas is an incredibly loving community that has tons of people [who] have huge amounts of care in their heart for their fellow citizens."

LAS VEGAS SHOOTING: 11 MINUTES DOCUSERIES DETAILS OF DEADLIEST US SHOOTING IN HISTORY

People run from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after apparent gun fire was hear on October 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. David Becker

Packe, who served on the LVMPD's Counter-Terrorism Section, said he "had anticipated multiple cell attacks" that evening when he heard initial reports of an attack.

RETIRED LAS VEGAS OFFICER WHO RESPONDED TO HARVEST FESTIVAL SHOOTING REVEALS WHAT'S ALWAYS IN HIS BAG

"I thought we were dealing with, you know, a multi-cell international terrorist attack, like what we saw in Mumbai in 2008, where the terrorist organization came over from Pakistan and laid siege to that city in multiple shootings at multiple locations at the same time. So, my heart broke in the initial moments thinking I had missed something in my prevention side of working in the intelligence world and kind of working in the shadows with the federal government and our police department here and all the other surrounding agencies that we work with to prevent these things from happening in Las Vegas, the number one tourist destination in the world."

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But that didn't end up being the case, as Packe later discovered after Stephen Paddock, 64, opened fire on thousands of concertgoers from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel before killing himself.

Packe also addressed lingering questions about Paddock's motive that night, which remains unclear five years later.

LVMPD told Fox News Digital in a Friday evening statement that it is "important to make the distinction that 58 people died that night, and subsequently two others passed away from their injuries," bringing the total death count from that day to 60.

Stephen Paddock opened fire on thousands of concert attendees from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017. MARK RALSTON/AFP

LVMPD pointed Fox News Digital to the department's final criminal investigation report into the shooting released on Aug. 31, 2018, when asked about the shooter's motive. The final report, however, makes no distinct conclusion regarding a motive.

"In reference to the 2,000 investigated leads, 22,000 hours of video, 252,000 images obtained and approximately 1,000 served legal processes, nothing was found to indicate motive on the part of Paddock or that he acted with anyone else," the report states.

SWAT ARRESTS CALIFORNIA MAN FOR PLOTTING LAS VEGAS-STYLE MASS SHOOTING

Marilou Danley, Paddock's longtime girlfriend, told police in an interview that while she and Paddock, who was known as a "high roller" in Reno, Nevada, lived and traveled all over the world together. She also told police that Paddock was mild-mannered, not violent, and not religious. He would often make comments to Delaney, who was Catholic, like, "Your God doesn't love us." Paddock also did not frequently discuss politics, but Danley told investigators he was pleased with the 2016 election of former President Trump. His step-brother, Eric Paddock, stated that he was neither liberal nor conservative and did not vote in the election, according to the report.

The shooter's girlfriend also told police that Paddock was physically unable to perform sexually and would sleep for long periods of time after physical exertion. He also frequently complained about being sick and said doctors could not help him and told him that he had a "chemical imbalance," the report states. He had a sensitivity to smells, would not shake people's hands and "often wore cotton gloves."

He developed a heavy interest in guns and ammunition before 2017 but did not talk about gun control, according to Delaney. During a September 2017 stay at the Mandalay Bay hotel, Delaney noticed Paddock acting strangely and "constantly looking out the windows of the room which overlooked the Las Vegas Village venue."

Paddock's ex-wife of six years, Peggy Paddock, told police he was "not interested in drawing attention to himself" and "did not buy flashy clothes, jewelry or cars." Paddock's stepbrother, however, said the shooter "needed to be seen as important and needed to be catered to."

A crowd flees a shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival shooting on Oct. 1, 2017. Ethan Miller

Packe said he can "appreciate" the country's "sruggle with putting the fact that one lone individual could create such horrific carnage," but he and others who were in Las Vegas that night have found peace despite not having all the answers.

"I think we're obsessed with motive as a country," he explained. "I think sometimes the bottom line is just evil. Men are going to do evil things. And thank God there are men and women who are willing to rapidly respond and face them. I think we, as a country, should probably  remember a little bit more the fact that there are men and women willing to face these bad, evil acts at a moment's notice instead of relishing on what's the motive  and getting stuck in that kind of a vicious cycle."

Packe believes most people in Las Vegas probably see "an evil man doing something horrifically bad  shooting people from a distance so he didn't have to see the up close and personal consequences of his actions."

A total of 60 people have died as a result of the Oct. 1, 2017, shooting, including 58 who died that night and two who have died in the years since. Doug Kranz/Icon Sportswire

"Angry at a hotel. Angry at perceived injustice. A grievance collector. That's especially what this guy was," Packe said. "He was a classic grievance collector. I'm a victim. Poor me. Someone must pay. And so, I think most Las Vegans understand that  the investigation was done, and  what we found was just the axis of an evil man."

Despite lingering questions about that day, Packe says victims and first-responders have shown incredible strength in recovering from trauma.

"I was very concerned in the years after 1 October for the mental health of a lot of our law enforcement officers," he said. "But I think scars sometimes heal into stronger tissue or bone. And I'm saying that metaphorically. Obviously, I'm very relieved at the five-year mark. I was very worried about how many first responders would take their own lives  not being able to [wrap] their minds around what happened. I'm very happy that it's a very low number  and that I think it's a testament to modern policing where a lot of law enforcement executives see the value in employee assistance programs and suicide prevention and counseling and mental health."

Packe, who now aims to become a private investigator, is an advocate of staying healthy both mentally and physically  working out, eating well, staying spiritually active, and getting help when it's needed  in order to recover from trauma and come out stronger on the other side.
Leaders of a Jewish sect arrested on suspicion of human trafficking and sex crimes in Mexico have been freed.

Their lawyer said the pair, who are foreign citizens, were released on Thursday night for lack of evidence.

It followed a mass breakout of about 20 members of the sect held in a government facility after the raid on their jungle base last week.

The sect, Lev Tahor, is known for extremist practices and imposing a strict regime on its followers.

It advocates child marriage, inflicts harsh punishments even for minor transgressions and requires women and girls as young as three years old to completely cover up with robes.

A source who was involved in the operation against the group told the BBC the decision to free the pair undermined "the impressive and untainted legal work accomplished by the Attorney General's Office and the police prior to and during the raid".

The two men had been under arrest since the raid on 23 September. Israel's foreign ministry identified them as an Israeli and a Canadian citizen.

The lawyer, Yaret Jimenez, told Spanish news agency Efe that her clients were "100% acquitted" of the alleged offences.

Ms Jimenez suggested the accusations against her clients were used as a pretext by the authorities to carry out the raid in order to remove a child from the compound.

A three-year-old boy was released in the raid and reunited with his father, a former sect member. The pair flew back to his father's home in Israel on Tuesday.

The operation was the result of two years of secret activity which began when the man, Yisrael Amir, appealed to a former member of Israel's domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet, for help to get his son out.

The group's compound, 11 miles (17.5km) north of Tapachula in Chiapas state, was raided after months of investigation and surveillance involving Mexican and Guatemalan authorities and a private four-man team from Israel including former Mossad and Shin Bet agents.

Story continues

About 20 sect members removed from the compound were held at a government facility in the western town of Huixtla while authorities decided what to do with them.

However, they broke out in dramatic scenes on Wednesday night, clambering over a guard who had fallen trying to stop them, and disappearing into the night. It is unclear where they have gone.

The group arrived in Mexico from neighbouring Guatemala, where most members still live, earlier this year.

The sect's leadership in Guatemala has been at the centre of a kidnapping case since 2018. Nine of the sect's members have been charged, four of whom have so far been convicted.

Lev Tahor - Hebrew for Pure of Heart - was formed in Israel in 1988 and is thought to number up to 350 members, according to an ex-members group.

It has been forced to move from country to country in recent years after coming under scrutiny from local authorities. It is currently spread between Israel, the US, North Macedonia, Morocco, Mexico and Guatemala.

While the group is often described as ultra-Orthodox, it follows its own sets of rules and has been declared a "dangerous cult" by an Israeli court.

Its leaders have denied breaking local laws and say the group is being targeted because of its beliefs.
KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO  SATURDAY, 1 OCTOBER 2022, 19:41

Screenshot from Google.Maps

Serhii Haidai, Head of the Luhansk Oblast Military Administration, is expecting the liberation of the Luhansk region to begin after the city of Lyman in Donetsk Oblast has been freed.

Source: Haidai on the national joint 24/7 newscast

Quote: "After the occupiers leave the city of Lyman (if they can and if they have the time), the liberation of Luhansk Oblast will start. We are all waiting for this, we are prepared".

Details: Haidai also remarked that only the military know the axis along which the liberation will start and how it will be carried out.

He added that the occupiers who are fleeing from Lyman are posting videos in which they complain about being abandoned and not knowing what to do.

Background: On 1 October, a Ukrainian flag was hoisted at the entrance to the city of Lyman in Donetsk Oblast.

The Russian Ministry of Defence reported on the withdrawal of troops from Lyman. Yet Hanna Maliar, the Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine, stated that fighting continues in Lyman.



Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Lidl was ordered to destroy its chocolate bunnies after a lawsuit from Lindt.

Switzerland's supreme court said it was likely that customers could confuse the two items.

The court suggested Lidl could melt down the chocolate and reuse it in other products.

Lidl has been ordered to destroy its chocolate bunnies after the German supermarket lost a copyright suit brought by chocolate maker Lindt.

The Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland said Lindt deserved protection from copycat products, including the one sold by Lidl, Reuters first reported.

Lindt is well known for its chocolate bunnies. The company says it produces 150 million golden, red-ribbon rabbits every year that are sold in 50 countries.

Lidl, meanwhile, is popular for offering cheaper alternatives to branded items. The supermarket has retailer about 175 stores in the US as well as thousands across Europe.

Lindt argued that its bunny was well known to consumers and told the court its product was likely to be confused with the Lidl version even though there were some differences. Lindt has held a trademark on the shape of its bunny since 2001.

The court suggested the chocolate used in Lidl's bunnies could be melted down and used for other products.

"Destruction is proportionate, especially as it does not necessarily mean that the chocolate as such would have to be destroyed," the court said in a summary of its verdict, The Guardian reported.

Fellow German retailer Aldi got into a similar feud with UK retailer Marks and Spencer over a Cuthbert the Caterpillar chocolate cake that bore a clear resemblance to M&S's Colin the Caterpillar cake.

Legal action initiated by M&S was settled in February, with Cuthbert returning to Aldi's shelves in June.

Court cases over chocolate bunnies are also familiar territory to Lindt. In July last year, Germany's federal court ruled the bunnies' gold tone had legal protection.

Lidl didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Internally displaced persons await in line during an United Nations World Food Program's distribution at the "3 de fevereiro escola" school in Matuge district, northern Mozambique, on February 24, 2021 ALFREDO ZUNIGA/AFP via Getty Images

Wild lions and snakes have killed ISIS fighters in northern Mozambique, The Times reports.

A police chief said, "some of them died having been hit by bullets from our forces and others due to attacks by animals."

ISIS has been fighting for control of the oil-rich province of Cabo Delgado since 2017.

Wild lions and snakes have killed a number of ISIS fighters in northern Mozambique, where pro-government forces are battling with the insurgents, The Times reports.

Bernardino Rafael, local police chief of the Quissanga district in Cabo Delgado, told villagers that wild animals had contributed to the death toll of jihadist fighters, Known locally as al-Shabab, in the latest bout of remote conflict.

"Some of them died having been hit by bullets from our forces and others due to attacks by animals like snakes, buffalos, lions and even crocodiles," said Rafael, according to The Times.

Sixteen insurgents have been recently buried in the Quissanga district.

The ISIS militants use the region's forests for cover, which still have large populations of elephants, lions, and leopards despite poaching and human encroachment.

The ISIS attacks on Mozambique, specifically in the oil-rich Cabo Delgado, began in 2017 but became more violent and dangerous in 2020, according to the British think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies.

The Islamic extremist group is fighting in Cabo Delgado, one of the poorest areas of the country, in an attempt to create a breakaway regime by taking advantage of the "weak governance, socio-economic problems, and ethnic and religious marginalization from the national government in Maputo," according to the think tank.

Last year, the UN released a report saying ISIS had been recruiting and "indoctrinating" children to fight in Mozambique, with UNICEF spokesperson James Elder saying they'd seen footage "apparently showing abducted children as young as five handling weapons and being indoctrinated to fight."

The violence has resulted in over 4,000 casualties in and 950,000 more displaced from their homes, The Times reports.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Self-proclaimed President of Belarus Oleksandr Lukashenko

It is noted that 130 mercenaries of the Liga (Wagner) private military company, who may be involved in organizing provocations on the Belarusian-Ukrainian border, arrived from Russia in Minsk, Belarus, on Sept. 20.

According to preliminary data, about 1,000 Russian troops have been deployed on the territory of Belarus, as well as one division of the Iskander missile complex, three S-300 and S-400 divisions, which launch cruise missiles over Ukraine.

Read also: Three Russian fighter jets arrive at Belarusian airfield for the first time since March

According to Belarusian opposition activist Pavel Latushko, Lukashenko started upgrading railways so that Belarus could accept up to 120,000 mobilized Russian soldiers in November-December. Ukraines intelligence also confirms this information, stating that Belarus is already preparing to accept 20,000 mobilized Russian soldiers.

Lukashenko also claimed that Belarusians were not a source of danger for anyone.

In turn, the CCD said it considers such statements to be outright manipulation.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Authorities said a man accused of holding a hostage at gunpoint was shot and killed by deputies in Catawba County Saturday morning. Eyewitnesses told Channel 9 the hostage was the gunmans son.

The shooting happened on Village Circle in the Mountain View community, just south of Hickory.

Investigators told Channel 9s Dave Faherty the initial call for the incident came around 6:30 a.m. for a hostage situation. Deputies said Bobby Roy Farthing, 62, was allegedly holding his adult son at gunpoint inside an SUV.

ALSO READ: Fight leads to deadly shooting in East Spencer; 1 arrested, sheriff says

Eyewitnesses told Faherty Farthing allegedly took his son inside the vehicle before ending up at the home.

He had a gun. I dont believe there was a choice, neighbor Laura Lawrence said. I dont believe there was a choice.

Deputies said they called in the Catawba County sheriffs SWAT team, who tried several times to negotiate with Farthing. They said he was allegedly threatening to shoot his son.

Breaking Hickory- sheriff deputies are on the scene of an officer involved shooting after they say a man took a person hostage. No deputies were hurt. Just confirmed one person is dead inside an SUV. Watch channel 9 for the latest on this developing story. pic.twitter.com/KVq3ysUUg7  Dave Faherty (@FahertyWSOC9) October 1, 2022

Authorities told Faherty at about 7:45 a.m., deputies shot Farthing inside the SUV, killing him. The son was not hurt and neither were the deputies involved.

The hostage life was in danger, said Caption Aaron Turk with the Catawba County Sheriffs Office. We took action that we felt was necessary to save the hostage and bring the situation to an end.

Faherty was at the scene and could see the SUV in the yard of a home on Village Circle.

ALSO READ: Concord Mills reopens; police ID 2 suspects after officer-involved shooting inside mall

Story continues

Deputies said per standard protocol, the State Bureau of Investigation is going to investigate. Channel 9 has reached out to the SBI for more information.

Deputies believed the sons life was in danger when they used deadly force.

No one in law enforcement wants to harm anyone, Turk said. These situations are tragic every time and we do our best inside these tragedies.

Catawba County Sheriff Down Brown sent the following statement to Channel 9:

These incidents are tragic for all involved. We are thankful that the hostage was not injured and that no further loss of life occurred. We will assist and cooperate fully with the SBI as they investigate. Our thoughts and prayers are with this family and with all of law enforcement officers and their families affected by this incident.

(WATCH BELOW: 1 adult, 3 teens charged in shooting that killed 15-year-old girl at apartment complex, sheriff says)




Police lights

A man accused of robbing two banks in Eugene 10 days apart in September was charged with two counts of robbery in the second degree following a chase with officers Monday that ended near Dexter, according to Eugene Police.

Police say Bryan Michael Makarowsky, 34, went into Chase Bank at 2840 Willamette St. a little before 4:25 p.m. Monday and made threats about having a gun in order to rob the bank, according to Eugene Police Department spokeswoman Melinda McLaughlin.

Makarowsky fled the scene, McLaughlin said, before police were alerted and flooded the area.

Financial crimes unit detectives had been working on a Sept. 16 robbery at Columbia Bank on Coburg Road across the street from the Oakway Center mall and had a vehicle of interest they suspected was linked to the Chase Bank robbery, McLaughlin said.

'It's very unsettling':Deadly hostage situation at Springfield-area day care rattles neighbors

The Lane County Sheriff's Office and Oregon State Police officers located the suspected vehicle, and when police tried to make a traffic stop, it fled, McLaughlin said. The officers pursued the vehicle southbound on Interstate 5 toward Goshen. The suspect, later identified as Makarowsky, headed east on Highway 58 and was stopped near Dexter, McLaughlin said.

Makarowsky was taken into custody and arraigned on the robbery charges Wednesday. A pre-trial conference court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 2. Makarowsky is lodged in Lane County Jail.

Louis Krauss covers breaking news for The Register-Guard. Contact him at lkrauss@registerguard.com, and follow him on Twitter @LouisKraussNews.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Man accused of robbing 2 banks in Eugene charged after police chase
A man is in critical condition after he was found injured from a gunshot wound after a car crash in Mount Oliver.

The Allegheny County Police Department said Mount Oliver police were first dispatched to a shots-fired call in the 100 block of Brownsville Road just before midnight Friday. At the same time, dispatchers also received calls about a car crash in the 2300 block of South 18th Street. Officers at the second scene found a man in the car suffering from a gunshot wound. The victim was taken to an area hospital where he was last listed as being in critical condition.

Further information on this incident was not released, such as the age of the victim.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact the Allegheny County police tip line at 1-833-ALL-TIPS. Callers may remain anonymous.

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A man was killed at the county jail in Murrieta on Thursday, the 14th person to die in a Riverside County jail this year and the second victim of a suspected homicide at the same facility.

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department announced Friday that deputies responded to a jail cell at 4:20 p.m. on Thursday and found a man unresponsive. The deputies provided medical aid but 39-year-old Ulyses Munoz Ayala died.

Details about the death were not provided, but the department said that it suspects he was killed by another inmate, Erik Martinez, 30, during what was described as an altercation.

Kaushal Niroula was killed at the same facility, the Cois Byrd Detention Center, on Sept. 6. Niroula and Ayala are the only two of the 14 people who've died in county jails this year that the sheriff's department has publicly identified. In the other 12 cases, the sheriff also has not released a cause of death.

Seven of this year's 14 deaths have happened at the Murrieta jail, five since August. The county has five jails.

Prior to 2022, the county had not reported more than 12 deaths in its jail in a year since such data was made publicly available by the California Department of Justice in 2005.

The Desert Sun revealed that the department illegally failed to report to the state at least two deaths of inmates earlier this year. When it belatedly did so, it reported them as having been "sentenced," when a review of court records shows none of them had.

The ACLU, Starting Over Inc. and the families of several who have died this year protested earlier this week in front of the county jail in Riverside. They are demanding that state officials investigate the deaths that have happened this year, and that the county do more to prevent more jail deaths in the future.

According to court records, Ayala was scheduled to be sentenced in two separate assault cases Oct. 7.

Martinez was already on jail on a murder charge, accused in an Aug. 11, 2021, carjacking and killing in Jurupa Valley.

Story continues

Reporting from City News Service contributed to this article.

Christopher Damien covers public safety and the criminal justice system. He can be reached at christopher.damien@desertsun.com or follow him at @chris_a_damien.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Man in Riverside County jail killed by fellow inmate, sheriff says
MEXICO CITY (AP)  The Mexican Navy said Saturday that three marines were killed and two others were injured after a reconnaissance helicopter crashed in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco.

The Navy said in a statement that the Eurocopter craft went down during an aerial surveillance patrol. Video posted on social media showed what appeared to be a small, non-armored chopper spinning and then crashing near the town of Frontera, Tabasco.

The Navy said the cause of the crash was under investigation.

The accident came two days after authorities acknowledged that the crash of another navy helicopter in July that killed 14 marines was caused by a lack of fuel.

On Thursday, the Attorney Generals Office reported that the chopper ran out of fuel following an operation to capture drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero.

The Black Hawk crashed July 15 in Los Mochis, a city in Sinaloa state near Mexicos Pacific coast, hours after marines captured Caro Quintero in the mountains.

Caro Quintero was wanted for extradition to the United States for the 1985 killing of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Kiki Camarena. That extradition process continues.

The Attorney Generals Office said in a statement that the investigation had ruled out the possibility the helicopter was downed in an attack and that the manufacturers analysis of the aircrafts flight recorder concluded it ran out of fuel.
It would take $9 million every year for New Mexico to access funds intended to preserve imperiled species and plants and prevent federal restrictions to land access.

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) introduced the Restoring Americas Wildlife Act (RAWA) last year to appropriate $1.4 billion annually to state and Indigenous wildlife management agencies to restore habitats and species across the country.

It passed the U.S. House earlier this year, and was next going to the Senate for a vote with many legislators anticipating the bill would pass due to broad bipartisan support.

More:Thirsty? New Mexico brings drinking water to support desert wildlife amid drought

The House version has 152 cosponsors from the Democratic Party, and 42 Republicans cosponsors, records show. In the Senate, Heinrichs version had 25 Democratic cosponsors, 16 Republicans and one Independent.

The funding would be tied to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) which sees species listed as either the direst endangered or the lesser threatened status.

A listing of either status results in restrictions to land uses designed to protect a listed species status.

More:Feds hope to restore New Mexico river trout by 2032 by rebuilding habitat on Gila River

That can reduce industrial activities like oil and gas drilling, such as in southeast New Mexico amidst populations of the lesser prairie chicken which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering listing as endangered throughout the region and West Texas.

To offset some of the costs of wildlife management, and prevent such federal actions, RAWA would earmark $27 million a year for New Mexico through its Department of Game and Fish.

But the bill requires states provide matching funds, and that means the State of New Mexico would need to spend an additional $9 million annually to gain access to the program.

More:Feds taking action against fungal disease that is pushing bats to extinction in New Mexico, US

This spending was a sticking point for lawmakers in the interim Water and Natural Resources Committee as they met Friday at Northern New Mexico College in Espanola.

Story continues

Fish and Wildlife Director Michael Sloane said his department would request a special appropriation to this years budget for the first year of the RAWA program.

He said Game and Fish gets about $1 million every year for the work, which is insufficient to make a difference.

More:Desert lizard could be protected by feds from oil and gas 'wreckage' following lawsuit

Listing species on these lists reduces New Mexicos biodiversity and restricts its access to lands. RAWA will give us the funding to pursue more and larger projects to benefit imperiled species, Sloane said. "New Mexicos biodiversity is to be celebrated and enhanced.

But lawmakers were concerned that a one-time appropriation might not set up the agency for future years of RAWA funding.

Sen. Peter Wirth (D-25) suggested the money come from recurring revenue and be placed as a line item in the States General Fund which forms its budget every year as agreed to by lawmakers during the annual session.

More:Would protecting a rare bird in New Mexico threaten the state's oil and gas drilling?

This is an amazing piece of legislation, and well have our fingers crossed that it gets across the finish line. My questions are going to concern where we are going to find the $9 million, Wirth said.

I dont look at this as a window to use non-recurring funds. We need to build this into our budget. This feels to me like something that needs its own line item.

Sen. Pat Woods (R-7) questioned if funding from the legislature was the right idea for a Department that so far is primarily funded through licensing for hunting and fishing, but could be subject to more debate from lawmakers if the $9 million was granted from the budget.

More:Oil and gas impacts lead to lawsuit for federal action on lesser prairie chicken protection

You have pretty well been self-funded with everything you do, he said. Now youre going to give that up if we put you in the general fund.

He also questioned if a focus on restoring endangered species would shift Game and Fish away from its regulation of hunting and fishing, and wade into environmental issues like climate change and pollution believe to be a driving factor of threats to species in New Mexico.

It sounds like youre going to be changing the scope of your department, Woods said. Were no longer going to be managing game animals. Were going to be managing wildlife as well.

More:Thousands of animals are killed on New Mexico roads. What is the State doing about it?

Sloane countered that the Department always had the authority to managed endangered, non-games species but lacked the funds to do so.

With the funding under RAWA and through the $9 million appropriation, he said Game and Fish would be able to fulfill an important duty of protecting New Mexicos struggling plants and animals.

Its not a change in our department. We have that statutory authority already, he said. We just havent had sufficient funds to make a real generational difference for those species.

Rep. Martin Zamora (R-63) urged lawmakers and state officials to focus the funding on educating farmers and ranchers already operating on the lands amidst species habitats in conservation practices.

I hope that this Recovering Americas Wildlife Act will be more for educating the farmer and ranchers to be better stewards of the land, he said. We see (farming and ranching) groups in the state of New Mexico, and I believe we ought to have those groups involved in a lot in these conversations when this legislation gets brought up.

Its a lot of money. Its a lot of rules.

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: NM needs $9 million to access federal wildlife restoration funds
Eddie Howe praised Miguel Almiron as a player capable of magical things (John Walton/PA) (PA Wire)

Eddie Howe praised Miguel Almiron as a player capable of magical things after his double during Newcastles comfortable 4-1 win over 10-man Fulham.

The Magpies stormed to an impressive victory, the ease of which was heavily aided by an eighth-minute red card for Fulhams Nathaniel Chalobah.

Callum Wilson capitalised almost immediately following the dismissal to put his side ahead, before Almiron struck his first of the afternoon with a stunning volley from the edge of the box.

Sean Longstaff added a third just before half-time, with Almiron hitting his second  and Newcastles fourth  in the 57th minute.

Bobby De Cordova-Reid headed in a late consolation goal for Fulham, but Newcastle rarely had to move through the gears on their way to the dominant victory.

Howe was full of praise for Paraguay winger Almiron after his performance at Craven Cottage, and believes he has scored similar goals to his turning first-time volley.

Ive seen it. Crystal Palace last year, the goal he scored that day was an individual goal and had similar parts to it to todays goal, the Newcastle manager said.

Hes capable of doing magical things and for me that was a magical goal.

Bruno (Guimaraes) again was involved and theyve got a really good understanding the pair of them.

Im delighted for Miggy, hes such an infectious character, his work sort of epitomises our play really so it was great to see.

Callum Wilson and Miguel Almiron were both on the scoresheet for Newcastle (PA Wire)

Chalobahs red card arguably changed the course of the match, and referee Darren England had initially awarded a yellow card before VAR intervened, with the official consulting the pitchside monitor before altering his decision.

When asked about the red card, Howe said: Its difficult, I havent seen it again, my initial feeling was that was high and I think whenever theres height and force I think the players safety is in danger.

I thought Sean was lucky to get up from that one, thats without seeing it again, so I could be corrected but the referee probably had a similar view and he gave the red card.

Story continues

Fulham manager Marco Silva, however, criticised VARs lack of consistency and believes the initial yellow could have been upheld.

It was a harsh tackle from Nathaniel in that moment, said Silva. The referee was clear for him a yellow card, he told me.

Of course after the decision from Mike Dean (VAR official), it changed everything completely.

So, long time to take one decision like that and to advise the referee [to change his mind] for me is strange. Of course it was a harsh tackle but Im 100 per cent sure I havent seen consistency in these types of situations.

Im 100 per cent sure that in the next few weeks we will see more tackles like that one and theyll be a yellow card.

That is tough for us to understand because were not seeing consistency in those type of decisions.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP)  Russell M. Nelson, the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, told members of the faith on Saturday that abuse was a grievous sin that shouldn't be tolerated and would bring down the wrath of God on perpetrators.

Though the leader of the nearly 17-million member faith did not mention it directly, the remarks were the first on abuse from a senior church leader since The Associated Press published an investigation into how the church handles reports of sexual abuse when brought to its attention.

Let me be perfectly clear: Any kind of abuse of women, children or anyone is an abomination to the Lord, Nelson, who members of the faith believe is a prophet, said in Salt Lake City at a church conference.

The AP's investigation found the hotline the church uses for abuse reporting can be misused by its leaders to divert accusations away from law enforcement and toward church attorneys. The story, based on sealed records and court cases filed in Arizona and West Virginia, uncovered a host of concerns, including how church officials have cited exemptions to mandatory reporting laws, known as clergy-penitent privilege, as a reason to not report abuse.

Since its publication, the church has said the investigation mischaracterizes its policies, while underlining how its teachings condemn abuse in the strongest terms. Influential church members have historically fought legislative efforts to close the loophole exempting clergy from mandatory reporting requirement. The church has not said whether it will fight reforms lawmakers plan to propose next year.

The church has historically used its twice-yearly conference to set a tone for its members, reflect on current events and announce changes in doctrine. Nelson's remarks on Saturday echoed the statements the church has released since the publication of the AP's investigation  condemning abuse, while also defending the church's policies.

Story continues

For decades now, the Church has taken extensive measures to protect  in particular  children from abuse, Nelson, the church's 98-year-old president, said sitting on a stool behind a conference center lectern, imploring listeners to research church policy themselves.

Nelson described abuse as an influence of the adversary, employing a term the church frequently uses to describe forces that oppose the gospel and its teachings.

Amid the church's insistence that reporting mischaracterizes its sexual abuse hotline, Nelson also said the adversary worked to blur the line between what is true and what is not true.

Anti-racism was also a focal point of the opening day of the conference, which is broadcast to church members around the world.

Todd D. Christofferson, a high-ranking church official and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, acknowledged that for much of the church's history, it has been dominated by white North Americans, yet noted its membership had steadily diversified.

It has been long prophesied, Christofferson said, that the church would have members from every nation, kindred, tongue.

We cannot permit any racism, tribal prejudice, or other divisions to exist in the latter-day Church of Christ ... As our church population grows ever more diverse, our welcome must grow ever more spontaneous and warm, he said.

The church has long reckoned with a history of treating people unequally based on their race. It did not grant Black members full access to the church rituals or priesthood rights until 1978  14 years after the Civil Rights Act.

Christoffersons remarks came after, for the first time in church history, a Black woman spoke at the conference. Tracy Y. Browning, who was appointed to an an all-women leadership panel focused on families and children earlier this year, devoted her remarks mostly to spiritual matters, imploring listeners to expand Jesus Christs role into their lives.

The church has in recent years expanded its partnerships with U.S.-based groups like the NAACP and focused on growing its ranks on the African continent, where it has 5 temples open and 17 planned or under construction.

Ronald A. Rasband, another high-ranking church official, spoke of flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon and recounted meeting and gifting the book to leaders in Lesotho and Mozambique.
Oct. 1Pittsburgh police took two people into custody following a shooting Friday night in the city's Mt. Washington neighborhood that sent one person to a local hospital.

Officers found a female victim with multiple gunshot wounds when they responded at about 10 p.m. to a home in the 70 block of Wyoming Street.

Police rendered aid with a tourniquet until emergency medical crews arrived and took her to the hospital. The victim was in stable condition, police said.

The police department's Violent Crime Unit is investigating.

Additional details weren't immediately available.

Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jeff by email at jhimler@triblive.com or via Twitter .
IHOR PYLYPIV  SATURDAY, 1 OCTOBER 2022, 13:18

On 30 September, the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine (NSDC) made a decision to impose another package of sanctions on individuals and legal entities, who are either related to an aggressive war against Ukraine or supporting Putins regime.

This is reported by the press service of the Ministry of the Economy of Ukraine.

As per the disclosed information, sanction packages were considered by the Interdepartmental Work Group for Implementation of State Sanction Policy. More than 3,600 individuals and legal entities are on the list approved by the NSDC. In particular, it includes the following categories of people:

Children and relatives of Vladimir Putin and his inner circle;

Representatives of regional elites and Russian government;

Oligarchs and their inner circles;

Performers and propagandists, even those who are citizens of Ukraine;

Collaborators who chose the Russian side;

Senior officials of state corporations;

Representatives of highest command of Russias Armed Forces;

Representatives of so-called governments of self-proclaimed "Luhansk People's Republic"/"Donetsk Peoples Republic", Kremlin-appointed occupation government of Crimea, and heads of illegal armed groups, operating on the occupied Ukrainian territories.

"Potential of strengthening sanctions is far from being exhaustive, which was particularly discussed during the recent meeting with Ministers of Trade of G7 countries in Germany. That is, we will keep synchronising sanction actions with our international partners," Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Vice-Prime Minister of Ukraine and Head of Interdepartmental Work Group on Implementation for State Sanction Policy, pointed out.

Sanctions are also applied to foreign citizens, the so-called "international observers" who took part in sham referendums on temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

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One by one, the trucks filed into the parking lot.

>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<

Around the bend, through channels of orange cones and yellow-vested security guards. Coming to a stop in a line, like an army of Stormtroopers marching home from battle.

READ: Brevard County utilities ask residents to conserve water after Hurricane Ian

They may as well have been Stormtroopers. This was Orlando, after all, and the army was from far, far away. Instead of guns, though, they carried tools. Instead of Jedi, they battled the remnants left behind by Hurricane Ian.

Like many of the hundreds of men and women, Conner Smith was one of the soldiers called in by his union to make the 24-hour drive to Florida. The tree trimmer from Detroit spent the past two days working long hours to clear space for the linemen to string their wires. This, he said, was his first hurricane.

Pretty much whatever the job is, we go do it, he said. We turned out about three spans of primary today. So that was nice. Out in the woods, saw some gators. Were from Michigan. We dont see that too often. That was nice.

 Power Outage Update 9/30:

As of 9AM EST: 1.9M+ residents are without power due to from #HurricaneIan.



42,000+ restoration personnel are working around the clock to get power restored as quickly & safely as possible. Please contact your service provider for restoration times. pic.twitter.com/ZhezcoNq4B  FL Division of Emergency Management (@FLSERT) September 30, 2022

Hansen and the others were well looked after, with Duke Energy providing meals and rides to hotel rooms after the long day. A spokeswoman for the company said crews were in town from as far away as Canada and Oklahoma, while a large group of linemen from a California company strolled by.

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READ: Cruise operations at Port Canaveral set to resume Saturday

Ed Kimble was from Ohio. The silver-haired, 32-year veteran was far from his first storm. He didnt know how long hed be in town for, but he said it likely wouldnt be as long as he was in Louisiana for Hurricane Katrina.

I take my vacation to come down and do this because its rewarding, he said. The thrill of turning electric on for people when they come out... Ive had people crying, they give you hugs. They hoot and holler at you. Its just, its fun.

Both lineman and trimmer said the locals had been extremely welcoming since they began, and relieved to learn their power wouldnt be out for weeks on end. Duke Energy said all customers who were able to receive power after the storm would be doing so by Sunday.

READ: FEMA administrators arrive in Central Florida to assess Hurricane Ian assistance needs

Smith said the worst part would be taking his slow-rolling truck back north after it was over.

Ill stay down here forever if they let me, he said, jokingly. You know, once we get everybody fixed back up, itll be all good.

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.
Mykhailo Podolyak

There is no point in negotiating with those who dance on bones  (Russian dictator Vladimir) Putin and his entourage, he tweeted.

The price of their words has a negative value.

Podolyak said that negotiations are possible, but with a new president of Russia who will assess reality more adequately.

Russia announced the annexation of the parts of Ukraine it has occupied on Sept. 30. During the ceremony in the Kremlin, Putin gave another manic, pseudo-historical speech, in which he told a huge number of lies and made bizarre accusations against Western countries.

Notably, the Russian dictator called on Kyiv to immediately cease fire and return to the negotiating table. At the same time, he declared he would not discuss the return of the Ukrainian territories.

In turn, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said negotiations between Ukraine and Russia were impossible while Russia is headed by Putin.

Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine, said on Oct. 1 that a decision on Ukraines refusal to negotiate with Russia while Russian dictator Vladimir Putin remains in power had unanimously been adopted at a recent NSDC meeting.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Oct. 1WILKES-BARRE  Mike Kordek and Daniel Rosado were going over their to-do list Friday morning in preparation of their long drive to Florida where they will join other Red Cross volunteers in helping victims of Hurricane Ian.

Kordek, of Mountain Top, and Rosado, of Scranton, have been volunteering for the Red Cross for years and they know why it's important to make the drive to Orlando to help where they can.

Red Cross Northeastern Pennsylvania Chapter Executive Director Sherry Nealon said the American Red Cross Greater Pennsylvania Region is sending more volunteers and supplies, like comfort kits and blankets, to help people affected by Hurricane Ian. She said more than 33,000 people were staying in shelters across Florida when Ian made landfall.

Right now, the latest figures Red Cross has shows that as of Thursday night, at least 10,000 people sought refuge in as many as 100 Red Cross and partner shelters across Florida, South Carolina and Georgia. The overwhelming majority of shelter residents are located in Florida.

Red Cross said some 1,000 trained Red Cross disaster workers are supporting relief efforts in Florida and hundreds more are helping in other states in the path of Ian.

Nealon said Red Cross also provides cell phone charging stations to assure people can get in touch with family members.

The local Red Cross facility is at 256 North Sherman St., Wilkes-Barre.

"Our region has 10 volunteers down there and 10 more on stand-by," Nealon said. "Mike and Daniel are heading down today with one of our emergency vehicles."

Nealon said Red Cross chapters across the country are at the ready as the national Red Cross identifies who to mobilize and when.

"This is our life," Nealon said. "It's what we do whenever a disaster strikes."

Rosado, a general contractor and a Red Cross volunteer for six years, said his role is "feeding supervisor." He said he will visit shelters and assess the needs of clients, as well as volunteer workers. Rosado recently returned from California where Red Cross volunteers assisted in supporting those battling wild fires. He also volunteered in Kentucky when flooding occurred there.

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"Ten years ago, I saw my parents volunteer when Hurricane Sandy hit," Rosado said. "Six years ago, I decided it was time for me to get involved. It's a great feeling to be able to help people with no expectation of getting anything back other than the satisfaction of helping others. It's the best feeling you can ever have."

Kordek said he has been volunteering with Red Cross for five years.

"My feeling is if you can help, you should help," said Kordek, who is retired.

Rosado and Kordek said they expect to see a lot of devastation in Florida and a lot of people needing help.

"That's why we're driving there today," Kordek said.

Nealon said the American Red Cross Greater Pennsylvania Region helps people to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters big and small. Each year the organization provides assistance following more than 2,200 area disasters, most of which are home fires.

The American Red Cross Northeastern Pennsylvania chapter serves residents of Bradford, Sullivan, Wyoming, Luzerne, Lackawanna, Carbon, Monroe, Pike, and Wayne Counties. With a population of nearly 1 million people, the chapter provides food and shelter in emergencies, assists members of our armed forces and their families, teaches lifesaving skills, collects lifesaving blood, and so much more.

All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people.

Reach Bill O'Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.
Photo: The Canadian Press Prime Minister Justin Trudeau discusses post-tropical storm Fiona with local fishermen at Pointe-Basse wharf in Havre-aux-Maisons, Que., Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nigel Quinn

The impact of post-tropical storm Fiona on Atlantic Canada's fishing industry is still being tallied, but Osborne Burke already knows just how bad it could be.

Burke, general manager of Victoria Co-operative Fisheries in Neils Harbour, N.S., says it will cost up to $2 million to repair the high-tech seafood processing operation, which was torn open by hurricane-force winds and a destructive storm surge last Saturday.

"We have major damage," he said in an interview Friday, adding that no one was injured. "We were front and centre."

Burke said the co-operative, in operation since 1956, was well-prepared for the storm. Staff stopped production last Thursday to allow them time to install barricades and pull fishing boats from the water. But the shrieking winds and 2.5-metre storm surge were too much for the building.

"It overwhelmed the facility," Burke said. "The wall facing the ocean, it took that wall out completely."

The co-operative, which buys a variety of seafood from seven harbours, received a $3-million upgrade only 18 months ago. Its crab cooker alone was worth $1 million. With sales of $50 million a year, the plant ships product across Canada, the United States, Europe, China, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.

"Everything was basically destroyed in there," Burke said. "It's hard to imagine, considering it looked as clean as a hospital a week before."

Meanwhile, major damage to fishing boats and small-craft harbours has been reported in Nova Scotia's eastern mainland, Cape Breton and P.E.I. Power outages have made it difficult to assess the damage along Nova Scotia's north shore.

The Gulf Nova Scotia Bonafide Fishermen's Association says smaller fishing communities in the province are still without electricity and internet service, which is making it difficult for the group to assess the impact of the storm on all its members.

Earlier this week, the federal Fisheries Department said five of the 180 harbours in the region were no longer operational, another 99 were partly working and 20 would need further assessment. Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray said she expects the number of unusable harbours to increase as inspections continue.

Gordon Beaton, vice-president of the Nova Scotia wing of the Maritime Fishermen's Union, said he had received reports that a large gear shed in Cribbons Point, N.S., had its roof torn off.

"It flew down and landed on a few guys' boats," said Beaton, whose union represents more than 1,300 inshore fish harvesters in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. "Fairly major repairs are needed for some guys' vessels."

The breakwater in Arisaig, N.S., on Nova Scotia's north shore, was badly damaged, he said, adding that there are reports that those now fishing in Lobster Fishing Area 25 are having trouble retrieving their traps from the Northumberland Strait.

"There's a heavy amount of gear loss," Beaton said, adding the rich lobster fishing grounds are between northern Nova Scotia, eastern New Brunswick and southern P.E.I.

He said the storm caused such a commotion in the strait that many lobster traps were cut loose from their buoys or buried by heaving sand on the bottom. "Even if they can find the traps, the ropes aren't sufficient to pull them up," Beaton said. "Sometimes they're just so full and stuck to the bottom that they break off."

In P.E.I., the Prince Edward Island Fishermens Association is still collecting damage reports.

"Our captains made every effort to prevent and minimize damage to their fleets, but as all Islanders are finding, this has been a storm without equal," the association said on its Facebook page.

The damage in Stanley Bridge, P.E.I., on the Island's north shore, was so bad that it attracted national attention when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau showed up for a brief visit on Tuesday.

In Charlottetown, P.E.I. Premier Dennis King said Friday the damage to the Islands fishing operations has been severe.

If you make a living on the water and you come through the hurricane we came through with that storm surge, theres very little that hasnt been impacted on the water, King told a news conference. Theres a lot of damage in our bays and estuaries all across P.E.I.

He said the Island's north shore bore the brunt of the hurricane-force winds. And he said the storm dealt a blow to the provinces lobster, mussel and oyster industries.

"It's, quite frankly, a mess," he said. "We're trying to work with our producers and processors to find a way to get through the initial shock of this and find a way forward."
California Gov. Gavin Newsom this week signed legislation that will block state officials from enforcing other states' laws that hinder access to transgender medical procedures and drugs.

The new law, sponsored by Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, passed the legislature in late August. It is a response to recent efforts from some red states to ban transgender procedures and drugs for minors, and effectively sets up California as a sanctuary for those seeking to escape those laws.

One such law in Arkansas that is facing a court challenge bans "gender transition procedures," including surgeries or drugs, for children under 18. Texas, meanwhile, is in a legal fight after its Attorney General Ken Paxton declared "certain medical and chemical procedures  several of which have the effect of sterilization" to be child abuse.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat from California, signed a bill Friday that would allow the state to take custody of children whose parents are not allowing them to seek transgender drugs and procedures. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Under the California law, state agencies and law enforcement organizations are now banned from cooperating with subpoenas and other out-of-state legal actions on these matters. It shields both children and parents seeking to obtain or provide those transgender services from legal consequences.

LOS ANGELES PASTOR JON MACARTHUR PUBLICLY REBUKES GAVIN NEWSOM FOR DIABOLICAL POLICIES, INVOKING JESUS

"Parents know what's best for their kids, and they should be able to make decisions around the health of their children without fear," Newsom said in a Sept. 29 signing statement. "We must take a stand for parental choice. That is precisely why I am signing Senate Bill l07."

According to State Sen. Wiener, the law prohibits enforcement of other state laws that allow a child to be removed from parents or guardians who allow their child to receive "gender-affirming health care." It would also bar California from complying with out-of-state subpoenas seeking information on families who seek that care in California, and put criminal arrest warrants against people who violate these out-of-state laws on the "lowest priority for law enforcement."

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Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a signing statement Tuesday that, "We believe that no one should be prosecuted or persecuted for getting the care they need - including gender-affirming care." Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

CHRISTIANS SLAM NEWSOM FOR DISGUSTING PRO-ABORTION BILLBOARDS QUOTING JESUS: SATANIC

Opponents of transgender procedures said the new law obliterates state boundaries and will lead more children to be harmed.

"Newsoms arrogance is no longer just a threat to California. Its a threat to every Governors authority, every states boundaries, every parents rights and responsibilities, andworst of allto every child," the conservative group Family Policy Alliance tweeted. "Lawmakers around the country must rally together to protect the children in their state from falling victim to Newsoms kidnapping scheme."

LONG BEACH, CA - SEPTEMBER 13: U.S. President Joe Biden, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Jennifer Lynn Siebel Newsom wave to the crowd as they campaign to keep the governor in office at Long Beach City College on the eve of the last day of the special election to recall the governor on September 13, 2021 in Long Beach, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) Photo by David McNew/Getty Images

Newsom's latest decision comes amid speculation that he might be a Democratic presidential candidate in the event President Biden does not seek reelection. The governor has been locking horns with vocal red-state leaders, including Govs. Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida, on issues ranging form immigration to guns to abortion.

But according to FOX 2 KTVU, Newsom said this week that he does not plan to run for president.
Reports from the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office state that Saturday morning at approximately 12 a.m., officers were dispatched to a person shot in the 6900 block of Lenoir Ave. E.

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When officers arrived, they located a male in his late 20s with multiple gunshots wounds. The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department responded to the scene and transported the victim to a local hospital where he is currently in surgery for his non-life-threatening injuries.

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Preliminary investigation revealed that the victim got into a verbal altercation in the parking lot that carried over into the lobby where the male suspect pulled a firearm and shot the victim multiple times before fleeing in an unknown direction.

The Violent Crime Unit and Crime Scene Unit are currently on scene conducting this investigation. The Violent Crime Unit is talking to witnesses on scene as well as looking for video surveillance to help identify the suspect.

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If anyone has any information, please contact JSO through the non-emergency number (904) 630-0500 or if you would like to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS





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Drones do the hard work, learning the secrets that hurricanes hide within their two-story waves and 130-mph winds.

On Wednesday, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration researchers flew a drone into Hurricane Ian to collect weather measurements in a part of the storm too dangerous for Hurricane Hunters.

Called an Area-I Altius-600 uncrewed aircraft system (UAS), the drone was the first of its kind to be deployed into a hurricane by NOAA. The 27-pound UAS was released into Hurricane Ian from a NOAA WP-3D Hurricane Hunter aircraft (N42RF, "Kermit") on Sept. 28.

A look at Hurricane Ian's eye wall as the storm approaches Florida.

The UAS dropped to 3,000 feet within the eye of Hurricane Ian to collect readings about the temperature, pressure and moisture. According to NOAA, the crew then directed the UAS into the eyewall, where the UAS completed a series of circumnavigations at different altitudes.

At an altitude of less than 2300 feet, the UAS recorded winds over 216 mph.

NOAA tests out Altius the unmanned Aerial System (UAS) or drone to study hurricane formation.

Most of us know about the Hurricane Hunters, pilots and meteorologists that fly through the eye of a hurricane, but there is still data missing. Researchers want more data, closer to the ground where it is too dangerous to fly  but safe enough for a drone.

While the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Hurricane Hunters and the Air Force Reserves 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron fly high above the ground through the eye wall, they release their boots on the ground small unmanned drones into the tempest.

"Due to, obviously, the kind of violent, dynamic nature of a hurricane, taking a crewed aircraft down to that first 3000 feet can be a little bit hazardous," NOAA Corps Lead Test Pilot Adam Aritbol told FOX Weather in an interview. "So we've designed these drones to kind of go do that work for us."

NOAAs Lead Meteorologist for their Hurricane Research Division, Joe Cione, explained to FOX Weather that scientists need to know more about the part of the storm that impacts people and where they live.

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"When these dangerous storms make landfall, that's where we are, with buildings, structures, everything. So we really want to know what's going on down low," said Cione. "We have hurricane hunters, but those platforms can't really fly very low due to safety concerns. So we've employed this technology with drones to sample the lowest Florida storms where we all live and also where the storm gets its energy from."

Cione, the lead scientist for small UAS (sUAS) research and operations, was part of the crew who deployed the UAS into Hurricane Ian on Wednesday. He was joined by hurricane researchers Jun Zhang and Josh Wadler on that successful launch inside the storm.

The crew releases drones above 3,000 feet where it is safe to fly a plane. The drones spiral down to areas of high winds closer to the surface and take samples for 2 to 3 hours. The drone sends the data back to the plane.

Researchers use readings and videos to learn exactly what happens scientifically. The new data and understanding, NOAA hopes, will improve models which forecast storms. Those models and forecasts will also help emergency managers make more informed decisions about evacuations.

"We believe that over time we're going to be able to represent stronger winds, which helps us and helps the forecasters say, Wow, okay, we thought it was 100 miles an hour, but that drone captured 120," said Cione. "Meaning maybe we weren't going evacuate, but now we will."

A screen capture from the Coyote (drone) operators software; the Coyote drone has an onboard autopilot, but the operator provides "waypoints" to fly toward.

Cione and his colleagues used drones to take data during the deadly Hurricane Maria in 2017. They found that the only way computer models and experiments correctly forecast Hurricane Maria's complex structure was by including drone data. The group published results in a 2022 study.

"Findings from this study illustrate the significant impact difficult-to-obtain, near-surface observations can have on improving the accuracy of tropical cyclone structure and intensity," wrote the authors of the research study.

Two of NOAA's Hurricane Hunter aircrafts.

Cione put it more simply for FOX Weather.

"We want to get more situational awareness. And that's a fancy parlance for basically knowing what's going on," said Cione. "So, we can really give the forecasters what's going on right at that time. They can make more informed decisions with evacuation or not evacuation decisions."

NHC's Tropical Cyclone Report analyzed Maria and noted that models poorly forecasted the genesis of the Hurricane until just before it formed, which delayed warnings.

"One issue of note regarding intensity forecasts for Maria was how poorly the rapid intensification episode of 18 September Hurricane Maria 9 was anticipated," continued the report.

In a recent report, FOX News' Caroline Elliot explained that forecasting rapid intensification is a major point the NOAA drone researcher wants to improve upon.

"The long-term goal is tackling one of the biggest challenges in hurricanes. Predicting what scientists call rapid intensification," reported Elliott. "Rapid intensification is when the wind speed increases by at least 35 mph in less than 24 hours.

NOAA also partnered with Saildrone to send unmanned boats into hurricanes and take readings. Its easy to see why humans can't take these measurements.

A saildrone caught 50-foot waves churned by Hurricane Fiona recently.

DRONE VIDEO SHOWS 50-FOOT WAVES AND DESTRUCTIVE WINDS IN THE HEART OF HURRICANE FIONA
Nord Stream 1 gas leak in the Baltic Sea, September 28

Of course, now there is more schizophrenia in Russia on this topic, (claims) that someone did it insidiously  conspiracy theories, special services, the diplomat said.

But in fact, the question is very simple: who benefits from this? Today, its beneficial only to the Russian regime.

According to Klimkin, this is because Russia has realized that it has lost the energy war against Europe.

Read also: NATO calls Nord Stream leaks sabotage, threatens decisive response

And they want to put (an end to the business) right now and say there will be no gas now, he said.

After that, they will (attempt to) rock Europe in such a way as to reboot the entire political elite  no more, no less. This is also perfectly clear to the European Union today.

Klimkin said Russia had already accepted that it would no longer be selling its gas in the European Union.

Even the Germans are going to Canada, Qatar, and the Emirates and sign contracts for the supply of liquefied gas, Klimkin said..

No one wants to depend on the Russian regime anymore. Thats it. This is completely clear even to (Russian dictator Vladimir) Putin.

According to Klimkin, Russia wants to create this chaos since they need to reboot Europe this winter and first of all, to take revenge.

If they dont do it, they will understand very well that theyve finally lost out completely against the West, Klimkin said.

Read also: EU calls Nord Stream gas leaks sabotage

Thats why these explosions began, and already direct threats with nuclear weapons. Russia perfectly understands the point of no return has really been passed. But I repeat once again: after these explosions, the West is no longer just supporting Ukraine in an allied sense, its already a part of this war, but not yet in a military sense.

During a speech on the illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions on Sept. 30, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin accused the Anglo-Saxons of causing the gas leaks in the Nord Stream gas pipelines.

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The first report of an incident involving the Russia-Europe Nord Stream pipelines occurred on Sept. 26, when the pressure suddenly dropped in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. On Sept. 27, reports emerged of a similar issue with Nord Stream 1.

Both gas pipelines, passing along the bottom of the Baltic Sea off the coast of Sweden and Denmark, were not operational  but were still filled with technical gas for pressurization.

Read also: Fourth gas leak discovered near Nord Stream pipelines, reports Swedish Coast Guard

The pressure drop was recorded at a section of the pipeline located at a depth of about 70 meters near the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea  just outside the territorial waters of Denmark, but in its exclusive economic zone.

In total, three major leaks were recorded in the space of days. On Sept. 29, the Swedish Coast Guard reported a fourth gas leak.

Bjorn Lund, professor at the Swedish National Seismic Center SNSN, said that these explosions were obviously artificial, and not geological in nature.

According to the German media, the German government ruled out the accidental nature of the leaks and considered them deliberate sabotage. The Swedish and Danish authorities also called the leaks the result of deliberate actions and possible sabotage.

The German security services assume that both lines of the Nord Stream-1 pipeline, and one line of the Nord Stream-2 pipeline, will never be usable again after these explosions, writes German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Sept. 29 that it was still too soon to speculate who might have been behind the Nord Stream pipeline ruptures.

According to CNN, European security officials on Sept. 26-27 observed Russian Navy support ships in the vicinity of leaks in the Nord Stream pipelines, which were likely caused by underwater explosions.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (N.C. A&T) and Toyota are doing their part to ensure that African Americans are more involved in science, math, and the arts. Toyota has donated $1 million to N.C. A&T and Communities in Schools of Randolph County. The HBCU plans to use their half of the grant money to extend its science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) department.

To advance the K-12 program, a new Toyota STEAM laboratory will be developed by the College of Education (CEd) at N.C. A&T. This improvement will allow space to practice teaching with devices and technologies for elementary and secondary education majors.

In addition, the grant will broaden student education, strengthen workforce preparation, and provide further opportunities for STEAM education in North Carolina.

Chancellor Harold L. Martin Sr. announced his gratitude stating, We are grateful that our friends at Toyota understand that the key to meeting the challenges of the STEAM workforce of the future is to invest in rich STEAM educational opportunities for students today.

He added, This announcement is great news for the students and faculty of our Aggie Academy lab school, STEM Early College, and the A&T Four Middle College. It is also a further illustration of what a great corporate citizen Toyota has become in the state of North Carolina. We deeply appreciate their leadership.

Joint mentorship opportunities and ventures between A&T students from all majors and other campuses will also be available as a result of this grant.

Having the Toyota STEAM Laboratory space designed for K-12 learners in our College of Education will greatly strengthen our abilities to enact Practice-Based Teacher Education at both the Elementary and Secondary Education levels for our Educator Preparation students, shared CEd Dean Paula Price, Ph.D. We also look forward to inviting other K-12 students, including those from Randolph County, into the space in the near future as our partnerships grow. This is an exciting time for the College of Education.
ProFootball Talk on NBC Sports

The Dolphins are on a three-game losing streak, but wide receiver Tyreek Hill is not slowing down. Hill caught 12 passes for 177 yards on Sunday, giving him a league-leading 701 receiving yards through six games this season. That puts Hill on pace to finish this season with 1,986 receiving yards. The NFL record is [more]
North Korea fired its fourth round of ballistic missiles in the past week on Saturday local time, the State Department confirmed.

A State Department spokesperson said the United States condemns the launches, along with the five missiles North Korea launched on three other occasions since Sunday.

The Associated Press reported that South Korean and Japanese officials said North Korea launched two short-range missiles toward its eastern waters. The South Korean military said it has enhanced its surveillance posture.

Japanese Vice Defense Minister Toshiro Ino said the missiles were fired off North Koreas west coast within about 15 minutes of each other, the AP reported. They traveled up to 250 miles before landing in the Sea of Japan.

The State Department spokesperson said the launches violate multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions and threaten North Koreas neighbors and the international community.

We remain committed to a diplomatic approach to the DPRK and call on the DPRK to engage in dialogue, they said. At the same time, we will continue to work with allies and partners to limit the DPRKs ability to advance its unlawful ballistic missile and weapons of mass destruction programs.

North Korea fired one surface-to-surface ballistic missile on Sunday and two short-range missiles toward the East Sea before Vice President Harris arrived in South Korea.

Harris visited the country at the end of a four-day trip to Asia, emphasizing the U.S.s commitment to South Korea and condemning the North Korean government. North Korea fired two additional short-range missiles on Thursday after Harris left.

The spokesperson said the U.S. commitment to defend South Korea and Japan remains ironclad.

North Korea is rumored to be preparing for a nuclear test in October or November, which would be its seventh such test since 2006 and first since 2017.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
New York City police are investigating a possible bias incident after red paint was sprayed on the Russian Consulate.

Police received a 911 call around 1:30 a.m. Friday at the Upper East Side building and found that the facade of the consulate had been vandalized with red paint, according to police. There were no obvious words or symbols painted on the building.

As of Saturday, no arrests have been made, and the investigation remains ongoing, an NYPD spokesperson said.

The State Department said it was facilitating contact between the consulate and NYPD. When asked about claims on social media that the Russians say State has ignored their security requests, a senior State Department official said: We follow our diplomatic obligations.

The incident came just hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees to annex four Ukrainian provinces. President Joe Biden described Russias claims of annexation as phony and having no legitimacy. Biden also announced new sanctions that the U.S. and its allies will impose on Russia.

The United States condemns Russias fraudulent attempt today to annex sovereign Ukrainian territory, Biden said in a statement Friday. Russia is violating international law, trampling on the United Nations Charter, and showing its contempt for peaceful nations everywhere.

Nahal Toosi contributed to this report.
Then-President Barack Obama speaks during his final presidential news conference at the White House on January 18, 2017. AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File

Former President Obama in a private talk with reporters called the GOP "incoherent," per Bloomberg.

The conversation was held in January 2017, just days before Donald Trump assumed the presidency.

"You don't know what they stand for," Obama also said of the Republican Party, per the report.

President Barack Obama during the waning days of his administration privately told a group of reporters that the Republican Party had become "ideologically completely incoherent," according to a Bloomberg report.

The off-the-record conversation that was held on January 17, 2017  just three days before Donald Trump would assume the presidency  came to light after the Justice Department released a set of documents connected to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, per Bloomberg.

While speaking with the journalists, Obama  who tussled with many of the more conservative elements of the GOP during his two terms in the White House  said that the party didn't have a defining message.

"You don't know what they stand for," he said, per the report.

"So what's bound them together is opposition to me, opposition to a fantastical creature called the liberal who looks down on them and just feeds all that regional resentment. And there are a handful of issues, like guns, that trigger that sense of 'these folks aren't like us and they don't like us and act like us.' And there's obviously some racial elements that get put out into that stew," he added.

Obama, the first Black American ever elected to the United States presidency, easily defeated then-Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona in 2008 and was reelected over former Republican Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts in 2012.

Perhaps the most prominent policy fight that Obama had with Republicans came from the creation of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, which expanded health care to millions of Americans.

Opposition to the legislation, which was passed by robust Democratic congressional majorities in late 2009 and signed into law in March 2010, was a key driver of the "Tea Party" wave of November 2010  which resulted in Democrats losing control of the House and a more reduced Senate majority.

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House Republicans repeatedly voted to dismantle the law on multiple fronts during Obama's tenure, but the efforts were unsuccessful.

Before and after Obama was elected to the White House, he faced questions about his religion, with some insisting that he was a Muslim. (Obama is a Christian.)

Shortly before the election, during a 2008 campaign stop at a North Carolina barbecue and chicken restaurant, he was met with a chilly reception from some diners, with a woman refusing to shake his hand and another yelling "Socialist" within distance, according to Politico.

In October 2008, McCain corrected a rally attendee's contention that Obama was "an Arab."

"No, ma'am. He's a decent family man [and] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign's all about," the then-senator said at the time, per Politico.

While in the White House, Obama and members of his family  including first lady Michelle Obama  continued to face racist attacks.

Republicans have overwhelmingly insisted that their opposition to Obama was grounded in policy differences and not racial animus.

Read the original article on Business Insider
President Barack Obama meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on November 10, 2016. AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Obama in January 2017 said a two-term Trump presidency would be "a problem," according to Bloomberg.

The then-president made the statement to a group of reporters in a talk uncovered by a FOIA request.

In 2016, Obama backed Hillary Clinton, who was defeated by Trump in the presidential election.

President Barack Obama, in the final days of his administration, privately told a group of reporters that the country could "bail fast enough to be okay" after a one-term Donald Trump presidency, but said two terms "would be a problem," according to a Bloomberg report.

The off-the-record conversation that was held on January 17, 2017  just three days before Trump would assume the presidency  came to light after the Justice Department released a set of documents connected to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, per Bloomberg.

During his talk with the journalists, Obama  who stumped hard for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to win the White House in 2016  expressed concerns about eight years of Trump being in the White House.

Trump's 2016 campaign was centered on unraveling key elements of Obama's White House tenure, including the Affordable Care Act, myriad environmental regulations, and the administration's climate policies.

"I think that four years is okay. Take on some water, but we can kind of bail fast enough to be okay," Obama said at the time.

He continued: "Eight years would be a problem. I would be concerned about a sustained period in which some of these norms have broken down and started to corrode."

After losing to now-President Joe Biden in 2020, Trump barnstormed across the country, holding "Save America" rallies that continue to attract many staunch supporters. He has openly flirted with a 2024 presidential bid, and according to current polling, would command a majority or near-majority of the vote in a GOP primary.

However, Trump now faces significant legal issues, including a sweeping civil lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Tish James against the former president, the Trump Organization, and three of his children  as well as a criminal inquiry in Fulton County, Georgia regarding his attempts to influence the 2020 presidential election results.

The House panel probing the January 6, 2021, riot at the United States Capitol is still examining Trump's role on that day, and while the committee cannot bring criminal charges against the former president, they can recommend a criminal referral to the Department of Justice.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Vietnam Covid-19 caseload rises to over 11.48 million

An additional 671 new Covid-19 infections were confirmed on Saturday, raising the national tally to over 11.48 million, according to the Ministry of Health.



Illustrative photo



According to the ministry's report, the national caseload has so far increased to 11,480,028.



On October 1, an additional 727 more patients recovered from the disease, raising the number of recoveries in the country to nearly 10.59 million.



On Saturday evening, one death from Covid-19 was recorded, raising the country's total fatalities to 43,149, accounting for 0.4 per cent of total infections.



By October 1, the country had injected over 260 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines.



The Ministry of Health has asked localities nationwide to vaccinate children aged between six months old to five years old against Covid-19.



According to the ministry, to date, over 260 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been used for people aged from five years old. Around 60 percent of children aged between five to 12 years old have been given a second Covid-19 vaccine shot. The rate is as high as 75 percent for people aged 12 years old and above.
Photo: wikimedia commons

B.C.s Court of Appeal has upheld the firing of a UBC student advisor who hooked up with students using online apps.

Timothy Conklin was appealing a 2018 decision by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal (BCHRT) that found he was not discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation in the dismissal.

Events began in August 2016 when an anonymous package was left for the Faculty of Arts assistant dean containing screenshots of Conklins profile on a cyber website application that, according to UBC, advertises itself as a gay app for chat, dating, and social networking for individuals.

UBC said Conklin had identified himself as a university employee in a student residence in the posting, saying what he was looking for in sexual partners, including students.

Between approximately 2013 and 2016, Conklin used location-based apps such as Scruff, Grindr, Manhunt and Squirt to connect with other gay men, court documents said.

Some of the men he met through these apps were university employees and about 20 were students. Conklin said there was no UBC policy expressly prohibiting relationships between employees and students.

Still, Conklin was called for a meeting with faculty officials and asked about the posting. The assistant deans notes said Conklin confirmed he was looking for campus hook-ups.

When then asked if this would be with students, Mr. Conklin appears to have replied, I presume so, yes, the tribunal decision said.

Conklin said he considered the situation part of his private life, one that did not utilize UBC resources.

The university was concerned Conklins activities on the app could include the students he was expected to provide services to.

He was placed on administrative leave.

In a second meeting, this time with an advocate from the Association of Administrative and Professional Staff, with Conklin present, UBC officials read from a note saying, the university is concerned that Mr. Conklin identified himself as a UBC employee on social networks and engaged in romantic and sexual relationships with UBC students through these networks. We are concerned that this may be a conflict of interest.

Conklin said he had no relationships with students he was advising, all were of age and he would block anyone underage.

He was terminated for cause shortly thereafter.

By publicly linking your employment at the university to your profiles on social networks specifically geared towards facilitating romantic and/or sexual connections, you have clearly acted in a conflict of interest, Conklin was advised.

Conklin in turn said UBC intentionally distorted the student residence aspect of the situation in order to support its discriminatory perversion of me as a sexual predator and/or pedophile, which I find extremely offensive and expressly deny.

UBC argued it would have treated any other employee  heterosexual or homosexual  in the same way if engaged in the same conduct.

The tribunal dismissed his complaint.

Pernicious stereotypes about gay males are certainly real, tribunal member Emily Ohler wrote. But Mr. Conklins argument, in my view, suggests his own blind spot for the very real issues of striking the appropriate balance between protecting the freedom and privacy of UBC employees and the vulnerability of UBC students in the context of the power dynamics in play.

Ohler said Conklin had no reasonable prospect for establishing that his sexual orientation factored into UBCs decision to terminate his employment.

Conklin then appealed to B.C. Supreme Court for a judicial review of the tribunal decision.

However, Justice Nitya Iyer said in a Sept. 12, 2021 decision that it was not open to the court to set aside the tribunals decision that said Conklins claim had no reasonable prospect of success.

It can only set aside the decision if the tribunals conclusion is patently unreasonable, Iyer said. Mr. Conklin has not established that it was.

And so, Conklin appealed to B.C.s high court, again asking for the tribunal decision to be set aside as unreasonableness.

He contended the tribunal had a duty to determine if UBC had acted from discriminatory beliefs about predatory or pedophilic behaviour in a case where there was no demonstrated harm to students.

He claimed the tribunal's failure to consider that tainted the assessment of the evidence.

Appeal court Justice Joyce DeWitt-Van Oosten said the tribunal had considered those issues.

I see no principled basis for interfering with the BCHRTs rulings. Mr. Conklin did not meet his onus of establishing patent unreasonableness.
Sturbridge Police Officer Nicholas Mardirosian follows behind a school bus letting off Tantasqua Regional High School students at stops on Main Street.

STURBRIDGE  Residents here need not be alarmed if they see a school bus stopped on the side of the road with a police vehicle behind them  its all part of a safety initiative in town known as Operation Yellow Blitz.

The initiative  one of several throughout Central Massachusetts in place to help ensure students arrive to and from school safely  involves school resource officers following school buses during morning pickup and afternoon drop-off to enforcing traffic laws.

It's important for the children and the parents that they see us out there trying to make it known that we're out there to address these violations and we take them seriously, said Sturbridge Police Chief Earl Dessert.

The first two weeks the department is able to provide maximum coverage, ensuring that as many buses as possible are covered by a police vehicle in the morning and afternoon. After those two weeks, the operation is then scaled back, Dessert said.

Throughout the school year, Sturbridge is fortunate enough to have several school resource officers that thats part of their duty in the morning and afternoon, he said. They randomly select buses, and they shadow the buses throughout the school year.

Dessert said that regular patrols will also periodically pick buses and get involved throughout the school year.

While the department has pulled people over for various reasons and given out punishments ranging from verbal warnings to tickets, there have not been any serious injuries or accidents.

Colby Tytula, one of the school resource officers who follows the buses, said that the job is personal for him, both as a parent and as someone who has bonded with the students he helps make sure get picked up and dropped off safely.

I think it's kind of one of the more important things that we do to keep our community safe, especially our children, he said. There's still drivers out there who, they're either on their cellphone and not paying attention, or are trying to beat the yellow light to get past it so they don't have to stop.

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While there have not been any serious accidents or injuries while hes been on the job, there have been some close calls.

One area that is often of concern, he said, is Cedar Street near Burgess Elementary School, where students crossing the street to their bus stop have had some close encounters with drivers turning off from Route 20.

Cellphones pose problem

While the department has worked with the bus company to move the stop further away from Route 20, cellphones still pose one of the biggest problems, he said.

We're just trying to do our part and we do see a difference, but the job never ends, Tytula said. We're still out there doing it because there's still people that either aren't aren't paying attention or just flat out don't want to stop.

Sturbridge Police Officer Nicholas Mardirosian allows a school bus carrying Tantasqua Regional High School students to pass so he can follow behind and observe stops on Main Street Thursday.

When the department shared that they would be participating in Operation Yellow Blitz again this school year on Facebook, the post garnered thousands of likes and hundreds of shares, as well as, generally, positive feedback, Dessert said.

The post gained enough traction that other police departments, such as the Auburn Police Department saw it on social media as well.

The department does not participate in Operation Yellow Blitz but, when it has enough personnel and bandwidth, it is able to excuse officers from morning roll call to provide buses a similar service. However, it is not a daily occurrence like in Sturbridge.

We have an excellent relationship with our schools, and not only through our SRO, but through  collaborative activities between the two departments, Mills said. It was something our chief spoke to the superintendent about and she was on board with it, so we've been just doing it.

No violations so far

Since the department has started providing the service, there have not been reports of any violations thus far, he said.

We've done some similar types of programs for several years, Mills said. Whether we use motorcycle units to escort them, or at least observe.

Sturbridge Police Officer Nicholas Mardirosian waits for dismissal time in the lobby of Tantasqua Regional High School Thursday. The school resource officer is know as Officer Nick to the students.

He said that the opportunity to follow buses, on the occasion that they are able to do so, has double value since many of the officers have students in the Auburn Public School district.

In doing your job, you're providing the service and potentially protecting your own children, Mills said. If you're a parent, or whether you're not a parent, you still want to protect kids. Everybody has a right to get to school safely.

For smaller towns like Winchendon and Oxford, while police may not participate in Operation Yellow Blitz or have officers follow buses around regularly, they are able to provide other services to ensure students are getting on buses and to their destinations safely.

Lt. Kevin Wolski with the Winchendon Police Department said that officers monitor traffic in the town as well, paying attention to problematic areas that may pose risks to students on their commutes to or from school.

The department has received several complaints about Old Gardner Road, off Route 140, and keeps an officer around that area to ensure nothing goes wrong.

In Oxford, police will work with the dispatch center or even directly with the school district on occasions, about bus routes that may need extra patrolling if theyve received complaints or concerns about it being unsafe.

We might get a call  vehicles not stopping for the bus to pass on the bus, said Lt. William Marcelonis. We'll pick that bus route and we'll follow that route from the time it starts in the morning, and we'll bring it right up into the school. We'll look for violations that way.

While police vehicles may not be out everyday following buses and enforcing traffic laws, officers are at the elementary schools every morning to make sure there are no issues.

Traffic study monitors speeding

The department also did a four-day traffic study, Marcelonis said, after people raised concerns that drivers were speeding on streets near schools.

After the study, he said, the department found that the average speed in a 30 mph area is 27 mph, and that if people were driving over the speed limit, it would be about 4 mph above the posted limit.

We're a small community and we take care of our neighborhoods, Marcelonis said. When people ask  a question, especially when it comes to our children, we're going to be right on it so soon as they call it down  we address it immediately.

While the Worcester Police Department used to take part in Operation Yellow Blitz, it has not done so since the COVID-19 pandemic, said Lt. Sean Murtha.

Instead, the department has focused on other safety initiatives such as car seat safety and pedestrian enforcement.

Sgt. James T. Foley, a member of the department's Crash Reconstruction Unit, said that six certified child passenger safety technicians are on site to help families make sure that their kids car seats are installed properly due to the Buckle Up for Life Grant the department received from Cincinnati's Childrens Hospital and Toyota.

We've had a couple of fatalities, which involved kids not being properly secured in a motor vehicle, so it's important, Foley said.

The issue came into particular focus, he said, during COVID-19, when parents opted to drive their kids to school rather than take the bus and kids were not being properly restrained inside of the vehicles.

Parents would assume, he said, that since they would be traveling a short distance, there would not be much of an issue, but its in those short distances that issues are the most likely to occur.

They are also focusing on enforcing crosswalk safety and educating parents and drivers about adhering to crosswalk safety laws, especially when near schools.

Use the crosswalk  it's the law

Foley said that families are often unaware that if they are within 300 feet of a crosswalk, they are required to use the crosswalk.

Using the crosswalk, especially when a traffic guard is nearby, will keep them and their students safer, he said, especially from motorists who may not slow down near a crosswalk or drive while distracted by their phone.

[Were] trying to get the motoring public to understand  if you approach a school, drop your speed, slow down, and be aware that you could have a child run out in front of you, Foley said. When youre near a school, youve got to start paying attention.

Like Tytula in Sturbridge, there are not only issues with drivers not paying attention to speed limit changes, but also driving while distracted by something like their cellphone, or trying to pass school buses when coming to a stop to let students on or off.

The motoring public has got to understand yellow school buses  youve got to slow down, he said. Even  when they start to do the yellow signal flashing, that's a really good indication, you've got to slow down and don't try to pass the bus.

The department has also received the $62,000 Municipal Road Safety Grant to help focus on a litany of issues each month, such as seatbelt safety and preventing distracted driving.

Throughout the year, the department also focuses on pedestrian bike enforcement.

Last school year, when driving by a school, Foley said he noticed some students riding bikes without helmets. He and the Crash Reconstruction Unit went to schools with helmets they received as donations from Walmart and provided them to students who didnt have one.

While the department may not participate in Operation Yellow Blitz currently, it is possible in the future. However, it may appear differently than how it is done in Sturbridge, Foley said, as there are too many buses for the department to cover.

For now, the department will focus on enforcing traffic laws, while also educating families on the preventative steps they can take to keep their students safe.

We see the end results when kids are not properly restrained ... we see the devastation that it can cause a family when they have a child suffer some type of a permanent disfigurement or injury that could have been prevented had the child and properly secured inside the motor vehicle, he said. It means a lot to us.

Parents interested in having their child's car seat properly installed by one of the technicians can call the Crash Reconstruction Unit at 508-799-8674.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Operation Yellow Blitz on mission to keep school kids safe on road
Democratic state House candidate Allie Braswell is criticizing his Republican opponent Carolina Amesty for living and registering to vote in a Windermere home owned by a nonprofit religious organization, Central Christian University, where Amesty is vice president.

How can you represent me if youre not facing the same responsibilities that I have, paying taxes on the very home that you live in? Braswell said.

As a non-profit and religious group, Central Christian is exempt from income taxes and most property taxes.

Amesty, 27, said the home is designated for the president of the university, her father Juan Amesty, who founded the organization, and she lives there with her parents. She compared it to Barker House, the official residence of the president of Rollins College.

When Dr. Amesty is no longer the president, that is no longer his home, said Amesty, a Venezuelan American. Whenever my family lives, wherever my father lives, thats where I live. ... When I get married, I will no longer be there. Its part of my Hispanic culture. You live with parents until youre married, and Im not married yet.

On Nov. 8, Amesty faces Braswell, 60, a credit union executive and former president of the Central Florida Urban League, for an open seat in the newly redrawn District 45 in southwestern Orange County and western Osceola County, which includes Walt Disney World and Celebration.

Amesty is president of Orlando Republican Women Federated and was endorsed by Donald Trump Jr. as an America First warrior at a rally in August.

District 45 leans Democratic. President Biden got 52% of the vote there in 2020 to former President Trumps 47%.

In its annual report for 2022, Amesty is listed as the vice president for Central Christian University, with Juan Amesty as president and CEO.

Her annual salary from the nonprofit was listed on her financial disclosure form as $107,000.

Since September 2020, Amesty has been registered to vote at the address in Windermere, which she also gave as her mailing address in her disclosure form.

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The home is listed by the Orange County Property Appraiser as being assessed at $1.04 million and with a market value of $1.17 million.

Property records show it was purchased by Central Christian University in March 2022 for $1.33 million.

Florida law allows property tax exemptions for not-for-profit organizations that own real estate for religious purposes. The property records didnt indicate whether Central Christian will be paying property taxes for the Windermere home for this year.

The property appraiser website states there is a homestead exemption on the property, but Amesty said the university has not filed this year for such an exemption, which is reserved for private homeowners.

There was an exemption listed on the property in 2020 and 2021 when Amesty was registered to vote there. The home was then listed as owner-occupied by Glenn and Christy Lynch, who sold the property to the university in March.

Amesty would not comment further about the homes purchase or why she was registered to vote at the address when the owners were listed as the Lynches.

Before September 2020, Amesty had been registered to vote at a home in northwest Orlando owned by her parents.

That home, which sold in 2021 for $287,000, is outside of the newly drawn District 45. Legislators are required to reside in their districts.

Central Christian Universitys nonprofit 990 form from 2019, the latest available, showed the organization taking in $1.475 million in revenues, leaving it with $520,000 after expenses. It listed total assets of $1.64 million.

A separate organization, Central Christian University Holding Corp., which owns the universitys Apopka-area campus, listed assets of more than $2 million at the end of 2019.

The University offers associate and bachelors degrees in religion, masters degrees in Christian ministry and theological studies, and doctoral and postgraduate degrees in ministry, both in person and online.

The school notably hosted a Latinos for Trump campaign event in 2020 with Vice President Mike Pence.

Central Christian is one of seven nonprofits for which Amesty is listed as a registered agent, someone who must be notified of any legal action. The nonprofits include the separate Central Christian University Foundation and the Carolina Amesty Foundation.

She is also a registered agent with seven limited liability corporations. On her disclosure form, she lists complete ownership of the Pollo Juan restaurant in Orlando, Amesty Group, Central Food Group and Jordd Group.

She listed a net worth of $3.73 million, largely from Pollo Juan, which she valued at $3 million.

Amesty has raised more than $346,000 for her race, including a $200,000 self-loan and $49,000 from the Florida House Republican Campaign Committee. Her campaign has spent nearly $283,000.

Braswell has raised about $107,000, including a $40,000 self-loan. His campaign has spent about $38,000.

Complete election coverage can be found at OrlandoSentinel.com/election.
Beto O'Rourke and Gov. Greg Abbott face each other during a debate. Screenshot / KXAN-TV

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott faced off with his Democratic challenger, Beto O'Rourke, on Friday in their only scheduled debate, with the midterm elections rapidly approaching.

Though Abbott maintains a 7-point lead in the current polls, according to CBS News, this is likely to be among the closest races that the governor has had  he won re-election in 2014 and 2018 by 20 points and 13 points, respectively.

The two candidates sparred over a number of issues, with gun control taking center stage following the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, this past May that left 19 children dead. Abbott has been heavily criticized in the months following the shooting, with many saying that he has not done enough to enact reasonable gun control to try and quell the violence.

O'Rourke seemed to agree.

"It's been 18 weeks since their kids have been killed, and not a thing has changed in this state to make it any less likely that any other child will meet the same fate," he said. "All we need is action, and the only person standing in our way is the governor of the state of Texas."

Abbott, though, dismissed claims of his inaction, saying that he was "misled" by "everyone in that room that provided me with the information about what law enforcement did." The governor added that local law enforcement needed to be held accountable for their failure to respond to the shooter.

The debate marked the first time that the men had talked in person since O'Rourke confronted Abbott at a press conference following the shooting, accusing him of being complicit in the deaths of the children.

Beyond gun control, the pair also argued over a number of hot-button issues currently facing Texans. This includes the topic of abortion, where the striking down of Roe V. Wade (1973) has opened the door for states to pass restrictive abortion laws, as well as immigration policy, where the candidates divulged over the issue of Abbott having sent migrants to New York City.

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Notably, the debate was held with no live audience, which, according to The New York Times, came at the request of Abbott.

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Guns. Abortion. Immigration. Texas' closely-watched gubernatorial race hit the final stretch Friday night at the first  and likely only  debate between incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, and Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke, as the candidates sparred on some of the biggest issues facing votes in the state.

While recent polls have shown O'Rourke trailing Abbott by around 7 points, this still could be the closest Texas governor's race in years. Abbott won in 2014 by over 20 points, and in 2018 by over 13 points.

Abbott and O'Rourke have not squared off in person since the day after the Uvalde school shooting, when O'Rourke confronted Abbott during a press conference. O'Rourke has continued to hammer Abbott for his response to the shooting, even holding a press conference ahead of the debate with the families of shooting victims.

In the one-hour debate, Abbott was asked about his comments at that press conference the day after the Uvalde shooting, which left 19 students and two teachers dead. In those comments, he said the shooting "could have been worse," and he praised the law enforcement response. Since then, leaked video from the shooting has shown that officers waited in the hallway for 73 minutes to enter, and, at times, the screams of children could be heard.

A report from a special legislative committee found that 376 officers responded to the shooting, and the delay in confronting the gunman was the result of "systemic failures and egregiously poor decision making."

Beto O'Rourke, Greg Abbott / Credit: AP Photo/LM Otero, AP Photo/Eric Gay

Abbott has since said he was "misled" by "everyone in that room that provided me with the information about what law enforcement did."

"What that comment was based upon was information by law enforcement about all the children in all the other classrooms that they evacuated during the time the shooter was on the campus," Abbott said. "What they did not tell me at the time, however, was that there were dozens, if not more, of other law enforcement that were hanging around in the hallway for over an hour without engaging in the Columbine protocol, and going in and immediately removing that shooter, which is what they were supposed to do. And because they failed to do that, there does need to be accountability, not just for Pete Arredondo, but also for local law enforcement."

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O'Rourke, meanwhile, has countered that there needs to be accountability for Abbott, and has called for him to convene a special session of the state legislature to enact stricter gun laws. Abbott has said those laws would be challenged in court as unconstitutional.

O'Rourke garnered national headlines in 2019 when, while running for president, he said at a debate "hell yes, we are going to take your AR-15s." He has appeared to walk back those statements, and on Friday, he said he was "for making sure we make progress."

"Those families I was just with from Uvalde want us to take action," O'Rourke said. "This is the common ground. I've listened to Republicans and Democrats alike on this  we can agree on this much: Raise the age to 21, red flag law and universal background check."

Friday's debate was hosted by Nexstar and held at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg, a crucial region for both candidates. There was no audience. Given the location, it was not surprising that immigration was the first question in the debate. Abbott has tried to keep immigration front and center in this race, as he has garnered national headlines for busing migrants to Washington, D.C., New York and Chicago. While the busing has drawn some criticism nationally  especially from Democrats  a UT/Texas Politics Project poll from September found that 80% of Texas Republicans, and 52% of state voters overall, supported the program.

Abbott defended the program on Friday night, and said that New York City Mayor Eric Adams never reached out to his office, although Adams has said that he has. O'Rourke called the busing a "political stunt."

O'Rourke slammed Abbott's "Operation Lone Star," which has involved deploying the National Guard to patrol the border, and has cost the state $4 billion. Abbott touted the program, although he said that, ideally, he would spend "zero dollars" on Operation Lone Star, and blamed President Joe Biden's immigration policies.

O'Rourke, who is from El Paso, has not shied away from discussing immigration, but he has tried to center the race on abortion, gun laws, and the 2021 blackout.

In 2021, before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Abbott signed a law that banned abortion after six weeks, with no exceptions for rape or incest. After the Supreme Court decision, a trigger law banning abortion went into effect.

Abbott has said the state would provide Plan B for victims of rape or incest, which he doubled down on on Friday night, saying Plan B should be "readily available" for them. But advocates told the Texas Tribune earlier this month that Plan B often isn't widely available, with one calling it "fairy tale thinking."

O'Rourke said Friday that this election is a referendum on "reproductive freedom," and he told Texans that "if you care about that, you need to come out and vote." 52% of likely voters said they would change Texas' abortion laws to make the procedure more accessible, according to a Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation/KVUE poll.

Abbott, when asked if he has moved further to the right since taking office, said he never personally supported abortion.

"Let's look at the issues you brought up," Abbott said. "And that is as, for one, as a Catholic, my wife and I have been pro-life our entire lives. So much so, that it became even stronger when we adopted our daughter. On the day she was born, I was the very first person to hold her after she was born. And I've seen firsthand the power that adoption can have."

O'Rourke, meanwhile, was asked about his recent unsuccessful runs for Senate in 2018 and president in 2020, and whether he is running out of a call for public service or personal ambition. O'Rourke answered that it's an "honor" to "have the opportunity to serve others."

Prior to debate, a focus group told Nexstar that 40% supported Abbott, 27% backed O'Rourke, and 33% were undecided. After the debate, 50% supported O'Rourke, 43% supported Abbott, and 7% were undecided.

This is the only debate Abbott has agreed to, while O'Rourke has accepted several other invitations. Ahead of the debate, O'Rourke accused Abbott of nixing the live audience, although Abbott's campaign told the Houston Chronicle that the debate conditions had been agreed upon beforehand  without an audience.

Early voting in the state begins on Oct. 24. In September 2021, the GOP-led legislature passed an election bill that cut down on early voting hours and instituted new ID requirements for mail-in ballots. This last change in particular led to a higher ballot rejection rate in the March primary elections, with more than 24,000 votes that went uncounted.

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Students aboard bus 678 in the Clover Park School District experienced a chaotic ride to school Wednesday morning. Sofie Lindenfeld was one of the students on the bus. She said another student suffered a seizure and the bus driver didnt do enough to help.

I was screaming at the bus driver to like pull over because she was having a seizure then he started yelling at me because I was in the aisle way, Sofie said. She said she was trying to help the student but the bus driver threatened to write her up.

We told him to put her on her side and he refused to let me put her on her side as she was sitting there having a seizure on her back, she said. KIRO 7 reached out to the school district about what happened and they provided a timeline of what they said happened

Within 23 seconds of students notifying the driver that a student was in distress, the driver pulled over to the side of the road, the Clover Park School District said. However, Sofie said that isnt true

No it was four minutes until the driver pulled over to the side of the road as there was a bunch of other kids screaming at him telling him that she was having a seizure and he didnt care, she said. The district went on to say in their statement that, He walked to the back of the bus to check on the student and radioed for assistance. The situation caused some students to become upset. The bus driver directed students to sit in their seats and be quiet so that he could address the situation.

Again, Sofie disputed that account.

That never, that never, nohe didnt even do that, no he screamed at us and he didnt ask us to sit in our seats he told us to be quiet or hes going to write us up over sitting there trying to tell him to move her over to her side so she didnt choke on her own tongue, Sofie said.

The districts statement continues with, In addition to 911 being called, the schools assistant principal, nurse and nurse assistant as well as a transportation supervisor were dispatched to the scene and arrived within 10 minutes of the request for help. Sofie said that isnt accurate either.

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The request for help happened like 10 minutes after the seizure happened and they showed up like five seconds after Lakes called Thomas about it, she said.

Now, Sofies mom, Kellie Jodot Leslie and a handful of other parents are demanding the driver be removed.

We want to see him gone. We understand that theres a shortage and stuff like that for bus drivers but at the end of the day our kids come first, Kellie said.

The district also said, Ensuring the safety of students is our paramount priority, which includes when they are traveling to and from school. As is our practice, our district is reviewing our safety protocols to ensure fidelity in our response.

Due to this incident and others, Kellie is no longer allowing her daughter to ride the bus. Chelsea Winters, who is also a parent, said her son wont be either.

My son finally voiced up and he did not want to ride the bus anymore and that he was afraid you know, he just didnt want to deal with that driver because of the trauma, Winters said. Parents and students said this isnt the first time theyve had issues with this driver. One parent told KIRO 7 that last December her daughter had a broken hand and asked the driver if he could stop driving erratically. She said, the driver then began purposefully brake checking, causing further damage to her daughters hand. That mom said she reported this to the dean of students but nothing was done.

Seems to just be dead ends everywhere we go, Kellie said.

Parents and students told KIRO 7 the driver was still behind the wheel on Thursday but on Friday he was not driving. The school district said he has been placed on administrative leave with pay, pending the outcome of the investigation.
A Korean Air plane collided with an Icelandair aircraft at Heathrow on Wednesday night. Getty Images

Passengers weren't told straight away there had been a collision between the two jets on Wednesday.

A passenger told Insider the Korean Air pilot said there was a "technical issue" with the wing.

Another tweeted a photo of the damaged tail of the other plane involved in the mishap.

A Korean Air passenger on a plane that collided with another jet at London's Heathrow Airport on Wednesday said the pilot initially told them there was only a "technical issue" with the wing.



Annie Oh said she and other passengers she spoke to didn't feel any physical impact when the incident occurred and some were unaware anything had happened.



"We weren't told there was an incident straight away," she told Insider. "We were told that we were being held on the ground because they needed to check a technical issue with the wing."

Oh was on the plane that was due to depart from Heathrow to Seoul in South Korea when the incident occurred.

The Korean Air jet and an Icelandair plane that was taxiing to the gate after landing collided, Korean Air told Insider. A boarding pass showing Oh was a passenger on the flight was seen by Insider.

"We were taxiing to take off and I had actually fallen asleep but woke up about 40 minutes later to the same spot," she added. "Then we started hearing announcements that they had to check the wing."

Another passenger on the Korean Air flight, the Guardian journalist Dan Sabbagh, tweeted that nobody was hurt and the passengers didn't feel anything.

A picture tweeted by another passenger showed the Icelandair Boeing 757 aircraft's wing had been scraped.

Emergency services quickly arrived on the scene, Oh said, and passengers had to get off the plane and return to the terminal. There were no injuries.

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"We were mainly frustrated with not being told exactly what was happening and also the delay in our journey," Oh said. "The flight attendants made sure to speak to every single person or party individually and apologized for the incident and were very calm, polite and reassuring."

The airline sent another plane to London so the flight could depart the following evening.



Heathrow Airport previously told Insider that it was investigating the incident in cooperation with Korean Air.

The airline did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside normal working hours.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Paul Hollywood has claimed that his former Great British Bake Off co-host Dame Mary Berry once resorted to hitting him with her handbag for driving too fast.

The celebrity chef, 56, shot to weeknight TV stardom after the shows 2010 debut  the success of which was attributed in the main to the judging duo.

Speaking on the Bake Off after-show, Extra Slice, Hollywood recalled the incident which led Berry, 87, to set upon him for his driving behaviour.

Asked by his current co-host, Prue Leith, what his most unappealing habit was, the presenter replied: I probably drive a little bit too quick. It scares a few people.

I took Mary in a car once and she was hitting me with her handbag, he admitted.

The formerGreat British Menu judge, 82, then went on to relate her own experiences of Hollywoods driving to Berrys outburst.

It scared me, she told him. I think I only ever dared go in a car with you once.

Following the success of the first four series, Bake Off was moved in 2014 from BBC Two to a prime-time slot on BBC One.

Three series later, Love Productions signed a three-year deal with Channel 4 to produce the series for the broadcaster that led to Berrys much-lamented depature.

The food writers twin exit from the show with hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins sparked rumours of a feud with Hollywood, who chose to stay on.

One report famously claimed Berry refused to take the stage with Hollywood at the Good Food Show in 2018, with one source saying: You could cut the tension with a knife.
SheKnows

In his new position as reigning monarch of the U.K., King Charles III may be getting ready to change things up. According to a source at the Daily Mail, the royal has reportedly decided not to move to Buckingham Palace, a move that was previously reported as fact given the residences title as the monarchs []
A still photo pulled from camera footage of a person of interest police are investigating in connection with five recent, similar homicides in Stockton.

Stockton police are investigating a person of interest in connection with five similar fatal shootings that have occurred across north Stockton over the past two months, Police Chief Stanley McFadden said Friday.

Police shared a blurry image of the person of interest pulled from security camera video: it showed a thin person dressed in dark clothing and photographed from behind while walking.

There are currently no other suspects, McFadden said. Police cannot rule out the possibility that more than one person could be involved, according to McFadden.

The five shootings police are investigating as part of the pattern of homicides took place north of the Calaveras River and east of I-5 between July 8 and Sept. 27, according to a police department statement. They include:

The July 8 fatal shooting of a 35-year-old white man in the 5600 block of Kermit Lane at about 12:31 a.m.

The Aug. 11 fatal shooting of a 43-year-old Hispanic man in the 4900 block of West Lane at about 9:49 a.m.

The Aug. 30 fatal shooting of a 21-year-old Hispanic man in the 800 block of East Hammer Lane at about 6:41 a.m.

The Sept. 21 fatal shooting of a 52-year-old Hispanic man in the 4400 block of Manchester Avenue at about 4:27 a.m.

The Sept. 27 fatal shooting of a 54-year-old Hispanic man in the 900 block of Porter Avenue at about 1:53 a.m.

The location of five homicides police are investigating as part of a similar pattern of fatal shootings.

Although four of the five victims were Hispanic, there is "no indication that these are hate crimes," McFadden said. Some of the victims were homeless, he added.

The motive behind the homicides is "not at all" clear to investigators yet, McFadden said, but police do not believe the killings are gang-related.

The five fatal shootings occurred in dimly-lit areas overshadowed by trees, some close to apartment buildings, with no cameras, the police chief said. Investigators do not have video footage of any of the homicides in progress, or of a person of interest holding a gun, he said.

"Either this person or persons are very lucky with choosing where they're going, or they're doing their homework to go to locations where they feel there's no cameras," McFadden said.

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Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden holds a press conference at his office in downtown Stockton Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022, to address the recent number of homicides in the city.

While referring to the killings as a "series of homicides," McFadden stopped short of calling the perpetrator or perpetrators a serial killer.

"I don't know what this person is," he said of the person of interest whose photo was shared.

"We have a series of homicides (where) we have no evidence to tell if there are two or three" perpetrators, he said.

"By definition, you probably could very well call this a serial killing." Later he referred to them as "a series of killings."

ICYMI: Police investigating string of late-night killings in Stockton

At a press conference Wednesday, McFadden stated emphatically that police "have been provided absolutely zero evidence that leads us to believe that one individual is running rampant in the city of Stockton killing people." He said on Friday that he stood by his statement.

"At that time we had assumptions, but not facts. Now we know we have certain facts." McFadden said he was briefed on the person of interest Friday morning.

Police have gone door to door in the neighborhoods where the homicides occurred to inform people about how to keep themselves safe.

On Friday McFadden reiterated earlier warnings to travel with a companion if you must go out at night but to stay indoors if possible.

"Factual information will be brought on a regular basis as the investigation permits," he said. "We need to respect the survivors that have lost people to gun violence."

"There are grieving families that are deeply touched by these homicides, and I want to bring closure to them."

Record reporter Aaron Leathley covers business, housing, and land use. She can be reached at aleathley@recordnet.com or on Twitter @LeathleyAaron. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Police share photo of person of interest in series of Stockton killings
Police

Phoenix police have released the identity of a man suspected of driving through a schoolyard, resulting in a child being hospitalized.

The suspect was identified as 26-year-old Kordell Ellis. He was later taken into custody in a residential yard.

Sgt. Vincent Cole, a department spokesperson, said an officer saw the speeding vehicle and attempted to stop it around 3 p.m. on Friday, but the driver kept going and drove through a schoolyard and out of the officer's sight.

The patrol officer later located the vehicle several minutes later near Tatum Boulevard and Sheena Drive and found that it had been involved in a collision with a second vehicle, Cole said.

A boy that was in the second vehicle was taken to a hospital with serious, but not life-threatening injuries, according to police.

"Officers learned that an item, later found to be a firearm, fell from the suspects vehicle around the time officers attempted to stop him," Cole said.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Police release identity of man charged in driving through schoolyard
Photo: The Canadian Press The Toronto Star building is shown in Toronto, Wednesday, June 8, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Eduardo Lima

One of the co-owners of Torstar Corp. said he is making "no apologies" for the way he runs the newspaper business after his partner filed for a court order to wind up its parent company.

Nordstar Capital Inc. co-owner Jordan Bitove said in a statement that he has worked to make the company resilient, more accountable and more competitive.

"Ive done this to ensure that the Toronto Star, Canadas largest newspaper, can continue to deliver the news, opinion and stories our diverse audiences seek and the investigative journalism our democracy depends upon  while upholding The Stars incredible legacy and building a brighter, stronger future," he said.

Bitove said he has focused on building a product centred on the trusted journalism that readers demand, while using that demand to build a sustainable business.

"The preferred playbook of some investors is to cut costs to the bone, strip the product bare, and shrink newsrooms to extract short-term benefit for shareholders."

The statement comes after Bitove's business partner Paul Rivett described an erosion of the partners' relationship in a filing to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice earlier this month and called for an asset sale to wind up the company.

In the court filing, Rivett claims Bitove changed his mind about previously agreed upon plans, failed to provide a budget at the Toronto Star, which he oversees as publisher, ignored proper corporate governance and disregarded his responsibilities to Torstar and Nordstar.

Rivett did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday, and the claims have not yet been tested in court.

Rivett has asked the court to appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers to manage an asset sale to resolve the "impasse" between the two parties and says dissolving Nordstar is the only way to create a clear path forward for the companies under its umbrella, which also include Metroland Media Group and NorthStar Gaming Inc.

"Given the operational state of the companies, the applicants, employees of the controlled companies, and Torstars news readers all stand to suffer irreparable harm if interim relief is not granted," the filing said.

It also said Bitove resigned from Nordstar's board of directors on Aug. 13.

Unifor, which represents more than 10,000 media workers, said in a statement Friday that it was "disheartened" by the court application.

"(The) unexpected news was completely disrespectful to the hard-working Toronto Star staff who felt blindsided by this information  or rather, lack-of," said Unifor national president Lana Payne.

"Journalists and media workers often put their lives on the line to provide fact-based reporting to the public and they deserve better."

Unifor Local 87-M represents many Toronto Star employees.

Nordstar acquired Torstar in 2020, taking the company private, including the Toronto Star and various local news outlets it operates in other cities.

Prior to the deal closing, Nordstar upped its bid for Torstar from $52 million to $60 million in response to a rival offer for the media conglomerate.

The purchase was financed by a loan from investment firm Canso Investment Counsel Ltd.

Rivett was previously president at Fairfax Financial before joining up with Bitove, who was part of the ownership consortium that built the SkyDome, now the Rogers Centre.
Sep. 30Pittsburg County District Court criminal filings  Sept. 19-23, 2022

This report reflects public Pittsburg County District Court records filed at the Pittsburg County Courthouse between the dates listed. The reader should keep in mind that these are charges, and not evidence of guilt. with active arrest warrants issued by the court are included in this report. Dispositions of the charges are published in subsequent reports. Many names are similar and, in some cases, identical to a person not being charged. When names are identical, the News-Capital will publish a disclaimer, which more completely identifies the person being charged.

CRIMINAL MISDEMEANOR FILINGS:

Michael David Beshear, 37, McAlester  Possession of controlled dangerous substance

Rachelle Deann Lott, 36, McAlester  Driving with license suspended

Christina Cunningham, 48, Krebs  Knowingly receiving or concealing stolen property

Joseph Tarango, 28, Grand Prairie, Texas  Possession of controlled dangerous substance

Coty Anthony Anderson, 30, Hartshorne  Protective order violation

Mariah Danielle Douglas, 30, Krebs  Possession of controlled dangerous substance, unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, obstructing an officer, trespassing after being forbidden

Jonathan Aaron Barden, 31, Chickasha  Driving with license cancelled/suspended/revoked

Keion Morris, 19, McAlester  Obstructing an officer, resisting an officer, trespassing after being forbidden

Brett Alexander Whinery, 35, McAlester  Threaten to perform act of violence

Darius A. Presley, 21, McAlester  Malicious injury to property under $1,000

Kaci Dawn Cowell, 35, McAlester  Uttering a forged instrument, knowingly receiving or concealing stolen property

Bradley Joseph Mattioda, 48, McAlester  Uttering forged instrument, knowingly receiving or concealing stolen property

Zane Kent Whitfield, 19, McAlester  Petit larceny

CRIMINAL FELONY FILINGS:

Yasmin Ann Worley, 53, Midwest City  Trafficking in illegal drugs x2, bringing contraband into jail/penal institution x2

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Riley Willbanks, 19, Eufaula  Kidnapping, rape by instrumentation, sexual battery

Dante Andreas Thomason, 24, Hartshorne  Aggravated assault and battery

Jerry Brett McElhany, 59, McAlester  Battery/assault on battery on police officer x2

Margo Alexsis, no age given, McAlester  Unauthorized use of a vehicle, malicious injury to property under $1,000

MISDEMEANOR DISPOSITIONS:

Jacob Henry McGuire, 20, McAlester, received a one-year deferred sentence for driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs.

Jacob Howell, 28, Eufaula, was ordered to pay a fine and court costs for public intoxication.

Michael Wayne Maisano, 55, Krebs, received a one-year suspended sentence for driving with license cancelled/suspended/revoked.

Casey Franklin Armstrong, 48, Kiowa, was sentenced to eight days in the Pittsburg County Jail with credit for time served.

Kimberly N. Elliott, 31, Hammond, Louisiana, was ordered to pay fines and court costs for falsify information in order to obtain a hunting license x2, non-resident hunting without a license, taking deer illegally, and failure to check deer online.

Tedrick Conner Franklin, 29, McAlester, received two concurrent one-year deferred sentences for driving a motor vehicle while under the influence and carrying firearm while under the influence.

April Young, 44, Eufaula, received a 30-day deferred sentence for public intoxication.

Justin Ryan Cutright, 40, Stigler, received a six-month deferred sentence for threaten to perform act of violence.

Danny Shouse, 58, McAlester, received two concurrent deferred sentences of 18-months for possession of controlled dangerous substance and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia and a six-month deferred sentence for failure to carry insurance/security verification form.

Joshua Lee Shelton, 39, Kinta, received two concurrent 18-month deferred sentences for carrying a firearm while under the influence and threaten to perform act of violence after former felony conviction along with a 30-day deferred sentence for public intoxication.

Domestic abuse-assault and battery was dismissed against Monty Matthew Nobles, 39, Krebs at the request of the victim.

Petit larceny was dismissed against Jimmie Dean Whorton, 53, McAlester.

Obstructing an officer was dismissed against Robert Lee Grijalva, 35, Kiowa.

Assault and battery was dismissed against Frank W. Rumbaugh, 58, Bache.

Two counts of transporting a loaded firearm in motor vehicle and public intoxication were dismissed against Rodney Dewain Melton, 45, Wilburton, after motions to quash were granted.

Protective order violation was dismissed against Kevin Dale Clark, 55, Hartshorne.

Burning in drought emergency conditions was dismissed against David Shannon Loveall, 57, McAlester after court costs were agreed to be paid in full.

Domestic abuse-assault and battery was dismissed against Gary Knutson, 62, Eufaula.

Falsify information in order to obtain a hunting license, non-resident hunting without license, and non-resident hunting without license were dismissed against

FELONY DISPOSITIONS:

Timothy Brian Shirley Jr., 40, McAlester, received a five-year suspended sentence for burglary in the second degree.

Jimmie Dean Whorton, 53, McAlester, received a four-year suspended sentence for grand larceny.

Shannon Baggett, 52, McAlester, received a three-year deferred sentence for larceny from the house.

Tamara D. Winkler, 53, Kiowa, received a one-year deferred sentence for domestic abuse-assault and battery after the felony was reduced to a misdemeanor.

Assault and battery on a police officer and possession of a controlled dangerous substance were dismissed against Jerome Shane Lands, 53, McAlester.

Larceny of an automobile and public intoxication were dismissed against Mario Arroyo, 38, no address given, due to the victim not cooperating.

Kidnapping, forcible sodomy, and sexual battery, were dismissed against Alexander Perez, 18, Eufaula, at the request of the victim.

Kidnapping, rape by instrumentation, and sexual battery were dismissed against Cody Mitchell, 19, Stigler.

Lewd or indecent proposal to child under 16 was dismissed against Kyle Blaine Brown, 36, McAlester, due to the state of Oklahoma not having criminal jurisdiction in the matter.

Accessory to shooting with intent to kill was dismissed against Joshua Breshears, 30, McAlester.
Pittsburgh Oliver Citywide Academy will continue learning remotely following the assault of a teacher.

A 15-year-old student is facing charges after he allegedly assaulted a teacher in the building on Thursday.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Student charged after assaulting teacher at a Pittsburgh school, police say

School officials hope to have a gradual re-entry process for student staff and families. They say the remote learning will be held to help the school community process grief and trauma following the situation.

Students in grades 3-8 will return for in-person learning on Oct. 10, students in 11th and 12th grades will return on Oct. 11, and students in ninth and 10th grades will return on Oct. 12.

The school will be closed on Oct. 14 and offer parent-teacher conferences.

We send our support and love to the member of our PPS family who endured such unthinkable violence. This recent incident at Pittsburgh Oliver is difficult for us all, and especially difficult for a school community still healing from a significant loss, said Superintendent Wayne N. Walters. It is critical that we give the school team the space and time needed to support the successful return of students potentially retraumatized by yesterdays event.

School representatives say the administration is working to determine what additional safety measures are needed.

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Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW

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SKYLIGHTS 2022: Week 5 high school football scores Local school district seeing increased student engagement after cellphone bans Student loan forgiveness: Some borrowers no longer eligible for debt relief VIDEO: Washington County school bus driver arrested for possession of child pornography DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts
Join the latest campaign, and contribute to empowering all small businesses around the globe

Richmond, VA - (NewMediaWire) - October 1, 2022 - According to SBA 2021, a survey concluded that there are 32.5 million small businesses in the US alone. With this large number, we can estimate the abundance of entrepreneurs not just in the USA but around the globe. Each year, many individuals and groups step forward to start their businesses. Many of these start-ups are initiatives of great minds who are devoted to bringing change for themselves, their families, and their countries. However, they have to face several barriers on their paths to success.

Unfortunately, sometimes these hurdles are so challenging that entrepreneurs abandon their dreams and hard work. One of the hardships they encounter at every level is the lack of recognition and marketing of their products and services. Indeed, the tremendous hard work, investment of money and time, and motivation are useless if the start-up is only accessible to a limited audience. For a business to prosper, it is crucial to market the product immensely and appropriately. Once it reaches its target audience, the real magic and success begin. Hence, a platform that can help these small businesses gain recognition and publicity would indeed be a blessing.

Global Business Pages is an establishment that aims to help these entrepreneurs to make a place for themselves in the national and international market. The business owners in developing and underdeveloped countries had to strive more than the ones in developed countries to mark their positions and make space for themselves. Despite all the efforts, they cannot stand out and make the most of their businesses.

Marketing and promoting such start-ups are not just beneficial for themselves or their families, but for the growth of their country's economy, in general. These small businesses employ several employees who, in return, empower themselves and their respective families. Thus, a powerful medium that can help these entrepreneurs gain strength and the fame they deserve would be a valuable addition to their journey to success.

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Subsequently, the campaign aims to raise $100,000 for Global Business Pages, which will be cautiously spent to hire skilled developers for their advertising application and create and publish marketing materials for the respective businesses.

This campaign calls on all global donors to contribute to this unique yet significant cause to help all the compassionate and zealous entrepreneurs worldwide.

About the Company:

Global Business pages is an online marketing medium for all small businesses struggling due to less limelight and international recognition. The motive is to bridge a gap between all buyers and sellers by providing an affordable and straightforward informational database.

MEDIA CONTACT

Contact Person: Vincent Theophil

Company: Global Business Pages

Country: USA

Email: gbpnet@gmail.com

Website: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-the-businesses-to-promote-their-products

View the original release on www.newmediawire.com
An arrest has been made in connection with a sexual assault that took place in South Boston.

Felix Antonio Palmer, 36, of Boston was arrested by Boston Police Friday.

The assault took place at D Street and West 5th Street on September 23, according to police.

Palmer is charged with Rape, Indecent Assault and Battery on a person 14 years or older, and Assault and Battery, according to officials.

Palmer is expected to be arraigned on Monday.

Previous Coverage:

Community Alert: Police seeking suspect in connection to sexual assault in South Boston

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
Glaucia dos Santos, right, hugs a supporter outside court in Rio de Janeiro in September. Dos Santos' 17-year-old son was killed by police in 2014. Two officers face charges in the killing. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

On the day she was to face her sons killers, Glaucia dos Santos rose early, smoothed her hair into a ponytail and donned a T-shirt emblazoned with a single word: "Gratitude."

It may have seemed like a surprising choice given what she was about to do: travel three hours by bus from her home on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro to a downtown courthouse, where the two police officers who had gunned down her 17-year-old in 2014 were being tried for murder.

But she felt lucky.

Glaucia dos Santos, second from right, with supporters. Her eight-year battle for a day in court has come amid a surge of killings by police that has made Brazil's law enforcement agencies among the world's most lethal. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

In Brazil, where even the most egregious abuses by police are rarely punished, trials like this one were practically unheard of. Against all odds, and thanks only to her own dogged detective work, Dos Santos now had a shot at justice.

Her eight-year battle for a day in court had come amid a surge of killings by police that had made Brazil's law enforcement agencies among the world's most lethal.

Police killed 6,145 people here last year, according to the nonprofit Brazilian Forum on Public Safety  an average of almost 17 a day and nearly triple the 2013 total.

Taking population size into account, officers killed at roughly nine times the rate of U.S. law enforcement.

Most killings by police take place in favelas, former squatter settlements founded by ex-slaves that remain predominantly Black and have few state services and a heavy gang presence. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

In Rio de Janeiro state, killings by police accounted for nearly a third of all homicides. Most took place in favelas, former squatter settlements founded by ex-slaves that remain predominantly Black today and have few state services and a heavy gang presence.

The rise in police violence has been celebrated by President Jair Bolsonaro, who has pushed for laws that would provide immunity for officers who commit homicide in the line of duty and declared that "a policeman who doesnt kill isnt a policeman."

His challenger in Sunday's presidential election, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has said little about the issue, with some political observers concluding that he is wary of conflict with the police because of the possibility that they could back Bolsonaro in an attempt to steal the election. Still, if Lula, as he is known, becomes president, as polls suggest he will, he will face pressure from segments of his base who have become increasingly vocal about the need for police reform.

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Though officers almost always defend their killings as acts of self-defense against armed criminals, human rights groups and journalists have documented a pattern of excessive use of force, including summary executions of people who are unarmed or injured.

A report by the United Nations this year said Brazil's security strategy demonstrates an "unconscionable disregard for human life," and highlighted a deep racial disparity. Black people make up 55% of Brazil's population, but 84% of the people police killed last year.

When Dos Santos, who is Black, lost her only son, Fabricio, she was thrust into a new role in her community. Each time another young man died, his mother would come to her for comfort and advice. As the years wore on, a WhatsApp group of grieving mothers that she had created came to include about a dozen neighbors and even her own sister.

At left, photos of people killed by police are displayed at a protest. Glaucia dos Santos, right, attends a protest with other mothers and family members of those killed by police. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

At the courthouse last month, Dos Santos, 46, was accompanied by several of them, each clutching a photograph of their own dead child. For many, Fabricio's case had become deeply personal because they knew they were unlikely to ever get their own day in court.

Sun streaked through the clouds as the women stood shoulder to shoulder chanting Fabricio's name and the thing they all wanted: "Justica."

"The police are supposed to protect," Dos Santos told a crowd of people who had stopped to watch the impromptu protest, her voice trembling. "We want you to stop killing us."

Then she and the rest of the women filed into the courthouse.

Dos Santos knew it was never going to be easy raising a son in the favela.

Her community, Chapadao, is a labyrinth of small homes made of unpainted brick and corrugated tin roofs stretching across hillsides on the far north side of Rio.

Fabricio's father, a former soldier, left when he was a baby, and his mother worked as a housekeeper. When Fabricio was 3, he was hit by a truck speeding through the neighborhood, leaving him with a permanent limp.

A report by the United Nations this year said Brazil's security strategy demonstrates an "unconscionable disregard for human life," and highlighted a deep racial disparity. Black people make up 55% of Brazil's population, but 84% of the people police killed last year. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

For her shy son, who dreamed of being a mechanical engineer, life's biggest preoccupation wasn't the cruel taunts of classmates or even the gangs who peddled drugs in the streets. It was the police.

Officers hassled him at a local arcade and at a bus stop on his way to a job painting houses in Copacabana. Once he was hauled into a police station for riding in a car the police said had been stolen, until they changed their story and let him go.

Glaucia dos Santos holds a banner with pictures of her slain son, Fabricio. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

His mother counseled him and his two younger sisters to always keep their cool when police were involved: Never talk back to them. Dont let yourself react.

But Fabricio was terrified of the cops, who had a reputation for brutality in the favelas dating back to the 1970s, when the government launched a war on drugs and started going after the gangs that had formed in Brazil's prisons and were now entrenched in many poor neighborhoods.

Police in a Rio de Janeiro favela pass residents carrying the body of a man killed in a police raid. (Mauro Pimental / AFP via Getty Images)

Police in Brazil killed 6,145 people last year, an average of almost 17 a day and nearly triple the 2013 total. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

There have been short-lived attempts at police reform, including the introduction of community policing units in some favelas in the few years leading up to the 2014 World Cup in Rio.

Though those efforts reduced killings by police for several years, the special units never arrived in Chapadao, and eventually they were abandoned altogether. The killings started to climb again  it was not uncommon for 20 people to die in a single afternoon when police raided their favela.

Daniel Lozoya, a public defender, displays an autopsy report showing where Fabricio dos Santos was shot in the head by police officers. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

By law, police can use lethal force only to confront an "imminent threat."

"But in the streets, the law is different," said Daniel Lozoya, a public defender in Rio de Janeiro. "He's Black, he's poor, so the police shoot."

As dawn broke on Jan. 1, 2014, two police officers sat down with a police investigator to explain how and why they had just killed a young man. It was the protocol any time an officer used lethal force.

The cops, Victor Declie de Souza, who is white and was 31 at the time, and Paulo Renato do Nascimento Pires, who is Black and was 38, said they had been patrolling near Chapadao a little before 3 a.m. when three men on two motorcycles started firing at them.

The police said they chased the assailants about a mile to a gas station, where Declie used a rifle to shoot one driver as the other alleged attackers sped away.

The officers said they found a Glock pistol next to the body of the person they shot, who would later be identified as Fabricio dos Santos. They said he was still alive when they loaded his body into their car to take him to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Investigators did not visit the crime scene because the neighborhood was "too dangerous," according to records. No forensic analysis was conducted to show whether Fabricio had ever fired the gun. Police never sought witnesses to interview.

Paulo Renato do Nascimento Pires, one of the two police officers facing charges in the killing of Fabricio dos Santos. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

The case could have ended there, like the vast majority of incidents in which police kill civilians here.

The attorney general's office in Rio de Janeiro state said it does not track how many cases are brought against police officers. But multiple independent studies have shown that charges are filed in fewer than 1% of killings by police.

Marfan Martins Vieira, a former attorney general, told human rights investigators that he believes that many of the alleged shootouts between cops and civilians are "simulated"  meaning that only the police fired  but that poor-quality investigations leave prosecutors without enough information to prove it.

Cesar Munoz, a researcher with Human Rights Watch, said prosecutors have the legal authority to investigate police abuse  and must.

"The police are not capable of investigating themselves," he said.

Glaucia dos Santos weeps while talking about her son. "The police are supposed to protect," she said. "We want you to stop killing us." (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Dos Santos thought the police were lying. Her son, she told investigators, had never held a gun in his life. And she had seen him head to the gas station alone, after celebrating the new year with his girlfriend. Besides, she and her neighbors hadn't heard a shootout, just a single shot.

She was three months pregnant and battling morning sickness, but she was determined to get to the truth. "It was the least I could do for him," she said.

After identifying Fabricio's body, she went to the gas station, where she found employees who had been there during the killing. They shared evidence that would separate Fabricio's case from the many others in which it is the word of a witness against the word of police: surveillance footage.

The grainy video shows Fabricio filling up his tank, putting air in his tires and preparing to exit the gas station when a police cruiser pulls up. Fabricio turns his motorcycle around and begins driving away from the cruiser. His mother thinks he probably turned because he didn't have a driver's license, and didn't want trouble.

The cruiser follows him, and then, with Fabricio off screen but the vehicle still in the frame, there is a flash of light  a single shot from a rifle.

It was still January when Dos Santos took the video to the media. Soon, news crews were filming the small protests she organized in her neighborhood.

Under growing pressure, prosecutors announced that June that they were charging the two officers with murder, accusing them of fabricating the story of the shootout and planting the gun on Fabricio.

"This is very rare, that an officer actually has to answer for his actions in court."

Maria Julia Miranda, public defender

The officers were allowed to keep working, although they were assigned administrative tasks.

Dos Santos knew she had a long road ahead. In Brazil it can take as long as a decade for a murder case to wind its way through court.

Every few months she trekked downtown for another hearing. Years passed before a judge decided that the case deserved to go before a jury. It took months more for another judge to weigh the defendants' appeal to that decision.

As she exited the courthouse one day in 2016, Dos Santos noticed a group of women protesting on the sidewalk. One of them was talking about her 19-year-old, whom the police had killed with a shot in the back.

Photos of people killed by police are displayed outside a courthouse in Rio de Janeiro. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

For Dos Santos, joining the city's burgeoning movement of mothers who had lost children to police bullets was like finding family.

Elsewhere, police violence was starting to receive major attention. In 2014, protesters had taken to the streets of Ferguson, Mo., after the police killing of a Black 18-year-old named Michael Brown. A hashtag was spreading on the internet: #BlackLivesMatter.

In Brazil, the movement was growing, but more slowly.

Though slavery lasted here until 1888, longer than anywhere else in the Americas, Brazil never had formal segregation like in the United States, and the country had long viewed its history more through the lens of class than race.

Among the key figures in the burgeoning antiracism movement was Rio de Janeiro City Councilwoman Marielle Franco. A single mother from a favela not far from Chapadao, she was passionate about stopping abuse by police, whom she accused of acting like death squads.

In March 2018, she tweeted about a killing in a favela: "They come to carve up the population! They come to kill our young!" A few days later, she and her driver were shot to death in downtown Rio.

The two men charged with her murder are former Rio police officers. They are still awaiting trial.

Franco's death intensified calls for reform. But the movement also sparked backlash.

Some argued that there couldn't be a racial element to the killings, given that about 45% of Brazil's police are Black. Others said tough policing was necessary, given Brazil's battle against violent crime.

Still, killings by police were climbing far faster than homicides overall. And as homicides started to dip from their 2017 peak of 64,078, law enforcement kept killing in increasing numbers.

The trend was most extreme in Rio, where the police found an ally in Bolsonaro, who was a congressman at the time.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, center, has pushed for laws that would provide immunity for officers who commit homicide in the line of duty. He is up for reelection on Sunday. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

His pledge to crush criminals with an iron fist helped win him a national following and propel him to the presidency.

Shortly after taking office in 2019, Bolsonaro pushed legislation to shield security forces who shoot from prosecution, vowing that criminals "are going to die in the streets like cockroaches ... how it should be." The legislation failed to pass, but many worried that the president's rhetoric encouraged police to act violently.

During his four years in office, killings by police have hovered around their all-time high.

"A policeman who doesnt kill isnt a policeman."

President Jair Bolsonaro

Dos Santos remained undeterred, despite the costs. When she felt guilty about how her focus on the case meant she had less time for her three daughters, she told herself she was doing it for them and the other children of the favela.

She also came to believe that her activism was putting her own life in danger.

One friend from the favela who had lost a son to police bullets and who had worked to get a particularly violent police officer moved out of their neighborhood faced death threats and fled.

"The police come here to hunt," said the man, who did not give his name out of fear of retaliation. Now I have no dignity. I have no life. Im a fugitive.

Dos Santos' case had crawled along for eight years. But finally, it was a nearing a decision.

In Brazil, prosecutors and the defense lay out the details of their cases first for a judge, and then do it again before a jury in a rapid-fire trial that can reach conclusion in a single day.

A few days before the jury trial was set to begin, Dos Santos stood at the entrance to her favela waiting for the arrival of Guilherme Pimentel, the ombudsman from the Rio public defender's office. His taxi finally pulled up, and the two embraced.

Guilherme Pimentel, center, ombudsman of the public defender's office of Rio de Janeiro, meets with Glaucia dos Santos, far right, and others. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Dos Santos had spent the morning walking the neighborhood to get permission from gang leaders to let Pimentel and a small delegation of government human rights officials enter the community.

They passed a checkpoint manned by an armed guard and settled down in red plastic chairs arranged in a circle on the patio of a cafe. "We want to know what has been happening here and how we can help," Pimentel began.

Ronaldo Lacerda's 21-year-old cousin was recently killed by police. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Ronaldo Lacerda, a 28-year-old funk DJ with dyed-orange hair, described the recent shooting death of his 21-year-old cousin.

Im lucky," he said. "I should be dead too."

Dos Santos was upset that Lacerda and his friends had protested the killing by setting a bus on fire.

Its fair to rebel. I understand," Dos Santos said. "But youve got to have a strategy. One guy lights a bus on fire, and then thats what ends up being showed on TV. They will use that image in the trial.

The young man nodded.

Maria Julia Miranda, left, a public defender, talks with Sonia Bonfim Vicente, center, and another woman. Bonfim's husband and son were killed by police. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Sonia Bonfim Vicente, 37, spoke next. Her husband and son were taking the son's girlfriend to the hospital last year on a motorbike when all three were shot by police. Only the girlfriend survived.

As Bonfim talked about her son, Samuel, who was due to enlist in the military the day after he was killed, Dos Santos reached out and took her arm.

A public defender jotted down Bonfim's information. But she cautioned the crowd against too much hope.

Sonia Bonfim Vicente with her daughter, Anna Thereza, 5. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Shes an exception," the public defender, Maria Julia Miranda, said of Dos Santos. "This is very rare, that an officer actually has to answer for his actions in court.

Inside the courthouse, Dos Santos was whisked away to an area for people who would testify. She would be called as a character witness, and to describe the last time she had seen Fabricio, driving off alone.

Cassiano Pereira, an attorney for one of the accused police officers, explains to reporters what his client said happened on the night that Fabricio dos Santos was shot and killed. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

The officers each faced seven years in prison if convicted of both murder and fraud for having planted the gun.

An attorney for one of them said the pair would argue that they were fired upon by suspects on two motorcycles, even if no witness saw that and it wasn't visible in the video.

The rest of the mothers gathered outside the courtroom, waiting to be let in. But 30 minutes passed. Then an hour. The mothers nervously sipped plastic cups of coffee.

Eventually, Dos Santos came back, her shoulders slumped. A lawyer for one of the defendants hadn't showed up. The judge had postponed the trial until April.

Glaucia dos Santos is comforted by supporters. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Dos Santos had briefly stood in the same room as the officers, who were not in uniform.

"They assured me they are not working in the streets," she said.

At least theyre not killing anyone, one woman muttered.

"We have to come back next year and come back with more people," another woman told her.

Dos Santos went out the way she had come. The sky had clouded over and wind was picking up. A few fat raindrops fell as she and her sister said goodbye to the other mothers and boarded a bus that would take them back to the favela.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Phoenix police.

Phoenix police responded to a vehicle fire at the request of the Phoenix Fire Department early Friday morning, police said.

At around 2:30 a.m. officers arrived near 6200 West McDowell Road and found human remains inside of a vehicle after the flames were extinguished.

"At this time detectives are working to identify the victim, and the circumstances that led to this incident," said Sgt. Vincent Cole, a spokesperson for Phoenix Police Department.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Phoenix Police Department or Silent Witness (480-WITNESS or 480-TESTIGO for Spanish speakers) if they wish to remain anonymous.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Police investigate human remains found in vehicle fire in Phoenix
Douglasville police are asking for your help in finding a missing teen boy.

Police issued a missing person report for 17-year-old Yaron Kathuri on Friday.

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

Kathuri was last seen on September 28, at 8 a.m. at 5807 Chapel Village Court in Douglasville.

The teen is 510 in height, around 123 in weight, and has black hair and brown eyes.

Police said the vehicle he drove was found at Arbor Place Mall.

TRENDING STORIES:

He was last seen wearing a white NASA hoodie and jeans.

If you have any information where Kathuri might be, contact Detective Blayne Gibbs at 678-293-1823 or gibbsb@douglasvillega.gov.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
A three-year-old boy who was shot in the head while traveling in a sport utility vehicle driven by his mom in the West Lawn neighborhood has died early Saturday

The attack may have stemmed from a road rage incident, police said.

About 8:40 p.m. Friday, Chicago Lawn District police officers were responding to a ShotSpotter alert of 10 rounds when the mother flagged them down in the 6600 block of South Pulaski Road and told officers she was shot at and her son was shot less than a mile away, according to police report.

A police sergeant grabbed 3-year-old Mateo Zastro, who was shot in the head, and drove him to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the Cook County medical examiners office and the report.

The mother told police she had been involved in a road rage situation a short time before the attack, and two vehicles had been following her as she drove Mateo and three other children in an SUV along the 4400 block of West Marquette Road.

Suddenly, a gunman in the back seat of a red car opened fire, hitting Mateo, who was pronounced dead about seven hours later, at 4:13 a.m., according to the medical examiners office.

Nobody else was injured, according to the fire department and police said the shooter was inside a Dodge Charger or Ford Mustang but has not been arrested.

Area One detectives are investigating.
Motorists in traffic drive on the 101 Freeway in 2021. (Kyle Grillot / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A one-mile section of the 101 Freeway in Encino will be closed Saturday night until Sunday morning as crews demolish an old pedestrian bridge that has sagged too close to the freeway.

The closures will affect traffic in both directions from White Oak Avenue to Balboa Boulevard, Caltrans officials said. All lanes will be shut down Saturday at 10 p.m. and are expected to reopen Sunday at 10 a.m.

The bridge, built in 1959, was approved for an expedited removal in May. Caltrans said its destruction is meant to eliminate its nonstandard vertical clearance that at times caused taller vehicles to hit the overpass.

The following ramps will also be closed:

Reseda Boulevard onramp to southbound 101

White Oak Avenue onramp to southbound 101

Balboa Boulevard onramp to northbound 101

Onramp from Haskell Avenue to northbound 101

Connector from southbound 405 Freeway to northbound U.S. 101

Connector from northbound 405 Freeway to northbound U.S. 101

Closure AlertU.S. 101 from White Oak Ave. to Balboa Blvd. in the #SanFernandoValley will close from 10 p.m. to 10 a.m. Oct. 1-2. Please plan accordingly and use alternate routes. Info and detour maps  pic.twitter.com/gOlT2DGGZk  Caltrans District 7 (@CaltransDist7) September 22, 2022

Motorists are advised to follow detours signs to exit at Balboa, Victory or Ventura Boulevards. Caltrans warns that nearby residents and businesses may experience "noise, vibrations and dust" during the demolition.

There are currently no plans to replace the bridge  expenditure that Encino residents lobbied against in years prior.

Caltrans is currently working on plans to upgrade nearby crossing points along the corridor, including at Louise Avenue, to ensure pedestrians and bicyclists have improved and safer access across U.S. 101, Allison Colburn, a spokesperson for Caltrans, said in a statement. We will continue working with the Encino community to determine next steps.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Photo: The Canadian Press

TORONTO  Dolores (McLeod) Naponse hopes that her presence at a Toronto Blue Jays game will spark important conversation.

Naponse, from Atikameksheng Anishnawbek, near Sudbury Ont., threw out the ceremonial first pitch on Friday night before the Blue Jays hosted the Boston Red Sox. The 72-year-old residential school survivor was part of the pre-game ceremonies as the MLB team commemorated the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

"It's so important for everyone to know what has happened to all of us residential school survivors, not only the survivors, but the parents of young children who didn't survive," said Naponse, shortly after she first stepped out on to the field at Rogers Centre with her daughter and two grandsons. "I'm glad to be here to be doing this for all of us."

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation honours the 4,000-6,000 Indigenous children that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission estimates died while attending state and church-funded residential schools.

Canada's residential school system removed roughly 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Metis children from their families. The last school closed in 1997. Many children were sexually, physically or psychologically abused in the system designed to get the "Indian" out of the child.

The Blue Jays had several pre-game and in-game acknowledgments and recognitions to honour the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day.

The Canadian anthem was performed in Blackfoot, English and French by Tsuaki Marule, a professor at Red Crow Community College from the Blood Tribe in Southern Alberta. A moment of silence was also observed at Rogers Centre.

The Survivors' Flag was featured prominently throughout the stadium to honour survivors and all lives impacted by the residential school system.

"I think this organization does an unbelievable job of recognizing things that need to be recognized," said Blue Jays interim manager John Schneider. "We're happy to be a part of it."

Jeffrey and Keewehtn Cheechoo, Naponse's grandsons, play in Jays Care Indigenous Rookie League programs. Other survivors of the residential school system and their families were in the stands on Friday, along with 250 children from The Jays Care Foundation Indigenous Rookie League programming.

Naponse wore a traditional Ojibway skirt that featured material with the Blue Jays logo on it, with orange ribbons, as well as the outline of an orange Every Child Matters shirt. She said it was very special to share the opening pitch with her family  14 relatives joined her at the ballpark  even though she was nervous about getting her throw across home plate.

"This is a chance of a lifetime to do something I'd never ever expected to do," said Naponse, who successfully delivered the pitch to Blue Jays catcher Gabriel Moreno. "I never expected to even be at a Blue Jays game at my age because we're slowing down and it's hard to get around.

"This is a good opportunity."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2022.
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty

Faced with mounting economic costs from sanctions on the Russian government and increasingly explicit nuclear threats from the Kremlin, the Biden administration still believes that a war of attrition is the only way to beat Vladimir Putin.

The newest tranche of sanctions punishing Russia for its illegal annexation of four Ukrainian provinces wont turn the tide in the war, administration officials said on Friday, but are the safest way to continue backing the Ukrainian resistance without risking direct American involvement.

The sanctions element of our strategy, the economic pressure that we are placing on Russia, and the denial of their ability to gather what they need to be able to regenerate their war machine, this has been a critical element to how we have prosecuted our strategy so far, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters in the White House briefing room. The impacts of it will continue to be felt month on month as we go forward and put us in a stronger position, and Russia in a more disadvantaged position.

Draft Dodgers Slam Putins War After Finally Escaping Russia

Sullivans remarks came hours after the Commerce, State and Treasury departments announced new economic, diplomatic and financial actions against Russia and its leadership in response to Putins announcement on Friday morning that four Ukrainian provinces are now Russian territory.

People living in Luhansk and Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are becoming our citizens. Forever, Putin said in a speech from the Kremlin on Friday morning, naming the four Ukrainian provinces, which make up nearly one-fifth of Ukraines territory. The annexationwhich is illegal under international law and was met with a range of sanctions, visa restrictions and other economic measures by allied governments around the worldwas widely expected by U.S. officials in the months leading up to Putins announcement, though the debate over the Biden administrations response was a matter of internal dispute.

Story continues

What is a proportionate response to the illegal seizure of one-fifth of an allys territory? one senior U.S. official told The Daily Beast before a series of sham elections in the occupied provinces that were used to justify Putins annexation address. Russia waited seven years after annexing Crimea to mount another pretext-less invasion of Ukrainewithout a proportionate response, whatever that looks like, there is no disincentive to discourage them from another invasion seven years from now.

In the first hours after the annexation, the administrations counteroffensive was focused primarily on the economic front: sanctions against the head of Russias central bank, more than two hundred members of Russias Federal Assembly, and on companies that feed Russias military supply chains.

These sanctions will impose costs on individuals and entitiesinside and outside of Russiathat provide political or economic support to illegal attempts to change the status of Ukrainian territory, President Joe Biden said in a statement. We will rally the international community to both denounce these moves and to hold Russia accountable.

Despite those measures, the debate over a proportionate response continues, with some senior State Department officials pushing for the U.S. to more aggressively back Ukraines bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a proposal Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for and which Sullivan sidestepped.

The best way for us to support Ukraine is through practical on-the-ground support in Ukraine, Sullivan said, adding that the question of hastening Ukraines entry into NATOs mutual-defense pact should be taken up at a different time.

Thats a B.S. answer, one senior U.S. diplomat told The Daily Beast when sent a transcript of Sullivans remarks. There is no more apt time to support fast-tracking NATO membership than when half the country has been stolen.

The U.S. support for Ukraines resistance is not entirely in the form of punitive measures taken against the Kremlin, of course. Earlier this week, the Pentagon announced an additional $1.1 billion in security assistance for the country, which includes artillery rocket systems, armored vehicles, drones and body armor, and Biden on Friday signed a stopgap spending bill that included nearly $12 billion in additional aid for Ukraine.

But while limited military assistance for Ukraine has helped Kyiv make major gains in Eastern Ukraine against Russian forces, one national security official said, the White House and National Security Council are constantly aware that backing Putin into too tight a corner risks provoking increasingly desperate counter-responses.

There are two apex priorities: 1) support Ukraines attempts to expel Russian forces and reclaim its occupied territory; and 2) do not do so in a way that sparks World War III, the official said. Those two priorities are not in definitional conflict, but the margin is narrowing.

Zelensky Says Ukraine Is Making Accelerated Application to Join NATO

One need only look at the apparent sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, the official said, as an indicator of how far Putin may go as the invasion falters and inexperienced Russian conscripts replace tens of thousands of dead soldiers on the front. The pipelines, which were discovered on Monday to have massive leaks of methane gas following underwater explosions, supplied nearly 20 percent of Europes natural gas before the invasion.

The threat of continued implausibly deniable sabotage is far from the topmost concern, however. That would be Putins increasingly explicit threats of nuclear war in the event that Russian territorywhich now includes much of Eastern Ukraine, at least in the Kremlins eyesis threatened.

Biden called the leaks a deliberate act of sabotage, although he later hedged on directly blaming the Russian government for an attack on the pipeline. At the appropriate moment when things calm down, were gonna send the divers down to find out exactly what happened.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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A zoo has shared rare footage of the first fossa pups to be born in its 91-year history.

The 12-week-old triplets were spotted for the first time by keepers as they emerged from their den at Chester Zoo in Cheshire.

The tiny trio, born to the zoo's five-year-old adult fossas named Shala and Isalo in July, have been identified as one male and two females.

But zookeepers are yet to decide on names for the youngsters.

Growing up to 1.8m (6ft) from nose to tail tip, and weighing up to almost two stone (12kg), fossas are a distant relative of the mongoose.

The slender, long-tailed, cat-like mammals are a threatened species endemic to Madagascar.

Their long tails help keep their balance when leaping among tree branches and the species is considered one of the world's most elusive carnivores, so much so that conservationists have had trouble observing them.

Zookeeper Rachael Boatwright said: "While it's still early days, the three pups are doing great and are now full of confidence as they learn to climb trees and explore together, all under the watchful eye of mum, of course."

She continued: "The birth of Shala's triplets is a huge cause for celebration.

"Not only are they the first pups to ever be born at our zoo, but their arrival into the endangered species breeding programme will allow us to discover more about their behaviours - from tiny pups all the way to adults."

There are only as few as 2,600 remaining fossas in the wild.

Conservationists from Chester Zoo have been helping to protect endangered habitats in Madagascar for more than 10 years.

Mike Jordan, director of animals and plants, said the zoo's new additions have given conservationists "hope" amid fears the species could face extinction due to deforestation.

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk
Yvan Bourgnon is pictured at the end of his around-the world trip on a tiny "Formula one" catamaran upon his arrival in Ouistreham on June 23, 2015. CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images

Yvan Bourgnon broke records with his solo journey across the Arctic Ocean in 2017.

He is now being accused of spending nights in a hotel and exaggerating about his adventures.

Bourgnon has brushed off the allegations, stating that he never claimed to have broke records.

An adventurer who broke records by completing a solo voyage across the Arctic Ocean has been accused of spending nights in a hotel and exaggerating his adventures, The Times of London reported.

Yvan Bourgnon, a 51-year-old Franco-Swiss adventurer, was lauded as a hero after he completed a record-breaking 71-day solo journey along the Northwest Passage in 2017.

He returned with tales of having fought off a polar bear and traversing through icy, cold conditions.

Bourgnon is due to appear in court next week in a dispute over a documentary, where the court will hear allegations that his journey was not as adventurous as he had claimed.

The court is expected to hear allegations that he spent more than a week in a hotel in the Canadian Arctic was towed by a Dutch motorboat for around 90 miles, and received help from other sailors, per The Times.

The documentary production company, which had equipped his yacht with six cameras, is expected to tell the court that the footage did not capture some of Bourgnon's wilder claims, including that a polar bear climbed on board and had to be scared off by a gunshot.

Bourgnon has brushed off the allegations, stating that he never claimed to have broke records with his journey.

"I slept in a hotel. So what?" he told the French newspaper, Le Figaro, according to The Times. "Should I have abandoned [the adventure]?"

The website for the Sea Cleaners charity, of which Borurgnon is chairman and founder, states he is the "holder of several world records. He pushes sailing to the extreme by embarking on a series of unprecedented solo adventures on his uninhabitable catamaran, without instruments and without assistance, including a round-the-world race from 2013 to 2015 and the Northwest Passage linking Greenland to Alaska in 2017.

These exploits were unanimously acclaimed throughout the world."

Read the original article on Insider
Riverside City Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes has filed a libel lawsuit against Sheriff Chad Bianco, stating the sheriff had no reliable source of information from anyone when he accused her of supporting pro-abortion rights activists who defaced a historic courthouse downtown this summer.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Riverside County Superior Court, comes about two months after local police and sheriff's deputies arrested several people for vandalism of the Riverside Historic Courthouse as part of a pro-abortion rights rally on July 30.

Within a day, Bianco posted on his Facebook account about the incident.

"When you damage, deface, or destroy property, you are no longer a protester, you are nothing more than a common criminal," Bianco wrote. "Shame on the Riverside city councilwoman for supporting the defacing of our courthouse. You are lucky we couldnt arrest you."

Bianco soon apologized to two other female members of the council, and clarified that he was talking about Cervantes, who responded with her own statement denying the sheriff's claims.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco speaks during a Concerned Citizens of La Quinta event at the La Quinta Resort and Club in La Quinta, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022.

"While visiting downtown Riverside last night, I witnessed the arrest of protesters who vandalized our historic courthouse," she wrote. "I recognized one of the Riverside Police Department officers who were on the scene, so I spoke to him briefly to ask what was occurring and thank him for his work. Neither myself nor any of my City Council colleagues were involved with the protest or the vandalism."

Cervantes added that the sheriff provided no evidence for his claims.

More: Councilwoman denies Sheriff Chad Bianco's accusation that she 'supported' vandalism at courthouse

The lawsuit filed this week also accuses Bianco of rejecting evidence he knew contradicted his false statements, including from Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez.

Plaintiff is informed ... that Riverside Chief of Police Larry V. Gonzalez told Bianco Cervantes was not among the protesters and that she was a passing witness who had nothing to do with the incident, the lawsuit states.

Story continues

Bianco allegedly responded to Gonzalez by saying, Yes, I know, or words to that effect, according to the complaint.

Bianco, reached by The Desert Sun on Saturday, said in an email:

"I havent read [the lawsuit] but Im sure its as fictional as most of her social media posts after the event. If she hadnt been supporting these groups, she wouldnt have to spend so much time in damage control for showing up at their protest. Maybe she should spend more time representing the residents of Riverside as a councilwoman instead of an activist."

He added: "This is nothing more than a typical politician trying to gain media attention to further her political career. Im sure she thinks the more she keeps her name in the media fighting the 'evil sheriff' she will garner more votes from activists in her assembly run. Fortunately for Riverside County, only activists think that. Even more of a reason she should not be in politics. There is a place for activists and a place for community representatives; she is showing where she belongs."

Cervantes lawyer, reached by The Desert Sun on Saturday, declined to comment further on the suit. The attorney also requested a written retraction from Bianco in early August, the week after his social media post.

Despite the utter lack of supporting evidence in Biancos possession before the publications, the conversation with Chief Gonzalez, and plaintiffs demand for retraction, Bianco refused to publish a statement correcting or retracting his false accusations, the lawsuit states.

Cervantes, who was elected to the Riverside City Council last year, has received support from several residents during recent council meetings.

However, the council declined a request from Cervantes last month to issue a statement that she did not support or take part in vandalism of the courthouse, instead opting to wait for release of police body camera footage of Cervantes at the scene. A police spokesperson has said that video shows she did not take part in the protest or vandalism, according to the Riverside Press-Enterprise.

Cervantes has suffered immense harm to her reputation, both personally and in her capacity as a Councilperson, and has suffered emotional distress and fear for herself and her family because of Biancos false and defamatory statements and their foreseeable republication by others, the lawsuit states.

Tom Coulter covers the cities of Palm Desert, La Quinta, Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells. Reach him at thomas.coulter@desertsun.com or on Twitter @tomcoulter_.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Riverside councilwoman files libel suit against Sheriff Chad Bianco
A 158-year-old abortion ban became a present-day fact of life in Arizona last week when a state judge ruled it could be enforced in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning constitutional protection of abortion rights in June.

In other states, long-dormant, sometimes century-old abortion restrictions passed by all-male legislatures during a time of limited scientific knowledge are also shaping abortion policy.

Some of those laws, which generally call for imprisonment for providers and don't allow for abortion even in the first weeks of pregnancy, have influenced the availability of abortion. Some are now in litigation. Others have been superseded by more recent bans.

The bans were invalidated by the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision but weren't repealed and remained on the books in nine states when the court rescinded Roe. Their mere existence has influenced policy and health care access in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

The ramifications of the old laws are "huge, enormous," said Jenny Higgins, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and director of the school's Collaborative for Reproductive Equity (CORE).

In Wisconsin, "health care systems are putting their services on ice because they cant risk having their providers or patients commit felonies," Higgins told USA TODAY. "Its amazing that these laws that are this old are suddenly coming back to have an effect."

Here are some of the decades-old abortion laws shaping the debate on reproductive health care access.

Anti-abortion rally in Austin, Texas, on May 14, 2022.

Old law prevails: Arizona's 1864 law banning nearly all abortions is in effect, judge rules

Historic decision: Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, eliminating constitutional right to abortion

Seeking constitutional protection: Michigan Supreme Court: Abortion amendment must appear on ballot

What is the abortion law in Arizona?

At the request of Arizona's Republican attorney general, a judge ruled Sept. 23 that the state could enforce an abortion ban passed by the territorial legislature in 1864 and recodified in 1901, years before Arizona became a state in 1912. Abortion providers canceled appointments after the decision.

Story continues

A separate ban at 15 weeks of pregnancy, signed into law this year, was to take effect the next day, but state Attorney General Mark Brnovich said the stricter decades-old law, which allows no time frame to attain an abortion early in a pregnancy, should take precedence. There is confusion in the state regarding the two different abortion laws.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich went to court to have a 19th century abortion ban take effect in the state. A judge ruled that law could be enforced on Sept. 23, a day before a less stringent ban was to take effect.

"The attorney general is arguing that the old ban trumps everything  but I think there are a lot of people who believe that that doesn't reflect the legislative consensus that there are exemptions built into the laws at this point," said Barbara Atwood, law professor emerita at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law.

The judge who ruled that the 1800s ban remains in effect Friday rejected a Planned Parenthood request to stay that order while her Sept. 23 decision is appealed in court.

The 1800s law calls for two to five years in prison for anyone providing an abortion. As with some of the other older bans, the only exception is the life of the pregnant woman.

Advance planning: Abortion 'trigger' bans to take effect in multiple states this week. What do they change?

How is an 1849 ban affecting abortion access in Wisconsin?

The legal status of Wisconsin's 1849 ban remains murky since a judge hasn't yet ruled on the Democratic state attorney general's effort to stop its enforcement. What is clear is that elective abortions stopped in the state after the Supreme Court decision left providers uncertain about whether the 173-year-old law was in effect.

"Even though the actual enforceability of the ban is unclear, the reality of abortion care here is that it is unavailable," the University of Wisconsin's Higgins said. "That to me is the most important thing, what actually is happening on the ground."

Beyond the direct effect on abortion access, the uncertainty caused by the ban is keeping abortion front and center in one of the swing states that will help determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.

"Abortion as an issue is looming large in campaign ads, especially in the governor's race, but also in the U.S. Senate race," Higgins said.

What is the old ban's status in Michigan?

In September, a state judge issued a permanent injunction to keep Michigan's 1931 ban from taking effect, stopping efforts by some county prosecutors to enforce a law that criminalizes all abortions except in life-saving situations.

Both Michigan's Democratic governor and attorney general oppose the 91-year-old law, which has lain dormant since the 1973 Roe ruling.

The judge's ruling still can be appealed.

June 24, 2022: Abortion rights demonstrators march through the streets to protest the Supreme Court's decision in the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health case in Detroit. The Court's decision in the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health case overturned the landmark 50-year-old Roe v Wade case, removing a federal right to an abortion.

In an effort to pre-empt enforcement of the 1931 law and other potential bans, abortion rights advocates are pushing for voters to back a state constitutional amendment protecting reproductive freedom, including abortion, that will be on the fall ballot. Advocates had gained enough signatures to qualify the referendum but needed a court to overturn a move by Republican state canvassers to disqualify the ballot question.

Which law banned abortion in West Virginia?

After Roe was overturned in June, it wasn't clear whether an 1870 West Virginia abortion ban would take effect. Abortion care stopped temporarily, but it started again after a judge issued a temporary injunction against the ban on July 18.

With the ban's ultimate fate uncertain, Republican Gov. Jim Justice, asked the state Legislature to "clarify and modernize" the century-old law in a special session in late July.

The House and Senate failed to come to an agreement then, but they returned this month to pass a stringent ban, which has exceptions for medical emergencies and, for limited time frames, rape and incest (eight weeks of pregnancy for adults, 14 for minors, with victims required to report the assault at least 48 hours before the procedure.) Justice signed the bill into law Sept. 16.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Abortion laws from 1800s became legal issue after Supreme Court ruling
The Royal Family announced it has received more than 50,000 letters and cards since the death of Queen Elizabeth II last month.

The family posted on Twitter on Saturday that the letters have been addressed to King Charles III, Queen Consort Camilla and other members of the royal family. They posted that a small but dedicated correspondence team is carefully sorting, reading and responding to the messages as they arrive.

The post included four pictures of stacks of letters tied in rubber bands on tables with people reviewing them in the background.

The queen died on Sept. 8 at the age of 96 after ruling for more than 70 years, making her the longest-serving British monarch and one of the longest-serving rulers in world history.

Her death certificate was released on Thursday, revealing her official cause of death to be old age. The certificate also revealed that the queen died about three hours before Buckingham Palace made a public announcement of her death.

President Biden was among many world leaders who attended the queens state funeral after a 10-day mourning period. She was the first British person to receive a state funeral since Winston Churchill in 1965.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
EUROPEAN PRAVDA  FRIDAY, 30 SEPTEMBER 2022, 23:29

Russia, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, vetoed resolution S/2022/720 at a meeting Friday, condemning the sham referendums in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops.

Source: European Pravda, reporting on the broadcast of the meeting

Details: Four countries  China, India, Gabon and Brazil  abstained during the vote. The remaining 10 members of the Security Council supported the resolution prepared by the United States and Albania. A minimum of nine votes from the members of the Security Council without a veto of the permanent members would be sufficient for the adoption of the resolution.

The document condemns "Russia's organisation of illegal so-called referendums in regions within the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine," which "have no legal force." The resolution also calls on Russia to "immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all its military from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders."

During the discussion, the permanent representative of the Russian Federation at the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, accused the USA of "obscenity." Putting to a vote a resolution condemning the actions of a permanent member of the Security Council violates established practice and provokes Moscow to use the right of veto, according to Nebenzya.

In response, the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said that the resolution would be put to a vote in the veto-free General Assembly to show that the world "is still on the side of sovereignty and the protection of territorial integrity."

Background:

It is known that the occupiers carried out the sham referendum by the so-called "Peoples Council of Luhansk Peoples Republic" in Luhansk Oblast from 23 to 27 September.

On 30 September, the President of the Russian Federation signed the "Agreement on the Accession to Russia" of the captured Ukrainian territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts and stated that from then on, their residents are citizens of the Russian Federation.

The USA, Great Britain and Canada introduced additional sanctions against Russia.

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UKRAINSKA PRAVDA  SATURDAY, 1 OCTOBER 2022, 07:11

Russian military leadership is deploying military cadets before the term of their study is over to fight in Ukraine, mostly due to the lack of officers.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, information as of 06:00 on 1 October

Details: Military cadets from the Tyumen Higher Military Engineering Command School will graduate early. The cadets are expected to take up officer positions in military units that are staffed with mobilised reservists.

Military cadets in the last years of studying at the Ryazan Guards Higher Airborne Command School are being sent to train regiments of mobilised reservists at military training grounds near Ryazan, Omsk, Pskov, Tula and other Russian cities. These units are expected to take part in training and coordination activities over the course of next month, at most, and will then be deployed in combat zones in Ukraine.

Over the course of the past 24 hours, Russian forces carried out 4 missile strikes and 15 airstrikes, as well as over 85 attacks using multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS). More than 50 Ukrainian cities, towns and villages came under Russian fire, including Bilohorivka, Novomykolaivka, Blahodativka, Sukhyi Stavok and Odradivka.

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 artillery:

On the Slobozhanshchyna front: areas in and around Strilecha, Ridkodub, Kuchkivka, Okhrymivka and Vilkhuvatka;

On the Kramatorsk front: areas in and around Hryhorivka, Bilohorivka, Ivano-Darivka, Zakitne, Rozdolivka and Spirne;

On the Bakhmut front: areas in and around Bakhmut, Zaitseve, Mykolaivka Druha and Paraskoviivka;

On the Avdiivka front: areas in and around Marinka, Vodiane and Oleksandropil;

On the Novopavlivka front: areas in and around Novosilka, Novopil, Prechystivka and Pavlivka;

Story continues

On the Zaporizhzhia front : areas in and around Mala Tokmachka, Zaliznychne, Huliaipole and Novoandriivka;

On the Pivdennyi Buh front, over 25 towns and villages in the vicinity of the line of contact came under Russian fire, including Stepova Dolyna, Myrne, Sukhyi Stavok, Olhyne and Arkhanhelske.

Over the course of the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian Armed Forces repelled Russian attacks in the vicinity of Zaitseve, New-York and Soledar. Ukrainian aircraft carried out 11 airstrikes, striking a Russian strong point, 6 areas of concentration of Russian military personnel and equipment and 4 anti-aircraft defence systems. In addition, Ukrainian air defence forces struck down 3 Russian UAVs and a Ka-52 helicopter.

Ukraines Rocket Forces and Artillery struck 11 command posts and 8 areas where Russian military personnel, weapons and equipment were concentrated, as well as 14 further targets, including ammunition storage points, anti-aircraft defence systems, river crossings, and electronic warfare and reconnaissance systems.

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The head of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been detained by Russian forces, according to a statement from the state-owned company that runs the plant.

Petro Kotin, the president of the company Energoatom, said in a Telegram message that Ihor Murashov, the director general of the plant, was arrested on Friday on his way to the facility. He said Murashov was blindfolded and driven in an unknown direction. His current location is unknown.

Kotin said Murashov is the main person responsible for maintaining nuclear and radiation safety for the plant and demanded his release. He said he is appealing to the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, an independent arm of the United Nations, to take all necessary actions to free him.

His detention by the ruscists jeopardizes the safety of operation of Ukraine and Europes largest nuclear power plant, Kotin said.

Ukraines Foreign Affairs Ministry also condemned the arrest, calling it a manifestation of state terrorism by Russia and a violation of international law. The ministry called on the international community to end his detainment and emphasized the need to demilitarize the area around the plant.

Ukraine and the international community have expressed concerns about the stability of the power plant amid shelling and fighting in the area. Both Russia and Ukraine have accused the other side of using weapons near the plant and thus threatening its stability.

Engineers shut down the last operating nuclear reactor at the plant earlier this month to try to avoid a radiation leak.

The news of the detainment comes amid Russian President Vladimir Putins signing of annexation treaties on Friday for four regions of Ukraine, including the region of Zaporizhzhia. The United States has condemned the move as illegal and levied additional sanctions on Russian government officials and their families.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Ukraine said Saturday its forces had begun moving into the key eastern town of Lyman, located in one of the four Ukrainian regions that Russia annexed, with President Volodymyr Zelensky pledging more areas would follow within the week.

The latest development -- a feature of Kyiv's weeks-long counter-offensive against Moscow's invasion -- comes as Germany's defence minister made a surprise visit to Ukraine, but also amid accusations Russia killed 24 civilians in the eastern Kharkiv region.

The recapture of Lyman -- which Moscow's forces pummelled for weeks to control this spring -- would mark the first Ukrainian military victory in territory that the Kremlin has claimed as its own and has vowed to defend by all possible means.

Ukraine's defence ministry announced its forces were "entering" Lyman in the eastern Donetsk region after the army said it had "encircled" several thousand Russian troops near the town.

The ministry posted a video of soldiers holding up a yellow and blue Ukrainian flag near a sign with the town's name.

"Throughout this week, more Ukrainian flags have been raised in the Donbas," Zelensky said in his evening address. "There will be even more in a week."

Shortly after Ukraine's announcement on Lyman, Russia's defence ministry said it had "withdrawn" troops from the town "to more favourable lines".

With Russian losses mounting, experts have warned that President Vladimir Putin could turn to nuclear weapons to defend territory -- an option floated by a Putin ally.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said Russia should consider using low-yield nuclear weapons after Moscow's troops were forced out of a Lyman.

"In my personal opinion, more drastic measures should be taken, up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and use of low-yield nuclear weapons," Kadyrov said on his Telegram channel.

Kadyrov governs Russia's Muslim-majority Chechnya Republic with an iron fist.

The developments came a day after Putin staged a grand Kremlin ceremony celebrating the annexation of the four Ukrainian territories.

Story continues

In a call with Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin condemned what he called the "sham referenda", according to a readout from his spokesman Saturday, and reiterated "the US will never recognize these illegal and illegitimate attempts at annexation."

The four territories create a crucial land corridor between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, also annexed by Moscow, in 2014.

Together the five regions make up around 20 percent of Ukraine, where Kyiv in recent weeks has been clawing back territory.

Elsewhere in the south Saturday, German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht visited the port city of Odessa.

Kyiv has been urging her country to send battle tanks to aid in its counter-attack, but the German government has so far refused.

- Civilians gunned down -

Also on Saturday, Ukrainian officials accused Russia of killing 24 civilians, including 13 children, in an attack on a road convoy near a recently recaptured town in Kharkiv.

Ukrainian troops on Friday had shown AFP reporters a group of vehicles riddled with bullet holes and several corpses in civilian clothes, a short distance east of the recently recaptured town of Kupiansk.

A Ukrainian official said the death toll of a Russian attack on a separate civilian convoy near the city of Zaporizhzhia on Friday had risen to 30 civilians and one police officer killed.

Kyiv also called for the immediate release of the chief of the Moscow-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, condemning his "illegal detention" by the Russians.

Ihor Murashov was leaving the plant Friday when he was detained and "driven in an unknown direction" while blindfolded, Ukraine's nuclear agency Energoatom said.

Zaporizhzhia -- Europe's largest nuclear energy facility -- has been at the centre of tensions with Moscow and Kyiv accusing each other of strikes on and near the plant, raising fears of an atomic disaster.

- 'Illegitimate' annexation -

Following Friday's annexation, Washington announced "severe" new sanctions against Russian officials and the defence industry, and said G7 allies support imposing "costs" on any nation backing annexation.

Zelensky urged the US-led military alliance NATO to grant his country fast-track membership.

He also vowed never to hold talks with Russia as long as Putin was in power.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg slammed the annexation as "illegal and illegitimate" but remained non-committal after Ukraine said it was applying to join the Western alliance.

Turkey said Saturday Russia's annexation was a "grave violation of the established principles of international law".

Despite Putin's warnings prior to the annexation that he could use nuclear weapons to defend the captured territories, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kyiv would "continue liberating our land and our people".

Kuleba also said Ukraine brought the annexations to the International Court of Justice and urged the Hague-based court to hear the case "as soon as possible".

burs/pvh/bfm/mlm
ANASTASIIA KALATUR  SATURDAY, 1 OCTOBER 2022, 08:00

Russian forces have kidnapped Ihor Murashov, Director General of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). His whereabouts are currently unknown.

Source: statement issued by Petro Kotin, President of Energoatom, a Ukrainian state enterprise operating nuclear power plants in Ukraine

Quote: "Ihor Murashov, Director General of the Zaporizhzhia NPP was detained by a [Russian] patrol around 16:00 on 30 September on his way from the [ZNPP] to Enerhodar [ZNPPs satellite city]. His car was stopped, he was forcibly detained, blindfolded and taken in an unknown direction.

We currently have no information about Ihor Murashovs whereabouts or his fate."

Details: The statement goes on to say that in his role as the ZNPP Director General, Murashov has sole responsibility for the plants nuclear and radiation security. His detention poses a danger to the operation of Europe's largest nuclear power plant.

Kotin demands that the Russian occupiers stop carrying out acts of nuclear terrorism in relation to the managerial and other staff of the ZNPP, immediately release Murashov and allow him to return to carrying out his duties in relation to maintaining the safe operation of the ZNPP. Kotin also addressed Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and Tom Mitchell, Chairman of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), urging them to take all measures at their disposal to free Murashov.

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Enemy suffered greatest losses in Kramatorsk and Bakhmut areas over past day

Read also: Ukraine loses 50 troops per day, Zelenskyy says

The Ukrainian military said that the enemy had suffered the greatest losses in the Kramatorsk and Bakhmut areas over the past day.

Read also: Russia loses at least 125 pieces of heavy equipment in Kharkiv retreat, analysts say

The total combat losses of the enemy from Feb. 24 to Oct. 1 are the following:

 Personnel  about 59,610 (+530);

 Tanks  2,354 (+16);

 Armored combat vehicles  4,949 (+17);

 Artillery systems  1,397 (+6);

 Multiple launch rocket systems  336 (+3);

 Air defense systems  176 (+0);

 Warplanes  264 (+0);

 Helicopters  226 (+1);

 UAV operational-tactical level  1,009 (+6);

 Cruise missiles  246 (+0);

 Warships / boats  15 (+0);

 Motor vehicles and fuel tankers  3,786 (+18);

 Special equipment  131 (+0).

Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Oct. 1 is the 220th day of full-scale war. The invading forces tried to advance from the north, east and south, shelling peaceful cities throughout Ukraine using artillery and bombing them from the air.

Read also: Ukrainian army repels enemy attacks near three settlements, Russia sends cadets to war  General Staff

During this time, the Kremlin has changed the goals of its war in Ukraine several times. After a failed operation to seize Kyiv and then the retreat of its troops from Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy oblasts, Russian forces concentrated on fighting for the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, which were under Ukrainian governmental control before the full-scale Russian invasion.

Kherson is the only provincial capital under Russian control. Invading Russian forces currently occupy parts of Kherson, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Mykolayiv, and Zaporizhzhya oblasts.

Read also: Danilov says Kremlin would do well not to delay talks with Ukraine  on war reparations

The Ukrainian Armed Forces has launched a counter-offensive in the south and east of Ukraine, striking at Russian ammunition depots and manpower clusters.

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Shortly after the beginning of the Kherson counter-offensive, Ukrainian army launched another counter-offensive in Kharkiv Oblast in the north-east of the country. Most of the oblast was liberated from Russian occupation in just a few days.

The Ukrainian military has already liberated more than 8,000 square kilometers of territory.

Read also: First Lady Zelenska urges world not to forget about Russias war against Ukraine

The Kremlin decided to hold a sham referendum following the military successes of the Ukrainian army, in the hope of illegally annexing at least those territories that still remain under the control of invading Russian forces.

On Sept. 21, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization in Russia. It was said 300,000 people would be mobilized, but the true number is thought to be around 1 million people.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The city of Izyum, Ukraine is seen on Oct. 1. JUAN BARRETO / Contributor

Ukrainian officials on Saturday said that Russian soldiers had shelled a convoy of civilians in the country's northeast region, resulting in the deaths of at least 20 people, some of them children.

Oleh Syniehubov, the governor of the nation's Kharkiv region, wrote on social media that the attack was "ruelty that can't be justified," according to The Associated Press. The attack is one of a number of ambushes that Ukrainian officials have blamed on the Russian forces in recent days, and Syniehubov also reportedly wrote of another attack in which 24 people in a civilian convoy were killed trying to flee the Kupiansk district.

At least 13 children and a number of pregnant women were among the dead, Syniehubov said, adding that "the Russians fired at civilians almost at point-blank range."

Photographs of the attacked convoy reportedly showed blown-up trucks filled with burned corpses and streets littered with bodies, the AP said.

Russian government officials have not commented on the report of civilian mass casualties, despite the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been ramping up anti-Western rhetoric. Even as the Russian Army continues to pull its forces back amidst a strong Ukrainian counteroffensive, Putin and his government have remained defiant. A recent referendum by Russia announced that the country would be "annexing" four territories in Ukraine, though the Russians have no legal standing to do so.

This annexation was condemned by the majority of the Western world, which has all but turned its back on Russia as the invasion enters its eighth month. President Biden called Putin's annexation effort a "sham" and announced that the United States would be implementing a slate of new sanctions against Russia.

However, even as Russian propaganda asserts that the invasion of Ukraine continues to run smoothly, evidence points to anything but. On Saturday, Ukrainian forces entered the eastern city of Lyman, where a few thousand Russian troops were reportedly still stationed. By that afternoon, Ukrainian soldiers had surrounded the remaining Russians, forcing them to flee the city.

Story continues

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It seemed odd and unwarranted at the time, giving a rookie the honor of starting on Opening Day. Six months later, Joe Ryan might have locked up the job for 2023, too.

Ryan, the young fastball specialist, finished up a splendid first full season on Friday by shutting out the Tigers for six innings, setting a new Twins record for strikeouts by a rookie, and kicking off the final road trip of 2022 with a 7-0 drubbing of Detroit at Comerica Park.

The scoreless start, Ryan's fourth since Aug. 26, earned his 13th victory of the year, fourth-most ever by a Twins rookie, and extended the right-hander's season-long dominance of Detroit. Ryan has faced the Tigers four times this season and breezed each time, going 4-0 with an 0.76 ERA, plus 33 strikeouts and only three walks.

Actually, Ryan has feasted on the AL Central in 2022, going 10-0 with a 1.39 ERA against the Twins' four division rivals. And in four September starts, Ryan has allowed only 15 hits, and just three for extra bases, in 28 2/3 innings.

This time, he limited the Tigers to five hits, all singles, and induced 16 swing-and-misses. But Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson didn't swing at a third-inning, two-strike fastball in the middle of the plate, going down as Ryan's 145th strikeout victim of the season. That's one batter more than Francisco Liriano whiffed in 2006, making Ryan the new record-holder by a Twins rookie.

The Twins had much less trouble with Detroit lefthander Tyler Alexander, though part of the fault for his three-run, five-inning start belonged to a couple of Comerica Park fans who  didn't interfere with a ball in play.

With Gio Urshela on first base and one out in the fourth inning, Ryan Jeffers hit a line drive down the left field line that zoomed past some front-row fans as left fielder Akil Baddoo hurried over to field it.

Two fans tried to catch the ball, one with a glove, but neither touched it, and the ball ricocheted off a railing, taking an odd bounce into the left-field corner. Baddoo claimed interference, and umpires initially agreed, sending Urshela back to third base and Jeffers to third. But Twins manager Rocco Baldelli challenged the call, and a replay umpire overturned it, awarding Jeffers an RBI triple.

Carlos Correa later slammed a two-run homer into the left-field seats against Tigers reliever Will Vest, and the Twins finished off their 17th shutout of the season.

The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.
Russian tricolour near a destroyed enemy tank in Izyum, Kharkiv region, liberated from the invaders

The issue of adding the suspects to the international wanted list is being considered, the SBU said.

According to the SBU's channel on the Telegram messenger, the leader of the "LPR"militants, a Kremlin puppet called Leonid Pasichnyk, is suspected of collaboration. According to the inquiry, he signed a petition of the "deputies" of the bogus "People's Council of the LPR" on the "coming into force" of the sham "referendum ...on the matter of joining the Russian Federation."

On Pasichnyk's orders, fake "election commissions" were formed, and funding was provided for the preparation and holding of the sham referendum. The collaborator also frequently participated in propaganda events intended to justify the need for a fake "freedom of expression, the SBU said.

Eight so-called "deputies of the People's Council of the "DNR" were also suspected of collaboration and encroachment on Ukraine's territorial integrity.

The SBU named them as: Alexander Malkov, Natalia Strelchuk, Miroslav Rudenko, Anastasia Selivanova, Oleksandr Bondarenko, Oleksandr Diagovets, and Alexey Zhigulin.

SBU

According to the SBU, the collaborators "voted" for the falsified law in a so-called "referendum" and requested its "signing" from the leader of the "DNR" terrorist organization, Denys Pushylin.

They face sentences of 5 to 10 years in prison if found guilty.

Read also: Kremlins eye on entire Donetsk Oblast after sham referendums, says Putins spokesperson

Previously, the SBU issued suspicion notifications to the organizers of pseudo-referendums in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya oblasts, including Denys Pushylin, Yevhen Balytskyi, Volodymyr Saldo, Kyrylo Stremousov, and Halyna Danylchenko.

From Sept. 23-27, the enemy staged sham referendums in the occupied parts of Ukraine. The majority of Western countries have declared that the results of the sham referendums will not be recognized.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on Sept 30. signed "agreements" on the annexation Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine with the leaders of the "L/DPR" terrorist organizations and collaborators in Kherson and Zaporizhzhya oblasts.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
A Citadel cadet who participated in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot may plead guilty instead of going to trial and contesting the charges, according to a court record in his case filed Friday.

Elias Irizarry, an upperclass Citadel cadet from York County, is slated to have a plea agreement hearing Oct. 26 before U.S. Judge Tanya Chutkan, according to a one-sentence public notice about his case.

It was not clear whether the hearing is to discuss a possible plea or whether Irizarry will actually plead guilty.

If Irizarry pleads guilty, he will be the 10th of 16 South Carolinians arrested in the Capitol breach to plead guilty to riot-related charges. None have chosen to go to trial.

Irizarry had previously rejected a plea deal and chose to be tried by a jury in the District of Columbia federal court, where rioters cases are being handled. His trial date was set for Jan. 3. Both prosecution and defense have been preparing for trial.

Irizarry faces four misdemeanor charges, none of them violent.

The charges are entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

He faces up to a year in prison.

In July, Elliott Bishai, a friend with whom Irizarry traveled to Washington and entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, was sentenced to two weeks in federal prison after pleading guilty to entering a restricted area. The judge noted he had no violent charges against him and had been living a life of service as a frontline wilderness firefighter since his arrest in South Carolina in March 2021.

At Bishais sentencing, his lawyer told the judge that because his client had participated in the riot, he had been denied a chance to enter an elite program for helicopter pilots in the U.S. Army.

The evidence against Bishai and Irizarry included photographs of them inside and outside the Capitol on Jan. 6. Investigators also discovered numerous Nazi and white supremacist videos on Bishais cellphone.

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Although Bishai committed no violent offenses, Chutkan told him he was more than an onlooker.

There is no mob without you, she said.

In a May 3 hearing on Irizarrys case, Chutkan told him that on Jan. 6, 2021, he was part of a mob (that) almost caused the halt of the transfer of power in this country in whats tantamount to an attempt to overthrow this government.

Irizarry, the judge continued, may not have carried a weapon, he may not have stolen anything, he may not have assaulted a police officer, but hes alleged to have been part of that mob.

At the time of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Irizarry was in his freshman year at The Citadel and about to start his second semester. Since then, he has been an honors student.

In August, over Chutkans objections, a federal appeals court panel gave Irizarry permission to go to Estonia for a Citadel-sponsored three-week study abroad program.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is offering the people of China a "congratulations" on behalf of the U.S. as the country celebrates the People's Republic of China National Day.

The People's Republic of China National Day celebrates the founding of the People's Republic of China, which took place on Oct. 1, 1949.

"On the occasion of the 73rd Peoples Republic of China National Day, I offer my congratulations to the people of China on behalf of the United States of America," Blinken said in a Friday statement. "As the United States works with the international community to tackle the great obstacles the world faces today, we welcome the cooperation of the Peoples Republic of China in addressing global challenges in health, climate change, counternarcotics, and other areas where our interests intersect."

"We hope for a peaceful and happy year ahead for the people of China," he added.

BIDEN SAYS US WOULD DEFEND TAIWAN IF CHINA LAUNCHES AN 'UNPRECEDENTED ATTACK'

Former President Donald Trump also congratulated the people of China during the holiday, which celebrates the Peoples Republic of China's founding after communist forces won the country's civil war, according to The Hill.

"Congratulations to President Xi and the Chinese people on the 70th Anniversary of the Peoples Republic of China!," Trump tweeted on Oct. 1, 2019.

Blinken's comments come after President Joe Biden said the U.S. will defend Taiwan if China decided to invade the island.

PENTAGON OFFICIAL SAYS 'ONLY A MATTER OF TIME' BEFORE CHINA CAUSES 'MAJOR' INCIDENT IN INDO-PACIFIC REGION

Staff members distribute flags of the Communist Party of China to passengers at Nantong railway station in China's eastern Jiangsu province on June 30, 2022, ahead of the party's 101th anniversary on July 1. Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images

Biden made the comment during an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" that aired on Sept. 18. The president was asked by Scott Pelley if the U.S. military would defend Taiwan.

"Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack," Biden said.

"So, unlike Ukraine, to be clear, sir," Pelley said, "U.S. forces, U.S. men and women would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion?"

"Yes," Biden said.

However, a White House official told CBS after the interview that U.S. policy on Taiwan remains unchanged.
Bruins Logo

A select group of Bartlesville High cross country runners are going a long way  by vehicle  to take part of a convention of hundreds of the top prep pacers in a five-state area.

And, the 16-Bartlesville runners get to compete on a top-rate cross country college course at the University of Arkansas.

The 34th Annual Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival is a massive two-day event in Fayetteville, Ark., staging races for college, high school and junior high runners as well as holding a one-mile dash and a 10K open run.

Bartlesville High runners have been consistent participants during the years.

Bartlesville head cross country coach David Ayres has entered eight athletes in the boys test and eight in the girls grinder.

Chosen for the Lady Bruin team are Gentry Turner, Emily Lechuga, Maryann Alvey, Kate Manley, Lauren Shoesmith, Reese Savage, Emma Perry and Rachael Landers.

A major side benefit for the girls team is to be able to run Alvey with the varsity team.

As a transfer student from Wesleyan Christian School to Bartlesville High, Alvey has to sit out this school year from varsity competition in Oklahoma competition. But, in Saturdays race in Arkansas shell stride out with the first-string Lady Bruin crew.

Ayers sees her participation as a preview for how the Lady Bruins will compete next season when Alvey is allowed to be part of the varsity.

The Bruins team of eight boys on Saturday is slated to include Tanner John, Tehi Chibitty, Russell Miller, Kayden Reyes, Reed Gorman, Cade Winter, Jackson Boudreaux and Ashton Lindsay-Brothers.

The entire field of prep runners will include runners from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Missouri and Kansas.

Its a great course, said Ayres. This gives our kids a chance to compete against elite runners and to see where they really match up with great teams in other states.  Well be pretty much full strength on both sides. Everybody is pretty healthy.  Theyre looking forward to it.

The next meet will be next Thursday in Claremore.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Bartlesville High runners headed to Arkansas competition
In this aerial photo made in a flight provided by mediccorps.org, damage from Hurricane Ian is seen on Estero Island in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Fort Myers, Florida was one of the hardest-hit areas in Hurricane Ian's path.

Popular among "snowbirds" who head south for the winter months, the part-time residents came back early.

They arrived to see flooding and debris filling their winter paradise.

FORT MYERS, Florida  Susan Johnson, 68, rode out Hurricane Ian with her husband and some neighbors at the clubhouse in her mobile home community. She watched from the windows as neighbors' homes blew away.

On Wednesday, Ian tore through Florida's west coast and slammed the state with catastrophic winds and storm surges. Homes were swept away, boats were destroyed, and city infrastructure has been damaged, leaving nearly entire communities without power. The death toll is at least 21 as of Friday, with state officials expecting the number to rise.

Many of Johnson's neighbors are snowbirds and don't come down until October, she said, but many were now returning after the storm to help their neighbors.

In the surrounding area, traffic lights were still shot and many stores were still dark. Neighbors had piled debris in their yards and hung up clothes and other items on lines outside their homes.

"We have so many conveniences we don't realize it can all go away," Johnson said. "Sometimes you have to go back to the basics to appreciate the things we have."

Susan Johnson said many of her neighbors returned to Florida earlier than usual to help neighbors and see the damage to their homes. Kimberly Leonard/Insider

Had Johnson known it would be that bad, she said, she would have escaped up to the East Coast. But her own home had been all right after the storm. On Friday, she still didn't have any electricity or running water, but the home had very little damage and no flooding.

The roads to her favorite spots, including Sanibel Island, had been demolished.

Her parents, now deceased, had bought the home in 1989. Johnson had a long career as a judge in Kentucky before retiring in 2015. It had been her "retirement dream" to live here someday, she said, adding, "I'm not going anywhere."

She estimated the storm surges reached 8 feet. In other parts of the area, a 10-foot surge poured into the community, and residents were still waiting on Friday for the water to recede so they can start picking up the pieces.

"It's a peril to always have to be aware of," she said of the possibility of hurricanes in Florida. "But I never imagined it would be like this."

Read the original article on Insider
BuzzFeed

"I found an old love letter he had written to me, so I decided to spray it with my perfume, glitter-bomb it, and mail it back to him. I found out later that it actually arrived on his birthday and made a huge mess. It was the perfect revenge, and I dont regret it one bit."View Entire Post 
Stacey Solomon has voiced her concern over soaring household costs in the UK.

Speaking ahead of todays energy bill hike, the Loose Women host shared her fears that she might not be able to afford the energy bill for her 1.2m Essex home, Pickle Cottage.

Solomon, 32, and her husband, Joe Swash, 40, bought the Tudor cottage near Brentwood last year. They have invested a lot of time into renovating the property.

In a new interview with The Guardian, with Pickle Cottage acting as the backdrop, Solomon called the rising cost of energy bills scary.

She said: If our energy bill doubles, then it might well be beyond our means in the future.

Im not saying it is the same for us as someone on the breadline, cos it blooming well isnt. But its such a scary time.

She continued: How have we allowed the country to get to this point? How can the government not be prepared for it?

The couples sprawling estate is set on two acres of land, and has its own outdoor pool and games room.

Solomon and Swash were married in an intimiate cermony at Pickle Cottage earlier this year. The couple share two children together.

Energy prices rise on Saturday (1 October), which will see the annual bill for a typical household rise from 1,971 to 2,500 per year.

It follows months of warnings about the soaring price of gas and electricity, caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
There's a lot of chatter right now about the "surprise" shutdown of Stadia, Google's game-streaming service. While it's true that rivals like Geforce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming presented entrenched competition and that Google knows next to nothing about gaming, the main trouble  as with most of its products these days  is that no one trusted them to keep it alive longer than a year or two.

It really is that simple: No one trusts Google. It has exhibited such poor understanding of what people want, need and will pay for that at this point, people are wary of investing in even its more popular products.

The technical implementation certainly wasn't to be faulted. I will admit to being a skeptic when they said they could hit the frame rates and response times they advertised, but by Jove they did it. At its best, Stadia was better than its competitors and almost magical in how it fulfilled the promise of going from zero to in-game in one second.

The business side of things was never quite so inspiring. There is now a great remembering of the much-mocked pre-launch hype display for Stadia: the doomed Dreamcast, pointless Power Glove and E.T. for Atari, the game so bad they buried it in a shallow grave, followed by an empty pedestal on which Stadia would soon sit.

The console that tanked SEGA's hardware division A useless peripheral that was more successful as a meme than as a product And a game that was so badly received that truckloads of unsold copies were buried in a desert No clue where this is going but I'm intrigued #GoogleGDC19 pic.twitter.com/HOSKJNMXbb  Nibel (@Nibellion) March 19, 2019

Though it's clear this was a hilarious misunderstanding of  just about everything, it turned out to be quite apropos. Stadia was doomed, pointless and destined for an undignified death.

The last first; it was only two months ago that Stadia's Twitter account assured a concerned user that the service was not in fact shutting down.

Image Credits: Google / Twitter

In fact the wheels were probably already in motion, but the higher-ups just hadn't yet told their social team, developers or pretty much anybody this was the plan. It has been reported that a lot of people close to the service were blindsided by the decision  and who wouldn't be, after the company publicly declared that everything was fine?

For some the writing was on the wall earlier, when the first-party development team put together by Google to create exclusive games was shut down before it got a chance to do just about anything. The company may have miscalculated how long it takes to develop a game from scratch. At least as long as a Google Doodle.

Still, it could have succeeded even without exclusives if it offered a compelling product. Unfortunately Google Stadia was as pointless and showy as the Power Glove: "It's so bad," as the meme has it.

As impressive as its execution was, I couldn't quite figure out who it was for. A huge, huge proportion of gamers who want to play the latest hit, say Deathloop, will already have either a console, a gaming PC or both. Why would I buy Deathloop for Stadia instead of for my PS5 or on Steam? It will play and look better natively (though Stadia did look surprisingly good), and of course they've already invested hundreds into those platforms.

Sure, you could play on the go or on your laptop or something. But  not only do services to do that already exist, but the experience isn't really great. Full-price games these days are immersive, major affairs where you sit down for an hour or two on the couch and get into it with the surround sound system blasting. Sure, I wouldn't mind doing a little inventory management on my laptop during a coffee break at the office, but beyond that, having persistent access to AAA games isn't much of an advantage.

Meanwhile games like Genshin Impact hit AAA levels and are natively portable  played by millions on phones. Again, why was Stadia a better deal?

It might have made sense if the proposal was you pay $20 a month and some Google sorcery let you play your PlayStation, Xbox, Switch or PC games all wherever you want. A real platform-agnostic bridge builder type thing, and Google would probably be paying millions behind the scenes for the privilege. Kind of like what Samsung is attempting:

But no. You couldn't access your existing games  couldn't even use your own controller! It cost you a bill to get in the door plus the monthly fee, then you had to buy games on top of that, full price.

And here's where it was really doomed. Because while people will happily drop a couple bucks here and there for a Google service, no one is going to pay hundreds for something they have a sneaking feeling is going to be completely worthless in short order.

Google's legacy of killing products is infamous. Its twists and turns on priorities, branding, standards and everything else have made it clear to everyone that they cannot be trusted with anything beyond their core services, and they even like to screw those up now and then.

I still have my original Super Nintendo, which plays as well as it did the day I brought it home. My Mario Kart and Super Metroid cartridges have been working for  my god, 30 years now. I have games on Steam I bought a decade and more ago that I can load up and play as easily as I did then. There are digital copies of games on my PS3 that would boot right up if I felt like digging it out of storage. These companies and services have built trust over decades to show that they either can't or won't pull the rug out from under their customers.

Why do you think the whole P.T. drama was so disturbing? It was truly unexpected: An aggressive and unnecessary destruction of a digital product that people thought they owned. Gamers felt a betrayal.

But with Google the shoe is on the other foot. Google has built nothing but mistrust, outside a handful of products no one wants or needs to change. For me (and dozens more of us) the turning point was the assassination of Google Reader  for which I will never forgive them, and try to regularly exert a small vengeance by mentioning it like so  but plenty of other products have been extended, embraced and then extinguished (to repurpose the idiom).

Google couldn't betray me now if they tried  because there's nothing to betray. To be honest I would be relieved if they screwed up Gmail so badly that I had no choice but to switch  I can't work up the volition otherwise.

And although there is no doubt that the people for whom Stadia did make sense for whatever reason (and I was happy for them) do feel betrayed, the millions more who squinted and smiled and said "not this time, big G!" are feeling validated. I will say that I'm surprised Google is doing the right thing by offering a truly robust refund. It's the least they could do, and god knows they have the money.

I don't think Stadia could ever really have been a success. Its entire model was probably doomed to failure from the start. But even a long shot can be molded into a successful product with a few pivots if the core is solid and it develops a large, invested community. That was never, ever going to be the case for Stadia. Google has built a case against itself so strong that, whether it's creators on YouTube, coders and scientists on Colab, or media and advertisers in Search, no community will ever truly trust it again.
I spent one night in Hotel Colorado, which is known as one of the state's most haunted hotels. Monica Humphries/Insider

I spent a night in Hotel Colorado, known as one of Colorado's most haunted places.

Guests have reported flickering lights, doors unlocking, and a lingering smell of cigar smoke.

While I didn't experience any ghost encounters, I was thoroughly spooked by the stories.

Last spring, as I arrived in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, via train, a staff member pointed across a river to Hotel Colorado  my hotel for the night.

A view from above Glenwood Springs, Colorado, after the train dropped off passengers for the evening. Monica Humphries/Insider

Read more: I took a $1,500 luxury train from Colorado to Utah. Here are 5 of the best parts about the trip and 6 things I thought were disappointing.

What the train staff didn't mention was that the hotel is said to be one of the most haunted hotels in the entire state, according to Uncover Colorado.

An arrow points to Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Monica Humphries/Insider

Source: Uncover Colorado

According to the hotel's website, guests and staff have reported creepy encounters that range from instances with a ghostly woman in a floral dress to the hotel founder's spirit lurking in the hallways. As I anxiously planned to spend a night in the historic hotel, I hoped to add my own ghost sighting to the list.

My key for room 213 at Hotel Colorado. Monica Humphries/Insider

Source: Uncover Colorado

Built in 1893, the Hotel Colorado attracted wealthy travelers to the mining town, according to the hotel's website. Some of its most famous guests include the unsinkable Molly Brown, who survived the Titanic, and former presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, the same source states.

A postcard of Hotel Colorado, the baths, and surrounding landscape in Glenwood Springs, Colorado in 1914. Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

Source: Hotel Colorado, Hotel Colorado

Today, the hotel has 130 historic rooms, which start at $135 during the off-season, according to the hotel website. I stayed in the hotel's standard offering, a classic single queen room.

The exterior of the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Monica Humphries/Insider

Source: Hotel Colorado

As I walked through the hotel's front door, I felt like I was taking a step back in time. The lobby was filled with bits of history. Old images and paintings were framed on the walls, decorative rugs hung from the ceiling, and vintage candelabras sat on ornate fireplaces.

The lobby of Hotel Colorado. Monica Humphries/Insider

In one hallway, a bust of the founder was placed on a marble pillar, a piano was stationed against a wall, and antique cash registers sat on a shelf.

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Two old cash registers are on display in Hotel Colorado's lobby. Monica Humphries/Insider

Were these original to when it opened/the hotel's history or just there for ambiance? --> no idea!

From the decor and relics, I could see that it was clearly a historic hotel. And in this case, all that history comes with plenty of ghost stories.

The lobby was filled with patterned rugs, large windows, a grand piano, and velvet seating. Monica Humphries/Insider

The hotel has two tower suites, and according to the hotel, one is haunted. The story goes that in 1993, a couple was staying at the hotel, the same source states. When the husband got sick, a mysterious woman continuously came into their room to close an open window, per the hotel's website.

Arrows point to the tower suites at Hotel Colorado. Monica Humphries/Insider

Source: Hotel Colorado

Since then, other guests have shared sightings of a woman in a floral dress standing over their bed in the tower suite, the Hotel Colorado's website states.

Accounts of ghosts standing over beds have been reported in some room. Monica Humphries/Insider

Source: Hotel Colorado

In the basement of the hotel are more haunted tales. During WWII, the hotel was converted into a Navy hospital, the hotel's website says, and the building's basement served as a makeshift morgue where the bodies of dead soldiers were stored. According to Legends of America, staff members have experienced locked doors unlocking and flickering lights in the old morgue.

A staircase in Hotel Colorado. Monica Humphries/Insider

Source: Hotel Colorado, Legends of America

But one of the most popular sightings happens on the hotel's main floor, according to the hotel's website. Bobbie was a nurse who was killed by an officer stationed at the hotel, and since her death, guests and staff will sometimes notice her floral perfume wafting through the hotel's dining room, the same source wrote.

The exterior of the Hotel Colorado in 1951. The Denver Post/Getty Images

Source: Hotel Colorado

As I explored the lobby and dining room, I had no encounters with perfumes and climbed to the second floor to room 213, my room for the night.

The doors to the second floor of the Hotel Colorado. Monica Humphries/Insider

On the way to 213, I passed the Roosevelt Suite. According to the hotel's website, this is where the former president spent three weeks on a bear-hunting expedition in 1905, staying in a suite with a living room, balcony, and wet bar.

The door to the Roosevelt Suite in the Hotel Colorado. Monica Humphries/Insider

Source: Hotel Colorado, Hotel Colorado

I then turned down a long hallway, which is the best place to search for Walter Devereaux, the hotel's founder, according to the hotel's website. Hotel guests and staff report they know he's present when the smoke-free hotel starts to smell like cigar smoke.

A hallway in the Hotel Colorado. Monica Humphries/Insider

Source: Hotel Colorado

Again, my nose didn't spot any peculiar smells, and I reached my hotel room and opened the door.

The door to my room at the Hotel Colorado. Monica Humphries/Insider

I thought the simple room had all the necessities I needed for the night.

The interior of my bedroom at the Hotel Colorado. Monica Humphries/Insider

Against one wall was a bed with nightstands and lamps.

The bed and nightstands in the hotel room. Monica Humphries/Insider

Next to another wall, my room had a dresser and TV.

The room had a dresser, TV, and mirror. Monica Humphries/Insider

Two chairs and a table sat against a wall and a window overlooked an adjacent building.

Two chairs and a small table were also in my hotel room. Monica Humphries/Insider

I thought the bathroom was similarly simple with plenty of towels, a sink, toilet, and shower.

The bathroom in my room at the Hotel Colorado. Monica Humphries/Insider

Likely due to the hotel's historic nature, I thought that parts of the room felt dated. I haven't seen a popcorn ceiling in years, and in the bathroom, the complimentary toiletries featured a Bath and BodyWorks scent that was discontinued years ago, according to Smell This. According to the hotel, the building has ongoing renovations, and I wondered if my room was awaiting a remodel. The Hotel Colorado did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

The complimentary toiletries included a discontinued Bath and Body Works conditioner. Monica Humphries/Insider

Source: Smell This

I left the hotel close to sunset to explore Glenwood Springs. Outside, the hotel had fire pits, twinkling lights, and lush greenery for guests to enjoy.

Hotel Colorado at dusk. Monica Humphries/Insider

Glenwood Springs is a town known for its historic hot springs. Its pool dates back to 1888 according to the spring's website, and they were about a 5-minute walk from Hotel Colorado. After taking a dip, I headed back to my spooky room.

The Glenwood Springs Hot Springs. Monica Humphries/Insider

Source: Glenwood Hot Springs Resort

Once I returned, I explored the hotel at night. I hoped the late hours might lure ghosts out of hiding. I didn't spot a single soul or spirit, but the eerily empty hallways left me thoroughly spooked as I jumped at the sounds of creaking doors and pings of pipes.

The empty hallways were eerie, I thought as I returned back to the hotel in the dark. Monica Humphries/Insider

I retreated into my bed and imagined the stories that fill the hotel. But after reading and recollecting the hotel's haunted history, falling asleep was a tough task.

The ceiling of my room at the Hotel Colorado. Monica Humphries/Insider

I woke up the next morning after a few hours of sleep. As I left the Hotel Colorado, I was thankful that I didn't have any of my own ghost stories to share. Although, I haven't had a solid night's rest since.

As I left the Hotel Colorado, I was glad I didn't have any of my own ghost stories to share. Monica Humphries/Insider

Read the original article on Insider
The crypto space changed dramatically during the second quarter of 2020  often referred to as DeFi Summer  when governance tokens were created that allowed token holders to vote on-chain on policies to lead a particular protocol.

Decentralized finance, known as DeFi, is a growing subsector with $54.91 billion in total locked value across several blockchains. DeFi enables people to have access to financial services and yield generation without the need of a traditional middleman like a bank.

This article is part of CoinDesk's "Education Week."

More and more, student blockchain clubs are participating in on-chain governance as a vehicle to be heard and to learn about decentralized governance within the Web3 ecosystem.

Student blockchain organizations, including those at University of California-Berkeley, London Business School, University of California-Los Angeles and Columbia University, already vote on-chain for protocols such as Uniswap, Compound, Aave and dYdX.

And several student organizations, such as Georgia Tech and Cornell, are gearing up to launch governance programs in the near future.

Learning curve

Students voting on-chain learn by getting first hand experience on how the space works, said Jamin Feng, head of the governance department for Lions DAO, Columbias student blockchain organization. By voting and being informed about voting, students get to learn how these protocols work.

See also: Best Universities for Blockchain 2022

They can also gain developer experience since creating governance proposals requires writing code.

You get to see the developments on the ground level and basically be part of the conversation for the major catalysts for DeFi, said Feng.

Colleges enter the community

Just as students who take part in DeFi governance benefit by first-hand experience in voting and writing proposal code, the crypto space also gains.

Many protocols consider themselves to be public-good infrastructure, and as such, they seek to be publicly owned in a decentralized manner. Giving voting rights to community stakeholders through governance tokens is how these protocols promote decentralization.

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For example, Safe, a popular digital asset management platform that currently secures around $40 billion in its Ethereum contracts, said it launched its own governance token in order to decentralize the governance of [Safes] critical infrastructure. So by including student groups in on-chain governance decisions, protocols are sharing the responsibility with a wider group of people, thus achieving greater decentralization.

Just as in American politics, on-chain governance of DeFi protocols suffers from low voter participation. And yet  just as with the U.S. government  there is a lot of money at stake.

There are decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) with thousands of people with billions of dollars locked into a treasury, and the conversation thats going on [about governance] is between, like, six people, said Deven Matthews, who leads the Blockchain at Berkeley governance department.

Enter student blockchain clubs, whose members are both motivated to understand the ins and outs of a DeFi protocol and have time to do the work required. We actually have the capacity to do a lot of research into what these proposal changes are doing, and we want to understand how everything works before we vote, because were learning along the way, said Matthews.

Earlier in the year, Blockchain at Berkeley submitted a proposal to reduce the proposal threshold for voting on governance of the Compound protocol.

The governance process started with Blockchain@Berkeley creating a poll on Jan. 6 to gauge the Compound communitys sentiment regarding different potential proposal thresholds.

Students at Berkeley, Columbia, UCLA, University of Michigan and University of Pennsylvania all voted to lower the proposal threshold to 25,000 COMP  or roughly $610,000  from 65,000 COMP. Lions DAO even posted a Twitter thread that announced how they were voting for the proposal.

See also: Web3 Education Can Help Creators 'Own a Piece of the Internet'

Berkeleys proposal passed in March, and the impact was significant. At the previous proposal threshold of 65,000 COMP, only 11 to 12 addresses could propose governance changes, but after passage the number of addresses that had the power to propose more than doubled.

This proposal was an important step in not only making Compound more decentralized, but also more autonomous, tweeted blockchaincolumbia.eth, highlighting how student organizations are using their governance powers to protect and affirm the value of decentralization and autonomy in the Web3 ecosystem.

Rich corporate aunts and uncles

While student clubs can meet the challenge of becoming knowledgeable about DeFi protocols, many do not have substantial financial resources. Engaging in governance can be quite expensive, however, even prohibitively expensive.

To submit a governance proposal on Uniswap, for example, 2.5 million UNI needs to be delegated to an address. That is $15.7 million with UNI at $6.29, according to CoinDesk data.

Student organizations get involved with on-chain governance not by purchasing a large number of governance tokens themselves, but through token delegation, the process where a token holder transfers their on-chain governance rights to others, according to a blog post by the head of network operations at venture fund Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), which explained why and how it delegates its tokens to many student organizations.

Student club governance only exists because a16z exists, said Kydo, a graduate student at Stanford. A16z has delegated tokens to the Stanford Blockchain Club.

See also: Autodidacts Welcome!

Despite the lucrative delegation power a16z has given to student organizations, students and a16z say the students are free to vote as they wish. There arent any requirements for how much we need to vote and what we need to vote on, or really anything, said Matthews.

To have there be strings attached contradicts the intention of delegation in the first place, said Park Hay Yeung, a graduate student from London Business School. The token delegate program, he said, is meant to add more diversity and voices to the committee and not to have a single voice dictating the trajectory of a protocol.
Suella Braverman with Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley - Kirsty O'Connor/PA

Suella Braverman has pledged to "hold the police to greater account", as sources said the new Home Secretary believes that the concept of operational independence has been taken too far.

Mrs Braverman has signalled that she will "set direction" and "priorities" for forces as she draws up plans for a league table showing whether forces are meeting a new target to cut homicide, serious violence and neighbourhood crime by 20 per cent.

A Government source said that the Home Secretary also intended to make greater use of elected police and crime commissioners (PCCs) in England and Wales, the vast majority of whom are Conservative, to ensure that forces are focusing on specific priorities set by the Government.

The source suggested that it was wrong for opponents to suggest that the operational independence of the police means "we can't set direction or say what the priorities are or that these are our expectations. It just means we can't say, 'go and arrest this person'".

Drawing a parallel with Ms Truss's earlier questioning of decisions taken by the Bank of England on increasing money supply, a second Government source: "Just because an organisation is independent it doesnt mean they cant be criticised at all.

"[Mrs Braverman] wants them more focused on real policing and targets and isnt afraid to call out the over-policing of Twitter."

Mrs Braverman and the Prime Minister were "on the same page on all of this", the source said.

In a video clip produced by the Home Office, Mrs Braverman said: "My priorities are clear and simple - firstly we need to fix the crisis on the Channel and secondly we need to make our streets safer by holding the police to greater account and supporting victims."

Sources said that a recent letter in which the Home Secretary told police chiefs that the public expects officers to visit the scene of every burglary, was "symbolic" of the approach she would take. In the letter, she said officers needed to stop wasting time on "gestures" and initiatives on diversity and instead focus on "common sense policing".

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Last week, she also accused Sussex Police of "playing identity politics" after the force warned social media users against making "hateful" comments towards a convicted, transgender paedophile. The Home Secretary publicly stated that the force should "focus on catching criminals not policing pronouns".

This month, Mrs Braverman is expected to address all chief constables at a meeting of the National Policing Board, a panel revived by Priti Patel, the former home secretary, to help "set the long-term strategic direction for policing" and ensure forces were helping to meet the Government's target of recruiting 20,000 additional staff by March 2023.

Mrs Braverman's stance will build on work started under Ms Patel, who set out plans to amend the Policing Protocol, which governs the relationship between the Home Office, PCCs and chief constables, to reflect a shift towards ministers "taking a keener interest in and leaning in on policing matters (whilst respecting operational independence)".

The first Government source said it would mark a "big difference" in the day-to-day relationship between the Government and police.

Referring to the principle of operational independence, the source said: "It doesn't mean we cant set direction or priorities or say 'these are our expectations of you'. It just means we cant say, 'go and arrest this person'."

Mrs Braverman wants to "cut the c---", the source added.

In a letter to all 43 chief constables and police commissioners in England and Wales last week, Mrs Braverman she said she had been "dismayed by the perceived deterioration of public confidence" in the police in the past few years following "too many" high-profile incidents, such as the murder of Sarah Everard, that had "shattered public trust" in communities across the UK.

She said there not only had to be a change in culture and standards, but also a drive to bring down neighbourhood crime and anti-social behaviour.

She added: "Reducing crime is a key prime ministerial commitment, and I expect the police, working with local partners, to cut homicide, serious violence and neighbourhood crime by 20 per cent."

The Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, has hit out at the planned target and league table.

Last week, in response to Mrs Braverman's letter to chief constables, Steve Hartshorn, the body's national chairman, said: "Crime cannot be controlled by a government issued, headline-friendly diktat asking police forces to cut serious crimes such as homicide by 20 per cent or else face action.

"Law and order must be free from the ebb and flow of politics and although policing may have to adhere to targets, the public doesnt  and if we focus on one crime to satisfy a target, at the expense of another, the public loses out."
Hurricane Ians devastation of the southeastern U.S. and Russian President Vladimir Putins formal annexation of four Ukrainian regions are expected to dominate this weeks Sunday talk show circuit.

As Ian slowed down over South Carolina on Saturday, Florida and the Carolinas continued reeling from the damage wreaked by the storm. Ian was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone on Friday and is expected to continue weakening through Sunday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

President Biden declared an emergency in North Carolina on Saturday amid the now post-tropical cyclone, after previously making similar declarations in Florida and South Carolina. He warned on Friday that it could take the states years to rebuild from the storm.

More than 2 million people remained without power on Saturday as a result of Ian, including over 1.2 million in Florida. At least 34 people have been confirmed dead in the aftermath of the storm, according to The Associated Press.

Florida Sens. Marco Rubio (R) and Rick Scott (R) on Friday requested additional assistance for the state from the Senate Appropriations Committee. Both are set to appear on CNNs State of the Union, along with Deanna Criswell, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). One or more of the three are also set to make appearances on multiple other Sunday shows.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) will appear on NBCs Meet the Press, and Kevin Anderson, the mayor of Fort Meyers, Fla., will be on CBSs Face the Nation.

Putins annexation of four regions in southern and eastern Ukraine will likely also be a topic of discussion on Sundays shows. The Russian president formally announced the countrys claims on the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in a lavish ceremony on Friday.

The move  the latest escalation in Russias seven month-long war in Ukraine  was soundly rejected by the U.S. and its allies. Biden on Friday vowed to hold Russia accountable for the fraudulent annexation, announcing new sanctions on the Russian government.

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NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who will appear on NBCs Meet the Press this weekend, condemned the annexation on Friday as well, calling it illegal and illegitimate.

Gen. David Petraeus, former director of the CIA, is set to appear on ABCs This Week, and former national security adviser H.R. McMaster will be on CBSs Face the Nation.

Below is the full list of guests scheduled to appear on this weeks Sunday talk shows:

ABCs This Week  Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency; Sen. Marco Rubio (R); Gen. David Petraeus, former director of the CIA

NBCs Meet the Press  Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.); North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D); NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg

CBSs Face the Nation  Criswell; Scott; Kevin Anderson, mayor of Fort Meyers, Fla.; former national security adviser H.R. McMaster; Chris Krebs, former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

CNNs State of the Union  Criswell; Rubio; Scott

Fox News Sunday  Criswell; Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R)

Fox News Channels Sunday Morning Futures  Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio); Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.); Nevada Senate candidate Adam Laxalt (R); Former Trump campaign advisor Carter Page

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
(This Oct. 1 story has been corrected to fix statement from Heesen spokesperson in paras 4-5.)

By Chris Kirkham

(Reuters) - A U.S.-based luxury yacht broker is advertising for sale a 168-foot (51-metre) superyacht linked to sanctioned Russian billionaire Igor Kesaev for 29.5 million euros (roughly $29 million), according to an email seen by Reuters.

The proposed sale of the MySky yacht, which was disclosed in an advertisement emailed from the brokerage firm to undisclosed recipients on Sept. 14, comes amid concerns from Western governments and campaigners that billionaires like Kesaev have been able to work around a patchwork of international sanctions targeting their luxury assets such as yachts.

The EU and UK sanctioned Kesaev in April in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with the EU citing his involvement in military weapons production and tobacco distribution in Russia, as well as links to the Russian government "and its security forces." The United States has not sanctioned Kesaev, and the U.S. Treasury did not respond to requests for comment.

The spring 2021 edition of a magazine published by Heesen - the Netherlands-based firm that built MySky - said in an article about Kesaev's daughter and her art gallery that: "the Kesaev family is well known to Heesen, having commissioned Sky and MySky over the past decade."

Asked whether it was correct that the Kesaev family had commissioned the yachts, Sara Gioanola, a spokesperson for Heesen, confirmed that was what the magazine had stated. That edition of the magazine was taken offline after Reuters inquired about it.

Reuters was unable to independently confirm whether Kesaev has direct ownership in the MySky, which was completed in 2014.

Burgess, a yacht brokerage with offices in London, Monaco and other major markets, sent a statement after publication of this article saying Kesaev "is not the beneficial owner of MySky" and that it "does not have any commercial relationship with him." Burgess said in the statement it was "joint agent" for the sale.

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The company added it has "completed full due diligence" that was verified by outside lawyers. "The owner of MySky is not subject to sanctions."

A Burgess spokesperson last week would not confirm the brokerage's involvement in the sale and said she "can't answer questions about the yacht" when Reuters inquired.

On Monday, the spokesperson also declined to answer questions about who the owner is and whether they are related to Kesaev.

A spokesman for Kesaev declined to address questions about the ownership of the yacht or its imminent sale, and didn't immediately respond to follow-up questions about the Burgess statement.

The advertisement seen by Reuters was sent from an email address at Fort Lauderdale, Florida firm Merle Wood & Associates, which calls itself "one of the premier yacht brokerage firms worldwide." It was circulated privately with a warning not to post the advertisement publicly. Reuters was unable to determine the recipients.

The yacht named MySky features "ultra-modern sophisticated interiors" by a well-known Dutch architect, an "indoor climate controlled gymnasium" and a deck that can be used for landing helicopters, according to the advertisement.

Merle A. Wood, who is listed as the point of contact on the MySky advertisement, told Reuters by phone he knows nothing about the yacht's owner and directed questions to Burgess, which he described as the primary broker in the proposed sale.

Clara Portela, a sanctions expert at the University of Valencia, said that because there are no U.S. sanctions on Kesaev, American businesses or buyers could be involved in the yacht sale without running afoul of sanctions.

A check by Reuters of the Burgess website on Wednesday found the MySky listed as available for charter bookings. As of Thursday, Burgess had removed the MySky charter listing after Reuters inquired about it.

The Merle Wood ad said that the yacht was in the Maldives. Reuters photographed the vessel in waters off the Indian Ocean island republic in early March, in the days after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Yachts linked to sanctioned Russians have appeared in destinations such as the Maldives and Turkey in recent months as authorities in the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom levied sanctions and sought to seize such assets. Authorities in the Maldives did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesperson for the European Commission, which handles EU sanctions, said European leaders are encouraging other countries to align their policies with the EU, but said sanctions apply only within the EU's jurisdiction.

A spokesperson for the UK's Treasury said it does not comment on individual cases but "takes enforcement action in every reported case of suspected financial sanctions breach."

Roland Papp, who tracks illicit financial flows at Transparency International EU, said the often-secretive nature of sales involving superyachts means that it's highly unlikely authorities would ever learn about such transactions.

"It's very easy to try to avoid sanctions in this way," he said.

(Reporting by Chris Kirkham in Los Angeles. Additional reporting from David Gauthier-Villars in Istanbul, Alasdair Pal in New Delhi and Anthony Deutsch in Amsterdam.; Editing by Vanessa O'Connell and Claudia Parsons)
Protesters fill the street in front of the Supreme Court after the court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in Washington, June 24, 2022. Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press

SCOTUS begins a new term on Monday, following a historic summer of decisions, notably the end of Roe v. Wade.

The justices will review major cases on affirmative action, voting rights, and free speech.

"It's probably the worst environment in the Supreme Court that has ever existed in history," a court observer said.

The Supreme Court has recently driven American law and life quickly to the right, handing down seismic decisions in June that eliminated constitutional protections for abortion, expanded gun rights, and bolstered religious liberties.

That rightward trend could continue when the justices take the bench on Monday for what's shaping up to be another consequential term, featuring high-profile cases on affirmative action, election laws, and free speech, among many others.

"There's no reason to think this coming term, or any term in the foreseeable future, will be any different. On things that matter most, get ready for a lot of 6-3s," Irv Gornstein, executive director at Georgetown Law's Supreme Court Institute, said during a term preview event in September.

The 6-3 conservative majority returns as it faces sinking public approval ratings, which plummeted in the wake of its recent decisions, most notably the overturning of Roe v. Wade on June 24. The ruling triggered a wave of abortion bans in Republican-led states, with one in three women losing access to the procedure. Undoing nearly 50 years of precedent, the decision has spurred questions about the court's legitimacy, prompting some of the justices themselves to publicly defend the institution.

The court has also been shaken by the unprecedented leak on May 3 of a draft opinion in the abortion case, which an internal committee is still investigating. The leak sparked nationwide protests during a time of already intense political polarization. Law enforcement officials on June 8 arrested an armed man who made threats against Justice Brett Kavanaugh near his home in Maryland, eventually resulting in President Joe Biden signing a bill into law that extends security protections to the Supreme Court justices' families.

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And the court is under increased scrutiny after Justice Clarence Thomas' wife, Ginni, pushed Republican state lawmakers and White House officials to overturn Biden's 2020 election victory. The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot interviewed Ginni last week.

"The bottom line is, I think it's probably the worst environment in the Supreme Court that has ever existed in history," Richard Pierce, a law professor at the George Washington University Law School, told Insider.

Monday is the first time the court will re-open to the public since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. And it'll be Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's first term following her historic confirmation as the first Black woman nominated to the high court.

The court will continue to add more cases to its docket in the coming months, and decisions will be handed down by next June. Here are some important cases to follow:

Justice Clarence Thomas. Erin Schaff/Associated Press

SCOTUS could end affirmative action in college admissions

For more than 40 years, the Supreme Court has held that universities may consider race as a component of their admissions processes. But the justices could toss out that precedent as it's being challenged in two major cases.

Students for Fair Admissions, a nonprofit founded in 2014 by Edward Blum, an opponent of affirmative action policies, alleged that the University of North Carolina discriminated against Asian and white applicants and violated the Constitution's equal protection clause by considering race in its admissions.

The group also sued Harvard University, claiming the Ivy League school discriminated against Asian applicants, in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits private institutions that receive federal funding from discriminating on the basis of race.

Challengers have asked the Supreme Court to overturn a nearly 20-year-old landmark ruling, Grutter v. Bollinger, that upheld affirmative action.

Both of the universities have denied claims of discrimination, and argued that their race-conscious admissions programs are lawful. The lower courts agreed with them.

But the Supreme Court decided to take up the pair of cases, clearing the way for the conservative majority to potentially eliminate affirmative action in higher education  a hot-button issue that's long been publicly debated. A ruling in favor of the challengers could upend college admissions processes and likely lead to fewer minority students enrolled.

"That will have enormous implications for universities all over the country, and then ripple effects in every other area: employment, for instance," Pierce said.

Arguments for the cases are scheduled for October 31.

A view of the U.S. Supreme Court building. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The court could upend how elections are run

Another blockbuster case concerns a radical legal theory that, if the Supreme Court embraces, could have the power to upend how elections are run nationwide.

North Carolina House Speaker Timothy Moore, along with other Republican members of the state's general assembly, have asked the justices to review the "independent state legislature" theory, which asserts that the Constitution gives state legislatures the power to draw voting maps and set election laws, without any oversight from other authorities, like the state courts or the governor.

The legislators invoked the theory in response to the North Carolina State Supreme Court striking down their newly drawn congressional map as a partisan gerrymander that favored Republicans. The Republican lawmakers want the Supreme Court to reinstate their map and to support their independent state legislature doctrine.

The little-known theory gained ground in the 2020 elections, as former President Donald Trump and his allies relied on it to support their unsuccessful bid to overturn Biden's victory.

Legal experts have widely debunked the theory, arguing that it has no place in the Constitution. They've also sounded the alarm about the potential consequences of the Supreme Court accepting it, tossing out the way elections have been handled for hundreds of years.

"This would effectively remove all checks and balances at the state level, handing virtually unchecked power to set federal election rules to politicians in the state capitol, cutting out the governor and the state courts and the state constitution," Thomas Wolf, deputy director for the Brennan Center's Democracy Program, told Insider, adding that such an outcome would be "catastrophic." Arguments for the case have not been scheduled by the court yet.

A redrawn congressional map is also at the heart of another significant case before the Supreme Court, in which the justices will hear a challenge to Alabama's 2020 redistricting plan.

A group of Black voters claimed the state legislature diluted their voting power by packing Black Alabamans into one of the state's seven congressional districts, instead of creating two majority-Black districts.

Republican state lawmakers argued that they drew the map from a race-neutral standpoint, and that the Constitution does not require them to create districts based on race.

Federal judges sided with the challengers, ordering Alabama to create a new map as the current one likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voting practices that discriminate on the basis of race.

"We trust that after reviewing our argument, the United States Supreme Court will protect the Voting Rights Act as well as the rights of the very communities who marched to ensure its passage," Evan Milligan, executive director at Alabama Forward and the lead plaintiff in the case, told Insider in a statement.

Alabama called on the Supreme Court to reverse the decision, which it did, and consequently took up the case for review.

The justices have chipped away at the Voting Rights Act through a series of rulings over the past several years, and could do so again in this case.

"It would undermine the entire reason why we have the Voting Rights Act in the first place. It's a landmark piece of legislation that really is about how the history of discrimination interacts with present political conditions," Yurij Rudensky, senior counsel for the Brennan Center's Democracy Program, told Insider.

Arguments for the case are scheduled for October 4.

Chief Justice John Roberts. Leah Millis-Pool/Getty Images

The court will review free-speech, Native American rights, and more

The court is set to review a slew of other important matters, including those involving water pollution, Native American rights, and free speech.

The first case the court will hear on Monday is Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, which deals with an Idaho couple who sought to build on their land but the EPA blocked them from doing so on the grounds that the area contained wetlands regulated by the agency under the Clean Water Act.

"It's a very, very hard case, a hard question, because on one side you have people like the Sacketts and lots of other people, particularly rural people who don't have freedom to use their own property the way they would like to," Pierce said. "But on the other side, you've got people who are harmed by pollution and would be harmed by any pollution that begins in, say, some isolated pond on somebody's property, but then whenever there's heavy rainfall, finds its way into a river."

Later in the term, the court will hear arguments about whether parts of the decades-old federal Indian Child Welfare Act are unconstitutional. Congress passed the legislation in 1978 in response to growing concerns that Native American children were being separated from their families and adopted by non-Native families. But challengers say the law discriminates against non-Native Americans.

And in a free-speech case, the court will revisit religious and LGBTQ+ rights as a Colorado designer refuses to create wedding websites for same-sex couples because of her religious beliefs. The case is reminiscent of a Colorado baker who refused to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple because of his religious beliefs. The Supreme Court narrowly ruled in favor of the baker in 2018, but did not address the major free-speech questions at issue.

Read the original article on Business Insider
An exam room inside the Hope Clinic For Women in Granite City, Illinois, on June 27, 2022. (Angela Weiss/Getty-AFP)

A hundred days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, abortions for out-of-state patients have surged in Illinois, as many Midwestern and Southern states have banned or severely restricted terminating a pregnancy.

Before the historic reversal of federal reproductive rights, Planned Parenthood of Illinois used to schedule dozens of abortion patients from other states each month. Now hundreds of patients are crossing state lines monthly to terminate a pregnancy in Illinois, the agency said.

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Our overall out-of-state abortion volume is 10 times what it was historically, said Kristen Schultz, chief strategy and operations officer at Planned Parenthood of Illinois. The need ramped up in Illinois and it has stayed consistently high.

Roughly a dozen states nationwide  predominantly in the Midwest and South  have outlawed terminating a pregnancy in nearly all cases, leaving about 80 million people without access to abortion services, according to the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights. Several other states have also passed earlier gestational restrictions, curbing access to abortion later in pregnancy.

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Illinois is in an incredibly critical position in terms of the Midwest, said Elisabeth Smith, director of state policy and advocacy for the Center for Reproductive Rights. All of the states that Illinois shares a border with have either no abortion access or more limited access.

The high courts June 24 ruling ended federal abortion protections, leaving the matter of abortion rights to be determined by individual states. Terminating a pregnancy remains legal in Illinois, which has strong reproductive rights protections amid the generally restrictive Midwest.

Illinois Right to Life Executive Director Amy Gehrke called the rising number of out-of-state patients tragic, noting that terminating a pregnancy is always deadly to preborn children.

I believe those on both sides of the abortion debate have been surprised by just how fast the abortion numbers in Illinois have skyrocketed, she said.

Three months after the fall of Roe, here are six things to know about the shifting reproductive rights landscape in Illinois, the Midwest and nation.

1. More abortion patients are crossing state lines to terminate a pregnancy in Illinois than ever before. Before Roe was overturned, Planned Parenthood of Illinois on average scheduled about 100 out-of-state abortion patients every month. The first week after the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 landmark case, nearly 750 patients from other states scheduled appointments to terminate a pregnancy, the agency said.

In the last couple of months, weve seen a really dramatic increase in our out-of-state-abortion patients, Schultz said.

In January, two southern Illinois abortion providers opened the Regional Logistics Center, a designated call center where case managers help traveling patients with transportation, lodging, child care and other needs. The center received 648 calls from patients in May, the month before Roe was reversed. In August, the number of calls more than tripled to 1,937, said Julie Lynn, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, which covers southern Illinois.

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2. The number of states that patients are traveling from has also increased. Under Roe, Planned Parenthood of Illinois typically saw abortion patients from 10 or 15 states in addition to Illinois each month, Schultz said.

Since Roe fell, weve seen abortion patients from 28 states outside of Illinois, she said.

A Planned Parenthood facility on North Lewis Avenue in Waukegan on Aug. 3, 2022. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Many of those patients have been coming from Wisconsin and Ohio, Schultz said.

But were also seeing more patients than ever from Tennessee and Missouri, and even faraway places like Texas and Alabama, Louisiana Mississippi and Florida, she said. Its emotionally taxing both for the patient and for the staff that are supporting them. They are coming to us and calling us with fear and anxiety and financial needs and logistic needs that are unique to every single patient. Theres more than we expected and its deeper than we expected.

3. In southern Illinois, patients have to wait longer to schedule an abortion appointment. Before June 24, when abortion was still legal nationwide, a patient could schedule an abortion appointment in three or four days at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Fairview Heights, near the border of Missouri. In July, the clinic said abortion appointments were taking three weeks or more to schedule.

Now wait times are generally between two-and-a-half to three weeks, Lynn said. Earlier in September, the clinic expanded its hours on weekdays to help accommodate the influx in patients and keep wait times down, she added.

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Wait times havent significantly increased throughout the rest of the state, though it might take a few extra days to schedule an appointment, according to Planned Parenthood of Illinois, which has 17 clinics statewide, predominantly in the Chicago area.

4. Abortion was briefly banned in Indiana but is now legal again. In August, Indiana became the first state to pass a near-total ban on abortion after the reversal of Roe. All seven of the states clinics had to cease providing abortion services in mid-September.

But a week later, a county judge granted a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking the ban, which abortion clinic operators argued violates the state constitution.

Antonio Marchi, executive director of Right to Life Michiana, said he hopes the states abortion ban will prevail.

As abortion clinics in the state work to resume operations, we will continue to reach out, educate and advocate for vulnerable mothers and their pre-born children, he said. This is not the first setback we have experienced in the courts, so the challenges are not surprising. The pro-life movement has always been in it for the long haul.

Indiana clinics were permitted to resume offering abortions, but some providers said it can be difficult to suspend services and then quickly restore them amid so much legal uncertainty.

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Stacie Balentine, clinic manager of Whole Woman's Health of South Bend, on Sept. 13, 2022. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)

Officials at Whole Womans Health of South Bend said the clinic is planning to provide abortions again in the near future.

Of course, this landscape of legal back-and-forth leads to disruption in patient care and uncertainty for our staff, said Amy Hagstrom Miller, president and CEO of Whole Womans Health. That is exactly what is intended by the politicians who pass bans like this one.

5. New abortion clinics are coming to Illinois. Choices Center for Reproductive Health plans to open a clinic in Carbondale in October, adding a third option for abortion services in southern Illinois.

Afternoon Briefing Daily Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox each afternoon. >

Choices, which is based in Memphis, had to stop performing abortions in Tennessee when a state ban went into effect in August.

Our new Carbondale clinic will allow us to continue to provide essential abortion care for folks in our communities, Choices said on its website. A three-hour drive from Memphis and Nashville and a stop on the Amtrak line, this facility will be the southernmost abortion provider in Illinois, a lifeline for people in the Southeast who need an abortion.

A Wisconsin physician over the summer bought two Rockford buildings, with plans to turn the sites into abortion clinics. Providers in Wisconsin suspended abortion services as of June 24, due to an 1849 state law that prohibits terminating a pregnancy. The statute had not been enforced for decades due to Roe, but remained on the books. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul and Gov. Tony Evers have challenged the state abortion ban, calling it archaic.

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Planned Parenthood of Illinois also added space and expanded services at its Champaign Health Center, the agency announced recently. The central Illinois provider now offers in-clinic procedures as well as medication abortions. Building renovations added 5,000 square feet to the health center, which includes more procedure rooms, waiting rooms, ultrasound rooms, a recovery room and a lab.

6. Nationwide, about 50 clinics have ceased performing abortions, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights. Some of these clinics have closed, some have moved to states where abortion is legal, and others have stayed open and continued to offer other health services but no longer provide abortions.

Weve known for a long time that once a clinic closes, its really difficult to reopen and resume services, Smith said.

eleventis@chicagotribune.com
After a tumultuous year at the Supreme Court  with a dramatic ruling on abortion rights, angry protests at the justices' homes, an internal draft opinion leak investigation, and a bench retirement  the reconstituted nine justices look ahead to a new term filled with internal divisions and public unease over their direction in a politically infused docket.

More of the same will be the goal of the 6-3 conservative majority as it prepares for its Oct. 3 debut, hoping to push the court further rightward on hot-button issues like affirmative action, religious liberty, and voter redistricting, which is likely to shine a harsh new political spotlight on the third branch.

"There's no question that tempers flared and passions have stirred, over the last term. The court divided into a lot of hot-button issues that render decisions that frankly made a lot of people unhappy," said Thomas Dupree, a prominent appellate attorney and former Justice Department official. "But I don't think it's going to distract the justices, these men and women, from doing their job faithfully applying the Constitution."

A change at the Supreme Court will bring a new dynamic and new opportunities to shape the law, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson becoming the first Black woman on that exclusive bench.

SUPREME COURT TO HOLD FORMAL INVESTITURE CEREMONY FOR JUSTICE KENTANJI BROWN JACKSON FRIDAY WITH BIDEN, HARRIS

In a few emergency appeals that have come her way this summer, Jackson has consistently sided with her liberal colleagues. The real measure of her judicial philosophy will come when she rules on the merits on upcoming divisive issues, including:

Affirmative action, and whether universities can continue to consider race when using individualized admissions criteria. Free speech vs. workplace discrimination, and whether business owners can refuse services to LGBTQ+ customers based on religious liberty claims. Voter redistricting, and the discretion of state legislatures to create congressional election boundaries.

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WASHINGTON POST HERALDS NEW SCOTUS TERM BY TOUTING LIBERAL JUSTICES BASHING ITS RIGHTWARD TURN

Other disputes include federal immigration policy, property rights, and environmental regulation.

"We're seeing this court take a huge hit in its favorability ratings, and people across the country, particularly women, are looking at this court and thinking these rulings don't seem to be based in the law or the Constitution. They seem to be coming from a conservative political agenda," said Elizabeth Wydra, president of the progressive Constitutional Accountability Center. Especially on the court's ruling striking down Roe v. Wade, she said, "a lot of people are left with questions about the legitimacy of the court itself."

LEGITIMATE CONCERNS?

"Legitimacy" has become the new buzzword  especially among some Democrats  in the one branch of government supposed to be free of partisan politics. Chief Justice John Roberts, in remarks several days ago to fellow judges and lawyers, again lamented eroding public trust.

"If the court doesnt retain its legitimate function, Im not sure who would take up that mantle. You dont want the political branches telling you what the law is, and you dont want public opinion to be the guide of what the appropriate decision is," said Roberts. "Simply because people disagree with an opinion is not a basis for questioning the legitimacy of the court."

SUPREME COURT POISED TO RULE ON LAW ROLLING BACK BIG TECH ABILITY TO MUZZLE OPINIONS

That may be wishful thinking, but Roberts suggested the courts continue doing what they traditionally have, done: hunker down and do the job.

In an unusual public statement Wednesday, Justice Samuel Alito  the author of the Dobbs abortion ruling  responded to the broader criticism, including Vice President Kamala Harris attacking what she sees as an "activist court."

Alito said, "It goes without saying that everyone is free to express disagreement with our decisions and to criticize our reasoning as they see fit. But saying or implying that the court is becoming an illegitimate institution or questioning our integrity crosses an important line."

But some progressive justices have lamented what they see as the conservative majority's eagerness to wade into politically explosive cultural disputes, and its willingness to overturn precedent, including Roe v. Wade.

CALIFORNIA PARENTS PETITION SCOTUS OVER GAVIN NEWSOM'S COVID-INDUCED SCHOOL CLOSURES

"When courts become extensions of the political process, when people see them as extensions of the political process, when people see them as trying just to impose personal preferences on a society irrespective of the law, thats when theres a problem  and thats when there ought to be a problem," Justice Elena Kagan said at a recent legal conference. "If, over time, the court loses all connection with the public and with public sentiment, that is a dangerous thing for democracy."

But a new Fox News poll found just 42% of those surveyed approved of the Supreme Court's job performance  with a majority 52% disapproving. Just five years ago, the numbers were reversed  58% approving, 31% disapproving.

And when it comes to the controversial abortion ruling, our poll found just 32% approving of the decision reversing Roe v. Wade, with 63% disapproving. And 57% support making abortion legal all or most of the time.

LEAKY FOUNDATION

As far as who leaked the draft opinion of the abortion ruling, the mystery continues.

"The Chief Justice appointed an internal committee to oversee the investigation," Justice Neil Gorsuch said recently. "That committee has been busy, and were looking forward to their report, I hope, soon."

Demonstrators gather in front of the U.S. Supreme Court as the justices hear arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, a case about a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks, on Dec. 01, 2021 in Washington, D.C. Getty Images

YESHIVA UNIVERSITY SUSPENDS ALL CAMPUS CLUBS AFTER SUPREME COURT DENIES BID TO BLOCK LGBTQ+ GROUP

Gorsuch, Kagan, and retired Justice Stephen Breyer have all publicly suggested the leaker remains unknown.

Sources have told Fox News the probe conducted by court Marshal Gail Curley has narrowed its list of possible suspects, but there is no indication that person or persons have been identified or sanctioned.

The draft opinion  where a majority of justices were prepared to toss out the nationwide, constitutional right to abortion  was leaked to a media organization, an unprecedented breach of the court's tightly held internal protocol. The draft turned out to be how the court eventually ruled two months later, but its fallout is still being felt.

"Look where we are, where now that trust or that belief is gone forever," Justice Clarence Thomas said shortly after the leak became public. "When you lose that trust, especially in the institution that Im in, it changes the institution fundamentally. You begin to look over your shoulder. Its like, kind of an infidelity that you can explain ... but you cant undo it."

Thomas was not exaggerating. The leak has rocked the internal dynamics of the court that promises to carry on indefinitely.

TAKEN THEIR FOOT OFF THE GAS: PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT FOUND HURDLES FOLLOWING DOBBS RULING

Another evolving dynamic will come with the newest justice taking the bench on Monday as Breyer's replacement. Her colleagues will watch to see how quickly she adjusts to a fractured court, and whether she will be the strong progressive voice Biden and her supporters have promised.

"She is going to be a wonderful justice," Roberts said in September. "It almost causes us to up our game a little bit" to have a new member, he added.

Jackson's status as the first Black woman on the court will also likely ramp her status as a celebrity in robes, similar to Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina on that bench.

The newest the justice has already been inundated with speaking invitations, and has a comic book, bobblehead figurine and upcoming children's book honoring her.

And the court promises to be a popular topic with voters in the midterm elections, where both Republicans and Democrats concede the landmark abortion ruling will be a referendum of sorts on the court's reputation.

Our Fox News poll of registered voters found 45% are "extremely concerned" about abortion policy, on par with crime rates and the future of American democracy, but trailing the economy.

With renewed calls from progressives to "pack" the court with more justices  and a summer of organized protests outside the homes of conservative justices that has led to round-the clock security  even calls for impeaching individual justices  the politics of the moment will likely weigh upon the new term, especially if the leak investigation peters out unresolved.

"This is obviously a challenge for the chief justice, bringing the court into a new term and getting this leak in the rearview mirror," said Paul Clement, a leading appellate attorney and former law clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia. "But the court hasn't had this kind of leak before and that's to the benefit of the court, a signal that as awful as the leak was, it's not a sign the institution needs fundamental reform."
A solitary cross remains at a memorial site in front of the Mandalay Hotel (back) for the 58 victims of the worst shooting in US history, in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 15, 2017. Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images

A Las Vegas survivor says that she feels like the tragedy was "swept under the rug."

Nathalie Vanderstay recounted her harrowing experience during an interview with People.

A gunman sprayed bullets at a musical festival crowd in Las Vegas in 2017.

A Las Vegas mass shooting survivor says that the 2017 tragedy, which injured hundreds and resulted in the death of dozens of people, has been forgotten by the public.

"I feel like Route 91 has been swept under the rug," Nathalie Vanderstay, 48, told People. "We feel like we've been forgotten. It was so horrific."

A 46-year-old gunman opened fire on the crowd of concertgoers attending the Route 91 Harvest festival from his room on the 32nd floor at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in October 2017. The incident occurred during country star Jason Aldean's performance.

Roughly 60 people died as a result of the attack, and more than 850 people were left wounded. The incident is considered one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern history.

When police checked the gunman's hotel room, they found a cache of guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition. The gunman died by suicide.

A candlelight vigil is pictured on the Las Vegas strip following a mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., October 2, 2017. Picture taken October 2, 2017. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

Among the injured was Vanderstay, who told the magazine that she was struck during the concert she was attending with friends. She said she was first shot in the leg and then the stomach, as people in the crowd were scrambling for safety.

"I'm seeing people drop in front of me," Vanderstay said, per the outlet. "I'm trying to cover my head, but I'm getting trampled on by boots and people trying to escape."

According to the report, she made her way into a cab and was transported to a local trauma center before undergoing surgery.

Vanderstay added that she is "grateful" for her loved ones, and other survivors who have been by her side.

Read the original article on Insider
Tesla CEO Elon Musk kicked off Tesla AI Day 2022 with a quick level set on expectations  "we've come a long way"  and then stepped aside to allow the first iteration of its robot walk out onto the stage.

The robot wasn't a human dressed in a robot costume like last year. Instead, Tesla introduced a functioning robot, albeit with exposed cables and a bit wobbly, at its second annual event. According to Musk, it was the first time it was working without "any support, cranes, mechanical mechanisms or cables."

Tesla Robot in action

Tesla Robot moving and waving. Image Credits: Tesla

After a brief turn about the stage, the robot left the stage before the rest of the presentation continued, which included presentations from more than a dozen members of the company's AI and hardware teams and several short videos of the robot (now tethered for stability) carrying a box in an office, watering a plant and lifting a small piece of metal in the Tesla factory in Fremont, California.

The aim of the demo and ensuing bot presentation, in which a number of Tesla employees gave what can only be described as a bipedal robotics 101 course, was to show more progress. (After all, anything beyond a human in a costume could be considered progress). Instead, the event aimed to telegraph where Tesla is headed, shore up confidence in its trajectory and (hopefully) recruit the talent it needs to further the program.

Tesla robot specs display

Image Credits: Tesla robot specs display

Eventually, Musk said the first-gen prototype, which he referred to as Bumble C, will evolve into Optimus. This eventual robot will be able to walk efficiently and stay balanced, carry a 20-pound bag, use tools and have a precision grip for small robots. The Bumble C prototype is outfitted with 2.3 kilowatt-hour battery pack, which one Tesla employee said was "perfect for about a full day's worth of work."

Tesla did show off a second bot, which didn't have the same functionality as the Bumble C but had an outwardly sleeker appearance. This bot, which could not walk, was brought out on stage by staff.

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Some of the specs of the robot have changed since last year. For instance, the weight of the bot has moved up from 125 pounds to 160 pounds.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the Tesla bot roadshow was the repeated reference and crossover with Tesla vehicles  and notably its Autopilot strategy.

The company said it is leveraging its energy products and using those components for the bot, including battery management. The supercomputer used in Tesla vehicles is also in the Tesla bot. And Tesla is tapping the hardware and software used in its advanced driver assistance system Autopilot for the bot as well. The Tesla bot is also equipped with wireless connectivity as well as audio support and hardware level security features, which the company said are "important to protect both the robot and the people around the robot."

The big looming question is whether all of these efficiencies, once combined in the bot, will result in a scalable robot that works. Of course, Musk thinks it's possible, going as far to say that he envisions the Optimus will be just $20,000.

Toward the end of the nearly three-hour program, which also included presentations on the company's FSD software and Dojo supercomputer program, Musk said the Tesla bot would start small.

"We're gonna start Optimist with very simple tests in the factory," Musk said. "You know, like maybe just loading a part like you saw on the video."

He later added: "Right now we just want to make basic humanoid work well, and our goal is fastest path to a useful humanoid robot."
(Bloomberg) -- A Texas statute targeting perpetrators of ESG includes a significant number of investment funds that dont have a genuine environmental, social or governance focus.

Of the 348 funds singled out by Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar, 14% dont qualify as ESG, according to an estimate by Morningstar Inc. Whats more, almost 40% invest in the oil and gas industry theyre accused of boycotting, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Its the latest counter-intuitive moment in an unlikely battle that has thrust a once obscure financial acronym into the center of American politics. Ironically, many of the firms and funds targeted by the GOP for sidelining oil and gas have been criticized by climate activists for their continued support of the fossil-fuel industry.

The fact that many funds on the banned fund list hold companies involved in the oil and gas industry raises questions about the research done by the Texas comptroller on these investments, said Hortense Bioy, global director of sustainability research at Morningstar. Clearly, these funds arent boycotting energy companies.

The states position hasnt changed since the decision was announced last month, said Chris Bryan, director of communications for the Texas comptroller. The test isnt that the funds are ESG focused, the test is on whether the funds boycott energy companies based on state statute, which is broader than just having oil and gas investments, he said.

If new information is provided to us about the funds, we will actively consider whether to update the list and we will do this on a regular basis, Bryan said.

Hegar denounced Wall Street and environmental crusaders in August for creating a false narrative that the economy can completely transition away from fossil fuels, when, in fact, they will be part of our everyday life into the foreseeable future. Aside from 348 investment funds, the state targeted 10 asset managers and banks, including BlackRock Inc. and Credit Suisse Group AG. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also has joined a multistate investigation, questioning Morningstars use of ESG factors.

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Read more: GOP Fury Over ESG Triggers Backlash With US Pensions at Risk

BlackRock, which has since been slammed by Democratic states for appearing to backtrack on its pledge to cut CO2 emissions, said GOP attacks ignore the fact that it holds more than $100 billion in Texas energy companies. It would therefore be inaccurate to accuse it of boycotting fossil fuels, Dalia Blass, BlackRocks head of external affairs, said on Sept. 7.

Applying an ESG investment approach generally entails screening for environmental, social and governance opportunities and risks. Some fund managers apply exclusion policies, while others adopt so-called engagement strategies, whereby they continue to hold sectors such as oil and gas with a view to helping the companies adapt to a low-carbon world. ESG often faces criticism from activists for being too focused on financial performance.

The fund managers boycotted by Texas have failed to provide assurance that they are taking sufficient steps to address the climate crisis, said Pete Uhlenbruch, director of financial sector standards at sustainability nonprofit ShareAction.

Funds targeted by Hegar include BlackRocks iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF (ticker ESGU), which holds shares of Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips and Halliburton Co.; CREF Social Choice Account, which has stakes in Kinder Morgan Inc., Schlumberger NV and Southwestern Energy Co.; and Vanguard ESG US Stock ETF (ESGV), which has investments in companies including Murphy USA Inc.

Vanguard Groups only objective is to maximize investment returns for our clients and help them achieve their financial goals, said spokesperson Emily Ferrell.

Over the past decade, Morningstar estimates US investors exposed to ESG strategies saw investment returns that were consistently between one and seven percentage points higher than those of conventional funds.

Others note that fund managers have increasingly limited investment options because more and more companies incorporate ESG considerations into their business models.

So many companies are now setting science-based emission reduction targets and embracing bold climate action that large investors would struggle to build any kind of profitable portfolio that excludes such businesses, said Maria Mendiluce, chief executive of the We Mean Business Coalition.

That said, Republican Party concerns that the oil and gas industry isnt getting enough money from big finance appear overdone. Banks have loaned $302 billion to fossil-fuel companies this year, compared with $268 billion in the same period of 2021 and $256 billion in 2020, according to Bloomberg data.

At the same time, there are signs that ties are continuing between the financial firms vilified by the GOP, and the states publicly attacking them.

Five firms targeted in a pair of anti-ESG statutes passed by Texas a year ago led to the initial departure of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Fidelity Capital Markets, Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. Their absence caused borrowing costs for Texas municipalities to rise by as much as $530 million, one study shows.

Since then, a number of those same banks appear to be back in. JPMorgan, for example, wasnt included in an updated version of Texas list, and now intends to begin bidding on public contracts again.

Meanwhile, regulators policing the finance industry are taking steps to set up guardrails around what asset managers can call an ESG investment. In May, the US Securities and Exchange Commission proposed tougher disclosure requirements, while asset managers targeting EU clients face a January deadline to provide investors with more information.

(Adds information about regulatory initiatives in final paragraph.)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Some people turn to social media to look for support and validity, says relationship counsellor Natasha Silverman (TikTok)

A woman walks into her kitchen, perfectly content. Until she looks around. Something doesnt feel right. Once again, her husband, the bane of her life, has left all the cupboard doors open. Its chaos.

So common is this quarrel that, last year, Bruno Marss Leave the Door Open went viral on TikTok thanks to frustrated wives. Under the viral hashtag #marriedlifehumour, women posted videos in their droves, in which they dramatically open every cupboard door and drawer in the house while singing: Ima leave the door open; Ima leave the door open, girl.

The marriage humour genre, which pokes fun at the petty irritations of long-term co-habitation, benefits from seemingly endless material. Dirty socks strewn right next to the perfectly functioning laundry hamper; half-finished tasks abandoned in favour of an alluring distraction; silent wars over who takes the bins out. This kind of content has proven so relatable and popular that the hashtag #marriedlifehumour has 3 billion views on TikTok, with couples churning out thousands of videos about one another. Often, these videos arent about love (youd have to visit the #couplegoals hashtag for that), but what people dislike  even hate  about their spouses.

Couples will use viral memes or audio snippets, like a joke from a standup set or the latest viral dodge meme where people sway side to side to dodge things they dont want to do, to point out their significant others most aggravating habits. They are often fairly innocuous, like snoring, leaving things where they shouldnt be, or taking up too much room in bed. After all, whats married life without a little bit of passive-aggressive ribbing to get your point across? But some videos include pranks and mean jokes that prompt the question: do these people even like one another?

Take one video, posted by TikToker Allison Lewis, who describes her profile as Wife life comedy. It uses audio from an episode of Dadholes, a popular YouTube series by comedian Chris Wylde. In the clip, her husband Will stares deadpan at the camera while she sits beside him and mouths words from the clip. How long have you been married? 42 years. How is that possible? And then her husband delivers the punchline: I count in dog years cuz [sic] my wifes a bitch. Hilarious.

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In another, TikToker Beege40 films his wifes reaction as he plays an audio that says: The average American male has sex two to three times a week. On the other hand, the average Japanese male has sex two to three times a year. Which is quite alarming, considering I had no idea I was Japanese. His wife smiles wearily.

The stats quoted in the audio are, obviously, untrue  and watching someone, even jokingly, broadcast their dissatisfaction with their marital sex life doesnt exactly feel respectful to their partner. And yet, this video has been watched more than 8 million times, while other similar videos have garnered huge viewership figures.

Perhaps the most famous example is Mike and Kat Stickler, who at the height of their TikTok fame had more than 5.4 million followers. They were known for making mocking, exaggerated videos about one another, while always insisting their marriage was a happy one. In March 2021, they announced their separation, saying that they were moving forward with love and respect for each other, but it hinted at a more complicated reality underneath the humour.

Of course, who among us is not guilty of teasing our significant others about the annoying things they do? Sometimes, its a light-hearted way of starting a conversation about minor gripes and good-naturedly acknowledging each others flaws. But experts think that putting your partner on blast on social media could, in some instances, indicate a relationship in danger.

There is a fine line between light-hearted teasing and something that could be considered emotional abuse through public humiliation

Rachel MacLynn

Natasha Silverman, a relationship counsellor from Relate, says: Its important to start by saying that for some couples, this might be a normal way of interacting. Its OK if theyre happy and its within the context of their dynamic. But she has also observed that, for some couples making these videos, a lot of the complaints often come from a place of feeling unheard and potentially unvalidated.

Perhaps understandably, she suggests that some might turn to social media to look for support and validity, and they might feel a bit stronger because of that.

And what about the person who is being filmed  the complained-about partner? While some may be in on the joke, theres also a chance that feelings could be genuinely hurt if the joke goes too far. Rachel MacLynn, CEO of US matchmaking agency MacLynn, says: The concern is the subconscious impact on emotional wellbeing of the partner if the complaining is too harsh. There is a fine line between light-hearted teasing and something that could be considered emotional abuse through public humiliation.

Some of these videos also encourage the same outdated humour husbands have historically employed to illustrate how tiresome their wives are. Take for example a video posted by TikToker Sean Jantz, in which he films himself listening to his wife tell a story in a meandering way. His expression is clearly one of exasperation and he writes over the video: Ive been listening to my wife tell stories like this for 14 years I deserve a medal. In the comments, other husbands agree, saying: Bro sorry I cant listen to all of it. My wife just got home with her story.

Silverman says that contempt and criticism are two of the most toxic things you can do for relationships. She points towards gestures like eye rolling or sighing that allow contempt to seep through, as well as chronic criticism that can result in fissures in the foundation of a relationship. She adds that publicly complaining about your partner is only going to exacerbate issues of trust and goodwill.

But despite the bizarre, passive-aggressive nature of this emerging genre of TikTok content, its hard to look away from #marriedlifehumour. Anyone who has been in a long-term relationship can attest to the challenges of living with another person. The vast majority of these videos are made by heterosexual couples, and with women accounting for 61 per cent of TikToks active users compared to 39 per cent of men, there is a ready audience. Despite the jokey veneer, the subtext  that married women must deal with invisible and emotional labour  is likely to feel validating.

Just because others are doing it doesnt make it OK for your relationship

Natasha Silverman

But MacLynn warns that couples should be careful with how they respond to this content. She says: Trends like this can easily get out of control. One couple might engage in innocent banter online, which inspires another couple to do the same, creating a knock-on effect, which becomes a trend.

This could lead to a couple who are perhaps less self-aware to cross the line into bullying behaviour, which they consider to be normal because everyone else is doing it. The video also offers no solutions and therefore will offer little or no real help to couples who are experiencing difficulties.

Silverman agrees, fearing that negative communication styles have been normalised by TikTok and Instagram. This could have a snowball effect, she explains. People think, if I see other couples doing it, why shouldnt I be able to talk about my partner in this way? But just because others are doing it doesnt make it OK for your relationship.

Its a bittersweet fact that getting annoyed with one another is an inevitable element of being in a long-term relationship. But there is beauty in this, too, when youre able to create your own language and learn to live with each other. The key to a happy marriage? Respect. Good communication. And, yes, maybe a bit of comedy. Just make sure you close the cupboard doors. All of them.
By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Former U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will be called as a witness by federal prosecutors in the trial of Tom Barrack, a one-time fundraiser for former President Donald Trump, on charges of illegally acting as a foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates, a court filing showed on Saturday.

Barrack's defense revealed the plans in a letter to U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in which it requested that Tillerson take the stand on Monday. The defense said prosecutors had confirmed that they would be calling Tillerson, but informed the defense he would be unavailable after Oct. 4 due to "personal plans."

Having Tillerson testify on Monday would ensure that the defense has enough time to cross-examine him, Barrack's lawyers said.

Barrack's lawyers have said the U.S. State Department, and Trump himself, knew of his contacts with Middle East officials, showing that Barrack did not intend to be a foreign agent.

Tillerson could not immediately be reached for comment.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn, where Barrack is being tried, declined to comment.

Barrack has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers have said his interactions with Emirati officials were part of his role running private equity firm Colony Capital, now known as DigitalBridge Group Inc , and that there was no evidence he agreed to act at the UAE's direction.

Tillerson, the former chief executive of ExxonMobil, served as Trump's secretary of state for slightly more than a year from 2017 to 2018.

The trial began with jury selection on Sept. 19. During the first week, prosecutors presented emails and text messages from Barrack and an associate that showed UAE officials provided input on what then-candidate Trump should say in a 2016 energy policy speech.

Prosecutors have said Barrack never told the U.S. attorney general he was acting as UAE agents, as required under federal law.

In opening statements, Barrack's lawyer Michael Schachter said there was no evidence that Barrack agreed to act under the UAE's direction. The defense has not yet had the chance to cross-examine the FBI agent who read the emails and texts to the jury.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Richard Chang)
MILLERSBURG  The reason that so many travelers to Ohios Amish country say cheese has nothing to do with selfies.

Cheese-making is a long-time tradition, craft and business in and around Holmes County, a region that also comprises the largest community of Amish in the world.

Travelers to Amish Country can enjoy many attractions including other tasty, fresh and hearty foodstuffs; Amish and Mennonite cultural and historic sites; locally-crafted furniture, quilts and more; and beautiful rural scenery.

But the cheese, standing alone, is reason enough for a visit. The regions cheesemakers use fresh milk from area dairy farms, many of them Amish, to produce a variety of award-winning cheeses prized throughout Ohio and far beyond.

Guggisberg Cheese one of the standouts

Guggisberg Cheese (www.babyswiss.com), is located at 5060 Ohio Route 557, near the appropriately named village of Charm.

The visitors center and store at the cheese factory is built with the highly ornamental Swiss chalet-style of architecture found at several tourist stops in Amish Country. The style harkens to the central European origins of many immigrants to the area, including the Guggisberg family, who began making cheese here nearly 80 years ago after arriving from Switzerland.

More:Travel: Charming wineries, fragrant flora entice on Michigan's Old Mission Peninsula

Guggisberg claims to have originated the baby Swiss style of cheese, with a milder taste (and smaller holes) than its traditional Swiss big brother. Guggisberg founder Alfred Guggisberg was looking for a style of Swiss cheese that would appeal to the less-developed American palate, according to the company catalog.

Fair enough: Guggisbergs baby Swiss was named Best Cheese in the USA in 2019 at the annual United States Championship Cheese Contest in Wisconsin. (And whatever the state of American palates, Guggisbergs traditional Premium Swiss won the same contest in 2015.)

Guggisberg was also named Grand Champion cheesemaker at this years Ohio State Fair.

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Visitors to Guggisberg can watch through display windows as the the cheese is being made, and can take purchases to the lovely grounds and garden for a quick (or long) do-it-yourself cheese-tasting. Good luck with saving any for home.

Heini's Cheese Chalet has long history

Heinis Cheese Chalet (www.bunkerhillcheese.com) is located at 6005 County Road 77 In the bustling town of Berlin, which is packed with attractions  and often with tourists seeking out Amish and other locally crafted goods and comestibles.

But dont let the crowds chase you off. Heinis, where the Bunker Hill brand is made, has been producing cheese even longer than Guggisberg. When you stop for a sample, youll understand how theyve been in business for so long  and probably find yourself taking home more than a sample.

The founder of Heinis also emigrated from Switzerland, and Heinis Cheese Chalet also features decorative Swiss-style architecture.

More:Magical Earth Retreat offers hobbit-inspired lodging destination in the Hocking Hills

But my favorite feature at Heinis (besides the cheese, of course) is The History of Cheese Making, two monumental murals inside the sites gift shop that should be an attraction in their own right.

The first mural illustrates cheese-making in the Old World, beginning in 300 B.C.! The second follows cheese-making through the New World, ending with that epitome of cheese, Heinis.

Visitors to Heinis can also watch cheesemakers at work through windows from the cheese store.

Pearl Valley Cheese boasts variety of products

Pearl Valley Cheese (www.pearlvalleycheese.com) is at 54760 Township Road 90, Fresno, just off Ohio Route 93 in northeastern Coshocton County, a few miles outside what is traditionally thought of as Amish country.

Given its location and relatively isolated rural setting, visitors may find themself fighting less congestion than at popular Amish country destinations. Pearl Valleys home is also less ornate than its nearby cheesy brethren. But the cheese-maker can still draw crowds eager to stock up on its award-winning products.

And, as at the other cheese-makers, visitors can watch the process through display windows from the retail cheese shop.

Cheese and wine, anyone?

Finally, what goes better with cheese than wine?

Youll find both at Broad Run Cheese House (www.broadruncheese.com) at 6011 Old Route 39 NW just east of the village of Sugar Creek.

Broad Run, another site with Swiss chalet-style architecture, has a wide variety of cheese for sale, plus a popular selection of lace, curtains and other finery in its gift shop.

Although its not currently making cheese at the site, Broad Run does make wine at the adjacent Swiss Heritage Winery (www.swissheritagewinery.com), a great place for a tasting  especially, of course, when paired with some cheese.

And if you need more wine with your cheese, Breitenbach Wine Cellars (www.breitenbachwine.com) is a beautiful and popular destination winery located at 5934 Old Route 39 NW just across the road from Broad Run. Breitenbach also has its own retail cheese store, because who doesnt want more cheese?

Steve Stephens is a freelance travel writer and photographer. Email him at sjstephensjr@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Standout cheese and wine shops to visit in Ohio Amish country
Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast

If you are alive and in possession of a vagina, chances are you will have a urinary tract infection at some point in your life. UTIs are one of the most common bacterial infections, which might lead you to assume that modern medicine has nearly perfected its treatment options for this uncomfortable and potentially dangerous condition.

Unfortunately, youd be wrong.

If you have a run-of-the-mill urinary tract infection, you tend to get a lower-grade antibiotic, Paul Garofolo, the co-founder and CEO of pharmaceutical company Locus Biosciences, told The Daily Beast. And nowadays, 50 percent of the time youre back in the doctors office within 30 to 90 days saying, Hey, I got another one. And youre pissed.

The data show that as many as one in four of people who contract a UTI will have a recurrent infection, defined as more than one UTI in a six-month period, or more than three annually. Not only are these acutely painful, they can be frustrating and anxiety-inducing to deal with again and again. One study of 29 women with recurrent UTIs found that patients were worried about creating a monster of a UTI infection that will be resistant to anything and having other drug-resistant infections in the future. Others complained that using antibiotics for a UTI is like killing a mosquito with a grenade, but that doctors were unwilling to look to other treatments.

Doctors Might Stop UTIs From Ever Happening Again

A number of factors were still investigating play a role in how susceptible someone is to recurrent UTIs, including the composition of the microorganisms in the urogenital tract, hormone levels, antibiotic resistance, and the bodys own immune system.

What is known, however, is that a course of antibiotics routinely prescribed for a UTI today is a ticking time bomb. The fact that UTIs are very common, along with the fact that we dont always do testing in a laboratory to determine which antibiotics are best suited, means its a good recipe for creating resistance, Lisa Bebell, an infectious disease physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, told The Daily Beast. Broad-spectrum antibiotics that are used as second- and third-line defenses can have ripple effects on the bodys microbiome, and even lead to increased susceptibility for UTIs in the future by setting the stage for a vaginal yeast infection.

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Unsurprisingly, scientists and patients want a better alternative. More modern UTI research today, of the kind Locus Biosciences is pursuing, take unusual and experimental approaches to see what treatments might clear the infection without wreaking more havoc on the body (and were talking about therapies that definitively cure or prevent infectionnot cranberry juice).

Lisa Bebell James Cook / Massachusetts General Hospiral

Crucially, this new research builds off of a counterintuitive and audacious proposal: What if we treated a bacterial infection with something other than antibiotics?

The goal is most definitely to eventually knock antibiotics out of the treatment paradigm for these infections, Garofolo said.

A Post-Antibiotic World

A fundamental question that could lead to better treatments is why certain people are more likely to contract a UTI that just wont go away. Age matters a fair amount, as UTI rates are higher in young, sexually active women and postmenopausal women than in other groups. A confluence of research is starting to demonstrate that hormones and microbial communities may play a larger role than previously thought. One paper, published by researchers from Texas on Friday in the journal Cell Reports Medicine, clears up some of the murkiness surrounding these relationships, starting with the misconception that the breeding grounds for UTI-causing bacteriathe urinary tract and bladderare sterile.

Decades of medical dogma have assumed sterility of urine and the urinary tract; however, a robust body of work has established the existence of a human urogenital microbiome, the authors wrote in the study. The microbiome consists of all the living microorganisms that reside in the human body, and disruptions in their balance may predispose people to certain diseases.

The Texas researchers studied the microbiomes and urine of 75 postmenopausal women with varying histories of UTIs, to figure out whether recurrent UTIs correlated with irregular microbiomes, and to identify causes for the imbalance. They found that the urogenital microbiomes of women with a history of recurrent UTIs had higher levels of bacterial groups that are commonly found during an active infection, versus women without a history of UTIs. On the other hand, women without a recurrent UTI history had higher levels of estrogen that were associated with more Lactobacillus speciesprobiotic strains of bacteria that may protect against infection.

Topical or vaginal estrogen cream for people who have gone through menopause may be helpful to break the cycle of recurrent UTIs, said Bebell, who was not involved with the research. She added that the jurys still out and definitive evidence of estrogens benefit is needed.

At least one other trial is looking at whether another hormonetestosteronecan help prevent UTIs. In a small pilot trial published in May, researchers in New York found that a vaginal testosterone cream increased the abundance of Lactobacillus species and improved overall vaginal health. Larger sample sizes and longer follow-up will be needed to tell if the hormone can prevent UTIs, the authors wrote.

Others are pursuing a more permanent solution to UTIs: a vaccine that can be offered on a yearly or semiannual basis. Although some vaccines are already available to prevent UTIs in countries outside the U.S., Soman Abraham, a pathology researcher at Duke University School of Medicine, told The Daily Beast that these existing methods have not shown high levels of efficacy. We believe that one reason why those current immune vaccines are not that protective is the antibody levels [they produce] arent high enough, he said.

The Post-Antibiotic Era Has Begun, Says CDC Director

Abraham and his team think they may have found a better version, howeverone that has been shown to reduce harmful bacteria in the bladders of mice threefold. The body responds to bacteria in the urinary tract by shedding cells in the walls of the bladder and calling off other immune cells until this process is complete; the vaccine, in contrast, overrides those signals and gives the fighters the go-ahead to take care of the bacteria before they can multiply. Abraham and his team are working to demonstrate their vaccines safety in other animals so that they can eventually test it in humans.

Race for the Cure

While estrogen, probiotics, and vaccines could be effective measures at preventing UTIs, there remains the issue of treating a UTI once contracted. For that, researchers have at least one surprising solution in the pipeline: phage therapy.

Theres another reason why using antibiotics to treat UTIs is like putting a square peg in a round hole, said Greg German, a medical microbiologist at the University of Toronto. Bacteria in the urogenital tract form biofilms, which are like a wall of defense that antibiotics can only partially permeate. Bacteria behind the biofilm remain unharmed, and can then reinfect an individual once theyve finished a course of drugs.

After medical school, I had a chance to treat patients with drug resistant infections and was very frustrated for all the patients having to use IV therapy extensively, German told The Daily Beast. I wanted to see if there was anything else that could be done; phage therapy was a natural opportunity.

Bacteriophages are naturally occurring viruses that have evolved to be highly infectious to very specific strains or species of bacteria. As opposed to a broad-spectrum antibiotic that kills good and bad microorganisms with little discrimination, a cocktail of phages can instead wipe out the most common cause of UTIs, Escherichia coli, and have no other impact on the rest of the microbiome. German is recruiting for a single-person clinical trial that will test out a phage cocktails effectiveness at treating a drug-resistant UTI when the viruses are applied topically with a sponge.

One clinical trial that Garofolos company is recruiting for combines phage therapy with a first-line antibiotic; once they can demonstrate effectiveness with this combination, studies down the line can test the phages on their own for patients as a potentially life-saving treatment. I always tell people, Hugh Hefner died from this, he added. A urinary tract infection can be fairly scary for the millions of older adults who seek care for them each year.

Jimmy Carter Back in the Hospital With Urinary Tract Infection

These trials are critically important, and so is integrating alternative therapies into clinical practice as they are shown to be safe and effective, German said. One could envision a future where patients use these interventions in tandempreventing infections with vaccines, creams, and probiotics, and treating ones that slip through the cracks with phages and first-line antibiotics.

We need to come up with new techniques and strategies to target the germs in the bladder and in the kidney, said German. We're running out of antibiotics, and the bacteria are evolving or outsmarting those antibiotics faster than we can provide them.

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Former President Donald Trump could be deposed next month in the defamation lawsuit brought by author E. Jean Carroll. She has accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a New York City department store in the 1990s. A filing Friday by Carroll's attorneys in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York revealed that Trump is scheduled to be deposed on Oct. 19. Carroll herself is scheduled to be deposed by Trump's attorneys on Oct. 14, per the filing. Earlier this week, Trump's attorneys filed a motion seeking a stay in the case. Friday's filing was in response to that, requesting that the judge in the case deny Trump's motion.In a memoir published in 2019, Carroll wrote that in late 1995 or early 1996, Trump sexually assaulted her in the dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman department store. Trump, while still in office, denied the allegations and alleged that Carroll was "totally lying," and that "she's not my type." This prompted Carroll to file the defamation suit in November 2019. In October 2021, a federal judge in New York ruled that Trump was not shielded from Carroll's suit. However, last week, an appeals court ruled that the Justice Department may be able to shield Trump from the suit because he was an employee of the government when he was sued, and federal employees are protected from lawsuits related to their work. Also this month, Carroll's attorneys indicated in a letter that she plans to file a sexual battery lawsuit against Trump under New York's new Adult Survivors Act. Carroll's attorneys also indicated that they may want to combine the sexual battery suit with the defamation suit. Under the new law  between Nov. 24 this year and Nov. 23, 2023  accusers can file civil lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct, regardless of when the alleged misconduct occurred. In Friday's filing, Carroll's legal team also indicated that they may reach out to Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and former White House senior adviser, because, according to her attorneys, he is one of six people who Trump spoke to about Carroll or the alleged incident. "Defendant identified his son-in-law Jared Kushner as one of only six people with whom Defendant has purportedly ever spoken about Plaintiff or this action," the filing reads. "We have requested the address and employer of Mr. Kushner and the other five witnesses  information that Defendant must disclose under Local Civil Rule 26.3(c)(3)  on six occasions since August 23. Defendant's counsel have repeatedly dodged our request, writing recently that they 'have reached out to the appropriate parties and are still working to obtain this information.'"

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In the book, Carroll claimed she ran into Trump at the department store and he asked for advice on a gift for "a girl." Carroll claimed they eventually ended up in the lingerie department where Trump coerced her into a dressing room.

"The moment the dressing-room door is closed, he lunges at me, pushes me against the wall," she wrote.

"He seizes both my arms and pushes me up against the wall a second time, and, as I become aware of how large he is, he holds me against the wall with his shoulder and jams his hand under my coatdress and pulls down my tights," she wrote.

U.S., European Union accuse Russia of sabotaging Nord Stream pipelines

Ian barrels into South Carolina, causes major flooding and damage

Average U.S. mortgage rate soars to 6.7%, highest since 2007
A petition to prohibit public money for a Chicago Bears development in Arlington Heights won enough signatures to be considered by the village board Monday, but trustees are expected to reject it.

The libertarian group Americans for Prosperity  Illinois had initially fallen short of the required 557 signatures, or 1% of the registered voters in the village. Seventy of those who signed were discounted for not being registered resident voters, not matching registered signatures, or other reasons.

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Supporters gathered another 30 signatures to get over the threshold, and the measure was set for the village board agenda. Trustees were expected to vote on whether to put the measure on the ballot as a referendum for local voters.

The Bears have a preliminary $197 million agreement to buy the 326-acre Arlington International Racecourse from Churchill Downs, which closed the historic horse track last year. Team officials say they hope to build a new enclosed stadium there, but say they cant make the $5 billion surrounding mixed-use development happen without government help.

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Mayor Tom Hayes and several trustees disparaged the Anti-Corporate Welfare Ordinance at their previous meeting in September, with none speaking in favor of it, making its passage unlikely.

Im certainly hopeful the board will unanimously reject it, Hayes told the Tribune.

If the measure is rejected, sponsors may try to gather signatures from 12% of the registered voters, or nearly 7,000 signatures, to get the measure on the ballot without board approval.

Americans for Prosperity, part of a national organization thats backed by the conservative billionaire Koch brothers, maintains the referendum would be binding, but village officials say it would be advisory, meaning the board could choose to ignore the results.

Village Manager Randall Recklaus told the board that the measure would not only keep the village from helping the Bears proposal, but would ban any village incentive to any business. That would quash 11 village incentives, from subsidized public parking to business tax abatements.

One possible form of assistance to the Bears would be a Tax Increment Financing District, or TIF. Any property tax increase in the area would be reserved for 23 years for redevelopment of infrastructure, such as roads and sewers, on the site, instead of going to local taxing bodies such as school districts.
Ankara on Monday summoned the Greek ambassador and protested to Washington after accusing Greece of deploying US armoured vehicles on two Aegean islands near the Turkish coast.

Greece branded the move as "completely unfounded and incompatible with international law", and accused Ankara of aggressive behaviour.

Greece and Turkey, which are both part of the US-led NATO defence alliance, have feuded for years over maritime borders and energy exploration rights in the Aegean and east Mediterranean seas.

The latest escalation started when Turkish security sources shared aerial images over the weekend purportedly showing ships loaded with US armoured vehicles docking at two Greek islands, Lesbos and Samos.

The Turkish foreign ministry told the Greek envoy that Athens should "stop violations" and respect the non-military status the islands were assigned by international law, the Anadolu state news agency reported.

In a note to the US embassy in Ankara, Turkey told Washington that its "weapons should not be used in breach" of the islands' agreed status, Anadolu said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan separately accused Greece of staging "provocations" and playing "perilous games".

A Greek diplomatic source said Athens rejected Ankara's objections as "completely unfounded and incompatible with international law".

The source added that the Greek ambassador had written two letters to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to set out his country's stance in detail.

Erdogan has repeatedly accused Greece of "occupying" the Aegean islands, whose status was settled in treaties adopted after World War I.

In response, Athens accuses Turkey of conducting hundreds of illegal military sorties over the islands.

The Greek diplomatic source said Turkey had threatened its neighbour with war, accusing it of assembling a huge naval presence and violating Greece's sovereignty and airspace.

Greece filed a formal complaint with the European Union, NATO and the United Nations after Erdogan hinted at a possible military operation in the Aegean earlier this month.

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Erdogan continued his war of words on Monday, saying Greece was not Turkey's equal and rejecting diplomatic talks.

He also vowed to defend Turkey's interests with "any means at its disposal" in the islands row.

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ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday it rejects Russia's annexation of four regions in Ukraine, adding the decision is a "grave violation" of international law.

Turkey, a NATO member, has conducted a diplomatic balancing act since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Ankara opposes Western sanctions on Russia and has close ties with both Moscow and Kyiv, its Black Sea neighbours. It has also criticised Russia's invasion and sent armed drones to Ukraine.

The Turkish ministry said on Saturday it had not recognised Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, adding that it rejects Russia's decision to annex the four regions, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

"This decision, which constitutes a grave violation of the established principles of international law, cannot be accepted," the ministry said.

"We reiterate our support to the resolution of this war, the severity of which keeps growing, based on a just peace that will be reached through negotiations," it added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the annexation of the regions on Friday, promising Moscow would triumph in its "special military operation" even as he faced a potentially serious new military reversal.

His proclamation came after Russia held what it called referendums in occupied areas of Ukraine. Western governments and Kyiv said the votes breached international law and were coercive and non-representative.

The United States, Britain and Canada announced new sanctions in response.

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskiy said on Friday his country had submitted a fast-track application to join the NATO military alliance and that he would not hold peace talks with Russia while Putin was still president.

(Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by Frances Kerry)
Sep. 30Two men from Guatemala are facing life in prison after pleading guilty in federal court Thursday to conspiracy to transport and harbor aliens for financial gain and resulting in death.

According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice, a woman from Guatemala was found dead in a remote area just outside of Odessa in May 2021.

On Aug. 23, 2021, Armando Gael-Galicia, 26, and Jose Diego Tercel-Gonzalez, 22, were arrested on Coyochic Avenue in Odessa where the woman had been taken and died. Inside the trailer were other migrants, detailed ledgers and more than 100 cell phones, the news release stated.

The two men admitted they'd operated an alien smuggling organization and were responsible for transporting the woman who'd died, according to the news release.

Four other men were arrested by Guatemalan authorities in August and are accused of charging migrants and their families $10,000 to $12,000 to help them travel from Guatemala through Mexico into the United States, according to the news release.

The U.S. intends to extradite the men and Gael-Galicia and Tercel0-Gonzalez are alleged to have been part of the same group.

"I am incredibly thankful for the collaborative law enforcement efforts that resulted in these guilty pleas," said U.S. Attorney Ashley C. Hoff for the Western District of Texas. "Not only are they indicative of joint efforts to hold callous human smugglers accountable, but they also demonstrate our firm commitment to ensuring all victims receive justice."
A holy miracle happened in Zion 115 years ago. Or so millions of Ahmadi Muslims around the world believe.

The Ahmadis view this small-sized city, 40 miles north of Chicago on the shores of Lake Michigan, as a place of special religious significance for their global messianic faith. Their reverence for the community began more than a century ago -- with fighting words, a prayer duel and a prophecy.

Zion was founded in 1900 as a Christian theocracy by John Alexander Dowie, an evangelical and early Pentecostal preacher who drew thousands to the city with his faith healing ministry. The Ahmadis believe their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, defended the faith from Dowies verbal attacks against Islam, and defeated him in a sensational face-off armed only with prayers.

Most current residents may not have an inkling of that high-stakes holy fight of a bygone era. But, for the Ahmadis, it is one that has created an eternal bond with the city of Zion.

This weekend, thousands of Ahmadi Muslims from around the world have congregated in the city to celebrate that century-old miracle and a significant milestone in the life of Zion and of their faith: The building of the citys first mosque.

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Dowie was born in Scotland in 1847. His family immigrated in 1860 to Australia, where he was ordained and became pastor of a Congregational church.

Dowie left Australia in 1888 for the United States where he grew in popularity with his healing ministry. Stories of Dowies miracles abound, including one about Sadie Cody, a niece of Buffalo Bill Cody, a celebrity known for his Wild West Show, who said her spinal tumor was healed by Dowies prayers.

With money accumulated from the faithful, Dowie bought 6,000 acres of land in Lake County, Illinois, hoping to establish a Christian utopia. Dowies laws forbade gambling, theaters, circuses, alcohol and tobacco. He also banned swearing, spitting, dancing, pork, oysters and tan-colored shoes. Whistling on Sunday was punishable by jail time.

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The massive 8,000-seat Shiloh Tabernacle, built in 1900, became Zions religious center. It was there that Dowie appeared with his flowing white beard, robed in the brightly embroidered garments of an Old Testament high priest, and declared himself Elijah the Restorer.

While he welcomed Black people and immigrants into Zion, Dowie had harsh words for politicians, medical doctors and Muslims, which he expressed in his journal.

In 1902, Dowie wrote: This is my job to gather people from the East and West, North and South and inhabit Christians in this Zion City as well as other cities until the day comes when the Mohammedan religion is totally wiped out of this world. Oh God show us the day.

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In his palms on a recent September day, Tahir Ahmed Soofi cradled a crumbling, yellow newspaper from the 1900s bearing Dowies image.

Dowie is a part of our history, too, said Soofi, president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Communitys Zion chapter, as he arranged these relics in glass displays that will become part of the new mosques museum. The community has named this mosque Fath-e-Azeem, which means a great victory in Arabic.

The $4 million building, with a large prayer hall and plush carpeting, will replace their older center less than two miles away, which has been the communitys home since 1983.

As he got the new space ready for Satruday's inauguration, Soofi recounted the tale passed down to generations of Ahmadis. When Ahmad, the religions founder who lived in Qadian, India, heard about Dowies angry proclamations against Muslims, he urged him to stop, Soofi said.

Ahmadis believe that their founder, who was born in 1835, was the promised reformer the Prophet Muhammed predicted and the metaphorical second coming of Jesus Christ.

Soofi said when Dowie ignored Ahmads pleas, in 1902, he challenged Zions founder to a prayer duel.

In The New York Times and other U.S. publications at the time, this challenge was built up as a battle between two messiahs  to ascertain who was the true prophet and which was the true religion. Ahmad asserted in writing that, whoever is the liar may perish first.

Dowie refused to acknowledge Ahmads challenge and scoffed at his statements that Jesus was human, survived the crucifixion and lived out the rest of his life in Kashmir. He shot back writing: Do you think that I should answer such gnats and flies?

In the following years, Dowies fortunes began to fade. In 1905, one of his top lieutenants, Wilbur Voliva, took over leadership of the church after Dowie was accused of extravagance and misusing investments. Dowies health suffered thereafter. He died in 1907 after a paralytic stroke, at age 60.

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While Ahmad died a year after Dowie passed, at age 73, his followers saw Dowies downfall and death as a great victory for their founder and faith.

In Zion, Shiloh House, the 25-room mansion Dowie built in the 1900s still stands in his memory, cared for by the Zion Historical Society. Residents whose ancestors followed Dowie to this city  what they believed to be a place of healing  would like to see the founder and his grand vision memorialized.

For Ahmadis worldwide, the result of this prayer duel reaffirmed the truth of their messiahs claims, said Amjad Mahmood Khan, U.S. spokesperson for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Its a story Ahmadi children grow up hearing at home and in their mosques worldwide.

Whether you talk to an Ahmadi in Miami, Maine, South Dakota or Seattle, they will know this story and what a great victory it was, Khan said, adding that it doesnt mean they exult in Dowies demise. Its the triumph of what Islam stands for in the face of false allegations, and its about the victory of prayer over prejudice.

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The Ahmadis have struggled to gain acceptance even among mainstream Muslims, adding to the significance of establishing the mosque in Zion, said Khan. Pakistans parliament declared Ahmadis non-Muslims in 1974.

Khan said the global Ahmadiyya communitys current leader and caliph, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, is in Zion to inaugurate the new mosque this weekend  a momentous occasion for U.S. Ahmadis. Ahmad was forced into exile from Pakistan after his election in 2003 and resides in London.

Zion Mayor Billy McKinney will present Ahmad, the fifth successor to the sects founder who challenged Dowie, with a key to the city as a symbol of friendship.

The Ahmadis are moving forward with the construction of their minaret, to be completed next year. The minaret is a global symbol of Islam. It would be a stark contrast from Dowies vision of a Christian utopia.

The founding fathers of Zion are probably rolling in their graves, said David Padfield, minister of Church of Christ, a non-denominational congregation near the mosque. They didnt even want our church here.

Padfield, who supports the Ahmadiyya community, says it was the founders intolerance and exclusion of other faiths that made it difficult for them to function.

Soon, towering 70 feet above the ground, the mosques minaret will be the tallest structure in the city that Dowie built.

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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.
By Arshad Mohammed and Parisa Hafezi

(Reuters) -Siamak Namazi, an Iranian American imprisoned in Iran for nearly seven years on espionage-related charges rejected by Washington as baseless, has been allowed out of Tehran's Evin prison on a one-week furlough, his lawyer said on Saturday.

Separately, his father and former United Nations official Baquer Namazi, who was also convicted on charges of "collaboration with a hostile government," has been allowed to leave Iran for medical treatment, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

It was unclear if the moves might be a step toward Siamak's full release, nor whether it signals the possible furlough or release of other U.S. citizens detained in Iran.

Iran's Nournews said an unidentified regional nation had mediated between Tehran and Washington for the "simultaneous release of prisoners".

The semi-official news agency also reported that "billions of dollars of Iran's frozen assets because of the U.S. sanctions will be released soon."

The White House denied this. "Reports from Iranian sources of a transfer of funds related to the release of Baquer Namazi and furlough of Siamak Namazi are categorically false," National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said on Sunday.

Earlier, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said: "We were deeply gratified to learn from the U.N. Secretary-General today that Iran has lifted the travel ban imposed on Baquer Namazi."

The department was grateful that Siamak Namazi was granted a humanitarian furlough to be with his father, Price said in a release. Price thanked U.S. allies and partners who worked to help the Namazis, including the U.N. Secretary-General, Switzerland, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and the United Kingdom.

It was unclear what motivated Tehran's decisions on both men.

"The travel ban on Baquer Namazi was lifted on Wednesday on humanitarian grounds and due to the requests made for his treatment abroad," said Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran's deputy judiciary chief, state media reported.

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"He can leave the country whenever he wants to ... In this context, Siamak, his son, was given a week furlough to meet his parents."

Iran is grappling with the biggest show of opposition to its clerical authorities since 2019 with dozens of people killed in unrest across the country ignited by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman from Iranian Kurdistan.

CONVICTIONS

Baquer Namazi, 85, was convicted in Iran of "collaboration with a hostile government" in 2016 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Iranian authorities released him on medical grounds in 2018 and closed his case in 2020, commuting his sentence to time served but effectively barring him from leaving the country.

His son Siamak, 51, has been held in Evin prison since 2015 and was convicted of the same charge as his father in 2016. The U.S. government has described the charges against both as baseless.

"I am thrilled for the Namazi family that for the first time in seven years Siamak Namazi is sleeping at home with his family," said lawyer Jared Genser, who represents the family. Siamak was staying with his parents at their Tehran apartment and was on a one-week renewable furlough, Genser said.

"This is a critical first step but of course we will not rest until the entire family is able to return to the United States and their long nightmare is finally over," Genser added.

Iranian Americans, whose U.S. citizenship is not recognized by Tehran, are often pawns between the two nations, now at odds over whether to revive a fraying 2015 pact under which Iran limited its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.

In addition to the Namazis, other U.S. citizens detained in Iran include environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, 67, who also has British nationality, and businessman Emad Shargi, 58. A separate State Department spokesperson said the United States is working to bring those two home as well as Siamak Namazi.

Karim Sadjadpour, an analyst with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, said the Namazis should never have been imprisoned.

"The Islamic Republic deserves no credit for temporarily releasing hostages that never deserved to spend a single day in prison," Sadjadpour said.

(Reporting By Arshad Mohammed in Lutsen, Minn., Parisa Hafezi in Dubai and Timothy Gardner, Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by Richard Pullin, Frances Kerry and Grant McCool)
By Tom Balmforth and Pavel Polityuk

KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian troops said on Saturday they had taken the key bastion of Lyman in occupied eastern Ukraine, a stinging defeat that prompted a close ally of President Vladimir Putin to call for the possible use of low-grade nuclear weapons.

The capture came just a day after Putin proclaimed the annexation of four Ukrainian regions - including Donetsk, where Lyman is located - and placed them under Russia's nuclear umbrella, at a ceremony that was condemned by Kyiv and the West as an illegitimate farce.

The Ukrainian soldiers made the claim in a video that was recorded outside the town council building in the centre of Lyman and posted on social media by Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office.

"Dear Ukrainians - today the armed forces of Ukraine ... liberated and took control of the settlement of Lyman, Donetsk region," one of the soldiers says. At the end of the video, a group of Ukrainian soldiers throw Russian flags down from the building's roof and raise a Ukrainian flag in their place.

Hours earlier Russia's defence ministry had announced it was pulling troops out of the area "in connection with the creation of a threat of encirclement".

Russia had used Lyman as a logistics and transport hub for its operations in the north of the Donetsk region. Its capture is Ukraine's biggest battlefield gain since a lightning counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region last month.

Zelenskiy promised more quick successes in the Donbas, which covers the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that are largely under Russian control.

"Over the past week, the number of Ukrainian flags in Donbas has increased. There will be even more a week's time," he said in an evening video address.

He also indicated Ukrainian troops had taken the village of Torske, on the main road out of Lyman to the east.

The recent successes have infuriated Putin allies such as Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia's southern Chechnya region, who said he felt compelled to speak out.

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"In my personal opinion, more drastic measures should be taken, right up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and the use of low-yield nuclear weapons," Kadyrov wrote on Telegram before Zelenskiy spoke.

Other top officials, including former president Dmitry Medvedev, have suggested Russia may need to resort to nuclear weapons, but Kadyrov's call was the most urgent and explicit.

Putin said last week that he was not bluffing when he said he was prepared to defend Russia's "territorial integrity" with all available means, and on Friday made clear this extended to the new regions claimed by Moscow.

Washington says it would respond decisively to any use of nuclear weapons.

Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for Ukraine's eastern forces, said before the capture that Russia had 5,000 to 5,500 troops at Lyman but the number encircled could be lower.

Neither side's battlefield assertions could be independently verified.

LOGISTICS HUB

Kadyrov said Colonel-General Alexander Lapin, the commander overseeing Lyman, was a "mediocrity" who should be stripped of his medals and sent to the front. Kadyrov said he had warned army chief General Valery Gerasimov of a looming disaster.

"The general assured me he had no doubts about Lapin's talent for leadership and did not think a retreat was possible," he said.

Ukraine says taking Lyman will allow it to advance into the Luhansk region, whose full capture Moscow announced in early July after weeks of grinding advances.

"Lyman is important because it is the next step towards the liberation of the Ukrainian Donbas. It is an opportunity to go further to Kreminna and Sievierodonetsk, and it is psychologically very important," Cherevatyi said.

The Donbas has been a major focus for Russia since soon after the start of Moscow's invasion on Feb. 24 in what it called a "special military operation" to demilitarise its neighbour.

Putin proclaimed the Donbas regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to be Russian land on Friday - a swathe of territory equal to about 18% of Ukraine's total surface land area.

Ukraine and its Western allies branded Russia's move as illegal. Kyiv vowed to continue liberating its land of Russian forces and said it would not hold peace talks with Moscow while Putin remained president.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Zelenskiy, mocked the Kremlin ceremony on Friday announcing the annexation.

"Now Russian troops are leaving another strategic city and propagandists are looking for culprits. Reality can hurt if you live in fantasy world," Podolyak wrote on Twitter.

Retired U.S. General Ben Hodges said a Russian defeat in Lyman represented a major political and military embarrassment for Putin.

"This puts in bright lights that his claim is illegitimate and cannot be enforced," he said.

(Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay, Felix Light, Mark Trevelyan and David Ljunggren; Writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Daniel Wallis)
(Bloomberg) --

Most Read from Bloomberg

Ukrainian forces on Saturday entered a strategic eastern town after encircling Russian troops, challenging President Vladimir Putins claim to have annexed the area the day before. Russias defense minister confirmed its forces had pulled out amid a threat of encirclement.

Putin said Moscow was annexing four occupied Ukrainian regions forever and repeated warnings that hed use all available means to defend the territories. The US and European Union members denounced the move. The US sanctioned hundreds of Russians, including central bank head Elvira Nabiullina and Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, a key figure in Russian dealings with OPEC.

Russias state-controlled Gazprom suspended natural-gas deliveries to Italy on Saturday, escalating the energy crisis in Europe. Ukraine released video of what it said was the execution of 24 people, including children, in a gray zone between occupied and unoccupied areas.

(See RSAN on the Bloomberg Terminal for the Russian Sanctions Dashboard.)

Key Developments

Putins War Machine Funding Is Unscathed by Latest US Sanctions

Russia Cuts Off Gas Supply to Italy From Saturday, Eni Says

Russian Rapper Commits Suicide to Avoid Ukraine War Call-Up

Putin Vows Annexation of Occupied Ukraine Lands Is Forever

Russian Troops Flee Key Eastern Ukraine Town in Latest Setback

Putins Threats Ring Hollow in Ukraine Port Bombarded for Months

On the Ground

Russian troops are pursuing attacks against Ukrainian-held areas in the east and south, including civilian housing and infrastructure, Ukraines military general staff said Saturday. Over the past 24 hours, Moscows forces staged missile, air and artillery strikes against military and civilian targets in dozens of settlements. Ukrainian forces struck Russian weapons complexes and military logistical sites, it said. A power station in the Odesa region and many residences in Mykolaiv were struck with Iskander and C-300 rockets Saturday morning, Interfax-Ukraine reported. Smoke billowing near the Belbek airfield in Sevastopol, Crimea, was caused by an aircraft overrunning the landing strip and catching fire, the occupied regions governor said. Dramatic images of black smoke flooded social media.

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All times CET:

Austin Says Retaking of Lyman Is Encouraging (11:30 p.m.)

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Ukrainian forces are creating some really good effects as they push to regain Russian-occupied territory, including the recapture of the strategic town of Lyman.

Were very encouraged by what were seeing right now, Austin told reporters in Honolulu alongside Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles.

Marles said the war has the potential to turn into a protracted conflict, requiring support for Ukraine for an extended time. The unprovoked aggression by Russia must not be allowed stand, he said.

Australia Sanctions Russian Officials (11:15 p.m.)

Australia imposed financial sanctions and travel bans on Russian-appointed officials in response to President Vladimir Putins self-declared annexation of parts of Ukraine. The areas of Ukraine currently occupied by Russian forces are the sovereign territory of Ukraine, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement.

The measures will target 28 separatists, ministers and other officials, some of whom are flouting international law by seeking to legitimize Russias seizing of Ukrainian territory, according to the statement.

Putin Critic Wins Latvian Election, Exit Poll Shows (7:01 p.m.)

Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karinss party won parliamentary elections, an exit poll showed, knocking a political force backed by ethnic Russians from the top spot for the first time in more than a decade.

Bolstered by its opposition to Russias invasion of Ukraine, Karinss New Unity took 22.5% of Saturdays vote, while the upstart United List party placed second at 11.5%, according to an exit poll for the Baltic nations public broadcasters. Karins has called on NATO to bolster its eastern flank, including Latvias 214-kilometer (132-mile) border with Russia.

Attack on Civilians in Gray Area Killed 24, Ukraine Says (6 p.m.)

Russian forces attacked a civilian convoy in Kupyhansk district of the Kharkiv region on Sept. 25, shooting people in private cars, Security Service of Ukraine officials said Saturday.

Video from the scene, in the so-called gray zone between occupied Svavtov in Luhansk, and liberated Kharkiv, has just come to light. Russian hasnt commented on the incident.

Seven cars were shot, 24 people died, including 13 children and one pregnant woman, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

Moscows Troops Out of Lyman in Battle Setback (5:25 p.m.)

Kyivs forces on Saturday recaptured Lyman, a strategic town in the countrys east, the second major victory in weeks and one that challenged Russian President Vladimir Putins claim to have annexed the area the day before.

The Russian defense ministry said its forces had pulled out, amid a threat of encirclement, to more favorable positions.

Retaking Lyman, which Russian troops occupied in May, restores Kyivs control over a key road and rail junction. It could pave the way for Ukraines military to push deeper toward cities such as Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk in the neighboring Luhansk region.

Russian Troops Flee Key Eastern Ukraine Town in Latest Setback

Russias Gazprom Cuts Off Supplies of Gas to Italy (3:40 p.m.)

Russias state-controlled Gazprom PJSC suspended natural gas deliveries to Italy on Saturday, escalating the energy crisis in Europe.

As of today Gazprom is no longer delivering gas to Eni, said a spokesman for Eni SpA, Italys largest oil company.

Gazprom supplies Italy with gas through a pipeline that passes through Austria. The cutoff appeared to target just Italy, with Austria continuing to receive gas. Higher volumes of Russian gas were allocated to OMV than had been recently, a company spokesman said.

France Prepares New Caesar Cannons for Ukraine: Le Monde (3 p.m.)

France is preparing to deliver as many as 12 new Caesar cannons to Ukraines force, the French daily reported on Saturday, without saying how it obtained the information. The weapons were initially destined to Denmark.

Technical talks are still ongoing, though an agreement in principle has been found between the French, Ukrainian and Danish governments.

An official at the French Ministry of Armed Forces declined to confirm the details of the report, beyond saying that France has supported Ukraine from the first days of Russias invasion. French President Emmanuel Macron spoke Saturday with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

Russian Rapper Walkie Commits Suicide (2:54 p.m.)

The Russian who rapped under the name Walkie killed himself rather than risk being drafted to fight in Ukraine, after recording an online video telling fans of his decision, according to Russian media reports on Saturday.

Ivan Petunin, 27, said he had an exemption to the call-up because of psychological problems but feared the authorities mobilization order would ultimately affect all draft-age men.

Ukraines Foreign Ministry Demands Return of Atomic Plant Official (1:46 p.m.)

Ukraines foreign affairs ministry called on the international community -- including the United Nations and its nuclear agency, as well as the Group of Seven nations -- to help secure the release of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant director Ihor Murashov.

A Russian patrol seized Murashov on Friday afternoon and took him to an undisclosed location, Ukraines state nuclear company Energoatom said in a Telegram post. Russian officials havent commented on the claim.

Poland Cracks Down on Russian Guest Workers (1:28 p.m.)

Poland plans to end simplified work permits for Russian citizens on the heels of its recent travel-visa ban, according to a draft law.

About 35,000 Russians used the simplified procedure last year, typically to take up seasonal jobs. Polands government says Russias invasion of requires stricter rules to avoid the risk of hybrid attacks by those allowed easy access to the country.

Russian Troops Said to be Encircled in Lyman (10:08 a.m.)

Some 5,000 Russian troops are said to be surrounded around Lyman as Kyivs forces push to recapture the strategic rail hub in Ukraines east, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said hed annexed the region.

The Moscow-backed forces have no way of leaving the town beyond trying to escape, die or surrender, Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said on Facebook. If Lyman is liberated, Ukraines army may press east toward Kreminna, he said. Five nearby settlements were liberated on Saturday, a military spokesman said.

Ukraine Surrounds Lyman, a Key Hub in Region Annexed by Russia

Ukraine is about to capture Lyman and it shows its military prowess again by humiliating the Russian army, Mick Ryan, a defense analyst and retired Australian general, said on Twitter.

Ukraines Zelenskiy Thanks Biden for Signing Bipartisan Aid Bill (9:54 a.m.)

Ukraine Atomic Plant Chief Said to be Detained by Russia (9 a.m.)

Moscows troops detained the head of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as he was driving to the nearby city of Energodar, the Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom said in a Telegram post.

A Russian patrol seized Ihor Murashov, the plants director-general, on Friday afternoon, stopping his car and blindfolding him before taking him to an undisclosed location, according to the post. Russian officials havent commented on the claim.

Energoatom President Petro Kotin demanded Murashovs immediate release and urged the UNs International Atomic Energy Agency to intervene. His detention by (Russia) jeopardizes the safety of Ukraine and Europes largest nuclear power plant, Kotin said.

Black Sea Grain Initiative Has Shipped 5.5M Tns So Far, Minister Says (8:30 a.m.)

A total of 5.5 million tons of agricultural products were shipped from three Black Sea ports in Aug-Sep under the safe-transit agreement brokered by Turkey and the UN, Ukraines infrastructure minister said.

This is important not only for countries facing hunger but for the entire world, Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Twitter. Such export volumes positively affect the dynamics of food prices.

Zaporizhzhia Strike Likely a Long-Range Air Defense Missile, UK Says (8 a.m.)

Fridays strike on a civilian convoy southeast of Zaporizhzhia was likely a Russian long-range air defence missile being used in a ground attack role, the UK defense ministry said.

Russias stock of such missiles is highly likely limited and is a high-value resource designed to shoot down modern aircraft and incoming missiles, the UK said. Moscow is killing civilians it now claims are its own citizens.

At least 25 people were killed in the strike, including two children, Ukrainian authorities said. The people were preparing to travel into occupied areas to rescue relatives or deliver aid.

Putins Funding Unscathed by Latest US Sanctions (8 a.m.)

The latest measures taken by the US to sanction Russian officials, their families, and others appear likely to have little practical effect on President Vladimir Putins ability to sustain his countrys economy with oil and gas revenue.

To further isolate Russia, there needs to be a serious look at deploying secondary sanctions, rather than just threatening, said Daniel Tannebaum, a former Treasury Department official. Secondary sanctions force countries to choose between doing business with the target of sanctions, or those imposing sanctions.

Adding Ukraine to NATO Is for a Different Time: US (9:33 p.m.)

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan reaffirmed the Biden administrations position that Ukraines request to join NATO should be considered at a different time.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said earlier Friday that his country would make an accelerated bid to join the alliance after Russia formally annexed areas of Ukraine. The best way for us to support Ukraine is through practical, on-the-ground support in Ukraine and that the process in Brussels should be taken up at a different time, Sullivan said in response.

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Kyrylo Budanov

Budanov said he had grown up in the Crimea and Ukraine would return there quite soon.

Read also: Return of Crimea by diplomatic means possible, says Zelenskyy

He said Ukrainian defenders will enter the Crimea by the end of spring, maybe a little earlier.

With weapons... There is no other option, he said.

The intelligence chief added the war will not last so long, it will end soon.

Read also: How do you solve a problem like Crimea?

Ive never talked about two or three weeks (as was claimed by Ukrainian presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych), he said.

If you remember my statements in late May, I gave the algorithm of actions. I directly said that June, unfortunately, wont be very good for us, we will lose a bit, there will be a temporary break in July, and in August, we will gradually start a movement to restore our territory... The war will largely subside in the winter. And after the winter, the end of this conflict will begin by (Ukraine reaching) the administrative borders as of 1991, at the first stage.

Read also: As in Kharkiv Oblast, life will return to Crimea once it is liberated, says Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in August that Russias war against Ukraine should end with the liberation of the Crimea, just as it began with its occupation.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine's SBU security service said on Saturday at least 20 civilians were killed in the Russian shelling of a civilian convoy in late September in an eastern "grey zone" between Russian-controlled and Ukrainian-controlled territory.

Seven vehicles were hit in shelling between occupied Svatove in Luhansk region and Ukrainian-held Kupiansk which Kyiv recaptured in the Kharkiv region last month, the SBU said in a statement.

The SBU published graphic images of destroyed civilian vehicles on a track next to a railway line and what appeared to be the charred remains of people. Two bodies were seated in the driving seats of their cars; one was holding the steering wheel.

Russian-installed officials in Ukraine's east accused Kyiv on Thursday of shelling a convoy of refugees being evacuated from the Kharkiv region and killing around 30 civilians, Russian state media reported.

It was not immediately clear if those officials were referring to the same convoy.

Reuters could not independently verify the allegations.

(Reporting by Pavel PolityukWriting by Tom BalmforthEditing by Gareth Jones and Frances Kerry)
Russia suffered another setback during Ukraine's counteroffensive, confirming it withdrew troops from the eastern town of Lyman, within the newly annexed Donetsk region.

Ukraines armed forces on Saturday said they had "liberated" five settlements in the Donetsk region and encircled thousands of Russian soldiers.

"Due to the risk to be encircled, the allied forces were withdrawn from Krasny Liman to more advantageous frontiers," Russia's Ministry of Defense said Saturday.

"The Russian troops in the area of Lyman are encircled. Yampil, Novoselivka, Shandryholove, Drobysheve, and Stavky settlements are liberated. Stabilization measures are being conducted there," Serhii Cherevatyi, Speaker of the Eastern group of troops, told a Ukrainian news outlet reported Pravda.

The advancement comes one day after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a land grab for not only Donetsk but the Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions as well.

FILE PHOTO: An Ukrainian soldier looks out from a tank, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in the frontline city of Lyman, Donetsk region, Ukraine, April 28, 2022. REUTERS/Jorge Silva/File Photo

MASS GRAVE SITE WITH 1,100 BODIES FOUND IN BURN PITS OUTSIDE LIBERATED IZYUM

Putin warned that Russia will now treat any attack on the four regions as an attack on mainland Russia, calling the Ukrainians still residing in the war-torn regions "forever" Russians.

But Ukrainian forces have been making advances in western Luhansk and northern Donetsk as they inch toward the strategically important city of Sievierodonetsk, which Russia has occupied since June.

Cherevatyi said that some 5,000 to 5,500 occupiers were in Lyman, but noted it was difficult to estimate the number of troops in the areas surrounding the town due to the fluid movement of troops in combat zones.

Ukrainian soldiers sit on infantry fighting vehicles as they drive near Izyum, eastern Ukraine on September 16, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty Images

UKRAINE'S SOLDIERS INCH TOWARD SIEVIERODONETSK IN MAJOR COUNTEROFFENSIVE

The spokesman said that some Russian troops tried to unsuccessfully break through Ukraines barricade near the city while others had begun to surrender.

Taking Lyman is a significant strategic win for Ukraine but Cherevatyi said the fight to fully liberate the city was not over.

Lyman has served as a major logistics and transport hub for Russian forces and its operations in northern Donetsk, reported Reuters.

Securing the city is the biggest battlefield win for Ukraine since it forced Russian troops to withdraw from roughly the entire Kharkiv region in a major counter-offensive last month.
Diona Bueno, center, remembers her son Kenneth Paterimos as family and friends rally outside Richard's Bar on March 3, 2020, demanding justice in his death. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

A man was acquitted of first-degree murder Wednesday in a 2020 case where hed been accused of fatally stabbing a man outside Richards Bar in West Town.

Thomas Tansey, 32, was found not guilty on all counts on Wednesday and released, according to Cook County court documents.

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Tansey was charged in the Feb. 21, 2020, killing of Kenneth Paterimos, 23, who bled to death after  according to prosecutors  Tansey stabbed him with a box cutter several times during a bar fight.

Tansey and his lawyers said his actions were in self-defense.

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In March 2020, prosecutors said Paterimos had been at the bar celebrating with his brother and friends when he and Tansey began fighting. (Tansey) was severely intoxicated and was bumping into people inside the bar, prosecutors said in a court document. He and Paterimos started punching each other, and both fell to the floor, according to the document.

Tansey left the bar and Paterimos followed, and the pair continued fighting outside. Prosecutors said Tansey pulled out a box cutter and stabbed Paterimos in the back of the head, right ear, middle back, right collarbone and right arm.

The last wound severed an artery and caused Paterimos to bleed to death, officials said at the time.

Weeks after Tansey was charged in the fatal stabbing, a judge granted him bail, ordering that Tansey be fitted with an ankle monitor and that he comply with special conditions.

Tansey served in the Marine Corps for five years and was deployed in Afghanistan as a military vehicle operator from 2012 to 2013, a Marine spokesperson told the Tribune in 2020. He rose to the rank of corporal before being discharged in 2013, the spokesperson said.
Armed Forces of Ukraine

Russian invasion forces are still concentrating all their efforts on trying to entirely occupy Donetsk Oblast and maintain control of previously occupied territories  as well as undermining the Ukrainian armys offensive operations in various other locations, the General Staff said.

Russian forces on Sept. 30 carried out four missile and 15 air strikes, as well as over 85 MLRS attacks on military and civilian objects in Ukraine.

Over the course of the day, Ukrainian aviation conducted eleven strikes. It was confirmed that an enemy stronghold, six enemy storage locations of weapons and military equipment, and four hostile air defense systems had been struck.

Read also: 500 Russian troops eliminated in one day, says General Staff

In addition, Ukrainian air defense units shot down three UAVs and a Ka-52 helicopter.

Artillery units struck eleven control centers of varying levels, as well as eight sites where there were large concentrations of troops, weaponry, and military equipment. In addition, fourteen additional Russian military facilities were targeted, including ammunition depots, anti-aircraft missile systems, river crossings, radar systems, and reconnaissance posts.

Furthermore, the leadership of the Russian military, according to the General Staff, has been forced to prematurely deploy cadets of military schools to the war due to a serious shortage of personnel  particularly officers.

Read also: Ukrainian army advancing to Lyman, newly-mobilized Russians heading to frontline, ISW says

As a result, cadets from the Tyumen Military School will graduate early. The graduates will be reassigned to primary officer positions in military units manned by mobilized reserve personnel.

Cadets from the Ryazan Airborne School's final programs are being deployed to prepare units for the mobilization reserve, which is carried out on training grounds near Ryazan, Omsk, Pskov, Tula, and other cities. Training and coordination measures are planned for these units for a period of no more than one month before their deployment to the front lines in Ukraine.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
According to Oleksiy Melnyk, Western countries have the ability to monitor whether there are nuclear weapons on a Russian plane

Authoritative Western media such as the Financial Times, AFP and CNN write about it, while the degree of seriousness of Russian dictator Vladimir Putins unprecedented intentions is being discussed by influential world politicians.

NV interviewed Oleksiy Melnyk, co-director of foreign policy and international security programs at the Razumkov Center, about the stages of coordinating a nuclear strike, how likely Russia is to use nuclear weapons, and what could prevent it.

NV: Now more and more people are talking about the possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons against Ukraine. What do you think about it?

Melnyk: If we talk about strategic nuclear weapons, quite reliable control mechanisms over these weapons have been developed since the 1970s. Since the Soviet Union and the United States realized that there was a strategy of mutually assured destruction, the sides began to agree on how to protect each other from unforeseen incidents and this mutual destruction. In fact, when they realized that there could be no winner in a nuclear conflict, they began to develop mutual trust and verification measures. Their result was such well-known agreements as Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties, the Treaty on Open Skies, etc.

Read also: Ukrainian intelligence believes the threat from Russian tactical nuclear weapons to be very high

Thus, this system worked quite well and avoided a nuclear incident during the Cold War and later in the 1990s and early 2000s. But later everything began to gradually degrade and collapse. Despite everything, there is now a clear understanding of how many nuclear warheads each country has, how many of them are ready for use, and how many there are carriers of these weapons.

So, if we talk about the strategic component, everything is more or less settled and clear.

As for tactical nuclear weapons, unfortunately, the system of international bilateral control was not so well developed on this issue. Therefore, the biggest risk now is the possibility of Russia using tactical nuclear weapons, or battlefield weapons, as they are sometimes called. And in this aspect, it is important to understand that the use of such weapons can pursue two goals.

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The first one is the destruction of large groups of enemy troops. Because tactical nuclear weapons, compared to strategic ones, have a smaller charge and a shorter range, they were designed to destroy, so to say, a tank army deployed for offensive or defensive purposes, etc. The second one is demonstration strikes. Such strikes are carried out on infrastructure facilities or large cities to break enemy will to resist and force it to surrender or negotiate on favorable terms for the aggressor.

As for the current situation, in principle both goals are unattainable for Russia. Firstly, because there are no such groups or clusters of Ukrainian troops that could justify the expediency of using nuclear weapons. And given the political risks that follow, the use of nuclear weapons becomes inexpedient.

As for the demonstration strike, there is a clear position that Russia should understand that a demonstration strike will not work. The fact is that Ukraine has already passed the painful threshold when such a strike could force, firstly, the political leadership of the country to surrender, and secondly, intimidate our international partners so that they would limit support for Ukraine or rush to convince official Kyiv that its necessary to accept any Russian conditions.

Given this, the goals that Russia would try to achieve with such a nuclear strike are almost unattainable.

Read also: Putins nuclear ultimatum is a desperate bid to freeze a losing war

NV: So, realizing this, Putin will not use such weapons?

Melnyk: The decision-making system is one of the key issues. If, for example, we had to consider or assess such a threat from some democratic country or even, lets say, the Peoples Republic of China and at least the Soviet Union, there is at least some system of deterrence there. There is a certain group of people involved in making such decisions, and in the case of the Soviet Union or todays China, it is the party or the Political Bureau. And although this is a very closed way of decision-making, in any case, we could expect some kind of discussion there.

If we talk about Russia, today its actually a state ruled by one person. Therefore, it makes no sense to calculate or talk about some algorithm that will be used there, even if it is enshrined in Russian legislation or in governing documents. Decisions are made there by one person, who is now backed into a corner, he is in panic and despair and produces such (wrong) decisions one after another, or someone slips them to him, and he approves them, such as the announced mobilization, the incident with the Nord Stream, etc. It is clear that this person is still in power today, he is listened to, and it is unlikely that the executors of his order will strongly oppose it.

Read also: White House requests additional funds for Ukraine's nuclear security

NV: However, the United States does not yet see signs of Russia preparing to use nuclear weapons. Can we believe it?

Melnyk: Yes, the U.S. partners make statements that there are currently no signs of preparation (for the use of nuclear weapons by Russia). Of course, the Americans do not disclose the details (of the capabilities to control preparations for the possible use of nuclear weapons), and a limited circle of people know the details. So, if the United States makes such statements with the available space and intelligence capabilities, then obviously we should trust it.

However, we can say with confidence that the storage locations of such ammunition are known. Therefore, all these Russian nuclear facilities are now under close round-the-clock surveillance. And there may be some unusual activity there (which could be a signal for possible preparations for the use of nuclear weapons).

At the same time, a nuclear munition, even though it is packed in a container, produces radiation. Therefore, Im sure the Americans have the means by which they can monitor it. So, if a nuclear warhead is transported, it can be tracked.

Bases where there are carriers of such weapons are also known. If we talk about aircraft carriers, these are Tu-160, Tu-95 strategic bombers or dual-use Su-24, Su-34 bombers. These data are known, their location is known.

Therefore, lets say, theoretically, it is possible to track that there is some kind of radiation on a plane that took off.

NV: And how will this data be used further? Will there be time to react?

Melnyk: If such a fact is discovered, it will be a few hours or tens of minutes before the plane reaches the launch line. And if the Americans monitor that such a plane suddenly takes off, there is still time to send signals, perhaps some final ultimatums to the Kremlin to turn this plane around. Or, lets say (although it will hardly be so effective), to warn the Ukrainian side that the order for such an attack (by Russia) has already been given.

Read also: Military expert on Ukraines chances of stopping Russian nuclear attacks

NV: Will Ukraine and the West be able to destroy a launched missile with a nuclear warhead?

Melnyk: If it concerns the United States or NATO, there is an anti-missile defense system of the battlefield. Elements of such a system are already being supplied to Ukraine. If we talk about an air attack, these are air defense systems. And given the distances from which such warheads can be launched, and the reaction time, I think that all hope lies in our air defense forces, since it is unlikely that NATO will be able to react.

On the other hand, as it becomes known from unofficial sources, NATO may launch non-nuclear strikes at some critical objects (of Russia). I emphasize these are all unofficial statements, but the former commander of United States Army Europe, General Ben Hodges, says such scenarios were at least considered. Although it will already be a serious level of escalation if the United States hits Russian targets.

NV: In your opinion, can Putin use nuclear weapons to protect the captured territories of Ukraine?

Melnyk: In its nuclear doctrine, Russia has appropriated the right to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike or a nuclear strike against an enemy that does not have such weapons. And in the formulation that Russia can use nuclear weapons if there is a threat not even of a nuclear war, but of the existence of the Russian state, legitimization or preparation was almost carried out long before the start of the military conflict with Ukraine.

And when in October 2014, the then First Deputy Head of the Russian Presidents Administration, Viacheslav Volodin, declared that if there is Putin  there is Russia, if there is no Putin  there is no Russia, here we are talking not about a threat to the state, but a threat to Putin himself who identifies himself and his entourage with the Russian state.

Thus, when Putin feels a threat to himself and his power (and it is already almost tangible), he will perceive it as a threat to the Russian state. And such nuances are extremely unpleasant for us when we make some assessments.

NV: And what can prevent a nuclear strike? Perhaps the subordinates will refuse to carry out Putins order or his close entourage will eliminate him altogether, how do you think?

Melnyk: It reminds me of the scene in Mowgli, when everyone realized that Akela had made a mistake. So, Akela has already made a mistake, but not yet to such an extent that his closest entourage understands that its over with him.

But if we talk about some subordinates who carry out the order, at some level, when it is already clear that Akela is seriously wrong, one of the executors can, if not sabotage (and I do not reject the idea that they could sabotage), but not carry out this order immediately and request additional confirmation.

Read also: Polish Foreign Minister vows swift response if Russia uses nuclear weapons

There was a similar case in the Soviet Union, when there was a false activation of the missile attack warning system in the 1980s. And as it later turned out, one lieutenant colonel actually saved the world from a nuclear disaster, although according to all the instructions he was supposed to carry it out and start the whole process of retaliating with a nuclear strike. Thus, one man questioned the operation of automation and actually prevented a nuclear war. So now, there may be a person or a group of people who will question such an order. And if they do not carry out such an order immediately, everything can change in such critical dozens of minutes.

However, the role of the individual executor at a lower level has both positive and negative aspects. For example, if we talk about the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant captured by the Russian invaders, everything can work in the other direction here. When some executor at the level of a major or colonel, without a command from above, can organize something so that there will be an explosion and disaster there after the withdrawal of the Russian invaders.

NV: In this case, what should Ukraine and the world prepare for?

Melnyk: As a former serviceman, Im used to the fact that we should prepare for the worst scenario in such critical situations. But not just to sit and wait for it, but clearly work out all practical actions and prepare a plan. And do everything to prevent this worst-case scenario.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Armed Forces of Ukraine

Its analysts cited representatives of the so-called Donetsk Peoples Republic and Russian war correspondents, who reported that Russian forces still control Lyman but have withdrawn from their positions in Drobysheve (around six kilometers northwest of Lyman) and Yampil (about 13 kilometers southeast of Lyman).

Russian sources cited by ISW claimed that Russian forces still control one road from Lyman to Torske, while Ukrainian forces have cut off the Drobysheve-Torske road in the Stavky area.

Russian sources also noted the increasing activity of Ukrainian reconnaissance and sabotage groups on the Svatove-Torske highway northeast of Lyman after they reportedly crossed the Zherebets River. Geolocated footage also showed Ukrainian artillery striking withdrawing Russian forces near Torske.

Read also: Zelenskyy announces "good news" from front line in near future

According to ISW, Ukrainian forces continued to strike Russian military targets in Luhansk Oblast on Sept. 30. It is noted that geolocated footage showed the aftermath of Ukrainian reported HIMARS strikes on a television tower and a radio repeater in Starobilsk and at an asphalt plant near Alchevsk that reportedly housed Russian forces.

Serhiy Cherevatyi, the speaker for the Eastern Regional Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said on Sept. 30 that the operation to encircle Russian troops near Lyman was at the final stage, and the invaders were cut off from reinforcements and supplies of ammunition.

Read also: Ukraine advances on Lyman while discontent with mobilization rises in Russia, says ISW

Ukrainian soldiers have already entered the town of Yampil in Donetsk Oblast, according to a video that appeared online on Sept. 30. Later, a video appeared with Ukrainian troops in the village of Drobysheve.

Mykhailo Podolyak, the adviser to the head of the Presidents Office, said Russia would have to ask Ukraine to withdraw the Russian military from the encirclement in the Lyman area if the Kremlin cares about their fate.

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Read also: Russia withdraws from key town near Kherson, ISW report says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an evening address on Sept. 30 that Ukrainian forces had made significant progress in the east, in particular in Lyman.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
UNITED NATIONS (AP)  An 85-year-old Iranian-American who formerly worked for the U.N. childrens agency and was detained in Iran in 2016 has been permitted to leave the country for medical treatment abroad, the United Nations said Saturday.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric announced the departure of Baquer Namazi and said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was grateful he could leave following the U.N. chiefs appeals to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

Dujarric said the secretary-general was also pleased that Namazis son, Siamak Namazi, had been released from detention.

An international human rights lawyer handling their case, Jared Genser, tweeted Saturday: I am delighted to confirm for the first time in seven years that Siamak #Namazi is spending a night at home with his parents in Tehran. Baquer Namazis travel ban has been lifted. We wont rest until they return to the U.S. & their long nightmare has ended.

Namazi, a former UNICEF representative, was detained in 2016 when he traveled to Tehran to see his son, a businessman arrested in Iran months earlier. Both Namazis were sentenced to 10 years in prison in Iran on what the United States and United Nations say were trumped-up spying charges.

Baquer Namazi was granted medical furlough in 2018 and his sentence was subsequently commuted to time served, but Iranian authorities had not permitted him to leave the country. Last October, he underwent surgery in Iran to clear a blockage in an artery to the brain that his family and supporters described as life-threatening.

Siamak Namazi had remained jailed in Irans notorious Evin prison.

Dujarric said the U.N. will continue to engage with the Iranian authorities on a range of important issues, including the regional situation, sustainable development and the promotion and protection of human rights.

The State Department said it was gratified to learn of Irans actions but added that our efforts are far from over.

We remain committed and determined to securing the freedom of all Americans unjustly detained in Iran and elsewhere. They should be reunited with their loved ones as soon as possible, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.
Johnson-Whittle Hall on the University of Marylands campus was dedicated in a ceremony on Friday

The University of Maryland has renamed a dorm for two African Americans  Elaine Johnson Coates and Hiram Whittle  who were among the first to enroll at the school.

A dedication ceremony for Johnson-Whittle Hall, a co-ed residence housing 450 students, was held on Friday.. It is the second dorm dedication within a year in honor of former students.

Coates, 84, was one of seven Black students allowed to live on the campus when she entered UMD in fall 1955. An education major, she was also the College Park, Maryland universitys first African American graduate in 1959.

From left to right: Patty Perillo, Vice President for Student Affairs; Glenise Whittle, Niece of Hiram Whittle; Elaine Johnson Coates, Residence Hall Namesake; and Darryll J. Pines, President of the University of Maryland (Photo courtesy of the University of Maryland)

Whittle, who died in 2021, was the first African American male admitted to UMD in 1951. When the residence hall update was announced in 2020, alongside an additional building renaming after two former Asian students, he expressed in a statement a kind of optimism.

My hope is that my story will continue to inspire the campus community to move forward and follow their dreams, he said.

UMD President Darryll Pines said it was a pleasure to be involved in the dorm dedication process, The Washingon Post reported.

A great privilege of my career is playing a role in honoring Maryland trailblazers, including the time I have spent with Hiram Whittle and Elaine Johnson Coates, he said. Now generations of Terps will call Johnson-Whittle Hall their home, and they will be inspired by a story of diverse excellence.

After Coates graduated from UMD, she served as a social worker and high school teacher for a few years before earning a masters degree in social work. In 2019, she was the recipient of the Maryland Awards, which is bestowed on exceptional alumni.

I thought when I walked away in 1959 with my diploma in hand that no one would ever speak my name again, Coates said of the dorm dedication. I was surprised but really honored when they contacted me and started asking about my time there.

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Coates, who struggled with prejudice and loneliness on her journey to get her degree, delivered the UMD. 2019 commencement address. She spoke with graduates about the importance of overcoming fear and adversity. Her two children, Tamara Coates-Walker and Jason Coates, are also UMD graduates.

Coates granddaughter Paris Walker posted a video tour of the residence hall on TikTok and noted how proud she was to be sharing this groundbreaking moment with Coates.

Coates praised the university for taking the right steps toward making the campus more diverse and inclusive.

During the past couple of years, as Ive been going out for meetings and seeing all the other opportunities for Blacks and other minorities out there, its just amazing, Coates told The Post. I did not have that support. It was not there.

Johnson-Whittle Hall and one dedicated last year in honor of two former Asian students will be home to a total of 900 freshmen and sophomores, The Post reported in 2020. They are the first dorms since 1914 to be named for individuals.

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The post University of Maryland renames dorm for trailblazing Black students appeared first on TheGrio.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP)  Problems with rape kit evidence testing keep haunting Memphis.

A city long plagued by a heavy backlog of untested sexual assault kits was shaken by Cleotha Henderson's arrest in the killing of Eliza Fletcher after she was abducted during a morning jog last month.

So when authorities said his DNA was linked to a rape that occurred nearly a year earlier  charging him separately days after he was arrested in Fletchers killing  an outraged city turned to the obvious question: Why was he still on the streets?

The case of Henderson, who already has served 20 years in prison for a kidnapping he committed at 16, has reignited criticism of Tennessees sexual assault testing process. That has included calls for shorter delays from the testing agency, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and questions about why Memphis didn't seek to fast-track a kit that could have been tested in days.

Instead, it took nearly a year, unearthing key evidence too late to charge Henderson before Fletchers killing.

The tragic outcome brings back memories from the early 2010s, when Memphis revealed a backlog of about 12,000 untested rape kits that took years to whittle down and led to a lawsuit that's still ongoing. The new rape charges have spurred another lawsuit accusing the Memphis Police Department of negligence for the delay.

The scenario also has raised broader concerns about Tennessee's struggles with a problem that has been in the national spotlight for decades and that some states have addressed.

In response, GOP Gov. Bill Lee and Republican legislative leaders have fast-tracked money for 25 additional TBI lab positions, including six in DNA processing. The agency had requested 50 more this year, but Lee funded only 25 in his proposed budget and lawmakers approved that amount.

Meghan Ybos, a rape victim involved in the backlog lawsuit, blames the city for not curbing a problem known for years despite receiving more than $20 million in grants to address the backlog.

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I dont think the shortcomings of Memphis law enforcement are limited to the handling of rape kits," Ybos said, "but I think the public should be outraged at the lack of transparency about what Memphis has done with tens of millions of grant money that the city and county have received to test rape kits, train police, hire victim advocates, prosecute cold rape cases and more.

As of August, Tennessee's three state labs averaged from 28 to 49 weeks to process rape kits under circumstances that don't include an order to rush the test. More than 950 rape kits sat untested in labs.

TBI attributed the delays to staffing woes and low pay that complicates recruiting and keeping scientists.

TBI Director David Rausch laid out further moves in hopes of processing all evidence in eight to 12 weeks within the next year: Overtime, weekend hours, more outsourcing to private labs and using retired TBI workers for new worker training to free up current employees.

Tennessee doesn't require specific turnaround times for newly collected rape kits, though 19 other states do, according to the Joyful Heart Foundation, which is pushing Tennessee to follow suit. Massachusetts requires processing kits within 30 days, but most of the states require testing within 60, 90 or 120 days.

Tennessee's House and Senate speakers haven't flagged turnaround mandates as a priority. TBI, meanwhile, said any turnaround requirement would need proper funding.

Ilse Knecht, policy and advocacy director for the Joyful Heart Foundation, said Tennessee's problems aren't unique. Without an official U.S. count of rape kits awaiting analysis, Knecht estimated there are likely more than 200,000 untested kits in law enforcement or hospital storage nationally.

Every single one of these kits that is sitting on a shelf could represent someone like the offender in this case, where you look at their criminal history and theyre committing all kinds of crime, theyve been doing it for decades, and the evidence that could stop them is sitting on a shelf somewhere, Knecht told The Associated Press.

Henderson was charged with first-degree murder in the kidnapping and killing of Fletcher, a mother of two and a kindergarten teacher who was on a pre-dawn run Sept. 2 when she was forced into an SUV on the University of Memphis campus. Her remains were found on Sept. 5 behind a vacant Memphis house.

Henderson, who also has gone by Cleotha Abston, has not entered a plea in the killing but was rebooked in jail on Sept. 9 on charges related to the September 2021 rape of a Memphis woman. Henderson has pleaded not guilty to charges in that attack, including aggravated rape.

The new lawsuit brought by the woman who says she was raped in that attack says Memphis police could have prevented Fletchers death if they had investigated the 2021 rape more vigorously.

Cleotha Abston should and could have been arrested and indicted for the aggravated rape of (the alleged victim) many months earlier, most likely in the year 2021, the lawsuit says. The AP isn't naming the woman.

Rape kits contain semen, saliva or blood samples taken from a victim. Specimens containing DNA evidence are uploaded to the FBIs Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, to check for a match.

In Memphis, backlogs have long been a problem. About 12,000 untested rape kits were disclosed there in 2013. A task force was formed, and police began using results to start investigations  and get some convictions.

The city has said the backlog revealed in 2013 has been eliminated. But long delays in testing rape kits persist in Tennessee, including cases from Memphis.

In the Henderson case, Memphis police said a sexual assault report was taken Sept. 21, 2021. A rape kit was submitted two days later to TBI, the bureau said.

An official CODIS hit was not received until after" Fletchers abduction, police said, and probable cause to make an arrest did not exist until after the CODIS hit had been received.

TBI said no request was made for expedited analysis and no suspect information was included in the submission.

The kit eventually was pulled from evidence storage and an initial report was completed Aug. 29, the bureau said.

The 2021 DNA matched Henderson's in the national database on Sept. 5, three days after Fletcher's abduction, authorities said. TBI reported the match to Memphis police.

Under Tennessee law, police agencies generally have 30 days to send rape kit evidence to TBI or another lab, but there's no mandate on processing times.

TBI said its budget request was conservative  $10.2 million for 40 scientists and 10 lower-level positions. A West Virginia University forensic calculator said TBI labs needed another 71 positions, the bureau noted.

In DNA testing, the labs currently have six supervisors and 26 special agent/forensic scientist positions, some in hiring or lengthy new hire training. TBI hopes to start the 40 scientists  14 in DNA  by late this month and others by late March.

Still, many have grown impatient at a situation they say called for urgency.

These are our most vulnerable victims, said Josh Spickler, executive director of Just City, a Memphis organization pressing for a fairer criminal justice system. To have a backlog like that build up, and still, to this day, have it be the norm that a rape kit test takes the many months that it does, is really not acceptable.

___

Mattise reported from Nashville, Tennessee.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Lloyd Austin an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria criticized Putin's "nuclear saber-rattling."

Austin said he doesn't currently see "anything" indicating that nuclear weapons will be used.

"To be clear, the guy who makes that decision, I mean, it's one man," Austin said of Putin.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin criticized "nuclear saber-rattling," but said he has no clear indication that Russian President Vladimir Putin has chosen to deploy nuclear weapons in the continued war in Ukraine.

CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria aired on Saturday a discussion with Austin in which the military leader said that such a decision would rest with Putin.

"To be clear, the guy who makes that decision, I mean, it's one man," Austin said of Putin's warnings of a potential nuclear conflict.

He continued: "There are no checks on Mr. Putin. Just as he made the irresponsible decision to invade Ukraine, you know, he could make another decision. But I don't see anything right now that would lead me to believe that he has made such a decision."

The full interview with Austin will air in its entirety on Sunday on "Fareed Zakaria GPS."

Austin said he privately informed Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu "not go down this path."

"Personally, I have not talked to Shoigu in recent days, but I have talked to him in the past," Austin stated. "And I have addressed this very issue to  and warned to not go down this path and conduct this type of irresponsible behavior."

The United States has privately told Moscow that it would face "catastrophic consequences" if it were to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

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BEIRUT (AP)  The U.S. ambassador to Lebanon on Saturday delivered a maritime border demarcation proposal to President Michel Aoun, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Speaker Nabih Berri on Saturday, as negotiations with Israel progress.

Lebanon and Israel have been officially at war since Israels creation in 1948 and both countries claim some 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) of the Mediterranean Sea.

Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser for energy security at the U.S. State Department who has been mediating between the two neighbors, last visited Beirut in September, where he expressed optimism after meeting with Lebanons president, caretaker prime minister and parliament speaker.

Aoun's office in a statement said U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea delivered a proposal from Hochstein during a meeting at the presidential palace in Baabda.

Lebanon will assess the proposal before responding to Hochstein, though leaders have hinted they could soon reach a settlement.

Speaker Berri in an interview with London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper Saturday said the proposal in principle meets the Lebanese demands.

President Aoun last week said in an interview with local media the negotiations could soon come to a close.

Lebanon and Israel both claim some 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) of the Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon hopes to unleash offshore oil and gas production as it grapples with the worst economic crisis in its modern history, plunging three-quarters of its population into poverty.

Israeli officials are also set to receive Hochsteins proposal, though no official announcement has been made yet. Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid expressed cautious optimism on the matter in a press briefing last week.

A Lebanese official who attended the talks last month told The Associated Press that the proposal put forward by the U.S. envoy gives Lebanon the right to the Qana field, located partially in Israels domain. A part of it stretches deep into a disputed area. The official added that the main point now is how to draw the demarcation line in a way that stretches south of Qana.

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Israel set up a gas rig at its designated location at the Karish field. Israel says the field is part of its U.N.-recognized exclusive economic zone, while Lebanon insists Karish is in a disputed area.

In July, the Israeli military shot down three unarmed drones belonging to Lebanon's Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah flying over the Karish field. Hezbollahs leader has issued warnings to Israel over the maritime dispute, saying that any arm that reaches out to steal Lebanons wealth will be cut off.

The heavily armed group, which has fought several wars with Israel, has repeatedly said in the past that it would use its weapons to protect Lebanons economic rights. Hezbollah officials have however said they would endorse a deal reached between Lebanons government and Israel.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a speech Saturday echoed similar sentiments to Lebanon's top political leaders about Hochstein's proposal, and reasserted that the Iran-backed party will back Lebanon's political leadership's position. God willing, if it reaches the desired and best result, it would be the result of national unity, cooperation, and solidarity, he said.
The US has imposed economic sanctions on an Indian company for purchasing Iranian petroleum products. These items were then reportedly shipped to China.

Mumbai-based Tibalaji Petrochem was among a group of companies, including some from the UAE and Hong Kong, to be targeted for the sanctions.

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Tibalaji...is the first Indian entity to face...unilateral sanctions passed in 2018-19, after the US Trump administrations decision to walk out of the nuclear deal...with Iran, The Hindu reported today. ...the Modi government agreed to end all oil imports from Iran in 2019, that made up about 11% of Indias intake, rather than face the sanctions.

Notably, the sanctions were reported a day after Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar returned from the US.

Tibalaji had reportedly purchased millions of dollars worth of petrochemical products, including methanol and base oil, from Triliance, an Iranian company that brokers the sale of Iranian products to foreign purchasers, for onward shipment to China.

The US sanctions on Tibalaji for its Iranian deals come amid Indias booming bilateral trademostly crude oil-basedwith Russia, another country that has been facing Western sanctions since the launch of its Ukrain invasion earlier this year.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  A U.S. federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Mexican government against U.S. gun manufacturers arguing their commercial practices has led to bloodshed in Mexico.

Judge F. Dennis Saylor in Boston ruled Mexicos claims did not overcome the broad protection provided to gun manufacturers by the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act passed in 2005.

The law shields gun manufacturers from damages resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse of a firearm.

While the court has considerable sympathy for the people of Mexico, and none whatsoever for those who traffic guns to Mexican criminal organizations, it is duty-bound to follow the law, Saylor wrote.

Mexicos Foreign Affairs Ministry said it would appeal the decision and continue insisting that the sale of guns be responsible, transparent and accountable, and that the negligent way in which they are sold in the United States facilitates criminals' access to them.

Mexico was seeking at least $10 billion in compensation, but legal experts had viewed the lawsuit as a long shot.

The Mexican government argued that the companies know their practices contribute to the trafficking of guns into Mexico and facilitate it. Mexico wants compensation for the havoc the guns have wrought on its people.

Among those sued were some of the biggest names in guns, including: Smith & Wesson Brands Inc., Barrett Firearms Manufacturing Inc., Beretta U.S.A. Corp., Colts Manufacturing Company LLC and Glock Inc.

Another defendant was Interstate Arms, a Boston-area wholesaler that sells guns from all but one of the named manufacturers to dealers around the U.S.

The Mexican government estimates 70% of the weapons trafficked into Mexico come from the U.S., according to the Foreign Affairs Ministry. It said that in 2019 alone, at least 17,000 homicides in Mexico were linked to trafficked weapons.

Mexico argued the U.S. protection act did not apply when an injury occurred outside the United States.

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Saylor did not agree.

Mexico is seeking to hold defendants liable for practices that occurred within the United States and only resulted in harm in Mexico, he wrote. This case thus represents a valid domestic application of the PLCAA, and the presumption against extraterritoriality does not apply.

The sale of firearms is severely restricted in Mexico and controlled by the Defense Department. But thousands of guns are smuggled into Mexico by the countrys powerful drug cartels.
When Ernest Moore was gunned down on the West Side two days before Christmas in 2002, a Chicago police evidence technician with a video camera captured the tragically familiar aftermath.

Red police tape straddled the wrought-iron fences on the block, flapping in the chilly gray afternoon. Bystanders chatted as numbered placards marked shell casings littering the intersection, right in front of a display of white plastic reindeer.

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A sedan sat perched with its rear tires on the curb, doors wide open, windows shattered and the windshield pocked with six ragged bullet holes. Slumped over in the drivers seat was Moore, a skinny 21-year-old known in the neighborhood as Pee Wee, his blood soaking the cars center console.

In a city awash in gang conflict and gun violence, the motive for Moores slaying that day seemed routine: a dispute over drug turf at a nearby park, where rival gangs peddled heroin and crack.

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But now, in a federal courtroom two decades later, prosecutors have alleged the killing was a crucial step in the ascension of Donald Lee, a reputed gang assassin who they say literally shot his way to the top of the Wicked Town faction of the Traveling Vice Lords in the early 2000s.

Lee and one of his alleged associates, Torance Benson, went on trial last week at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on racketeering conspiracy charges alleging they were part of a criminal enterprise responsible for a devastating amount of violence, including 19 murders as well as dozens of armed robberies and assaults dating back to July 2000.

In opening statements to jurors on Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jimmy Arce said that Moores killing was one of three murders orchestrated by Lee over a three-year period that solidified his control of the Wicked Town gang and its lucrative drug markets.

Six months after the Moore shooting, prosecutors say Lee completed his rise by fatally shooting John Forehead Johnson, the then-leader of a faction of the rival Four Corner Hustlers that controlled narcotics sales one street over from Wicked Towns territory.

Attorneys for Lee and Benson have argued the prosecutions case is built largely on the testimony of other Wicked Town members who are cooperating with authorities in order to get a break in their own cases.

Some of them are serial killers and admitted liars, while others have been paid by the government both in money and in promises of reduced sentences, attorney Lisa Wood, who represents Lee, said in her opening statement.

Wood and defense attorney Steven Shobat, who represents Benson, also said prosecutors have little or no physical evidence tying their clients to some of the shootings, while others may have been the result of self-defense or mistaken identification.

Jurors in the first week of the scheduled two-month trial have been given a crash course on the long history of gangs on Chicagos West Side, beginning with the testimony of Marquel Russell, one of the founders of Wicked Town, who told the jury he grew up in gangs as a rite of passage after his father, a Traveling Vice Lord, was murdered in 1978.

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Russell pleaded guilty to racketeering and is expecting prosecutors to recommend a sentence of 10 to 20 years behind bars in exchange for his truthful testimony.

Russell said he was blessed in to the Vice Lords as a teenager, learning the gangs faith-based statement of love and other ritualistic principles that he says focused on how to conduct yourself as a man.

When his older brother went to prison for attempted murder in 1994, Russell said he became the de facto leader of Wicked Town, which was constantly in conflict with factions of the Four Corner Hustlers and other street gangs with nearby territory.

In 1996, Russell was shot in the abdomen and partially paralyzed, causing him to briefly relinquish control of the gang. He suffers from nerve damage to this day, he said, and walks with a pronounced limp.

He recalled for the jury how Lee was still a little kid when he was choked to the point of nearly passing out during a fight on the street. Russell said he was impressed when he saw Lee come to and start hitting his opponent with glass bottles.

I liked him, Russell said. He was a little scrappy kid. He wasnt going for nothin like that.

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By the late 1990s, Lee had become one of the gangs shooters, acting as muscle on the street, according to prosecutors.

The first slaying Lee was accused of in the Wicked Town indictment occurred in July 2000, when he was 17. According to prosecutors, Lee fatally shot Lemont Ware during a gang-related brawl in the 5100 block of West Ferdinand Street.

Lee told detectives at the time that he saw his friends getting beaten up and ran to get a gun his gang kept stashed in a nearby yard. When he returned, he shot Ware, who he said was punching one of his friends, then fired a few more shots before running into a house.

Court records show that a Chicago police detective and a Cook County assistant states attorney took notes of Lees statement, but he was not charged with Wares shooting at the time.

The events that led to Moores slaying in 2002 began a day earlier, when a simmering feud between Wicked Town and the Four Corner Hustlers over drug sales in Sweet Clover Park boiled over, according to testimony last week.

Nashon Bootie Johnson, 42, a longtime Wicked Town member who pleaded guilty and is cooperating with prosecutors, told the jury on Wednesday that a confrontation erupted in the park between him and rival gang member Aaron Blumenberg, who went by the nickname Ears. During the argument, Blumenberg left to grab a gun and came back, yelling before firing it into the ground, Johnson said.

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The groups dispersed, but the violence only escalated. Later that day, Johnson said, Lee burst through his door with the news that someone had shot at his little brother, Deonte, also a Wicked Town member, Johnson said.

Johnson said that Lee suspected the shooter was Blumenberg. The next day, Johnson, Lee, and two other Wicked Town associates, Maurice Earskines and Jasper Adams, went out to look for Ears and kill him, Johnson said.

Near Cicero Avenue and Lake Street, the group spotted a gray Mercury Grand Marquis they believed may have been involved in the shooting and began following it, Johnson said. After about a half a mile, they pulled in front of the Mercury at the intersection of Hubbard Street and Lamon Avenue.

Jasper said shoot the driver to stop the car, Johnson testified. He said Lee, who was in front passenger seat, leaned out of the window and started shooting at the Grand Marquis with a black revolver. Earskines jumped out and continued firing as the other occupants bailed out and ran.

Henry Stevenson, 47, testified Thursday that he was in the car with Blumenberg and Moore that day. Stevenson said hed been involved in the ongoing dispute over the park turf, and that they were riding around themselves, looking for revenge against Johnson.

He said theyd stopped by Johnsons house but were told he wasnt there. With Moore behind the wheel of the Grand Marquis, theyd stopped at Hubbard and Lamon and were checking out some females when all of a sudden he heard the Pow! Pow! of gunshots and saw Pee Wee slump over.

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Stevenson said he got down on the floor of the car and then bailed out and ran with Blumenberg through an alley, making their escape. Moore was struck in his left cheek, shoulder and back and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to court records.

Meanwhile, Johnson, who was carrying a semi-automatic pistol that Jasper had given him, said he pretended the gun jammed and never actually fired. In reality, hed kept the safety on because I was scared, he said.

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I never took it off safety, Johnson said. I didnt want to kill the people in the car. Me and Ears was childhood friends.

Johnson pleaded guilty earlier this year to racketeering conspiracy, admitting in a plea agreement with prosecutors that he participated in the murder of Moore and attempted murder of Stevenson and Blumenberg, and also that he trafficked narcotics on behalf of the Wicked Town enterprise.

As with Russell, prosecutors have agreed to seek a sentence of 10 to 20 years for Johnson, instead of life, he told the jury.

Earskines, meanwhile, was charged in 2004 in Cook County with first-degree murder stemming from Moores shooting. He pleaded guilty in January 2006 and was sentenced to 25 years in state prison. Records show hes due to be released in 2029.

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At his plea hearing, Cook County Judge Stanley Sacks told Earskines that hed be nearly 50 years old when hes released  if you survive 23 calendars inside.

Thats a long time, Mr. Earskines, Sacks said, according to a transcript of the hearing. But keep this in mind: At least you can see your family on visiting days. Mr. Moore cant do that with his people.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Bidens administration said Venezuela freed seven Americans, including oil executives and a former Marine, in a swap involving two members of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduros family imprisoned in the US.

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Biden personally decided to grant clemency to two Venezuelans sentenced in the US on drug charges -- Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas and Efrain Antonio Campo Flores, both nephews of Maduros wife, according to a senior administration official. Each was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2017 for conspiring to import cocaine into the US.

The Biden administration has prioritized efforts to bring home Americans who have been wrongly detained, the official said Saturday, adding that Biden spoke to the families of the Americans released.

The prisoner swap follows months of diplomatic engagement between two countries with a history of fraught relations. Venezuela has been under economic and oil sanctions since 2019, after the US and dozens of other countries recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuelas legitimate president.

The US remains committed to supporting dialogue between Maduro and the opposition and a return to negotiations between the two sides, another official said.

Among those returning to the US are Jose Pereira, a former CEO of Citgo Petroleum Corp, a Houston-based subsidiary of Venezuelas state oil company, according to a White House statement. Others include former Citgo personnel Jorge Toledo, Tomeu Vadell, Jose Luis Zambrano and Alirio Zambrano, whose prison sentences were upheld by a Venezuelan court in February.

The men, along with another Citgo employee who was previously released, were arrested in 2017 after being called to a meeting at the headquarters of state energy company Petroleos de Venezuela SA. They were later convicted on corruption charges.

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Also released was Matthew Heath, a former US Marine held since September 2020 who had been in poor health for months, according to his family. US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens and US Ambassador to Venezuela James Story visited Caracas in June to negotiate his release.

Another wrongfully detained U.S. citizen now free is Osman Khan, who was working in Colombia and was taken into custody after crossing into Venezuela on a personal visit.

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, the top Republican on the chambers Intelligence Committee, criticized the releases as an unequal swap of convicted drug dealers for American hostages whom he wanted freed as much as anybody.

But every time you do this, now others know, I can take Americans, I can hold them until I need something as a bargaining chip, he said on CNNs State of the Union on Sunday.

The US released two Venezuelans who had been unjustly imprisoned, President Nicolas Maduros government said in a statement that didnt identify them. Maduro released the group of Americans for humanitarian reasons, adding that the swap was the result of negotiations that began in March when Biden officials visited Caracas.

Today, we celebrate that seven families will be whole once more, Biden said in a statement.

The administration also has been under pressure to win the release two Americans detained in Russia: WNBA player Brittney Griner and former US marine Paul Whelan.

The US made an offer to swap the Americans for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer known as the merchant of death who in 2012 was sentenced to 25 years in prison, and a second Russian also held in a US jail, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

To all the families who are still suffering and separated from their loved ones who are wrongfully detained -- know that we remain dedicated to securing their release, Biden said.

(Updates with Republican senators criticism in 10th paragraph.)

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Venezuela has freed seven Americans who have been imprisoned in the South American country for years in exchange for the United States releasing two relatives of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

President Biden said in a statement on Saturday that the seven included five members of what is known as the Citgo Six  Jorge Toledo, Tomeu Vadell, Alirio Zambrano, Jose Luis Zambrano and Jose Pereira. The five oil executives and Gustavo Cardenas, another executive who was released in March, were asked to come to Venezuela for a meeting in 2017 but were detained upon arriving and sentenced to eight years in prison for embezzlement.

I am grateful for the hard work of dedicated public servants across the U.S. Government who made this possible, and who continue to deliver on my Administrations unflinching commitment to keep faith with Americans held hostage and wrongfully detained all around the world, Biden said.

The other two Americans who were released are Matthew Heath and Florida-resident Osman Khan. Heath is a former U.S. Marine corporal who was arrested in Venezuela in 2020 on what the State Department has called suspicious weapons charges, The Associated Press reported.

AP reported that the U.S. freed Franqui Flores and Efrain Campo, who are nephews of Maduros wife, Cilia Flores. The two men were arrested in Haiti in 2015 on drug trafficking charges and were convicted the next year.

Biden said his administrations priority is to prevent any American from being wrongfully detained or held hostage.

To all the families who are still suffering and separated from their loved ones who are wrongfully detained  know that we remain dedicated to securing their release, he said.

The announcement comes as the U.S. has so far been unable to arrange the release of two of the most high-profile Americans held captive, WNBA star player Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, in Russia. AP reported that despite the attention on them, Venezuela has been the country with the most Americans suspected of being held as bargaining chips in negotiations.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
WASHINGTON (AP)  In a rare softening of hostile relations, Venezuela freed on Saturday seven imprisoned Americans in exchange for the United States releasing two nephews of President Nicolas Maduros wife who had been jailed for years on narcotics convictions.

The swap of the Americans, including five oil executives held for nearly five years, follows months of back channel diplomacy by senior U.S. officials  secretive talks with a major oil producer that took on greater urgency after sanctions on Russia put pressure on global energy prices.

The deal amounts to an unusual gesture of goodwill by Maduro as the socialist leader looks to rebuild relations with the U.S. after vanquishing most of his domestic opponents. While the White House denied any change in policy toward Venezuela is afoot, the freeing of Americans could create political space for the Biden administration to ease crippling oil sanctions on Venezuela if Maduro shows progress in on-again, off-again talks with his opponents.

I cant believe it, Cristina Vadell, the daughter of Tomeu Vadell, one of the freed Americans, told The Associated Press on Saturday.

Holding back tears of joy on her 31st birthday, she said: This is the best birthday present ever. Im just so happy.

The transfer took place Saturday in the Caribbean island of St. Vincent and Grenadines, which is ruled by an ally of Maduro, three people in Venezuela briefed on the matter told the AP on the condition of anonymity. The prisoners arrived from their respective locations in separate planes, the Biden administration said.

These individuals will soon be reunited with their families and back in the arms of their loved ones where they belong, President Joe Biden said in a statement.

Those freed include five employees of Houston-based Citgo  Vadell, Jose Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, Jorge Toledo and Jose Pereira  who were lured to Venezuela right before Thanksgiving in 2017 to attend a meeting at the headquarters of the company's parent, state-run-oil giant PDVSA. Once there, they were hauled away by masked security agents who busted into a Caracas conference room.

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The men were convicted of embezzlement in 2020 in a trial marred by delays and irregularities and sentenced to between eight years and 13 years in prison for a never-executed proposal to refinance billions in the oil companys bonds.

Also released was Matthew Heath, a former U.S. Marine corporal from Tennessee who was arrested in 2020 at a roadblock in Venezuela, and a Florida man, Osman Khan, who was arrested in January.

The State Department had regarded all the men as wrongfully detained.

To facilitate a deal, Biden granted clemency for Franqui Flores and his cousin Efrain Campo, nephews of First Combatant Cilia Flores, as Maduro calls his wife. The men were arrested in Haiti in a Drug Enforcement Administration sting in 2015 and convicted the following year in New York in a highly charged case that cast a hard look at U.S. accusations of drug trafficking at the highest levels of Maduros administration.

Referring to the men only as Venezuelans unjustly imprisoned in the U.S., the Maduro government in a statement said it welcomes the outcome of these talks and hopes for the preservation of peace and harmony with all the nations of our region and the world.

The Biden administration has been under pressure to do more to bring home the roughly 60 Americans it believes are held hostage abroad or wrongfully detained by hostile foreign governments. While much of the focus is on Russia, where the U.S. has so far tried unsuccessfully to secure the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner and another American, Paul Whelan, Venezuela has been holding the largest contingent of Americans suspected of being used as bargaining chips.

At least four other Americans remain detained in Venezuela, including two former Green Berets  Luke Denman and Airan Berry  involved in a slapdash attempt to oust Maduro in 2019, and two other men  Eyvin Hernandez and Jerrel Kenemore  who, like Khan, were detained for allegedly entering the country illegally from neighboring Colombia.

To all the families who are still suffering and separated from their loved ones who are wrongfully detained  know that we remain dedicated to securing their release, Biden said in his statement.

Saturday's swap came together quietly over several months of backchannel talks. Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, has made multiple visits to Venezuela over the last year to discuss potential deals and to meet with the detained Americans.

In July, Maduro officials upped the ante in meetings in Caracas with Carstens and Ambassador James Story, who heads the Venezuela Affairs Unit in neighboring Colombia. It substitutes for the U.S. Embassy the Trump administration shuttered in 2019 to protest Maduro's reelection in what was widely seen as a sham election.

In exchange for freeing the nephews and insider businessman Alex Saab, Maduro was willing to release all Americans, a U.S. official briefed on the outreach told the AP.

In the end, Saab  Venezuela considers him a diplomat and U.S. prosecutors a corrupt regime enabler  was never seriously considered, according to the U.S. official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the talks.

Unlike the nephews, who were arrested as a result of a drug sting and are about halfway through 18-year sentences, Saab bitterly fought his extradition to the U.S. from Cape Verde, where he was arrested in 2020 during a stopover en route to Iran. He is now awaiting trial in Miami federal court on charges of siphoning off millions in state contracts.

Still, it's unclear if the prisoner release will lead to a broader thaw in relations.

The Biden administration is constrained in its engagement with Maduro, especially in the battleground state of Florida, where Latino voters whose families fled authoritarian rule in Cuba and Venezuela hold major sway.

Another Biden appeasement that will result in more anti-U.S. dictators taking more innocent Americans hostage in the future, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said on Twitter about Saturday's exchange.

Although the U.S. in the last six months has struck similar deals with Russia, and more recently with the Taliban, a senior Biden administration official downplayed any suggestion that it was caving to hostage-takers, saying such exchanges remain extraordinarily rare. The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the administration, also pointed to an executive order from this summe r that sought to impose new costs on countries that jail Americans without cause.

Meanwhile, many Maduro supporters remain distrustful of the U.S. Empire," recalling the Trump administration's decision to impose sanctions on a Venezuelan governor who brokered the release of another American, Joshua Holt, in 2018.

However, some longtime Venezuela watchers say theyre hopeful this time will be different.

A visit to Caracas in March by Juan Gonzalez, the top National Security Council adviser on Latin America, was itself a remarkable gesture toward a leader whom the U.S. considers illegitimate and has indicted on narco-terrorism charges. The Biden administration has also promised to review sanctions if Maduro can point to progress in talks with opponents that had been taking place in Mexico that are aimed at creating fairer conditions for 2024 presidential elections

President Biden did the right thing, said Caleb McCarry, a former Republican staffer who met recently with Maduro in a bid to free Americans and improve bilateral relations. "This is serious diplomacy and can only help put the Mexico negotiations back on track. Its a win for the families, the American people and the Venezuelan people.

____

Goodman reported from Miami.
In a rare softening of hostile relations, Venezuela has freed seven imprisoned Americans in exchange for the United States releasing two nephews of President Nicolas Maduros wife who had been jailed for years on drug smuggling conspiracy convictions, the White House said Saturday.

The swap of the Americans, including five oil executives held for nearly five years, follows months of back channel diplomacy by Washingtons top hostage negotiator and other U.S. officials  secretive talks with a major oil producer that took on greater urgency after sanctions on Russia put pressure on global energy prices.

The deal amounts to an unusual gesture of goodwill by Maduro as the socialist leader looks to rebuild relations with the U.S. after vanquishing most of his domestic opponents.

I cant believe it, Cristina Vadell, the daughter of Tomeu Vadell, one of the freed Americans, said when contacted by The Associated Press on Saturday. Holding back tears of joy on her 31st birthday, she said: This is the best birthday present ever. Im just so happy.

A senior Biden administration official said the U.S. and Venezuela had explored a range of options, but that it became clear that one particular step  the release of the two Maduro family members  was essential in getting a deal done. The official said the deal required a painful decision but the administration's willingness to make it showed its commitment to bringing home American citizens held abroad.

The administration in the last six months has struck similar deals with Russia and more recently the Taliban. But the official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the administration, said it remains extraordinarily rare that a choice like this is made.

The transfer took place Saturday in an unspecified country between the U.S. and Venezuela after the men in the deal arrived from their respective locations in separate planes, the Biden administration said.

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These individuals will soon be reunited with their families and back in the arms of their loved ones where they belong, President Joe Biden said in a statement. Today, after years of being wrongfully detained in Venezuela, we are bringing home the seven men, whom the president cited by name. We celebrate that seven families will be whole once more.

Maduros government said in a statement that it was releasing the American citizens as a humanitarian gesture. It praised the diplomacy that resulted in the freeing of the two unjustly imprisoned Venezuelans imprisoned in the United States and said it hopes for the preservation of peace and harmony with all the nations of our region and the world.

Those freed include five employees of Houston-based Citgo  Vadell, Jose Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, Jorge Toledo and Jose Pereira  who were lured to Venezuela right before Thanksgiving in 2017 to attend a meeting at the headquarters of the company's parent, state-run-oil giant PDVSA. Once there, they were hauled away by masked security agents who busted into a Caracas conference room.

Also released was Matthew Heath, a former U.S. Marine corporal from Tennessee who was arrested in 2020 at a roadblock in Venezuela on what the State Department has called specious weapons charges, and Florida man, Osman Khan, who was arrested in January.

The United States freed Franqui Flores and his cousin Efrain Campo, nephews of First Combatant Cilia Flores, as Maduro has called his wife. The men were arrested in Haiti in a Drug Enforcement Administration sting in 2015 and immediately taken to New York to face trial. They were convicted the following year of conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the U.S., a highly charged case that cast a hard look at U.S. accusations of drug trafficking at the highest levels of Maduros administration.

Both men were granted clemency by Biden before the release.

The Biden administration has been under pressure to do more to bring home the roughly 60 Americans it believes are held hostage abroad or wrongfully detained by hostile foreign governments. While much of the focus is on Russia, where the U.S. has so far tried unsuccessfully to secure the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner and another American, Paul Whelan, Venezuela has been holding the largest contingent of Americans suspected of being used as bargaining chips.

At least four other Americans remain detained in Venezuela, including two former Green Berets involved in a slapdash attempt to oust Maduro in 2019, and two men who, like Khan, were detained for allegedly entering the country illegally from neighboring Colombia.

To all the families who are still suffering and separated from their loved ones who are wrongfully detained  know that we remain dedicated to securing their release, Biden said in his statement.

The administration also pointed to an executive order from this summer that sought to impose new costs on countries that jail Americans without proper cause, as well a new warning indicator designed to caution U.S. citizens against traveling to countries  like Venezuela  that have a pattern of wrongful detentions.

The administration did not release another prisoner long sought by Maduro: Alex Saab, an insider businessman who Venezuela considers a diplomat and U.S. prosecutors a corrupt regime enabler. Saab fought extradition from Cape Verde, where he was arrested last year during a stopover en route to Iran, and is now awaiting trial in Miami federal court on charges of siphoning off millions in state contracts.

The oil executives were convicted of embezzlement last year in a trial marred by delays and irregularities. They were sentenced to between eight years and 13 years in prison for a never-executed proposal to refinance billions in the oil companys bonds. Maduro at the time accused them of treason, and Venezuelas supreme court upheld their long sentences earlier this year.

The men have all pleaded not guilty and the State Department has regarded them  and the two other Americans freed on Saturday  as wrongfully detained.
Female students at a Vermont high school have reportedly been banned from using the girls' locker room after objecting to a transgender student changing there.

Members of the Randolph Union High School girls volleyball team were banned by school officials from using the locker room pending an investigation after some members objected to a biological male changing with them, WCAX-TV reported.

One of the female students told WCAX-TV that the dispute began when the trans student made an inappropriate comment as the volleyball team was changing in the locker room, triggering an incident between students.

The outlet reported that school officials emailed parents to tell them an investigation into whether the transgender student was harassed has been launched.

CBS NEWS RIPPED FOR PROMOTING STUDY SAYING GENDER SURGERY FOR 14-YEAR-OLDS 'IMPROVES' THEIR LIVES

"My mom wants me to do this interview to try to make a change," female volleyball player Blake Allen told the outlet. "I feel like for stating my opinion -- that I dont want a biological man changing with me -- that I should not have harassment charges or bullying charges. They should all be dropped."

Allen added that when students have gone to the school about their concerns, they have been told that state law allows for transgender students to change in the locker room based on their gender identity.

CHRISTIAN PARENTS WIN IN COURT AFTER SCHOOL LABELED 6-YEAR-OLD SON POTENTIALLY 'TRANSPHOBIC'

A protester holds the trans flag and snaps in solidarity with other speakers, during a demonstration at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, on June 25, 2021. Stephen Zenner/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Officials reportedly told parents that the school provides "plenty of space where students who feel uncomfortable with the laws may change in privacy."

"They want all the girls who feel uncomfortable -- so pretty much 10 girls -- to get changed in a single-stall bathroom, which would take over 30 minutes. Where if one person got changed separately, it would take a minute, like no extra time," Allen told WCAX-TV.

School officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Vermont Agency of Education policy states that the "use of restrooms and locker rooms by transgender students requires schools to consider numerous factors" while also saying that a "transgender student should not be required to use a locker room or restroom that conflicts with the students gender identity."
Mikhaila Friel, left, at The Goring hotel in June 2022, and Queen Elizabeth II, right, leaving The Goring in December 2018. Mikhaila Friel/Insider, Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

I visited London in June for Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

I got to visit the Queen's favorite London hotspots, including The Goring hotel.

The experience made me feel like I had gotten to know the monarch better.

Back in June, I traveled to London from my home in Glasgow, Scotland, for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations. It was the only time I would ever see the Queen in real life before her death.

An arrow shows where Queen Elizabeth stood next to the royal family at Buckingham Palace. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

I was one of the thousands of people who traveled to the UK capital for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, which celebrated Her Majesty's 70 years on the throne. I attended a number of events, including the Trooping the Colour parade, where I got to watch the monarch and her family on the Buckingham Palace balcony.

Like many people across the world, I was sad to hear about the death of the Queen on September 8. The monarch died peacefully at the age of 96, Buckingham Palace announced at the time.

However, I was also glad that I had the opportunity to see the monarch in real life before she died. I never got to meet the Queen, so seeing her in person was a special experience that I'll never forget.

While in London, I visited some of the Queen's favorite hotspots.

Mikhaila at Trooping the Colour on the Buckingham Palace Mall. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

When I wasn't attending royal events, I had the opportunity to visit some of the Queen's favorite places in London during my trip. I dined at one of her favorite restaurants, Bellamy's, went shopping at Fortum & Mason, and had cocktails at one of her favorite hotels, The Goring. The experience gave me a glimpse inside the Queen's life, and therefore made me feel closer to her.

I kicked off my trip with an overnight stay at The Rubens at the Palace hotel, which used to be part of Buckingham Palace.

The exterior of The Rubens at the Palace. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

The Rubens is a royal-themed hotel on Buckingham Palace Road and is right across the street from the royal family's London residence.

It was also previously part of Buckingham Palace, as the hotel was used as living quarters for palace staff in the 18th century, a spokesperson for the hotel told me. It was turned into a hotel in 1953, they added.

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I stayed in the Royal Themed Queen Room.

Mikhaila Friel at The Rubens at the Palace hotel. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

The Royal Themed Queen Room had a double bed, a desk, two side tables, a circular table with an armchair, and a TV. It also had beautiful decor, including a painting of Princess Margaret.

Rates for this room start at 564 per night, or around $713. For full disclosure, Insider paid for the trip, as per our reporting standards, and the company was given a press rate of 455, or around $570, for one night.

The Rubens has 14 different room categories, including an executive single room and the master suite, a spokesperson for the hotel told me.

My room overlooked Buckingham Palace's Royal Mews.

The view of the Buckingham Palace Royal Mews in my room at The Rubens. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

The hotel is across the road from the Royal Mews, which is the entrance the royal family uses to enter and exit the palace. I was delighted to have such a clear view  for one night only, I could accurately say that the Queen was my neighbor. Unfortunately, I never witnessed the monarch or any of the royals entering or exiting the palace during my stay.

After checking into the hotel, I grabbed dinner at one of the Queen's favorite restaurants, Bellamy's.

The exterior of Bellamy's in London. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

Bellamy's is a French restaurant in Mayfair where Queen Elizabeth had her 80th and 90th birthday parties, a staff member informed me. The restaurant has also been frequented by other royals including Prince Harry, they added.

The restaurant was established in 2004 and most of its customers are regulars, according to Bellamy's website.

The interior was cozy and there was dim lighting, making it the ideal place for royals and celebrities to go incognito.

The interior of Bellamy's. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

It was packed when I arrived, and I was thankful that I'd made a reservation. Most customers were dressed in formal attire, with men in suit jackets and women in dresses or blouses.

I liked the dim lighting, which gave the interior of the restaurant a cozy feel. The lighting also makes it a great location for celebrities or royals to dine without being recognized.

I had the avocado vinaigrette to start, which cost 9.50, or around $10.25.

The avocado vinaigrette at Bellamy's. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

The avocado vinaigrette consisted of sliced avocado, a lettuce garnish, and a vinaigrette dressing on the side. In my opinion, the dish was a little underwhelming  I'd thought that perhaps it might be served with some vegetables on the side with the lettuce, but this wasn't the case. I also thought that at 9.50, the dish was overpriced for what you get.

I enjoyed the smoked eel mousse, which was said to have been previously ordered by the Queen.

The smoked eel mousse. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

The avocado vinaigrette was followed by the smoked eel mousse, which cost 14, or around $15.10, and is rumored to be one of the Queen's preferred dishes, according to the Evening Standard.

The mousse had a creamy texture and a strong salted flavor, which was complemented by the toast it was served with. I enjoyed this much more than the previous dish, as it was more filling and had a stronger flavor.

Upon leaving the restaurant, I noticed a photograph of the Queen visiting Bellamy's in 2006.

A photo of Queen Elizabeth visiting Bellamy's in 2006. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

Overall, I enjoyed my meal at the restaurant. While the service was slow at times, this was to be expected considering how busy it was, and the staff were very polite and friendly.

Upon leaving, I noticed this photo of the Queen visiting Bellamy's in 2006, which was placed next to the front desk. It hit home for me then that I was walking in the footsteps of Her Majesty at one of her favorite restaurants.

Later that weekend, I had cocktails at The Goring, which is said to be a favorite of the Queen and Kate Middleton.

The entrance of The Goring hotel had signage reading "thank you Your Majesty" for the Queen's Jubilee in June. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

The Goring in Belgravia has a long-standing relationship with the royal family. It has a royal warrant issued by the Queen and has been visited "by every reigning monarch and prime minister" since it first opened in 1910, a spokesperson told Insider via email.

The spokesperson said the hotel has been visited by Queen Elizabeth, and Kate Middleton stayed in the hotel's penthouse suite the night before her royal wedding in 2011.

I was given a seat at the bar right away, even though I wasn't staying at the hotel.

The interior of the bar area at The Goring. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

I had called The Goring in advance of my visit and was told that they were only accepting walk-ins at the hotel bar during the Jubilee weekend. They also warned me that it might be difficult to get a table as London was going to be particularly busy then. So I was surprised that on my arrival, I didn't have to wait for a table and was escorted to a table directly across from the bar.

The interior was beautifully designed, with sparkly chandeliers and cozy armchairs. The staff were also lovely, and I was approached by a staff member and asked for my order rather than having to go to the bar myself.

Even the bathroom was decorated elegantly.

The ladies' bathroom in The Goring. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

When I asked a member of staff to direct me to the bathroom, they didn't just give directions  they walked me to the door. I didn't know whether this was an indicator of their great service, or whether they were secretly worried I was going to wander off and find the suite Kate Middleton once stayed in.

The bathroom was decorated elegantly, with butterfly-print wallpaper and several lamps, and towels were provided to wash your hands instead of paper.

As I waited for a friend to arrive, I ordered a royal-themed cocktail called The Coronation Cup.

The Coronation Cup cocktail at The Goring. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

The drinks menu paid tribute to royalty and historical figures in the UK, with options including the Jubilee Fizz, the George VI, Victory Tea, and The Coronation Cup.

I ordered The Coronation Cup, which cost 19, or around $20.50. It contained gin, Dubonnet, pomegranate, rosebuds, plums, and electric bitters, according to the menu. Former royal chef Darren McGrady previously told Insider that gin and Dubonnet was the Queen's favorite drink.

I enjoyed the cocktail, though it had a very strong plum flavor that seemed to overpower all the other ingredients.

When my friend arrived, we were asked to move to a table at the back of the room because they said he hadn't followed the dress code.

Mikhaila's friend, Pat, in The Goring bar. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

I invited my American friend, Pat, to join me at the bar since he was on vacation in London. He arrived wearing shorts and a polo shirt because of the hot weather in London. I didn't know if the hotel had a dress code, but I wasn't worried about it considering I had noticed a couple of other guests at the bar wearing sneakers and shorts.

When my friend arrived, however, they asked us to move to a table at the back of the room because he was wearing shorts, which they said didn't align with the dress code.

After the visit, I asked a spokesperson to clarify what the dress code was and they said "smart casual," which is also noted on the website though there's no mention of shorts not being allowed.

Pat soon forgot about the dress code mishap after ordering a Victory Tea.

The Victory Tea. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

Pat ordered a Victory Tea, which cost 20, or around $22. The cocktail was warm, and it arrived in a teapot filled with steam alongside a teacup. The ingredients included gin, croft pink port infused with raspberries, italicus and jasmine cordial, green strawberry bitters, and a grapefruit tonic, according to the menu.

The cocktail was inspired by Winston Churchill, who visited The Goring weekly for afternoon tea with his mother-in-law, who resided at the hotel, the menu added.

On the final day of my visit, I went to Fortnum & Mason, one of the Queen's favorite stores in London.

The Fortnum & Mason entrance. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

Fortnum & Mason is a luxury department store that's been associated with the royal family since it opened its doors in 1707. The store's founder, William Fortnum, was a footman to Queen Anne, and it became a tradition for the Fortnum family to be royal footmen until the 1800s, the website states.

The store has a royal warrant from Queen Elizabeth, which means its products were used by the monarch before her death.

Inside, the store had several decorations that referenced the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

The interior of Fortnum & Mason. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

There was confetti-style decor on the staircase that was engraved with years that were important to Her Majesty's reign, such as 1954, which marked one year after her coronation.

The store is well known for its tea, and there was a Jubilee tea collection in honor of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

Fortnum & Mason's Jubilee products. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

Some Jubilee products are still available on the store's website, including the Jubilee Blend, which consists of 25 tea bags and costs 5.95, or around $6.50.

Even when not celebrating a Jubilee, the store has plenty of royal-themed products.

The Royal Blend tea in Fortnum & Mason. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

During my visit, I noticed many royal-themed products, including the Royal Blend tea, as well as shortbread and cookies.

I enjoyed browsing the store's products even though it was extremely busy.

Chocolate products in Fortnum & Mason. Mikhaila Friel/Insider

The store was really busy when I visited in June, and I could understand why. I imagine other royal fans may have had the same idea as me and decided to visit in order to feel a little closer to Her Majesty.

Looking back, I'm thankful I got to visit the Queen's favorite places as it helped me feel a stronger connection to the monarch.

Queen Elizabeth II at her Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June 2022. Chris Jackson/Getty Images

For 70 years, the Queen was a constant figure in all of our lives in the UK. But for most people, she was exactly that  a figure. She was a symbol for a nation, rather than somebody we knew personally.

Her personal life was kept private, and only those close to her got to know what the "real" Queen was like. But visiting the Queen's favorite places in June helped me feel like I know the monarch a little better than I did before.

It was a fantastic experience, and I'd recommend trying all of the places I did if you're a royal fan planning on visiting London.

Read the original article on Insider
When you land in the door of a supermarket, this is what is known as the decompression zone where customers size up their surroundings and settle into their shopping experience (Getty/iStock)

A BBC Radio 4 interview on Friday morning with Iceland boss Richard Walker showcased why tackling the UKs obesity problem will be a herculean task. Because as long as the overriding interest is financial profit, and not peoples lives, then nothing will improve.

As part of the governments sweeping changes to how unhealthy food is sold, from this weekend certain shops in England wont be allowed to stock junk food near tills, in some aisles or at the front door.

Considering the current levels of obesity, a four-year-old, or anyone with weak will power (most of us), could explain why these measures make sense.

But whilst discussing them, Richard Walker was having none of it. He twice lambasted not being able to display junk food in certain areas of his supermarket as madness, saying it would lose Iceland money. No awareness, apparently, of the long-term costs of obesity, and how junk food is multiple times more expensive than unprocessed food. No mention of how his customers may be struggling with their weight.

Whilst Iceland has a budget-conscious clientele, affluence is associated with better health and being less likely to be overweight. Any high street in Britain will show how the obesity problem is headed into an emergency stage. Two-thirds of adults in England are overweight or living with obesity, one in three children leave school overweight or obese, with weight-related illness costing the NHS 6bn a year.

So I found it quite amazing to hear Mr Walkers response. This just shows the extent of the issue: it is impossible to make the right choices when the modern environment is set up to lure you into constantly making the wrong ones.

But with these new rules, knowing where the dangerous products are means you can avoid them. If I want to buy some sweets I will meander along the treat aisle. But if I dont, and it is placed all over the shop, it is incredibly hard not to pop some into my trolley.

The supermarket is far from the worst culprit, though. I was in Derby airport a few weeks ago with my family and our main food choice was between donuts and burgers. But thats another article.

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Mr Walker claims it will make no difference where products are placed in a supermarket, but he will be well versed in the science of persuading people to buy things. When you land in the door of a supermarket, this is what is known as the decompression zone where customers size up their surroundings and settle into their shopping experience. This is why you are blasted with treats and multi-packs here. And near the till is peak pressure time for parents who are trying to get out of the shop without a tantrum. Or if alone, its a red light zone for the last-minute treat yourself impulse buy.

Anyway, the 2018 sugar tax did make a difference so these policy changes can help. Research from Cambridge University found that in the year after it was introduced, sugar consumption fell by 10 per cent and many manufacturers cut down on sugar in their recipes. I know my 14-year-old wont buy a fizzy drink if he only has a certain amount of cash. He often gets water now instead.

Just like with climate change, we must avoid taking the path of least resistance. A collective effort is needed, but Mr Walkers comments show that making money is still more important to too many people than the nations health.
Women in Iran are leading a nationwide protest against the mandatory hijab law, following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody.

She was picked up by the Iranian morality police for improperly wearing her hijab.

People across the globe are now coming together for a nationwide day of action, Saturday, Oct. 1.

Everyone from around the world has united and is calling out what is happening in Iran. So were going to have people who are Iranian and non-Iranians. Churches reached out, and they wanted to help, and some other American activists have reached out. Its going to be everyone from all ages coming together to protest whats happening in Iran.

While access to the internet has been cut off by the government, Iranian Americans are doing what they can to support those who are risking their lives on the streets by organizing protests and raising awareness to whats happening inside Iran.

We are going to continue fighting until Iranians are fighting on the streets for their freedom of expression. Were just going to gather here, were going to chant things theyre chanting in Iran to again continue echoing their voice, said protester Saghar Amini.

Ever since the revolution 44 years ago, it has been mandatory for women to wear the hijab in public. Now, many are demanding change.

Women deserve to be supported everywhere, and Im happy to see that. Were all here to support the people of Iran, and its nice to see that people care, said protester Nilu Jenks.
Sep. 24PULLMAN  Pac-12 play begins with a high-profile matchup.

Saturday's game at Gesa Field will feature a sellout crowd, a national television audience and two of the conference's top-performing teams in this young 2022 season.

Washington State raised the expectations of its program with a three-game sweep of its nonconference schedule, including a significant resume-boosting win at then-No. 19 Wisconsin.

The Cougars' reputation is trending upward. This weekend, they could establish themselves as contenders in the early-season Pac-12 discussion and earn national respect.

One of the conference's most prominent programs stands in the way. The 15th-ranked Oregon Ducks (2-1) have championship ambitions this season, as they often do.

"We know who they are. We know the challenge," WSU coach Jake Dickert said. "We gotta be up to it."

The Cougars and Ducks will square off in a much-anticipated Pac-12 opener at 1 p.m. Saturday at a packed house in Pullman. Fox will carry the broadcast.

"That's a unique environment, a special environment to play games," Oregon coach Dan Lanning said.

The Cougs are surging and campus will be buzzing, much like it was the last time they topped the Ducks. WSU is looking to recapture the magic of 2018, when ESPN College GameDay made its first visit to the Palouse and the 25th-ranked Cougars  energized by their environment  rolled to an upset win over No. 12 Oregon.

WSU found itself five spots out of the AP Top 25 poll after breezing past Colorado State 38-7 last weekend. The Cougars are seven-point underdogs against Oregon, which opened its season with a lopsided loss to Georgia, now the nation's top-ranked team, before rebounding with blowout victories over Eastern Washington and No. 12 BYU.

The Cougars' defense is playing at an elite level and should present some issues for an Oregon offensive line that hasn't allowed a sack this season. WSU is dialing up pressure packages, and its defensive line and linebackers are producing top stats. The Cougars are tied for second nationally in sacks (14) and tackles for loss (31).

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"We're very confident right now," linebacker Daiyan Henley said of the defense. "Having that confidence only means that we gotta work that much harder to keep it. With confidence comes people trying to take it from us. We're confident, but we're hungry right now."

Henley has stood out early in his first and only season with the Cougars. He ranks second in the country in tackles for loss (7.5) and leads the Pac-12 with four sacks. The senior, a Nevada transfer, sets the pace for a swarming defense that hasn't shown many weaknesses so far.

"You can tell he's really fast," Oregon center Alex Forsyth said of Henley, the reigning Pac-12 Defender of the Week and the top-graded LB in the nation, according to Pro Football Focus' performance metrics. "His play speed is really impressive and he's just got a nose for the ball. They're one of the teams you watch on film and you see literally all 11 guys sprinting to the football."

Oregon boasts four capable running backs  some speed, some power  with tall receivers and an experienced quarterback in Auburn transfer Bo Nix. The Ducks piled up 111 points and 1,043 yards over the past two weeks. They scored on their first six possessions against BYU. Their offense's quick pace and well-roundedness make it tricky to defend.

"They got a bunch of four- and five-star athletes running around," Dickert said, noting Oregon's versatile play-calling and knack for creating room to run on the perimeter.

"It's a similar scheme to ours  a lot of formations and movements. ... If we can tackle in space, that'll be a big advantage. Those are hard challenges that we've been repping the heck out of this week to make sure we've got good posture, pad level and effort. It takes a lot of that stuff when they're dancing around."

Oregon's defensive production has been underwhelming through three games under Lanning, who coordinated Georgia's powerhouse defense during the team's 2021 national championship season. The Ducks' secondary has shown cracks, permitting over 300 passing yards in two of three games, and their front seven has recorded only nine tackles for loss. Perhaps the statistics are misleading. Oregon is well-equipped with NFL-caliber defenders, especially at the linebacker and D-line positions. Early-round draft prospect Noah Sewell captains the defense at linebacker.

"Their defense will be ready. It's really the staple of their team," Dickert said. "It's physical  it's really physical."

WSU had a breakout performance in the first half of its runaway win last weekend, racking up plenty of big plays and four touchdowns on its first four drives. That eruption provided a much-needed lift for a Cougar offense appeared disjointed for a few lengthy stretches in its first two games.

But it seems transfer quarterback Cameron Ward is starting to settle in. He and his receivers have made progress in their timing and WSU's ground game has been somewhat reliable. The Cougars took their foot off the gas in the second half last weekend, but still totaled 442 yards and averaged over 7 yards per play for the game. WSU's outside receivers might enjoy a favorable matchup against Oregon's unproven DBs. Cougars receivers Donovan Ollie and De'Zhaun Stribling have combined for 319 yards and five touchdowns on 33 catches.

"They've had some really explosive plays on offense," Lanning said. "They have a quarterback who can extend plays and does a good job of getting the ball downfield, but is also dangerous with his legs. They certainly present some unique challenges."
Sep. 30MORGANTOWN  Bijan Robinson's defining moment a week ago was a fumble in overtime that likely cost Texas in its 37-34 loss against Texas Tech.

How the Longhorns' junior running back responded to that moment would be of no surprise to WVU head coach Neal Brown, who went out of his way in his weekly press conference to call Robinson one of the best players in the country.

Why ?

"I'll start with what's really impressive about him, " Brown begins. "Following him kind of as a fan, you see how he handles the media, how he handles himself and how he handled that injury at the end of last year.

"From an unselfish standpoint, he really blocks well in pass protection. They split him out at wide receiver. You can tell he takes coaching and he doesn't give up on runs."

Brown did not stop there, saying Robinson, who has rushed for 414 yards and seven TDs this season, had the speed to run outside and the power to run inside.

"So, like, that's a five-tool player at running back, " Brown said. "I think the kid is special."

So, we flip back to Robinson and that fumble.

The kid didn't pout and didn't blow up on haters on social media. Instead, he spent this week leading up to Saturday's 7:30 p.m. game against WVU (2-2, 0-1 Big 12) carrying a football around campus begging for teammates and fellow Texas students to try and knock it away from him.

According to reports, no one did.

"I'm familiar with Bijan, " said WVU linebacker Jared Bartlett. "We've got to focus on our fundamentals. With guys like Bijan, if you don't tackle him the right way, he'll get those yards after contact. You've got to put hats on the ball and have good pursuit."

Robinson missed last year's game against the Mountaineers with an elbow injury, but rushed for 113 yards as a freshman against WVU, and needed only 12 carries to do it.

"He had a huge run on us as a freshman, " Brown said. "We thought we had him bottled up and he came out the back door and hit a big one on us. He did that twice last week against Texas Tech."

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The flip side to this is Texas (2-2, 0-1) will face a WVU defense that has allowed no individual to rush for 100 yards in a game this season.

The Mountaineers enter this week third in the Big 12 in rushing defense, allowing 98.3 yards per game, and held Virginia Tech to just 35 yards rushing last week.

So, it becomes a battle of strengths, so to speak. Texas has the runner. West Virginia has, to this point, been solid against the run.

Whoever wins that battle could lead to victory, but if you listen to WVU defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley, it may go a little further than that.

"In my opinion, he's one of the best, if not the best, running backs in the country, " Lesley said. "The issue is you can only hold so many people in check. You have to kind of decide going in what's your best plan to win the game.

"There are times and situations that you can lock down on a tendency based on a look they give you, but that's the best you can do."

Robinson could have a big run, but to Lesley's point, it's more critical for the WVU defense not to let him have a big game.

Bartlett added one of the first stats he'll look at once the game is over is to see how well WVU defended Robinson.

If the Mountaineers find a way to hold him under 100 yards ?

"Yeah, that would be pretty good, " Bartlett said with a smile.

WVU at TEXAS WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday WHERE: Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, Austin, Texas TV: FS1 (Comcast 30, HD 857 ; DirecTV 219 ; DISH 150)

RADIO: 100.9 JACK-FM WEB: dominionpost.com TWEET @bigjax3211
Tiffany Henyard reacts after being sworn in as Dolton mayor in May 2021. (Jeff Vorva / Daily Southtown/Daily Southtown)

Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard scored a victory Friday when an appellate court ruled that June 28 votes to recall her from office were invalid.

The three-judge panel concluded the Dolton Village Board improperly drafted the referendum questions and ordered the Cook County clerks office to not certify the results.

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The people of Dolton elected me in a fair and free election, and these efforts to mislead and manipulate them have been an utter and shameless waste of taxpayer dollars and time, Henyard said Friday in a statement.

Dolton voters elected Henyard to a four-year term as mayor in April 2021.

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I will continue to serve as mayor of Dolton with integrity and a commitment to put the needs of our constituents first, Henyard said.

By late 2021, a board majority of five village trustees regularly clashed with Henyard over hiring, spending, transparency and accountability. The board voted in December to place the recall questions on the June 28 ballots.

Im disappointed in the message it sends about peoples votes counting, Dolton Trustee Jason House said of the ruling. The residents clearly spoke with their votes.

On June 28, Dolton voters overwhelmingly approved two measures to remove Henyard from office. The first, a referendum to create a mechanism to recall the mayor, passed with 56.5% of the vote and a margin of 448 votes out of 3,462 cast.

Voters approved the second question on whether to recall Henyard as mayor with 56% of the vote and a margin of 424 votes.

The people knew exactly what they were voting for, House said. What this says about democracy in its totality is that its an overwhelming struggle.

Henyard challenged the constitutionality of the recall questions in a lawsuit filed April 25. Essentially, she argued, the question to recall the mayor could not appear on the same ballot as the question to create the recall mechanism.

The mechanism to recall the mayor was not legal until the county clerk certified results several weeks after the June 28 election, her attorneys argued. The appellate court agreed.

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The trustees were clearly determined to use their authority to remove Henyard from office immediately regardless of the fact that Illinois law does not provide for the recall of village officials and the fact that the village had not previously adopted a recall mechanism by referendum, the court ruled.

Justices cited state court precedents and the 1970 Illinois Constitutional Convention in determining that except for governor, no public official in Illinois has been recalled from office.

History gives us virtually no example of any public official in Illinois ever being recalled midterm by a referendum vote  regardless of whether the recall mechanism was in place before the officers term began, the court ruled.

California and other states explicitly allow citizens to recall officials.

Illinois most assuredly does not share Californias hospitality for recall elections, the appellate court wrote.

Attorneys for the trustees argued unsuccessfully that the lack of legal precedents and the fact that Dolton is a home-rule community should mean the Village Boards recall questions were valid.

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The court seemed to agree with the argument made by attorneys for Henyard that putting the cart and the horse on the same ballot rendered both questions invalid. The best guidance provided by state court precedents on the matter is that attempts to change a form of local government must be clearly worded, the appellate justices concluded.

The verbal gymnastics necessary to draft the two referenda in a way that would allow Henyard to be removed midterm resulted in an enormously convoluted, confusing, and ambiguous question, which clearly violates the clarity and precision requirements that our supreme court set forth in Leck and Lipinski, other cases that pertained, the court ruled.

Dolton residents and Henyard supporters packed a Chicago courtroom Sept. 13 when the three appellate justices heard oral arguments for an hour in the case.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Michael Kasper, who formerly was legal counsel for the Democratic Party of Illinois and attorney for former House Speaker Michael Madigan, was Henyards lead attorney. She also was represented by Bob Fioretti, a former Chicago alderman who is the Republican nominee challenging Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle in the Nov. 8 election.

Evergreen Park-based attorney Burt Odelson, an expert in municipal and election law in Illinois, was lead counsel for Dolton trustees.

Both sides provided copies of the 23-page ruling, though it was not posted on the appellate courts website as of 6 p.m. Friday.

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House said Friday trustees needed to review the ruling with their attorney before deciding whether they would appeal the decision to the Illinois Supreme Court.

In addition to serving as Dolton mayor, Thornton Township trustees picked Henyard in March to serve out the three years remaining on the term of late township Supervisor Frank Zuccarelli, who died in January.

Ted Slowik is a columnist at the Daily Southtown.

tslowik@tribpub.com
(Reuters) - The World Bank has said it will provide an additional $530 million in support to Ukraine, bringing the total aid by the bank to $13 billion, as Russia's invasion of the country continues.

The aid is supported by the United Kingdom ($500 million) and the Kingdom of Denmark ($30 million), the World Bank said in a statement.

Of the total aid of $13 billion to Ukraine to date, $11 billion has been fully disbursed, the bank added.

The World Bank's most recent analysis puts the total long-term cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine over the next three years at well over $100 billion, said Arup Banerji, World Bank Regional Country Director for Eastern Europe.

Related video: World Bank announces $2B in aid for flood-stricken Pakistan

(Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill)
KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO  SATURDAY, 1 OCTOBER 2022, 20:23



Andrii Yermak, the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, believes that if the world fails to give a tough and unambiguous response to Russia's nuclear blackmail, it can lead to nuclear wars with millions of casualties.

Source: Yermak, in a column for the U.S. magazine The Atlantic, cited by Office of the President

Quote: "The response to Russia's nuclear blackmail should be tough and unambiguous, rejecting the very idea of making concessions to the nuclear aggressor.

Otherwise, every ambitious dictator will try to get nuclear weapons, and every country that does not have them will try to buy them for self-defence. Nuclear non-proliferation agreements will prove futile. Then, there will be nuclear wars with millions of victims."

Details: Yermak is convinced that today the civilised world must demonstrate determination and make it clear to the Russian Federation that it will not get away with either an attempt to annex Ukrainian territories or nuclear blackmail. One of these decisive steps may be the conclusion of the Kyiv Security Compact, recommendations which were recently presented.

He stressed that these recommendations do not replace Ukraine's desire to gain NATO membership because these security guarantees are supposed to protect our state until it joins the Alliance.

"The Kyiv Security Compact will let Russia know that the price of its aggression will increase until it becomes too high. Helping Ukraine to protect itself, survive and ultimately win is the best investment that our allies can make to take care of a safer future for the whole world," Yermak concluded.

Background:

After the announcement of partial mobilisation in the Russian Federation, President Vladimir Putin again threatened Western countries with the use of nuclear weapons. Western leaders have condemned Putin's nuclear rhetoric, calling it a dangerous escalation and "sabre-rattling".

According to Western media, the United States believes that the probability of Russian President Vladimir Putin using tactical weapons in the war against Ukraine is now probably the highest since 24 February, but this is still unlikely.

Unofficially, it is known that Western capitals are thinking through response scenarios in case the Kremlin does use nuclear weapons.

The Biden administration said they warned Russia about "catastrophic" consequences in the case of such a step.

Rretired General Ben Hodges, former commander of the US Army in Europe, considers this unlikely since it would be suicide for Vladimir Putin and his entourage.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
One person has been killed as a result of the Russian shelling of a residential building of Mykolaiv

"After a night of shelling, one victim was discovered under the rubble in Mykolaiv. A young lady. We give our condolences to the deceased's family," Zamazeyeva said in a post on the Telegram messenger.

She stated that rescuers are still working at the shelling site.

A baby was injured as a result of the Russian invaders missile attack on Mykolaiv, according to Vitaliy Kim, the leader of Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration.

Russian forces attacked Mykolaiv during the night on Oct. 1, hitting a residential building.

According to the city's mayor, Oleksandr Senkevych, a Russian S-300 missile destroyed several apartments on the fifth and fourth floors of a building in the center of Mykolaiv.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russias recently declared mobilization of additional troops is actually to our advantage.

This may sound paradoxical, but its actually to our advantage that Russia has announced this mobilization, Mykhailo Podolyak told Politico in an interview published Friday. This shows the people of Russia that the country really is at war, that its not doing very well in this war, and that the Russians themselves will be the ones to pay the price.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial military call-up of what Kremlin officials said could be as many as 300,000 additional troops last week as Ukrainian forces made major gains in a counteroffensive in the eastern part of the country. The mobilization announcement resulted in swift backlash from Russian citizens who scrambled to leave the country and staged anti-war demonstrations where hundreds of protestors were arrested.

Putin partially walked back the order just days later, announcing some exemptions from the call-up. The Kremlin also admitted on Monday that errors had been made in the draft.

The mobilization shows that Russia has run out of a professional army, Podolyak told Politico. This army is being replaced by absolutely untrained people. A living resource has been thrown onto the front lines, and it will simply be exterminated.

In Putins latest escalation in the war with Ukraine, the Russian president formally announced the annexation of four regions in eastern and southern Ukraine on Friday. However, Podolyak dismissed the move as unimportant.

For our plans, [annexation] doesnt matter, he said.

Russian troops on Saturday withdrew from the city of Lyman in the Donetsk region  one of the four regions that Putin had laid claim to just the day before. Ukrainian officials had previously said they had surrounded the city.

Podolyak said in a separate interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica that Ukraine will not participate in negotiations with Russia until its forces leave Ukrainian territory, including Crimea. Russia annexed that region in 2014.

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Russia does not want to negotiate  it only launches ultimatums, Podolyak told La Repubblica. If the Russian army leaves the entire territory of Ukraine, including Crimea, the negotiations could resume.

As Ukraine continues to make gains in the war, Putin has also ratcheted up his nuclear threats. He made explicit threats about using Moscows nuclear arsenal in the same address in which he announced the partial military call-up.

Russia now has one card left to play in this war: nuclear weapons, Podolyak told Politico. Against a non-nuclear nation. Thats absurd.

A fellow Zelensky aide, Andriy Yermak, warned in an op-ed in The Atlantic on Friday that Ukrainian intelligence agencies believe the nuclear threat from Russia is very high.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has generated no shortage of eye-catching headlines and internationally celebrated propaganda in the months since Russias unprovoked invasion.

The olive drab-clad headman has been likened to military leaders of old, defiant in the face of a rare brand of barbarism that has now escalated to nuclear threats and the conscription of hundreds of thousands of grossly untrained and unequipped Russian reserves.

As has become his norm, Zelenskyy responded to such posturing with a withering verbal barrage, calling the Russian reserve mobilization an attempt to provide commanders on the ground with a constant stream of cannon fodder.

In a separate video released this week, Zelenskyy did his best to divert that stream into Russian tattoo shops, urging mobilized reserves to get a tattoo with your name and surname so that we know how to find your relatives when you are killed.

The Russian authorities send people to this war without army [dog tags], often without documents! Zelenskyy said. They do this on purpose to make it easier to lie to you about how many people actually die here. This is their special operation.

And while Zelenskyys statement will undoubtedly douse gasoline onto Ukraines already-roaring propaganda inferno, the suggestion is not abnormal in the context of military tattoo history and may even conjure memories for scores of U.S. personnel who have ventured into tattoo shops with similar, albeit more optimistic, requests.

The ink, colloquially known as a meat tag, is traditionally tattooed with the identification  and oftentimes the blood type  of an individual anticipating combat.

Wearers often position the tattoo high on the ribcage, an area less prone to gruesome injury than the extremities, to allow others to identify them in the event their remains are unrecognizable  and the physical dog tag laced into ones left boot is nowhere to be found.

Such tattoos became immensely popular among troops in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, even acting as a right of passage for many young service members attached to combat-destined units. Meat tags have been styled as simple lines of text, as the shape of a dog tag or even designed to look like a dog tag chain protruding through splayed skin.

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Meat tags are so they can make it home, no matter what, tattoo artist Jesse Mays previously told BBC about inking Marines from Camp Lejeune. So someone can grieve over them. ... Thats why we have a memorial to the unknowns, right? Couldnt identify them. They can identify my boys. Im doing Gods work here.

Divine toiling aside, tattooed forms of identification have existed in some form for millennia. In the context of modern history, nuclear threats during the Cold War prompted numerous cities to consider large-scale tattooing of blood types on men, women and children, a measure intended to expedite on-the-spot blood transfusions in the event of an atomic blast.

The [blood type] tattoo is placed on the body near a persons armpit so that it will be both inconspicuous and less likely to be obliterated in case of injury, reads a 1951 Chicago Daily Tribune article about an initiative to ink the approximately 200,000 residents of Lake County, Indiana.

A few years before the Cold Wars nuclear hysteria petrified the world, Nazi SS soldiers were being tattooed  also near the armpit  with a small mark that identified individual blood type. Some of these marks would go on to become vital identifying factors used by Allied prosecutors during war crimes trials that ensued in the years after World War II.

In the 19th century, British army commander Frederick Roberts became known as an outspoken proponent of identification tattooing.

Every officer in the British army should be tattooed with his regimental crest, Roberts said. Not only does this encourage esprit de corps but also assists in the identification of casualties.

Esprit de corps, however, may be in short supply among Russian units ordered to purchase tampons for patching up bullet holes or those outfitted with AK-47s caked in enough rust to suggest they were retrieved from the sunken Russian warship Moskva.
IRYNA BALACHUK  SATURDAY, 1 OCTOBER 2022, 11:18

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed gratitude to his American counterpart Joe Biden for signing the law on granting assistance to Ukraine with US$12.35 billion.

Source: Zelenskyy on Twitter

Quote: "Thank you to Joe Biden for signing the Law on Granting Assistance to Ukraine in the amount of US$ 12.35 billion. Previously, both houses of the US Congress accepted the draft law. We appreciate this powerful solidarity act of the US people with Ukraine, as well as bicameral and bipartisan support of our state."

Details: The President has reminded that the Law includes funding of defence programs, as well as providing "Ukraine with direct budget support".

"This help is more important today than ever. We have to keep countering Russian aggression together!" Zelenskyy summed up.

Background:

On 30 September, the US House of Representatives accepted the draft law on temporary state funding, which includes granting financial aid for Ukraine in the amount of US$12.3 billion.

US President Joe Biden stated that his country would help Ukraine reclaim its territories.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
The city of Lynchburg has been named one of the 25 best college towns in the United States by Travel & Leisure magazine.

Randolph College President Sue Ott Rowlands said in an email the cultural climate of Lynchburg, including its youthful nature, makes it a wonderful environment for our students to learn and grow within.

Ott Rowlands went on to say, We are proud to be part of such a thriving region.

According to the magazine, nearly one quarter of the population of Lynchburg is a student at either Liberty University or the University of Lynchburg.

Michael Jones, vice president of enrollment, marketing and communications at the University of Lynchburg, said in an email he was absolutely thrilled to see Lynchburg listed as a top 25 college town.

I have always said that any great city should have at least one great university or college. Here in Lynchburg, we are fortunate to have several and our students are fortunate to live and study in a great community, Jones said.

Travel & Leisure is a magazine founded about 50 years ago and has a mission to inform and inspire passionate travelers, according to its website.

Lynchburg joined the likes of Ann Arbor, Michigan; Chapel Hill, North Carolina; and Gainesville, Florida in an unranked group of 25.

There are five colleges in Lynchburg  University of Lynchburg, Liberty University, Randolph College, Virginia University of Lynchburg and Central Virginia Community College. Sweet Briar College is not far away in Amherst County.

Michael Farris, dean of enrollment at Central Virginia Community College, said thats the neat part about Lynchburg. He said there arent too many places in the country that has one public community college thats surrounded by five nearby private colleges.

I think that makes us unique, Farris said. If you look at other towns that may be considered college towns in Virginia, you might have one huge state university plopped in the middle.

Farris, who is from Lynchburg, attended CVCC once he finished high school.

After CVCC, he attended Lynchburg College  now UL  where he finished his undergraduate and graduate studies. He said when he was younger, he didnt necessarily feel like Lynchburg was a college town, but he said that looking at the town now, there are a lot of options for potential students.

Lynchburg is the kind of place where you can start from nothing at a community college and go all the way up to a doctorate degree like I did and stay right here in town, and then find work within the community, Farris said.

Jones said to be sandwiched between Boston, Massachusetts and Madison, Wisconsin in the magazines rankings is great. He said the overall community is welcoming to students who decide to spend their college years here.

Lynchburg has so much to offer our students  great restaurants and cultural events, the James River and nearby Blue Ridge Mountains for outdoor recreation, the list goes on, Jones said in an email.
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New Delhi: After a long period of seven decades, Aasha could be the first one to give birth among the five female cheetahs brought from Namibia last month.

Experts and officials monitoring the cheetah project in Kuno said that Aasha is exhibiting all physical, behavioural, and hormonal signs of pregnancy. Though, we will have to wait until October-end to be sure, they added.

If Aasha is pregnant, it will be her first litter, and because she was caught in the wild, it did happen in Namibia. If she has cubs, we need to give her privacy and quiet. No people around her. She should have a hay bale hut in her in her enclosure, Cheetah Conservation Funds executive director Laurie Marker told news daily Times of India.

Coming from the wild, its always possible she could be pregnant. If so, this adds another layer of complexity to the project and underscores the importance of having trained staff on the ground to help manage. She needs space and quiet to lower her stress, so that she will be able to focus on rearing her cubs, she added.

Aasha, who was brought to Madhya Pradeshs Kuno from Namibia on September 17 and named by prime minister Narendra Modi, is currently adapting to the new environment under the watch of MP Forest Department and WII Dehradun.

Apart from her, 3 male cheetahs named Freddie, Elton, and Oban and four females named Siyaya, Sasha, Tbilisi, and Savannah also arrived from Namibia on the same day.
The link between record and recidivism

Research continually shows a clear link between better employment prospects and income for those with a college degreesomething U.S. prisoners are four times less likely to have than the general population.

Regardless, felony records often stifle those seeking work.

A 2021 report from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics examined 51,500 people released from federal prison in 2010one-third were unable to find employment at any point from their release to 2014. Even those who did rarely saw stable, full-time employment.

This isnt for a lack of trying.

Formerly-incarcerated people ages 25-44 are historically more likely to be active (either employed or seeking work) in the labor market compared to their counterparts. Still, research shows that employers often discriminate against those with criminal records, even when they claim not to.

For example, a well-known 2003 study by Harvard sociology professor Devah Pager paired groups of two Black job applicants and two white job applicants. All testers had roughly the same credentials, but one in each pair were given a fake felony record.

Pagers study found that a criminal record reduces the likelihood of an employer callback by approximately 50% overall. This statistic becomes more jarring when Pager found that only 14% of Black testers in the non-criminal control group received callbacks, compared to 17% of white testers with fake criminal records.

All of these contribute to recidivism, or, the tendency of a formerly-convicted individual to reoffend crimes.

However, not all hope is lost--the Bureau of Justice Statistics found a 43% reduction in recidivism rates for those who participated in prison education programs, making a strong case for program investments.
China's State Council holds National Day reception

Xinhua) 08:57, October 01, 2022

China's State Council holds a reception to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022.

The reception was attended by the Communist Party of China and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan, as well as nearly 500 guests from home and abroad. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council on Friday held a reception at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. China's National Day falls on Oct. 1.

The reception was attended by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan, as well as nearly 500 guests from home and abroad.

Addressing the reception, Premier Li Keqiang said that the CPC will convene its 20th National Congress this year, and stressed the vital significance of the event.

This year is a truly momentous one in the course of China's development, Li added. "In the face of complex and challenging developments both within and outside China, our entire nation, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, has forged ahead together with drive and resolve."

Ensuring sound economic fundamentals is crucial to sustaining the steady growth of China's economy, Li said, stressing that China has taken forceful measures to ease shocks caused by greater-than-expected factors, and promptly and decisively introduced a policy package for stabilizing the economy. "We have the confidence and the ability to keep major economic indicators within an appropriate range."

He said with the reform and opening-up as China's fundamental policy, the country has pressed ahead with reform to develop a socialist market economy, pursued high-standard opening-up, kept foreign trade and investment stable, and deepened multilateral and bilateral business cooperation to keep China a favored destination for foreign investment and achieve win-win development.

Li stressed the commitment to conducting governance to deliver benefits to the people.

Highlighting the support for efforts to ensure the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao, Li said the policy of "one country, two systems," as well as the policies of Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong and Macao people administering Macao with a high degree of autonomy, have been firmly, fully and faithfully implemented.

We have firmly opposed "Taiwan independence" separatist moves and external interference, and actively promoted the peaceful growth of cross-Strait relations, he said.

Li also stressed the efforts China has made to work with other countries to meet global challenges and promote peace, stability, development and prosperity in the world.

Li closed his speech by calling for rallying even more closely around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, following the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and forging ahead in a concerted effort to build China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful.

Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the reception.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang addresses a reception held by the State Council to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, presides over a reception held by the State Council to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Bianji)
Lansing, Illinois, resident Matt Feigenbaum checked out one-year-old Fauna with Humane Indiana volunteer Courtney. The retiree was a looking for a mid-sized dog to adopt during the Clear the Shelters event. (Sue Ellen Ross / Post-Tribune)

The Humane Indiana shelter for homeless animals is usually very busy on Saturdays.

One recent weekend event  Clear the Shelters  found much more than the usual number of visitors coming through the door.

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This event helps pets that have been waiting to find their forever homes, said shelter director Jessica Petalas. These are wonderful dogs and cats that have so much love to give, and we wanted to encourage those who may not have visited our shelter before to come and find their new family member.

Among the first to arrive was Matt Feigenbaum of Lansing, Illinois.

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Im retired and Ive been thinking of adopting a dog for a while, he said, with a laugh. Ive already seen at least six that Id like to take home.

Jackie Torres, 6, of Highland, caught the eye of one of the Humane Indiana pets up for adoption. (Sue Ellen Ross / Post-Tribune)

Although he did eventually decide on just one new companion, the paperwork required didnt take too long of a process, and the extra benefit during this special event was that the adoption fee was only $20 for most of the animals.

That was a huge discount, as regular fees to adopt average more than $200, which include spaying/neutering, microchipping and vaccinations.

Many families had various reasons to come and peruse the numerous cages housed in the shelter.

Our beloved dog Hero just passed away this past month, he was 15 years old, said Diandra Harris of Hammond, as she and her daughter Dani, 10, strolled past hopeful animals, many barking for attention. We know that a new dog cant really take Heros place, but it will give my daughter some relief from her grief.

Harris heard about the event through friends that frequent Humane Indiana on a regular basis.

I didnt know that the fee to adopt would be so low today, thats a plus, Harris added. We could never afford one of those full-breed dogs, but Ive had rescues before, and they are just as lovable as any others.

Humane Indiana employee Angie Lake (right) assists Bee and Rose Hansen of Crown Point as they fill out paperwork to adopt a shelter animal. (Sue Ellen Ross / Post-Tribune)

The Papa family of Cedar Lake knew exactly what they were looking for when they arrived.

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We adopted a four-month-old puppy four months ago, said Matthew Papa. Shes very playful and we need a companion/playmate for her.

This came to fruition, as seven-month-old Prince was discovered on their stroll through the cages. He fit the bill, and Harlynn Papa, 11, could hardly contain her excitement as they waited for the paperwork to be completed.

I love dogs, so this will be fun, she said. I love playing with them, and Ill also take them for a walk.

Humane Indiana teamed up this year with NBC and shelters across the country to host Clear the Shelters (CTS), an annual donation drive and nationwide pet adoption occasion.

The event raises funds to help animals in need of a new family and empowers shelters to assist in this endeavor.

CTS is led by NBC Universal Local, a division of NBC Universal

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Every year, NBC Universal Locals NBC and Telemundo-owned stations, along with affiliated stations, join together with animal shelters and rescues in their communities to host the event.

In addition to housing pets for adoption, Humane Indiana in Munster offers many classes, programs, and events throughout the year.

For more information, call (219) 922-3811.

Sue Ellen Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
The 2022 Session of the EU-Namibia Political Dialogue took place in Windhoek earlier this week (28 September), during which the two parties engaged in an in-depth discussion on several topics of shared and common interest, ranging from peace and security, climate change to trade and economic cooperation.

Co-chaired by Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, and Sinikka Antila, Ambassador of the EU to Namibia, a special focus was given to Namibias industrialization aspirations in order to enhance economic growth and development, while addressing socio-economic challenges, such as youth unemployment, and social inequalities. The parties discussed the implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreement, as well as support for the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Deliberations also focused on a planned Partnership on Sustainable Critical Raw Materials Value Chains and Renewable Hydrogen. Upon conclusion, the Partnership will give rise to a new chapter of economic cooperation between the EU and Namibia, including the private sector, promoting industrialization, the beneficiation of critical raw materials which are strategic for energy transition, and the development of a green hydrogen economy in Namibia.

This comes after the EU recently announced that it was planning a deal with Namibia to support the countrys nascent green hydrogen sector and boost its own imports of the fuel, as the bloc works to reduce its dependence on Russian energy. Hydrogen has long been touted as a clean alternative to fossil fuels, but while it has seen some uptake in the EU, chiefly in heavy industry and transportation, high costs and a lack of infrastructure have limited consumption, and the fuel covers just 2% of the blocs energy needs. Under the plan, the EU would sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Namibia on hydrogen and minerals at the UN Climate Change Conference in Egypt in November, one EU official said. Namibia is among the priority countries in the EUs Global Gateway strategy, Brussels version of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative to boost infrastructure investment and diplomatic ties in developing countries.
The Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union has called on the Chadian junta to stick to 18 months period for the completion of the transition and said it opposes the candidacy of any member of the Transition Military Council (TMC) led by Mahamat Deby, son of former leader Idriss Deby.

The PSCs position is expressed in the communique of the 1106th Meeting of the Peace and Security Council held on 19 September 2022, on the Update on Political Transition in Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, and Mali.

The PSC Reaffirms its call for the transition authorities to respect the 18 months period for the completion of the transition and unequivocally reiterates that all members of the Transition Military Council (TMC) shall be ineligible to participate as candidates for the elections at the end of the transition, the statements section on Chad said.

The TMC took over power in April last year following the death of Idriss Deby. It presented an 18-month roadmap with climax being free and transparent elections after a National and Inclusive Dialogue (NID).

The NID took place under the auspices of Qatar

The PSCs statement clashes with a set of proposals made by an ad hoc commission established by the NID. The proposals including the validation of candidacies of TMC members and extension of transition for additional 24 months with Mahamat Deby still in position.

All Chadians of both sexes are equal before the law without distinction of race, origin or religion. They are electors and eligible under the conditions determined by law, commission said citing the constitution of the central African country.

Any Chadian citizen may run for office and be elected, subject to the age requirements and cases of incapacity or ineligibility provided for by law, according to article 112 of the Electoral Code. Any transitional authority that wishes to run for office must simply meet the conditions set by law, the commission added.
Calm returned to the streets of Burkina Fasos capital, Ouagadougou, on Saturday, the day after a coup detat, the second in eight months, which resulted in a change at the head of this country, undermined by jihadist violence.

Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who himself came to power in January following a putsch, was removed from office by soldiers and replaced at the head of the junta by Ibrahim Traore, a 34-year-old captain.

Traffic resumed Saturday morning on the main axes of Ouagadougou, blocked Friday by soldiers, after a calm night, according to AFP.

However, an important security device still surrounded the building of the national television with several pickups and armored vehicles and many soldiers on foot or on motorcycles.

Shops and gas stations were also gradually reopening, as were some shops in the large Ouagadougou market.

In the streets, several inhabitants welcomed this new putsch in a rather positive way, claiming that Damiba has failed, betrayed citizens, and that since he came to power, areas that were at peace have been besieged.

Friday evening, after a day peppered with shooting in the district of the presidency in Ouagadougou, about fifteen soldiers in fatigues and for some hooded spoke, shortly before 8:00 p.m. (GMT and local) on the set of national radio and television.

They dismissed Colonel Damiba  whose fate remained unknown on Saturday morning  and announced the closure of land and air borders as well as the suspension of the Constitution and the dissolution of the government and the Transitional Legislative Assembly. A curfew has also been put in place from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.

The soldiers invoke the continuous deterioration of the security situation in the country.

The new head of the junta, Captain Traore, was until now the corps commander of the Kaya artillery regiment, in the north of the country, particularly affected by jihadist attacks.

These are the same young officers who were already on maneuvers during the first coup in January. It is an intramural coup de force. Damiba was let go by his base who felt betrayed. Things will have to be refocused on the anti-jihadist fight, political analyst Drissa Traore told AFP.

For the time being, the new putschists have not indicated whether they intend to respect the transition timetable on which Burkina and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had agreed. A civilian return to power was scheduled for July 2024.

Friday evening, ECOWAS, from which Burkina has been suspended since the January putsch, condemned in the strongest terms the seizure of power by force which has just taken place.

Colonel Damiba came to power in January in a coup that overthrew President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, discredited by the increase in violence.

But in recent months, attacks hitting dozens of civilians and soldiers have multiplied in the north and east, where cities are now under blockade by jihadists, who blow up bridges with dynamite and attack convoys supplies circulating in the area.

Since 2015, recurrent attacks by armed movements affiliated with the jihadists of Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, mainly in the north and east of the country, have claimed thousands of lives and caused the displacement of some two million people.

With the two putsches in Mali in August 2020 and May 2021 and that in Guinea in September 2021, this is the fifth coup in West Africa since 2020.
Moroccos competition council has issued a new report detailing facets of dysfunctions in the fuel market from the upstream to the downstream, citing notably the repercussions of oligopoly in a country where 3 companies have more than 60% of the market share.

The 104-page report came at a context where Morocco bears the brunt of higher oil prices in the international market affecting prices of transport and consequently of other goods including foodstuff and farm products.

The competition council notes that fuel companies in Morocco proceed to immediate hikes whenever there is an increase in the international market but in the opposite case, they take time to sell stored fuel before reducing prices.

The report adds that profit margins remained the same for the period 2018-2021 under study, with Winxo being the most profitable and Afriquia the least.

The council warned that private operators failed to ensure fuel storage enough to cover 2 months of Moroccan market needs as stipulated by the law, adding that stockpiles sometimes fell to less than 20 days.

The report deplored that fuel companies missed the chance of cheap oil between 2018 and 2021 to build up stockpiles and reduce Moroccos import bill.

The council recommended an updated legislative framework conducive to free competition while ensuring the strategic interest of Morocco and its energy security.

It also urged the government to take action to facilitate access to the fuel market whether in terms of imports, storage or distribution.

Energy imports are expected to soar to 135 billion dirhams ($13 bln) this year, up from some 7 billion dollars last year, according to central bank data.
Morocco and Mauritania signed, on Friday in Nouakchott, the first operational plan for the years 2023-2024, relating to the implementation of the framework convention in the field of maritime fisheries and aquaculture, signed during the 8th session of the Moroccan-Mauritanian High Joint Commission.

The plan, signed on the sidelines of the 1st session of the joint Moroccan-Mauritanian commission on fisheries and aquaculture held in Nouakchott, revolves around scientific research, fisheries management, training, aquaculture, shipbuilding and infrastructure.

Initialed by the Minister of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests, Mohammed Sadiki and the Mauritanian Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Economy, Mohamed Abidine Mayif, on the sidelines of the work of the 1st session of the joint Moroccan-Mauritanian commission in the field of fisheries and aquaculture, this plan revolves around scientific research, fisheries management, training, aquaculture, shipbuilding and infrastructure.

With regard to scientific research, the two parties agreed, in particular, on the monitoring and assessment of the marine and coastal environment, the development and harmonization of fishery and oceanographic monitoring and information systems and the strengthening of research capabilities.

It was also agreed to organize training cycles for the benefit of executives from both countries and to exchange experiences in matters of maritime safety and rescue.

Regarding the monitoring and promotion of fishery products, the plan provides for the exchange of experience and knowledge in the field, the setting up of channels for exchanging commercial information relating to fishery products and the development of an action plan to implement the agreement between the Moroccan Fisheries Research Institute (INRH) and the Mauritanian Office for Sanitary Inspection of Fishery and Aquaculture Products. The two institutions signed an agreement to promote cooperation in the field of research on fisheries resources and marine ecosystems.

The two parties also agreed to strengthen cooperation between the establishments responsible for promoting aquaculture projects and decided to exchange know-how in the field of shipbuilding and the development and management of fishing villages, equipped discharge points and markets for the sale of fish products.

Minister Sadiki Received in Nouakchott by Mauritanian PM

01 October 2022 Printable Version

Nouakchott  Mauritanian Prime Minister, Mohamed Ould Bilal Messaoud, met, Friday in Nouakchott, with Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests, Mohamed Sadiki.

Minister of Agriculture & Fisheries Mohamed Sadiki who led the Moroccan delegation to the works of the Moroccan-Mauritanian Joint Commission held separate talks Friday with Mauritanian Prime Minister, Mohamed Ould Bilal Messaoud, as well as with Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Economy, Mohamed Abdine Amayef, and Minister of Agriculture, Yahya Ould Ahmed Al-Waqf.

Talks covered various aspects of cooperation in priority areas for both countries and provided opportunity to reaffirm the shared will to strengthen partnership in the field of fisheries, including the preservation of fisheries resources and product quality, and to step up coordination in order to meet all the challenges related to international competition, especially with regard to the marketing of seafood products.
On Friday afternoon, Auburn University dedicated the National Pan-Hellenic Council Legacy Plaza, which features an open space and monuments dedicated to the nine African American fraternities and sororities on the Auburn campus that make up the NPHC.

Often called the Divine Nine, the NPHC consists of five fraternitiesAlpha Phi Alpha, Iota Phi Theta, Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi and Phi Beta Sigmaand four sororitiesAlpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Sigma Gamma Rho and Zeta Phi Beta.

Timothy Vines, president and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama and a member of the Auburn University Board of Trustees, called the plaza the first physical landmark for any black student organization on Auburns campus. Vines helped financially support the plaza.

Vines was one of five speakers at the event. Around 200 people witnessed the unveiling of each of the nine monuments representing the NPHC chapters.

Today, we affirm our commitment to the needed embrace of a culture of inclusivity that would serve to further unite our strong Auburn family, Vines said. We demonstrate our devotion to continuing the long term, deliberative work for advancing and promoting opportunity and equity.

Vines also noted the significance of opening the Legacy Plaza this year. He said 2020 was the 50th anniversary of Black Greek life on the Auburn University campus.

It heartens me greatly to think of the generations of students from all walks of life who will one day pass through this area and learn of the work of the Divine Nine and recognize the contribution of African American culture at Auburn, Vines said.

Bobby Woodard, senior vice president for student affairs at Auburn, opened the event by noting the effort that went into creating the plaza. Even though the groundbreaking was held in November 2021, the plaza has been in the works for several years. Woodard was especially praiseworthy of Julius Hammond, the NPHC president from 2017-2018 and a 2019 Auburn graduate, who spearheaded the project.

A lot of hard work went into this, but when he put his mind to it, he made it happen, Woodard said of Hammond. He made it happen and five years later, his dream, his fruition came true.

This is a special moment for all of us here, Woodard said. This is the physical manifestation of the respect our students have for each other, of the possibility of a promise they see in each other and the importance they place to make sure everyone feels they belong at Auburn University.

Christopher Roberts, president of Auburn University agreed.

Part of what makes this plaza so special is that the idea was brought forth by the students to honor fellow students, Roberts said in his speech. The NPHC Legacy Plaza will be an enduring example that Auburn supports an inclusive and diverse campus environment.

Dontavious Hill, the current NPHC president, spoke as well.

The culture and significance of our chapters is ingrained in the DNA of Auburn University, Hill said of the Divine Nine. It is fitting that the Legacy Plaza is here as a reminder of our impact.

Madison Riggins, 2019 Auburn NPHC president and a financial benefactor to the project, was the last to speak before the monuments were unveiled.

This plaza serves to carry out the Auburn Creed, Riggins said. This plaza serves to restore, retain and recruit the Auburn Family that is sometimes overlooked or forgotten. This plaza will be a gathering place for all as we continue to educate and build. And most importantly, this plaza is a monument to just how much we as both a campus and a family have grown.

I challenge you to allow this plaza to be a catalyst for the change we wish to see on campus.

In a statement to Opelika-Auburn News after the unveiling, Hammond said how thankful he was to see the project come to fruition.

Its a lot of hard work, Hammond said, a lot of people involved, a lot of students who supported us. Im thankful for the opportunity and Im thankful that it was able to be completed and to have a physical representation for minority students on campus.
Dangerous dog declarations have been made by Porter County Animal Control against four Alaskan malamutes living just south of the Kouts town limits after the dogs compiled six bite reports over the last two years, five against other dogs and one against a woman. This means the dogs must be housed in a secure enclosure and may not leave the property except for veterinary care, and then only when muzzled and on a 3-foot lead.

A dog living in the 500 block of South Main Street in Kouts had to be put down after it was attacked in the most recent incident on Sept. 6. The 10-year-old chow chow was on a tie-out leash on his front porch with his owner present, at around 6:30 p.m., according to a bite report obtained from the Porter County Sheriffs Department. Tamatha Patterson, of the 1200 block of South Main Street, was walking two of her Alaskan malamutes, Danni and Keegan, when she was pulled by them into the chow chows yard where her dogs latched onto him and began shaking him from opposite sides of his body.

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A veterinarian at Emergency Vet Care Centers in Westville, where the dog was rushed for care, determined he had a spinal injury due to two lacerations near his left shoulder and one near the base of his right ear, according to the bite report. He could not support any weight on his hind limbs and due to a poor prognosis, humane euthanasia was recommended. The owner opted to take him home for the night, as he was absent deep pain in both hind legs, and took him to her home vet to be euthanized the next morning.

Animal Control Officer Kori Black attempted to serve Patterson the completed dangerous animal paperwork on Sept. 15 but Blacks narrative in the bite report states Patterson refused to sign the paperwork and was noncompliant. Her four dogs Danni, Keegan, Juneau, and Mishka will have to be kept in an enclosure that has a ceiling, a floor that cannot be dug through, four walls, and a door that opens inward.

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Given that the cost of an enclosure can be rather pricey, were giving her at least 30 days to comply, said Darrin Biggs, director of the Porter County Animal Shelter and Animal Control. Biggs said his department will ensure that Patterson has complied with the order after a reasonable amount of time has elapsed for her to acquire the enclosure. We always do a follow-up, he said.

Veterinary care can also be expensive. One of Pattersons neighbors is suing her for $2,300 for an alleged attack on his boxer Boston terrier mix by her dogs Keegan and Mishka in his yard in the 1100 block of Main Street on Jan. 6, 2021.

The dog had to undergo emergency surgery, lab work, and X-rays for the life-threatening injuries it received, according to another Porter County Sheriffs Department bite report. A court date is set for December in that case.

Patterson did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The earliest of the bite reports is from an Aug. 2, 2020 incident in which Pattersons mother received one puncture wound and scratches while caring for the dogs. Mishka and Danni were placed on 10-day home quarantine.

On June 25, 2021, yet another neighbors dog, this time in the 900 block of South Kouts Street, was attacked by Pattersons two dogs, Teegan and Danni, after it got out of its yard and charged them. The dog suffered a minor puncture wound and quarantine was again successfully completed.

Pattersons dogs have not just attacked other dogs in Kouts. On Jan. 2, a woman was walking her dog at Sunset Hill Farm County Park in Valparaiso when Pattersons dogs, whom she was holding by the leash while riding a bicycle, reportedly chased the woman and her dog, leading to puncture wounds on the animals right leg and hip. The woman got Pattersons first name and phone number and a photograph of the license plate of the vehicle she was driving.

Patterson did not respond to phone calls from animal control, according to the bite report, and denied being at Sunset Hill on the date in question when she called Officer Jennifer Schaafsma at the end of her dogs successful quarantine period. The license plate of the vehicle Patterson was allegedly driving, according to the photograph taken by the victim, was registered to Pattersons mother Joanne Patterson.

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Patterson also requested that another officer handle the case, as she felt Schaafsma was harassing her, according to the report. No charges were filed and the report was closed.

When asked if animal control was doing enough to protect the public given the history of Pattersons dogs, Biggs said yes. I was not the director for the previous bites, he said. I have taken those previous bites into account, which is why I have chosen to do a dangerous dog report.

This only applies to the four dogs in question. I cannot condemn any future dogs, Biggs said.

In the past Patterson has fostered at least one other Alaskan malamute which had to be humanely euthanized after it attacked her and another resident of her home. According to the Porter County Sheriffs Department bite report, Patterson was fostering the animal for the owner after it exhibited behavioral issues and was hoping to rehabilitate him and find him a new home.

Instead, Patterson ended up being transported to the hospital by ambulance on Aug. 15, 2020 after the 3-year-old male attacked her, causing lacerations to her thumb, wrist, and both arms before she escaped from him into her vehicle. He then latched on to her right calf, and only let go when she hit him in the head with the car door.

Patterson called up to the house for her ex-husband to help her and he too was attacked in the leg, but was able to kick the dog off without his skin being broken. Patterson was treated at Fransciscan Health Crown Point for upward of 12 puncture wounds to her right arm, upward of seven puncture wounds to her left arm, a 2-inch laceration and several punctures to her left wrist, and a 13-centimeter laceration to her right calf, as well as other scratches and bruising to her arms, right leg, and abdomen, according to the bite report.

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The dog was transported to the Porter County Animal Shelter where he was placed on a ten-day bite quarantine which was completed at the shelter. The dogs owners were contacted and it was agreed he should be humanely euthanized.

While Patterson lives just outside the town limits of Kouts, across a field from the library, the latest incident has prompted the town council to begin crafting an ordinance to address dog attacks, according to Town Marshal Jim Smith. The towns code enforcement officer reports to Smith and has begun researching county and state ordinances as a model.

The town, however, like most in Porter County, does not deal directly with animal issues, but has a contract for services with Porter County Animal Control, which is called when necessary. The only instruction I gave my officers is that if she is seen in town with her dogs to take pictures and write up a report with the date and time of the incident, Smith said.

Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Russia's dominance in the global nuclear fuel market presents another massive challenge for Washington, especially the liberal hawks in the Biden administration, who are trying to wean Western countries off Russian energy supplies.

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said President Biden is redoubling efforts to break the US reliance on Russian nuclear fuel, indicating domestic uranium-enrichment capacity could be increased with upcoming key legislation.

"We are going to get Congressional support in a bipartisan way for us to make our own fuel cycle supply chain independent, certainly of Russia," Granholm said in an interview at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Bloomberg quoted.

"We've got to make this happen for our own independence and national security," she continued.

Bringing on new capacity could take years. For instance, uranium extracted from mines to refine into fuel for nuclear reactors takes three to five years.

Russia controls about two-fifths of the global enrichment services market and supplies almost a quarter of the fuel for the US' 93 operational nuclear reactors. This is another chokepoint the US is trying to avoid.

Earlier this year, Washington banned imports of Russian fossil fuel products, though uranium wasn't part of the sanctions.

"We should not be sending any money to Russia for any American energy or for any other reason," Granholm said in May.

The Biden administration is working toward expanding a uranium supply chain to wean itself off Russian supplies though top congressional Democrats recently balked at Biden's $1.5 billion request in an upcoming budget bill to support domestic uranium enrichment programs.

"We need to signal that the US is committed to its own fuel supply as well as the conversion and enrichment components of the supply chain.

"This investment in our own supply chain is a critical piece of that," Granholm said in Vienna.

The American nuclear industry could soon see a resurgence since the Three Mile Island facility accident in 1979 sent it into a tailspin for decades if Granholm and the Biden administration can get funding.

She said the government would support the demand side rather than taking direct ownership stakes in facilities.

"We would be using the market to make sure this capability gets out," she added. "We would contract with facilities. The goal is to be independent as soon as possible."

Several nuclear fuel supply chain companies, including Honeywell International Inc., General Atomics, and Centrus Energy Corp., could benefit from atomic independence from Russia.

By Zerohedge.com

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Europes already highly competitive green hydrogen industry just got another boost thanks to new E.U. funding. The region has been making a name for itself by establishing several major green hydrogen plants and developing the market for the renewable energy source as other regions battle to get green hydrogen projects off the ground. Improved policies for green hydrogen production are expected to support sectoral development even further, although the International Energy Agency (IEA) remains sceptical over ambitious E.U. 2030 targets.

This month, the European Commission (EC) approved $5.2 billion in public funding for hydrogen projects across the region. This investment is expected to attract a further $6.8 billion in private funding. The organisation said that 13 member states will be providing the funds for a project entitled IPCEI Hy2Use, which will support 29 businesses across 35 projects. It will help develop large-scale electrolysers and transport infrastructure, for the production, storage and transport of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen, according to the EC.

While the investment includes all types of hydrogen  from grey and brown to green  it will encourage greater renewable (or green) hydrogen production across the region. One executive vice president at the EC, Margrethe Vestager, expects the funding to add 3.5 GW of electrolysis capacity. This would mean an output of approximately 340,000 tons of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen per year, Vestager stated.

The new investment would contribute to the EC target of an 80 GW renewable hydrogen electrolyser capacity in Europe by 2030. The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also highlighted the ECs 2030 target to produce ten million tons of renewable hydrogen in the EU, each year, in her State of the Union address earlier this month. To achieve this, we must create a market maker for hydrogen, in order to bridge the investment gap and connect future supply and demand, she added. Several green hydrogen projects are already underway in the region, with some large-scale electrolysers commencing operations between 2024-2026, and more to come in the 2026-2027 period. The IPCEI Hy2Use scheme will end if 2036.

In addition to approving greater funding for hydrogen projects, the E.U. has also begun to introduce more favourable regulations to support production. Earlier this month, the European Parliament (EP) voted an amendment into action for the Renewable Energy Directive II (RED II), getting rid of additionality requirements at the E.U. level. It also introduced binding targets for green hydrogen production.

The target for renewable hydrogen to make up 5.7 percent of all fuels by the end of the decade is introduced in RED II. It also outlines targets for industry, stating that industrial fuels should consist of 50 percent renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBOs) by 2030, and 75 percent by 2035. For this to be achieved, Europe will have to deliver between nine and 10 tonnes of green hydrogen.

The EP scrapped a controversial part of RED II  the Delegated Act  that would have required all green hydrogen producers within the E.U. to source their electricity from dedicated renewable energy projects. It would also have meant that projects could only access grid-sourced electricity when offset with a dedicated supply within the hour. Now, producers will be permitted to use electricity from the grid so long as they can verify it as green electricity through a power-purchase agreement (PPA).

Related: Failing To Invest In Oil And Gas Would Be The Road To Hell For America

The change comes following hard lobbying by Hydrogen Europe for the amendment who suggested that previous rules would have been detrimental to green hydrogen production, threatening private firms to move to other regions with more lenient regulations. The recent introduction of green hydrogen tax credits in the U.S., under Bidens IRA legislation, is already threatening private development in Europe as America is looking increasingly attractive to producers. Hydrogen Europe stated of the move, These binding targets on renewable hydrogen, and the creation of a simpler framework, are strong signals from the EU institutions to ensure the scale-up of a hydrogen economy and reduce our dependency on fossil fuels.

However, even following recent policy changes and the increase in funding, the IEA is concerned that the E.U. may not be able to meet its 2030 green hydrogen targets. The current project for installed green hydrogen capacity for the end of the decade is 39 GW, missing the 80 GW target by around a half. Europe is expected to be close to meeting its Fit for 55 targets but will likely miss the more ambitious aim unless it increases its electrolyser capacity even further.

Europe is already a major green hydrogen hub, with the region set to provide one-third of the total global electrolyser capacity for green hydrogen this year, followed by China  a figure that is set to remain stable until 2030. But to scale up green hydrogen operations in Europe the E.U. would have to dedicate funds to the development of larger-capacity hydrogen plants  aiming for 260 MW facilities by 2025, reduce green hydrogen prices through technological innovation, and repurpose gas pipelines to transport hydrogen.

As the E.U. provides higher levels of funding to green hydrogen projects, together with favourable hydrogen policies, Europe will likely become the biggest green hydrogen hub in the world by the end of the decade. However, to meet more ambitious targets, the E.U. will have to attract greater funding and drive forward several major green hydrogen projects.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

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With more American LNG flowing to Europe, the United States may be facing increased electricity bills this winter.

Domestic oil production remains nearly a million barrels per day (BPD) below the monthly record level set just before the Covid-19 pandemic caused production to plunge. The all-time monthly high for oil production took place in November 2019 at 13.0 million BPD (Source). The all-time annual high was also in 2019, when U.S. production averaged 12.3 million BPD.

Current U.S. oil production is 12.1 million BPD, while the average for the year so far is 11.9 million BPD. That is on pace to be the second-highest ever annual U.S. oil production.

Natural gas production experienced a similar plunge due to Covid, but production has bounced all the way back.

Monthly natural gas production hit an all-time high of 3.008 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in December 2019 (Source). Monthly production subsequently fell below 2.7 Tcf as the pandemic began to impact the markets, but production has steadily climbed back.

The previous natural gas production record in December 2019 was essentially tied in December 2021, but average monthly production this year has exceeded all other years. In fact, average 2021 monthly production of 2.85 Tcf beat the previous 2019 average monthly record of 2.82 Tcf. However, the monthly average through the first half of 2022 was even higher at 2.89 Tcf.

I made this point during a recent interview on radio station WBEN out of Buffalo, New York. The host wondered why  with natural gas production at an all-time high  heating bills are projected to surge through the winter across the northeast?

Its because natural gas demand is also at an all-time high. According to the 2022 BP Statistical Review, global natural gas demand last year reached a new all-time high, surpassing the previous record set in 2019 by 3.3%.

Demand has increased primarily because of coal-fired power plants switching to natural gas. But another development over the past decade has changed the dynamics of the U.S. natural gas markets.

Related: Failing To Invest In Oil And Gas Would Be The Road To Hell For America

There was a time when what happened in the rest of the world didnt impact the U.S. natural gas markets all that much. We consumed what we produced, and imported a bit. Because the U.S. market was essentially isolated from the rest of the world, large price dislocations could occur. Natural gas prices in Japan and Europe would frequently be several times higher than they were in the U.S.

But as natural gas production ramped up in the U.S., companies began to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals. Over the past decade, the U.S. became the worlds fastest-growing LNG exporter, and is on a pace to become the worlds largest LNG exporter this year.

The implications are that the global LNG market now impacts U.S. natural gas prices. And that market has been upended by Europes needs. Russia is a major supplier of natural gas for Europe, but those gas exports have plummeted as a result of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Thus, Europe is out trying to secure natural gas supplies for the winter. American companies are exporting as much LNG as they can to Europe, and that is impacting U.S. prices in a way it wouldnt have a decade ago.

That is a big part of why Americans are facing steep heating bills this winter.

By Robert Rapier

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WASHINGTON (AP)  Six Republican-led states are suing the Biden administration in an effort to halt its plan to forgive student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans, accusing it of overstepping its executive powers.

Its at least the second legal challenge this week to the sweeping proposal laid out by President Joe Biden in late August, when he said his administration would cancel up to $20,000 in education debt for huge numbers of borrowers. The announcement, after months of internal deliberations and pressure from liberal activists, became immediate political fodder ahead of the November midterms while fueling arguments from conservatives about legality.

As the lawsuit was being filed, the Biden administration quietly scaled back eligibility rules for the debt relief, eliminating a relatively small group of borrowers who are the subject of legal debate in the suit. Those borrowers, whose loans are backed by the federal government but owned by private banks  a relic of defunct lending programs  are now ineligible for Biden's debt cancellation, the Education Department said.

In the lawsuit, being filed Thursday in a federal court in Missouri, the Republican states argue that Biden's cancellation plan is not remotely tailored to address the effects of the pandemic on federal student loan borrowers, as required by the 2003 federal law that the administration is using as legal justification. They point out that Biden, in an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes this month, declared the COVID-19 pandemic over, yet is still using the ongoing health emergency to justify the wide-scale debt relief.

Its patently unfair to saddle hard-working Americans with the loan debt of those who chose to go to college, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, who is leading the group, said in an interview.

She added: The Department of Education is required, under the law, to collect the balance due on loans. And President Biden does not have the authority to override that.

The states of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina joined Arkansas in filing the lawsuit. Iowa has a Democratic attorney general, but the state's Republican governor, Kim Reynolds, signed on the state's behalf. The states argue that Missouri's loan servicer is facing a number of ongoing financial harms because of Biden's decision to cancel loans. Other states that joined the lawsuit argue that Biden's forgiveness plan will ultimately disrupt revenue to state coffers.

In particular, the suit alleges that Missouri's loan servicer will lose revenue from loans it owns through the Federal Family Education Loan Program  a program that allowed private banks to issue and manage federally backed student loans until the program was disbanded in 2010.

The Education Department updated its website Thursday saying borrowers with federal loans that are owned by private banks, including the FFEL program and Perkins loans, will now be ineligible unless they already consolidated their loans into the government's direct lending program before Thursday. The change will reverse eligibility for about 770,000 borrowers, the department said.

Our goal is to provide relief to as many eligible borrowers as quickly and easily as possible, and this will allow us to achieve that goal while we continue to explore additional legally-available options to provide relief to borrowers with privately owned FFEL loans and Perkins loans, the department said in a statement.

Still, the administration has long said it was confident the forgiveness program would survive court challenges.

Republican officials from these six states are standing with special interests, and fighting to stop relief for borrowers buried under mountains of debt, White House spokesman Abdullah Hasan said Thursday. The president and his administration are lawfully giving working and middle class families breathing room as they recover from the pandemic and prepare to resume loan payments in January. 

Bidens forgiveness program will cancel $10,000 in student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 or households with less than $250,000 in income. Pell Grant recipients, who typically demonstrate more financial need, will get an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven.

The administration also said it would extend the current pause on federal student loan repayments  put on hold near the start of the pandemic more than two years ago  once more through the end of the year.

The administration faced threats of legal challenges to its plans almost immediately, with conservative attorneys, Republican lawmakers and business-oriented groups asserting that Biden was overstepping his authority in taking such sweeping action without the assent of Congress.

Democratic lawmakers battling in tough reelection contests also distanced themselves from the student loan plan, as Republican officials called it an unfair government giveaway for relatively affluent people at the expense of those who didnt pursue higher education.

In their lawsuit, the Republican attorneys general also contend that the forgiveness program violates the Administrative Procedure Act, which lays out how federal agencies should make regulations in order to ensure executive branch policies are well-reasoned and explained.

The president does not have the authority to put himself in the place of Congress, Rutledge said in the interview. These actions must be taken by Congress and he cant override that.

To justify the plans legality, the Biden administration is relying on a post-Sept. 11, 2001, law meant to help members of the military that the Justice Department says allows Biden to reduce or erase student loan debt during a national emergency. But Republicans argue the administration is misinterpreting the law because, in part, the pandemic no longer qualifies as a national emergency.

Another lawsuit against Bidens student loan program was filed this week in an Indiana federal court by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a libertarian legal advocacy group that employs a lawyer who says he would be harmed by the forgiveness plan. The lawyer, Frank Garrison, says erasing his current debt load will trigger a tax liability from the state of Indiana, which is among at least a half dozen states where the forgiven loan amounts will be subject to state taxes.

A federal judge on Thursday rejected Garrison's request to temporarily block Biden's plan, saying there's no evidence he will be irreparably harmed" by the cancellation. Garrison was given until Oct. 10 to revise his argument.

The White House dismissed the lawsuit as baseless because any borrower who does not want the debt relief can opt out. The Education Department is still on track to unveil the application for the forgiveness plan in early October, and it sent an email to borrowers Thursday explaining how to prepare to apply. The email noted that applicants do not have to submit any supporting documents.

Republicans have also seized on the Biden plans price tag and its impact on the nations budget deficit. The Congressional Budget Office said this week that the program will cost about $400 billion over the next three decades. The White House countered that the CBOs estimate of how much the plan will cost just in its first year, $21 billion, is lower than what the administration initially believed.

Associated Press writer Collin Binkley contributed to this report.
BRUSSELS (AP)  European companies are ramping up security around pipelines and energy prices are climbing again as the suspected sabotage of two pipelines that deliver natural gas from Russia underscored the vulnerability of Europes energy infrastructure and prompted the EU to warn of possible retaliation.

Some European officials and energy experts have said Russia is likely to blame for any sabotage  it directly benefits from higher energy prices and economic anxiety across Europe  although others cautioned against pointing fingers until investigators are able to determine what happened.

Russia has sharply curtailed natural gas shipments to Europe in retaliation for sanctions that the West put in place after its invasion of Ukraine. On Wednesday, Russian energy giant Gazprom increased the pressure, threatening on Twitter to cease dealing with a Ukrainian company that controls one of the two remaining pipelines that ship Russian gas to Europe.

Coming on top of the apparent sabotage to the Nord Stream gas pipelines, that means a major escalation and readiness to escalate, said Agata Loskot-Strachota, senior fellow in energy policy at the Center for Eastern Studies in Warsaw.

Seismologists say explosions rattled the Baltic Sea before unusual leaks were discovered Tuesday on the two underwater pipelines running from Russia to Germany.

All available information indicates those leaks are the result of a deliberate act, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement on behalf of the bloc's 27 members. Any deliberate disruption of European energy infrastructure is utterly unacceptable and will be met with a robust and united response.

Three leaks were reported on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which were filled with natural gas but not delivering fuel to Europe ever since Russia stopped the flow to apply economic pressure on the continent.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said allegations that Russia would have sabotaged its own pipelines were predictable and stupid.

Yet as fears of further disruptions loomed, European energy companies and governments said Wednesday they have already begun to fortify energy infrastructure.

Norwegian state oil company Equinor said it raised the level of preparedness on all of its facilities, according to national broadcaster NRK. Norways energy exports have surged as European countries scramble to find alternatives to Russian supplies.

What happened in the Baltic Sea is very serious, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stre told a press conference in Oslo.

Before the pipeline leaks discovered Tuesday, natural gas prices in Europe had dropped from their all-time peak in late August because countries have filled storage facilities to 87% of capacity ahead of winter, when demand for the fuel soars to heat homes and generate electricity.

But Europes natural gas prices have spiked about 14% since the pipeline ruptures rattled nerves about energy security.

Natural gas prices are roughly three times higher than just before Russia invaded Ukraine. An energy crisis driven by the war is threatening rationing, business closures and recession in Europe. The continents ability to get through winter will be deeply affected by how cold it is and whether they can find supplies to make up for whats been lost from Russia.

Another major source of Russian income  oil  has fallen sharply in price from June peaks of over $120 per barrel. On Wednesday, Brent crude futures traded at $87.40 per barrel, up more than 5% since Monday.

The extent of the pipeline damage, along with the political ramifications, raises serious doubts about the future of the Nord Stream project, which was launched so that Russia could deliver gas directly to Germany. The project has been heavily criticized by the West because it only increased Europes reliance on Russian gas imports.

The head of the Danish Energy Agency, Kristoffer Bottzauw, said Wednesday it wasn't clear when it would be safe for investigators to examine the damaged pipes, which he said are made of 12 centimeter (5 inches ) thick steel coated with concrete. The pipelines lie on the seabed between 70 and 90 meters (230 feet and 295 feet) deep.

Sweden's domestic security agency said Wednesday it was investigating the pipeline ruptures and that it couldn't be ruled out "that a foreign power is behind it.

Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau was more direct, suggesting Tuesday that the leaks could be part of Russias campaign to apply pressure on the West for supporting Ukraine.

The explosions took place very close to Danish territorial waters, but not inside them, because that would have meant NATO territory, Rau said during a discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

This could mean that someone is trying to intimidate the countries of the Baltic Sea," he said.

The U.N. Security Council has scheduled an emergency meeting Friday afternoon at Russias request to discuss the suspected pipeline sabotage. Meanwhile, the countrys security service, the FSB, said it has opened a criminal investigation into an international act of terrorism after the explosions.

Even with eyes turning toward Russia, Anders Puck Nielsen, a researcher with the Center for Maritime Operations at the Royal Danish Defence College, said that it would be hard to establish who is responsible, and just as tough to prevent similar incidents.

We have pipelines, we have communication cables like the internet. We have just power lines running on the seabed. All of this is vulnerable and our societies are very dependent on it. And its very, very difficult to monitor whats going on and to prevent a case of sabotage, he told The Associated Press.

A spokesman for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declined to respond to media reports that the CIA had warned Germany earlier this summer that the pipelines could be attacked. But let me say that according to our findings, there is no evidence that there is a natural cause for the pressure drop in the pipelines, spokesman Steffen Hebestreit told reporters.

Simone Tagliapietra, an energy policy expert at Bruegel, said Russia's latest threat to disrupt natural gas that flows through Ukraine is not having as much impact as it might have hoped.

Its announcements are now having lower impact on prices, as both market and governments have internalized and got prepared for a full interruption of Russian gas to Europe, Tagliapietra said.
The written word and tradition in China







Editor's note: The Chinese character  ("jing"), meaning respect or to show respect, is a keyword for China's Chongyang Festival. It falls on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, usually in October. This year, it falls on Oct. 4.





"Chong" in Chongyang means double, and "yang" refers to the number nine as the ancient Chinese people regarded nine as a "yang" number. Therefore, the name of the Chongyang Festival, which is also called Double Ninth Festival, comes from when two nines appear on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month.





As an old Chinese farming proverb goes, "With the arrival of the double ninth, stop working and have a rest." This refers to the fact that farming activities have been basically completed around the time of the Chongyang Festival, and a wide range of ritual activities are expected to be held to celebrate the year's harvest.





Respecting the elderly





The number nine is the largest of the "yang" numbers. When two "nines" are read together, its pronunciation is similar to the Chinese word meaning long-lasting. Therefore, the Chongyang Festival is said to imply a healthy and long life. In 1989, the Chinese government made the ninth day of the ninth lunar month every year Seniors' Day by integrating the traditional customs into modern life to show respect, love and support for elderly people.
Two people were arrested on suspicion of trespassing as they protested the demolition of the W. Dale Clark Library on Saturday morning.

About a dozen people gathered on the street outside of the downtown library to voice opposition to the citys move to tear down the main downtown branch and make way for a corporate skyscraper. Police were called when two protesters, including event organizer Dawaune Lamont Hayes, entered the construction zone.

Hayes was booked into jail on suspicion of trespassing. The other protester was cited and released, according to Lt. Neal Bonacci of the Omaha Police Department.

Mayor Jean Stothert announced a plan in January that would result in the construction of a new Mutual of Omaha skyscraper on the library site. The announcement came about two months after city officials detailed plans to demolish the W. Dale Clark, which opened in 1976, and open a new downtown library in a century-old building at 14th and Jones Streets. That location is scheduled to open in March. An interim downtown location is open at 14th and Howard Streets.

Advocates of the project have argued that the W. Dale Clark was outdated and oversized.

But protesters on Saturday said they were upset by a perceived lack of transparency in the planning process and by the demolition of a historic and multipurpose building.

This whole process has been pretty obscured, protester Andy Cubrich said. If we can have 9 million sandwich shops and tap houses, we should be able to have one giant building that holds a lot of books for people to come and read, meet up, learn, work together on things.

Richie Baltimore, an Omaha native, was in the Gene Leahy Mall when he heard Hayes singing. Through tears, he spoke of how the library helped him over his lifetime: from finding solace in the building as a child to learning about his genealogy and heritage as an adult.

This place kept me from going crazy, he said. Its the heart of this city. Its like my heart is ripped from my chest.

Demolition is slated to be completed by December, and plans indicate that construction will begin on the Mutual of Omaha tower early next year.

In total, the city will pay more than $1 million to demolish the building.
What happened in Nam, stays in Nam.

Except, that is, when Vietnam veterans gather and start swapping war stories  as 25 former soldiers from Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment are doing this week at the Marriott Regency in Omaha.

Their unit, part of the 4th Infantry Division, was headquartered at Pleiku, in South Vietnams central highlands, from 1966 to 1972.

As young grunts, mostly draftees, on 365-day tours, they saw everything Vietnam had to offer, from bad to worse. Thirty-one Bravo Company soldiers didnt make it home.

Theres no words to describe what its like there, said Dennis Sowards, 73, of Kenova, West Virginia, whose tour began in May 1969. You spend 50 years trying to put it out of your mind. Now youre trying to recall it.

Its tough to forget days like June 24, 1969  Bravo Companys deadliest day  when a sling load of ammunition being dropped by a helicopter exploded, killing five soldiers and wounding several others. That was one month into Sowards tour.

Now more than 50 years later, the old Bravo Company soldiers are gathered around tables, laughing and teasing  crowding out the awful memories of Vietnam in search of the lighter ones.

It was a lot of bad things, said Garry Root, 74, of Randolph, New York. This (reunion) is one of the good things.

Memories are prompted by thick blue photo albums, stuffed with snapshots of their younger selves, suntanned and trim in their battlefield khakis.

This is the way we see ourselves, Sam Nipper, 74, of Mount Washington, Kentucky, said with a smile. Not the way we look in the mirror now.

Nipper described himself as young and dumb and indestructible when he first stepped off the plane in Vietnam in September 1968.

When you get there, you look around and say, What in the world? Nipper recalled. We all got a little closer to the Lord.

During the Vietnam War, infantry squads frequently ventured into the jungle. Their mission was to smoke out hidden enemy forces so they could be killed, either in firefights or with artillery and airstrikes.

Bravo Company used a tactic the soldiers called green eyes.

Three guys would go out for three days and set up observation, said Tom Verhovsek, 74, of Bradenton, Florida. We were not to engage (the enemy). It was scary.

Fred Spence of Emmett, Idaho, recalls one such mission that still gives him goose bumps. His trio of soldiers had bedded down in the bush, trying to stay inconspicuous, when the sound of drumming filled the night air.

They beat on drums all night long, he said. It scared the hell out of us.

They later learned that local villagers were drumming to mourn the death of their chief.

Another time, Verhovsek and Steve Enfante were on a green eyes mission with a third soldier.

The soldiers heard a loud and startling noise, right in their midst. Enfante said he was preparing to call it in as a delta tango, or defensive target, and leave the area as fast as possible.

Then he saw what the delta tango really was.

A little orangutan, about yay high, popped up, said Enfante, 74, of Fort Morgan, Colorado, holding his hand at waist level.

The third soldier, startled, threw a punch at the simian intruder. And another.

But the fight wasnt over. The monkey was mad.

This little feller beat this big guy up. Then he walked away, just like this, Enfante recalled, hopping apelike and laughing.

Those are the kinds of memories that faded for years. Many of the Bravo Company veterans came home traumatized and bitter.

I think most of us, we were in denial, Nipper said. It took awhile to deal with it.

Most married and raised families. They worked hard, and they bottled up their trauma. Many drank. While some joined VFW and Legion posts, others avoided all things military.

For 28 years, I just blocked it out of my mind. I went on with my life, Verhovsek said. I didnt want to talk about it.

But the men of Bravo Company didnt forget about the guys they served with. By the early 2000s, for some of them, their curiosity overcame their ambivalence about Vietnam. And the internet made connecting easier.

It originally started with four guys, trying to find each other, said Danni Verhovsek, who with her husband organized this years event.

That first reunion included Nipper, Enfante, Cecil Sanders and 10 other Bravo boys, gathering for lunch at a restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2005.

It was supposed to be a one-year thing, Nipper said. We just kept doing it.

Year after year  in Branson, Missouri; San Antonio, Texas; Gatlinburg, Tennessee; Washington, D.C. Some came reluctantly at first, and only after old buddies wheedled them into it. They werent quite ready to confront that part of their past.

The veterans and their wives have become a big, extended family.

This is what they do, once a year. They look at the (photo) books and start laughing, Danni Verhovsek said. They do help each other.

Enfante called the group a band of brothers that no one could take apart.

The reunions bring forgiveness. Garry Root tells of his seething anger back in Vietnam at another soldier who pilfered two airline-sized bottles of whiskey his uncle, a veteran, had given him with instructions to drink them on Christmas Eve.

Decades later, Root encountered the same soldier at a reunion. The man slipped him a fifth of Seagrams and said, Here you go. This is with interest.

This is the first reunion in three years, due to COVID-19, and the first in Omaha.

Kerry Otte, of Wayne, is one of the few Nebraskans attending  this time, as a widow. Her husband, Dennis, died in 2020 of cancer.

Dennis Otte had served with Bravo Company in 1966-67. He was wounded and sick with malaria when he came home to Wayne, and felt a cold shoulder.

He didnt say anything about Vietnam, said Kerry Otte, who met Dennis in 1968 and married him three years later. He was born and raised in that town, and no one wanted to talk about it.

Over the years, he sold steel sheds and grain bins and ran several small businesses  construction, knife-sharpening, heavy equipment operation. He hunted, fished, was active in his church and the local American Legion and VFW. He chaired a committee to build a veterans memorial in Wayne.

Kerry Otte said her husband found true kinship with the men of Bravo Company.

This is his company, Kerry Otte said. That comradeship just made a world of difference.

Even with her husband gone, Kerry was not about to miss this reunion.

It beats sitting home, she said. Im just comfortable with them. Dennis said, These are my people.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP)  Bulgaria opened a natural gas link with Greece at a ceremony Saturday attended by the leader of the European Union's executive arm, who emphasized the bloc's determination to stop relying on Russian energy imports.

Speaking at a ceremony in Sofia, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed the pipeline as an important contribution to limiting opportunities for Russia to use its gas and oil reserves to blackmail or punish the EU.

This pipeline changes the energy security situation for Europe. This project means freedom, von der Leyen told an audience that included heads of state and government from the region.

The European Commission committed nearly 250 million euros to finance the project, she said.

The importance of the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria pipeline, which was completed in July, has risen significantly after Moscow decided to turn its natural gas deliveries into a political weapon.

A second European pipeline started operating Saturday when fuel flowed through the new Baltic Pipe, which was built to carry gas from Norway's North Sea deposits through Denmark and across the Baltic seabed to a compressor station in northwestern Poland. It's full capacity is expected to be reached next year.

Polish, Danish and Norwegian officials opened the pipeline Tuesday in northern Poland, stressing its role for the region's independence from Russian natural gas.

Russia has significantly cut some of its gas deliveries to Europe to demonstrate its opposition to sanctions the EU imposed over the war in Ukraine. In addition, huge methane leaks this week due to sabotage on the two undersea Nord Stream pipelines between Russian and Germany have exacerbated concerns about safeguarding Europe's energy supplies.

In late April, Russia cut off gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland after they refused Moscows demand to pay for the deliveries in rubles, Russias currency. In June, Bulgaria ordered the expulsion of 70 Russian diplomats, triggering an angry response from Moscow.

People in Bulgaria and across Europe are feeling the consequences of Russias war. But thanks to projects like this, Europe will have enough gas for the winter, von der Leyen said. Europe has everything it needs to break free from our dependency on Russia. It is a matter of political will.

The 182-kilometer (115-mile) conduit runs from the northeastern Greek city of Komotini, where it links to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, up to Stara Zagora in central Bulgaria. Plans call for an initial capacity of 3 billion cubic meters of gas a year, and the prospect of future expansion to 5 billion cubic meters.

The Bulgarian executive of the project, Teodora Georgieva, said the pipeline would help supply other countries in southeastern Europe.

We have the opportunity to supply gas to the Western Balkans, to ensure supplies to Moldova and Ukraine, Georgieva said.

Planned since the early 2000s, the Baltic Pipe received the green light in 2016 under Poland's right-wing government, which wants to make the country fully independent of Russian energy sources.

The entire offshore route is 275 kilometers (170 miles) long. The expansion in Denmark consists of an approximately 210-kilometer (130-mile) pipeline, a new compressor station and an expansion of a receiving terminal. The project received financial support from the EU.

This story corrects that 70 Russians were expelled in June, not last month.

Scislowska reported from Warsaw, Poland.

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
The jet engines are roaring again at Offutt Air Force Base.

One by one, eight of the 55th Wings RC-135 reconnaissance variant jets touched down Friday afternoon on the newly rebuilt runway after a short hop from their temporary home in Lincoln.

At the controls of one of the wings training jets, Col. Kristen Thompson, the 55th Wing commander, got the honor of making the first landing at 2:08 p.m.

It was the first landing at Offutt in 18 months, since the beginning of a complete reconstruction of the bases single 2-mile-long runway.

Ladies and gentlemen, were finally here! Thompson told a crowd of about 600 55th Wing airmen, veterans and their families.

She turned the event into a wing party. The Heartland of America band entertained. There was a military working dog demonstration, food trucks, and bounce houses for the kids.

Rebuilding the 80-year-old runway cost the Air Force $200 million: $169 million to replace the runway and neighboring apron and $31 million to renovate temporary office and hangar space at the Lincoln airport.

Today we just went from having the oldest and worst runway in the Air Force, to the newest and the best, said Rep. Don Bacon, a former 55th Wing commander.

The runway was originally built in 1941 for the new Glenn L. Martin Bomber Plant, where Nebraska workers produced more than 2,000 aircraft during World War II. It was extended to its current length in the mid-1950s to accommodate Strategic Air Command jet aircraft.

Since then, Bacon said, the Air Force has patched the runway every decade or so. But by the time he commanded the 55th Wing in 2011-12, it was in awful shape.

He recalled one occasion when a plane carrying a visiting four-star general had to circle the airfield to wait for repairs that had suddenly become necessary.

How can you make an 80-year-old runway work? You cant, Bacon said.

U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer said she has been working to secure military and congressional support for the runway rebuild since she took office. She said when she visited the base, 55th Wing commanders would give her chunks of chipped runway concrete to take back to Washington.

It was clear the runway was a disaster. It was in disrepair, she said. It has been a long, long road since then. But our efforts and our advocacy has paid off.

Gen. Mark Kelly, who heads the 55th Wings parent command, the Air Combat Command, praised the collective effort that got the runway built, and kept the wing operating from Lincoln without slowing down.

He said 55th Wing crews flew 1,800 mission sorties during the year and a half of construction, at a time when rising world tensions made its mission more critical than ever.

It took a whole village to make it happen, Kelly said. Offutt is a Cold War veteran. We need it to be that veteran today.

The 55th Wings lead production superintendent, Master Sgt. Mitchell Morelos, and his team of aircraft maintainers bore the brunt of the hardship. Commuting to and from Lincoln on top of a normal duty day has taken its toll, he said.

Not only that, they frequently had to haul tools and specialized equipment to Lincoln. Hangar space there was at a premium.

Our guys were out there, rain, snow or shine, working outside every day, Morelos said. Its an absolute morale boost to have them back.

Thompson described the runway closure as part of a terrible trifecta of hardships the 55th Wing has faced in the past three years, along with catastrophic March 2019 flood that caused about $1 billion worth of damage, and the COVID-19 pandemic that has disrupted workplaces and schedules.

Today we check one of this trifecta off the list, she said. The runway is back.
Nebraska has joined a lawsuit accusing pesticide companies Syngenta and Corteva of anti-competitive practices that have cost farmers.

Nebraska joined the Federal Trade Commission and nine other states, including Iowa, in a complaint that was filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina on Thursday. Both companies denied the allegations.

The complaint alleges that U.S. farmers have collectively lost millions of dollars because Syngenta and Corteva have unfairly impeded their generic competitors and artificially inflated prices.

The companies artificially inflated prices by creating loyalty programs with pesticide distributors that have made it harder for farmers to access lower-priced generic products, the lawsuit alleges.

While generic companies are allowed to enter the market using the same active ingredients after patent-related exclusivity protections expire, the lawsuit alleges that Syngenta and Corteva made incentive payments to pesticide distributors in exchange for distributors to not buy or buy significantly lower amounts of generic products. Through deals with distributors, the two companies essentially created a monopoly on sales of certain pesticides, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit alleges that Syngenta and Corteva broke multiple state and federal laws, including the FTC Act and the Clayton Act. Nebraska specifically accuses the companies of violating the Nebraska Consumer Protection Act. The lawsuit asks for monetary relief, including for farmers in Nebraska, according to State Attorney General Doug Peterson. The suit also seeks an end to the loyalty programs.

Both companies said the allegations in the lawsuit are false.

In a statement, Corteva said it believes the FTCs case faces significant hurdles on both the facts and the law, and claimed that the companys marketing programs actually support competition.

We will vigorously defend our position that Cortevas customer marketing programs are fully compliant with the antitrust laws and are, in fact, pro-competitive programs that benefit both channel partners and farmers, the statement read. Syngenta said in a statement that it believes the FTCs complaint is without merit and that the discounts in question are part of an industry-standard, voluntary program that Syngenta and other pesticide companies have had in place for decades.

This program is only one of several incentive programs offered by Syngenta in the U.S., and we are disappointed that the FTC has failed to appreciate the beneficial effects that these rebate programs provide to our channel partners and to growers, the statement read.

In addition to Nebraska and Iowa, the other states named in the lawsuit include California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Oregon, Texas and Wisconsin.
BLOOMINGTON  After Alexis Kalish went to college with plans to become a special education teacher, she took a laboratory job at State Farm that commenced a 34-year career with the company.

But, she said that she probably always had the love of teaching in the back of my mind.

Her passion for uplifting the minds of others through the Regional Office of Education #17 STAR Adult Literacy program, in addition to her work for several other organizations, led to recognition as Kalish was named the third quarter honoree for The ExtraOrdinary Women Project.

The honors were formally presented to her Friday evening at the The Center for Health in Normal. Kalish, 73, said she was both grateful for and honored by the accolade, while also noting there are many other women deserving of the recognition.

Volunteering has been a big part of her world, she said in advance of the award presentation, and her service began with the literacy program. She said this work began in an era where some folks would quit school to help out on the family farm. Others struggled to read, she said, but were very motivated and a delight to work with.

She said some credited her with helping them attain literacy, which was gratifying. From her perspective, every inch of progress made was a cause for celebration.

Kalish continued her literacy work with Chestnut Health Systems and the Regional Alternative Schools, serving teen boys who dealt with homelessness, substance abuse or tough environments. She said she was so proud of her students, and it was rewarding to see how much they grew.

Shes also on her second six-year term of the McLean County Arts Center board, where until recently she worked on the events committee.

Kalish was active for 15 years with the League of Women Voters, where she said she registered voters, participated in studies on mental health and advocated for a graduated income tax. She was also the organization's secretary.

Additionally, shes served the nonprofit Immigration Project by assisting people with applications and interviews for naturalization or citizenship. Kalish learned the ropes of the complex applications and an interview process that she said most people would find challenging.

It was another rewarding experience for her, she said, where she continued to be delighted by the success of her clients.

She was also part of the American Business Womens Association for 35 years. The scholarship program was one of her favorite parts of that organization.

Being recognized for her work and included in the assembly of ExtraOrdinary Women boosted Kalish's spirits at a time when I could use that, she said.

She said she was diagnosed March 2021 with multiple myeloma, a bone marrow cancer. After undergoing a stem cell transplant, and later being hospitalized with COVID, Kalish said shes spent a lot of time rebuilding.

Right now I'm on an upswing and hope I can keep it that way, she said.

She also still has her sights set on more outreach work, Kalish said, if she continues to feel better.

Feli Sebastian, board president and co-founder of the ExtraOrdinary Women Project, told The Pantagraph that Kalish was chosen for her steadfastness and tenacity.

She added all of their awardees have set a pattern: They have indomitable spirits that triumph over their challenges, whether they are personal, career or relationship-related.

Sebastian also noted theyve all led quiet lives away from the limelight.

We want to create a platform that allows women to share their stories hoping to educate and inspire others, Sebastian said. We hope to bridge gaps and foster empathy and understanding.

She also said that connectedness can only further strengthen the Bloomington-Normal community.

When asked how the project might inspire others, Kalish said she hopes people will see service work as a rewarding effort that makes a difference in peoples lives.

She said shes very fortunate.

I had a good job, Kalish said. I have a good family. I have a good husband. And, I think people need to give back.

I hope I'm an example for that.
I have had two vehicles stolen from the Bloomington airport in less than a month. One the week of August and now another the week of August 29. I understand others have had vehicles stolen from there recently as well.

One was recovered in the Chicago area. The other not yet recovered. It appears it may be a professional ring working the BN airport. There is no security or cameras in the parking lot and no control over access in and out. That makes for a prime location for car theft and a dangerous situation for travelers arriving late at night and walking through the parking lot unprotected.
im supporting Scott Preston for state representative in the 91st District. With Scott as our representative in Springfield, we will have an advocate for reforming our state with ethics reform, cutting red tape for businesses, and ensuring community needs in Central Illinois are being addressed.

Over the past six years Ive had a chance to get to know Scott and have been impressed with his engagement and advocacy for issues that are important to his constituents. Scott will be a strong and independent voice for our district. He is the only candidate that has a vision for a better Illinois and the ability to work toward it. Please join me in voting for Scott Preston for state representative on or before November 8.
As a Central Illinois business owner, I want to encourage my fellow business owners and neighbors to vote for Senator Darren Bailey for governor.

The cost of doing business in Illinois is skyrocketing. Increasing motor fuel taxes are making high gas prices even higher in Illinois, causing the prices of everything else to rise. Our labor force is leaving, choosing low-tax states instead of Illinois. Our unemployment taxes are rising and are threatening to increase as Illinois has chosen to not yet pay the federal government its $1.8 billion in unemployment insurance debt.

Please vote for Darren Bailey for governor. As governor, he will work to lower taxes and support fiscally responsible business-friendly policies.

Darren Bailey fought to open the Illinois economy during Governor Pritzkers COVID-19 lockdown. On September 16, Governor Pritzker issued his 34th consecutive executive order concerning the COVID-19 disaster. Yet according to President Biden, the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

We need a governor who respects the rule of law. Senator Darren Bailey is that man.

On January 1, 2023, more provisions of the SAFE-T law take effect. This law weakens the rights of property owners, blocking police from arresting and holding people accused of criminal trespass and other Class B misdemeanor offenses. If elected, Darren Bailey vows to work with police and repeal the Safe-T Act.

Please vote for Darren Bailey for governor. We want our businesses to stay in Illinois.

Julie Bakewell, Bloomington
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Chinese action film "Wolf Pack" opened Friday in a limited theatrical release in North America.

The Mandarin-speaking film is being released by Well Go USA with Chinese and English subtitles in selected theaters in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, Vancouver, Toronto and a few other cities across North America.

Directed by Jiang Cong, the military-themed film stars Zhang Jin, Jiang Luxia and Aarif Rahman among others. The film, set in a fictional country, revolves around an elite anti-terrorist unit that uncovers a dangerous international conspiracy.

"Wolf Pack" opened synchronously Friday in China. The film currently boasts a rating of 8.9 out of 10 from over 10,000 viewers on Maoyan, a Chinese movie-ticketing and film data platform.
Dr Patrick Asuming, an Economist, has asked Ghanaians not to engage in unexpected cash withdrawals (panic withdrawals) as the Government prepares for debt restructuring.



He also urged domestic investors to continue to repose confidence in the economy because the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan support for Ghanas homegrown economic programme would restore macroeconomic stability to make them thrive.



Debt restructuring refers to a situation where someone who owes (in this case, the Government of Ghana) comes to the realization that they will not be able to pay the debt as originally agreed, therefore, negotiates with the lender for help.



In such a situation, the debtor (the Government) negotiates with the lender (financial institutions) to either extend the time of payment or agree to reduce the amount that is supposed to be paid back by the lender (which is referred to as a haircut).



Dr Asuming, who is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana, told the Ghana News Agency that the Government would go for domestic debt restructuring as part of the negotiations for an IMF loan support programme.



He said the Government would avoid external debt restructuring because it would affect the countrys reputation in the external capital market and its ability to quickly return to the market  which is currently closed to Ghana.



When you have a treasury, and you want to liquidate before the maturity, youre going to lose some money. But this should not be a situation where anyone would act in panic and say theyre going to take their money from any financial institution, Dr Asuming said.



The Government is really between a rock and hard place, but its more likely to have a domestic debt restructuring. The Government has been borrowing a lot and our interest costs have been rising, with Treasury Bills at upwards of 30. Therefore, its expensive to pay the debt, he noted.



The Senior Lecturer said the Government would have to negotiate with domestic financial institutions for either an extension to pay its debt or reduce the amount to pay back  be it the principal or interest payment.



He noted that: Whether the debt restructuring is going to be a delay in payment or reduction, its going to affect their (the banks) bottom line  profit, and hamper domestic investors, the Economist said, but cautioned against panic withdrawals.



He explained that it was important for the Government to put out information to avoid speculations and said: The Government must communicate and assure the citizens that people are not going to lose their money.



The Economist said once the implementation of the IMF programme starts, times would be tough in Ghana with citizens having to endure some hardship for about three years.



He said: An IMF programme would only help us restore macroeconomic stability. We must have a complete reset and change in mentality that we can depend on foreigners to finance our development.



Ultimately, we must look to generate more domestic revenue and build a more financially sustainable public finance system that is rooted in a structurally more diverse economy. We must do more domestic production, he encouraged.



At a press briefing in Accra on Wednesday, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Finance Minister, said the Government was yet to conclude processes for debt restructuring with the IMF.



He said, We simply have not reached any agreement with the Fund on the parameters of any debt operations as we are in the process of completing the debt sustainability analysis.



The Minister noted that the Government was still working with the IMF Team to update the countrys medium-term macro-fiscal framework to inform the designing of the programme.



Ghana is negotiating with the IMF for an expected $3 billion loan facility for its homegrown economic programme, which is to help the country navigate through the current economic hardship and improve its fiscal balances sustainably.





Source: GNA









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Host of "Kokrokoo" panel discussion show on Peace FM, Kwami Sefa Kayi, has expressed fears over the galamsey menace in the country.



Kwami Sefa Kayi, popularly called 'Chairman General', was extremely worried about the challenges government is having with eradicating this illegal mining which has ruined the environment and water bodies and posing dangers to lives.



He dreaded that if the galamsey is not stopped, it might degenerate into a state where the illegal miners, who reportedly possess guns and other offensive weapons, may turn into "rebels" and stage a coup.



"We are breeding rebels. We are breeding a force that someone could call some day to overthrow government. That is what we are doing and we are just watching," he said on his platform.



His comment comes on the heels of a video showing some gunmen purported to be illegal miners exchanging fires with an anti-galamsey taskforce.



The incident is said to have happened at Asaman Tamfoe in the Eastern Region on Thursday, 29th September, 2022.



Following arrest of sixteen (16) persons involved with the shooting incident, Police retrieved a pump action gun, two excavators, two water pumps and a battery.



Efforts are underway to arrest the remaining suspects.

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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An army captain in Burkina Faso has announced on national television that he has ousted military leader Lt Col Paul-Henri Damiba.



Ibrahim Traore cited Lt Col Damiba's inability to deal with an Islamist insurgency as the reason.



He also announced that borders were closed indefinitely and all political activities were suspended.



Lt Col Damiba's junta overthrew an elected government in January, citing a failure to halt Islamist attacks.



But his administration has also not been able to quell the jihadist violence. On Monday, 11 soldiers were killed when they were escorting a convoy of civilian vehicles in the north of the country.



Earlier on Friday, Lt Col Damiba urged the population to remain calm after heavy gunfire was heard in parts of the capital.



More than 20 armed soldiers - most with their faces covered - appeared on state TV shortly before 20:00 local time.



"Faced with the deteriorating situation, we tried several times to get Damiba to refocus the transition on the security question," said the statement signed by Traore.



"Damiba's actions gradually convinced us that his ambitions were diverting away from what we set out to do. We decided this day to remove Damiba," it said.



A curfew from 21:00 to 05:00 was also announced.



Lt Col Damiba's whereabouts are not known.



The United States said it was "deeply concerned" by events in Burkina Faso and encouraged its citizens to limit movements in the country.



"We call for a return to calm and restraint by all actors," a State Department spokesperson said.



The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) condemned the move, stating it "reaffirms its unreserved opposition to any taking or maintaining of the power by unconstitutional means".



Before dawn, shots and explosions were heard in the capital, Ouagadougou, some of them coming from near the presidential palace and main military barracks.



After sunrise, the normally bustling city was largely deserted, with soldiers on the streets blocking some roads and guarding key strategic points.



State television had stopped broadcasting and more gunfire was heard later in the day.



Lt Col Damiba said there was a "confused situation" created by "mood swings" among some soldiers as rumors of a coup intensified.



Urging people to remain calm and avoid social media speculation, the military leader said there were "negotiations underway to bring back calm and serenity".



In January, Lt Col Damiba ousted President Roch Kabore, saying that he had failed to deal with growing militant Islamist violence.



"We have more than what it takes to win this war," the junta chief said when he was sworn in as president in February.



But many citizens do not feel any safer and there have been protests in different parts of the country this week.

On Friday afternoon, some protesters took to the capital's streets calling for the removal of Lt Col Damiba.



The Islamist insurgency broke out in Burkina Faso in 2015, leaving thousands dead and forcing an estimated two million people from their homes.



The country has experienced eight successful coups since independence in 1960.

Source: BBC









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Ghanas Strengthening Accountability Mechanism (GSAM) activity has contributed immensely to promoting accountable governance, which has helped accelerate development at the local level.



The Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Dan Botwe, who made this assertion, noted that the eight years of the implementation of GSAM through the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had been beneficial to the country, especially the lessons learnt to deepen democracy and good governance at the local level.



Mr Botwe, in a speech read on his behalf at public accountability conference in Accra last Wednesday, said the GSAM had strengthened the capacity of civil society to advocate, monitor and investigate efforts of primary actors, particularly metropolitan, municipal, district assemblies (MMDAs) to ensure sustainable, accountable and inclusive delivery of quality services to citizens.



The conference was part of the eighth-year activities of the USAID-supported Ghana Strengthening GSAM activity designed to deepen and sustain responsive and accountable governance at the local level.



The rationale for GSAM activity was to address inadequate citizens engagement in local governance processes, increase access to information on MMDAs development processes, deal with real or perceived corruption due to weak oversight and poor service delivery.



The interventions from GSAM, the minister said, had contributed to improving the responsiveness of MMDAs to citizens demands and efficiency in the management and implementation of development projects in communities, working in close collaboration with key stakeholders.



Commendation



Commending USAID for the initiative, Mr Botwe said: We are, therefore, interested in consolidating the gains made with regard to the management interventions that have generated positive results relating to accountability and transparency practices in the MMDAs.



The Deputy Chief of Party for GSAM, Samuel Boateng, said key lessons learnt from the project included the fact that there was a need for mixed communication methods to reach citizens with needed information.



He noted that prior to the GSAM activity, MMDAs relied mainly on assembly and unit committee members, traditional authorities and some opinion leaders to provide information to citizens on capital projects.



However, many citizens remained poorly informed about capital projects because these leaders mostly did not relay such information to citizens.



Other lessons were that the MMDAs had less control of centrally-funded projects. He explained that MMDAs had little control over projects that were implemented by the central government and as a result exercise weak oversight of these projects.



He said the impact of GSAM had been positive, revealing that 51 per cent of 880 community priority needs identified with GSAM support were integrated and budgeted for in the 2022-2025 Medium-Term Development Plans (MTDPs) in 50 districts.



Setbacks



The Chairperson for Star Ghana Foundation, Dr Esther Ofei Aboagye, said interventions such as the GSAM provided civil society organisations (CSOs) opportunities to initiate action, collect data, build capacities, engage district-level authorities and back communities to exact accountability.





The mission director of USAID, Kimberly Rosen, said a USAID-commissioned impact evaluation of the GSAM activity revealed that citizen action with the support of local CSOs had improved consultation between citizens and their respective local governments on infrastructure development.

Source: graphic.com.gh









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Thousands of eco-warriors are marching through central London today as they join forces with militant trade union supporters and cost-of-living demonstrators in a mega-demo to bring the capital to a standstill.



Eco-group Just Stop Oil vowed to 'occupy Westminster' as part of the nationwide 'Enough is enough' campaign, which is targeting more than 50 cities, towns and villages across the country, including Birmingham, Glasgow and Belfast.



The group said on Twitter that 'thousands of ordinary people' were set to march on central London to demand 'an emergency response to the climate and cost-of-living crisis.'



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Legendrea loyezae with trailing tentacles. Credit: Bournemouth University

Scientists have discovered several very rare species of microorganisms, some of which have never been seen before and others which have escaped the curious eyes of scientists for over a hundred years.

The discovery of these elusive species, published in the scientific journal PROTIST, was made by an unconventional duo who never met in person; Professor Genoveva Esteban of Bournemouth University and James Weiss, an independent scientist operating in his private lab in Warsaw, Poland, with his two cats.

Their approach to science, and unearthing of these new and rare organisms, will help scientists and the public learn more about life at a microscopic level. They also hope it will inspire thousands of young people into science, and prove the importance of microscopic life to everyone on the planet.

Microorganisms are made up of only one cell and are at the bottom of the food chain. They live all around us and can be found in any habitat, from small puddles to vast oceans; there is still a great deal to discover about them.

"Biodiversity at a microscopic level is not as widely understood as other areas of nature, despite the fact that whole ecosystems depend on it," explained Professor Esteban.

"Some of these species are completely new and others have not been seen for over a century. We documented many curious behaviours on them and carried out DNA analysis of them for the first time.

Apertospathula, a microbe new to science. Credit: Bournemouth University

"This means we can understand more about their relationships with other microbes and find new branches for them on the tree of life," Professor Esteban continued.

The very rare and new microorganisms include Legendrea loyezae.

Professor Esteban said, "We don't know what this organism is named after; the 100-plus-years-old French description doesn't include the origin of the name but we suspect that it was after a person since "Legendre'' is a common French surname."

They have also discovered, a new Lacerus, meaning "having irregular edges" due to serrated appearance of the cell edges, as well as a new Apertospathula, meaning "ventral mouth opening".

The new species have not been assigned names yet, but Weiss is hoping to name them with contemporary fictional references that will attract the attention of people of all ages.

"Most organisms on the tree of life are microscopic. In fact, most life on Earth has always been microscopic. Microorganisms were the first predators on Earth, their greedy appetites were one of the leading factors of the evolution of more complex life in the early ages of Earth," Weiss explained.

A new Lacerus with a serrated cell edge. Credit: Bournemouth University

"As prey developed better defences, predators needed to develop better ways of catching them. After the evolution of multicellular, complex life they became the main food source for others such as krill and plankton, which in turn are food for larger species. If the organisms at the very bottom were removed, all other parts of the food chain above them would collapse too," he added.

The duo worked together for the course of eighteen months, and investigated thousands of samples from water bodies, mainly from Poland, but also all over the world.

"We knew that no one else would be looking for these and no other research into microbes has involved such intensive searching," said Professor Esteban.

"As with all forms of wildlife spotting, the more you look, the more you find. By taking so many samples, almost every day, we knew we could find something new. The more we know about the microscopic world, the more we can learn about the rest of their habitats where all other forms of life survive."

After isolating the microorganisms in each sample, they were able to study their DNA and identify those that were new to science and others which were extremely rare, and they needed a specialist. Dr. Demetra Andreou, a molecular ecologist at Bournemouth University also brought her expertise to the team.

Explore further Loggerhead sea turtles host diverse community of miniature organisms

More information: James Weiss et al, The Extraordinarily Rare Ciliate Faure-Fremiet, 1908 (Haptoria, Ciliophora), Protist (2022). James Weiss et al, The Extraordinarily Rare Ciliate Faure-Fremiet, 1908 (Haptoria, Ciliophora),(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.protis.2022.125912
KINGSBURY  A Thursday crash on state Route 4 north of Waite Road in Kingsbury injured a Whitehall woman, police said.

Angel M. Clark, 46, of Queen Street, Whitehall, was hurt when her car rolled over, trapping her inside, at about 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

Members of the Kingsbury Fire Department used an extrication tool to free her from the vehicle.

Clark was southbound on Route 4 when she veered off the roadway, causing her vehicle to roll over, the Washington County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.

Deputies are looking into the possibility that she may have suffered a medical event prior to the accident. Drugs or alcohol are not believed to be factors in the accident, police said.

Clark was transported to the Glens Falls Hospital with injuries to the head, neck and chest, which are not believed to be life-threatening. No citations have been issued, but the accident remains under investigation.

A portion of Route 4 was closed for about an hour while the accident was cleared.

Fort Edward EMS personnel assisted.
GLENS FALLS  Glens Falls Mayor Bill Collins told residents Thursday night that the citys ongoing Downtown Revitalization Initiative project is about reconnecting South Street  the last corridor of blight  back to the heart of the city.

Thursdays night forum, which took place at The Queensbury Hotel, gave residents a chance to hear officials talk about the most recent developments of the DRI plans.

This was the first of two forums the city held with its constituents, and while there was a degree of intensity and concern raised at the first meeting, the second meeting held on Friday at Crandall Public Library was met with more support and confidence.

Separate from the Spring City Development project spearheaded by Bonacio Construction, which will drive new mixed-use development on South and Elm streets, is the citys plans to build a new $4 million marketplace in a vacant plot of land on South Street.

The marketplace would become the new permanent home of the Glens Falls Farmers Market, although it could also be used for other weekend events.

Collins mentioned the possibility of holding music events at the marketplace, as well as possible beer festivals and various other ideas that are currently being explored.

Some in the audience expressed concern that despite the success of the market and it serving as an example for other farmers markets across the state, it would not be prioritized.

Tom Wells, president of the Farmers Market Association, asked Collins if the city would make it an unwritten rule that the city would exhaust every other option before using the marketplace on a Saturday.

I want to be clear that I will work with you guys to make sure that you are happy. I didnt do some deal only to run away. Im in office until I get thrown out, Collins said.

Collins said that he had proposed at one point that the farmers market should be moved to Sundays, but was told that would not be possible because thats when farmers rest.

The new marketplace center, which is predominately made out of glass, would theoretically be an all-year-round center for the farmers market.

According to city officials, the warmest temperature that the center could be heated to during the coldest month of the year is 60 degrees.

Wells said this is not a realistic temperature for people to shop in during the coldest months of the year.

Imagine going to a Price Chopper in 60 degrees, Wells asked.

Judy Calogero, chairwoman of the Glens Falls Industrial Development Agency board, responded to that comment.

As the city uses the facility for other than the farmers market for other events, youre going to generate income that the city will have that will help cover those expenses. So, this is a very collaborative effort.

Other concerns raised surrounding the new proposed home of the farmers market is the lack of parking spaces.

The current home of the farmers market is the Pavilion Square at Elm and South streets, which uses around 6,000 square feet and comes with its own parking.

The new marketplace is 5,000 square feet with no clear designated parking.

In addition, the Spring City Development project nearby, which could be approved as early as Oct. 4 at the next Planning Board meeting, will be taking up more parking spaces in the area.

The city is still in the early stages of planning for the marketplace, and the plan would not be executed for another few years.
QUEENSBURY  A plan for a blood plasma donation bank at the building that once housed the Aldi grocery store is moving forward.

The Queensbury Planning Board on Sept. 20 approved site plans submitted by Immunotek Bio Centers to reuse the property on Quaker Road.

Erik Sandblom, of SRA Engineers, told the board very little changes are planned for the site. According to the plans, the building would simply be repurposed to accommodate the new business.

Board Chairman Stephen Traver said he was happy to see a business coming to the vacant building.

I actually thought this was pretty neat when I saw it because that poor building has just been sitting there, Traver said. Every time I drive by, I think, What could we use that for? and this never would have occurred to me.

Sandblom said the company isnt like most that come in and alter the building. It prefers to use what is there and make it work for their intended purpose.

They have already evaluated all the existing infrastructure like water and sewer and no changes are needed, he said.

Traver questioned whether the building would need an emergency power source, but the company said it would remove the plasma from the building and transport it to a freezer truck that will be on call for power outages.

The board also asked how the company intended to find enough plasma donors to fill their quotas.

We plan to start with 12 beds and expand from there, said Aaron Renshaw, director of real estate acquisitions at Immunotek Bio Centers, via speakerphone.

The Louisiana-based company proposed initially operating the business from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and later extending the hours of operation to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Immunotek plans to hire 30 local employees, with 22 to 25 on site during business hours. The facility will house 36 beds with between 24 to 40 blood donors inside at a time.

The closest Immunotek facilities are located in Binghamton and Syracuse.

The board approved the project unanimously.

The building has been vacant since the grocery chain relocated in 2019 to the former Toys R Us location on Route 9 in Queensbury.
STUYVESANT  Harvest season means long days for U.S. farmworkers  but usually no overtime pay. Federal law exempts farms from rules entitling most workers to 1.5 times their regular wage when they work more than 40 hours in a week.

New York is now joining several states that have begun to change the rule.

The states labor commissioner on Friday approved a recommendation to phase in a 40-hour threshold for farmworker overtime over the next decade. Right now, farmworkers in New York qualify for overtime pay only after they have worked 60 hours in a week.

Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon called the plan the best path forward for farmworker equity and success for agricultural businesses.

Washington, Minnesota, Hawaii and Maryland have also granted forms of overtime entitlements to agricultural workers. California, an agricultural giant, this year began requiring farms to pay overtime to employees who work more than 40 hours in a week.

The changes have excited workers, who say they sorely need the extra money, but alarmed some farm owners, who say extra labor costs could wipe out thin profits.

Some labor movement advocates fear workers hours will be capped.

Thats what Elisabeth Morales says happened at the grape vineyard where she works in Californias Central Valley. After the states overtime rules changed, the vineyard cut her hours to no more than 40 per week, and hired more laborers so it could get needed work done without having to pay overtime.

Morales, a mother of four, said she had to take on a second job at McDonalds to supplement her wages at the vineyard, which are $15 per hour for tasks like weeding plus 40 cents for every box of grapes she picks.

I would prefer to work the extra hours even though they dont pay us overtime, Morales, 43, said in Spanish.

There isnt much national data yet to say for sure whether lowering the overtime threshold will be as bad for farms bottom line as agribusiness predicts, or as good for workers as the labor movement hopes.

Farm workers were excluded from overtime pay in the federal 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, and some labor advocates say its a legacy of Jim Crow.

The overtime rule change is aimed at people like Doroteo, a farmhand at a Long Island vineyard who works almost 60 hours a week during harvest season, supplementing his pay with landscaping jobs on the side.

Doroteo prunes and weeds crops for $15 an hour. His pay peaks at $800 a week in the summer, when the most work needs to be done. He makes less in the fall, making it tougher to send money to his three children in Guatemala. He asked that his last name not be published because of worries he might be fired for talking about his job.

But farm owners say agriculture has been exempt from overtime rules for a reason.

There has to be some common sense about what people expect when they go to work on a farm, and that its quite unique from other areas of work. Its not something that can be done 40 hours a week and have weekends off, said Nate Chittenden, the owner of a midsize dairy farm in Stuyvesant, New York.

Besides members of his family, his farm has 10 full-time employees.

No farm wants to see people taken advantage of. We value people working on our farms. We want to provide for them a living while they work on our farm, said Chittenden.

New York state government created a tax credit intended to defray the cost of overtime for farm employers, which Chittenden said would help somewhat.

In Washington state, this year saw the first harvest where farm workers could qualify for overtime pay after 55 hours worked. That threshold will drop in a phase-in that will make workers eligible for overtime after 40 hours worked by 2024.

In California, as more workers became eligible for overtime, some farms have switched to less labor-intensive crops like walnuts and almonds, which can be harvested efficiently using man-operated equipment, said Brian Little, the director of employment policy at the California Farm Bureau, which represents farmers.

He also said some growers are moving towards machines, rather than people, to do things like prune trees.

It can run for hours. It doesnt care if its 95 degrees outside. It doesnt take a lunch break, and it doesnt care if its working nine and a half hours in a workday, Little said.

Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, praised the decision.

The decision to lower the overtime threshold for agricultural workers to 40 hours a week is going to transform the lives of New Yorks workers and their families. Farmworkers will be able to rest their hard-used bodies and avoid injury, spend more time with family, and have a better opportunity to earn more in wages and be able to sustain their families, he said in a news release.

Critics blast decision

Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay, R-Pulaski, said the decision is ill-advised and reckless.

Im extremely disappointed by the commissioners decision, particularly because this vital industry is already under an enormous financial strain, he said in a news release. Weve echoed farmers concerns repeatedly over the last several years  this costly regulation will put generational family farms out of business and do irreparable damage to one of the states cornerstone industries.

The advocacy group Upstate United said that the decision would lead to fewer family farms, smaller paychecks for farm workers and higher costs for consumers.

The fact remains that New York has been losing farms for decades  more than 3,800 over the last 20 years. Overtime tax credits and other measures simply arent enough to help New Yorks family farms survive, said Justin Wilcox, executive director of Upstate United, in a news release.
 Flash

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Despite the protracted COVID-19 pandemic and the downward pressure on the economy, foreign companies are optimistic about the Chinese market and plan to further increase their investment in China.

Listen to what foreign enterprises in the Chinese metropolises of Guangzhou and Shanghai have to say.
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UPPER TOWNSHIP  The state Agricultural Development Committee dismissed an appeal related to a plan for a new winery in the Beesleys Point section of the township, according to a letter sent to attorneys Friday.

In it, Brian Smith, the chief of legal affairs for the committee, described the filing of the appeal as premature.

They just appealed too early, said Colin Bell, an attorney for Mike and Robin Halpern, owners of a parcel off Route 9 where they hope to eventually open the Ocean City Winery.

According to Bell, the appeal could be refiled after a final decision from the Cape May County Agricultural Development Board. It will be up to that board to decide on an agricultural management plan, Bell said.

Fridays decision is the latest volley in a fight between neighbors over the property, which had been a Christmas tree farm for decades. Grapes now grow in rows on the property, as yards surrounding the land sprout signs saying No Winery.

Each side tried to present the other as unyielding and unreasonable. Mike Halpern says he has already compromised enough, while many of his neighbors believe the plans will fundamentally damage their community.

We want to keep this a peaceful and bucolic neighborhood the way it is, said Rae Jaffe, who lives near the vineyard. She and other neighbors gathered recently in her backyard to discuss their opposition to the winery.

Beesleys Point neighbors seek to stave off change UPPER TOWNSHIP  For years, probably decades, not much happened on Bayaire Road, a shady cul

As if to drive home her point, wrens bickered in a nearby feeder over some choice piece of birdseed, while a hummingbird buzzed and hovered among the red flowers in planters on the deck.

Most of the neighbors declined to give their names. Jaffe and her neighbor, Maria Busz, argued the winery will fundamentally change their way of life and impact the values of their properties.

They have several objections, but the two main points are that the use of pesticides and other sprays on the grapes at the farm damages their enjoyment of the properties and possibly the health of residents and their children.

We have well water here, and its a big concern for the neighbors, said Busz. Other neighbors say the chemicals have drifted into neighboring yards or onto the street.

The other main concern is that the increased traffic and noise of the winery tasting room will be a significant disruption. In public meetings, neighbors have raised concerns about increased traffic, the potential of intoxicated drivers after wine tastings and the noise from events held on the property.

Around the corner from where the neighbors gathered, Michael Halpern was sitting outside, looking over the grapes.

He said he has already made multiple concessions on the use of the property, including promises not to hold weddings or other events, aside from family gatherings, or have outdoor music. He also agreed to limit the hours of public access, with the latest being 6 p.m., according to a list he provided.

All pesticides and fungicides used are done so according to the label and in compliance with state regulations, Halpern said.

They filed three dozen complaints with the EPA and the DEP. Every single one of those has been cleared in our favor, he said. He said he is properly licensed and uses the chemicals exactly as directed.

The neighbors provided documents from the DEP that showed multiple complaints about pesticide use. Each one includes the DEP finding that the use was not in violation. Halpern provided a copy of the same document.

Some neighbors suggested if the farm were organic, and sold the grapes elsewhere instead of opening a winery, that would satisfy them. Halpern countered that he has been using organic sprays for more than a month but will not operate as an organic farm.

Going organic would mean losing a significant amount of the crop, according to Halpern.

You do not make it up in the bottle price, he said.

The state-level decision Friday is not the final word. The county agricultural board must still decide on an agricultural management plan, which Bell said will include a site plan under New Jerseys Right to Farm legislation. That would mean the proposal would not require review by the township Planning Board, another potential source of contention.

The neighbors argue the land is too small to qualify as a commercial farm, a position with which township officials agree, they said. The property is more than 5 acres, but they say the house cannot be counted toward that total.

The townships contention is that he doesnt have five farmable acres, Jaffe said. He did an end-run around the township and went to the county AG board.

Halpern also said the township is in direct opposition to the winery plans.

The matter has been discussed in closed-door sessions by the Township Committee, and the township has hired an attorney to represent its interests in the matter, but Mayor Curtis Corson would not say where the township falls.

I cant really comment because thats ongoing litigation, Corson said Friday.

There are more decisions to be made, but Bell argues it has already been established that the property is a commercial winery.

A former owner sold the development rights to the property.

Upper planners hold off on winery proposal UPPER TOWNSHIP  The Upper Township Planning Board on Thursday held off on hearing a proposa

The only thing you can do is farm on it, Bell said. The property didnt get any smaller.

There is a gate at the entrance on Route 9, and no trespassing signs where there used to be access to the tree farm on Bayaire Road, the closest road to the site.

The Halperns own another, larger vineyard in Camden County. Its harvest time at both sites, with the couple picking cabernet sauvignon and Chambourcin for red wine and vidal blanc and another grape for the white. The other site brought in 2 tons of grapes.

Halpern said they already have a buyer.

Every grape we grow gets sold, Halpern said.

As a tree farm, the site had little impact on the neighborhood except in December. Jaffe said she would rather see homes built on the site. According to Bell, with the development rights sold to the county years ago, that is not an option.

I dont know what else they want, Halpern said. They dont want us farming here. They dont want anything here. So it doesnt make much difference how many concessions we offer them.

Upper Township residents upset about proposed winery UPPER TOWNSHIP  It will be years before a small vineyard off Route 9 in Beesleys Point prod

Put the question in a separate interview, Jaffe said, Wed like to see him go away.

There are now seven wineries in Cape May County, most in the southern portion. In 2018, the Cape May Peninsula became New Jerseys fourth designated American Viticultural Area.

Theres no other winery in this situation, Jaffe said. Ive been to those wineries. They are not totally ringed with houses. Its not the proper area for what he wants to do.

Halpern said he does not know how long it could be before he has wine in bottles ready to sell. Once approvals are in place, it will be years before any wine is ready.

I wouldnt even hazard a guess at this point, he said. I couldnt even begin to tell you, because every time we win, we get appealed.
ATLANTIC CITY  Route 30 eastbound will be partially closed this week to allow for work on the Absecon Boulevard bridge, the state Department of Transportation said Friday.

From 9 a.m. Monday through 3 p.m. Thursday, contractor PKF Mark III Inc. is scheduled to close the right lane of Route 30 eastbound just past the traffic signal across from Claytons Self Storage to install roadway lighting poles. At least one lane will be maintained, the DOT said in a news release.

The work is part of a $19.6 million project that will rehabilitate the bridge to improve its safety and reliability, the DOT said. Structural repairs will be made to the movable bascule span, or drawbridge. Mechanical equipment and electrical components will be upgraded to meet current standards and improve performance while adding redundancy.

The project includes extending the sidewalk across the Venice Lagoon to Grammercy Avenue, as well as improvements to barrier and warning gates, railings and drainage, the DOT said. The project is expected to be completed in summer 2023.

Construction is being done in stages to minimize disruption to vehicular and marine traffic. Work will be suspended during the summer, with all three lanes of traffic open in each direction, the DOT said.

The precise timing of the work is subject to change due to weather or other factors. Motorists can check 511nj.org for real-time travel information.
LONGPORT  With the remnants of Hurricane Ian nearing the states coast Friday, members of the boroughs hazard mitigation and emergency planning committees held their annual meeting.

The arriving storm system, which caused catastrophic damage in Florida and Cuba, was a topic during Fridays meeting and a reminder of the need to be prepared, said Bruce Funk, the Community Rating System administrator and emergency management coordinator for Longport.

Also important is the need for residents to be prepared for storms.

The biggest problem is most people arent going to prepare for an emergency situation until 24 hours beforehand, said Funk.

Funk said people need to be prepared to sustain themselves for 72 hours after an emergency situation.

Committee member Sean OLeary said the borough worked diligently to ensure its building codes and home elevation levels were sufficient to protect people and property.

Atlantic Cape welcomes 3 new members to Board of Trustees MAYS LANDING  Three new members were named to Atlantic Cape Community Colleges Board of Tr

Florida has some of the most stringent residential codes in the country, said OLeary, who noted that reports coming out of Florida have indicated that houses built within the past 30 years fared better against the storm than older residences.

With the turnover and homes here in Longport, higher elevations, proper building codes, ordinance enhancements, things like that are going to make us survive, said OLeary. But if we have the proper building codes, that is just one way that we can guarantee the protection of the structures here.

OLeary said there will always be variables affecting how a community handles a major storm. One of the big variables is whether residents heed evacuation warnings or choose to stay, creating more work for emergency responders.

Funk said Longport needs to establish a planning team to develop long-term mitigation plans.

Borough officials have held meetings teaching proper preparation and the importance of heeding evacuation orders, and a small number of residents have attended.

Funk said he wishes more residents attended these meetings, considering the importance of everyones safety. Ten to 15 residents attended Fridays meeting, held at 9:30 a.m.

Downbeach welcomes Wounded Warrior honoree with parade LONGPORT  U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Trevor Brunnell had never been to this tiny seaside borough before.

Other key points of the presentation were knowing where to go in case residents have to evacuate or relocate, letting family members know where that location will be and evacuating when its mandatory.

Additionally, the meeting provided information about the citys emergency plans, outreach projects and grants that correspond to hazard mitigation and emergency planning.

One of those grants comes from the Federal Emergency Management Agencys Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program. The borough received a $1.5 million BRIC grant this year, which will cover 75% of a project that aims to reduce flooding along Winchester Avenue.

Funk also updated residents on other steps the borough has taken to reduce flooding risks, like extending the boroughs outfall pipes to help the flow of storm water off the streets, elevating the Atlantic Avenue groin/jetty from 22nd to 17th avenues to prevent bayside flooding on Atlantic Avenue, and replenishing the bulkheads and groin on the ocean side.

Members cited July 9, 2021, as a wakeup call for their emergency management system. About 3 a.m., Longport residents were notified by the National Weather Services phone app of a tornado warning and were told to take shelter immediately. But by the time the borough got the message out to residents 15 to 20 minutes later, the warning was already over.

Having a good contact list for all Longport residents or people who take care of properties in Longport would help residents receive emergency alerts faster, said Funk.

Residents suggested using contact information from beach tags sales.

Funk said having an emergency weather app and paying attention to those notifications would also help residents.

When he asked the room how many people have a weather warning app, three people raised their hands.

When Funk asked how many people have an emergency plan, only one person raised their hand.

We can replace property, said Funk. We cant replace you, your family or your pets. Its not worth the risk.
It's been 26 months and 23 days since Breasia Terrell disappeared from the Davenport apartment where she was supposed to spend the night with her brother.

Over the course of those two years, two months and 23 days, Henry Earl Dinkins was, first, a person of interest in the case. Then Davenport Police said he was the only suspect in the case after Breasia's body was found in a farm pond outside of DeWitt in March of 2021.

While a hearing Friday, Oct. 7, is expected to determine when Dinkins' trial will finally start, here's some of what we know about Dinkins and the investigation, by the numbers:

1 ... Dinkins was convicted of third-degree sexual assault Aug. 23, 1990  his very first offense. He was 17 at the time of the crime and found guilty of assaulting a girl 13 or younger. Dinkins is considered a Tier III offender, the most severe of the three Iowa sex offense tiers. It means the offender committed violence or threatened violence during the assault.

9 ... According to Iowa court records, Dinkins pleaded guilty nine times in non-traffic cases to charges ranging from simple misdemeanors to felony drug possession. On Feb. 24, 2003, Dinkins pleaded guilty to the aggravated misdemeanor charge of failing to register as a sex offender - first offense. In September of the same year, Dinkins pleaded guilty to the aggravated misdemeanor charge of being a sex offender and living within 2,000 feet of a school.

6 ... Iowa Department of Corrections records show Dinkins has been incarcerated by the state six times after being found guilty of various offenses, the first time after he was convicted of third-degree sexual assault in August 1990. He was incarcerated in December of 2019 and paroled in December of 2020.

3 ... It's the number of defense teams that have represented Dinkins since he was first arrested in July 2020 for violating sex offender registry requirements by failing to update his address.

24 ... Iowa court records show Dinkins had at least 24 cases dismissed since 1994 - the vast majority of which were traffic violations. Some of the other charges dismissed? One charge of murder in 2009, where investigators determined he was a witness. He also had a sexual abuse case, domestic abuse case, a charge of fraud, and two charges of failure to register as a sex offender all dismissed.

2 ... Dinkins was born Aug. 2, 1972, but the state of Iowa knows of two other birth dates Dinkins has used on public documents.

16 ... The number of known aliases Dinkins has used in Iowa. The names he used at various times included Henry Hank, Vince Hank, Henry Harris and Henry Davis.

5 ... The Davenport Police acted quickly in the hours following Breasia's disappearance on July 10, 2020. Five search warrants were executed on that day. They were:

A warrant to search Dinkins cellphone, a black Samsung phone, was signed by a judge at 1:15 p.m.

A warrant to search the motor home was signed by a judge at 2:21 p.m.

A search warrant requesting DNA swabs from Dinkins mouth and under his fingernails, and pictures of Dinkins' body, was signed by a judge at 5:26 p.m.

A search warrant requesting penile swabs from Dinkins was signed at 6:53 p.m.

At some point on July 10, a search warrant was executed on the Chevrolet Impala Dinkins was known to use.

3 ... Dinkins has been held in jails in three different counties in Iowa while the Breasia case unfolded  Scott County Jail, Clinton County Jail and, most recently, Marshall County Jail. He was moved from the Scott County Jail to the Clinton County Jail after the discovery of Breasia's body.

6 ... The number of orders for continuance issued since Dinkins was charged with Breasia's kidnap and murder in May 2021. A number were ordered by the court, while continuances requested by the defense team in April and May of 2022 were unopposed by the prosecution. This number could change if District Court Judge Henry Latham grants Dinkins' latest request for a continuance.

8 ... According to Iowa Department of Prison records, Dinkins was granted work release eight different times, the first in 1994.

15 ... Starting in 1994 and ending in 2018, Dinkins pleaded guilty to 15 traffic violations  including seven guilty pleas to driving while barred.

12 ... A dozen agencies took part in the search for Breasia, including the Bettendorf Police Department, the sheriff's departments from Scott and Clinton counties, the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation and the FBI.

3 ... After Breasia's disappearance, then-Davenport Police Chief Paul Sikorski placed a call for assistance to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI brought three teams to the investigation  the Cellular Analysis Survey Team to conduct phone analysis and track down location information; the Abduction Rapid Deployment Team, 12 agents working to identify any additional evidence; and the Evidence Response Team out of Omaha, Neb.
A Davenport man involved in a three-man methamphetamine distribution conspiracy operating in California, Colorado and Davenport, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison during a hearing Tuesday in U.S. District Court, Davenport.

Charles Michael Spiker, 49, had pleaded guilty on May 24, 2021, to one count of conspiracy to distribute 50 grams and more of methamphetamine and 500 grams and more of mixtures and substances containing detectable amounts of methamphetamine, and to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, a .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol.

During his sentencing hearing Tuesday, Spiker was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison on each count by U.S. District Judge Stephanie Rose. Rose ordered the sentences to run concurrently, or at the same time. Rose also ordered that Spiker was to serve five years on supervised release once he completed his prison sentence.

Spiker, along with Ricardo Renteria Gutierrez, 49, a Mexican citizen, and Oscar Cruz-Guzman, 28, of Riverside, Calif., were arrested by federal agents Oct. 9, 2020. Each was charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute 50 grams and more of methamphetamine and 500 grams and more of mixtures and substances containing detectable amounts of methamphetamine

Spiker also was charged with possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance  50 grams or more of methamphetamine  and being a felon in possession of a firearm. The charge of possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance was dropped in Spikers plea agreement with federal prosecutors.

Law enforcement identified Spiker as part of a drug conspiracy operating in Colorado, California and the Davenport area.

The investigation revealed that, as part of the conspiracy, Spiker was obtaining methamphetamine and distributing it to other dealers and users. When Spiker was arrested, he had a semiautomatic pistol in his pocket. Spiker is a convicted felon and is prohibited by law from possession firearms and ammunition.

Gutierrez was identified as the ring leader. He pleaded guilty to the one count on Jan. 10, 2022. On Aug. 19, Gutierrez was sentenced to 360 months, or 30 years, in federal prison. He also must serve five years on supervised release when he completes his prison term.

Cruz-Guzman pleaded guilty to the one count against him on Nov. 3, 2021. He was sentenced April 7, 2022, to 126 months, or 10 years and six months, in federal prison. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons electronic records, Cruz-Guzman is serving his sentence in the Victorville, Calif., Federal Correctional Institution.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Davenport Police Department.
A traffic stop early Friday led to the arrest of a Davenport woman for allegedly selling methamphetamine.

Monica Rose Gomez, 37, also known in Scott County District Court records as Monica Rose Vasquez, is charged with possession with the intent to distribute 29 grams of methamphetamine. The charge is a Class B felony under Iowa law that carries a prison sentence of 25 years.

Vasquez also is charged with violating Iowas drug tax stamp law, a Class D felony that carries a prison sentence of five years.

According to the arrest affidavit filed by Scott County Sheriffs Lt. Dan Furlong, at 2:07 a.m. on the frontage road of North Brady Street, a traffic stop was conducted on a black Lincoln LS for not having a license plate and for a broken passenger-side tail light.

The front-seat passenger was identified as Monica Gomez, also known as Vasquez.

The smell of marijuana emanated from the vehicle and marijuana blunts could be seen in the ash tray.

During a search of the vehicle approximately 29 grams of methamphetamine was seized from where Gomez was sitting.

Police have said the normal dose of methamphetamine is one-tenth of a gram, meaning that 290 doses of methamphetamine were seized from the vehicle.

Also seized were 11 Vyvanse pills, normally used for the treatment of attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorde; 10 amphetamine pills; eight hydrocodone pills; and 17 Adderall pills. Gomez was charged with four counts of possession of a controlled substance-first offense, one charge for each of the different drugs. The charge is a serious misdemeanor that carries a jail sentence of up to one year.

Also seized was a digital scale and packaging materials.

During a post-Miranda interview, Gomez told investigators that she is not involved with selling methamphetamine. However, according to the affidavit, the Scott County Sheriffs Department recently received information from another law enforcement agency of Gomez being involved with selling meth.

During a first appearance on the charges Friday morning in Scott County District Court, Magistrate Paul Aitken scheduled a preliminary hearing on the charges for Oct. 7.

Gomez was being held Saturday night in the Scott County Jail on a $30,000 bond, cash or surety.
A Scott County jury on Thursday found a former Davenport school teacher not guilty of a sexual abuse charge.

Julian Lira, 34, had been charged with one count of second-degree sexual abuse, a Class B felony under Iowa law that carries a prison sentence of 25 years.

The alleged abuse was to have occurred in the summer of 2019. Lira was arrested by Davenport Police on Jan. 11, 2021.

A trial this past April in Scott County District Court ended in a hung jury.

A second trial on the single charge began Monday in district court. According to district court electronic records, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty at 10:53 a.m. Thursday.

Lira had been a sixth-grade teacher for the Davenport Community School District at Adams Elementary.
Honor Flight of the Quad-Cities will hold its 54th flight Tuesday. It will take more than 90 veterans who served during the nations conflicts to Washington, D.C., to visit the monuments built in their honor.

Veterans taking the flight will be accompanied by 60 volunteer guardians who will assist them throughout the day.

This flight is being designated as the Art Petersen Memorial Flight. It honors Petersen, a Korean War veteran who was an original board member of Honor Flight of the Quad-Cities. He died in 2021.

Petersens funeral flag will be carried on the flight, and he will be honored at the Korean War Veterans Memorial.

Flight Commander will be retired Army Lt. Colonel Phil Corwin, an Honor Flight board member. Corwin has been on many Honor Flights in the past and will be assisted by Deputy Commander Jake Ward and three veteran Bus Captains.

The flight will return to the Quad Cities International Airport, Moline, about 10 p.m. The public is invited to the airport to welcome the veterans home.

Any person who was on active duty during World War II, Korea or Vietnam can fill out an application for an Honor Flight. Those interested in going on a flight as a guardian to assist veterans, some of whom may be in a wheelchair, may fill out an application as well. Applications are available at www.honoflightqc.org.
China's State Council on Friday held a reception at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. China's National Day falls on Oct. 1.



The reception was attended by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan, as well as nearly 500 guests from home and abroad.

Addressing the reception, Premier Li Keqiang said that the CPC will convene its 20th National Congress this year, and stressed the vital significance of the event.

This year is a truly momentous one in the course of China's development, Li added. "In the face of complex and challenging developments both within and outside China, our entire nation, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, has forged ahead together with drive and resolve."

Ensuring sound economic fundamentals is crucial to sustaining the steady growth of China's economy, Li said, stressing that China has taken forceful measures to ease shocks caused by greater-than-expected factors, and promptly and decisively introduced a policy package for stabilizing the economy. "We have the confidence and the ability to keep major economic indicators within an appropriate range."

He said with the reform and opening-up as China's fundamental policy, the country has pressed ahead with reform to develop a socialist market economy, pursued high-standard opening-up, kept foreign trade and investment stable, and deepened multilateral and bilateral business cooperation to keep China a favored destination for foreign investment and achieve win-win development.

Li stressed the commitment to conducting governance to deliver benefits to the people.

Highlighting the support for efforts to ensure the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao, Li said the policy of "one country, two systems," as well as the policies of Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong and Macao people administering Macao with a high degree of autonomy, have been firmly, fully and faithfully implemented.

We have firmly opposed "Taiwan independence" separatist moves and external interference, and actively promoted the peaceful growth of cross-Strait relations, he said.

Li also stressed the efforts China has made to work with other countries to meet global challenges and promote peace, stability, development and prosperity in the world.

Li closed his speech by calling for rallying even more closely around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, following the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and forging ahead in a concerted effort to build China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful.

Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the reception.
Amid warm fall weather, about 20,000 people gathered Friday morning atop two hills in Custer State Park to watch 1,400 bison stir a cloud of dust. Horse riders and trucks drove the herd towards the corrals for the 57th annual Governor's Buffalo Roundup.

Several spectators said they waited more than two hours in a long vehicle line that stretched through the parks wildlife loop to see the roundup, a long-standing tradition at the state park that brings in first-time and returning visitors from across the United States and around the world.

Larry Poss, 63, of Larchwood, Indiana, attended the roundup this year for the third time.

Love the bison. I think the animals are so intriguing, theyve been around here for millions of years, Poss said.

One couple came to watch the roundup as part of their 40th wedding anniversary celebrations. Ann Ernst, 67, and Bill Ernst, 70, said they traveled from Ferguson, Missouri to watch the bison. Ann said its always been on her bucket list.

About 60 riders helped herd the bison towards the corrals in the southern portion of the park. Crowds filled the two viewing areas flanking the corrals to watch the animals. Just before 10 a.m., fewer than 100 of the beasts crested a hill. A cloud of dust rose from the remaining herd that followed, which joined the stragglers on their path to the corrals.

Rob Foiles, 28, of Watertown helped herd the bison with his horse Cookie. He had watched the roundup before, and said I gotta be the guy on the horse running, chasing buffalo, crackin a whip.

Foiles, who normally works with cattle, said that bison behave differently than cattle. What would make a cow take one step could make a bison run a hundred yards one way, and they move much more quickly, he said.

There was not very much time at a standstill or at a walk. It was long trotting and a lope, and a few times we were flat out running, he said.

The roundup tradition, although a major spectator event, is centered around the health of the parks bison herd. The animals undergo health checks and about 400 are sorted out to be sold because the parks grasslands can only sustain about 1,000 bison.

Custer State Park Superintendent Matt Snyder said the majority of the animals are sorted after roundup day to allow them time to calm down, but staff did sort some on roundup day to allow the public to view the process.

The animals are confined to cattle-like chutes, where they are handled one at a time. While none of the animals are comfortable with the experience, some caused more ruckus than others by crashing into the sides and backs of the chute walls.

Calves are separated from their mothers during the process, a task not made simple by protective tendencies. Once temporarily separated, the calves are vaccinated, tested for disease and branded. This year, calves received a 2 and S brand, standing for 2022 and South Dakota.

The more mature animals are checked by a veterinarian. The cows are specifically examined for pregnancy by Dustin Brown with the Fall River Veterinary Clinic. Brown inserted an ultrasound wand into the cows to check for signs of pregnancy. He showed reporters an image of a small baby bison forming inside one cows uterus. Cows that are not pregnant are referred to as open.

Prior to the sorting, Gov. Kristi Noem held a press conference in the parks Bison Center, which opened in May. The center provides a history of the bison herd at the park, which started at a mere 36 animals.

Noem, who normally rides her horse in the roundup, did not do so this year because of her recent back surgery. She did walk her horse and greet attendees before the bison came through.

It was kind of hard to not do that, she said. I had the chance, though, for the first time, to really go out and visit with people that traveled from across the state to come and watch this and shake their hands. There were people I met from all across the country and different countries that came here.

Four generations of Noems family attended the event, spanning from her mother to her granddaughter.

This is such a family event, she said. And South Dakota is so focused on building stronger families.

Dave Flute, secretary of the South Dakota Department of Tribal Relations and member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribe, also spoke to press in the Bison Center, highlighting the importance of bison to the Native American tribes of South Dakota. Flute said he was able to recite a prayer in Lakota prior to the roundup for the riders, the horses and the bison themselves.

The buffalo is very important to our people, as well as many tribes across the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountain region. It provided everything we needed to be able to sustain ourselves throughout the whole year, Flute said.

Although no tribes were officially represented at the roundup, Flute said they are always welcome.

The open invite is always there, he said.
This week is National Newspaper Week  an annual celebration of the special role that newspapers have in our nation.

Since well before our statehood in 1889, newspapers have staked a claim in helping to build and connect residents and communities in our great state. Today, that role continues.

Now more than ever, we need good newspapers and good journalism. Its vital for the health and well-being of our democracy and our republic. Facts and truth matter. Credibility matters. A good newspaper editor knows those things and adheres to them with each story written and every issue that is published and delivered to readers.

Communities and newspapers go hand in hand. A good newspaper is essential in informing a community and connecting residents with local news, updates and advertising information. Most people agree that a good school and a solid Main Street contribute to the makeup of a good community. I would argue that a newspaper is one of those essential ingredients as well.

Across South Dakota, newspapers play an important role in serving their readers and their communities with local, relevant and trusted information. More than 100 weekly and daily newspapers serve our states communities and residents. South Dakota has more newspapers per capita than any other state in our nation. Why? I like to believe its because South Dakotans value where they live and want to be engaged and knowledgeable about whats happening in their community. A good newspaper supports those desires.

Last year, South Dakota Newspaper Association commissioned a statewide survey to learn more about what South Dakotans think about their local, community newspaper. Among the findings in the comprehensive survey:

 Every month, 83 percent of South Dakotans read their local newspaper in print or online. That is an impressive statistic I believe supports why our state has such a strong number of community newspapers. South Dakotans value their local newspaper.

 Local newspapers are the primary source for news and information about local government. Whether it is a front-page story about whats happening at city hall or its the public notices such as school board minutes, residents want to know what local government is doing with their tax dollars.

 Newspaper readers vote and are more likely to be civically engaged in their communities and take leadership positions in their communities. Almost nine out of 10 newspaper readers will vote this November.

 South Dakotans overwhelmingly believe that information found in newspaper advertising is important to them. More than two-thirds of South Dakotans use newspaper advertising to decide what brands, products and local services to buy.

Today, community newspapers continue to serve their readers and their communities by utilizing various outlets for delivery of news and advertising information. Digital and social media platforms reach readers when and where they want their news. Still, the printed newspaper packaged with news stories, columns, photos and advertisements remains an essential platform that South Dakotans prefer and look for each day and every week.

So, congratulations to South Dakotas newspapers. And thank you to everybody who subscribes to and supports their local community newspaper. You are investing in your community and our democracy.

David Bordewyk is executive director of the South Dakota Newspaper Association, which represents the states 105 weekly and daily newspapers. Each month, more than 574,000 consumers read South Dakotas newspapers in print or online.
Politics seems to be at the forefront of many peoples minds these days and Ravalli County Clerk and Recorder Regina Plettenberg wants to make sure Bitterroot Valley residents are ready to have their voices heard.

The close of regular voter registration for the upcoming general election in November is Tuesday, Oct. 11. Registration forms postmarked by the 11th and received within three days will still be accepted for regular registration.

You can send in your registration form by mail, fax, you can scan and email it as long as we have a signature on the form, but after the 11th, you have to come in person, said Plettenberg. "There's no other choice."

Voter registration forms can be found in person at the Ravalli County Election Office, located at 215 S. Fourth St. in downtown Hamilton, or downloaded from the countys website at https://ravalli.us/151/Voter-Registration. Voter registration forms can also be found on the secretary of states website at sosmt.gov/elections/vote/.

The My Voter page (app.mt.gov/voterinfo/) can also be accessed from the Secretary of States website at sosmt.gov/elections/ or on the Ravalli County website at ravalli.us/145/Elections. Voters can use the site to confirm registration status and polling location information as well as view a sample ballot or view the status of their absentee ballot.

Late registration begins on Oct. 12 and goes until noon on Nov. 7. As it stands currently, late registration will reopen on Nov. 8, Election Day, at 7 a.m.

The Supreme Court ruled that late registration on Election Day is still allowed, Plettenberg said. "Now that could change, but at this point, that's the way it sits." Late registration must be done in person at the Ravalli County Election Office.

Late registration just means they have to show up in person, get registered, or update  if they need to update they can do that in person as well. And then they get a ballot right then, they don't get the option to vote at the polls, added Plettenberg. They can vote, or they can take it with them. It's kind of like an absentee ballot in that way. We've just got to get it back by Election Day."

Plettenberg said the county will be mailing out absentee ballots on Oct. 14. Voters should expect to start receiving them the beginning of that following week, Oct. 17 or 18.
A new poll conducted on behalf of the Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) finds that 86% of Americans favor reinstatement of Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) for beef and pork. In 2015 Congress rescinded the requirement that imported beef and pork be labeled. However, it was only for beef and pork. All other foods, including lamb and seafood, continue to be labeled. Immediately following this action by Congress cattle markets crashed by nearly half, resulting in billions of dollars lost to ranchers in rural states such as Montana.

The American Beef Labeling Act (S.2716), will reinstate COOL. It is a bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate by Sens. John Thune (R-SD), Jon Tester (D-MT), Mike Rounds (R-SD), and Cory Booker (D-NJ). Additional bipartisan cosponsors include  Sens. John Hoeven (R-ND), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Barrasso (R-WY), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). In March 2022 a bipartisan companion bill was introduced in the U.S. House (H.R.7291) by Reps. Lance Gooden (R-TX), Ro Khanna (D-CA), and Rep. H. Morgan Griffith (R-VA). Both bills languish without action.

You will notice that with the exception of Senator Tester, who has always been a leader in supporting COOL, neither Senator Daines nor Representative Rosendale are sponsors of the American Beef Labeling Act. Why? Agriculture remains, by far, the most important industry in Montana with the livestock portion the largest of all. So why is it that only Senator Tester sponsors COOL? Isnt Montanas most important industry worthy of support from all of our elected officials? Especially considering that because of the lack of COOL our states economy is suffering.

When we look at the five candidates currently running to represent us in Congress we find a mixed bag. As mentioned above, Representative Rosendale could be sponsoring the American Beef Labeling Act, but isnt. Ryan Zinke was in Congress in 2015 and actually voted to remove beef and pork from the labeling requirements. He has not repudiated that vote.

As for the other three candidates, both Penny Ronning and Monica Tranel lists reinstatement of COOL as a priority on their websites. I suspect that Gary Buchanan would, when asked, express support for COOL; but why is COOL not important enough to list as one of his policy priorities?

Reinstatement of COOL would provide immediate economic relief to rural Montana. Isnt that important? Particularly considering that Montanas ranchers are suffering from serious drought and are forced to sell cattle in a depressed market caused by imports from Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, and Nicaragua.

Eighty-six percent of Americans would like to know the origin of their beef purchases. They have a right to that information. Montanas ranchers have a right to a fair and transparent market. The American Beef Labeling Act would restore COOL, and all the candidates who would like to represent us in Congress need to make beef labeling a campaign priority.
Your will was ignored when the legislature guaranteed tags for wealthy outfitted clients and guaranteed tags were also proposed to certain wealthy landowners. Each reduced tags for those who couldnt afford to buy into this system. There was an effort to prohibit landowners from selling their land to buyers of their choice and to eradicate Montana of prescriptive easements, removing access to millions of acres of land. Recently, two officials on the land board voted against a parcel of public land. Attorney General Knudsen said, I dont think people are moving here from California, Oregon, from Washington, to live in high-rise apartments. I think theyd like to have a piece of Montana and have a little acreage and a house. There was no public opposition to this proposal, so it begs the question of who are they listening to?
Ian has reminded us again that disasters happen. Employers need to be ready. So do employees and households.

In disaster situations (whether hurricanes, snow storms or an unexpected pandemic), employers sometimes have to consider the legal pay implications when businesses are closed and employees cannot come to work. Empathic employers who are able will continue to pay employees even when they cannot work due to a disaster.

Lets address the legal obligations.

Whether the law requires that an employee be compensated even when a business is closed depends on the classification of the employee.

According to the Department of Labor, the employer is not obligated to pay a non-exempt (hourly) employee for hours not worked even if the employee was sent home or cannot work due to bad weather. This is the law  not necessarily what employers should do.

If an employee is properly classified as exempt from overtime, the answer on whether the employer must compensate the employee when the employee cannot work due to an office closure or disaster is  it depends.

According to Stuart Silverman, owner of the Law Offices of Stuart M. Silverman, PA, of Boca Raton, Fla.,the law changes for exempt employees because they are compensated based on a salary for a workweek, not hours. Since the rule is that exempt employees must be paid for the entire week for any week that they work at all, or the employer risks losing the exemption, then if the workplace is closed for less than a week, the worker must be paid for the entire week, Silverman said.

Silverman said this is true even if the employer does not have a bona fide benefits plan; the employee has no accrued benefits in the leave bank; the employee has limited accrued leave benefits and reducing that accrued leave will result in a negative balance; or the employee already has a negative balance in the accrued leave bank.

However, if the workplace is closed for an entire week, the exempt employee need not legally be paid.

With the new technologies of virtual work, some employers can resolve the issue of office closures with telework options.

Unfortunately, some employees may be in environments where they dont have access to internet or power due to outages in disaster locations. Employers should evaluate each situation, recognizing that  yes  some will take advantage, but most employees who are unable to work due to a disaster are truly unable to work.

The inability to work may go beyond the lack of power or internet. Some employees may be experiencing flooding. Others a tree in their roof. Employers should find ways to make the lives of their employees better when a disaster occurs.

A hurricane such as Ian is not the only concern for employers. Employers should plan in advance, not just when the disaster is approaching or already here. The Virginia Department of Emergency Management offers extensive resources for emergency preparedness, including resources for individuals, families and businesses at www.vaemergency.gov/prepare.
Virginians are reacting to the recent Gov. Glenn Youngkin policy changes that have to do with transgender schoolchildren in public schools. The proposed policies are transphobic and hateful of trans kids.

As a professor of educational foundations with expertise in youth development, I warn that this is a grave mistake. Identity formation is a natural part of human development  that is a central milestone in the still short lives of the developing schoolchildren. To stifle, to erase and replace, to deny youth any part of their human developmental processes, including identity formation, may create deep psychological trauma for them and likely spur a life of dysfunction and anxiety with depressive symptoms  including risk of suicidal ideation. Identity formation is that important to youth development.

In addition, our undervalued and underpaid public school teachers and administrators are forced into an impossible situation due to the politicized nature of the policies in question. Indeed, these policies are laden with hypocrisy, and here is how. The proposed Youngkin state guidance on transgender student accommodation will forcefully out trans kids, while simultaneously doing indelible harm to their developing psyches.

The updated guidance states that teachers cannot be compelled to refer to transgender students by their preferred names and genders if it goes against the teachers constitutionally protected free speech rights. Now the state is concerned with teacher-protected free speech? Only in this instance?

Currently, the state is criminalizing teachers via the Youngkin imposed snitch-line. This toll-free number is used as a tool of control, inciting fear in those teachers who dare to exercise their own free speech when compelled to lift the veil on the white mythological history they are forced to teach.

An example is the contents of the Virginia fourth-grade textbook on the history of colonial Virginia. How can Virginia colonial history be taught without centering the settler colonial project of erase and replace of Indigenous peoples? How does an educator teach Virginia colonial history and leave out human trafficking of men, women and children? What Virginia students are fed is a mythological version of Virginia history that is characteristically white supremacist that centers the European settler colonials as exercising their God-given right as Christians (Protestant) to seize land and erase people and their histories from the journals of history.

The hypocrisy that grounds Youngkins guidance on the reversal of any transgender student accommodations and protections sets Virginians giant leaps backward while solidifying the cultural values of the political Christian right  claiming free speech violations when it is really a cover for the forced coupling of church and state in schools. Youngkins dog-whistle politics are gaining momentum with ultra-conservative Virginia voters, but at what cost? Virginias school-age children are carrying the burden of these political moves, and especially those children with marginalized identities. This is criminal.

I would like to invite Virginians to consider the following question  and think well and hard about your answer. Were your civil rights given to you (and/or your ancestors) through a court order? Unless you identify as a white, cis-gender, heteronormative and Christian male, your answer is yes. Yes, the majority of us, our ancestors, were given civil rights through a judges order in a court of law.

If you identify as a woman  whether white, Black, Indigenous, Asian, Chicana  you were given civil rights through a legally binding court order, but only after centuries of protest and resistance of state control over your body and access to full civic engagement, like your personal right to vote, or whom you choose to love.

Our ancestors battled for those civil rights  for the implementation and protection of those rights.

Now, state-sanctioned attacks on schoolchildren. What is next? I do not know about you, but I am thinking that since they giveth, they can certainly taketh away.
More than 14,000 customers with Danville Utilities were without power Saturday morning after remnants of Hurricane Ian brought strong winds to the Dan River Region on Friday night.

The National Weather Service in Blacksburg dropped the wind advisory and flood watch it had issued through midday Saturday as the system  no longer considered tropical  continues to weaken.

Danville Public Works crews responded to reports of nine trees down in the city, according to a Saturday morning report from city spokesperson Arnold Hendrix. Those locations included Audubon Drive, Guerrant Street, Lanier Avenue, Lexington Avenue, Mountain Hill Road, North Main Street, Schoolfield Drive and Updike Place.

All of the trees but the one on Guerrant Street have been removed or moved to the side, Hendrix said. The tree on Guerrant Street is entangled with power lines.

There were 14,467 customers without power as of 7:30 a.m. Saturday. Hendrix said mutual aid crews from Ohio are helping local workers.

"When widespread outages occur ... crews first are assigned to make repairs based on restoring power to the greatest number of customers in the shortest time," Hendrix wrote in the report. "As lines are repaired and crews become available, they are assigned to areas with fewer outages."

Also, people who still have power could lose electricity temporarily when crews have to shut it off to make repairs.

"Once major lines serving a neighborhood are repaired, power may be on at some houses and off at others because of additional damage to lines and equipment serving those homes," Hendrix explained. "Some houses may have electric service when others do not because houses may be on different lines or circuits."

Residents in need of shelter should call the non-emergency number at 434-799-5111, option 8. The center will arrange to meet the need.
Judge Lee Chitwood said Friday that he was struggling with whether to base a teen drivers sentence on the teens behavior or its result.

There was no evidence, the Pulaski County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court judge said, that Charles Wayne Bourne, then 17, was impaired or distracted on Feb. 21 when his pickup truck collided with two motorcyclists. Nor was there anything that said Bourne was driving too fast down Draper Mountain toward the town of Pulaski, the judge said.

Theres just no remedy thats adequate, is there? Chitwood said.

Earlier in the hearing, the judge noted investigators conclusion that Bourne was on the wrong side of the two-lane road when the crash occurred  and said that with no contradictory evidence, that was enough to find Bourne guilty of reckless driving, the sole charge that he faced.

The judge ruled that Bourne, now 18, must perform 250 hours of community service. Chitwood suspended Bournes drivers license for six months, said he would not consider issuing any limited license, and said Bourne would be on unsupervised probation for a year.

The judge also imposed a 30-day jail sentence but said the entire term would be suspended.

The verdict and sentence capped an emotional hearing where the widows of Darrell Wayne Roark and Wayne Allen Patterson said that at some point, they wished Bourne would have reached out to say he was sorry.

Defense attorney Harry Bosen of Salem replied that the teen was devastated by the mens deaths but had been told not to communicate by other attorneys who represent the Bournes in what Bosen described as a $10 million wrongful death civil lawsuit that the women filed against the teen and his parents.

The civil lawsuit is filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court but no hearings are scheduled for it.

Fridays hearing made public a bit more information about the deaths earlier this year of Roark, 46, of Pulaski County, and Patterson, 55, of Pulaski.

Bournes truck came to rest atop one of the motorcycles, Deputy James Thompson of the Pulaski County Sheriffs Office testified, and both motorcyclists were thrown over a guardrail and down a steep embankment.

Major Daniel Johnson, also of the sheriffs office, said Bourne was driving a 2500 Chevrolet truck. Roark and Patterson rode Harley Davidsons. Gouge marks in the pavement in the lane headed up the mountain seemed to show where the collision occurred, Johnson said.

John Hutton, who was also on a motorcycle on Feb. 21, testified that he was atop Draper Mountain and waiting to turn onto U.S. 11 when Bourne came past. Hutton said he pulled out behind Bourne and from his own speed and how quickly the pickup truck disappeared around the curves ahead, he estimated Bournes speed at above the posted limit of 55 mph.

Hutton said that as someone who rides the Pulaski County roads frequently, he would say that in the turn where the crash occurred, the maximum safe speed on a motorcycle would be 45 mph and in a car, 30 to 35 mph.

Still, Hutton admitted on cross examination, his estimate of Bournes speed was made at least a mile before that turn and he had no idea what Bournes speed was when he met the motorcycles.

Hutton said he did not see the crash but arrived soon afterward. There were pieces of motorcycle and truck everywheres, he said.

Hutton testified that he called 911.

Then he saw that Bourne was out of his truck and down the embankment, and was moving one of the motorcyclists. Hutton said that he told Bourne not to move the man, and Bourne started panicking.

Hutton said he told Bourne to come up the embankment and stand by the guardrail and he did. Hutton said he then went and checked the riders. Roark had a pulse but was unresponsive, he said. Patterson, at the bottom of the embankment in a creek, had no heartbeat, Hutton said.

Rescue crews arrived quickly, Hutton said.

Diana Roark testified that before the collision, the motorcyclists had stopped for a meal at the restaurant where she worked, Toms Drive-In. It is located near the bottom of where U.S. 11 heads up Draper Mountain.

After the meal, the two men departed for a late afternoon ride. Diana Roark said that on that day, her husband took her bike, a 2016 Sportster.

Perhaps 10 minutes later, ambulances and fire trucks raced past, Diana Roark recounted. It prompted her to say something to her son, who also worked at the restaurant. He told her not to worry but then hurried back to say that a just-arrived customer said a truck had run into motorcycles.

I dropped everything and drove up the mountain, Diana Roark said.

The crash scene was just moments away. Diana Roark said that emergency workers would not let her go down the slope to her husband. But after they got him on a stretcher and prepared for the helicopter that was to take him to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, Diana Roark testified, the emergency crew let her kiss him.

At that point, Darrell Roark was breathing with medics assistance, his wife said. But soon, the call was made to take him to the closer-by LewisGale Hospital Pulaski because he needed more care immediately.

Diana Roark said that she ended up at the foot of her husbands hospital bed, rubbing his feet and saying she loved him as doctors worked. Darrell Roark died during the attempt to save him, Diana Roark said.

Diana Roark said that her husband would not want Bourne to suffer for the rest of his life for causing the crash.

Hed look at me and say weve all done stupid stuff and made mistakes while driving, she said.

However, Diana Roark said that she would have expected some expression from Bourne accepting responsibility and conveying sympathy. Thats integrity, Roark said.

Before, I would have just looked at him and said, I forgive you. But now Im very angry and hurt, Roark said.

Melissa Patterson also testified, saying that she grieved for her husband but did not want Bourne to go to jail. Everyone makes mistakes but should apologize and pay for what they have done, she said.

Bourne did not testify Friday.
Xi Jinping and other leaders of the Communist Party of China and the state attended a ceremony on Friday morning in Tian'anmen Square in Beijing to present flower baskets to fallen national heroes.



The event was held to mark Martyrs' Day, a day ahead of the National Day in China.

The other leaders included Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. They were joined by representatives from all walks of life at the ceremony.

At 10 a.m., all participants sang the national anthem, and paid a silent tribute to the martyrs who had sacrificed their lives to the liberation of the Chinese people and the building of the People's Republic of China, which was founded in 1949.

Nine huge flower baskets were placed in front of the Monument to the People's Heroes. Xi and other leaders walked up to the foot of the monument, where he straightened the ribbons on the baskets before leading other senior officials in a walk around the monument to pay their tributes.

The baskets, with ribbons reading "the heroes of the people shall live forever in our memory," were presented in the name of the CPC Central Committee; the National People's Congress Standing Committee; the State Council; the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; the Central Military Commission; non-Communist parties, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and patriots without party affiliations; people's organizations and people from all walks of life; veterans, retired senior cadres and the relatives of martyrs; and Chinese Young Pioneers.

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, the Party, the armed forces, and the people of all ethnic groups have been forging ahead in solidarity, achieving historic accomplishments and transformations in the cause of the Party and the state.

Sustaining the spirit of the martyrs and drawing on strength from it, China will surely write a more glorious chapter on the new journey to build China into a modern socialist country in all respects and advance toward the Second Centenary Goal.
Life was supposed to be different for Andy and Barbara Parker in October 2022.

Under ideal circumstances, Andy wouldve been campaigning as the Democratic nominee for Congress in Virginias Fifth Congressional District, taking on Rep. Bob Good, R-Campbell. Barbara would have been at her husbands side, supporting him.

In that scenario, the Collinsville couple would be crisscrossing central and Southside Virginia right now, plumbing for votes from Charlottesville to South Boston and Danville to Louisa County.

Earlier this year, Parker filed to run in the Fifth District Democratic primary, and he raised tens of thousands of dollars for the effort. He hired a guy to gather 1,000 registered-voter signatures, a legal requirement to get on the ballot.

But that effort came up short by 156 John Hancocks, Parker said. As a result, in April he was disqualified.

But his battle continues, with the consent of many campaign donors to whom Parker first offered refunds. With their agreement, he later transferred most of their contributions into a political action committee called Andys Fight.

On Sept. 13, Andys Fight paid $2,500 for a monthlong electronic billboard in Lynchburg. Its message reads: Rep. Bob Goods got BAD ideas. Its still tantalizing, or maybe annoying, motorists around the corner from Thomas Road Baptist Church. Parker cheerfully admits the purpose is to troll the conservative congressman.

The couple hit the road Sept. 14 and aimed westward. With golden retrievers Allie and Booboo in tow, theyre touring America in a Ford Maverick pickup, hopscotching states to support other Democratic candidates, and to meet with other gun-violence survivors.

Theres no shortage of those in America, and thats something the Parkers know too well.

In August 2015, their daughter, Alison, and a co-worker, WDBJ cameraman Adam Ward, were shot and killed by an ex-colleague who ambushed them during a live, on-air interview at Smith Mountain Lake.

Were all part of the club that no one wants to join, Parker told me. You make friends with people you wish you were friends with under other circumstances, but this is what you have in common.

One of those club members is Colorado state Rep. Tom Sullivan. In 2012 he lost a son in the Aurora, Colorado, mass shooting. Sullivan is currently campaigning for a Colorado state Senate seat, and the Parkers joined him in a canvassing effort.

Also in Colorado, the Parkers campaigned for incumbent U.S. Sen. Michael Bennett, a Democrat seeking reelection against Republican challenger Joe ODea.

And they had dinner with Lonnie and Sandy Phillips, two Coloradans who lost a daughter in the Aurora massacre. Afterward, the Phillips formed the organization Survivors Empowered, for family and friends of loved ones lost to gun violence.

We wanted to go out and support candidates who believe what we do, and connect with people whove been working on [gun control] in some cases longer than we have, Andy Parker said.

The next pit stop was Las Vegas, Nevada, site of the worst mass shooting in American history. In 2017, a gunman killed 60 people and wounded more than 400, firing upon a concert crowd from a hotel room high above the Las Vegas strip.

There, they got together with Jake and Dar Mohler. The Mohlers teenage daughter died of an accidental gunshot from an unsecured firearm in the home of a friend she was visiting. The couple later persuaded the Nevada legislature to enact a safe firearms storage bill.

The Parkers spent a few days in Los Angeles, California, where they visited with Chris Hurst, a former WDBJ-7 anchor and (later) Virginia state delegate. Hurst was Alison Parkers fiance at the time of her murder. Hes been going doing screenwriting and has his eye on a career on Hollywood, Parker told me.

Then the couple headed east for Arizona.

In Tuscon, they gathered with survivors of a different mass shooting  one in 2011 that claimed six lives and grievously wounded then-Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Arizona. Among those survivors was Pat Maisch, the woman who bravely disarmed the Tucson gunman.

Giffords husband, U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, is seeking re-election to the U.S. Senate. Hes being challenged by Blake Masters, a political newcomer who has the support of former president Donald Trump. Recent polls show Masters behind by a double-digit margin.

After a subsequent stop in New Mexico, the Parkers headed east again, toward Austin, Texas. I caught up with them by phone Friday morning.

Right now, were in the middle of nowhere in west Texas, Parker said. The landscape has gone from mesas to scrub to mesquite. Weve seen a lot of tumbleweeds.

Theyre hoping to meet with Democrat Beto ORourke, a former congressman whos challenging incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

Texas is a state that has seen more than its share of mass shootings  at schools, in at least one church, on a military base and at a Walmart in El Paso. Gun control is a major theme of ORourkes campaign.

Betos debating Abbott tonight, Parker proclaimed, and he sounded stoked. But he also sounded unsure they would get face-time with the candidate.

Weve been in touch with his aides, but everythings so last-minute with these campaigns you never really know, Parker said. Whether or not that happens, theyll visit some family and friends  both Parkers were raised in Texas.

Then its home to Virginia.

What future is in store for Andys Fight? Thats not precisely clear.

One thing Parker intends is more fundraising, so the PAC can continue to support candidates with political goals similar to the Parkers. Aside from that, well just have to wait and see.

Virginians, Parker added, should expect to see some more billboards cropping up soon against Virginia Republican congressional candidates.

Parker has his eye on the Seventh Congressional District race, pitting incumbent Democrat Rep. Abigail Spanberger against GOP challenger Yesli Vega. And he still has plenty of money left in the PAC.

Stay tuned.
Ranked choice voting has been in vogue across the nation, with many cities and some states changing their elections to incorporate it.

Alaska recently used it for the first time to elect someone to its at-large congressional district. But while the new system has gained traction in some places, including Maine and New York City, it has met resistance in others, such as Massachusetts and Missouri. And for good reason: Its being pushed with promises it cant keep.

Proponents of ranked choice voting suggest it's a solution to our current elections -- which, as one advocacy organization put it, deprive voters of meaningful choices, ... advance candidates who lack broad support and leave voters feeling like our voices are not heard.

Those promises are falling flat. The Alaska results, for instance, call into question just how broad the support of winners in ranked choice elections is going to be. The winner of that states election was Mary Peltola, a Democrat who was ranked as the first choice of just 39.7% of voters. Subsequent rounds eliminated her competition and transferred votes until Peltola had a lead of 51.5% of remaining ballots. But its not clear that counts as a majority of support except in an unhelpful, word-game sense of the term.

And the worse news for the ranked choice paradigm is how those Alaska runoff rounds proceeded. Of the three major candidates, the first one eliminated was the Republican widely considered to be politically in between Peltola and former Gov. Sarah Palin.

The ranked choice idea is that candidates are supposed to win by appealing to lots of voters. But ranked choice works by eliminating candidates with the fewest first-place votes in each round. Imagine a personally affable moderate and good communicator with a compromise platform, but who isnt hardline on any blocs key issue. He or she could be the second choice on every single voters ballot  and be eliminated immediately.

Thats not what happened in Alaska. But it is the general pattern, and it wont be surprising to see it replicated elsewhere moving forward.

Some proponents have tried to adapt their arguments and make the case that, despite Alaskas eccentric result, ranked choice will still be beneficial because it will change who winners are [incentivized] to represent.

But thats not anything new. In the days of Obamacare, when Republican Scott Brown won a U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts in 2010, he legislated and campaigned for all Bay Staters. And two years later, he earned substantially more support than Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney did on the same 2012 ballot.

Brown did lose his seat in 2012 to Democrat Elizabeth Warren. But a few years later, Brown's fate didn't stop Democrat Doug Jones from winning a U.S. Senate seat in conservative Alabama and then working tirelessly all across his state like someone, in the words of statistics blog FiveThirtyEight, who thinks hes supposed to be here.

Zooming out, the real issue is that any way of summarizing an electorates preferences is going to leave something to be desired. This was illustrated powerfully by the mathematician John Allen Paulos back in the 1990s. He presented a hypothetical election where one candidate won under our usual plurality system, a different candidate won under ranked choice, and a third won under a runoff between the top two vote-getters. Yet some other candidate was preferred by a majority of voters to any of those three.

There isnt a right way of electing someone to office. There are just different ways. And when comparing systems, we need to be careful to distinguish whats a shortcoming of a particular system versus whats just a part of the environment.

Many Americans feel their voices arent being heard because public opinion in this country is deeply divided. Significant percentages of Americans disagree with each other on topics including the environment, abortion, foreign policy, immigration and gun control.

Under such circumstances, very few people are going to see their ideal policies become law, so they will understandably feel like their voices arent heard. That underlies a lot of political divisions, and ranked choice voting isnt going to change any of that.

Shifting from one electoral system to another isn't worth the energy, cost and potential chaos -- especially when that shift is being pitched as a cure-all that it isnt.
For trans kids in Gov. Glenn Youngkins Virginia, it might be easier changing the sex on their birth certificates than using their bathroom of choice.

State law requires that a male who wants his birth certificate to identify him as female, or a female who prefers to be listed as male, must include in their application a statement by a doctor that says the individual has received appropriate treatment for gender transition. Not required, though, is evidence or documentation of any medical procedure.

When the new birth certificate  obtained by an adult or so-called mature minor showing behavior or attitude beyond their years  is issued by Virginia, the original is filed away, out of reach to the public and accessible only to the state official who oversees such records or with the permission of a judge.

Birth certificates, essential for enrolling children in school, figure prominently in Youngkins proposal ending protections for trans and queer students. For such pupils to be addressed by their favored pronoun or to use a preferred bathroom or locker room, their parents must submit legal documents  for example, a birth certificate  attesting to their sex.

But because the Youngkin policy appears to conflate biological sex with gender  that is, it declares anatomy and identity as one in the same  a legally altered birth certificate could be an invitation for trouble.

This is where big government  a version acceptable to Youngkin, ordinarily a basher of big government  steps in, allowing what he has vowed to prevent: schools substituting their judgment for that of parents. And that assumes parents of transgender children know how a son or daughter identifies and that they support it.

When the birth certificate changes, thats my legal gender, thats my legal sex, said Claire Guthrie Gastanaga, a former chief deputy attorney general and state education lawyer who has advocated for gay and trans rights as a lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union and Equality Virginia.

What right does the school division have to look behind the birth certificate?... The question is how to determine biological sex if theyre not going to rely on a birth certificate? Are they going to subject every child to a physical examination?

Its a question that raises a larger one.

Is the Youngkin policy, which acknowledges state and federal constitutional and statutory protections for trans people but seems to encourage school systems to defy them, nothing more than the tyranny of the majority, in which the rights of an estimated 4,000 transgender pupils are subordinated to those of a public school population of 1.2 million?

The Youngkin administration, as the boss Republican presidential strip tease becomes even racier with his secret summit in the Virginia horse country with donors and strategists, is sticking with a script it distilled to two words after Terry McAuliffes TV debate boner a year ago Thursday: Parents matter.

No amount of tangential hypotheticals or hyperbole from those desiring to exclude parents from their childs education will change what this policy is about, Rob Damschen, a Youngkin comms guy, said in an email.

Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, who in 2004 became Virginias first openly gay state legislator, says Youngkin  a former private-equity executive who started his own church after breaking with Episcopal Church over its support of same-sex relationships and leadership roles for gay people  is openly hostile to trans people now because it could help him later.

Ebbin described Youngkins proposal as a manufactured issue that may appeal to Republican primary voters in New Hampshire.

It has fans in Virginia as well.

The Family Foundation, a conservative group to which Youngkin, in another of his unannounced appearances, said he would seek abortion restrictions beyond a 15-week ban should the GOP win total control of the legislature in 2023, is pressing activists to go the State Department of Education website to endorse the Youngkin take-back of trans protections.

In 2020, the organization steered to a state website opponents of the policy drafted by Youngkins Democratic predecessor, Ralph Northam, that ensured transgender rights. The foundations president, Victoria Cobb, said comments from members outnumbered 2-to-1 those backing the Northam plan.

On Tuesday, the Family Foundation sent out an email urging supporters to do as opponents of the Youngkin scheme have: flood the education agency website. At last count, over 17,000 comments had been received, mostly from opponents of parental rights, said the email, which included suggested comments.

Student walkouts in opposition to the Youngkin proposals  blue metropolitan areas dislike them, red mostly rural regions view them favorably  spotlight a potentially alarming consequence: That rather than affirm family harmony, it will fuel confrontation between parents and trans kids with conflicting views over accommodations for such students, says Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, an attorney whose practice includes family law.

Family rejection, family instability and poverty may result in homelessness or time spent in the child welfare system, where LGBTQ youth frequently face stigma and discrimination, said a June 2017 study by the left-leaning Center for American Progress. Additionally, LGBTQ students often lack support or are over-policed at school, pushing them out of school and into the streets.

All of which has some worried that Youngkin, having fully broadcast his distaste for trans and queer rights, has a more ominous objective in mind: To use the law and bureaucracy to, in effect, write LGBTQ people out of existence.

With a Republican General Assembly and a Republican governor, that provision in the state code allowing Virginians to change the sex on their birth certificate could disappear. Ditto state-issued drivers licenses and identification cards on which a person can choose nonbinary rather than male or female. Cobb said she knows of no effort. Damschen didnt say.

To Gastanaga, this recalls the states 1924 racial-purity law. It classified residents as white or colored. By lumping Indigenous people with Black Virginians, the laws goal was the elimination of Native Americans as a race and culture.

Gastanaga has another name for it: statistical genocide.
Kevin G. Walthers, Ph.D., is the superintendent/president of Allan Hancock College. The final draft of the colleges ISER can be found at hancockcollege.edu/accreditation/drafts.php.
Italian rookie Marco Bezzecchi clinched his first MotoGP pole position on Saturday as he scorched his way to a lap record in Thailand, with title contender Francesco Bagnaia qualifying third.

It will be an all Ducati front row for Sunday's 26-lap race at Buriram after Bezzecchi, 23, set a best time of one minute 29.671 seconds, pipping Spaniard Jorge Martin by 0.021 seconds and Bagnaia (0.104 sec).

World champion Fabio Quartararo was fourth-fastest on his Yamaha.

"I didn't know that I was pole position because I couldn't see the big screen in the sun," Bezzecchi said after qualifying in style late in the second session.

"It's unbelievable, big emotions. I'm very proud to make it."

Italy's Bagnaia, who is second in the standings at 18 points behind France's Quartararo with four races left, was in confident mood.

"We did a good job. We had a good pace, we are ready for tomorrow," he said.

In humid but dry conditions, Aleix Espargaro -- who is the third title contender and 25 points behind Quartararo -- finds himself down the grid in 13th for Aprilia.

Spanish six-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez on a Honda was eighth.

There are wet conditions forecast for Sunday's race.

MotoGP has returned to Thailand for the first time since 2019 because of coronavirus disruptions.

Meanwhile there were wild celebrations as local hope Somkiat Chantra secured pole position in the MotoGP2 in front of an exuberant home crowd.

lpm/pst
BEIJING (AP)  Hong Kongs leader promised Saturday to revive its struggling economy following a campaign to crush a pro-democracy movement as China's ruling Communist Party marked its 73rd anniversary in power under strict anti-virus controls.

In Beijing, crowds of spectators watched a 96-member honor guard raise the Chinese flag on Tiananmen Square in the heart of the capital. There were no parades or other public events after authorities called on the public to avoid holiday travel.

National Day marks the anniversary of the Oct. 1, 1949, founding of the People's Republic of China by then-leader Mao Zedong following a civil war. The mainland's former ruling Nationalist Party left for Taiwan, now a self-ruled democracy.

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee warned in a speech that COVID-19 still overshadows the city of over 7 million people. He promised to revive the struggling economy and safeguard peoples livelihood" as travel and other anti-virus curbs are eased.

Lee, who took office in July, is a former police chief who oversaw a crackdown that imprisoned pro-democracy activists, shut down a prominent newspaper and triggered an exodus of residents to Britain, the United States and Taiwan.

Hong Kong now undergoes the critical transition from stability to prosperity, said Lee, who wore a red mask the color of the Chinese flag and was flanked by masked dignitaries at a downtown convention center.

I have full confidence in the future of Hong Kong, and so should you, Lee said.

Lee invoked the slogan patriots administering Hong Kong, a reference to official efforts to block pro-democracy activists from holding public office. He said a speech given by President Xi Jinping during a July 1 visit would be his governments blueprint for governance.

On Friday, Premier Li Keqiang, China's No. 2 leader behind Xi, promised at a National Day reception in Beijing to keep economic performance within an appropriate range despite the pressure of the pandemic, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

The United States, Britain and other governments complain Beijings crackdown on Hong Kong in response to pro-democracy protests that began in 2019 violates its promise of autonomy for the former British colony.

Washington and other governments have imposed sanctions on some officials associated with the crackdown and withdrawn trade and other privileges that treated Hong Kong as a separate territory from the mainland.

This years National Day, normally one of China's busiest tourism periods, is overshadowed by anti-virus controls while other governments have eased travel and other restrictions.

The ruling party faces mounting complaints about the economic and human cost of travel and other restrictions.

Curbs are expected to stay in place at least until after a ruling party congress that begins Oct. 16, at which Xi, Chinas most influential political figure in decades, is expected to try to break with tradition and award himself a third five-year term as leader.

Hong Kong is easing travel and other restrictions to revive what used to be one of Asias most robust economies after activity contracted by 1.4% from a year earlier in the three months ending in June.

Visitors will be allowed to wait out a three-day quarantine at home instead of under supervision in a hotel under measures announced by Lee on Sept. 23.

In Taiwan, which Beijing claims as part of its territory, members of the Taiwan People's Communist Party raised the Chinese flag in the southern city of Tainan and chanted, Long live the Motherland. The group of about 150 people released red balloons and white doves.

The party is led by Te-Wang Lin, a businessman who works in China. He once prompted controversy by driving a car from China with mainland license plates on Taiwanese roads.

Xi's government is stepping up efforts to intimidate Taiwan by flying fighter planes and bombers near the island and firing missiles into the sea. Beijing says the island is obliged to unite with the mainland, by force if necessary.
STORM LAKE, Iowa  A Texas man has pleaded not guilty of trying to kill another man in a Storm Lake hotel room.

Miguel Garcia-Montelongo, 55, of Monte Alto, Texas, entered his written plea Friday in Buena Vista County District Court to charges of attempted murder, willful injury resulting in serious injury, assault with intent to commit sexual abuse and assault with a dangerous weapon.

Garcia-Montelongo is charged with assaulting Mario Zamora Cordova on Aug. 5 at the Budget Inn hotel in Storm Lake.

According to court documents, Cordova was at the hotel to discuss a job with Garcia-Montelongo, who offered him drugs. When Cordova refused, Garcia-Montelongo became upset, pushed Cordova to the ground, grabbed a 10-15-inch knife and began gouging Cordova's eyes before attempting to sexually assault him.

Cordova kicked Garcia-Montelongo, causing him to fall on Cordova's right leg, breaking it and dislocating his ankle. Cordova was able to stand up and punched Garcia-Montelongo in the face before exiting the room and calling his wife, who called 911.

Police found Garcia-Montelongo in the hotel room and took him into custody without incident.
SIOUX CITY  A large portion of Woodbury County was placed under a burn ban at 6 p.m. Friday.

The areas included in the ban are: Anthon, Bronson, Correctionville, Cushing, Danbury, Lawton, Moville, Oto, Pierson, Salix, Sergeant Bluff, Sloan and Smithland.

This only applies to the portions within Woodbury County, according to the Iowa State Fire Marshal.

Upon investigation, it was determined by the State Fire Marshal that conditions in these areas are such that burning constitutes a danger to life or property, said Anthony Gaul, Sergeant Bluff fire chief in a press release.

The National Drought Monitor shows Woodbury County and much of Northwest Iowa continue to experience conditions ranging from abnormally dry to extreme drought. Some locations in northeast Nebraska and southeast South Dakota are one step further, reaching exceptional drought.

On Wednesday, rural fire departments were dispatched to multiple fires sparked by combines.

Residents living in these areas are allowed to burn with a permit from the local fire chief. A resident found in violation of this ban could be charged with a simple misdemeanor.

This ban will remain in effect until the fire departments in these areas notify the State Fire Marshal that conditions have improved and are no longer a threat, according to the release.
A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Friday urged the United States to handle affairs related to Taiwan cautiously and stop supporting Taiwan in a bid to contain China.

Zhu Fenglian, the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson, made the statement in response to the remarks made by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in her recent visits to Japan and the Republic of Korea.

"There is only one China, and Taiwan is part of it. Since the Taiwan question is China's domestic affair, foreign interference will not be tolerated," Zhu said.

She urged the United States to uphold the one-China principle and abide by the provisions of the three China-U.S. joint communiques. She warned Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party authority that its attempts to look for U.S. support for their "independence" agenda would not succeed.
SIOUX CITY  For more than an hour on Friday morning, local emergency officials negotiated with a woman on the roof of a downtown apartment building before getting her down.

Before 11 a.m., Sioux City police responded to a call about someone on top of the Pierce Regency Apartments, 1023 Pierce St. By 11:03 a.m., officials were talking with the woman who could be seen crying.

By 11:20 a.m., the Sioux City Fire Department had a ladder up but the woman then hid behind a pillar.

By 11:27 a.m., the woman shifted to the west side of the roof.

By 11:39 a.m., the woman was seen lying on the edge of the roof and could be heard crying loudly.

Around 11:56 a.m., fire officials made it on top of the building and were then able to start the process of getting her off the roof.

At least four police cars, two fire trucks and an ambulance were present at the scene and traffic was rerouted in the area.
129 dead after fans stampede to exit Indonesian soccer match

MALANG, Indonesia (AP)  Panic at an Indonesian soccer match after police fired tear gas to stop brawls left 129 dead, mostly trampled to death, police said Sunday.

Several fights between supporters of the two rival soccer teams were reported inside the Kanjuruhan Stadium in East Java province's Malang city after the Indonesian Premier League game ended with Persebaya Surabaya beating Arema Malang 3-2.

The brawls that broke out just after the game ended late night Saturday prompted riot police to fire tear gas, which caused panic among supporters, said East Java Police Chief Nico Afinta.

Hundreds of people ran to an exit gate in an effort to avoid the tear gas. Some suffocated in the chaos and others were trampled, killing 34 almost instantly.

More than 300 were rushed to nearby hospitals to treat injuries but many died on the way and during a treatment, Afinta said.

Russia withdraws troops after Ukraine encircles key city

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  After being encircled by Ukrainian forces, Russia pulled troops out Saturday from an eastern Ukrainian city that it had been using as a front-line hub. It was the latest victory for the Ukrainian counteroffensive that has humiliated and angered the Kremlin.

Russias withdrawal from Lyman complicates its internationally vilified declaration just a day earlier that it had annexed four regions of Ukraine  an area that includes Lyman. Taking the city paves the way for Ukrainian troops to potentially push further into land that Moscow now illegally claims as its own.

The Ukrainian flag is already in Lyman, Donetsk region. Fighting is still going on there. But there is no trace of any pseudo-referendum there, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Saturday.

He was referring to referendums that Russia held at gunpoint in the four regions before annexing them  Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

The fighting comes at a pivotal moment in Russian President Vladimir Putins war. Facing Ukrainian gains on the battlefield  which he frames as a U.S.-orchestrated effort to destroy Russia  Putin this week heightened threats of nuclear force and used his most aggressive, anti-Western rhetoric to date.

Ian leaves dozens dead as focus turns to rescue, recovery

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP)  Dozens of Florida residents left their flooded and splintered homes by boat and by air on Saturday as rescuers continued to search for survivors in the wake of Hurricane Ian, while authorities in South Carolina and North Carolina began taking stock of their losses.

The death toll from the storm, one of the strongest hurricanes by wind speed to ever hit the U.S., grew to more than four dozen, with 47 deaths confirmed in Florida, four in North Carolina and three deaths in Cuba. The storm weakened Saturday as it rolled into the mid-Atlantic, but not before it washed out bridges and piers, hurdled massive boats into buildings onshore and sheared roofs off homes, leaving hundreds of thousands without power.

The bulk of the deaths confirmed in Florida were mostly from drowning in storm waters, but others from Ian's tragic aftereffects. An elderly couple died after their oxygen machines shut off when they lost power, authorities said.

As of Saturday, more than 1,000 people had been rescued from flooded areas along Florida's southwestern coast alone, Daniel Hokanson, a four-star general and head of the National Guard, told The Associated Press while airborne to Florida.

Later in the evening, the White House announced that President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden would travel to Florida on Wednesday. No other details of Biden's visit were immediately released.

Pine Island residents recount horror, fear as Ian bore down

PINE ISLAND, Fla. (AP)  Paramedics and volunteers with a group that rescues people after natural disasters went door to door Saturday on Florida's devastated Pine Island, offering to evacuate residents who spoke of the terror of riding out Hurricane Ian in flooded homes and howling winds.

The largest barrier island off Floridas Gulf Coast, Pine Island has been largely cut off from the outside world. Ian heavily damaged the only bridge to the island, leaving it only reachable by boat or air. For many, the volunteers from the non-profit Medic Corps were the first people they have seen from outside the island in days.

Residents described the horror of being trapped in their homes as water kept rising. Joe Conforti became emotional as he recounted what happened, saying the water rose at least 8 to 10 feet (2.4-3 meters), and there were 4-foot (1.2-meter) waves in the streets.

The water just kept pounding the house and we watched, boats, houses  we watched everything just go flying by, he said, as he fought back tears. Weve lost so much at this point.

Conforti said if it wasn't for his wife, Dawn Conforti, he wouldn't have made it. He said: I started to lose sensibility, because when the waters at your door and its splashing on the door and youre seeing how fast its moving, theres no way youre going to survive that.

Ian shows the risks and costs of living on barrier islands

SANIBEL ISLAND, Fla. (AP)  When Hurricane Ian struck Floridas Gulf Coast, it washed out the bottom level of David Muench's home on the barrier island of Sanibel along with several cars, a Harley-Davidson and a boat.

His parents' house was among those destroyed by the storm that killed at least two people there, and the lone bridge to the crescent-shaped island collapsed, cutting off access by car to the mainland for its 6,300 residents.

Hurricane Ian underscores the vulnerability of the nation's barrier islands and the increasing costs of people living on the thin strips of land that parallel the coast. As hurricanes become more destructive, experts question whether such exposed communities can keep rebuilding in the face of climate change.

This is a Hurricane Katrina-scale event, where youre having to rebuild everything, including the infrastructure, said Jesse M. Keenan, a real estate professor at Tulane Universitys School of Architecture. We can't build back everything to what it was  we can't afford that."

Ian slammed into southwest Florida as a Category 4 hurricane Wednesday with among the highest windspeeds in U.S. history  in nearly the same spot where Hurricane Charley, also a Category 4, caused major damage in 2004.

Russia blindfolds, detains Ukraine nuclear plant chief

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Russian forces blindfolded and detained the head of Europes largest nuclear plant, Ukraines nuclear power provider said Saturday, reigniting long-simmering fears over the plant's security.

The alleged kidnapping on Friday apparently took place shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin escalated his war in Ukraine and pushed it into a new, dangerous phase by annexing four Ukrainian regions that Moscow fully or partially controls and heightening threats of nuclear force.

In a possible attempt to secure Moscows hold on the newly annexed territory, Russian forces seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov, around 4 p.m. Friday, the Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom said.

Putin on Friday signed treaties to absorb the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, including the area around the nuclear plant.

Energoatom said Russian troops stopped Murashovs car, blindfolded him and then took him to an undisclosed location.

Venezuela swaps 7 jailed Americans for Maduro relatives

WASHINGTON (AP)  In a rare softening of hostile relations, Venezuela freed on Saturday seven imprisoned Americans in exchange for the United States releasing two nephews of President Nicolas Maduros wife who had been jailed for years on narcotics convictions.

The swap of the Americans, including five oil executives held for nearly five years, follows months of back channel diplomacy by senior U.S. officials  secretive talks with a major oil producer that took on greater urgency after sanctions on Russia put pressure on global energy prices.

The deal amounts to an unusual gesture of goodwill by Maduro as the socialist leader looks to rebuild relations with the U.S. after vanquishing most of his domestic opponents. While the White House denied any change in policy toward Venezuela is afoot, the freeing of Americans could create political space for the Biden administration to ease crippling oil sanctions on Venezuela if Maduro shows progress in on-again, off-again talks with his opponents.

I cant believe it, Cristina Vadell, the daughter of Tomeu Vadell, one of the freed Americans, told The Associated Press on Saturday.

Holding back tears of joy on her 31st birthday, she said: This is the best birthday present ever. Im just so happy.

Trump at center of Oath Keepers novel defense in Jan. 6 case

WASHINGTON (AP)  The defense team in the Capitol riot trial of the Oath Keepers leader is relying on an unusual strategy with Donald Trump at the center.

Lawyers for Stewart Rhodes, founder of the extremist group, are poised to argue that jurors cannot find him guilty of seditious conspiracy because all the actions he took before the siege on Jan. 6, 2021, were in preparation for orders he anticipated from the then-president  orders that never came.

Rhodes and four associates are accused of plotting for weeks to stop the transfer of presidential power from the Republican incumbent to Democrat Joe Biden, culminating with Oath Keepers in battle gear storming the Capitol alongside hundreds of other Trump supporters.

Opening statements in the trial are set to begin Monday.

Rhodes intends to take the stand to argue he believed Trump was going to invoke the Insurrection Act to call up a militia to support him, his lawyers have said. Trump didn't do that, but Rhodes' team says that what prosecutors allege was an illegal conspiracy was "actually lobbying and preparation for the President to utilize" the law.

Supreme Court poised to keep marching to right in new term

WASHINGTON (AP)  With public confidence diminished and justices sparring openly over the institution's legitimacy, the Supreme Court on Monday will begin a new term that could push American law to the right on issues of race, voting and the environment.

Following June's momentous overturning of nearly 50 years of constitutional protections for abortion rights, the court is diving back in with an aggressive agenda that seems likely to split its six conservative justices from its three liberals.

Its not going to be a sleepy term, said Allison Orr Larsen, a William and Mary law professor. "Cases the court already has agreed to hear really have the potential to bring some pretty significant changes to the law.

Into this swirling mix steps new Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the courts first Black woman. Jackson took the seat of Justice Stephen Breyer, a member of the court's liberal wing, who retired in June. She's not expected to alter the liberal-conservative divide on the court, but for the first time the court has four women as justices and white men no longer hold a majority.

The court, with three appointees of President Donald Trump, could discard decades of decisions that allow colleges to take account of race in admissions and again weaken the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, the crown jewel of the civil rights movement.

GOP attacks Georgia's Abrams on voting as judge rejects suit

ATLANTA (AP)  When Democrat Stacey Abrams narrowly lost the Georgia governor's race to Republican Brian Kemp four years ago, she didnt go quietly.

She ended her campaign with a nonconcession that acknowledged she wouldn't be governor, while spotlighting her claims that Kemp had used his post as secretary of state to improperly purge likely Democratic voters. Abrams founded Fair Fight Action, a group focused on fair elections, which within weeks filed a wide-ranging federal lawsuit alleging gross mismanagement of Georgias elections.

That lawsuit sputtered out Friday with Fair Fight losing its last remaining arguments, more than a year after the judge had tossed most earlier claims.

People are already voting by mail in a Georgia governors race that again pits Abrams and Kemp against each other, with fewer than 40 days remaining before voting ends on Nov. 8.

And Republicans are now using the loss to attack what they see as the big lie that underlies Abrams' career. They label her claims that Georgias election system has been discriminatory as a fraud she used to enrich herself and aggrandize her political career after her 2018 loss.
A Ukrainian family was killed in a Russian attack on their building in March, despite denials. A 2021 video shows President Joe Biden urging people in hurricane-prone states to get vaccinated in case they needed to evacuate or stay in a shelter, not to protect against the storm itself. Air traffic analysts say flight cancellations across China last week remained consistent with COVID-19 pandemic trends. A video shows a member of an Italian neo-fascist group tearing down a European Union flag in 2013, not after Monday's election.
HELSINKI (AP)  Latvia held a general election Saturday amid divisions over Russia's attack on Ukraine among the Baltic countrys sizable ethnic-Russian minority. An exit poll predicted that the center-right will win the most votes but whoever forms the next government will face huge war-induced energy concerns.

A joint exit poll forecast that center-right New Unity party of Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins would win the election, capturing 22.5% of the vote. The poll was done by the Riga Stradins University, the SKDSA research center. the LETA newswire, Latvian Television and Latvian Radio.

The poll also predicted that a new centrist party that favors green development  United List  would be second with 11.5% of the vote and the opposition Greens and Farmers Union would come in third with 10.9% support. Only eight parties are predicted to pass the 5% barrier and secure representation at the 100-seat Saeima legislature.

A total of 19 parties had over 1,800 candidates running in the election. Official results are expected Sunday morning.

Initial voter turnout was 59%, the Central Election Committee said, an increase from 54.5% in the 2018 election.

Karins, who became head of Latvia's government in January 2019, currently leads a four-party minority coalition that along with New Unity includes the center-right National Alliance, the centrist Development/For!, and the Conservatives.

Karins, a 57-year-old dual Latvian-U.S. citizen born in Wilmington, Delaware, told Latvian media that it would be easiest to continue with the same coalition government if New Unity wins. He has excluded any cooperation with pro-Kremlin parties.

Support for parties catering to Latvia's ethnic-Russian minority, who make up over 25% of Latvia's 1.9 million people, is expected to be mixed; some loyal voters have abandoned them since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

This election is likely to be the death knell for the opposition Harmony party, whose popularity has steadily declined. The Moscow-friendly party traditionally served as an umbrella for most of Latvias Russian-speaking voters, including Belarusians and Ukrainians. In the 2018 election, Harmony received almost 20% of the vote, the most of any single party, but was excluded by other parties from entering the government.

However, Harmony's immediate and staunch opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine caused many voters who still back Russian President Vladimir Putin to desert it. Those opposed to the war, meanwhile, tended to move toward Latvias mainstream parties, who condemned the invasion.

A recent poll by Latvian public broadcaster LSM showed Harmony trailing in fifth place with 5.1% support.

I think the Russophonic part of the population is very fragmented, Pauls Raudseps, a columnist at the Latvian news magazine IR, told The Associated Press. You cant say its unified on anything. Some part is pro-Putin. But what weve seen is that the war in general has changed attitudes. And it has happened fairly rapidly.

Long lines were reported outside polling stations in several places Saturday, including the capital, Riga. Many voters said Russias invasion of Ukraine affected their attitudes.

People are getting more active, and as you see, there is a queue already. So, hopefully some of the pro-Russians have switched to the more European parties now, IT engineer Ratios Shovels, 38, said at a Riga district polling place.

Elena Dadukina, a 43-year-old lawyer said, said she wasn't sure if the healthy turnout was "due to the war or whether people want greater responsibility in choosing their candidates because of how they will influence our domestic politics.

Since Russia's war on Ukraine started in February, Latvian officials have banned Russians from entering the country with tourist visas and dismantled a prominent Soviet monument in Riga.

This week, the Latvian government announced a state of emergency at certain border areas as a precaution following Russias partial military mobilization. Like Baltic neighbors Estonia and Lithuania, Latvia is refusing to grant political asylum to Russian military reservists escaping conscription.

Latvia, which joined the European Union and NATO in 2004, also plans to reintroduce military conscription next year after a hiatus of over 15 years.

AP video journalist Eduard Kolik contributed from Riga, Latvia

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
BANGKOK (AP)  Myanmars military government accused rebel forces in the eastern state of Kayah of firing at a passenger plane as it was preparing to land Friday, wounding a passenger who was hit by a bullet that penetrated the fuselage. Rebel groups denied the allegation.

State television MRTV said the Myanmar National Airlines plane, carrying 63 passengers, was hit as it was about to land in Loikaw, the capital of the eastern state of Kayah, also known as Karenni.

It said Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, a spokesperson for Myanmars ruling military council, said the shooting was carried out by terrorists belonging to the Karenni National Progressive Party, an ethnic minority militia battling the government, and their allies in the Peoples Defense Force, an armed pro-democracy group.

I want to say that this kind of attack on the passenger plane is a war crime, he told MRTV by phone. People and organizations who want peace need to condemn this issue all round.

MRTV said the bullet entered the planes lower fuselage as it was flying at an altitude of 3,500 feet about 4 miles (6.5 kilometers) north of the airport. It said the injured passenger was taken to a hospital.

The state news agency released photos it said were of the bullet hole and the passenger being treated.

Myanmar National Airlines office in Loikaw announced that all flights to the city were canceled indefinitely.

Kayah state has experienced intense conflict between the military and local resistance groups since the army seized power last year, overthrowing the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Feb. 1, 2021, takeover was met with peaceful nationwide protests, but after the army and police cracked down with lethal force on street demonstrators opposing military rule, thousands of civilians formed militia units as part of a Peoples Defense Force to fight back.

The PDF groups are allied with well-established armed ethnic minority groups such as the Karenni, the Karen and the Kachin which have been fighting the central government for more than half a century, seeking greater autonomy in border regions.

Khu Daniel, a leader of the Karenni National Progressive Party, denied the government's accusation and said his party had not ordered its armed wing, the Karenni Army, to shoot at civilians or passenger planes.

The military always blames other organizations for the shootings. Our armed wing didnt shoot the plane this morning, he told The Associated Press.

Government spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said it has been providing security around the airport and accused the KNPP and PDF of creating chaos in Loikaw by firing artillery into the city and the area near the airport.

Since the military seized power, there have been frequent clashes in Kayah between the army and local anti-government guerrillas near a base belonging to the governments 54th Light Infantry Battalion, located south of the airport. State-run media reported last Christmas that the KNPP and PDF attacked a Myanmar National Airlines passenger plane with four 107mm rockets, which exploded about 2,000 meters (1.2 miles) east of the airport, injuring no one.

The Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, another ethnic rebel group, earlier advised against traveling on Myanmar National Airlines because it is state-owned, so its revenues go to the military, and the army uses it to supply its forces.

The information officer of the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, who spoke on condition of anonymity to safeguard his personal security, called the government's allegation about Friday's shooting nothing more than defamatory propaganda against the revolutionary forces by the Military Council.

"The runway and the area of the airfield are surrounded by infantry battalions and high security areas. So to say that PDFs attacked the plane is only an accusation, he said.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korea on Saturday test-fired two short-range ballistic missiles, its neighbors said, the fourth round this week of weapons launches that prompted quick, strong condemnation from its rivals.

In an unusually strong rebuke of North Koreas weapons programs, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said North Koreas obsession with nuclear weapons is deepening the suffering of its own people, and warned of an overwhelming response from South Korean and U.S. militaries should such weapons be used.

North Korea hasnt abandoned its obsession with nukes and missiles despite the persistent international objection in the past 30 years, Yoon said during an Armed Forces Day ceremony at the military headquarters in central South Korea. The development of nuclear weapons will plunge the lives of North Korean people in further pains.

If North Korea attempts to use nukes, itll face a resolute, overwhelming response by the South Korea-U.S. alliance and our military, Yoon said.

Yoons comments could enrage North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who in July alleged that Yoons government was led by confrontation maniacs and gangsters. Kim has also rebuffed Yoons offers of massive assistance in return for denuclearization.

The Norths testing spree this week is seen as a response to recent naval drills between South Korea and the United States and their other training that involved Japan. North Korea views such military exercises by the allies as an invasion rehearsal and argues they reveal U.S. and South Korean double standards because they brand the Norths weapons tests as provocation.

On Saturday, South Korea, Japanese and U.S. militaries said they detected the two North Korean missile launches. South Korea said the liftoffs occurred from North Koreas capital region.

According to South Korean and Japanese estimates, the missiles flew about 350-400 kilometers (220-250 miles) at a maximum altitude of 30-50 kilometers (20-30 miles) before they landed in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. Toshiro Ino, Japans vice defense minister, said the missiles showed irregular trajectory.

Some observers say the weapons reported low and irregular trajectory suggest they were likely nuclear-capable, highly maneuverable missiles modeled after Russias Iskander missile. They say North Korea has developed the Iskander-like weapon to defeat South Korean and U.S. missile defenses and strike key targets in South Korea, including U.S. military bases there.

The five other ballistic missiles fired by North Korea on three occasions this week show similar trajectories to the ones detected Saturday.

The repeated ballistic missile firings by North Korea are a grave provocation that undermines peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and in the international community, South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

Ino called the launches absolutely impermissible," adding that four rounds of missile testing by North Korea in a week is unprecedented.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the launches highlight the destabilizing impact of North Koreas unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.

On Friday, South Korea, the United States and Japan held their first trilateral anti-submarine drills in five years off the Korean Peninsulas east coast. Earlier this week, South Korean and U.S. warships conducted bilateral exercises in the area for four days. Both military drills this week involved the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan.

The North Korean missile tests this week also bookended U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris' visit Thursday to South Korea, where she reaffirmed the United States' ironclad commitment to the security of its Asian allies.

Worries about North Koreas nuclear program have grown since the North last month adopted a new law authorizing the preemptive use of nuclear weapons in certain situations, a move that shows its escalatory nuclear doctrine.

During his speech Saturday, Yoon said the North Korean law threatens South Korea's national existence and that Seoul will expand military exercises with Washington and bolster South Koreas own missile strike and surveillance capacities in response.

South Korean officials have typically avoided harsh rhetoric on North Korea to prevent an escalation of animosities. But Yoons Defense Ministry has recently warned North Korea would self-destruct if it uses its nuclear weapons

This year, North Korea has carried out a record number of missile tests in what experts call an attempt to expand its weapons arsenal amid stalled nuclear diplomacy with the United States. South Korean and U.S. officials say North Korea has also completed preparations to conduct a nuclear test, which would be the seventh of its kind and the first in five years.

Experts say Kim Jong Un eventually wants to use the enlarged nuclear arsenal to pressure the United States and others accept his country as a legitimate nuclear state, a recognition he views as necessary to win the lifting of international sanctions and other concessions.

Multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions ban North Korea from testing ballistic missiles and nuclear devices. The countrys missile launches this year are seen as exploiting a divide at the U.N. council over Russias invasion of Ukraine and U.S.-China competitions.

North Koreas frequent short-range missile tests may strain the isolated states resources. But because of deadlock on the U.N. Security Council, they are a low-cost way for the Kim regime to signal its displeasure with Washington and Seouls defense exercises while playing the domestic politics of countering an external threat, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in telephone call with Ukraine's president, has condemned Russias new annexation of parts of Ukraine as illegal and a violation of the countrys sovereignty. Kishida says he also reassured Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Japan is committed to working with the international community in supporting Ukraine and plans to impose more sanctions against Russia. Japan has closely cooperated with other Group of Seven nations and Europe in imposing sanctions over Russia's invasion. Most recently, it banned exports of sensitive materials to Russia that could be used to make chemical weapons.
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP)  The funeral for former U.S. Rep. Mark Souder of Indiana will be held on Oct. 8.

Souder, a Republican who represented northeastern Indiana in Congress for more than 15 years, died Monday. He was 72.

Souder disclosed in January that he had inoperable pancreatic cancer. He said a biopsy taken during surgery revealed a large cancerous mass on his pancreas.

Souder was running for a ninth term in the U.S. House when he abruptly resigned in May 2010 after admitting to an extramarital affair with a woman who worked in his congressional office.

His funeral will be held at 11 a.m. on Oct. 8 at Emmanuel Community Church in Fort Wayne, with calling one hour before, FairHaven Funeral Home has posted on its website.

Calling also will be held 3-5 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. on Oct. 7 at the church, the funeral home said.
Dear Prudence is Slates advice column. Submit questions here. (Its anonymous!)

Dear Prudence,

Ive always been sensitive to the spirits of the dead. My mom told me that when I was little I used to play with my deceased grandfather, I often know things that I have no other way of knowing, and generally, I can just sense a presence sometimes. Except for a few terrible childhood field trips to battlefields, Ive always found it comfortingmost spirits are gentle and not all that interested in people they didnt know in life, and I enjoy the fact that even when Im alone, Im not really alone.

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A few months ago my dad passed away (my mom passed years ago). I inherited my parents house, and my husband and I decided to move in and grow our family to fill the space. The thing is, my parents wont leave me alone! Recently, my husband and I were in our bedroom working on growing our family and I sensed my dad, which ruined the mood. My mom definitely disapproves of the fact that I tore down her dining room wallpaper. And they both showed up in the middle of a petty argument we had, and took sides! I did not sign up for moving back in with my parents.

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I know from experience that the dead dont take orders from the living, and I really like the idea of my children growing up in a house infused with their grandparents spirits, so I need to get over this. How can I get used to having my parents hovering over my shoulder all the time?

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Never Alone

Dear Never Alone,

Far be it from me to suggest that your parents spirits arent hanging around. I will take your word for it, and go with what people who sincerely believe in this kind of paranormal activity would suggest: Say, By the power of all my good karma, direct connection to Source, agape love, and selfless acts, I ask the universe to please remove all negative entities from this house. You are not welcome here, so please go back to where you came from. Since you know these people, you can preface that with Sorry mom and dad, but

Dear Prudence,

A few years ago, I was going through a challenging time - I moved to a new city where I had no friends, and was also dealing with a breakup. I unexpectedly drew a lot of comfort from weekly phone calls with a work acquaintance Joe where wed catch up on gossip from my old job. This was often my only source of socializing all week.

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For about a year now, however, Ive begun dreading these calls. My weekends are packed with errands, social commitments (I finally made friends!), and other tasks, and talking to Joe feels like yet another responsibility. Joe has also been on a downward psychological spiral for about six months. I feel deep empathy and sadness hes going through such a rough time  but at the same time, his deep depression really affects me when I hear about it on a weekly basis. Our conversations nearly 100% center on Joe  his mental health, his unhappiness, his needs  and I barely get a word in edgewise. I feel like Im taking an hour each weekend to provide free therapy for him and it makes me resentful.

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Ive tried to pull back on these calls, sharing that I have more responsibilities on the weekends now, but Joe just tries to reschedule for the week. How can I get these calls to stop without severing the friendship or hurting an already-hurting person?

Calling It Quits

Dear Calling It Quits,

Assuming you do care about him and dont want to say I cant do this anymore, Joe. I dont have the time or mental energy, I think you can choose a combination of strategies so that these chats feel better for you:

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1) Start letting him know that youre very busy overall, not just on the weekends and explicitly say you are sorry but youll have less time to catch up on the phone. Then halve the amount of time youre spending talking to him.

2) When you do talk, combine it with a boring task you would have had to do anyway, like pairing socks, unloading the dishwasher, taking braids out of your hair, or cleaning the built-up lint on your desk fan with a q-tip. When youre done, you will feel like youve accomplished something!

3) Insist on getting a word in. Talk about yourself. Aggressively if needed. This will help you get more value out of the conversations and maybe also make them a little less appealing to him.

4) See if you can steer the content about his mental health away from venting and toward solutions.

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But please remember if your well-being takes a hit, you can always hit Reject call and say Sorry, Im tied up right now or even Not up for being on the phone at the moment but I hope youre doing OK!

Dear Prudence,

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I have been working in the financial industry for five years and have been in my current department for two. I am on track to win the employee of the year award based on conversations with my manager and my results. I have worked really hard for the past fiscal year to be a top performer and so this award can help me apply for a new role in the future. With this employee award comes a free trip with your colleagues. Cool right?

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Not for me! If I were to win this award, how would I politely decline the trip? It would be four days to an American city with a prominent college that I have no desire to visit. I dont want to spend this trip with other employees I barely know. I would rather take extra vacation time or a payout. This is the first employee trip since COVID so Im not sure if it would be rude to decline. I also have travel anxiety and the thought of going somewhere with colleagues I dont know makes me feel stressed. There have also been rumors of boundaries being crossed on these trips and I do not want to be in that situation as a young female on her own. I am grateful there is even the chance to win this award but the trip is just not for me. How do I politely decline the trip if I win this award?

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Work Trip Catastrophe

Dear Work Trip Catastrophe,

I give you permission to get out of this by telling a white lie involving phrases like my very elderly sick hamster, longstanding plans that conflict with the dates, my caregiving responsibilities for my parents, a flare-up of a chronic medical issue, a flood in my apartment, or even not feeling well, testing for COVID. Take your pick. Express lots of gratitude for the opportunity and perhaps even suggest that an extremely helpful and hardworking colleague, who makes your work possible, might like to take your place.

Catch up on this weeks Prudie.

More Advice From Slate

My great-grandparents left their four great-grandchildren $10,000 for college in investment accounts. Five years after their passing, the accounts were worth $30,000 each, thanks to some smart investing by my uncle. At this point, my parents closed my and my brothers accounts and invested the $60,000 in their business. This business went bust a year later, sending my parents into bankruptcy, foreclosure, and a nasty divorce.
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This article contains spoilers about the first few episodes of Season 5 of The Handmaids Tale.

Four episodes into the fifth season of The Handmaids Tale, not much has changed. We still dont really know how Gilead works. Approximately 15 percent of the shows runtime remains devoted to closeups of Elisabeth Moss making intense faces. And Im still watching.

But this season, Ive been struck by something I should have noticed much earlier: There is next to no surveillance in Gilead.

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Its been particularly noticeable this season. When Serena Joy Waterford returns to Gilead for her husbands funeral, she stays in a hotel. There, at one point, she has a quiet conversation with her American minder, Mark Tuello. My first reaction was to think: No! Its like youre in North Korea! Everything in that room will be bugged! Yet to avoid being overheard, all they have to do is whisper. In another scene, Tuello meets secretly with a Gilead commander in the woods. Where is the throwaway line about being careful about potential GPS trackers? Or street cameras equipped with license plate readers?

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And that helped crystallize for me that surveillance has been missing all along. Technologically, its as though Gilead is stuck in 1985, when Margaret Atwood wrote the novel the show is based onexcept the book does include a certain level of electronic communication, in the form of devices called Computalks. And even in 1985, the Soviet Union was bugging hotel rooms.

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Yet in the show, the only communication we see takes place by radio and telephone. Gilead, we are told repeatedly, is a poor country, isolated economically by sanctions and still rebuilding from the overthrow of the U.S. government. But the idea of a 21st century authoritarian country with virtually no digital surveillance is a puzzle. Perhaps such a new fascist country might not have smartphones or the internet for use by everyday people, sure. You can see them making a religious argument against consumer use of technology, and telecommunications networks would have been severely damaged in the war. In a map of Gilead, Silicon Valley appears to be held by rebels.

Still, Gilead would have inherited at least some of the surveillance technologies that the U.S. government, law enforcement, and even corporations use today. And even if the government told citizens that using technology was religiously forbidden, the main thing we know about Gilead is that it is built on hypocrisy: As they preach sexual repression, the elite men are allowed to frequent a brothel. Theres no reason to think that the leadership wouldnt have turned on what equipment remained or smuggled other devices in from overseas. Sure, putting them to use without existing infrastructure would be challenging. But while they may not be a majority, theres no shortage of male tech workers with deeply misogynistic views who might have welcomed an opportunity to put their skills to use in Gilead. How could a regime that is obsessed with controlling peopleespecially womenresist the opportunity to eavesdrop on every whisper and track every step?

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In fact, the only time we really see a discussion about surveillance in the show this season comes when Serena, returned to Canada, is told that the country doesnt plan to keep her under surveillance. In return, shes a little snarky about regaining her privacy. And later, when shes concerned about her safety, her body guard and facilitator assures her that there are cameras at her residence to protect her.

Hopefully, this may change in The Testaments, the new Hulu show that will debut after The Handmaids Tale sixth and last season. In the novel The Testaments, which was published in 2019, there are brief mentions of technological eavesdropping.

Is it silly to expect realism from a dystopic show like The Handmaids Tale? For sure. But given how often people use the show as a warning about what a future without rights for women looks like, its worth remembering that in some ways, the reality of a Gilead would be even worse than it appears.

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Here are some stories from the recent past of Future Tense:

Samuel Breslow Wikipedias Fox News Problem

Heather Schwedel Who Gets to Read Your Text Messages After You Die?

Nitish Pahwa The Real Dangers of the Nord Stream Pipeline Leaks

Max Fenton The Tech Once Responsible for Dropping Agent Orange Is Making an Alarming Comeback

Future Tense Fiction

Septembers story was Yellow, by B. Pladek, and asks: What if every decision you made came with a risk scoreand what if you and your family couldnt agree on how to interpret those scores? In the response essay, Lorens Helmchen, an expert on health economics and predictive analytics, writes, When risks like these suddenly become visible to us, we must ask: What do we each gain by tracking them?

Wish Wed Published This

Would You Ditch All This Chaos for a Country in the Cloud? by Anthony Lydgate, Wired.

Future Tense Recommends

Let me be clear: I am a sucker who pays for way too many streaming services. But Im thrilled that I decided to splurge on Peacock, because it brought me my favorite non-Yellowjackets show of the 2020s: The Resort. Starring William Jackson Harper (who played Chidi on The Good Place) and Cristin Milioti (who co-starred in Palm Springs, which was written by The Resort creator Andy Siara), the show is about a couple who head to Mexico to celebrate their 10th anniversary, despite a tragedy that haunts their marriage. When Milioti finds an old dumb cellphone, she pulls herself and her husband into the mysterious disappearances of two tourists in 2007. I cant say much more without giving it away, but its a compelling, funny, suspenseful showso good that its worth getting a free trial of Peacock to watch it.

What Next: TBD

On Fridays episode of Slates technology podcast, guest host Mary C. Curtis talks to a Texas woman who was forced by a government program to move after her long-time community suffered major flooding damage in Hurricane Harvey. Last week, Lizzie OLeary and Slates Mark Joseph Stern talked about the looming Supreme Court showdown over new social media laws from Florida and Texas. She also interviewed former Slatester Joshua Keating, now of Grid, about how European countries are rethinking their stance on nuclear energy. On Sundays episode, Lizzie will host a mini-debate between William MacAskill, author of the new book What We Owe the Future, and journalist Robert Wright about longtermism vs. short-termism.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
Chinese internet users have actively participated in an initiative launched by the Communist Party of China (CPC) to solicit public opinions and suggestions for the upcoming 20th CPC National Congress.

It was the first time in the history of the CPC that such an initiative had been launched to solicit opinions and suggestions from the whole Party and society on the work related to the Party's national congress.

It fully demonstrated the Party's commitment to democracy and its tradition to pool wisdom from the public.

"It's a good way to learn about people's needs and seek their advice through the internet. I give it a thumbs up," commented a netizen.

"The online opinion solicitation activity pooled strength to promote development by inviting public participation," said a primary-level official from Fuzhou City in east China's Jiangxi Province.

From April 15 to May 16, designated online platforms, including the websites and mobile apps of People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, and China Media Group, opened special sections for netizens to share their views and ideas.

The initiative was vigorously promoted online and offline through multiple new-media means such as posters and short videos displayed on screens in outdoor spaces and on public transport vehicles. Official data shows that relevant webpages were viewed about 660 million times during that period.

More than 8.54 million pieces of opinions and suggestions were collected, over 97 percent of which were submitted under real names.

The participants were from various sectors of society, including personnel from state organs and public institutions, employees of state-owned and private enterprises, and self-employed individuals.

Netizens spoke out on a wide range of topics, including full and strict Party governance, high-quality development, comprehensive reform and opening-up, whole-process people's democracy, law-based state governance, socialist cultural advancement, and ecological progress.

About one-third of the opinions were related to people's well-being, with the most-mentioned aspects being education, employment, healthcare, housing, elderly care, and social security.

Some applauded the "double reduction" policy in compulsory education and expressed the hope that the policy can be further improved and well implemented to meet its goal of easing the burden of excessive homework and off-campus tutoring for primary and middle school students and cultivating high-caliber talents.

Some came up with ideas for enhancing elderly care services in rural areas and suggestions on consolidating the achievements in poverty reduction.

Based on their life and work experience, the comments mirrored the public feeling about the socio-economic development and their aspiration for a better future.

"The initiative is innovative in terms of promoting democracy and adopting a scientific approach to decision-making," said Qiang Ge, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

It is an effective way for the whole Party and society to contribute wisdom to national development and rejuvenation, and an epitome of the whole-process people's democracy, Qiang said.

The opinions and suggestions will be carefully studied and absorbed to offer references for work related to the upcoming congress.
https://sputniknews.com/20221001/berlin-protestors-demand-end-to-ukraine-weapons-supply-1101404427.html

Berlin Protestors Demand End to Ukraine Weapons Supply

Berlin Protestors Demand End to Ukraine Weapons Supply

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said early in September that Berlin would act with its allies rather than take unilateral action where arms supplies to Ukraine... 01.10.2022, Sputnik International

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Sputnik comes live as activists gather on the streets of Berlin demanding an end to both the conflict in Ukraine and shipments of NATO weapons to the country.Residents of Berlin and other Germany cities are rallying against supplying weapons to Ukraine and calling instead to spend taxpayers' money on peaceful policies, social justice and the environment. Protesters are lobbying for negotiations to end the Ukrainian conflict.Since the beginning of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, NATO countries have been providing Kiev with weapons.Moscow decries the flow of weapons to Ukraine from western allies, saying that it adds fuel to the fire and will prolong the crisis. In April, Russia sent a note to NATO member states, condemning their military assistance to Ukraine.Follow Sputnik's Live Feed to Find Out More!

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https://sputniknews.com/20221001/escalation-of-tensions-in-no-ones-interest-india-refuses-to-side-with-west-against-russia-1101404863.html

'Escalation of Tensions in No Ones Interest': India Refuses to Side With West Against Russia

'Escalation of Tensions in No Ones Interest': India Refuses to Side With West Against Russia

From 23 to 27 September, the republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, and the Russian-controlled parts of the Ukrainian regions of Zaporozhye and Kherson held... 01.10.2022, Sputnik International

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India abstained from voting on a draft resolution tabled by the US and Albania at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) condemning the annexation of the Donetsk Peoples Republic (DPR), Lugansk Peoples Republic (LPR), and the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions into Russia, saying that the escalation of tensions is in no ones interest.China, Brazil and Gabon were other countries which abstained from voting on the resolution tabled on Friday.The resolution failed to pass, despite 10 out of 15 nations voting in favor of it as Russia used a veto to block it. However, according to media reports, a similar resolution is likely to be introduced in the UN General Assembly in the near future and Russia doesnt have a veto there.Addressing the council after the vote, India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj said that India is deeply disturbed by the recent developments in Ukraine, and that New Delhi has always held that no solution can ever be arrive at at the cost of human lives.Emphasizing that Indias position has been clear and consistent from the very beginning of Russias special military operation in Ukraine, Kamboj said: Global order is anchored on the principles of the UN Charter, international law and respect for sovereignty and the territorial integrity of all states.Speaking before the vote, Russia's Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia said that the results of the referendum speak for themselves and that the residents of these regions do not want to return to Ukraine.This is not the first time India has abstained from voting in UNSC. It has twice abstained from voting in UNSC and once in the General Assembly on resolutions concerning Russias special military operation in Ukraine.

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https://sputniknews.com/20221001/hezbollah-chief-charges-us-with-satanic-meddling-use-of-troll-armies-against-iran-amid-protests-1101423535.html

Hezbollah Chief Charges US With Satanic Meddling, Use of Troll Armies Against Iran Amid Protests

Hezbollah Chief Charges US With Satanic Meddling, Use of Troll Armies Against Iran Amid Protests

Iran has faced two weeks of civil unrest following the death of a 22-year-old woman named Mahsa Amini in religious police custody under suspicious... 01.10.2022, Sputnik International

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Hezbollah secretary general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has ripped Washington for engaging in a satanic campaign to try to bring down the Iranian government and divide the Islamic world.The constant incitement against Iran and the painting of its people as an enemy is a satanic deed aimed at ripping the nation apart, Nasrallah said in a televised address Saturday.Saying that the Islamic Republic was stronger and braver than ever, Nasrallah suggested that successive US administrations have recognized their inability to defeat Iran militarily, and have instead bet on disputes at home to try to divide and destabilize the country.Cities across Iran have been rocked by more than two weeks of protests following Aminis death. The young woman died in a hospital in Tehran on September 16, three days after being detained by Irans Guidance Patrol, better known as the morality police, for breaking hijab rules. Demonstrations began a day after her death, with demonstrators and provocateurs on social media accusing police of causing her death by severely beating her.Iranian authorities tried to defuse the situation by releasing security cam footage appearing to show that Amini was not subjected to any form of physical abuse while in Guidance Patrol custody. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi ordered a special investigation into the case and expressed condolences to Aminis family.However, the violence has not subsided, and scores of people, both protesters and police, have been wounded or killed in violent street clashes in the past two weeks.US media have made no secret of Americas role in fomenting the violence. Last week, Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad boasted in an interview with the New Yorker magazine that she was leading this movement, and expressed confidence that the Iranian regime will be brought down by women. Alinejad works for Voice of America Persia and Radio Farda, the US government-funded branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The journalist has spent years calling on Washington to slap more sanctions against her birth country, and pro-Iranian media have accused her of ties to the CIA.The protests in Iran began just one day after Iran was formally admitted into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a nine-member Eurasian economic and security bloc of nations which also includes China, Russia and India, among others.Last week, the information portal of the BRICS group of nations charged the West with seeking to foment a color revolution in the Islamic Republic.On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani accused Western powers and media of openly supporting the violent unrest.

https://sputniknews.com/20220925/iran-summons-uk-norwegian-ambassadors-slams-us-after-finding-hand-of-washington-in-protests-1101213565.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220925/police-clash-with-protests-outside-iranian-embassies-in-paris-london-1101215750.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220915/iran-backs-potential-of-chabahar-in-boosting-regional-trade-as-it-concludes-sco-membership-process-1100814657.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221001/history-repeats-itself-the-time-us-sabotaged-a-soviet-gas-pipeline-and-bragged-about-it-1101417106.html

History Repeats Itself? The Time US Sabotaged a Soviet Gas Pipeline and Bragged About It

History Repeats Itself? The Time US Sabotaged a Soviet Gas Pipeline and Bragged About It

Blasts rocked the Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural gas pipelines on Monday, with each pipeline reportedly hit with the force of over 500 kg of TNT  which when... 01.10.2022, Sputnik International

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In his address before lawmakers and the nation on Friday on the entry of four new territories into the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin said that the attacks against Nord Stream were the next logical step for the US and its allies after exhausting anti-Russian sanctions. It seems incredible but it is a fact  by causing explosions on Nord Streams international gas pipelines passing along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, they have actually embarked on the destruction of Europes entire energy infrastructure, the Russian president said.Officials in Denmark, Sweden and Berlin have not ruled out deliberate sabotage, and NATO paid lip service to support for investigations underway to determine the origin of the damage. A Pentagon official refused to comment on a Flightradar24 analysis showing US military helicopters circling for hours in the areas where the explosions hit prior to the incident. Meanwhile, former Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski tweeted and then deleted a Thank you, USA message alongside a picture of a massive methane leak emanating from one of the damaged pipelines, and boasted that now, $20 billion of scrap metal lies at the bottom of the sea. Meanwhile, some Western officials and media continue to claim that Russia sabotaged its own pipelines.Everything Old is New AgainThe attacks against Nord Stream are not the first time that a Western trace has been suspected in the sabotage of gas pipelines operated by Moscow.In the summer of 1982, the Urengoy-Surgut-Chelyabinsk pipeline carrying natural gas south and west toward Ukraine, where it can be taken further west toward Europe, was rocked by a massive explosion. The explosions causes were unknown, and Soviet media never reported on the incident.In 2004, former Reagan special assistant for national security affairs and National Security Council official Thomas Reed published an autobiography entitled At the Abyss in which he alleged that the Central Intelligence Agency had sabotaged the pipeline by adding a virus into software the USSR had purchased from a Canadian company to operate the infrastructure.The former official said the act of sabotage was aimed at disrupting the USSRs gas infrastructure, its hard currency earnings from the West and the internal Russian economy, and that the scheme was thought up by National Security Council technology and intelligence advisor Gus Weiss.Portions of the operation were disclosed earlier, in a 1996 paper in CIA journal Studies in Intelligence by Weiss. In it, the former official recalled how, at an economic summit in Ottawa in 1981, French President Francois Mitterrand had informed Ronald Reagan that a KGB double agent named Vladimir Vetrov had come forward to provide French intelligence with 4,000 documents and photographs related to alleged Soviet efforts to get their hands on Western technologies which the US and allies refused to sell due to sanctions and embargoes. The collection of documents was dubbed the Farewell Dossier.Reed recalled that when the explosion occurred, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)  the organization tasked with aerospace early warning, initially feared a Soviet missile liftoff from a place where no rockets were known to be based. Or perhaps it was the detonation of a small nuclear device. Before these conflicting indicators could turn into an international crisis, Gus Weiss came down the hall to tell his fellow National Security Council staffers not to worry.As has long been the case with the Nord Stream pipelines, the United States had adamantly opposed Soviet projects to deliver gas from Siberia to Western Europe, characterizing them as a means for Moscow to project influence over the Europeans. In 1982, the Reagan administration banned pipeline equipment sales to the USSR, prompting the European Economic Community  forerunner to the European Union, to issue a formal protest over Washingtons interference in the blocs economic affairs. Germany, France, Italy and the UK declared the restrictions illegal, and promised to defy the ban. Washington eventually reneged, and the first gas deliveries from Urengoy to Western Europe began in January 1984.To this day, Russian officials have never conceded that the 1982 explosion was the result of CIA interference. In the 1990s and 2000s, when relations between Russia and the US still looked rosy, engineers and ex-KGB agents came forward to tell media that industrial negligence or even shoddy workmanship, and not sabotage, was to blame.The CIA never directly confirmed its involvement in the Urengoy-Surgut-Chelyabinsk pipeline explosion. However, in a page on the CIAs official website, the agency did boast that flawed turbines were installed on a gas pipeline as part of a broader US technological sabotage campaign against the USSR.

https://sputniknews.com/20220930/russian-foreign-intel-nord-stream-blasts-are-intl-terrorist-act-with-west-hiding-the-culprits-1101364494.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221001/kamala-harris-whips-up-cyclone-of-criticism-pushing-equity-while-discussing-hurricane-ian-relief-1101422874.html

Kamala Harris Whips Up Cyclone of Criticism Pushing Equity While Discussing Hurricane Ian Relief

Kamala Harris Whips Up Cyclone of Criticism Pushing Equity While Discussing Hurricane Ian Relief

The deadly post-tropical Atlantic cyclone caused widespread damage across western Cuba and the southeast US coast, becoming one of the top five most powerful... 01.10.2022, Sputnik International

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Vice President Kamala Harris has taken flak from Florida officials and commentators after inserting woke politics-based talking points into a discussion about Hurricane Ian relief.It is our lowest income communities and our communities of color that are most impacted by these extreme conditions and impacted by issues that are not of their own making, Harris said, speaking at a Democratic National Committee Womens Leadership Forum in Washington, DC on Friday.Women, forum host Priyanka Chopra interjected. Absolutely, Harris said.Floridas emergency response director Christina Pushaw, who also serves as an aide to governor RonDe Santis, slammed Harris over her comments, calling them false and accusing the vice president of fomenting undue panic and discrimination.[Federal Emergency Management Agency] Individual Assistance is already available to all Floridians impacted by Hurricane Ian, regardless of race or background, Pushaw tweeted.I would be panicking if my relatives were in Fort Myers right now and the Vice President said that they wouldnt be prioritized for FEMA assistance because theyre white. Fortunately, I know what is going on with the #HurricaneIan assistance and there is no racial discrimination, she added in a follow-up tweet.Pushaw later urged Harris to correct what she said.Others piled onto Harris over her eyebrow-raising remarks, with Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk suggesting aid should be distributed according to greatest need, not race or anything else.Journalist Ian Miles Cheong accused Harris of out-and-out racism. Just say it. Poor white people are screwed and Kamala Harris is gloating about it the same way she gloated about sending thousands of black men to prison over drug-related misdemeanors, Cheong tweeted, referring to Harriss hardline drug crime policy during her tenure as a prosecutor, district attorney and state attorney general in California.The controversy over Harriss remarks comes as southcentral Florida continues to dig out from the damage caused by Hurricane Ian, the worst tropical storm to hit the sunshine state since Hurricane Michael in 2018 by maximum sustained wind force, and one of the top worst tropical storms to hit the United States on record.The cyclone ripped through western Cuba last Tuesday, and made landfall in Fort Myers, Florida on Wednesday afternoon before proceeding to the states northeast coast, striking South Carolina on Friday as a Category 1 hurricane before weakening into a post-tropical cyclone on its way inland.

https://sputniknews.com/20221001/floating-houses--sharks-videos-show-aftermath-of-hurricane-ian-ravaging-florida-1101413980.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220929/biden-declares-major-disaster-in-florida-due-to-hurricane-ian-1101344492.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220929/power-supply-in-cuba-restored-by-58-day-after-hurricane-1101327034.html

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Four People Killed in Gorlovka During Ukrainian Troops Shelling - Mayor

A total of four people were killed as a result of the Ukrainian troops shelling of Gorlovka, located in the Donetsk region, the city mayor, Ivan Prikhodko, said.

"Unfortunately, in the village of Bakhmutka, as a result of the Ukrainian shelling, another three civilians were killed. At the hands of the armed formations of Ukraine, four residents of Gorlovka died today," Prikhodko said on Telegram on Saturday.



At the end of August, one woman was killed in the Ukrainian troops shelling of Gorlovka.



Also in August, the Ukrainian military targeted the Stirol chemical plant in Gorlovka, causing a fire in the enterprises warehouse area.
Sullivans Remark on Nord Stream Example of Unfounded Demonization - Russian Embassy

The Russian Embassy in the United States says the remarks by US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan regarding the attacks on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines are yet another example of russophobia.



Earlier this week, several explosions damaged Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Danish waters near the island of Bornholm. The Swedish and Danish authorities said they had discovered two gas leaks, with the consensus being that the incident resulted from sabotage. Sullivan told reporters on Friday that the United States does not believe that the attacks were "the work of any NATO ally."



"Such statements, as well as Mr. Sullivan's attempt to shift public attention to the alleged risks of physical and cyber attacks on Western infrastructure by Russia, is another example of the unfounded demonization of our country. We see it as a case of russophobia, deeply rooted in Washington, and desire to manipulate public opinion," the Russian embassy said in a statement commenting on Sullivans remarks.



The embassy pointed out that Sullivan contradicted himself by saying that there is a need for a comprehensive analysis of the accident in the Baltic Sea and refusing to speculate about those responsible for the act of sabotage, but at the same time ruling out the involvement of the United States and its NATO allies in the attacks.



"We call for a comprehensive and objective investigation of all the circumstances of this emergency," the Russian embassy stressed, highlighting Washingtons "urge to sweep under the carpet uncomfortable questions about who actually benefits from the break in energy ties between Moscow and European capitals."



Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said on Friday that American gas suppliers benefit from the non-functioning Nord Stream pipelines.
https://sputniknews.com/20221001/looming-bloodbath-democrats-worrying-polls-are-untrustworthy-ahead-of-midterm-election-1101424219.html

Looming Bloodbath? Democrats Worrying Polls Are Untrustworthy Ahead of Midterm Election

Looming Bloodbath? Democrats Worrying Polls Are Untrustworthy Ahead of Midterm Election

This week, the Biden administration walked back eligibility for its recently-revealed student loan forgiveness plan, barring those whose federal loans are held... 01.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-01T21:28+0000

2022-10-01T21:28+0000

2022-10-01T21:28+0000

americas

democrats

midterm election

polls

house republicans

us senate

us congress

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In 2020, Democratic candidate Sara Gideon was ahead of Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in multiple polls leading up to election day but lost by almost 10 percentage points. Now, Senate Democrats are worried that polls, which currently favor them, may be flawed.During the 2016 US presidential election, experts failed to accurately gauge support for Trump in battleground states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania  considered the worst polling failure in recent years.According to political handicappers, Democrats are favored to keep their majority, with their chances looking much better than they did before the US Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June.Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) said she feels good about Democrats chances but also acknowledged that polls in the weeks before Election Day cant be counted on.Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine (D) pointed to Republican cash flows forming from Republican-allied dark-money groups and super PACS.Republican candidates dont really feel like they have to fundraise anymore. If you look, our candidates are outraising them but they dont care because they have the dark money and its so massive.Kaine, who predicts that Senate control will be decided by only a few points in a handful of races expects the upcoming election night, slated for November 8, to be a long one. As he explained, polls are not always reliable because they cant factor in voters who decide to participate last minute:The chances of Democrats winning the Senate are 68-in-100, according to a poll by FiveThirtyEight  a figure best explained by poor candidate selection by Republicans, whose best chance at changing the numbers in their favor is currently in Georgia.The odds look good now, but as Nate Silver, founder and editor-in-chief at FiveThirtyEight, points out, there are still several reasons why Democrats should be concerned about the midterm elections, including the fact that President Joe Biden remains fairly unpopular.David Bergstein, a spokesperson for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign, pointed out that Republicans seem to be in defense mode:Bidens approval rating is currently in the low 40s, and it is normal for a presidents party to lose seats in midterm elections. However, current polls show Senate Democratic incumbents leading in several battleground states.

https://sputniknews.com/20220926/poll-voters-virtually-split-on-midterm-elections-1101217995.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221001/many-african-countries-want-to-be-free-of-western-dominance-russias-deputy-envoy-to-un-1101383094.html

Many African Countries Want to Be Free of Western Dominance: Russias Deputy Envoy to UN

Many African Countries Want to Be Free of Western Dominance: Russias Deputy Envoy to UN

In July, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda and the Republic of the Congo to discuss cooperation, regional issues, the... 01.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-01T11:47+0000

2022-10-01T11:47+0000

2022-10-01T11:47+0000

africa

interviews

interviews

russia

africa

un

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In an interview with Sputnik, Anna Evstigneeva, Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations on Political Affairs, expressed her opinion about ties between Russia and the African nations, western economic pressure on those countries and issues of grain supplies to the African continent.Sputnik: Russia is now paying a lot of attention to the continent of Africa and its top officials often visit African countries. Has the situation in Ukraine inspired Moscow's desire to find new partners in Africa?Anna Evstigneeva: Discussions took place at the General Assembly. And within the framework of the bilateral relations in the continent, including Minister Lavrov's trip to a number of African countries, there is a goal to promote ties between Russia and African nations. The ministers trips and so on, has nothing to do with Ukraine. We are not a new friend to Africa. We have been there for more than 60 years. We supported the African people's struggle for self-determination and contributed to the decolonization of the continent. Our trade, economic, and political relations were not subject to any political or worldwide events.What raises questions is how western countries have now begun chasing African countries. Listening to speeches in the General Assembly from a number of European countries - especially of a small caliber - it was interesting to see how they are trying to flirt with Africa, to talk about new ideas and initiatives. This is shameful, full of hypocrisy and double standards. During my interactions with African diplomats, it is clear that they are clearly aware of this hypocrisy and assess it accurately.Furthermore, they see recent initiatives by both Washington and the European Union as repackaging old ideas aimed at continuing the structural dominance and imposition of western values in the name of human rights and democracy. This is taken by [our African] colleagues with a pinch of salt. African countries also view pressure by the West to severe relations with Russia as an insult to their political independence. As respected African leaders have recently said, they have no reason to join the ranks to fight with Russia and it is unlikely that anyone will be able to portray Russia as an enemy, since it has always been a friend of Africa. Therefore, there are no grounds for changing this fundamental attitude of the Africans.Sputnik: Do you think that African countries are now ready to withstand the threat of western sanctions and maintain their independent approach and independent policy?Anna Evstigneeva: Of course, the political and economic pressure on African countries is huge. This cannot be ignored, because the whole system of relations between western countries and the developing countries of Africa was based on creating and maintaining a certain leverage of influence and pressure. They will certainly continue to use this.However, I dont think in the long run the pressure will work because it goes against the course of history and the desire of the continent's people to own their present and future. Over the years, I have seen the desire of many African countries to be free of western dominance. The establishment of the African Union gave an important impetus towards forming a consensus between African countries on global issues. It has strengthened African voices in the international forum, including the Security Council.I see today a more assertive Africa able to use the present turn of global events to unshackle itself from neo-colonial structures, to form new mechanisms for partnership and cooperation that will allow the continent to benefit better from the world - politically, economically and culturally. This also concerns the development of the African Union, as well as cooperation within the framework of the African Union and the development of cooperation within the framework of regional organizations. Also, horizontal ties between countries under sanctions in Africa, how can they jointly resist this? All these processes are now developing and I think that they will emerge, including in the UN.Sputnik: At the UN, you are in constant communication with colleagues from Africa. Do you have to explain a lot about Russia's foreign policy to them?Anna Evstigneeva: Yes, I do, but my conversations with African diplomats showed me that many in the continent understand Russia and have respect for its history and contribution to the world.With regard to the situation between Russia and the West, many Africans do not need explanation. The fact is Africans suffered most from the policies of the West. Military intervention in Libya, the assassinations of African national leaders, and support for the apartheid regime in South Africa are still fresh in the memory of many Africana. One cannot cancel history. They have a deep understanding of the hypocrisy of western nations. Most of them understand the current geopolitical situation and the factors that are driving the world towards instability, why all this is happening. There is a resurgence in Africa. Everyone understands that the difficult emergence of a multipolar world is underway. Africa will certainly be one of those poles. This is the time to pursue, above all, national interests and the interests of the continent.Sputnik: What are the dynamics of trade relations between Russia and African countries? With whom does the Russian Federation interact most actively and which countries are now a priority for increasing mutual trade?Anna Evstigneeva: Africa has big potential. It is endowed with natural resources, a vast coastline, and above all human potential - a dynamic youth population. The African Continental Free Trade Area is an ambitious agreement that could make the continent an economic powerhouse. Russia is always keen to develop its economic ties with the continent. We always maintained trade relations with many countries in Africa back in Soviet times. In the past decade, we have been working to scale up and diversify our economic ties which was consolidated through the Russian-African Summit [the next will be in the middle of next year].Our objective is to build economic relations that are mutually beneficial, respect the political choices and without political or other conditions. We have good prospects over there. Undoubtedly, there is cooperation in the spheres of natural resources, energy, infrastructure and agriculture. The issue of food security is on the agenda as well. In addition to the direct supply of grain or other agricultural products as a means to tackle humanitarian need and economic assistance. Western sanctions on Russia have restricted the export of fertilizers to Africa. We have demonstrated our readiness to ensure the supply of fertilizers to African states. The initiative announced by President Vladimir Putin to redirect fertilizers stuck in European ports without charge has sparked wide interest in African countries. African countries are able to produce their own agricultural products but they need to be given the opportunity to do so. In this regard, I see good prospects in fertilizers supplies. Moreover, I see great potential in expanding technical cooperation, technology, education and the industries. We have a very large base in all these fields and I think it will develop further.Sputnik: There were many events related to the African continent on the main agenda of the 77th UN General Assembly and on the sidelines. How did Russia interact with African countries during the High-Level Week, and what was achieved?Anna Evstigneeva: It seems to me that almost a third of the meetings that were held with Foreign Minister Lavrov were with African countries. We saw meetings with traditional partners: South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Mali, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Sudan, Burkina-Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau. We have deep, friendly ties with all of these countries, as well as trade and economic relations. What is important is that all these countries share similar views on the multilateral agenda.We work together to ensure that the United Nations remains reflective of its diversity, not a place to dictate one worldview. The situation in some of these countries are being considered by the Security Council. We always advocate more understanding and support to national governments and resist attempts by western countries to weaponize the Council to inflict unjustified pressure. And we stand by them there, helping to channel discussions in a balanced way, favoring a swift and fair resolution of conflict. It was quite logical that we met on the sidelines of the General Assembly as it afforded discussions of both the bilateral agenda and developments in multilateral forums.Sputnik: You have already touched on the issue of fertilizers, and the issues of supplies of grain to Africa is also being raised. Is Russia able to help resolve these issues? What exactly is Moscow doing to solve these problems?Anna Evstigneeva: We will primarily rely on the bilateral contracts that we have concluded with the African states. Many African states usually buy a lot of Russian agricultural products. But as a result of the sanctions and other economic restrictions imposed on Russia, fulfillment of these contracts and their further development was under threat. This is not our fault, this is the fault of the West, which violated financial schemes with their pressure, messed up the logistical chains. The rise in insurance prices impedes the fulfillment of these contracts. Bilaterally, we are looking for ways to conclude new agreements to stop the West's negative influence. This is for starters.The second point is the so-called Istanbul grain deal. We regret that the UN has taken advantage of a campaign that Ukrainian grain can allegedly save African countries, which led to such a non-event. Only a tiny part of those [ships with] grain from Ukraine ended up on the African continent and in developing countries. This situation needs to be fixed. We have repeatedly raised, and will continue to raise, this issue within the framework of the UN. We also believe that African countries themselves should do this since they are the ones which are interested in ensuring that nothing hinders the supply of agricultural products to these countries.

https://sputniknews.com/20220930/ukraine-crisis-giving-birth-to-multipolar-world-order-read-putins-full-speech-on-new-territories-1101386341.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220925/russia-and-nigeria-could-cooperate-in-stabilizing-global-energy-supply-says-nigerian-minister-1101215859.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220923/afrocom-chair-door-to-africa-is-open-russia-should-build-on-this-momentum-1101126498.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221001/netherlands-regrets-nicaraguas-decision-to-sever-diplomatic-ties-foreign-minister-says-1101422648.html

Netherlands Regrets Nicaragua's Decision to Sever Diplomatic Ties, Foreign Minister Says

Netherlands Regrets Nicaragua's Decision to Sever Diplomatic Ties, Foreign Minister Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Netherlands regrets Nicaragua's decision to sever diplomatic relations and will discuss further steps with the European Union, Dutch... 01.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-01T17:18+0000

2022-10-01T17:18+0000

2022-10-01T17:18+0000

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"The Netherlands regrets the disproportionate decision by Nicaragua to break off diplomatic relations. We take a firm stand on the worsening democratic structures and human rights violations in Nicaragua. But a critical discussion is always better than ending relations," Hoekstra wrote on Twitter.The Netherlands will also discuss its further steps with the European Union, according to Hoekstra.The minister stated that other countries had also had "difficulties in maintaining an open dialogue" with Nicaragua.On Friday, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega condemned the Netherlands' alleged interference in his country's affairs and said that he did not want to maintain relations with "this interventionist government." This happened after Dutch Ambassador to Central America Christine Pirenne visited the Nicaraguan capital of Managua and spoke with local residents "as if Nicaragua were a Dutch colony," as described by the Nicaraguan president.In 2013, the Netherlands optimized its diplomatic presence in Central America by closing its embassy in Nicaragua. The Dutch ambassador to Central America, based in Costa Rica, was in charge of relations with this country since then.For many years, Nicaragua has been criticized by Western countries for violations of human rights and the oppression of political opposition. Ortega is currently serving his fourth term as the country's president.

https://sputniknews.com/20221001/nicaragua-breaks-diplomatic-ties-with-netherlands-over-interference-foreign-ministry-1101402970.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221001/nicaraguas-president-no-longer-wish-to-maintain-relations-with-netherlands-interventionist-govt-1101400359.html

Nicaragua's President: No Longer Wish to Maintain Relations With Netherlands' 'Interventionist Govt'

Nicaragua's President: No Longer Wish to Maintain Relations With Netherlands' 'Interventionist Govt'

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) - Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega on Friday condemned interference in the country's affairs by Dutch Ambassador to Central America... 01.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-01T03:47+0000

2022-10-01T03:47+0000

2022-10-01T03:47+0000

americas

nicaragua

netherlands

daniel ortega

intervention

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"A few years ago, they [the Netherlands] decided to build a small hospital on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, where the Miskito and Mayangna indigenous peoples live... Yesterday she [Pirenne] was received by our foreign minister [Denis Moncada], and what I heard: the ambassador came to talk to Nicaraguans as if Nicaragua were a Dutch colony," Ortega said in a televised appearance on a national broadcaster during the parade on the occasion of the local police anniversary.The president added that many governments continue to believe that they live in a colonial era and expect nations and peoples to obey them. The president advised the Dutch ambassador, who said the Netherlands refused to build the hospital because of Managua's policies, not to return to Nicaragua and stressed that he does not want relations with the "interventionist government."Local media reported on Wednesday that the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry had declared EU Ambassador to Nicaragua Bettina Muscheidt persona non grata and notified her verbally that she was no longer welcome in the Central American country over a lack of respect for the country's sovereignty.Earlier on Friday, Managua barred US Ambassador to Nicaragua Hugo Rodriguez from entering the country over his statements made during a hearing before the Senate in July. During the hearing, Rodriguez described Nicaragua as a "pariah state in the region" and branded Ortega's government a "dictatorship." Nicaragua, in turn, announced in July that it would reject Rodriguez should he be appointed the US ambassador to Nicaragua.

https://sputniknews.com/20220928/nicaragua-expels-eu-ambassador-for-interference-with-national-sovereignty---reports-1101319702.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221001/prince-harry-said-nasty-things-about-queen-consort-camilla-new-book-claims-1101414245.html

Prince Harry Said Nasty Things About Queen Consort Camilla, New Book Claims

Prince Harry Said Nasty Things About Queen Consort Camilla, New Book Claims

'Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall: From Outcast to Future Queen Consort', written by royal biographer Angela Levin, which hit bookstores on 29 September, offers a... 01.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-01T11:34+0000

2022-10-01T11:34+0000

2022-10-01T12:44+0000

world

uk royal family

prince harry

camilla, duchess of cornwall

king charles iii

queen elizabeth ii

meghan markle

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Prince Harry was "nasty" about Queen Consort, Camilla, according to Royal biographer Angela Levin.The author of nine non-fiction books about senior members of the British royal family, claimed that she was compelled to write this book because the present Queen Consort had been misrepresented over the years".Actress Emerald Fennell portrayed Camilla in the fourth episode of the Netflix historical drama television series. In 'The Crown', Camilla remarks she is simply a mistress of the Prince of Wales, following in the footsteps of her great-grandmother, Alice Keppel, who was the mistress of King Edward VII, King Charles great-great-grandfather.When 'Lorraine' host Christine Lampard drew comparisons with the late Princess Diana, saying people didnt like Camilla because they loved Diana so much, Levin agreed.Previously, insiders have claimed that the Duke of Sussex had not forgotten his late mother Princess Dianas comments about the Queen Consort having an affair with his father, now King Charles III.Princess Diana said on the now notorious interview with Martin Bashir: There were three of us in the marriage, so it was a bit crowded.Diana, Princess of Wales, and then-Prince Charles separated in 1992, reaching a final agreement in August 1996. Camilla, whose maiden name was Shand, was divorced from her first husband Andrew Parker Bowles in 1995.In his book, 'Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors', writer Tom Bower alleged that Camilla had made racist comments about the then-unborn son of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Archie.Camilla remarked, Wouldnt it be funny if your child had ginger Afro hair? the author wrote.Levin said that she had sourced people who had interacted with Camilla throughout her various charity pursuits, members of staff and friends, in an effort to make the book as plausible as possible.She also revealed that Camilla had invited her to meet Queen Elizabeth II to show her that, despite rumors the pair had a close bond.Levin claimed on 'Lorraine' that the marriage between Camilla and Charles was ideal because the Queen Consort did not crave the spotlight, so that he doesnt get jealous like he did with his first wife". The biographer added of the Queen Consort: She doesnt need the praise for herself.When the host of the TV show said that the new book would give us an interesting insight into someone we know but also dont know very well, the author quipped:

https://sputniknews.com/20220430/prince-harry-may-say-some-unkind-things-about-camilla-in-his-upcoming-autobiography-1095168048.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220722/royal-sources-reportedly-deny-claim-camilla-joked-about-harrys-unborn-sons-looks---1097692134.html

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Svetlana Ekimenko

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https://sputniknews.com/20221001/russia-china-cooperation-promotes-international-stability-russian-upper-house-speaker-says-1101421848.html

Russia-China Cooperation Promotes International Stability, Russian Upper House Speaker Says

Russia-China Cooperation Promotes International Stability, Russian Upper House Speaker Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Cooperation between Russia and China makes a significant contribution to global security and stability, Russian upper house chairwoman... 01.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-01T16:39+0000

2022-10-01T16:39+0000

2022-10-01T16:39+0000

russia

russia

china

bilateral relations

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Matviyenko sent a telegram to Chairman of the Chinese Standing Committee Li Zhanshu, congratulating her Chinese colleagues on the 73rd anniversary of the official proclamation of the People's Republic of China."Over the 73 years of its modern history, China has made remarkable achievements in nation-building, boosting its economic potential, and improving the well-being of its citizens. The progress that your country demonstrates today is admirable and deserves the highest praise," the statement said.Matviyenko noted that Moscow and Beijing, united by common views, interests and values, propelled their relations to a new level, setting a good example for cooperation.The Russian lawmaker noted that Russia-China parliamentary cooperation helps unlock trade, investment, scientific and cultural potential, most importantly, benefiting millions of Russian and Chinese people.Matviyenko wished the Chinese Communist Party a successful 20th Congress, sharing her hopes that its results will also contribute to more robust strategic relations between Russia and China.

https://sputniknews.com/20220930/china-to-continue-supporting-development-of-russias-far-east-ambassador-to-russia-1101360688.html

russia

china

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Sputnik International

russia, china, bilateral relations
https://sputniknews.com/20221001/uk-defense-ministry-refuses-to-house-ukrainian-refugees-in-empty-military-homes-reports-say-1101415861.html

UK Defense Ministry Refuses to House Ukrainian Refugees in Empty Military Homes, Reports Say

UK Defense Ministry Refuses to House Ukrainian Refugees in Empty Military Homes, Reports Say

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom is keeping its military houses empty despite urgent calls of local officials to use the... 01.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-01T11:56+0000

2022-10-01T11:56+0000

2022-10-01T11:56+0000

world

ukraine

uk

refugees

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The head of the Council of Wiltshire, a county in southern England, Richard Clewer has been urging the infrastructure department of the ministry for months to provide its empty houses located in his county to Ukrainian refugees. However, the department has not responded to the calls, even though the buildings have been unoccupied for years.According to the newspaper, there are at least 1,350 unoccupied military houses in Wiltshire that were initially built for families of the military.In late August, the Guardian reported that more than 50,000 Ukrainian refugees in the UK could become homeless next year after their initial six-month housing placements end.On February 24, Russia began a military operation in Ukraine responding to calls for help from the republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The crisis has provoked massive flows of refugees from Ukraine to European countries in search of asylum.

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ukraine, uk, refugees
https://sputniknews.com/20221001/un-ready--willing-to-work-with-dr-congos-govt-on-peacekeepers-pullout-amid-volatile-security-1101405073.html

UN Peacekeeper Killed in DR Congo Amid Mission's Readiness to Work With Govt on Pullout

UN Peacekeeper Killed in DR Congo Amid Mission's Readiness to Work With Govt on Pullout

Anti-UN protests erupted in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) earlier in July because of anger about how little security had improved since 1960 when the... 01.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-01T08:47+0000

2022-10-01T08:47+0000

2022-10-01T12:40+0000

africa

africa

congo

un

monusco

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The head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, Bintou Keita, has confirmed that the United Nations is ready and willing to work closely with the central African countrys government to step up the pace of the withdrawal of its more than 14,000-strong force.This insecurity fuels human rights violations and has exacerbated an already dire humanitarian situation, she added.Amid the discussions, a UN peacekeeper was killed in eastern DR Congo on Friday night, after suspected members of the Twirwaneho militia conducted an attack in the Minembwe area of South Kivu province.In the wake of the resurgence of militant groups the eroding crisis of confidence in the UN mission in eastern Congo had further deteriorated.Against the backdrop of extremely high levels of poverty and displacement, fighting continues to rage between reportedly more than 130 armed groups in the country, which still bears the scars of Belgian colonialism. Although the colonial yoke ended in 1960, ensuing power struggles and corruption have resulted in a highly volatile security situation.Difficult Security ContextKeita condemned in the strongest terms incitement to hatred, hostility and violence and welcomed a statement by the Democratic Republic of Congos President Felix Tshisekedi at the General Assembly against tribalism and hate speech.She also welcomed efforts by Congolese authorities, civil society, and influential community figures that have called for calm and restraint in an incredibly difficult security context.The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (French acronym, MONUSCO) took over from an earlier UN peacekeeping operation  the United Nations Organization Mission in Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC)  on 1 July 2010. MONUSCO has since maintained troops and police forces in the DRC, whose stated goal is to combat violence by armed groups.However, anti-UN protests erupted in the country in July, with dozens - including civilians, peacekeepers and Congolese police - reportedly killed in Congos mineral-rich east. Demonstrations had been triggered by complaints that the peacekeepers mission, costing more than $1Bln per year, has failed to protect civilians against years of militia violence.All this provided fertile ground for stigmatization of the MONUSCO mission, said Keita on Friday.In August, the DRC government expelled MONUSCO spokesman Mathias Gillmann for making ostensibly indelicate and inappropriate statements that fanned the flames of tensions between the population and the peacekeepers.Furthermore, MONUSCOs peacekeepers were accused of retaliating against the protesters, sometimes with force.Congos government said in early August that at least 36 people died and more than 170 sustained injuries in the protests. Furthermore, DRC has a staggering number of claims of UN peacekeeper-perpetrated sexual exploitation, abuse and pedophilia.In the wake of these developments, Tshisekedi called a meeting in August to reassess MONUSCOs presence. The year 2024 was originally given as the UN goal for withdrawal of the force, but DRCs Foreign Minister, Christophe Lutundula Apala, has since suggested the body could leave sooner.

https://sputniknews.com/20220823/dr-congo-rushes-to-contain-resurfaced-ebola-outbreak-amid-deadly-anti-un-protests--1099883288.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220802/dr-congo-says-32-civilians-killed-in-protests-against-un-peacekeepers-1098046947.html

africa

congo

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Svetlana Ekimenko

africa, congo, un, monusco
https://sputniknews.com/20221001/us-condemns-new-burkina-faso-coup-1101424480.html

US Condemns New Burkina Faso Coup

US Condemns New Burkina Faso Coup

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States is concerned over the latest developments in Burkina Faso, where a military takeover took place on Friday, US State... 01.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-01T22:17+0000

2022-10-01T22:17+0000

2022-10-01T22:17+0000

africa

burkina faso

coup

us

condemnation

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"We note that for the second time in eight months, military officers have asserted that they have dissolved the government and National Assembly and suspended the constitution. We join our partners at ECOWAS, the African Union, and the European Union in condemning these acts and the ongoing violence, which put in jeopardy the agreed-upon timeline for a return to a democratically elected, civilian-led government," Price said in a Saturday statement.He added that Washington is calling on those responsible to deescalate the situation."The United States is deeply concerned by events in Burkina Faso," Price said, adding that Washington is "closely monitoring this fluid situation, and we call for restraint by all actors."On Friday night, media in Burkina Faso reported that Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, the leader of an interim government who himself came to power through a coup in January, was ousted by a group of military led by Capt. Ibrahim Traore in what is already the second military takeover in the country in eight months. Traore's group suspended the constitution and closed the borders.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Chairman of the African Union Commission (AUC), Moussa Faki Mahamat, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have all condemned the forceful takeover of power in Burkina Faso.The French foreign ministry has denied the country's involvement in the events taking place in Burkina Faso amid allegations that the deposed leader Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba sought refuge at a French military base.

https://sputniknews.com/20221001/france-denies-involvement-in-events-in-burkina-faso-1101423105.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221001/us-releases-nephews-of-venezuelan-presidents-wife-in-exchange-for-seven-americans-1101424043.html

US Releases Nephews of Venezuelan President's Wife in Exchange for Seven Americans

US Releases Nephews of Venezuelan President's Wife in Exchange for Seven Americans

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Seven US nationals who were imprisoned in Venezuela have been released and will soon reunite with their families, US President Joe Biden... 01.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-01T19:59+0000

2022-10-01T19:59+0000

2022-10-01T19:59+0000

americas

venezuela

us

prisoner swap

joe biden

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"Today, after years of being wrongfully detained in Venezuela, we are bringing home Jorge Toledo, Tomeu Vadell, Alirio Zambrano, Jose Luis Zambrano, Jose Pereira, Matthew Heath, and Osman Khan," Biden said in a statement. "These individuals will soon be reunited with their families and back in the arms of their loved ones where they belong."He also thanked civil servants across the US for their dedicated work that made the release possible."Today, we celebrate that seven families will be whole once more. To all the families who are still suffering and separated from their loved ones who are wrongfully detained  know that we remain dedicated to securing their release," the statement stressed.Biden noted that preventing other US citizens from being held hostage or wrongfully detained in other countries is one of the priorities of his administration.Echoing Biden's remarks, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted a statement that "more work" needs to be done in regards to Americans detained abroad, underscoring that the Biden administration would forge ahead on the matter.The prisoner swap was later confirmed by the Venezuelan Communications Minister Freddy Nanez.The release, which is part of a prisoner swap for two nephews of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's wife, is being hailed as one of the largest trades of American citizens under the Biden White House. Reports indicate that Vadell, Toledo, Pereira, Zambrano and Luis Zambrano had been detained in Venezuela after traveling to the country in 2017 to attend a meeting with the state-run PDVSA oil giant, which serves as the parent company of Citgo. The five Americans had been employed by the Houston-based firm. Heath had been in Venezuelan custody since his 2020 arrest, whereas Khan had been taken into custody in January. The Maduro relatives had been held in the US on drug smuggling charges after the pair were arrested in Haiti as part of a sting orchestrated by the US Drug Enforcement Administration in 2015.

https://sputniknews.com/20220919/us-releases-closest-ally-of-taliban-founder-in-latest-guantanamo-prisoner-swap--1100952380.html

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venezuela, us, prisoner swap, joe biden
https://sputniknews.com/20221001/weekly-news-wrap-up-germanys-infrastructure-attacked-uk-pound-crash-assange-event-october-8-1101398349.html

Weekly News Wrap-up; Germany's Infrastructure Attacked; UK Pound Crash; Assange Event October 8

Weekly News Wrap-up; Germany's Infrastructure Attacked; UK Pound Crash; Assange Event October 8

An attack on Nord Stream natural gas pipeline network, that runs from Russia to Germany, has opened a discussion about the relationship between the US empire... 01.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-01T10:13+0000

2022-10-01T10:13+0000

2022-10-01T10:13+0000

the critical hour

ukraine

haiti

new york times

stock market

nord stream pipeline

radio

radio sputnik

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Weekly News Wrap-up; Germany's Infrastructure Attacked; UK Pound Crash; Assange Event October 8 An attack on Germany's Nord Stream pipeline network has opened a discussion about the relationship between the US empire and its colonial junior partners in the EU.

Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, joins us to discuss this week's foreign policy news stories. A Polish politician and prominent EU neocon have thanked the US for attacking the Nord Stream pipeline network. Also, President Biden has trashed the one-China policy and the New York Times continues its legacy as a promoter of imperial war.Dr. Gerald Horne, Professor of History at the University of Houston, TX, author, historian, and researcher, joins us to discuss this week's important news stories. The US is threatening Sudan over a deal with Russia to build a naval base on the Red Sea. Also, we discuss the US attack on Germany and the new cold war.Linwood Tauheed, associate professor of Economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, joins us to discuss this week's economic stories. The stock market is continuing on a steady downward trend. Also, Fed rate hikes may drive us into a deep recession, the British pound is crashing, and the US is waging war on Europe's economyJim Kavanagh, writer at thepolemicist.net and CounterPunch, and Steve Poikonen, national organizer for Action4Assange, join us to discuss this week's important news stories. The US war on Germany has entered its hot phase. Also, October 8 is a day for Julain Assange rallies, the Democrats are now the party of war, and the FBI is acting shady about the details of their involvement in the January 6th capitol protest.Ajamu Baraka, 2016 US vice presidential candidate for the Green Party, and Netfa Freeman, Host of Voices With Vision on WPFW 89.3 FM Pan-Africanist and internationalist organizer, join us for the weekly wrap-up panel. The Black Alliance for Peace is launching a month of activities to oppose Africom. Also, we discuss Haiti, the democratic revolution in Latin America, and the US attack on Germany's pipeline network.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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ukraine, haiti, new york times, stock market, , nord stream pipeline, radio, radio sputnik